Diagnostic imaging apparatus, a signal processing circuit 22 for processing signals from the detector array 16 for detecting radiation from the imaging region 20. Hit signal indicates a detector 18 corresponding to the emitted light is hit. The signal processing circuit 22 includes a plurality of input channels A plurality of integrator 42 integrates the signal from the input channel 32, determines the energy value associated with each radiation hit. A plurality of A / D converters A plurality of time / digital converter 40 receives the hit signal, to generate a digital time stamp. OR logic 36 and 38, from a subset of said plurality of input channels, the relay one and hit signal to one of the time / digital converter 40 of ADC 44, the subset comprises two or more input channels having two or more input channels, such as those connected with the ADC44 and / or each time / digital converter 40. Register and lead-out 25, the position with respect to the hit signal, reads the time stamp of the digital energy values, and the digital.


In this thesis a dynamic PK/PD model of a physical system is derived and used to predict BG level in type 1 diabetes patients. In order to gain systematic improvements of the derived model, both residual analysis and statistical tests will be used.
 PK/PB models are important tools for drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. PK models describe how a drug moves through the body in three phases: absorption phase, distribution phase and elimination phase, while PD models describe the effects of the drug in the body.
 Usually ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with an added random error are used to describe PK/PD models but in this thesis SDEs will be applied. The advantage of using SDEs instead of ODEs is that SDEs describe both true random biological variations in the data as well as unknown or uncontrollable variation factors in an individual e.g. stress, mood, daily conditions, heart rate etc.
 The derived model is tested on real data from clinical trials where an optimal set of parameters of the model are found for each trial day for all participants using a program called CTSM. Then the results are analyzed and any deficiency affecting the performance of the predictions detected.


Performance Oriented silicone water repellent agent was prepared with alkyl alkoxy silane as active ingredient. Detailed analysis of various factors affecting products was made.


Numerous studies havedocumented thepresence ofracial disparities among Americans inhealth outcomes with respect tocardiovascular disease, infant mortality, cancer, andkidneydisease. With regard tokidney diseases, these disparities aremoredramatic. African, Hispanic, andNative Americans havethehighest risks ofend-stage renal disease (ESRD). Theincidence ofESRDisfour times higher inAfrican Americans than inwhites. Diseases causing chronic kidney failure, suchasdiabetes mellitus, hypertension, systemic lupus erythematosus, andhumanimmunodeficiency virus-associated nephropathy, are particularly prevalent among African-American patients. Inaddition tothehigher prevalence, themorbidity associated with kidney complications ofthese diseases appears worse in African-American patients. African Americans also haveworse outcomes andarelatively reduced access tokidney transplantation-the best therapy for ESRD.Itishighly likely that social andenvironmental factors play avery significant role inthepersistence ofthese disparities. Adetailed understanding ofthese socioeconomic andenvironmental factors will be critical informulating rational public health strategies toredress these disparities. This paper reviews thesocial, economic andenvironmental factors that impact ontheincidence ofESRD inminority groups.


In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the contrast echo method is defined for a set of transmit ML1 conditions optimized for the diagnosis of the existence, and two emission diagnosis of conditions optimized ML2 and ML3, and is suitably selected according to the diagnosis procedure collection and treatment ultrasound images. According to a program recorded in advance, or automatically launch conditions can be switched from one to another according to a command issued by the operator. Flash emission performed in the presence of the emission condition MLh between diagnosis and qualitative diagnosis. This enables the user to observe the new contrast agent flows into the region to be observed.


The rise of the dynamic presidency represents a trademark of modern American politics. This thesis investigates the significance of presidential influence upon the legislative process by measuring the effects of political context and presidential agency on legislative outcomes, further exploring the cumulative effect of these components upon a president's attempt to influence the legislative process. More specifically, public opinion and partisan balance in Congress operationalize the political environment while bargaining and campaigning function as strategies which help explain presidential behaviour. Together, they form the basis for an analysis of four case studies of domestic policy pursuits during the George W. Bush administration. Ultimately, this examination reveals that public opinion is a more influential variable in determining legislative outcomes than partisan balance in Congress and the president's choice of strategies.


