The invention relates to a suspension polymerization toner with a densely charged core-shell structure. Suspension dispersing liquid of toner core particles is mixed with shell monomer emulsion and resin CCA (charge control agent) dispersing liquid, and core-shell composite particles with densely charged rigid shell layers wrapping the flexible toner core particles are formed by a polymerization reaction. A preparation method of the toner comprises the steps of mixing a low-Tg monomer oil phase forming the toner core particles with water-based dispersing liquid, conducting suspension granulation and heating polymerization reaction to allow monomer oil drop particles to be converted to polymer particles, obtaining the flexible toner core particles, adding a high-Tg shell monomer forming the rigid shell layers to water containing a surfactant to form the emulsion, adding the emulsion and the CCA dispersing liquid to the suspension dispersing liquid of the flexible toner core particles for mixing and secondary polymerization, and conducting cleaning, filtration, drying and adding treatment. As a resin CCA and toner shell resin have good compatibility, and do not fall off the surface of the toner easily, the toner has high electrified amount, good environmental stability, and excellent imaging characteristic, low temperature fixation property and transfer printing property.


We frame causal discovery as a semi-supervised machine learning task. The idea is to allow direct learning of a causal graph by treating indicators of causal influence between variables as"labels". Available data on the variables of interest are used to provide features for the labelling task. Background knowledge or any available interventional data provide labels on some edges in the graph and the remaining edges are treated as unlabelled. To illustrate the key ideas, we develop a distance-based approach (based on simple bivariate histograms) within a semi-supervised manifold regularization framework. We present empirical results on three different biological datasets (including data where causal effects can be verified by experimental intervention), which demonstrate the efficacy and highly general nature of the approach as well as its simplicity from a user's point of view.


The conventional electricity grids, which are supposed to supply the electricity to the plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), need to adapt to overcome the problems of reliability, security, economics and environmental concerns. Accordingly, electric utilities in several countries are exploring the possibilities of implementing more robust interactive smart grids. This article analyses salient features of a smart grid in the Canadian perspective, and discusses PHEV and its role in the future smart grid. A simulation tool has been used to assess the impacts of charging of PHEV on the future electricity grid of Canada under different penetration rates. The article indicates the associated environmental benefits of PHEV.


Introduction High rate of streptococcus-like infections and related titers has been found in adult ADHD patients. No studies have expressively investigated innate immune system in ADHD patients. Objectives To evaluate the relationship between streptococcal infections, autoimmunity and innate immune system in adult ADHD patients. Methods The study sample consisted of adult DSM-5 ADHD outpatients referring to the adult ADHD center of "San Luigi Gonzaga" University Hospital and non-clinical adult controls recruited among general population (screened using Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale - ASRS-v.1). All titers were determined in patients' plasma by specific microwell ELISA kits, whereas genetic polymorphisms were determined by PCR methodology. We compared anti-streptolysin O (ASO), anti-deoxyribonuclease B (anti-DNase B), and anti-basal ganglia antibodies (ABGA) titers of patients with those of controls. Data about history of previous streptococcus/ streptococcus-like infections were collected by ad-hoc form. Furthermore, to investigate the susceptibility to Gram+-borne infections of adult ADHD patients, due to innate immune system impairment, we also evaluated the polymorphism of Toll-like receptors 2, 4, and 9. Results Although ADHD patients did not show higher rate of both previous infections (52.7% vs. 66.7%, p=.678) and ASO titers (18.2% vs. 0.0%, p=.577), they had really higher levels of anti-DNase B (85.5% vs. 16.7%, p=.001) and ABGA titers (78.2% vs. 33.3%, p=.036). Genetic analysis did not underline differences in polymorphism compared to general population (GENOME browser). Conclusions The high association between previous streptococcal infections, basal ganglia autoimmunity among ADHD patients was confirmed. TLR polymorphism does not seem to be involved in this type of vulnerability. Disclosure No significant relationships.


Objective To investigate the value of the color Doppler ultrasonic diagnosis for metastasis of axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer.Methods The color Doppler ultrasonography was undertaken before pathologic examination to detect axillary metastatic lymph nodes in 266 patients with breast carcinoma.A total of 152 patients with axillary lymph nodes were showed by ultrasonography.They were classified into two groups according to the postoperative pathology of radical mastectomy.One group consisted of all women who had metastasis of axillary lymph nodes;the other had no metastasis of axillary lymph nodes.The ultrasonographic features observed included the maximum dimension,the long-short axis ratio,the cortex-hilum thickness ratio and the flow pattern of axillary lymph nodes on the longitudinal section.The features were analysed univariately to find out the interrelated factors of breast lymph nodes metastasis.The receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC) analysis was done to determine sensitivity and specificity of individual ultrasonographic features in distinguishing metastatic lymph nodes from the healthy one.Results The maximum dimension of axillary lymph nodes in the metastasis group was 18.9±6.7 mm and 19.6± 7.2 mm in the other group.The maximum dimension of lymph nodes was not statistically significant(P 0.05).The long-short axis ratio and the cortex-hilum thickness ratio of axillary lymph nodes of the metastasis group were 1-2.6,0.8-4 and 1-4.5,0.2-2 in the other group.The long-short axis ratio,the cortex-hilum thickness ratio and the flow pattern of axillary lymph nodes of the two groups were statistically significant factors(P 0.05).A total of 54.5%(18/33)of metastatic axillary lymph nodes were peripheral flow and 30.3%(10/33) of metastatic axillary lymph nodes were mixed type flow.And 63.2%(12/19)of metastases axillary lymph nodes were central flow.By ROC analysis,the sensitivity and specificity were 62.4% and 62.7% based on the criteria of the long-short axis ratio ≤1.8,the sensitivity and specificity were 75.3% and 86.4% based on the criteria of the cortex-hilum thickness ratio≥ 1.0.Conclusion It can improve accuracy of the long-short axis ratio ≤1.8 and/or the cortex-hilum thickness ratio≥1.0 for ultrasonic diagnosis for metastasis of axillary lymph nodes in breast cancer.


Sustainability of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is one of the main goals of today. The SAP AG phrases this task in the following way: "SAP is committed to improving its own operations to become more sustainable and to delivering customer solutions to improve sustainability on a grand scale." (SAP AG 2009) Sustainability is first of all related with aspects of economic, environmental and social impacts of organizations (enterprises, service suppliers, administration, academia etc.). Nowadays there is an intensive research in the field of sustainability of information and communication technologies. Mainly the "Green IT"-movement is to be taking into account in this context, which has developed an own industrial-specific trend in this field, yet. But the principle of entirety is to be considered in his classical meaning and therefore sustainability has to be essentially drawn to immaterial goods too – without be limited to that. Hence, we will present a first approach named "Grand Management Information Design" which centers sustainability of information and communication systems (ICS) – on the immaterial layer.


From ancient times to today, storytelling has served popular instructional tool. Over the last decade, the emergence and availability of multimedia technologies, therefore upgrading the storytelling to digital storytelling. Today's students are growing up surrounded by digital technology. One form of multimedia that is becoming more popular in the education setting is digital storytelling. It is the best choice for teaching and learning nowadays. In line with this, animation has integrated with digital storytelling for the education system. Animation has notably contributed to provide the visualization system. Consequently, students prefer to learn from visual forms of subject content to engage them in learning more actively. Therefore, this paper discusses the student's behavioural engagement was foster by the digital storytelling integrates with animation.


The equations for processing ground tracking data during a space shuttle ascent or entry, or any nonfree flight phase of a shuttle mission are given. The resulting computer program processes data from up to three stations simultaneously: C-band station number 1; C-band station number 2; and an S-band station. The C-band data consists of range, azimuth, and elevation angle measurements. The S-band data consists of range, two angles, and integrated Doppler data in the form of cycle counts. A nineteen element state vector is used in Kalman filter to process the measurements. The acceleration components of the shuttle are taken to be independent exponentially-correlated random variables. Nine elements of the state vector are the measurement bias errors associated with range and two angles for each tracking station. The biases are all modeled as exponentially-correlated random variables with a typical time constant of 108 seconds. All time constants are taken to be the same for all nine state variables. This simplifies the logic in propagating the state error covariance matrix ahead in time.


The global distribution of nitrogen dioxide in the middle to upper stratosphere (25–45 km altitude) for the period Feburary 1979 to November 1981 has been determined from observations of attenuated solar radiation in the visible region 0.385–0.45 μm by the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) satellite instrument. The SAGE-derived NO2 vertical profiles compare well with observations by balloon and aircraft-borne sensors. The global SAGE NO2 distributions generally show a maximum in mixing ratio of 8 parts per billion by volume at about 35 km altitude near the equatorial latitudes at local sunset. The location of the mixing ratio peak moves synchronously with the overhead sun for the four different seasons. High-latitude NO2 column content shows strong seasonal variation, with a maximum in local summer and a minimum in local winter. Selected data at high-latitude winter seasons are presented, suggesting that the large variation shown could be explained by the coupling of both dynamics and photochemistry of the NOx species. Finally, profiles of the ratio of sunset to sunrise NO2 mixing ratios, peaking at about a factor of 2 at 30 km, are shown.


