To increase the speed of the measurement, a time-efficient multi-probe system in a reverberation chamber (RC) is validated. The system consists of 4 printed circuit board (PCB) switches integrating with 128 probe antennas. By using solid-state switches, all antennas can be switched over in sequence in less than 1 second. Typical characteristics of the RC and the total radiated power (TRP) of the device under test (DUT) are performed to verify the validity of this configuration. Compared with the RC using mechanical stirrers, this system shows its superiority in terms of testing efficiency.


The Neolithic in the central Balkans saw dramatic changes in settlement forms, architecture, and material culture, with substantial, often long-lived settlements that can reasonably be called villages emerging in the later part of the period. This paper examines the role of herding practices in the development of these large, more-or-less settled communities. Radiocarbon results (including twenty-seven new AMS dates from Gomolava, Opovo, and Petnica) are used to place the available zooarchaeological data into a chronological framework, allowing comparison of inter- and intra-site changes across the region. The data point to the development of large-scale cattle herding in the later Neolithic, the implications of which for mobility and community cohesion are discussed. This trend is seen clearly over time at certain sites but, like the settlement evidence, is neither universal nor synchronous across the region, emphasizing that change occurred, and should be understood, on the level of individual communities.


Fully coalesced Al0.93Ga0.07N films were demonstrated by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on deep grooved SiC substrates. Lateral Al0.93Ga0.07N growth was achieved at low V/III ratios during growth. The deep grooves enabled coalescence despite of parasitic growth in the trenches. Dislocation reduction in the overgrown regions of the films was observed by transition electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy.


Through analysis the causes of the free formaldehyde came from particle board,the article points out some methods to reduce the content of free formaldehyde.It aims at making the board compete against others and improving the environment around us.


The period of the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s was the decade of the small entrepreneur. The outcome was an entrepreneurial explosion during which small suddenly became more beautiful in the marketplace. During this period, entrepreneurship was everywhere, offering something new to governments, cities, corporations, and individuals [3, p. 16]. The new interest in entrepreneurship was not confined to the public and small business sectors. Many big business corporations in the United States and Europe were also exploring ways to elicit entrepreneurship within their structures. Soon, the rising belief in 'an entrepreneurial age' became synonymous with 'the down-sizing ear'. Hence, for more than a decade, the public has been told repeatedly that small firms are the engine of economic growth, while large corporations are in many respects becoming something of a dinosaur with bureaucratic organizations, and increasingly unable to compete in a post-industrial world. Corporate giants once walked tall and proud, championing business development and economic growth across the globe. In the 1990s, big business is undergoing structural changes which have embraced the world of business and have caused the breakup of these mega-firms [1]. At the same time, no single factor, economic or demographic, is responsible for the changes sweeping through big businesses which have brought about this restructuring over the past decade. To some this is another episode of 'creative destruction', the fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion as put forward by Joseph Schumpeter [5]. To others, including Bennett Harrison, 'the fall of big business' and 'the entrepreneurial explosion' of small businesses or the so-called 'wonderland economy' in the last decade represents a fundamental question: Is the large corporation indeed on the road to extinction as a viable, ecologically competitive form of business organization? Throughout the pages of Lean and Mean, Harrison, a professor of political economy in the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy


We analyse the status of stability for parallel jobs on a supercomputer. The ways to evaluate stability include analyzing a workload from the batch system and testing a parallel application on 2000 processors. The analysis of the workload shows: the stability of parallel jobs decreases when the execution time and processors for the jobs increase;more than 20 percent jobs will abort due to the computing node failures when they need 105 CPU hours. The result of testing shows the parallel jobs with thousands of processors is prone to abortion by the multiple facts,and their sustaining execution time is hard to reach 24 hours. Finally,we give some suggestions on system management,improving the stability of supercomputers,and designing parallel programs.


Mineralized collagen fibril is the basic structural unit of connective tissue in bone and tooth.Current understanding of the structure,self-assembly mechanisms,and properties of mineralized collagen fibril composites in connective tissues is reviewed.Recent work involving biomimetic synthesis of new materials with the structure of mineralized collagen is described.The research mainly focuses on materials containing type I collagen with mineralization by Ca-P crystals,although some other systems are also described.Development of bone grafts based on the mineralization of self assembled collagen fibrils in vivo and in vitro is active in research.This kind of bone graft composite has already shown great promise and success in clinical applications because of its compositional and structural properties similar to that of autologous bone.


Summary The development, preparation and field evaluation of a highly effective formalin-killed vaccine against acute respiratory illnesses caused by viruses of the RI (Adenovirus) family has been described. The vaccine, prepared from infected tissue cultures of monkey renal epithelium, contained types 4 and 7 virus and was not injurious upon human injection. In human volunteers given a single 1 ml dose of vaccine intramuscularly, it induced high levels of neutralizing antibody. In 311 recruits, vaccinated at Fort Dix, N. J., it produced a marked reduction in the incidence of acute respiratory illness beginning one week after the initial dose of vaccine; only 4.8% of those receiving RI vaccine were hospitalized for respiratory illness compared with 23.8% of the control group of 313 which received placebo.


Our entire educational system is directed at forming the new man. Study of literature in the school plays an immense role in education, and study of literary works on Lenin is particularly important in resolving problems of instructing and educating our young people. A comparison of the works on Lenin that are part of the school program with other publications and memoirs on the leader can play a specific role in the course of a deep study of these works. The inclusion of such comparisons in studies devoted to the language and style of a particular work can proceed in several directions — for example, the repercussions of the event described, the use of a specific verbal and literary image, and the like. Of course, the selections in the school program — Gor'ky's essay V. I. Lenin and Maya-kovsky's poem "Vladimir Il'ich Lenin" — remain the basic material for analysis.


The investigation is based on the behavior of the taxable base of the property tax in Bogota in the last five years and with this the excessive increase to which it has been exposed. The property tax is one of the main taxes in the world and particularly in Bogota it constitutes the second tax of the largest source of local tax revenues after the Industry and Commerce Tax. The cadastral appraisal tends to approach the market values of real estate, which is why factors such as the high cost of land, the devaluation of the peso against the dollar, the demand for housing, the change in land use, are determinants in the increase of the taxable bases of the unified property tax.


Although bulk waves have served as the industry standard in nondestructive evaluation for many years, guided waves (Lamb waves in plates) have become the focus of many current research efforts because they are able to interrogate larger areas of a structure in less time. Despite this advantage, guided waves also have characteristics that obfuscate data interpretation. The first property of guided waves that complicates analysis is their dispersive nature: their wave speed is a function of frequency. The second is that they are multimodal: they propagate as multiple symmetric and antisymmetric modes. Using pulse-compression techniques and a priori calculations of theoretical dispersion curves, the dispersive matched filter attempts to take advantage of these otherwise undesirable characteristics by maximizing the autocorrelation for only one mode, ideally increasing both the signal-to-noise ratio and time-resolution of ultrasonic guided wave measurements. In this research, the responses from broadband chir...


Although transplantation is the best treatment for many people with end-stage renal disease, the gap between the number of organ donors and the number of potential recipients continues to widen.1 Patients are often treated with dialysis for years while awaiting transplants, and many die.1 At the University of Chicago, between 10 and 20 percent of patients with available living donors cannot receive transplants from them because of ABO incompatibility. We propose to increase the supply of organs by using kidneys from living donors who are ABO-incompatible with the intended recipients but are ABO-compatible with other recipients. Through an exchange arrangement . . .


Purpose: Postoperative undercorrection is recommended for unicompartmental prostheses. The long-term effects of this undercorrection on polyethylene wear and recurrent deformation have not been evaluated to date. We studied the influence of undercorrection on polyethyl-ene wear and the risk of recurrent deformation in uni-compartmental prostheses reviewed at more than 14 years (14–22 years). Material and methods: Forty unicompartmental prostheses with a polyethylene plateau without a metal back were evaluated at last follow-up. We assessed radiographs performed under fluoroscopic control to obtain a ray tangential to the polyethylene plateau. This film was used to assess penetration of the femoral component into the polyethylene. Goniometry, performed at last follow-up was compared with the postoperative goniometry to measure recurrent deformation. We retained only unicompartmental prostheses with preservation of the anterior cruciate at implantation in order to rule out possible influence of the absence of this ligament. Results: There was a significant relationship (p Discussion: While undercorrection appears to be desirable for unicompartmental prostheses, it should be moderate. Excessive postoperative varus raises the risk of more rapid polyethylene wear and recurrent deformation. Furthermore, even for minimal undercorrection, the correction achieved postoperatively does not remain constant and varus defomation tends to recur. This phenomenon probably has a protective effect on the contra-lateral femorotibial compartment but in the long-term exposes to the risk of wear and recurrent deformation.


Flow pattern, presure drop and heat transfer are investigated for R113 boiling two-phase flow in extremely narrow channels with a thickness of 35-110μm between horizontal parallel plates. It is clarified from the exeriments that the friction multiplier of two-phase flow is well estimated by the empirical correlation proposed for adiabatic systems, and that the heat transfer coefficient of two-phase flow is 3-20 times as large as that of the liquid single-phase flow. An analytical model based on viscous flow and the effect of the capillary number on the thickness of the liquid film is proposed. It provides an explanation for the frictional pressure drop and the heat transfer coefficient.


Radiation effects testing on a variety of candidate spacecraft electronics to total ionizing dose is studied. Devices tested include digital, analog, mixed signal, and hybrid devices.