This paper is based on the component GIS software—SuperMap Objects for the development platform, VS2005 for the development language satiation, and from the system structure, database construction, system functions, and the way of system integration, successfully completes the design of enterprise geographic information system of Heavy Machinery Group Co., Ltd. Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. It realizes the attribute query, analysis, positioning and statistics of the workshops, roads, etc., foundation construction and production facilities in the enterprise, and exports various types of analysis statistical results. Meanwhile, it realizes the modern enterprise management, provides accurate scientific decision for enterprise planning, design, and scheme material, and makes the foundation for the realization of digital enterprise management.


The present invention provides a class of ester derivatives, preparation method of fulvestrant. Such compounds are fatty acid esters esterified compound formed -OH fulvestrant in the C-3, C-17 bits, the following structural formula. Wherein the substituent R is H, the number of carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having 2 to 22, or a stereoisomer alkenoyl; substituent group R 'may be H, an alkoxy group having a carbon number of 2 to 4, an alkenyl group or a stereoisomer thereof; fatty acid ester compounds such as prodrugs, can improve the stability of the compound, while it may reduce the polarity readily prepared fat emulsion, microspheres and the like into the formulation, to avoid high temperature during the preparation degradation factors and use of the compound of the organic solvent.


Finite element modelling and analysis were conducted for the roll-type steel mats which were placed on loose sand and subjected to a standard truck wheel load in this study. The roll-type steel mats mean that the steel mats can be folded as a circle shape for the carrying to fields in cold regions where workability is limited and are developed for a rapid rehabilitation method for roadway across soft ground which is caused by thawing during the summer season in cold regions. The model is composed of link elements to simulate nonlinear behavior of connections between steel mats, thick shell elements to have flexural stiffness of the steel mats, and springs to simulate characteristics of foundation soils. The structural behaviors of the shell, link elements, and springs were verified at each modelling step through experiment and analysis. Beam and shell analysis without the link elements were conducted and compared to results obtained from the model presented in this study. Significant vertical displacement is shown in the shell model with hinge connections. Therefore, the results demonstrate that the analysis model for the roll-type steel mats on loose sand needs further detail parametric studies.


Breathable sole element for a shoe according to the present invention (173,187) comprises a sidewall (608). The breathable sole element (173,187), the channel structure comprising a plurality of channels (181,183,184) (178) is formed. At least some of the side edge of the channel (181,183,184) is formed as an air and moisture release port (182), and at least one of the channels (181,183,184), a peripheral channel (183) intersecting the plurality of channels (181 and 184). Channel (181,183,184) and side walls (608) form a functional strut (400, 401), and breathable sole element (173) is the top surface area of the channel (181,183,184) (Ac having a ratio of 0.5 to 5 as a percentage of the top surface area (Ap) of the functional strut (400, 401) for).


For the acousto-optic modulation experiment,the visual program based on MATLAB was given in this paper.The channel for data transmission between computer and digital storage oscilloscope was established,and the automatic collecting and processing to the experiment data based on computer-aided acousto-optic modulation experiment became true.This improved the degree of automation of the acousto-optic modulation experiment,and made the experiment more convenient.


Abstract : According to DOD, its U.S. infrastructure is vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change. These could affect DOD s readiness and fiscal exposure, and DOD has begun to plan for adaptation actions designed to improve infrastructure resilience. GAO was asked to assess DOD s actions to adapt its U.S. infrastructure to the challenges of climate change. This report (1) describes potential impacts identified by DOD that may affect its infrastructure; (2) evaluates DOD s efforts to conduct vulnerability assessments; (3) assesses how DOD is accounting for climate change impacts in certain planning efforts; and (4) evaluates the extent to which DOD incorporates adaptation into its infrastructure-investment efforts.GAO reviewed DOD documents on climate change, infrastructure planning, and funding processes; interviewed cognizant officials; and visited or contacted a nongeneralizable sample of 15 sites in various regions and from each military department. GAO recommends that DOD develop a plan and milestones for completing climate change vulnerability assessments of installations; provide further information to installation planners, clarifying actions that should be taken to account for climate change in planning documents; and clarify the processes used to compare military construction projects for funding, to include consideration of potential climate change impacts. DOD concurred with GAO's recommendations and explained how they will be implemented.