Case series Patient: Male, 26 • Female, 21 Final Diagnosis: Umbilical pilonidal sinus Symptoms: Hair tuft in the umbilicus • pain • periumbilical dermatitis • purulent discharge from the umbilicus • skin lesions • pruritis Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Umbilicus preserving surgery Specialty: General Surgery • Dermatology • Plastic Surgery Objective: Rare disease Background: Umbilical pilonidal sinus (UPS) is a rare disease of young, hirsute, dark men with deep navels and poor personal hygiene. UPS could easily be misdiagnosed and mistreated due to its rarity and lack of awareness of the condition by physicians. However, the diagnosis is easy to establish with physical examination and a detailed history. Although it is being diagnosed and reported more frequently, there is still no consensus regarding best treatment options. Case Report: In this report, we present two cases of UPS, one in a man and one in a woman, who had typical symptoms of pain, swelling, and intermittent malodorous discharge from the umbilicus. They had small sinus openings with hair protruding deep in the navel. Because these two patients had previous histories of failed conservative treatments, an umbilicus preserving surgery was performed for both cases. Wounds were healed in 2–3 weeks with acceptable cosmetic results. During a more than 2 year follow-up period, there were no signs of recurrence. Conclusions: In a patient presenting with a history of intermittent discharge, itching, pain, or bleeding from the umbilicus and the presence of granulation tissue with or without protruding hair and periumbilical dermatitis, the diagnosis should consider UPS, even in female patients. Treatment generally depends on the severity of the disease, ranging from good personal hygiene to surgical excision of umbilical complex. The treatment of choice for chronic intermittent cases is surgical removal of the affected portion; paying special attention to cosmetic appearance.


Almost all ocean going vessels today, are intended to be operated with an unattended machinery space, therefore, high reliability and easy maintenance of automation equipment are required especially for main engine remote control devices. A new control device for the governor handle of the main engine remote control system developed by MHI Kobe shipyard has unique transmitters and function generator to convert the out-put signal from linear order signals to non-linear control signals. This transmitter is of special transformer type called "LINIAX" without any contact parts, or lead wires for translation from mechanical movements to electric signals. The function generator is composed of an IC operational amplifier and has trimming potentiometers for adjusting of knuckle points and gains of the out-put signal, because the order transmitter is combined with a telegraph handle. A pneumatic actuator of MHI make is used for the governor handle of engine side. It is believed that MHI's new engine remote control device will show high reliability and easy maintenance.


Natural killer (NK) cells, the third major lymphocyte population, are important effector cells against certain infections and tumours. They have also been implicated as a link between innate and adaptive immune responses. In recent years, much attention has been paid to the NK cell inhibitory receptors and their interaction with major histocompatibility complex class I molecules on target cells. This review summarizes recent findings on regulation of NK cell activity with an emphasis on NK cell stimulatory receptors. A particular emphasis is devoted to the receptor NKG2D that is expressed on all NK cells.


The incorporation of stilbene-derived optical brighteners into baculovirus formulations can substantially enhance virus infectivity and persistence of inoculum in the field. We evaluated the effect of the optical brightener Tinopal UNPA-GX (Sigma Chemical Co.) on the weight, development time, adult emergence and sex ratio of the principal pest of maize in the Americas, Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Tinopal UNPA-GX was incorporated into semi-synthetic diet at a final concentration of 0.1 or 0.05% (w/v) and larvae of S. frugiperda were individually reared on the Tinopal-treated or an untreated control diet. In both Tinopal treatments, the weights of larvae and pupae were significantly reduced by up to 36 and 13%, respectively. The duration of larval development was increased by up to 30% compared to the controls. Adult emergence was high in all treatments (≈90%) and was not affected by the presence of Tinopal in the diet. Significant differences in the proportion of adult females were observed in the 0.05% Tinopal treatment but not in the control or 0.1% Tinopal treatments. By affecting the integrity of the peritrophic membrane and the rate of sloughing of intestinal epithelial cells, natural pest populations exposed to optical brightener residues from bioinsecticide applications are likely to suffer a reduction in growth rate and other correlates of insect fitness.


Objective: To determine the frequency of endodontic treatment in dental patients treated in a Nigerian Teaching Hospital.
Method: A survey of 470 patients undergoing endodontic treatment at the conservative clinic of the department of restorative dentistry of Lagos University Teaching Hospital was conducted to determine the frequency of endodontic treatment for each tooth, number of males versus females that needed endodontic treatment and the frequency of root canal therapy in the maxilla compared to mandible. The data on age, sex of patients, date of treatment and tooth treated were retrieved from patients\' dental records.
Results: Endodontic treatment was carried out on a total of 490 teeth. The frequency of endodontic treatment was more in the females (56.4%) compared to males (43.6%). 58% of the treated teeth were maxillary teeth and 42% were mandibular teeth. There was predominance of endodontic treatment in the molars (49.8%) with the lower first molar being the most frequently treated and accounted for 18.8% of teeth treated.
Conclusion: A high proportion of endodontic treatment was now frequently performed on molars in patients treated at Lagos University Teaching Hospital dental centre which suggested the availability of more dentists with better facilities to attend to patients that needed endodontic treatment.
 Keywords : Endodontic treatment, root canal therapy, frequency Nigerian Dental Journal Vol. 15 (2) 2007: pp. 98-101


Russian applied psychophysiology has a wide experience of using the heart rate variability (HRV) measures for the assessment of operator workload. However, this method does not provide enough sensitivity to the short-term changes of an operator's information load. Therefore, a new method of HRV analysis called the CS-index is proposed. It is sensitive to task load factors such as task difficulty and stress level and allows to differentiate between experienced and novice operators during simulator training.


In this paper, we present a structure-based decoding algorithm for the hierarchical broadcasting systems. Unlike the traditional hierarchical demodulation approaches that suffer from serious interlayer interference (ILI), the proposed method exploits the structure information on the secondary layer to mitigate the ILI impairment, thereby offering significant gains in reception performance. The algorithm can be applied to different channel coding and mapping schemes under various channel profiles. In addition, the new algorithm has been implemented on a broad-band in-band–on-channel digital radio broadcasting system. Numerical results from both simulations and laboratory experiments are provided to quantify the performance advantages of the new algorithm.


We define a class of sites such that the associated topos is equivalent to the category of smooth sets (representations) of some locally prodiscrete monoids (to be defined). Examples of locally prodiscrete monoids include profinite groups and finite adele valued points of algebraic groups. This is a generalization of the fact that the topos associated with the \'etale site of a scheme is equivalent to the category of sets with continuous action by the \'etale fundamental group. We then define a subclass of sites such that the topos is equivalent to the category of discrete sets with a continuous action of a locally profinite group.


Leading business rates adviser BNP Paribas Real Estate today predicted that, following the 2017 revaluation, office occupiers in Aberdeen will be the biggest losers in terms of the bills they will receive.


A numerical method of fitting a multiparameter function, non-linear in the parameters which are to be estimated, to the experimental data in the $L_1$ norm (i.e., by minimizing the sum of absolute values of errors of the experimental data) has been developed. This method starts with the least squares solution for the function and then minimizes the expression $\sum_i (x^2_i + a^2)^{1/2}$, where $x_i$ is the error of the $i$-th experimental datum, starting with an $a$ comparable with the root-mean-square error of the least squares solution and then decreasing it gradually to a negligibly small value, which yields the desired solution. The solution for each fixed $a$ is searched by using the Hessian matrix. If necessary, a suitable damping of corrections is initially used. Examples are given of an application of the method to the analysis of some data from the field of photon correlation spectroscopy.


The pecularities of the valuable-sense competencies' forming of the future cadastre engineers in the process of professional training are analysed in the article. The author consideres the process of training from the point of view of the competent approach to the education, singles out pecularities of the persons' professional formation in the integral pedagogical process, gives definitions of such notions as professional upbringing and professional education, consideres the stages of professional training.


The number of people who remain single for long periods of time is sizeable and growing in the Western world, yet they are largely ignored in psychological theory and research. In this article, we review psychological and sociological evidence that long-term singles are a heterogeneous group of individuals, outline an attachment-theoretical model of long-term singlehood, and review direct and indirect empirical evidence suggestive of at least three distinct subgroups of long-term singles: (a) singlehood due to attachment-system deactivation, (b) singlehood due to attachment-system hyperactivation, and (c) singlehood as a secure personal choice. Our aim is to highlight long-term singles as a population that merits scientific study and to provide a foundation on which future research can build.


Fractionally integrated generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (FIGARCH) arises in modeling of financial time series. FIGARCH is essentially governed by a system of nonlinear stochastic difference equations. In this work, we have studied the chaoticity properties of FIGARCH (p,d,q) processes by com- puting mutual information, correlation dimensions, FNNs (False Nearest Neighbour), the largest Lya- punov exponents (LLE) for both the stochastic difference equation and for the financial time series by applying Wolf's algorithm, Kant'z algorithm and Jacobian algorithm. Although Wolf's algorithm pro- duced positive LLE's, Kantz's algorithm and Jacobian algorithm which are subsequently developed methods due to insufficiency of Wolf's algorithm generated negative LLE's constantly. So, as well as experimenting Wolf's methods' inefficiency formerly pointed out by Rosenstein (1993) and more recently Dechert and Gencay (2000), based on Kantz's and Jacobian algorithm's negative LLE outcomes, we concluded that it can be suggested that FIGARCH (p,d,q) is not deter- ministic chaotic process.


A two-dimensional model that simulates flow pathlines in a vertical cross section oriented perpendicular to the Columbia River has been developed for a location at the Hanford Site. Hydraulic head data from wells and the adjacent river were used to calculate flow direction and velocity in hourly increments for an entire seasonal cycle. River stage cycles extend through a range of several meters, thus exerting a strong influence on water movement in the zone of interaction. By including a fluctuating river stage at the river boundary (center of channel), the model showed that landward of and beneath the shoreline, flow pathlines within the aquifer are deflected downward. The region immediately beneath the shoreline is strongly influenced by river water that infiltrates during high river stage. On the river side of the shoreline, groundwater discharges upward into the river channel, with pathlines converging in the riverbed relatively close to shore. If the model is run assuming a constant, average river stage, these movement features are not represented, thus demonstrating the need to include transient boundary conditions when a fluctuating river stage influences the zone of interaction between groundwater and surface water. The model provides information that supports a variety of applications, including monitoring strategies. contaminant transport models, risk assessments, remedial action design, and compliance requirements for remedial actions.