Introduction : in the international Terminologia Anatomica the term nervus terminalis or cranial nerve zero is included. However it does not appear, referenced in physiology texts, which indicates dissociation between these fields of knowledge of basic science. An integration and rapprochement between these two fields of knowledge enable a better understanding of the structure and function of this cranial nerve. Methodology : many physiology texts and articles were reviewed to determine whether physiological studies or notations referring to nerve terminal function and integrated to the existing morphological knowledge. Discussion : although much of the gross neuroanatomy and histology of the nervus terminalis have been described, in the field of physiology there is much ignorance about this nerve and many of their functional annotations are based on assumptions. However, it has proven to be a passage for the migration of neuroblasts, and thus its structure could be organized into two parts: a hollow for neuroblast migration and other elements for propagation of action potentials. Conclusion : the nervus terminalis is composed of nerve fibers with unknown function autonomously and, surrounding it, a compartment by way of conduit migratory neuroblasts.


In this paper, a two locking lasers BOTDR (Brillouin optical time domain reflectometry) system is demonstrated. Two narrow linewidth DFB lasers are used as the light sources. Their frequencies are locked with a frequency difference of about 11 GHz, which can greatly improve the measurement accuracy and system stability. At a 5-km standard single-mode fiber, distributed temperature measurements can be achieved in lab with a spatial resolution of 10m and a temperature resolution of 2°C.


A mutated form of the EGF receptor (EGFRvIII), resulting from deletion of exons 2–7, is an oncogenic protein that is expressed in multiple human tumors. This mutation induces ligand‐independent activation of the EGFR tyrosine kinase and thereby can initiate unregulated cell growth and tumorigenesis. Thus, inhibition of the kinase activity of EGFRvIII is a potential means of suppressing its oncogenic properties. Certain tyrosine kinase inhibitors (tyrphostins) specifically inhibit the wild‐type EGFR and thereby inhibit tumor growth both in vitro and in vivo. We demonstrate that the quinazoline tyrphostins AG 1478 and AG 1517 can suppress morphologic transformation of cell lines by EGFRvIII. Quinazolines were found to inhibit receptor autophosphorylation and signaling through MAP kinase, but had minimal effects on association of EGFRvIII with Grb2/SOS. Low concentrations of quinazoline also increased receptor dimerization and phosphotyrosine content. This was associated with increases in colony formation in soft agar and increased invasion through matrigel for AG 1478. Thus, both AG 1478 and AG 1517 can inhibit multiple EGFRvIII signaling pathways, but at low concentrations AG 1478 can enhance colony formation, presumably related to augmented homodimerization of the receptor and activation of downstream signaling. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


There are three different preparations of the Ni catalytic seed for the CNT/NiF layer. The results exhibited Ni catalytic could affect the growth of CNTs on NiF by SEM and Raman spectra.


Lesser yam (Dioscorea esculenta) is traditionally cultivated as a valuable crop species in a various planting pattern of teak-based agroforestry (AF) system in Watubonang village, Sukoharjo District, Central Java. Different planting pattern contributes to various light intensity which is associated with plant morphological and anatomical changes and directly affect to yam tuber production. Research site was selected by mean of purposive sampling method with three yam planting patterns, i.e. yam monoculture (Y), yam in trees along border (TAB) and yam in full teak trees (T-Y), in three replicates of 20 m x 20 m plots. In each plot, four subplots were established to investigate relative light intensity and take leaf samples. Changes in morphological and anatomical characteristics of yam to different planting pattern and relative light intensity (RLI) were studied, including leaf size, leaf color, tendril and internode length, chlorophyll content and stomatal density. The result showed that RLI were significantly different among planting pattern (Y: 78.66%, TAB: 66.94%, T-Y: 34.05%). Planting pattern and interaction between planting pattern and RLI significantly affected yam morphological and anatomical characteristics (of leaf size, tendril & internode length, and stomatal density) at P < 0.05. Leaf size, tendril and internode length increased with decreasing of RLI in TAB, but opposite adaptation was found in T-Y planting pattern. Higher RLI resulted in reductions of chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b content, and therefore increased of chlorophyll a:b ratio. Leaf color of yam grown under high RLI (Y) were light green, while those grown under shaded condition with relatively low light intensity (TAB, T-Y) were dark green that may related to the foliar chlorophyll content. Hence, a trend of decreasing stomatal density was found associated with lower RLI (Y: 35 stomatal/mm2, TAB: 25 stomatal/mm2, T-Y: 19 stomatal/mm2). Approximately 50-60% of RLI is suggested to be an optimum intensity for yam cultivation to support yam tuber production. Agroforestry practice by applying pruning and managing planting density are needed to reach the optimum light.


We evaluated clinical activity of 90Yttrium‐ibritumomab (90Y‐ibritumomab) tiuxetan in extranodal marginal‐zone lymphoma. From May 2004 to April 2011, 30 patients affected by relapsed/refractory marginal‐zone lymphoma—arisen at any extranodal site—received 90Y‐ibritumomab tiuxetan at the activity of 0.4 mCi/kg. Median age was 57 years. At time of treatment, 13 out of 30 patients had disseminated disease (stage III/IV). All patients had received a previous treatment with a maximum of 7. Overall response rate was 90%: 23 patients achieved a complete response (77%); partial response occurred in 4 patients (13%), stable disease in 2 patients (7%) and 1 progression (3%). With a median follow‐up of 5.3 years, median time to relapse was not reached; 2 patients relapsed after complete response; 18 out of 23 complete responses are still responders after >3 years, 12 of them after >5 years. 90Y‐ibritumomab tiuxetan seems to be active in patients with extranodal marginal‐zone lymphoma relapsed/refractory to conventional treatment including radiotherapy. These results suggest that radioimmunotherapy could represent a possible option for the treatment in this subset of patients. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective: To investigate the value of quantitative analysis of maternal plasma DNA in Down's screening.Methods: Cell-free DNA in maternal plasma was isolated samples from second trimester and from abnormal pregnancy,who has high-risk of carrying a Down's fetus,respectively.fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction PCR(FQ-PCR) was used to determine GAPDH,a house keeping gene and sex-determining region on Y chromosome(SRY).Results: The mean concentrations of GAPDH in second trimester,abnormal pregnancy were(4.28±1.36)×10~3copy /ml,(3.08±1.67)×10~4copy/ml,respectively.The mean concentrations of SRY in second trimester and abnormal pregnancy were174.02±98.56 copy/ml,1065.01±588.72 copy/ml.There was notable variation of number of maternal plasma DNA between the second trimester and the abnormal pregnancy,who has high-risk of carrying a Down's fetus.Conclusion: The quantitative analysis of maternal plasma DNA is of great value in the Down's syndrome screening.


The purpose of developing a rainfall-runoff and reservoir model is to provide an analysis tool for hydrological engineers in order to forecast discharge of rivers and to accomplish reservoir operations easily and accurately. In this study, based on the short-term rainfall-runoff storage function model which has gained popularity for real time flood forecast in practical water management affairs, a long-term runoff model was developed for the improvement of the calculation method of effective rainfall and percolation at the infiltration area. Annual discharge was simulated for three dam watersheds(Andong, Hapcheon, Milyang) in Nakdong River basin to analyze the accuracy of the developed model and compare it to SSARR model, which is used as the long-term runoff model in current practical water management affairs. As the result of the comparison of hydrographs, SSARR model showed relatively better results. However, it is possible for the developed model to simulate reliable long-term runoff using relatively little available data and is useful for hydrological engineers in practical affairs.


Abstract Electric arc furnace (EAF) slag is a by-product of steel production. Because the amount of slag produced is increasing each year, there is a growing need for effective methods of recycling this material. In this study, simple beam tests proposed by Ichinose were carried out to estimate the bond performance of reinforced concrete beams with EAF oxidizing slag aggregates. The main test variable was the type of aggregate used. A total of four specimens were designed to estimate the bond properties of top and bottom bars for the concrete. The bond test results revealed that the specimens with EAF oxidizing slag aggregates showed better bond performance than the basic specimen with natural aggregates. Furthermore, the experimentally observed bond strength of the specimens was compared with the theoretical results obtained from existing formulas. Consequently, the analytical results considering the effect of transverse reinforcement showed reasonable agreement with the experimental results.


(W. W. Norton, 1999). However,a more nuanced perspective would havebeen appropriate, since a significantnumber of historians have contestedmany aspects of Diamond's vision.In chapters 2 and 3, which are com-prehensive and well organized, theauthor addresses the concepts of energyand entropy. How is energy manifestedand conserved and what role does itplay in creating wealth? And how canentropy production be used to deter-mine the direction of natural processes,including those involved in generatingeconomic goods? Kummel describeshow the balance between exergy (use-ful work) and anergy (useless work)sets the cost of producing somethingefficiently; he argues in a clear and sim-ple way that energy conversion is anessential force in wealth creation and aforce to be reckoned with in the craftingof economic policy.In chapter 4, the main thesis of thebook emerges: According to Kummel,the second law of economics states that"energy conversion and entropy pro-duction determine the growth ofwealth." That view is in contrast withmore traditional ones, including thetheory that the importance of energy isproportional to the rather small share ofcosts in the production process. Kum-mel also maintains that production islimited by the availability of energy andthat the natural degradation of ourenvironment is driven by increasingentropy. He also acknowledges thatsuch limitations cannot always be com-pensated by technological progress. Heillustrates his thesis by showing howspecific models can quantitativelydescribe real data from different eco-nomic indicators, mostly concerningGermany, Japan, and the US. The shortepilogue contained in chapter 5 dis-cusses social values and presents philo-sophical and ethical considerations thatcould lead to a more sustainable andhumane world. It recommends thathuman societies need to think seriouslyabout the future consequences of theireconomic practices.Overall,


In order to study the structural fatigue safety of in-service fixed roof storage tanks after uneven settlement, an exponential curve method of settlement prediction has been constructed. A finite element model based on the contact condition between the elastic ring beam foundation and the tank base was also proposed. On the basis of above, a fatigue life prediction method of in-service storage tanks based on the settlement prediction model has been established. Combined with the engineering example of an in-service tank, the structural fatigue safety under the actual uneven settlement was analyzed. The results indicate that the trend of foundation settlement with time could be predicted accurately and the contact condition between base and foundation could be simulated simultaneously. Subsequently, the in-service tank's structural fatigue life under the uneven settlement could be predicted.