Genome-wide disease association studies commonly involve simultaneous testing of millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). The SNP-based association tests are often highly correlated due to linkage disequilibrium (LD) among the SNPs. Simple Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons are often too conservative. Permutation tests, which are often used in practice, are on the other hand too computationally expensive for genome-wide studies. We present a new method to compute genome-wide significance of SNP associations, which is computationally extremely fast and at the same time attains a high accuracy. We demonstrate analytically that the accuracy and the computation time of our method are almost independent of the sample size, the SNP size, and the p-values being adjusted. When applied to genome-wide SNP datasets, we observed highly variable conservativeness of multiple comparisons evaluated from different genomic regions. The conservativeness of p-values is significantly correlated with SNP LD and SNP density. The method can further be used to control false discovery rate, and we discuss a novel approach using SNP-specific thresholds to detect genome-wide significant associations utilizing prior knowledge of the spatial distribution of disease susceptible loci.


A random sample of 800 Japanese-language books with publication dates prior to 1943 was extracted from the OCLC World Cat database and 409 were examined. The book titles were queried in both Google Books and HathiTrust. The texts were then examined for their level of typical user access, their accuracy in metadata, and their scan quality. Despite their likely public domain status within Japan and in the United States, 0.2% (N=1) of the sampled texts were visible in Google Books as full texts. While 12.5% (N=50) of the sample were visible in HathiTrust. Within the full view texts, errors in scanning and metadata were identified, including problems with legibility (blurred characters) in 68% of visible texts, distorted content (slanted and upside-down pages) in 90%, motion or blur of turning pages captured by digital cameras in 48%, extra-textual objects (3-D items not part of text, i.e. Fingers, hands, book holders, etc.) in 94%, and use of heavily-defaced, dirty or fragile source material in 28%. The most common metadata errors were missing bibliographic information, especially missing page numbers (in 18% of texts) and incomplete tables of contents (in 22%), and problems associated with poor OCR, especially unusable keywords and common phrases (in 50% of texts) that appear to be random words, articles, and unpronounceable symbols.


The technological race of boosting legacy and developing new air-interfaces, recent advancement of core network architectures, and evolution from software-defined and cognitive radio to reconfigurable systems put new complexions on the definition of "next-generation". This contribution envisages Next-Generation Mobile Networks as the class of multi-radio cognitive systems capable of absorbing the heterogeneity of wireless access, with advanced reconfiguration capabilities moved from edges to the core. Inline with 3GPP IMS rationale and ETSI TISPAN design extensions, a unified subsystem for offering reconfiguration services is proposed, adopting a multiplane and layer-based approach with clear separation of control and management concerns. The paper presents the signalling between the terminal and network elements in the course of an exemplary staged reconfiguration process, and discusses design and deployment advantages when introducing the so-called Reconfiguration Support Subsystem in Beyond 3G portfolios.


Plagiarism is the most common form of academic dishonesty which includes, exploiting works or ideas of others without citation and acknowledgement. The common types of plagiarism are direct, self and accidental plagiarism. Good scientific measures in research ethics can control these fraudulent practices. There are software-based services such as URKUND, Turnitin, Plagtracker, etc. available for detecting plagiarism in manuscripts.


Information has significant role to the successful functioning of the organization. Therefore the information security is needed to sustain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the information. To safeguard the information fro any attacks, intrusions and malicious codes the precaution measure should be taken, and one of the techniques is early prevention using system log file.


Typical measurements of parasitic heat flow in lithium-ion cells can determine the magnitude of heat flow but cannot differentiate between different types of reactions. This causes difficulty when comparing cells that contain different coatings and solvent systems, which may affect parasitic reaction pathways. In this work, a new technique to measure the rate and net enthalpy change ( H) of parasitic reactions in lithium ion cells is introduced. Isothermal microcalorimetry and precision current measurements are used to make in-situ, non-destructive measurements of heat flow and parasitic current during high-voltage holds. The results are used to determine H of parasitic processes in NMC532/graphite pouch cells. Effects of positive electrode coating, solvent, and upper cutoff voltage are explored. Solvent systems of organic carbonates with and without methyl acetate, and fluorinated carbonates are also investigated. Each solvent system yielded a unique trend of H with increased voltage, and results were consistent between pair cells. Cells with organic carbonates showed consistent H between voltages, while cells containing methyl acetate showed decreasing H. Cells containing fluorinated carbonates showed increasing H with increased voltage. The observed trends in H and solvent systems as well as future developments of this method are discussed. © The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. [DOI: 10.1149/2.0761814jes]


The temporal arteritis or gigantic cells is an arterial inflammation showing hypersensibility and headache in the scalp among others forms of presentation. It is presented a patient masculine of 64 years old who had personal antecedent of higher blood pressure, he went to the doctor because some months ago he suffered from a bad headache in the temporal-parietal region and when he went to sleep it was more intense, at the same time he presented tearing on his right eye with scalp hypersensibility and volume increase of the temporal arteries, with the normal erythrocyte sedimentation velocity which is describe only in literature in a 5,4 % of the cases, we performed a biopsy of the right superficial temporal artery, CT scan was performed that discarded an intracranial expansive process as the cause of the headache. It was treated with prednisone with good answer.