The conditions for sample preparation and determination of total arsenic in fish and seafoods by atomic absorption spectroscopy with electrothermal atomization have been optimized. When using a standard sample preparation procedure (GOST R 53100), a complete decomposition of the organic arsenic compound, arsenobetaine, appeared impossible which leads to underestimated results. A novel sample preparation procedure for the determination of total arsenic, including the addition of concentrated sulfuric acid for complete decomposition of the organic forms of arsenic to inorganic ones is proposed. During the atomization of the sample, an additional stage of drying was introduced with smooth heating from 200 to 250°C, which contributed to a complete removal of sulfuric acid residues from the injected sample volume. The correctness of the proposed methodology was verified using the ICP-MS method and in the analysis of reference samples of fish and seafoods.


Aim: To study the k wire placement Cross Pinning Versus Lateral Pinning technique, in terms of functional outcome and complications in the operative management of paediatric supracondylar fractures of humerus extension type.
Methodology: A total of 50 patients of supracondylar humerus fracture extension type-III were included in the study. 25 patients were operated by closed reduction with Cross K pinning fixation and 25 patients were operated by closed reduction and Lateral 2 K pinning fixation. All patients were followed up to 9 months and assessed for functional outcome and complications.
Results: The two groups were comparable with respect to age /sex/weight/height and type of fractures. All patients of crosspinning were inmobilized for three weeks whereas in lateral pining 9% patients were immobilized for 4 weeks. The two groups were compared with respect to time till union, range of movement (ROM), carrying angle and function which was done at 3,6 and 9 months. 8.33% of the patients of cross pining group had ulnar nerve injury. 66.7% had excellent results in cross pinning compared to 70.6% in lateral pinning.
Conclusion: There is no significant difference in the stability provided by the cross pinning and two lateral pin fixation method. But the medial and lateral pin fixation group shows two cases of iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury. Therefore, lateral pin fixation method for the treatment of type III supra condylar fracture requiring surgery is a reliable and safe method to avoid iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury and provides adequate stability if proper pin fixation principles are used.


Crural meat of pig was minced respectively at 4,12,24,48 h after slaughtered according to the experimental design and stored a week at 0 to 4 ℃. The cook loss,water holding capacity and pH value were measured. Cook loss and pH value raised significantly and water holding capacity descended significantly during storage. It is hinted that storage,especially for long time storage,does harm to the ground meat. The cook loss of mincing meat at 12 h postmortem was significantly lower than the ones of meat minced at 4,24 and 48 h postmortem,and the water holding capacity of samples from mincing meat at 4 h and 12 h postmortem were significantly bigger than others during storage,and the one from mincing meat at 4 h postmortem was the biggest among all samples. It indicated that mincing meat at 12 h postmortem or earlier is suitable for producing ground meat.


Exercise increases Na+–K+ pump isoform gene expression and elevates muscle reactive oxygen species (ROS). We investigated whether enhanced ROS scavenging induced with the antioxidant N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) blunted the increase in Na+–K+ pump mRNA during repeated contractions in human and rat muscle. In experiment 1, well‐trained subjects received saline or NAC intravenously prior to and during 45 min cycling. Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were taken pre‐infusion and following exercise. In experiment 2, isolated rat extensor digitorum longus muscles were pre‐incubated without or with 10 mm NAC and then rested or stimulated electrically at 60 Hz for 90 s. After 3 h recovery, muscles were frozen. In both experiments, the muscles were analysed for Na+–K+ pump α1, α2, α3, β1, β2 and β3 mRNA. In experiment 1, exercise increased α2 mRNA by 1.0‐fold (P= 0.03), but α2 mRNA was reduced by 0.40‐fold with NAC (P= 0.03). Exercise increased α3, β1 and β2 mRNA by 2.0‐ to 3.4‐fold (P < 0.05), but these were not affected by NAC (P > 0.32). Neither exercise nor NAC altered α1 or β3 mRNA (P > 0.31). In experiment 2, electrical stimulation increased α1, α2 and α3 mRNA by 2.3‐ to 17.4‐fold (P < 0.05), but these changes were abolished by NAC (P > 0.07). Electrical stimulation almost completely reduced β1 mRNA but only in the presence of NAC (P < 0.01). Neither electrical stimulation nor NAC altered β2 or β3 mRNA (P > 0.09). In conclusion, NAC attenuated the increase in Na+–K+ pump α2 mRNA with exercise in human muscle and all α isoforms with electrical stimulation in rat muscle. This indicates a regulatory role for ROS in Na+–K+ pump α isoform mRNA in mammalian muscle during repeated contractions.


and he was discharged on the 14th postoperative day. Postoperative echocardiography revealed no residual obstruction and no pressure gradient in the LV, indicating that complete release of the LV obstruction had been accomplished. In cases of HCM with LV obstruction due to an abnormal mitral subvalvular apparatus, transaortic septal myectomy may not always be an effective procedure. Therefore, we propose that MVR with excision of the PM should be considered one of the useful surgical procedures for such cases. Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 44 : 92 - 96 ( 2015 )


Government inspectors are to carry out spot checks on cleanliness standards at 100 acute hospitals over the next three months.


About three years ago I read W D. Snodgrass' essay "Poems About Paintings," from his collection In Radical Pursuit (1975, New York: Harper and Row), in which he describes teaching an art appreciation course that prompts him to write poems about the paintings he uses. In an example of synchronicity, at the same time I discovered Voices in the Gallery, Dannie Abse's collection of poems on paintings, which is arranged so that every painting has the poem about it on the opposing page. It occurred to me that writing about paintings might be a way to give the whole class the same subject matter. Although I often assign imaginative exercises where everyone in the class writes essentially about the same thing-write a letter to your grandmother, imagine you're a turtle on your back, etc.-I wondered what would happen if the class could see the same thing, have the same experience. If they could, the resulting works would be a way to talk about what is common and universal in literature and what is private and idiosyncratic, 'and how and where these two different vectors intersect. It would give the class a chance to discuss artistic "triggers" (to use Richard Hugo's term). It would give two artists a chance to talk across the years to each other through their works. It would provide lessons in verbal and visual imagery and iconography Students could compare their own approaches not only to each other but to a "great" writer who had written about the same painting they had. Then we could study not only the painting, but the work about the painting. We could have a writing workshop while at the same time having a class in literary analysis and art appreciation.


This paper proposes a design framework based on efficient peak-to-average power (PAPR) for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and carrier interferometry OFDM (CI/OFDM) systems with iterative clipping. In this paper, we utilize the efficient PAPR which is defined as the PAPR minimizing the total degradation (TD) to determine the optimum clipping ratio (CR) considering the effects of clipping and a solid state PA (SSPA). We evaluate the TD of OFDM and CI/OFDM systems with iterative clipping with comparing the performance by those systems without clipping. For QPSK symbols it is found that the efficient PAPR is 6 dB and TD gain compared with the system without iterative clipping is 1.3 dB in OFDM systems. Further gain can be obtained for CI/OFDM systems, that is, efficient PAPR is 4 dB and the TD gain is 3.2 dB.


We study the orbital effect of a strong magnetic field parallel to the layers on the energy spectrum of the Bernal-stacked graphene bilayer and multilayers, including graphite. We consider the minimal model with the electron tunneling between the nearest sites in the plane and out of the plane. Using the semiclassical analytical approximation and exact numerical diagonalization, we find that the energy spectrum consists of two domains. In the low- and high-energy domains, the semiclassical electron orbits are closed and open, so the spectra are discrete and continuous, correspondingly. The discrete energy levels are the analogs of the Landau levels for the parallel magnetic field. They can be detected experimentally using electron tunneling and optical spectroscopy. In both domains, the electron wave functions are localized on a finite number of graphene layers, so the results can be applied to graphene multilayers of a finite thickness.


Seemingly random path, pattern, network or analyze the sequence of events, the seemingly random path, pattern, network or series of events system and method characterize, is disclosed by the constructor le analysis. The resulting statistical values are available the seemingly random path, pattern, network, or a series of events, another seemingly random path, pattern, in comparison with the network or series of events. By comparison, the seemingly random path, pattern, network or information about the sequence of events, as well as the seemingly random path, pattern, information about the proximity portion or near network or series of events, obtained.


The effect on verbal problem solving from using either abstract or concrete words was examined. Twe/ve undergraduate students in each of the two conditions mentally solved identically structured problems by reordering and chaining together previously memorized pairs of words. Subjects who received concrete words both memorized the word pairs and solved the problems in less time than did subjects who received abstract word pairs. Superior performance associated with concrete words was analyzed in relation4to the facilitating effect of imaginal over verbal encoding. Implications were


Introduction: There are more and more studies that demonstrate the anti-inflammatory effects of the traditional Mediterranean diet (TMD). The aim of the study was to assess the effects of an intervention with the TMD in patients with recurrent acute and chronic rhinosinusitis. Material and Methods: We performed a pretest–posttest comparison study in 114 patients (56 girls and 58 boys) aged one to five years who had three or more acute rhinosinusitis episodes in the period of 1 year. They were included for a year in the nutritional program "Learning to eat from the Mediterranean". The anthropometric, clinical, and therapeutic characteristics were studied. Results: All the studied indicators showed a positive and statistically significant evolution. Of the patients, 53.5% did not have any episode of acute rhinosinusitis, and 26.3% had only one, compared to the 3.37 they had on average in the previous year. The use of antibiotics decreased by 87.6%. The degree of satisfaction of the families was very high. The Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED) that assesses the quality of the TMD rose from 7.7 to 11 points. Conclusions: The adoption of the TMD could have promising effects in the prevention and treatment of recurrent acute and chronic rhinosinusitis, limiting the pharmacological and surgical intervention in many of these patients.