With the popularity of mobile Internet, smart phones and location-based services, Mobile Social Network in Proximity (MSNP) has attracted more and more attentions, for which trustworthy service discovery and its associated latency are two important issues. In this paper, after overviewing MSNP and trustworthiness for service discovery in MSNP, we discuss the major issues and potential solutions of trustworthy service discovery. We present trustworthiness determination strategies based on service provider candidates' past experience and current profile analysis to reduce the latency caused by trustworthiness computation for trustworthy service discovery in MSNP.


This thesis aims at developing and evaluating a model for high frequency foreign exchange data, that beats the TWAP benchmark the majority of the time. This is done by dividing the total order time into smaller time buckets and trading a smaller quantity of the total order volume in each bucket. The second purpose of the thesis is to determine if there is an optimal bucket size in which to trade in order to achieve the best results. Four different models were developed and it was found that the model that traded both passively and aggressively without a set order time performed the best. It was discovered that this model always beats the TWAP benchmark on an average day on the market. The best performing model also took the prevailing market conditions, modelled as market risk and spread risk, into account. The market risk was modelled using a prediction of the volatility during the time interval of the order and the spread risk was modelled by using a prediction of the spread. The purpose of the risk factors was to get an indication of how to choose the level at which to trade passively and aggressively in the buckets, which will be explained further in this thesis. It was concluded that an optimal bucket size does not exist. Instead, it was decided that the client's preferences regarding potential risks and profits should be the deciding factor in determining optimal bucket size for an order. This is achieved by allowing the client to choose a certain probability of succeeding with a passive trade in a bucket and calculating the bucket size based on this probability. Prior to making the choice, the client is presented with the potential profit, market risk and spread risk for each probability. A low probability results in shorter bucket sizes and thus a shorter order time. This in turn results in a low market risk but a high spread risk. A high probability on the other hand, results in longer bucket sizes and a longer order time which implies a low spread risk but a high market risk. This means that a risk averse client chooses the low probability with less risk of market changes at the expense of loosing the spread, and vice versa for a less risk avert client. The three currency pairs that were considered in this thesis are EUR/SEK, EUR/NOK and EUR/USD. High frequency was in this thesis defined as second-by-second up to minute-by-minute observations. (Less)


An enhanced TCP VEGAS congestion control algorithm is proposed for wireless networks.To identify the packet loss and time-delay jitter caused by the wireless channel,the transmitter estimates the congestion probability based on the ec_bit in the ACK packets.In case of packet loss,the transmitter will not reduce the congestion window if the congestion probability does not increase.At the same time,a low-pass filter is applied to smooth the RTT,so as to remedy the time-delay jitter,and the filted RTT is used for standard VEGAS congestion control.Simulation results based on NS-2 demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


The disclosed embodiment includes a substrate having an upper surface for receiving the two or more semiconductor die. The disclosed embodiment also further includes at least one via in a printed circuit board and the substrate attached to the lower surface of the substrate. At least one via provides electrical connection between the first semiconductor die signal bond pad and the printed circuit board. The first substrate bond pad is connected to the first signal bond pads of the first semiconductor die by a first signal bonding wires. Providing at least one via is also electrically connected between the first signal bond pad and the first land of the first semiconductor die and the first lands are electrically connected to the printed circuit board. Red-less multi-die carrier, the semiconductor die package, a semiconductor die, the heat spreader, the support pad


The development status of tin-base alloy and carbon composite anode material for lithium-ion batteries was discussed. They were classified into alloy-coated carbon composite,carbon-coated alloy composite and molecule-contacted composite material. The preparing processes of tin-base alloy and carbon composite anode material were introduced,and the electrochemical performance characteristics for every type of composite materials were clarified. In several kinds of composite ways,the alloy-coated carbon composite has the following characteristics: preparation method is simple,circulation performance is improving obviously,and the coated alloy amount is limited. The carbon-coated alloy composite and molecule-contacted composite material can prevent the aggregation of alloy particle effectively,the structure is steady.It is a promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries in the future.


Both the conventional Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the Complex Principal Component Analysis (CPCA) were applied to analyze six nearshore profiles in Siuslaw, Oregon. Results indicated that the first two components derived from CPCA always outperformed those derived from PCA. This suggests that CPCA is a better method of describing the seasonal variation in nearshore bathymetry. The relative performance of CPCA on different profiles depended upon the coherence of the variation within those profiles. Furthermore, the concept of an absolute amount of variance was used in explaining the spatial variation of the predictability of principal components. INTRODUCTION Complex principal component analysis (CPCA), developed for meteorological application (e.g., Wallace and Dickson, 1972; Barnett, 1983), has been successfully used to describe an event of a fast-moving sand bar (Liang and Seymour, 1991). In comparison with conventional principal component analysis (PCA), also known as the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) technique (e.g. Aubrey et al., 1980; Seymour, 1989), CPCA offers significant advantages. Besides being able to give a more compact description for the variation of the data set (fewer functions required), it can also detect propagating waves. However, most nearshore bathymetric data sets available consist only of seasonal surveys. One may argue that the seasonal variation in nearshore profiles is more like a standing wave than a propagating feature, and thus it might be unnecessary to apply CPCA to the seasonal bathymetric data. Therefore, a test using 1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 920930222, USA. 2 USAE Waterways Experiment Station, Coastal Engineering Research Center, 3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199, USA.


Floral volatiles of two introduced Oenothera species, Oe. glazioviana (= Oe. erythrosepala) and Oe. biennis, were chemically examined using the headspace method. As a result, linalool, one of the monoterpenes, was found to be the main constitutent of floral volatiles, with several other undetermined substances. Visual signals of these two Oenothera species were the same, with a strong UV-absorbent spot in the center of the corollas. Large nocturnal hawkmoth species such as Theretra japonica, Agrius convolvuli, and Deilephila elphenor lewisil are major pollinators for these two Oenothera species. An interplay between floral UV-absorbancy patterns as visual signals and floral volatiles released seems to be playing a significant role in pollinator attraction. Nectar utilization and the breeding system of Oe. glazioviana were also examined.


On the basis of teachings found in the Qur'an and in certain hadiths, many traditional Muslims have claimed that Islam provides guidelines for the formation and propagation of the caliphate (khilafah). This claim, however, remains a matter of some contention and the issue has provoked much argument and debate among Muslim communities. From the beginning of the Islamic khilafah to the present day (excluding the khilafah of the Prophet, which Muslims accept as the most perfect model), Muslims' understanding and application of the concept has been overshadowed by uncertainty and dispute. This article intends to arrive at a more precise understanding of the historical overview for the caliphate and to present the chronology of the issue from the perspective of several Islamic periods using content analysis approach. However, it does not intend to decide which model of Islamic caliphate is the best or the most suited to the original teaching of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Rather it will investigate the differences and agreements to be found among Sunni and Shi i Muslims and especially between the Sunni and the Imamiyyah Ithna ashariyyah from the cC seventh to the fourteenth centuries and in the twentieth century.


The effect of notch damage on the tensile strength and fatigue life of branch line used in tuna longline were investigated both in dry and wet condition. A razor blade was used for making an artificial notch on the surface of nylon monofilament lines at various depths. The result of tensile testing indicated that the tensile strength of notched nylon monofilaments was rapidly decreased with increasing of notch depth. The relationship between the tensile strength and the notch depth can be described by the following equation. BS = 100 {1 - (ND/100) α } where BS is tensile strength (%) of a notched fishing line, ND is notch depth (%) and α is constant. Fatigue tests were carried out under cyclic loading method. From experimental results, relationship between notch depth and fatigue life of the fishing line can be expressed by the following linear equation. ND = m - n log N where N is number of cycles to failure (fatigue life), m and n are constants. By using these relations, fatigue life curves can be described mathematically by the following equation. S/T0 (%) = (100-6.8 log N) {1-(ND/100) α } where S is imposed load (kgf), T0 is initial tensile strength (kgf), (100-6.8 log N) is obtained from the relationship between S/T0 (%) and N of un-notched samples. The result shows good coincidence between the fatigue life curves and observation fatigue data.


The paper assesses the draft weighting system used by the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) scheme for measuring the output of refereed economics journal articles. It does so by using data from New Zealand's economics departments to demonstrate how the rankings of departmental and individual researchers are affected by the use of ERA weights rather than alternative weights employed in the economics literature. It concludes that the draft version of the ERA scheme, as released in August 2008, rewards research quantity over research quality, as traditionally defined.


Basic assumptions necessary for the proof of the CPT theorem are considered. It is found that the CPT theorem is not valid for a physical system with unstable particles decaying exponentially. The Lee, Oehme and Yang (LOY) model of neutral kaons decay is discussed and the conclusion is drawn that CPT-transformation cannot be a symmetry in a system which contains the LOY model as a subsystem, and, thus this model is shown to be incapable of describing possible CPT-violation effects correctly. The approximate formulae for matrix elements of the effective Hamiltonian H‖ governing the time evolution in neutral kaons subspace (different from those obtained by means of the Weisskopf–Wigner method and used by LOY) and their implications for an interpretation of the standard CPT-violation parameter are considered. Within this approximation it is shown that in the system preserving CPT-symmetry and that δ=0 is possible only if , where H is the total Hamiltonian of the system under consideration, that is, if the system does not preserve CPT-symmetry.