Self-help groups play an important role in the economic growth and development of India. Sustainable development is a remote key of rural and semi urban areas, and they start economic activities in the development of the society, through the awareness among the people. In India, SHGs supported by the National Bank for Agricultural Rural Development (NABARD) through nongovernment organizations, Regional rural banks, etc. To promote and facilitate credit linkage of these groups with banks. These groups are spread across the country and 85.77 lakhs SHGs present in country as in march 31, 2017. According to Aloysius Fernandez, Executive Director MYRADA: "SHGs are for holistic development of poor and building the social capital on the pillars of affinity, trust and mutual support will be the key for its success". Therefore practices and the procedures which undermine the group approach are too guided. Empowerment is significant development foundation of the country, it is not only for society it is also continuous processes of economic, social and political development. It provides a greater access to knowledge and resources, more autonomy in decision making, greater ability to plan lives and freedom from customs, beliefs and practices. Thus, Empowerment of women is holistic concept. It is multidimensional approach in income increase and poverty elimination in socio &economic aspect. This paper discusses in detail about the concept of empowerment of women along with SHGs linkage microfinance growth and also explains current position of women empowerment in India.


ABSTRACT
 Capsule: There was significant variation on the incidence of road traffic mortality across bird species, due to seasonal and weather effects but also due to differences between years. Aims: To assess patterns of mortality due to traffic collision for six common bird species over a period of nine years in relation to seasonality and weather. Methods: Road mortality surveys were performed on four road sections from 2005 to 2013 in southern Portugal. The analysis controlled for survey frequency, and carcass persistence and detectability. Results: Overall, bird mortality decreased over time and was generally higher during spring and summer months. The lack of strong relationships between the weather variables and the observed mortality patterns suggests the existence of additional factors important in explaining the observed trends. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that bird mortality due to collision with vehicles may change between years and was highest during the breeding season. This could have population consequences, and highlights the need to further address large temporal scales in roadkill research.


Brain metastases (BrM) are reported in approximately 10-30% of breast cancer patients with a poor median overall survival of 8.5 months. Current therapeutic strategies are mostly limited to surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, making the study of novel druggable targets and brain-permeable small molecule inhibitors an urgent clinical need. Our lab recently reported a hybrid-capture exome RNA-sequencing study on 21 patient-matched pairs of primary breast tumors and brain metastases and identified upregulation of several receptor tyrosine kinases including RET in BrM. The ligand for RET is Glial Cell Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF), which is released by astrocytes and microglia in response to neuroinflammation and brain tissue damage. Clinical BrM cell growth in ex vivo cultures was reduced by the multikinase inhibitor Cabozantinib, indicating a potential role for RET in the growth of BrM lesions. We hypothesize that the high level of brain-derived GDNF provides a permissive microenvironment for RET overexpressing breast cancer cells to form brain metastases, and will evaluate the therapeutic potential of RET targeted therapies for breast cancer BrM patients. Our preliminary data show that in RET-overexpressing (RET-OE) breast cancer cell models, 30-minute GDNF treatment induces RET phosphorylation at two distinct tyrosine residues, along with downstream signaling illustrated by ERK1/2, AKT, and STAT3 phosphorylation. This induction was effectively abrogated after shRNA-mediated RET knockdown. We employed a phospho-kinase array to identify novel downstream targets regulated by the GDNF-RET signaling axis, and found that GDNF induces phosphorylation of multiple targets (including p27 and RSK) in RET-OE cells. Interestingly, phosphorylation of multiple Src family kinases (Lck, Lyn, Fgr) was downregulated with GDNF treatment. We will further examine these downstream targets via reverse phase protein array (RPPA). GDNF triggers migration of RET-OE cell lines in both 2D wound scratch and 3D transwell migration assays. Additionally, we present results obtained through an ex vivo organotypic coculture system, in which RET-OE cells are cultured on top of 300-micron thick murine brain, kidney, or liver slices. RET overexpression increases colony formation compared with empty vector control, suggesting a role for RET signaling in the initial establishment of metastatic brain lesions. Differences in colonization between empty vector transfected and RET-OE cells remain minimal in kidney and liver sections, suggesting a role for RET specific to the brain microenvironment. We will examine RET-driven brain metastasis in vivo by employing RET-OE and RET-deficient cell lines in intracranial, intracardiac, and mammary fat pad injection. These models of BrM will be randomized to RET inhibitor or vehicle treatment to evaluate the efficacy of RET-targeted therapy in the setting of breast cancer brain metastasis. Citation Format: Simeng Liu, Geoffrey Pecar, Jagmohan Hooda, Jennifer M. Atkinson, Fangyuan Chen, Adrian V. Lee, Steffi Oesterreich. RET as a novel therapeutic target in breast cancer brain metastases [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 2864.