Aims: To observe safety of fasting in patients with type 1 diabetes during Ramadan. Methods: A prospective, case control study was conducted in the Out-patient department of Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology from June to September 2013. The study was carried out in two phases; Pre-Ramadan recruitment phase (Visit A) and Post-Ramadan follow-up phase (Visit B) of the same patients. In visit A, Ramadan-specific diabetes education was delivered by health care providers in group session and educational material provided to each patient. Results: Sixty two patients with type 1 diabetes (42 in fasting and 20 in non-fasting group) participated in the study. No significant change (p > 0.05) observed in weight and HbA1c of fasting and non-fasting groups before and after Ramadan. During Ramadan, out of 1380 blood glucose readings in fasting group, there were 98 (7.1%) and 570 (41.3%) episodes of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia respectively. None of the patients developed diabetic ketoacidosis and none required hospitalization. No significant difference (p > 0.05) observed in the frequency of hypoglycemia while hyperglycemia increased (p < 0.05) when glycemic status during Ramadan was compared with Pre-Ramadan. No significant difference (p > 0.05) observed in the frequency of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia when Ramadan was compared with Post-Ramadan. Conclusion: We observed that majority of patients with type 1 diabetes did not have serious acute complications of diabetes during Ramadan. Safety of fasting can be ensured in patients with type 1 diabetes with Ramadan-specific diabetes education and medical supervision.


We present a general approach for determining the unknown (or uncertain) position and orientation of a sensor mounted on a robot in a known environment, using only a few distance measurements (between 2 to 6 typically), which is advantageous, among others, in sensor cost, and storage and information-communication resources. In-between the measurements, the robot can perform predetermined local motions in its workspace, which are useful for narrowing down the candidate poses of the sensor. We demonstrate our approach for planar workspaces, and show that, under mild transversality assumptions, already two measurements are sufficient to reduce the set of possible poses to a set of curves (one-dimensional objects) in the three-dimensional configuration space of the sensor $\mathbb{R}^{2}\times \mathbb{S}^{1},$ and three or more measurements reduce the set of possible poses to a finite collection of points. However, analytically computing these potential poses for non-trivial intermediate motions between measurements raises substantial hardships and thus we resort to numerical approximation. We reduce the localization problem to a carefully tailored procedure of intersecting two or more implicitly defined two-manifolds, which we carry out to any desired accuracy, proving guarantees on the quality of the approximation. We demonstrate the real-time effectiveness of our method even at high accuracy on various scenarios and different allowable intermediate motions. We also present experiments with a physical robot. Our open-source software and supplementary materials are available at https://bitbucket.org/taucgl/vb-fdml-public.


This introduction highlights the historically oriented scholarship and politically engaged writing that examines places and times without police, which appear in this issue. Modern approaches to governance generally take the presence of police as necessary to maintaining social peace, even though police have proven to fail at fostering public safety and in fact tend to escalate harm and violence. Following the lead of activists working to dismantle police, prisons, and other institutions of state violence, the introduction takes seriously the question of how to imagine, and to build, a world without police. It looks specifically to historical analysis as an especially useful vantage from which to respond to this provocation and outlines how the issue's contributors detail times and places when people worked without or against formal institutions of modern police.


By analyzing effort factors of epoxy coating adhesion such as water absorption, acid corrosion and cycles stress, the acid carrion behaviors of epoxy resins as coating under stress have be evaluated. The results showed that under solution swelling, mechanical load and aggressive media interaction, epoxy coating adhesion drop distinctly and completely lost the ability of corrosion protection.


This dissertation seeks to explore the roles, functions, and possibilities of memory and commemoration in the "Troubles plays" in the 1980s, that is, the plays concerning the Troubles of Northern Ireland. The main theatrical works discussed in the dissertation include Christina Reid's Tea in a China Cup (1983), My Name, Shall I Tell You My Name? (1989), Frank McGuinness' Carthaginians (1988), and Stewart Parker's Pentecost (1987). In addition, I will also make reference to Brian Friel's Freedom of the City (1973) and Dave Duggan's Scenes from an Inquiry (2002). The introduction discusses the research topics, contexts, and questions of this dissertation, provides detailed literature reviews of the selected plays by Reid, McGuinness, and Parker, and ends with a chapter outline of the dissertation. The first chapter surveys the Troubles plays of Northern Ireland and shows the potential of memory studies in Northern Irish theatrical studies. The second chapter gives a detailed account of the trends and topics of Irish memory studies and also the theoretical frameworks and concepts employed in this dissertation. The third chapter provides a general overview of the ways in which memory and storytelling function in the political, legal, and social processes of transitional justice and conflict resolution in contemporary Northern Ireland, and thus emphasizes the significance of memory and forgetting in not only cultural representations but also everyday life in the peace process. The fourth chapter discusses Christina Reid's Tea in a China Cup (1983) and My Name, Shall I Tell You My Name? (1989) by drawing upon sociological and cultural approaches to memory in (Irish) memory study. I explore the relationships between personal and collective memory, especially inter-generational memory within the Protestant, loyalist families in the plays, and further argue the peculiar temporality of loyalist memory in Northern Ireland. Moreover, I explain the female memory which is generally sidelined in the communal memory of loyalism and unionism from the perspective of the female protagonists, and hence challenge mainstream loyalist commemoration from the perspective of gender. In addition, I reveal the way in which the contestation of the social memory of the Battle of the Boyne and the Battle of the Somme at different levels and by different agents in these two plays indicates the problems of the eternal cycle of loyalist memory and its oblivion. In the end, I suggest that these two plays disclose the ethical potential to de-politicize memory and remember for the future instead of the past.
 The fifth chapter primarily talks about Frank McGuinness' Carthaginians (1988), but also refers to Brian Friel's Freedom of the City (1973) and Dave Duggan's Scenes from an Inquiry (2002) for comparison. This chapter mainly employs concepts and theories about the relationships between memory, narrative, and trauma to illuminate the personal endeavors of the characters as either injured survivors or bereaved relatives to work over traumatic experiences of Bloody Sunday. Besides, I then discuss the way in which storytelling and narrative help or discourage the process of healing and recovery from the shocking experiences of the tragic past of state violence against the Catholic community. Additionally, I also probe into the problems of domineering republican memory of Bloody Sunday and its marked and detrimental influences on the masculinity of the male Catholic paramilitaries. In all, this chapter delves into the more personal, hidden process of coming to terms with a collective trauma which is not fully understood and commemorated in Catholic collective memory. The sixth chapter explores the thorny issue of reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland in Stewart Parker's Pentecost (1987), which stages the struggles among characters of different gender roles, religious faiths, and political affiliations in a Protestant, working-class house during the conflict of Ulster Workers' Council strike in 1974. The chapter begins by addressing the political and cultural conundrum of Britishness and Ulster Loyalism in Northern Ireland against the backdrop of the loyalist strike in May 1974. It then delineates the physical and psychological border politics in the private and public spheres in contemporary Northern Ireland and suggests the alternative potential of border thinking for the sectarian politics in Northern Ireland. In contrast to the self-limiting identity and border politics revealed in this play, this chapter also draws on some concepts and theories of ethics and memory so as to consider the possibility of remembering for the future and the other instead of self-serving obsession with a particular fragment and version of the shared, common past. This ethical memory is disclosed by Christian notions of love and its other-regarding principle beyond the sectarian polarization and its enclosed circle of mnemonic time in Northern Ireland. By referring to the current crisis of Northern Ireland after Brexit, the concluding chapter recaps what has been explored in the main body of the dissertation by revealing not only how memory works in Northern Ireland but also how it can and should work so that memory can become an ethical act which does not reproduce and exacerbate existing partisan identities, cultures, and politics but envisions and constructs new cultures of remembrance, new senses of temporality, and eventually new imagined communities. In this dissertation, I argue that the culture and politics of remembrance in Northern Ireland reveal the dynamic tensions between the present and past/future, the private and public, the personal and communal, the fictional and factual, the inclusive and exclusive, the fluid and reified, the traumatic and reparative, the inhospitable and reconciliatory, and the unrighteous and ethical. Moreover, the war of and on memory and forgetting in Northern Ireland shape, sustain, and transform identity politics, historical consciousness, ideological beliefs, emotional states, discursive formations, subject positions, spatial arrangements, and institutional constitutions of different ethno-political communities at different levels and spheres. Either in daily life or special celebrations, the imperative to remember based on a debt to the dead within one ethno-national community only exacerbates the existing polarized sectarianism and results in enmity, violence, and victimhood. However, this duty to remember based on ethical principles might lead to healing, pardon, and reconciliation by demanding a new paradigm of mnemonic frameworks and exchanges; that is, by remembering for the traumas of the ethno-religious other and unfulfilled possibilities of the past in the future tense instead of repeating self-centered mnemonic cycles of consistency and continuity.


Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis has shown an increasing trend in developing countries and accounts for 15-20% of total tuberculosis cases in India. Extra-pulmonary cases are usually diagnosed late due to vague and subtle signs & symptoms at a stage when major irreversible tissue damage had occurred. Tuberculosis is a chronic disease with infection remaining dormant for years in body to get activated whenever the immunity decreases. Spinal and cranial TB has the gravest manifestations, while the abdominal, female genital or pelvic TB poses a challenge because of lack of specific diagnostic tests. Here we are reporting a case of endometrial tuberculosis which was diagnosed very late, followed by treatment default and finally got complicated with Pott's spine with paraplegia due to haematogenous spread. Timely intervention and anti-tubercular treatment improved the symptoms. It stresses on keeping the high suspicion of tuberculosis in unresponsive and persistent general symptoms.


Results of a study into the etching characteristics of dry thermal trichloroethylene-growth silicon dioxide in different compositions of buffered hydrofluoride acid(BHF) are presented.They indicate that when HF wt% is constant,the etch rate of SiO_2 increases as NH4F wt% increases,but will turn to decrease when the NH4F exceeds a weight percentage somewhere between 15wt%~20wt%.It is worth noticing that under the condition of HF 1wt% the etch rate of dry thermal SiO_2 is higher than wet-oxygen thermal silicon oxide.Only when HF3wt%,the etch rate of dry thermal SiO_2 is lower than wet-oxygen thermal silicon oxide.This phenomenon can be explained by combining NH~+_4 blocking model with shallow electron traps introduced by TCE.


The invention discloses an adhesive for a ceramic composite insulator. The adhesive comprises the following components in parts by weight: 1-2 parts of a silane coupling agent, 0.03-0.05 part of an accelerator, 40-55 parts of a diluent, and 0.04-0.06 part of a catalyst. The adhesive, prepared by an synthesized complex accelerator, has good cohesiveness with a ceramic core rod, so that the problem of poor cohesiveness between silane adhesives and the ceramic core rod is better solved, the cohesiveness of an original adhesive is improved, and meanwhile, destruction types of fluororubber and a ceramic core rod bonded part are largely improved. Materials with active methylene, produced by decomposing complex, promote the fluororubber and the silane coupling agent to generate a chemical bond. Meanwhile, the active materials, in vulcanization engineering, generate a plurality of amino resin with a nitrogen methylene structure feature and a large number of active groups (-OH), thereby improving adhesion of the ceramic core rod.


One of the most striking features of contemporary EU governance is the ubiquity of Commission and member-state committees known under the rubric of "comitology." The significance of these committees, however, remains a matter of dispute, with two distinct theoretical images of comitology being put forward in the literature. The first of these approaches, drawn from sociological institutionalism and constructivism, suggests that EU committees provide a forum in which national and supranational experts meet and deliberate in a search for the most efficient solutions to common policy problems. A second view, derived from rational choice theory, depicts comitology committees as control mechanisms designed by EU member governments to supervise the Commission in its executive duties. This article engages in a direct competitive test of these two approaches, examining the empirical record of institutional choice of comitology committees and demonstrating that the weight of both quantitative and qualitative evidence supports rationalist hypotheses. Deliberation may well take place under certain conditions within comitology committees, but it is likely that such deliberation takes place only within a relatively narrow domain, and under conditions yet to be identified.


Neurotransmitter release is accomplished by a multi-component machinery including the membrane-fusing SNARE proteins and Ca2+-sensing Synaptotagmin molecules. However, the Ca2+ sensitivity of release was found to increase or decrease with more or fewer SNARE complexes at the release site, respectively, while the cooperativity is unaffected (Acuna et al., 2014; Arancillo et al., 2013), suggesting that there is no simple division of labor between these two components. To examine the mechanisms underlying these findings, we developed molecular dynamics simulations of the neurotransmitter release machinery, with variable numbers of Synaptotagmin molecules and assembled SNARE complexes at the release site. Ca2+ uncaging simulations showed that increasing the number of SNARE complexes at fixed stoichiometric ratio of Synaptotagmin to SNAREs increased the Ca2+ sensitivity without affecting the cooperativity. The physiological cooperativity of ~4-5 was reproduced with 2-3 Synaptotagmin molecules per SNARE complex, suggesting that Synaptotagmin and SNAREs cooperate in fixed stoichiometry modules. In simulations of action potential-evoked release, increased numbers of Synaptotagmin-SNARE modules increased release probability, consistent with experiment. Our simulations suggest that the final membrane fusion step is driven by SNARE complex-mediated entropic forces, and by vesicle-tethering forces mediated by the long Synaptotagmin linker domains. In consequence, release rates are increased when more SNARE complexes and Synaptotagmin monomers are present at the fusion site.


The invention discloses an assembling method for a secondary combustion chamber of a solid stamping engine. The assembling method comprises the following steps: (1) ensuring the uniformity of the pore diameter of a secondary combustion chamber shell and rounding; (2) turning a nonmetallic part; (3) ensuring the back end airtightness of a spray pipe assembly and the secondary combustion chamber; (4) assembling and bonding the secondary combustion chamber shell and the nonmetallic part together. Through rounding of the pore diameter of the secondary combustion chamber shell and control on an assembling gap between the secondary combustion chamber shell and a nonmetallic layer, the assembling design requirement is ensured, the operating practicability is enhanced, the assembling quality of the secondary combustion chamber is enhanced, and the assembling efficiency is increased.


This paper explores attractiveness of stocks on Karachi Stock Exchange using event study methodology. The main findings of this paper are KSE 100 has included small share capital base manufacturing companies during 2000‐2002. There is no significant difference in pre tax profitability of companies included (excluded) except for their capital structures. The results from event study seem to suggest that KSE100 stocks would be more attractive to passive investors. The passive investors tracking moderate beta stocks on KSE100 index are better off until beta of the stocks climbs up.


out collaboration between all SW most of the experiments and data analyses. QW made the table and figures. Author BX provided Lactobacillus strains. RZ performed the statistical analysis. BW the literature searches. QL in the design of this study. HZ proofread the manuscript and critical TL the study the first of ABSTRACT Aims: To characterize Lactobacillus strains for potential beneficial effects, especially for inhibition of Candida albicans growth. Materials and Methods: Twelve vaginal Lactobacillus strains belonging to five species from our laboratory collection were studied. The acid production and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) production were determined. The biofilm formation ability was measured by a semi-quantitative microtiter plate assay. Besides the detection of autoaggregation and coaggregation capacities with C. albicans using a spectrophotometric assay, aggregating clusters were observed by light microscopy. The spot inhibition, agar overlay and Oxford Cup methods were used to test antagonistic activities of Lactobacillus strains against C. albicans. Results: Seven strains of L. fermentum (A011, A024, A025, A035, A041, A044 and A081) and L. salivarius A023 were revealed to decrease the medium pH below 4.5 just within six hours due to the rapid growth. L. jensenii A083 and L. gasseri A054 were the best biofilm formers in polystyrene plates, whereas the other ten strains could form biofilm with varying affinities. In addition to significant H 2 O 2 production found in L. jensenii A083, L. crispatus A014 and A055, these strains showed strong autoaggregation and coaggregation abilities with C. albicans (ATCC 90029 and Z03). L. salivarius A023, L. fermentum A025 and L. crispatus A014 displayed strong activities against C. albicans in spot inhibition and agar overlay assays. Conclusion: The potential beneficial properties of Lactobacillus spp. were strain specific. Among the tested strains, L. salivarius A023, L. fermentum A025 and L. crispatus A014 might be better candidates for further investigation on the inhibition of C. albicans growth .


Abstract Normetex® Model 15 scroll pump backed by metal bellows (MB) pump made by Senior Aerospace Inc. has been the preferred technology for use in tritium facilities world-wide. Normetex pumps are no longer available and identification of alternate pumps is required for performance and compatibility with tritium gas. Many of the pumps that could be used to meet the functional performance requirements (e.g. pressure and flow conditions) of the Normetex pump have features that include the use of polymers or oils and greases that are not directly compatible with tritium service. Though they are less desirable, alternative pumps may be used in tritium service with appropriate engineered controls to mitigate the impact of degraded organic compounds. These alternative pumps require characterization for potential application in tritium service. One pump that has been identified as a potential replacement for the Normetex pump in some tritium service applications is the Edwards nXDS15iC. A series of pump tests were completed using this pump as a candidate replacement pump. The purpose of the pump testing is two-fold: (1) obtain baseline vacuum pump characteristics for the replacement pump intended for use in tritium service; and (2) verify that low pressure hydrogen gas can be transported over various distances up to 92 meters (300 feet) by the candidate pump. A series of pump tests were performed at various configurations using hydrogen gas (no tritium) and nitrogen to ensure that this pump can meet the performance requirements. The Edwards pump meets the desired functional performance requirements, though there are other tradeoffs that must be considered. As for cost considerations, the Edwards scroll pump costs about ten (10) times less than a Normetex-equivalent scroll pump, which would significantly reduce initial start-up costs in a facility. However, the lifetime of the Edwards pump in a nearly pure tritium process stream is speculated to be only 3–6 months due to the polymer tip seals, whereas the all-metal Normetex pump can last for 5 years. Each application must determine whether the alternative pump considerations outweigh the cost differential. This paper summarizes the results of the tests that have been performed using various pump configurations.


Speed-limited particle-in-cell (SLPIC) simulation 1 is a new method for particle-based plasma modeling of systems wherein the timestep constraints needed for numerical stability are significantly more restrictive than is necessary to model the kinetic physics of interest. SLPIC effectively 'slows down' fast particles whose kinetics do not play a central role in the system dynamics, permitting larger simulation timesteps to be stably used and circumventing the need to resolve fast-timescale phenomena (e.g., electron plasma oscillations) that are irrelevant to slower kinetic processes. SLPIC is a relatively minor modification of conventional particle-in-cell techniques, and is compatible with the field solvers, boundary conditions, and general numerical approaches used by standard PIC; it has been shown to be more efficient than PIC methods in finding steady-state solutions for 1D collisionless sheath problems. In this presentation, we'll give a brief overview of how SLPIC differs from traditional PIC methods, and will explore the use of SLPIC techniques in Tech-X's VSim code to more rapidly and efficiently study the free expansion of plasma into vacuum 2.