This study takes a look back at sixty years (1945-2005) of French theatre in the United States and tries to understand how the French stagings on tour, as well as the French repertoire mounted by Americans directors in the States, have been perceived and welcomed in New York by American audiences. In France, the theatrical exportation is taken care of and subsidised by the government. Thus theatrical venues in New York will allow to understand and evaluate the methods, means and goals of French politics. The first part examines the American stage and how it functions, pointing out a few important differences between the French and American stages from an aesthetical as well as from an economical point of view. The second and third parts demonstrate that in the past sixty years, the French theatrical venues in New York have been directly connected to French diplomacy's official strategy to export French culture abroad. Finally the fourth part explains what the main difficulties of touring abroad are. These are not only related to aesthetics, they also involve politics, language, money, technicality, personal tastes and encounters, etc.


The COVID-19 pandemic, experienced since the beginning of 2020, forced us to live a physical distance and suspend face-to-face classes. This situation aggravated problems experienced by schools and universities. Showing the fragility of institutions not only in a structure that follows the advances of the 21st century, but also in teacher training. In this article we aim to discuss the pedagogical practices adopted in the pandemic period and present practices developed in the Mathematics Degree Course and in the Mathematics Pibid of the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), in Cajazeiras, Paraiba. We present the use of the Padlet application as a teaching methodology in different contexts, encouraging student interaction and authorship. We can observe that many practices implemented for the continuity of classes bring a confusion of concepts and reproduction of traditional and content teaching practices. Interfaces like Padlet can boost creativity, authorship and co-authorship and interaction, principles of online education.


We now report a novel nucleophilic carbon-carbon bond-forming polymerization route for the synthesis of new poly(arylene ketone sulfone)s, devoid of any ether linkages in the backbone, via soluble precursors. These polymers can be synthesized at moderate temperatures and in high yields


This paper considers the use by the Department of Transport of COMPARE, the whole life costing model for assessing pavement options, and considers the implications for the blacktop industry. It is suggested that whole life costing may contribute to minimising delays to traffic. It is also considered that whole life costing provides an incentive to enhance pavement performance and lists some of the benefits the system will bring. These include a) developing future standards and specifications, b) the assessment of Design Recommendations for New Pavements, c) assessing the potential benefits of new techniques and materials, d) establishing the implications of varying maintenace strategies and e) the adjudication of tender alternatives. Brief details are given of the plan to use COMPARE in the tendering procedure for 3 new road schemes. For the covering abstract see IRRD 866738.


This paper puts forward to establish "Gross/Net Index" of packaging of merchandise(GNI),contraposing difficulty in scaling the over-packaging of merchandise and some policies and laws with insufficient feasibility currently.The paper demonstrated it is indispensable to establish GNI and proposed to scale over-packaging of merchandise well and truly and to restrict it by legalized administrative management by GNI.The paper discussed how to popularize applications of GNI,to perfect policies and laws,and pointed out and approached some correlative problems in the use of GNI.


About Women & Men " Growing evidence indicates that ART [antiretroviral therapy] can. .. reduce HIV infectiousness, raising the possibility of using HIV treatment as prevention " (p. 531), according to Kalichman et al. (2011), who " conducted a randomized clinical trial to test an integrated be-havioral intervention designed to enhance using HIV treatment as prevention by improving medication adherence, reducing risks for other sexually transmitted infections [(STIs)], and minimizing risk compensation beliefs " (p. 531). In reasoning their way to this syn-ergistic approach, the investigators point out that " HIV treatment as prevention will fail when medication adherence is poor and when there are co-occurring. .. STIs. .. " (p. 531), necessitating the dual focus on adherence and sexual risk reduction. Furthermore, risk compensation beliefs can emerge in association with having an undetectable viral load (i.e., believing one is less infectious and therefore taking fewer precautions against infecting others), yet " even under optimal adherence, persons with undetectable peripheral blood viral loads will be highly infectious in their genital secretions when they have co-occurring STIs " (p. 531). In all, 436 predominantly African American men and women living with HIV were randomized to either the behavioral intervention 1 1 In the behavioral intervention condition, fa-cilitators " conducted the first individual counseling session to set personal treatment and prevention goals for the upcoming group. The first group session built cohesion and trust, and in it [facilitators] discussed how risk reduction and treatment goals are related. The session included a team-building game designed to educate participants about the ba-sics of HIV transmission, treatment resistance , and viral load. [Facilitators] covered myths and facts about infectiousness in detail. The second group session focused on understanding HIV treatment, including deciding when to start medications.. .. [D]ecisional balance exercises [were applied] to treatment decisions and sexual relationships in contexts of detectable and undetectable HIV [viral load]. Group session 3 focused entirely on sexual decision making under various nuanced conditions of moods, substance use, relationships , HIV status disclosure, treatment status , and viral load. Group session 4 aimed to build treatment and safer sex decision skills in relation to substance use. A core activity in this session had participants wear vision-disorienting goggles to simulate intoxication while filling a pillbox with mints and then apply a condom to a penis model. [Facilitators] then trained participants in medication management and safer sex strategies, including using male …


We derive the evolution equation of growth factor for the matter over-dense perturbation in f(T) gravity. For instance, we investigate its behavior in power law model at small redshift and compare it to the prediction of Lambda CDM and dark energy with the same equation of state in the framework of Einstein general relativity. We find that the perturbation in f (T) gravity grows slower than that in Einstein general relativity if partial derivative f/partial derivative T > 0 due to the effectively weakened gravity.


We present possible extensions of the quantum statistical mechanical formulation of class field theory to the non-abelian case, based on the action of the absolute Galois group on Grothendieck's dessins d'enfant, the embedding in the Grothendieck-Teichmuller group, and the Drinfeld-Ihara involution.


In high pressure gas service, elastomeric seals often fail due to explosive decompression (ED). This occurs when gas, that has been absorbed by the elastomer at high pressure, forms blisters and the material ruptures when the pressure is rapidly dropped. An automated apparatus and test procedure was developed to test elastomers for explosive decompression (ED) resistance. The apparatus utilizes a cyclic gas pressurization followed by rapid decompression. The test continues until the one of two elastomeric O-rings in the apparatus fails and pressure is transmitted, automatically shutting down the test. A study was done to determine optimum gas soak period and to screen some common O-ring materials. Preliminary results show different gas permeation rates for different materials. The validity of the test technique to screen elastomers for ED resistance is shown.


The emergency resonse programs for supply chain,not only for the supply chain,lay the foundation for emergency response,and can guide policy makers in emergency management emergency rapid assessment,accurate selection response programs,to improve response capabilities and speed of response.This paper analyzes the supply chain emergency classification,effects and laws of other features,the external logistics supply chain of unexpected events.In determining the impact of supply chain based on unexpected events,based on external logistics supply chain management of scientific emergencies,response plan accordingly.


During three growing seasons, phenology and damage on leafy shoots of healthy eucalypts and others with dieback were monitored on pastoral properties in the Australian Capital Territory. Leaves from the dieback trees tended to be younger than those from nearby healthy trees. Leaves that were not lost prematurely lived for similar lengths of time on both dieback and healthy trees, but more leaves were initiated on the dieback trees. Dieback trees were also less active reproductively. During the study, chewing insects caused most of the damage on leaves, and there was usually more of this damage on leaves from the dieback trees. Young leaves accumulated damage at a much faster rate than older leaves, and this probably contributed to the relatively greater damage on the leaves from the dieback trees. However, the differences in the amount of damage on the leaves from healthy and dieback trees were not solely due to the differences in ages of the leaves. Generalized linear models which equalized the effects of the differences in leafing phenology produced adjusted estimates for damage to leaves that were still higher for dieback trees.


There is a continued pressure for cost and environmental reasons to reduce the emissions and this leads to the requirement for high temperature materials. These requirements have been met by continued improvements in nickel based superalloys for many years. However, for reasons including sustainability, cost, density and phase instability the scope for further improvement is very limited. There are therefore opportunities for successor systems.


This paper examines the importance of human rights protection – in particular the European Convention on Human Rights – to the Council of Europe's survival as a political authority. Its underlying premise is that the proliferation of regional organisations in Europe in post-war Europe, and the creation of the Communities in 1958, contributed to a loss of a sense of purpose as to the Council of Europe's role in post-war Europe. Initial attempts to widen the scope of its political authority in relation to the Member States and other regional organisations were unsuccessful. It was, therefore, necessary for the Council of Europe to consolidate its existing mandate in ensuring the region's democratic security through human rights protection. Thus, led by its Parliamentary Assembly, Council of Europe institutions have, since 1949, provided the Member States with the necessary regional fora for examining and promulgating regional human rights legislation, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and its two additional protocols abolishing the death penalty.