It has been well-established that cells can form membrane-less organelles via liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins and nucleic acids. As these organelles exhibit rapid turnover and are highly dynamic, it is crucial to understand the kinetics of these systems. Yet, the dynamics of assembly and disassembly of phase transitions has remained largely unexplored, in part due to the lack of available experimental tools to access short timescales. Here, we exploit droplet-based microfluidics technology to generate well-defined microcompartments, which allow us to rapidly mix reagents via chaotic advection and observe nucleation, growth, and coarsening events in volumes comparable to cells (pL) and on timescales of seconds. We demonstrate the power of this approach by analyzing the dynamics of synthetic organelles formed by the DEAD-box ATPase Dhh1 and RNA, that are associated with the formation of processing bodies in yeast. In particular, with our setup we show that the characteristic time scale of phase separation decreases linearly with increasing the volume of the compartment. Moreover, we demonstrate that the synthetic organelles coarsen into one single droplet via gravity-induced coalescence in compartments that lack network structures. In contrast, when a synthetic hydrogel matrix is assembled in our artificial cells to mimic the cytoskeleton network, the droplet coarsening is arrested. Our microfluidics approach represents an attractive platform to investigate the dynamics of compartmentalization in artificial cells in the absence and presence of network structures.


A mathematical stochastic model for accounting evaluation of human assets— synthesizing both the world views of economics and accounting and consistent with recommended accounting principles—is proposed.


Mentha species belongs to Lamiaceae family is an important industrial crop, cultivated commercially on large scale. In this study, a common cultivar of M. arvensis with a high essential oil content (Cim Kranti) was investigated to determine the impact of drying techniques for 10 days immediately following harvest on the essential oil content and its chemical profile under three conditions: open field (S1), shade (S2), and ventilated chamber (S3). According to results, significantly higher essential oil (0.723%) with 77.58 % of menthol content was observed in freshly harvested crop on same /1st day of harvest (T1) than any other conditions. M. arvensis was harvested and drying in open field condition (S1) has showed 0.68% of essential oil having rich amount of menthol (76.86 % ) content on fresh sample (T1) which decline to 0.51% essential oil content with menthol content 76.88% at 10th days after harvest. M. arvensis dying in ventilated room (S3) showed essential oil (0.71%) and menthol content 76.58 % on same day of harvest, which later decreases upto 0.6% essential oil with menthol content 74.32% on 10th day after harvest. Results concluded that the best quality and high yield of essential oil of M. arvensis should willingly be distilled fresh just after harvest. It also indicates that postharvest processes should immediately followed harvesting with appropriate drying method to minimize the loss of high quality essential oil.


Background. Previous studies have shown controversial results regmding conelation between social status and risk for Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM). Stress and infections have been shown to increase ...