Based on the analysis of high temperature weather in Shanghai area during 2002 to 2005,it shows that not only the days of high temperature tend to increase and its intensity tends to strengthen but also the persistent high temperature and high temperature after autumn-beginning increase obviously in recent years.According to the pattern of 500 hPa atmospheric circulation and the position of the subtropical high,all of those high temperature weather patterns can be sorted into 4 kinds;subtropical high,warmarea, subtropical high combined warm-area,and continental warm high.Main characters and forecast keys of 4 kinds are respectively discussed and causes for continental warm high forming are given.Authors put forward that the necessary condition for high temperature weather is the 850 hPa temperature≥ 19℃ and the 500 hPa temperature≥-7℃.Additionally,several forecast aspects for high temperature weather are discussed.


Urban housing dynamics play a crucial role in determining the health hazards faced by urban populations. A range of factors including the quality of housing, access to basic amenities, urban planning, and the presence of environmental hazards can all impact the health of residents. Although the association between the built environment and health is not easy, the effect of buildings on health, particularly housing, has been acknowledged for over a century. The interaction between health and housing has remained comparatively overlooked by researchers and policy makers, but currently nations and world leaders are looking for ways to improve health and wellbeing of their citizens. The multidimensional and complex determinants of health span both the social, economic, psychosocial space, and the physical environments. The effects of the built environment on health can be direct, for example, by influencing environmental quality, or indirect, by influencing behaviors that impact disease diffusion and health. Hence, we try to explore the different types of health and wellbeing risks in the urban environment. A brief literature based article provides an overview of the ways in which the urban built environment can affect human health, portrays how health hazards in housing are associated and apprehension for the health-housing link.


The development of small and medium state-owned enterprises plays important role in promoting the growth of national economy,improving employment opportunities,impelling independent innovation,optimizing trade structure and setting up harmonious society.But there are various risks from management and governance etc.in the course of the development of small and medium state-owned enterprises,and the dilemma of development is becoming clear.The researches on construction of strategic intelligence alliance of small and medium state-owned enterprises found that construction of intelligence alliance can make small and medium state-owned enterprises effectively avoid information asymmetry risk,and help small and medium state-owned enterprises draw up scientific strategic decision.


Rare-earth metals are essential to making electronic components for phones, vehicles, electronic displays, and wind turbines. A new study shows that a bacterial protein called outperforms current m...


Journalists, political analysts, academics, politicians, historians, geographers, members of the military, political scientists, businessmen and anybody else who feels the need to use the term "geopolitics", do so without ever really defining what they mean. It is not unusual to find it applied as an adjective in a number of expressions: a geopolitical alliance, a geopolitical partner, geopolitical threats, a geopolitical axis, geopolitical interests, etc. Supposedly the intention of each of these compounds is to express an idea, a concept or a phenomenon. In the first place, to define geopolitical phenomena it is necessary to understand the relationship between geography and politics -to learn to think of political phenomena in terms of space and geographical phenomena in terms of politics. A geopolitical phenomenon is the struggle between groups of human beings made manifest in the argument, fight, battle or war for predominance (preponderance, superiority, influence) in the whole or part of a geographical area.


Measurements are reported for the impact parameter (b) dependence of K-vacancy production probabilities (P/sub K/(b)) in collisions of 54.4- and 90-MeV Ni with targets of Ni, Ge, and Rb. The shape of P/sub K/(b) is found to be qualitatively similar to that expected for the 2p..pi..-2psigma rotational-coupling mechanism, but the maximum found at large b is shifted to smaller b in comparison with the predicted adiabatic maximum. This behavior is investigated systematically by applying a simple scaling law within the 2p..pi..-2psigma rotational-coupling model on these and all published P/sub K/(b) data of nearly symmetric collision systems.


An analysis is made of specific features of modern divine service repertoire. As a result the ecumenical tendencies manifested both in loan of Catholic musical texts of chants and in stylizations, are revealed. The author shows the ways of application in processing the borrowed material and stylizations which illustrate a susceptibility of orthodox singing culture to others, ability to accumulation for achievement of required result of necessary art means, for the purpose of their inclusion in a context of the traditional, without having broken initial prayerful organization of the corresponding rank.


rhe present energetic and suiecessful botanical collector of thie California Academy of Sciences, Mrs. M. K. Currani, havi'ng lately undertaken the very different work of systematic description in the published Proceedings of the Academy, the views there presented1 naturallv call for some nlotice in the cutrrenit pages of botanical literatture. Havinlg lately given some attentioni to the stud) of Eriogonete thie writer was naturally muich initerested in seeing whatever new light might be thrown by recent discoveries on the difficUlt problems of system-iatic classification, and(i havinig been kindly favoredl wvith authentic specimens and published notes from the above souirce, the folloNVing suggestions are respectfully offered. The Old difficulty of strictly defining geniera and species, that in the )ow p)revalent Darwiniani view are genetically related, is onily equiallv truie of IEriogonee as of other more or less closely associated genera, anid the only satisfactory solutioni is in a careful exercise ofjtudgaient based oni extenisive observation anid experienice. As Mr. Bentharn, the miost profouind of modernii botanical svsteratists, las wiselv remarked, "Any tvro wvitlh a little practice can draw uip loing descriptions of specimen-s, fairly detailing every organ, but the selecting tie characters necessaryto give a good idea of a species in a short description requires a thoroughi kinowledge of the sulbject and a metlhodical minid." i-n the brief pages 1-4 of the. Calif. Acad. Proc. for 1885-86 Mrs. CuIrran claitmis to lhave data, mainly (derived fronm her owvn recenit discoveries, to invalidate some of the lonig established genera of Eriogonee, eveni at the risk of merginig all inito the single polymorphous genutis Er'iogoinun. 'l'o properly sub)stantiate suich a claim we would naturally look for very important (liscoveries, blut, as far as the pages referred to show, only two are br oulgiht to light. The first of these is a very wvell markedl Elriogonu, closely related to the wvell-knowvn E. anzyulosom Beuth., showving in fact no essential differencei either in involuicral characters, or iinterl)al bracteoles, only indeed renmarkable fbin the excessive wooliness encompassing the flowers, on whichi thie very appropriate specific iname, E. gossipinum, is based. Oni tlhe str-enigth of this normal species, however, Mrs. Curran proceeds tat onee to demolish the Nuttallian genus Nemacauilis, anid hastily constructs a section of Eriogontum, "Bracteolata," in which it is snuigly ensconced, being


This history of exclusion from basic rights in South Africa until fundamental rights of every individual were entrenched in the constitution illustrates that respect for sanctity of every person is the basis of the freedom of all the people of South Africa and that all religious communities should protect the Bill of Rights . Neither confessional nor denominational considerations should be put to the fore; the focus should fall instead on the common concern of all religions for the sanctity of the individual.


The rapid increase on the demand for mobile telephony has led the operating companies to use cell splitting in order to increase capacity. This tends to reduce the cells sizes to what is called picocells, which suits office and factory environments. Eventually the next generation of mobile systems, PCS, will be introduced, helping to cope with the high demand. Although the frequency of the PCS system will be around 1800 MHz, the aim of this work is to verify how a 900 MHz signal behaves inside a building with corridors and rooms receiving a signal internally and externally. The attenuation due to obstructing material is determined. In the next set of experiments the 1800 MHz frequency will be used.


The aim of the present paper is to discuss the monitoring strategies for a modular hydrokinetic turbine system. A floating triangular-frame arrangement of three propeller hydrokinetic turbines is installed in the outflow channel of a hydropower plant, in the interest of remaining water stream energy conversion. The monitoring techniques based on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are reported, taking into account the specific framework of the instrumentation and data management in field experiments.


We study bounds on the distances of roots of integer polynomials and applications of such results. The separation of complex roots for reducible monic integer polynomials of fourth degree is thoroughly explained. Lemmas on roots of polynomials in the p-adic setting are proved. Explicit families of polynomials of general degree as well as families in some classes of quadratic and cubic polynomials with very good separation of roots in the same setting are exhibited. The second part of the thesis is concerned with results on p-adic versions of Mahler's and Koksma's functions wn and w*n and the related classifications of transcendental numbers in Cp. The main result is a construction of numbers such that the two functions wn and w*n differ on them for every n and later on expanding the interval of possible values for wn-w*n. The inequalities linking values of Koksma's functions for algebraically dependent numbers are proved.


A combination of medications effectively produced a sustained virologic response (SVR) in Hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients also infected with HIV, according to two new studies.


Abstract Purpose: To investigate the relationship between renal parenchymal volume (RPV) and renal function in obstructed kidneys using a novel three-dimensional (3D) volume-rendering technique. Materials and Methods: Forty-seven consecutive patients who underwent pyeloplasty, ureteroureterostomy, or ureteroneocystostomy at a single institution between 2007 and 2013 were reviewed. Patients with preoperative CT scan and split differential functional (SDF) assessment by diuretic renography were included. Those with solitary kidneys and bilateral obstruction were excluded. Baseline serum creatinine (Cr) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as calculated by the modification of diet in renal disease equation were determined. Percent of total RPV for the obstructed kidney was determined using 3D reconstruction software by drawing regions of interest around the borders of the kidney on CT. The renal pelvis, hilar vessels, and hilar fat were excluded. Percent of total RPV was then correlated with SDF. ...


The Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEV) are considered to be a mid-term solution to reducing the transportation sector's dependency on oil. Nevertheless, PEVs implemented in a large scale without control can lead to destabilizing the grid due to the significant increase of the peak load. In the present paper, an offline heuristic algorithm is developed for smart charging the Plug-In Electric Vehicles, minimizing the charging cost. An analysis based on different load powers existing in France and considering two types of energy prices (energy price in France and energy price in the US) shows that the charging cost can be minimized up to 48.7% for the price distribution in the US and up to 33.2% for France.


......................................... .................................................. II DECLARATION ....................................... .............................................. III DEDICATION ....................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................. ................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................. ...................................... VI LIST OF TABLES .................................... .............................................. X LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................. XII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................... ................................... 1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY .................................................................................... 1 1.1 CONTEXT OF THE STUDY .................................................................................... 2 1.2 1.2.1 SOUTH AFRICA'S NEED OF SMES FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH ................................................ 2 1.2.2 THE PROBLEM OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ......................................................................... 3 PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................................ 3 1.3 1.3.1 MAIN PROBLEM ................................................................................................................ 4 1.3.2 SUB-PROBLEMS ............................................................................................................... 5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .............................................................................. 6 1.4 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................ 8 1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMS ........................................................................................ 9 1.6 ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................................. 12 1.7 1.7.1 RESEARCH ASSUMPTIONS .............................................................................................. 12 1.7.2 RESEARCH ETHICS......................................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................. ............................ 13 2.


Accurate fault identification is essential for geological interpretation and reservoir exploitation. However, the unclear and noisy composition of seismic data makes it difficult to identify the complete fault structure using conventional methods. Thus, we have developed an attentional U-shaped network (EAResU-net) based on enhanced feature fusion for automated end-to-end fault interpretation of 3D seismic data. EAResU-net uses an enhanced feature fusion mechanism to reduce the semantic gap between the encoder and decoder and improve the representation of fault features in combination with residual structures. In addition, EAResU-net introduces an attention mechanism, which effectively suppresses seismic data noise and improves model accuracy. The experimental results on synthetic and field data demonstrate that, compared with traditional deep learning methods for fault detection, our EAResU-net can achieve more accurate and continuous fault recognition results.


Friction stir welding (FSW) experiments were carried out on AZ31 magnesium alloy under the optimized welding parameters. The temperature distribution, macrostructure and microstructure, mechanical properties of the joint were studied along three dimensions (transverse direction, longitudinal direction, thickness direction). Temperature distribution, joint appearance and microstructure demonstrate asymmetric gradient in three dimensions. The peak temperature of featured points at the welding beginning stage was lower, and the one in the ending stage was higher. The temperature of advancing side was higher than that of the retreating side. More in detail, the dynamically recrystallized microstructure in weld nugget zone (WNZ) was uniform and small. The thermomechanically affected zones (TMAZ) closed to the WNZ, which were characterized with bended and elongated grains. At advancing side, the interface between TMAZ and WNZ was very distinct. The microhardness distribution showed a typical W shape. The profile showed a slightly lower hardness in the WNZ than in the base metal,HAZ, and TMAZ correspond to the lowest one. The FSW joints were observed to fail mostly at the boundary between WNZ and TMAZ at the advancing side.


The text discusses the folk-tale princess as a good role model for both children and adults, from a feminist debate concerning this issue. Also an iconographic study, it compares women in folk-tale ...


Tay-Sachs is a hereditary syndrome that damages the spinal cord and brain nerve cells. This rare type of disease is mainly manifested in infants at the ages of three to six months. Affected infants lose all their motor skills, such as sitting and crawling. As the disease evolves, kids infected will experience seizures, blindness, deafness, and eventually paralysis. Solovyeva et al., 2018). Currently, there is no treatment for TSD, and different therapies are joined to improve symptoms in patients with the late-onset form. Infant TSD patients do not survive beyond five years. These therapies can also defer the progression of TSD in late-onset form patients. Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and enzyme enhancement therapies (EET) are encouraging therapies that could finally cure the disease. Smith (2021) demonstrated the efficiency of ERT and EET therapies using α and β subunits of Hex A using rats and a rare form of sheep known as Jacob sheep. This evaluation discourses the effectiveness of Enzyme replacement and Enhancement therapies in preventing neuroinflammation and non-neurologic symptoms of the TSD.


Social media platforms have become a primary source of information and public influence. This dynamic has given rise to the interest of journalists, companies, scientists and organizations in identifying the most productive and influential agents of a network. Although popular indicators such as Reach, Engagement and Virality can be a good basis for evaluating the influence of social media users, they do not capture quality characteristics of the user, such as productivity and consistency. In an attempt to overcome this limitation, the current work proposes the use of the well-established, in the academic community, h-Index as a tool of comparatively measuring social media influence.


Extensive dairy farms in Namibia are allowing farmers to not only supply milk to the country's people, but to also produce more meat and create more job opportunities. Cross-bred cattle with good milk traits are used for this purpose, because purebred dairy cattle suffer under the harsh conditions.


Would you like to speed up your cases, achieve more satisfying results for your clients, and cut back on needlessly polarizing motion practice? Since its introduction in the 1980s, child welfare mediation has helped attorneys do just that by facilitating resolutions in child protective disputes more quickly, less contentiously, and with more acceptance from stakeholders than its courtroom alternative, adversarial litigation. If you've handled dependency cases for any length of time, you are already familiar with the crushing caseloads, emotional volatility, and high-stakes decision-making that are the hallmarksof child welfare litigation. In a growing number of jurisdictions, attorneys are increasingly turning to mediation to help move these difficult cases forward.This article explores some of the 'do's and don'ts' of child welfare mediation.


B. G. Jamieson: I would like to make an announcement which I was commissioned to make by the Subcommittee of the A. I. E. E. on oil circuit breakers. We have as a heritage a definition of duty cycle, which is fundamental in determining the rating of oil circuit breakers. That duty cycle, as defined by Hewlett, Burnham, Mahoney in a paper written about four years ago, represents the sumtotal of available literature on the subject. The adoption by the American Institute of Electrical Engineers of a standard definition is based on that paper.


Clinical genomic studies of pediatric cancer have primarily focused on specific tumor types or high-risk disease. In the Genomes for Kids study (NCT02530658) we used a three-platform sequencing approach, including whole genome (WGS), whole exome (WES) and RNA sequencing, to examine tumor and paired germline genomes from prospectively identified children with cancer. The goal of the study was to assess the potential of comprehensive next generation sequencing to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor formation and investigate the potential of this information to influence clinical decision-making.The cohort, with a median age of 6 yrs, range 0 - 26 yrs, included 301 patients with newly diagnosed (85%) or relapsed/refractory (15%) cancers, unselected for tumor type or stage. Patients with hematologic malignancies accounted for 41% of cases, 31% had CNS tumors, and 28% had other non-CNS solid tumors. This cohort also included 18 patients with very rare tumor types, defined here as occurring in less than 2 cases per million person per year.Two hundred fifty three patients (84%) had sufficient tumor for three-platform sequencing and all 301 had adequate paired germline samples. Following analysis, 86% of patients harbored diagnostic (53%), prognostic (57%), therapeutically relevant (25%), and/or cancer predisposing (18%) variants. The inclusion of WGS enabled detection of oncogenic gene fusions, as well as 22 cases in which oncogenes were activated through enhancer hijacking, a particularly frequent occurrence in hematologic malignancies. In addition, WGS effectively detected clinically relevant small intragenic deletions (15% of tumors) and a variety of mutational signatures, which were not detectable through analysis of whole exome data. Evaluation of 56 pathogenic germline variants in the context of paired tumor sequence data helped establish the disease relevance of several genes that are not typically associated with the cancer type in question, providing critical insights on a case-by-case basis. Examples include a pathogenic germline variant in MUTYH in a patient with retinoblastoma whose tumor exhibited a mutation signature associated with reactive oxygen species indicative of loss of MUTYH function; and conversely, a likely pathogenic variant in PMS2 in a rare brain cancer, which did not exhibit a mutation signature associated with microsatellite instability. This study successfully demonstrated the power of this three-platform approach to interrogate and interpret the full range of genomic variants across newly diagnosed as well as relapsed/refractory pediatric cancers. As a result of these findings, we have incorporated this three-platform approach into our routine real-time clinical service at St. Jude Children9s Hospital. Citation Format: David A. Wheeler, Scott Newman, Joy Nakitandwe, Chimene A. Kesserwan, Elizabeth M. Azzato, Michael C. Rusch, Sheila Shurtleff, Armita Bahrami, Brent Orr, Jeffery M. Klco, Dale J. Hedges, Kayla V. Hamilton, Scott G. Foy, Michael N. Edmonson, Andrew Thrasher, Jiali Gu, Lynn W. Harrison, Lu Wang, Roya Mostafavi, Manish Kubal, Jamie Maciaszek, Michael Clay, Annastasia Ouma, Antonina Silkov, Yanling Liu, Zhaojie Zhang, Yu Liu, Samuel W. Brady, Xin Zhou, Mark Wilkinson, Delaram Rahbarinia, Jay Knight, Jian Wang, Charles G. Mullighan, Rose B. McGee, Emily A. Quinn, Elsie L. Gerhardt, Leslie M. Taylor, Regina Nuccio, Jessica M. Valdez, Stacy J. Hines-Dowell, Alberto Pappo, Giles Robinson, Liza-Marie Johnson, Ching-Hon Pui, David W. Ellison, James R. Downing, Jinghui Zhang, Kim E. Nichols. Genomes for Kids: Comprehensive DNA and RNA sequencing defining the scope of actionable mutations in pediatric cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 642.