Objective: to determine the type of changes of shear stress in vessels of the vertebrobasilar system in patients of young age with spondylogenic vertebrobasilar insufficiency (SVI). Material and methods. We examined 131 patients (70 women and 61 men) aged 18-40 (average age was 29.8 ± 3.8) with manifestations of spondylogenic vertebrobasilar insufficiency associated with muscular reflex, neurovascular and radicular syndromes of osteochondrosis of the cervical part of the vertebral column. 25 healthy donors made the control group. All the patients underwent radiological examination of the cervical part of the vertebral column with functional probes, doppler and duplex ultrasound of vessels of the neck and arteries of the head with functional probes; we performed the detection of endothelin-1, nitric oxide (NO) of blood serum. The changes of the shear stress in vessels of the vertebrobasilar system were assessed analyzing the Stuart index (ISD), systolic and diastolic parameter. Results. It has been found that development of spondylogenic vertebrobasilar insufficiency is accompanied by signs of endothelial dysfunction (ED), which is characterized by increased concentration of endothelin-1 related to the reduction of active metabolite of nitrogen oxide - S-NO. One of the mechanisms of ED in this cohort of patients is changes of the shear stress. Conclusion. In order to predict the development of ED in patients with spondylogenic vertebrobasilar insufficiency, it is recommended to pay particular attention to the state of the vascular wall.


The changes of menopause affect women's health in many ways. Some think that one change may be in the way the brain works. Some women say that their memory is worse after menopause. Some doctors agree because the hormones changed by menopause are found in the brain. In this issue of Neurology , Meyer et al. tested whether memory became worse during menopause.

### What is menopause?

Menopause is the change in women around the age of 50 when their periods stop. In this change, women's ovaries stop making the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. The most common symptoms are irregular menstrual periods, hot flashes, and night sweats. Some say that their memory is worse. Some have a lot of worry and feel depressed. More information about memory loss can be found on the next page.

### What can be done about menopause?

Doctors may suggest treatments for menopause. Women may be told to work out more and to change their diets. They may be told to eat a healthier diet and to add calcium-rich foods, soybean products, and whole grains. A stress control group or class may help. Some doctors prescribe hormone replacement therapy.

### What is hormone replacement therapy?

In hormone replacement therapy (HRT), women take pills that contain what women lose in menopause. Whereas this may help with symptoms, recent studies found problems with HRT. HRT may slightly raise the risk of certain types of cancer. Women should talk with their doctors about HRT so they can make the best choice for long-term health.

### Is there a link between menopause and brain function?

Estrogen is a key element in the work of the brain. It is part of the brain's signaling system. Studies have shown that estrogen helps direct blood to parts of …


Self-emulsifying therapeutic system (SETs) provide an effective and intelligent solution to the various issues related to the formulation of hydrophobic drugs with limited solubility in gastrointestinal fluid. Most of the drugs are being discovered are lipophilic in nature and have poor aqueous solubility, thereby posing problems in their formulation into delivery systems. Due to their low aqueous solubility and low permeability, dissolution and/or release rate from the delivery system forms the rate limiting step in their absorption and systemic availability. More than 60% of potential drug products suffer from poor water solubility. For the therapeutic delivery of lipophillic active moieties (BCS class II drugs), lipid based formulations are inviting increasing attention. Currently a number of technologies are available to deal with the poor solubility, dissolution rate and bioavailability of insoluble drugs one of them is Self‐Micro Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SMEDDS). Today a huge problem of poorly water soluble drugs is being faced in the world. Many methods are there for increasing the solubility, but lipid technology is one of the most prominent and latest technologies. Lipid formulations always produce a fine dispersion which is useful for increasing the solubility of poorly water soluble drugs. So the main objective is to increase the solubility by various techniques related to lipid technology. The study methodology includes different formulations which are as follows: Oil based formulations, Triglyceride, liposomes, niosomes, lipid emulsions, emulsome, hydrogel nanoparticles, aquasomes, solid lipid nanopartciles, and nanostructure lipid carriers.


This paper introduces design and utilization of a MATLAB graphical user interface (GUI) platform to forecast day ahead hourly Photovoltaic (PV) panel power by using forecasted day ahead global horizontal solar radiation. This platform, which would be a useful and practical tool for researchers who are study on energy management, planning and forecasting studies, consists of three parts. The first part predicts day ahead global horizontal solar radiation by trained artificial neural network (ANN) model. The second part performs the calculation of solar irradiation on the module, which has a tilted angle according to forecasting solar radiation data. The last part estimates the power generated by PV panel according to the calculated incident radiation. In this study, the solar irradiation forecasting, the calculation of incident radiation to tilted module and prediction of the solar power to be generated by the PV module are done. The designed GUI has been utilized to forecast solar radiation and PV output power for test days. Then obtained forecasted data have been evaluated with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and correlation coefficient (R).


Adaptive backstepping control of multi-variable discrete-time nonlinear systems is studied in this paper.The stable adaptive controller design of MIMO system with two 3-order subsystems is given.The boundedness of all signals and tracking property of the whole closed loop system are proved by applying the Key Technical Lemma and the projection algorithm properites.


The National Institute of Health developed NETLAB, a Web based information system that increases the availability of laboratory results to health workers and patients living with HIV / AIDS (PLWHA) in HAART. To assure its effectiveness it is necessary to explore issues available like resources access to Internet Objectives: To describe the characteristics of Internet access and NETLAB access by potential users and the IT infrastructure in places where HAART is administered. Methods: We included 48 public and private health facilities where HAART is administered for 23 departments for Peru. 3 questionnaires were prepared, one for health professionals, another for PLWA and another for informatics specialists from each center. Results: We included in the survey 246 health workers, 201 PLWA and 45 informatics workers. 95,5% of the health workers reported they know how use the Internet, 62,6% had Internet connection with in his offices. 85% knew about NETLAB, but only 36% had an access code. 50,7% of PLWA knew how to use Internet (85,5% in Lima and 47,7% in provinces p<0,01). 81% access trough the public Internet booths ("cabinas publicas") and 93% are interesting accessing their lab results trough the Internet. All the health facilities have Internet access though the quality of the connection is very heterogeneous. Discussion: The high proportion of health workers who knew how and uses the Internet is encouraging and favors the introduction and the use of NETLAB and communications technology. The access gap between PLWA in Lima and regions and the high frequency of use of public Internet booths represent a challenge but also opportunities to promote the use of NETLAB in this group.


Chemical fertilizers play a significant role in the development of agriculture sector and successful management of food security concerns in the country. Since the land resource is finite and there are increasing food requirements, the only way forward is to sustain increase in agricultural productivity at the same maintaining and improving the quality of soil. However the management of soil resources is facing several challenges in the forms of gaps in chemical fertilizer applications viz. wide variations in use of chemical fertilizers over the regions, a heavy skewness in favour of Nitrogenous fertilizer use and imbalanced and improper use of fertilizers. This type of challenges can be faced with proper Fertilizer Pricing Policy, Availability of credit facility, development of Knowledge-base of the Farmers, robust Fertilizer Policy, modern irrigation practices coupled with modern product lines of Indian fertilizer Industry. Indian Extension System with broader infrastructure, up-dating and re-orienting the extension workers with a multi-agency mode of work can play a crucial role in changing the irrigation and fertilizer application practices as being applied by the Indian farmers.


Virtual reality 3D web technology can combine with HTML5 technologies and X3D contents to achieve real-time display without plug-in. X3D strives to become the 3D standard for the web as integrated in the HTML5 standard. HTML5 is able to support X3D format to achieve 3D virtual reality on the web. Blender software can create 3D models and export them to X3D files. X3D files are displayed in real time on web browsers that support HTML5. The X3D files created with Blender software give users excellent 3D real-time interactive operation experience. Therefore, this paper introduces how to achieve 3D virtual reality contents on the web by using X3D files and HTML5 canvas.


: The writing aims to examine the emergency state in Perak and its impact on the socioeconomic and political developments in Northern Perak from 1948 to 1960. The historical study also examines the emergency declaration by the British government as well as the actions taken by the British government in dealing with communist issues. The analysis is also related to the extent of emergency state declaration in 1948 to 1960 due to the communist rebellion or threats by other left wings parties in Malaya during that period. The researcher uses historical methodology through a quantitative approach. In order to prove the questionnaire, the researcher has analyzed official documents such as Malayan Federation Annual Report, State of Perak Government Report, memoirs and interviews with respondents involved during the state of emergency period. Secondary sources such as library researches are also used to enhance the results of this study. Through this study, it is found that the communists are not as cruel as the previous writers describes and the state of emergency declaration made by the British government is not solely due to the communist rebellion but also as a result of the threats from other left wing parties.


In this study, carob (Ceratonia siliqua) syrup was supplemented in the diet of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), and its effects on growth performance, immunological and serum biochemical parameters, gene expression responses and ammonia resistance of the fish were investigated. Carob syrup was added to the fish diet in ratios of 0%, 5%, 2.5%, 1.25% and 0.625%, such that five different diets were prepared: control, Cerat5000, Cerat2500, Cerat1250 and Cerat625 respectively. The fish were fed with experimental diets for 60 days. The survival rate of fish fed with 5% carob syrup decreased compared with all other experimental groups. Thus, this study found that feeding tilapia fish with 1.25% carob syrup for 60 days increased gene expression responses, some innate immune parameters and ammonia resistance of the fish without negative effects on growth performance or serum biochemical variables.


In order to obtain higher bending fatigue strength of gear teeth required to cope with severe driving conditions of gears, shot peening is widely used. It is a very effective method to improve the bending fatigue strength as is well known, but it also roughers the tooth surface, resulting in lowered tooth surface strength. To overcome this weak point, fillet rolling at the root of the tooth is proposed. The surfaces at the roots of S45C gears and austempered ductile iron (ADI) gears are markedly work hardened by this method. Bending fatigue strength of fillet-rolled gears is investigated compared with that of unrolled gears. Bending fatigue strength of S45C gears is improved by up to 33%, but that of ADI gears is lowered by about 9% due to microcracks connecting neighboring graphite grains just below the surface of the tooth face, produced in fillet rolling. Bending fatigue strength of ADI gears, where a 3-mm-thick layer is removed from both side edges by turning, is improved by about 16%.