The aim of the study was to compare contents of individual protein fractions determined by electrophoresis in blood serum of healthy periparturient goats. Eight clinically healthy white shorthaired goats were examined. Blood samples of these goats were taken from v. jugularis three weeks and two weeks before the anticipated parturition, on the parturition day, 7 days after the parturition, and 28 days after the parturition. Individual protein fractions, albumins, α1-, α2-, β1-, β2and γ-globulins were identified by electrophoretic analysis of blood serum. Percentage shares of individual protein fractions were converted from total protein values to g·l-1 values. The results indicated that individual serum protein fractions in periparturient goats showed significant dynamics of change. There were no significant differences between samples taken before the parturition and on the parturition day (except for the increase of β2 from 2.5 ± 0.3 g·l-1 observed 3 weeks before the parturition to 3.2 ± 0.4 g·l-1 measured 2 weeks before the parturition, and the decrease of γG levels from 9.5 ± 2.6 g·l-1 observed three weeks before the parturition to 8.1 ± 1.7 g·l-1 found on the parturition day), yet most indicators measured after the parturition were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than on the parturition day (values in g·l-1 observed on the parturition day versus values measured 28 days after the parturition: total protein 60.6 ± 4.3 vs. 71.3 ± 2.4, albumins 37.4 ± 2.9 vs. 42.7 ± 1.0, α2 3.4 ± 0.5 vs. 4.1 ± 0.8, β1 5.6 ± 0.5 vs. 6.3 ± 0.9, γG 8.1 ± 1.7 vs. 12.3 ± 1.9). The results bring new knowledge on the values of individual fractions of serum proteins in healthy goats, which is necessary for diagnostic interpretation of pathological findings in animals and also for experimental studies. Protein electrophoresis, albumin, α-globulins, β-globulins, γ-globulins, acute phase proteins Majority of plasmatic proteins is synthesized in hepatocytes, with albumin representing their largest quantitative part (Elmaouhoub et al. 2007). Except for albumin (protein), all plasmatic proteins are glycoproteins. Globulin fraction of serum proteins determined by electrophoresis involves α1, α2, β1, β2 and γ-globulins. Alpha1-globulins include α1-glycoprotein, α1-antitrypsin (AAT), α1-fetoprotein (AFP); α2-globulins include ceruloplasmin and haptoglobin. During electrophoresis, β-globulins are often separated to β1 and β2 globulin fractions that include transferrin, fibrinogen and complement components. Gamma-globulins include individual immunoglobulin classes. Individual protein fractions, or blood serum proteins, have different functions and their identification is used also as a diagnostic tool. Many of these proteins are the so-called acute phase proteins. For instance, α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) concentration increases during inflammation or infection, as well as concentrations of other acute phase proteins (CRP, serum amyloid A (SAA) protein, α1-antitrypsin, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin and fibrinogen) based on increased synthesis of hepatocytes with subsequent release of these proteins in blood (Bauman and Gaudie 1994). Alfa1-antitrypsin, member of the superfamily of proteinase inhibitors, has a crucial effect on inactivation of neutrophil elastase and other proteases, which maintains protease–antiprotease balance (Hashemi et al. 2007). Ceruloplasmin takes part in copper metabolism (binds 6 atoms) (Murray et al. 1998; Minatel and Carfagnini 2000) and its decreased plasmatic concentration is associated with copper deficiency (Kumar et al. 2004). ACTA VET. BRNO 2011, 80: 185–190; doi:10.2754/avb201180020185 Address for correspondence: doc. MVDr. Leos Pavlata, Ph.D., Dip. ECBHM Ruminant and Swine Clinic Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Palackeho 1-3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic Phone: +420 5 4156 2407 Fax: +420 5 4156 2407 E-mail: email@example.com http://www.vfu.cz/acta-vet/actavet.htm Diagnostic utilization of the determination of certain protein fractions in ruminants has been reported e.g. in mastitis. Hirvonen et al. (1996, 1999) and Ohtsuka et al. (2001) have described increased haptoglobin concentration in cow serum. Kovac et al. (2007) recommend determining acute phase proteins (haptoglobin and SAA) in serum, and also in milk, as a useful tool for diagnostics of mastitis and possible indicator of milk quality. Transferrin (β-globulin) and albumin are multi-functional transport proteins that, among others, bind metal ions (Suznjevic 2001). Moreover, transferrin receptor facilitates endocytosis-mediated cellular absorption of iron (Feelders et al. 1999). Other studies on plasmatic proteins in β fractions draw a link between degradation products of fibrinogen (plasmatic protein with high molecular weight) and microvascular leakage of e.g. albumin. Microvascular permeability induced in this way accompanies cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disorders (Tyagi et al. 2008). Certain proteins such as AFP have much higher diagnostic value in human patients where AFP belongs to the most important markers of hepatocellular carcinoma (Huo et al. 2007). In ruminants, however, acute phase proteins (haptoglobin, fibrinogen, and ceruloplasmin) are clinically significant. They can be used mainly for diagnosis of inflammatory diseases. Differences between male and female concentrations of certain acute phase proteins (AGP, haptoglobin) have been described e.g. by Clapperton et al. (2005, 2007). Cristofol et al. (1998) determined individual fractions of serum proteins in dependence on the sex of sheep with a significant difference in albumin values. Tothova et al. (2008) described that in the time around parturition there are significant changes in concentrations of acute phase proteins, as well as in the whole protein metabolism of dairy cows. So far, the identification of concentrations of various serum proteins in goats has been described rarely (Fernandez et al. 2006). The aim of this study was to determine and evaluate the dynamics of serum protein concentrations in healthy goats in different stages of the reproductive and lactation cycle. These data represent the basis for correct interpretation of acquired values for diagnosis of diseases. Materials and Methods The experiment was performed on 8 breeding white shorthaired goats in their second lactation. The animals, healthy and showing no signs of any disease, were stabled in experimental pens of the Ruminant Clinic of the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno. Animals were stabled on straw litter and fed twice a day a complementary diet consisting of barley (30%), wheat (20%), alfalfa meal (18%), sunflower extracted unpeeled groats (10%), wheat bran (10%), maize (5%), malt sprouts (5%), dicalcium phosphate (1.1%), sodium chloride (0.7%), and calcium carbonate (0.2%). Daily dose of this diet (0.6 kg per animal) was fed in combination with hay, water and NaCl (lick) ad libitum. Spontaneous parturitions were controlled by the veterinarian. All goats delivered vital kids. Puerperium was physiological in all animals. Colostrum and milk showed no sensory changes; none of the goats had mastitis. Blood samples were taken by puncturing vena jugularis three and two weeks before parturition, on the parturition day, and 7 and 28 days after parturition. After the samples were precipitated, they were centrifuged at 1500 g 10 min. The serum obtained in this way was kept frozen at –20 oC until it was examined. Individual protein fractions were identified from serum by Hydragel Protein K20 (Sebia, France) electrophoretic set that is commonly used for separation of human serum proteins. Electrophoresis was done on alkaline agarose gel. Blood serum proteins were separated (in the direction from the positive pole) to albumins, α1, α2, β1, β2 and γ globulins. Separated protein zones were stained with acid solution of amid black and evaluated by densitometry at 570 nm wavelength using DVSE (densitometer for electrophoresis gels) manufactured by Sebia. Percentage shares of individual protein fractions were converted from total protein (TP) values to g·l-1 values. Total protein was determined quantitatively by bio Vendor set. Total protein (biuret) was identified photometrically at 540 nm wavelength by biuret method using Cobas Mira device (Rosche, Switzerland). Basic statistic characteristics of measured values and the evaluation of dynamics of value changes with time (using repeated measures ANOVA procedure and paired t-test, if the result ANOVA revealed p ≤ 0.01) were processed using Microsoft Excel XP.