An energy internet is a system that enables energy sharing in a distribution system such as the Internet. It has been attracting a lot attention from both academia and industry. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a model of an electric vehicle (EV) energy network to transmit, distribute, and store energy by EVs from renewable energy sources to places that need the energy. We describe the EV energy internet in detail and then formulate an optimization problem to place charging stations in an EV energy internet. We develop two solutions: one using a greedy heuristic and another based on diffusion. Simulation results using real-world data show that the greedy heuristic requires less charging stations, whereas the diffusion-based algorithm incurs less energy transmission loss.


A novel inhibition-based biosensor of glucose oxidase (GOx) for environmental mercury detection is described. The response of the sensor is based on the current reduction in the electrochemical system by inhibition of mercury against GOx electrode. The mechanism of the redox reaction on the electrode,and the performance of the sensor are studied. The detection limit of the inhibition-based sensor towards mercury is 0.49 ng/mL. The linear response range is divided into two parts,one is 0.49~783.21 ng/mL,and the other is 783.21 ng/mL~25.55 μg/mL. The Pt/PA/Fc/GA/GOx membrane can be completely reactivated after inhibition,and remains 70% activity in more than one month. Interference to mercury determination from lead(Ⅱ),copper(Ⅱ),cadmium(Ⅱ) and chromium(Ⅲ) is found to be ignorable. The sensor has been used for mercury determination in soil extract with good results.


In earlier exact calculations of the linear viscoelastic behavior of semidilute suspensions of hard spheres we have shown that hydrodynamic interactions have a significant influence on the frequency dependence of the dynamic shear viscosity. Scaling with the mean relaxation time is not sufficient. Here we reanalyze experimental data of van der Werff et al. on the linear viscoelasticity of dense hard sphere suspensions with hydrodynamic interactions, and determine values of the parameters characterizing the shape of the dispersion curves. We find that the data cannot be explained by scaling the exact result for a semidilute suspension of hard spheres without hydrodynamic interactions with just the mean relaxation time.


Phase I of the GERDA experiment, aimed at investigating neutrino-less double beta decay of 76Ge is active in Italy at the INFN LNGS (Gran Sasso Laboratory of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics) since one year. Germanium detectors are operated immerged in liquid Argon, with front-end electronics based on the "CC2", a three channels, low noise, cryogenic charge sensitive preamplifier, designed to cope with the peculiar characteristics of the GERDA experiment (radio-purity, power consumption, connection to the outside of the cryostat by means of long and resistive cables, etc.). The new proposed preamplifier "CC3" is derived from the general scheme of the previous circuit, with a few effective changes that mainly allow the physical separation of the preamplifier into two sections: i) the very-front-end, comprising the input JFET and the feedback elements that needs to be positioned very close to the detectors and ii) the rest of the circuit, that will be up 1.5 meters away from the detectors. While keeping the same electrical properties of the previous circuit in terms of noise, bandwidth, power consumption, etc., the new configuration will decrease the overall radioactivity contribution of the preamplifiers and thus fit the more stringent requirements of the phase II experiment. Prototype printed circuit boards have been designed and manufactured; the first experimental tests are in agreement with the simulations and show satisfactory results.


We present a fully analytical solution of the dynamics of two strongly driven atoms resonantly coupled to a dissipative cavity field mode. We show that an initial atom-atom entanglement cannot be increased. In fact, the atomic Hilbert space divides into two subspaces, one of which is decoherence free so that the initial atomic entanglement remains available for applications, even in presence of a low enough atomic decay rate. In the other subspace a measure of entanglement, decoherence, and also purity, are described by a similar functional behavior that can be monitored by joint atomic measurements. Furthermore, we show the possible generation of Schr\"odinger-cat-like states for the whole system in the transient regime, as well as of entanglement for the cavity field and the atom-atom subsystems conditioned by measurements on the complementary subsystem.


Although the ways that citizens communicate and exercise their freedom of speech have changed, constitutional interpretations surrounding that communication and speech remain the same. In 1883, in the decision of the Civil Rights Cases: United States v. Stanley, the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause restrains government actors only. So, if a citizen who expresses an unpopular opinion on social media is a private employee, as opposed to a government (public) employee, the private employee can be terminated with virtually no redress.

Cases involving public employers and employees dominant Supreme Court rulings, while cases involving private employers and employees go unnoticed. Although the latter types of cases may be found, they do not reach the level of being binding on all because the interpretation of the Constitution and legislation does not allow it.

This Article examines case law, the history of the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the reasoning of the Court when ruling on cases that have solidified the distinction between public and private employees' free speech. The author examines laws, legislation, and social media policies that also allow for this distinction. The author concludes that, despite the historical interpretation, as communication media change, so should the laws that surround them to allow private employees the same protection and redress as public employees.


There is provided a data processing method and apparatus, the method comprising the steps of: (i) transmitting data to the at least one second network component from a first network component via at least two lines; and (ii) the first network component via at least a transmission line at least two measuring marks lines.


Ukraine has been severely affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as it's considered generally an underresourced country. There is no such thing as a universal healthcare system. Ukraine did not effectively establish a healthcare system that would ensure its population unfettered access to treatment after attaining independence in 1991.Many citizens whomay have received treatment while the country was a member of the Soviet Union are no longer allowed to do so. Ukraine's healthcare system was not adequately prepared to deal with such a crisis. As a result, it has been drained of its resources and suffered from a lack of equipment and staff. Until recently, the system regained its control of the situation. Deficiencies in crucial equipment, including ventilators and critical protection items such as masks and gloves, have resulted in higher COVID19 infection rates among health providers of doctors and nurses. Another problem that affected the overall preparedness was the lack of coordination between hospitals, local authorities, and the Ministry of Health. At that point, Ukrainians were afraid of the pandemic. They doubted that their government would protect them because the government's financial resources were limited minimal and test kits were scarce. Therefore, the Ukrainian government chose to compensate with highly restrictive policies from the beginning. The government reacted fast and firmly since the start. Ukraine has introduced quarantine and started isolation strategies as early as 12 March 2020. The president set the initial tone of great concern, advising Ukrainians to stay at home using a face mask in public. Unfortunately, this success was short-lived, as another catastrophe began. The Ukrainian people have been living with the threat of their powerful neighbor for many years. The ongoing war with Russia has created even more burdens for the system to recover, leading to more complicated health problems. On 24 February 2022, Russia has declared war and launched a brutal and unprovoked military attack on Ukraine. Ukraine's forces are fighting to hold onto the capital city (Kyiv) and the country's independence. The conflict was complicated by how the invasion unfolded, from Thursday's first explosions near the capital. More catastrophic situations to residents facing a gut-wrenching decision of whether to flee their homes and Ukrainians are surveying the damage of Russian airstrikes as they braced for intensifying conflict. Since the declaration of war, the fighting has caused over 100 civilian casualties and pushed tens of thousands of Ukrainians to flee to neighboring countries and become emigrants. They are now struggling to find food and shelter, and due to the overcrowding at borders, they are more susceptible to COVID-19 and many other infectious diseases. As a result of these unrelenting attacks, many people have been wounded and require medical care, putting the Ukrainian healthcare system under unprecedented pressure. This strain has forced many existing COVID-19 centres to shift their scope, and most nonemergencymedical care was delayed or canceled.With a population of 43 300 252, Ukraine had been able to control the pandemic before the war; however, it is virtually impossible to track COVID-19 status on the ground because of widespread destruction and displacement. (1) Furthermore, regular bombardments forced residents in the major areas within Kyiv to seek refugees in large groups in basements and bunkers within confined spaces, thus increasing the chance of further spreading the virus. Given these obstacles, we strongly support doctors and physicians from all over the world to provide as much help as possible to prevent this tragically event. This is a distress call for international organisations to take responsibility towards Ukrainian patients. International humanitarian organisations should provide enough additional equipment and medications to these patients in Ukraine during this conflict. It's also mandatory to help strengthen the Ukrainian health system, which this war has damaged. This can be done by facilitating access to healthcare facilities, improving the infrastructure, and establishing well-equipped centres for treatment and recovery. Healthwise, several recommendations must be taken seriously to provide help for war-era Ukraine. (2) Regarding the serious conflict with Russia, international organisations and committees should join forces to provide displaced Ukrainians with urgent food supplies and medications. Temporary shelters are needed for Ukrainians who are waiting at borders. (3) Reconsidering the tragic situation suffered by Ukrainian refugees' children by the sounds of war and the loss of fathers due to the volunteering of a large number of aDepartment of Neurosurgery, Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital, Damascus, bFaculty of Medicine, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria, cFaculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt and dDirectorate of Health Services, JLNM Hospital, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India


Objective:To evaluate the clinical values of 201 Tl exercise stress SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging(MPI) and exercise stress electrocardiogram(ES-ECG) in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease(CAD).Methods:A total of 96 cases with coronary angiography(CAG) were divided into the CAD group(n=55) and the non-CAD group(n=41) according to the CAG results.All cases did 201 Tl exercise stress SPECT MPI and ES-ECG.Compared and analyzed the sensitivity,specificity,accuracy,positive and negative predictive values of 201Tl exercise stress SPECT MPI and ES-ECG in diagnosis of CAD.Results:The sensitivity of exercise stress SPECT MPI and ES-ECG were 0.98,0.82 respectively,specificity of those were 0.85,0.39 respectively,accuracy of those were 0.92,0.64,positive and negative predictive values of those were 0.90,0.64 and 0.97,0.62 respectively.Conclusion:There is good concordance between exercise stress SPECT MPI and CAG,and ES-ECG is one kind better screening method.