Drag force measurements on 7 of 10 strip samples of varying composition, thickness and coercivity, correlated closely with hysteresis loss measurements made by conventional methods was studied.


The present invention relates generally to the field of pharmaceutical formulation of immunoglobulins. Specifically, the present invention relates to stable, lyophilized, high concentration immunoglobulin formulations. This invention is exemplified by a stabilized lyophilized formulation of the recombinant humanized anti-alpha-4 integrin antibody natalizumab.


Objective:To evaluate the clinical performance of CAD/CAM zirconia all-ceramic crowns and provide references for the clinical application.Method:82 patients with 192 tooth were enrolled in the study.After 12 months of followup,the clinical evaluation of zirconia all-ceramic crowns were observed according to Marginal accuracy offour-unit zirconia fixed dental prostheses fabricated using different CAD/CAM systems.Result:During the period,78 patients(181 restorations were followed up and 4 cases were lost.The CAD/CAM zirconia all-ceramic crowns rated 91.2 % as good or better in regard to color match,Chipping rate is 2.76 %,Chipping of restorations in posterior teeth were higher than the restorations in anterior teeth(x2 test,P 0.05).After 12 months,one restoration was poor in marginal integrity.No evidence of secondary caries,marginal color and fracture of these crowns was observed.Conclusion:zirconia all-ceramic crowns have good stability and biocompatibility,the recent clinical outcomes are favorable.


Background Good outcomes of biliary atresia (BA) are conventionally achieved after early Kasai portoenterostomy (KP). However, in some recent pieces of literature, there are discrepancies in the influence of age in Kasai procedure on postoperative short-term prognosis. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effects of earlier KP on short-term surgical prognosis of BA and clarify these discrepancies in recent studies. Methods To identify related studies, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane, and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure database were searched up to March 2022. Data for the impact of age at KP on clinical prognosis were extracted, including jaundice clearance rate (JCR) and native liver survival rate (NLSR). Results A total of 14 articles were included in the present study, which involve a total of 3,276 patients with BA who underwent Kasai procedure. Compared with patients older than 91 days of age, patients 90 days of age or younger exhibited significantly better JCR [odds ratio (OR), 3.05; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.23–4.17; P < .001] and a more favorable NLSR (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.37–2.15; P < .001). The NLSR of patients younger than 60 days of age was significantly higher than those of patients from 61 to 90 days of age (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.18–1.68; P < .001). There was no significant difference in JCRs between patients aged 60 days of age or younger and those aged 61–90 days of age (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.95–1.81; P = 0.10). Among patients 30 days of age or younger, 31–45 days of age, and 46–60 days of age, there were also no significant differences in JCR. Conclusion A significantly better short-term JCR and NLSRs were achieved among patients with BA treated using a KP procedure at ≤90 days of age compared with those treated at >90 days of age. There was no further improvement in the short-term JCR when the procedure was performed at ≤60 days compared with those treated at 61–90 days of age. However, treatment at ≤60 days of age was associated with a significant improvement in NLSR. Therefore, the timing of KP does exert an important effect on short-term clinical outcomes of patients with BA.


Adhesive joints are widely used although different materials properties cause the singular stress field whose intensity is controlled by the adhesive joint geometry. Our previous studies showed that debonding strength can be expressed as a constant value of the critical intensity of singular stress field (ISSF) by applying two-dimensional modelling. By considering the real adhesive geometry, in this study, the ISSFs along the interface edge of three-dimensional prismatic butt joints are considered by varying the adhesive thicknesses. It is found that the critical ISSF in 3D modelling is almost constant independent of the adhesive thickness. The magnitude and position of the maximum ISSF are discussed by varying the corner fillet radius in comparison with two-dimensional modelling.


The heterofused carbazole unit of the title compound, C15H13N3O2, is not planar. The planar pyrazole ring forms dihedral angles of 2.52 (8)°, 3.18 (7)° and 2.22 (6)° with the pyrrole ring, the benzene ring and the attached carboxylate group respectively. The cyclohexene ring adopts a half-chair conformation. In the crystal structure, the molecules are stabilized by intermolecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds.


To celebrate the tenth volume of Research in Economic History, Paul Uselding has assembled nine articles, all of which are written in the spirit of the socalled New Economic History. Thus, although the essays offer no unifying thread as to national focus or historical time period, all involve the analysis of quantitative data and most address problems of economic growth or individual welfare. Among the articles treating the United States, two contributions study the condition of black southerners in the years after the Civil War. Lee J. Alston considers the relationship between tenant farming and racism. He begins with the premise that tenancy reinforced the subservience of black farmers to whites because white landlords determined so many of the benefits black tenants might receive. Hence, as tenancy began to decline after the Second World War, black southerners should no longer have accepted a subservient role. Alston tests his hypothesis using data from an unusual survey conducted in 1961 in which southern whites were asked to assess race relations in their communities. The cross-sectional regression largely supports his hypothesis: high rates of tenancy proved to be the most important factor in accounting for "race etiquette." The second article, written by Richard Vedder, Lowell Gallaway, Philip E. Graves, and Robert Sexton, asks why freedmen were so slow to leave the South in the years after the Civil War. The scholars conduct a regression analysis in which migration from a southern state to another (southern or nonsouthern) state is accounted for by such factors as distance, per capita income of the new state, and regional preference. Based on this analysis, the scholars conclude not only that black migrants were sensitive to information costs and job opportunities, but also that blacks "preferred things associated with the Southern location, including the warmth and sunshine of the region and other factors associated with the Southern way of life" (p. 233). Many scholars may object to this conclusion, and can do so given that the authors' method for measuring blacks' "preference" for the South is a dummy variable that compares individuals who moved within the South to those who moved outside the region. The dummy variable (that is, whether blacks moved within or from the South), however, does not necessarily indicate that blacks wanted to stay in the South because of its climate or its way of life. Moreover, although the authors have included variables to try to capture other factors that affected migration, such as information costs, they have not exhausted the list of possibilities—notably factors associated with racism. To support their conclusion, then, the authors should include other variables in their regression analysis; or alternatively, they should look beyond their quantitative work and consult traditional narrative sources about freedmen's motives for migrating within the South.


Efficient large-scale graph processing is crucial to many disciplines. Yet, while graph algorithms naturally expose massive parallelism opportunities, their performance is limited by the memory system because of irregular memory accesses. State-of-the-art FPGA graph processors, such as ForeGraph and FabGraph, address the memory issues by using scratchpads and regularly streaming edges from DRAM, but then they end up wasting bandwidth on unneeded data. Yet, where classic caches and scratchpads fail to deliver, FPGAs make powerful unorthodox solutions possible. In this paper, we resort to extreme nonblocking caches that handle tens of thousands of outstanding read misses. They significantly increase the ability of memory systems to coalesce multiple accelerator accesses into fewer DRAM memory requests; essentially, when latency is not the primary concern, they bring the advantages expected from a very large cache at a fraction of the cost. We prove our point with an adaptable graph accelerator running on Amazon AWS f1; our implementation takes into account all practical aspects of such a design, including the challenges involved when working with modern multidie FPGAs. Running classic algorithms (PageRank, SCC, and SSSP) on large graphs, we achieve 3× geometric mean speedup compared to state-of-the-art FPGA accelerators, 1.1-5.8 × higher bandwidth efficiency and 3.0-15.3 × better power efficiency than multicore CPUs, and we support much larger graphs than the state-of-the-art on GPUs.


To date, the state of art organic semiconductor distributed feedback (DFB) lasers gains tremendous interest in the organic device industry. This paper presents a short reviews on the fabrication techniques of DFB based laser by focusing on the fabrication method of DFB corrugated structure and the deposition of organic gain on the nano-patterned DFB resonator. The fabrication techniques such as Laser Direct Writing (LDW), ultrafast photo excitation dynamics, Laser Interference Lithography (LIL) and Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) for DFB patterning are presented. In addition to that, the method for gain medium deposition method is also discussed. The technical procedures of the stated fabrication techniques are summarized together with their benefits and comparisons to the traditional fabrication techniques.


Indonesia has a long-standing history of reliance on fossil fuels, which reflects the country's vast reserves of crude oil, natural gas, coal, and other resources. Consequently, the potential of Indonesia's fossil energy industry is both complex and multi-layered. This paper aims to carry out a policy mapping and stakeholder analysis of Indonesia's fossil energy industry, adopting a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Legal, and Environmental) approach, which allows identification of multidisciplinary stakeholders and underlying relationships across the sector. The outcomes from the analysis indicated the importance of strategically aligning the stakeholders' policies to the needs of other relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, the central and regional governments need to work closely in order to better sense if there is a change in the policy, be receptive to anticipating the potential impacts, and to avoid policies being executed in an isolated manner.


In this paper, the occurrence of recoil and surface warp during flat surface-straight edge hemming process is investigated. A general-purpose finite element code ABAQUS/Standard is used to simulate the hemming operations. Reverse bending, localized buckling and springback are the fundamental mechanisms that cause surface warp and recoil. Recoil and warp are not independent. One parameter called final equivalent residual warp is obtained to represent both. Feasible pre-hem ending zone is proposed based on final equivalent residual warp. The influence of the geometrical and process parameters on recoil and warp are also investigated.


Choice System theorists (Friedman, Chubb, Moe, among others) argued that competition between schools in school markets and the search for a match between the needs of the student and those of the school, are two factors that could affect school switching. This article analyzes the effect of competition and the changes in schools' characteristics that could affect this school-student fit, in school switching in Chile from 2005 to 2012. The findings support the effect the change of certain school characteristics could have on school switching, proclaimed by the Choice System theorists. However, no evidence was found that competition influences school switching, among schools from the same municipality.


Many older reinforced concrete bridges have very light transverse steel by modern standards whilst in-fill joist type bridges often have none at all. Conventional analytical approaches suggest that such bridges should have very poor distribution properties and a simple static load distribution is usually used for their assessment. However, test results show that even bridges with no transverse steel have a considerable distribution capacity. One explanation for this is compressive membrane action (otherwise known as arching action) in the transverse direction, the restraint coming from friction at the supports. Non-linear analysis is capable of predicting this behaviour. Although the exact restraint is indeterminate, analyses using conservative estimates still give significant benefits in assessment. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 882313.


This investigation is aimed to prove the effect of a bowling game in which the whole and part teaching method were adopted of the college students who took a bowling class. It is to compare and contrast the effect of the whole method and the part teaching method adopted in the class. This experiment was done to 145 students in total : 61 male students (31 for the whole method and 30 for the part teaching method) and 84 female students (39 for the whole method and 45 for the part teaching method). Scores were estimated before and after the learning for 5 times. The results are written below : 1. After taking the learning and for the first and second try, there was no particular change in the effect despite the sex and the method. The results verified statistically showed no particular difference ; p>0.05. 2. After taking the learning and for the third, fourth, fifth try. the scores rose and the effect improved. The results verified statistically also showed an obvious change : from p<0.05 to p<0.001. 3. It is proven that it is effective when the male students are trained with the part teaching method and the female students with the whole method.


A system for selectively displaying content may include one or more processors and a memory. The one or more processors may display a graphical object at a first location on a map, determine a user interaction with the graphical object, and display, in response to the determining, a first content item on the map at a second location that is proximal to the first location, the first content item being associated with the graphical object. The one or more processors may identify a selection of the graphical object and display, in response to the identifying, a second content item on the map at a third location that is disparate from the first and second locations, the second content item being associated with the first content item and the graphical object. The one or more processors may transmit an indication of the selection of the graphical object.


Increasing moving ability of human and wide distribution of knowledge resource requires that E_Learning system should pos-sess distributed system structure.To better meet individual demand of user E_Learning system should integrate with the factor of study context.Firstly,on the basis of analyzing the new demand the general structure of E_Learning system is designed.A frame of E_Learning system based on agent and integrated with study context is proposed.Secondly,the methods by which the key components of the E_Learning system could be implemented are put forward.Finally,the E_Learning system is built according to the proposed design and implementation methods.Furthermore it is illuminated that the E_Learning system based on agent and integrated with study context has a good performance and is beneficial to improving study efficiency of user via an experiment.


Background and purpose:  To assess the prevalence and characteristics of pain in an epidemiological series of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared to population‐based controls.


Palladium nanoparticles in vinylimidazolium-based polymers and poly(ionic liquid)s (PIL)s have been synthesized, systematically characterized, and preliminarily tested in the selective hydrogenation of p-chloronitrobenzene to p-chloroaniline. In both nonionic polymers and PILs the palladium nanoparticles were found to be extremely small (below 2 nm) and hardly detectable by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), but they have been successfully detected by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy of adsorbed CO, which indicated that the available metal surface was approximately the same, as well as the types of exposed sites. In nonionic polymers palladium nanoparticles are stabilized mainly by the interaction with the nitrogen atoms of the imidazole ring, which act as electron donors. In contrast, in absence of available nitrogen species inside PILs, palladium nanoparticles are mainly stabilized by the iodide anions, which determine important electronic...


Bezoars are the uncommon result of ingestion of indigestible or poorly digestible substances. Historically, bezoars are classified according to the involved material and include phytobezoar (fruit and vegetable fibers), trichobezoar (hair), and lactobezoar (milk curds). Bezoars secondary to medications have also been described.1 The majority of bezoars are located in the stomach,2 with the small intestine being the next most commonly involved site. The colon is rarely the site for a bezoar.3 We report two children with colonic, sunflower seed bezoars that expands upon the presentation and treatment of this unusual occurrence.

### Case 1

A 10-year-old white male presented to his pediatrician with a 2-week history of fever, increased flatulence, tenesmus, watery, foul-smelling diarrhea, and an 8-pound weight loss. He reported blood per rectum on a single occasion. Fecal leukocytes and stool culture were negative. A trial of Bentyl (dicyclomine) was not beneficial, Donnagel (kaolin-pectin, hyoscyamine sulfate, atropine sulfate and scopolamine hydrobromide) led to worsening of the symptoms. A gastroenterology evaluation was obtained. At the time of referral the child was having 10 to 12 watery bowel movements per day, associated with passage of mucus per rectum. The examination was unremarkable except for moderate abdominal discomfort on deep palpation. Rectal examination was limited by significant pain and anxiety; …


The Indian scientific community came together last month to publicly demonstrate about the government's seeming apathy toward issues affecting their profession. In a show of solidarity, about 15,000 scientists, researchers, teachers, and students thronged the streets of 26 Indian cities on Aug. 9. They called for more government funding for basic science research and for what they called evidence-based science education. The organizers say the rallies marked the first public demonstrations requesting that the Indian government not let science education be muddied with unscientific elements or stifled by falling quality and rising expenses. The demonstrations were inspired by the global March for Science on April 22 that saw more than a million people rallying in hundreds of cities. But back in April, little was heard in India. The August protests were coordinated by the Breakthrough Science Society (BSS), a nonprofit organization that promotes scientific thought. The organizers of the demonstrations


Objective To observe whether taking oral contraceptives timely after abortion helps reduce the rate of repeated uterus cleaning. Methods Patients were randomly assigned to observation group(orally taking Yasmin after abortion) and control group, with 100 patients in each group. They were received type-B ultrasound seven days after abortion. The patients with normal test results were visited once a month and the patients with abnormal test results were visited once a week, and once a month after the results became normal. Results Eighty-five patients in observation group had normal test results and 15 had abnormal results. Durations of vaginal bleeding and resuming to normal menstruation were(4±0.6),(28±3.4),(8.3±1.9), and(31±3.5) days respectively. No patients were received dilation and curettage again. 82 patients in control group had normal test results and 18 had abnormal results. The durations of vaginal bleeding and resuming to normal menstruation were(7±1.5),(35±2.3),(12.3±2.1), and(35±4.5) days respectively. Six patients were received dilation and curettage again. The differences of the durations of vaginal bleeding, resuming to normal menstruation and the rate of repeated uterus cleaning between the two groups were statistically significant(P0.05). Conclusion Taking oral contraceptives after abortion helps shorten the durations of vaginal bleeding and resuming to normal menstruation, and reduce the rate of repeated uterus cleaning.


This article shows that at the local and diffuse liver damage observed increase in the number of sinusoidal cells. Upon 3-aminoftalgidrazid stimulation of these cells regenerative processes developing in the liver are activated that results in increasing the number of proliferating hepatocytes.


A polymeric conjugate containing a catechin group has been synthesized by laccase-catalyzed oxidation of catechin in the presence of poly(allylamine). The resulting conjugate showed a good antioxidant property against LDL peroxidation induced by a free radical.


The technique of cloning DNA from a certain habitate, the so called metagenome contributed in the last years successfully to the accession of the genetic potential of all present microorganisms, from which 95% are not yet culturable. In this project the metagenome technique was applied to construct a cosmid library from oil contaminated soil from the town of Wietze (Lower Saxony, Germany) and screen it for the presence of lipolytic activity. Two novel genes, lipCE and estCE, were detected, which encoded for a novel lipase and an esterase. The esterase EstCE showed homology to s-lactamases and could be grouped into lipase family VII, while lipase LipCE showed high homology to extracellular Pseudomonas fluorescens lipases from family I.3. Both enzymes were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, purified and characterized with regard to biocatalytical applications. EstCE had a temperature optimum of 47°C and a high pH optimum of pH 10 together with high stability at alkaline pH values. It converted exclusively esters of short chain fatty acids, furthermore a stereospecific conversion of (+)-menthyl acetate was found. Despite the high homology to s-lactamases no activity against antibiotics of this class was found. The lipase LipCE preferred esters of medium and long chained fatty acids and was characterized as a psychrophilic enzyme. The pH optimum was pH 7, the temperature optimum was 30°C with residual activity of 28% at 0°C, together with low stability at higher temperatures. The enzyme needed calcium as a co-factor, which improved activity and stability. By CD spectroscopy changes in the secondary structure in the presence of calcium could be demonstrated. LipCE converted stereospecifically pharmaceutical important substrates like Ibuprofen (91% ee, (R) enantiomer) and showed high selectivity for esters of primary over secondary and tertiary alocohols. To develop novel techniques, a DNA microarray was constructed to detect lipase genes in environmental samples. This microarray was successfully used to detect lipase genes in enrichment cultures and biofilms.


In order to diagnose electromagnetic properties and light flash characteristics generated by hypervelocity impact, the diagnostic systems of sweep Langmuir probe(SLP) and triple Langmuir probe (TLP) for electron temperature and electron density in plasma were established, properties of magnetic field were obtained by using coil measurement system established, and characteristics of light flash were also acquired through optical pyrometer measurement system during the whole physical process in hypervelocity impact, Experimental results showed that the average electron temperature of the triple Langmuir probe was near 0.75 eV on the whole physical process, the average electron density in the experiment was about. However, the electron temperature and electron density of plasma acquired by using t he sweep Langmuir probe were lower than the values by using triple Langmuir probe. The peak value of magnetic induction intensity induced by plasma was 9.8 × 10/cm during the hypervelocity impacts, and light flash intensity peak value was 40–50 mW.cm−2.nm−1 in the experimental conditions in the paper.


Zhang Tianyi came to be a left-wing writer because of Lu Xun's influence,and his unique ironic and humorous fiction style was established based on learning and inheriting Lu Xun's fiction style.


In response to an increase in demand for heavy-lift RO/RO operations at the Port of Everett, a portion of an aging 1970s vintage concrete marginal wharf was strengthened and repaired to increase the load-carrying capacity from 550 psf live load to 1,000 psf. The improvements included adding new piles and intermediate pile caps between the existing pile caps, and strengthening the existing pile caps. The existing pile caps within the upgrade area were also repaired to correct corrosion damage caused by chloride-ion intrusion. The repairs included removal of deteriorated concrete, cleaning and replacement of the corroded reinforcing steel, and replacement of the concrete. Cast-in zinc anodes were used to provide cathodic protection. Underwater and underdeck (above water) inspections by the engineers designing the improvements quantified the severity and extent of the structural deterioration. This enabled selection of the best possible repair methods to reduce project costs and increase the structures' service life and strength. This paper describes the investigation of alternatives, analysis and design of the upgrades and repairs, and the challenges of construction.


Late blight disease caused by Phytophthora infestans, is probably the single most important disease of potatoes worldwide. Infected plants were quickly killed and were difficult for replanting, causing significant losses for the growers. Various control methods were examined including the use of biocontrol agents of PGPR.  The research objective was to determine the ability of PGPR product from Ngudi Makmur farmer group local to delay late blight disease incidence on potato plants in the field. The in vivo experiment was carried out at potato land area located at Kledung  Sub District, Kledung District and Temanggung Regency. Randomized Block Design (RBD) with five treatments was applied with five treatments each of which was placed in a different plot and each plot was filled with 40 plant treatments. On the first plot, no treatment was given (P1); the second plot was given chemical fertilizer (P2), the third plot was supplemented with PGPR one dose (P3), the fourth plot was PGPR two dose (P4), and the last was the fifth plot treated with GA hormone (P5). Result of the research showed that application of PGPR could delay disease intensity until 14 days. These antagonist could be used as biological agents initials to control leaf blight disease. There was an improvement in the quality of potato tubers harvested with the PGPR application compared to controls too.


Leishmaniasis is a complex vector-borne protozoan disease caused by parasites of the genus Leishmania. The parasites hugely vary in their mode of tropism giving rise to different non-lethal to fatal clinical patterns of the disease. Afflicting millions, the disease is endemic in tropics and sub-tropics, where majority of the affected individuals are rural and unsound economically, leading to its classification as one of the neglected tropical diseases, which is, however, contradicted by its alliance with AIDS and spread to non-endemic countries. With no antileishmanial vaccine in hand and available chemotherapy being fallacious, drug development from alternate natural resources against this relentless disease is viewed upon as an exemplary approach. Herein, we have put together, a concise description of the disease, lacunae in the present therapy and promising antileishmanial leads of natural origin in the past decade.


BACKGROUND
This study aimed to evaluate the integrity of anastomotic wound healing after digestive surgery under septic conditions and define the participation of local expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) around the anastomotic segment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Experimental animals were divided into lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and control groups, which had either LPS or normal saline solution injected into the peritoneal cavity 24 h before transection and anastomosis of the colon. Anastomotic bursting pressure (ABP) and tissue hydroxyproline concentration (HP) were measured as indicators of wound healing. Immunohistochemical staining for TNF-alpha and IL-10 on tissue samples obtained from the anastomotic segment were examined 1, 6, and 24 h after the operation. The reactive cells were counted under light microscopy.

RESULTS
ABP and HP were significantly lower in the LPS group than in the control group 7 days after surgery. In the LPS group, TNF-alpha expression increased about threefold over that in the control group 1 h after the operation. TNF-alpha-reactive cells were observed until 24 h after the operation in the LPS group, but not in the control group. On the other hand, IL-10 was not expressed in the control group during the observed period, whereas IL-10 was observed 24 h after the operation in the LPS group.

CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that anastomotic wound healing was impaired after the digestive surgery in animals treated with intraperitoneal LPS, and that local expression of TNF-alpha and IL-10 at the anastomotic site acts as an inhibitory factor in the wound healing process.


One of the most significant advances in clinical chemistry over the past 15 years has been the automation of many commonly requested tests. Automation has allowed the performance of many more assays than could be accomplished by manual methods and, at the same time, has led to increased precision. One area of clinical chemistry where automation has had relatively little impact is radioimmunoassay, which because of the multiple pipetting of reagents is very labour-intensive and yields results with relatively poor precision. Automation ofthese tests would thus offer distinct advantages over existing manual procedures. The main problem in the automation of radioimmunoassay has been the separation of free from antibody-bound antigen. Over the past few years this problem has been overcome, and today at least eight different automated radioimmunoassay systems are in use around the world (for a review see reference [1]). In this paper an evaluation of one of these instruments is described: the ARIA II for the assay of thyroxine (T4), triodotyronine (T3) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH).


A novel graphene nanoribbon (GNR)/cobalt coordination polymer (MCPs) composite (MCPs@GNR) is prepared by in-situ reduction of graphene oxide nanoribbon (GONR) with simultaneous growth of MCPs nanoparticles on its surface. Morphology and structure are investigated by High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis, X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Results indicate that MCPs nanoparticles having dia. ~6 nm are successfully deposited on GNR to form a hybrid conducting network. Analytical performance of the MCPs@GNR composite shows high non-enzymatic electro-catalytic activity for H2O2 reduction with low limit of detection ~ 60 nM at S/N = 3. Fluorescence of MCPs provides an optic feature which is also applied here for the detection of H2O2. The fluorescence quenching of MCPs@GNR can be achieved by addition of H2O2 which shows linearity over a range of increasing concentration of 10 μM to 150 μM. Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E mail: email@example.com; email@example.com, Tel: + 91-512-2597968 Page 1 of 33 Journal of Materials Chemistry B Jo ur na lo fM at er ia ls C he m is tr y B A cc ep te d M an us cr ip t


ways. But there are two possible patterns for the solid and dotted edges in such a cycle, so all is well. For definiteness, orient each cycle in the direction of, say, the solid edge emanating from its smallest vertex. These bijections show that the left side of (2) is ≈ Dn ×Dn × Tn and hence ≈ D2m ×D2m × Tm × Tm (recall n = 2m). Turning to the right side of (2), we observe that there is a bijection S2m −→ B2m × Sm × Sm . Given π ∈ S2m , the locations of 1, 2, . . . , m in π give an element of B2m , the order of 1, 2, . . . , m in π gives an element of Sm , and the order of m + 1, m + 2, . . . , 2m gives another. For example, ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 4 6 3 5 1 2 ) yields (0 0 1 0 1 1)× ( 1 2 3 3 1 2 )× ( 1 2 3 1 3 2 ) ∈ B2m × Sm × Sm where in the last permutation 1 3 2 is the rank ordering of 4 6 5. Hence the right side of (2) is ≈ B2m × B2m × Sm × Sm . Thus we can identify a "square root" of each side of (2) and it now suffices to exhibit a bijection


Explicit and implicit two-parameter iterative Arrow-Hurwicz algorithms for linear block saddle-point problems are considered. Such problems arise, for example, in finite element discretization of Stokes-type and elasticity equations and in mixed finite element discretization. Criteria for convergence and estimates for the rate of convergence are provided in terms of four constants. These constants correspond to the preconditioner for the upper left block and to the preconditioner for the Uzawa algorithm. We present precise criteria for convergence. Estimates for the convergence rate of the explicit algorithm can be obtained by analyzing the resolvent of the iteration operator. The eigenvalues and norm of the resolvent are estimated. The introduction of two parameters can change the asymptotic behavior of the spectral radius of the iteration operator for the implicit Arrow-Hurwicz algorithm. Such a selection of parameters is specified.


In this work, we focus our study to fifth and sixth order boundary value problems in a finite domain with two point boundary conditions. The analysis is accompanied by testing the method both on linear and nonlinear problems. The numerical results given by this method are compared with the exact solutions and the results by other analytical methods. The results are very accurate as compared to other methods and reveal the complete reliability of the method in finite domains.


iii Frontispiece iv Introduction 1 Literature Review 6 Pregnancy Loss in America 6 The Successful Pregnancy Norm 6 Materialism (Memorialization) 8 Morality 9 Silence 9 Guilt and Shame 11 Grief and Other Emotional Responses 12 Qualitative Interviews 12 Phenomenological Approaches 13 Narrative Approaches 15 Autoethnography 15 Personhood and Making Sense of Pregnancy Loss 17 Personhood 18 Making Sense of Pregnancy Loss 19 Christians and Pregnancy Loss 21 The Church of Christ Context 23 Methodologies 26 Open-Ended interviews 25 Interviewing Couples 26 Interviewing Process 27 Situating Selves 29 Results and Interpretations 31 Identification: Symbols, Forms, Communication and Pregnancy loss 33 "Me" 34 "You" 36 "We" 42 Transformation as We 47 Discussion 52


Methods: Case report of 42-year-old man with past history of cutaneous malignant melanoma on his right thigh, treated with complete excision four years earlier. The patient presented to the Ophthalmology Department with sudden onset of blurred vision on his left eye and subjective impression of heterochromia. Upon biomicroscopy, a small hyphema and a suspicious lesion was documented. A presumed diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma metastasis was suggested by ultrasound biomicroscopy and patient history. Positron emission tomography–computed tomography confirmed metastases affecting the skin, lower limbs, lymph nodes, lungs and left iris.