Purpose of this study is to classify geography exam questions included in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 OSS/SOS-1, OSS/SOS-2, YGS/SOS, LYS3/COG-1 and LYS-4/COG-2 university entrance exam tests in terms of Bloom's Taxonomy's cognitive domain level. In this study carried out with descriptive method, data were acquired with document analysis. According to the data acquired from the study; it has been seen that distribution of geography lesson university exam questions according to Bloom Taxonomy's cognitive domain levels center predominantly upon level of understanding. Questions on remembering, understanding and applying levels are the ones related to low-level of thinking. Since 2010, along with the changing testing system, high level geography questions on evaluation and synthesis levels in YGS/SOS, LYS3/COG-1 and LYS4/COG-4 tests have been remarked as being included even in low level.


This research was aimed to know the influence of fly ash addition at paving block stress strength. Variation of  fly ash was 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% from weight of cement with water cement ratio 0,25. The  speciment was hexagonal and cube with the comparison 1 cement : 6 sand. The result showed that the  stress strength of hexagonal paving block at 56 days with fly ash 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% was increase to  37,166% (7,057 MPa), 18,248% (3,465 MPa), 8.110% (1,54 MPa), and 14,193% (2,695 MPa). The cubic  paving block at 56 days with fly ash 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% was increase to 35,932% (5,969 MPa), 15,135% (2,514 MPa), 9,534% (1,584 MPa), and 8,318% (1,382 MPa).


Current research data management practices focus more on data collecting, curating and sharing than on supporting data use and reuse. This research studies research data management from a data user's perspective and aims to reveal what research data service features may support data reuse. Two data repositories – the TREC website and the GRI data repository – were studied and compared from the perspectives of three types of data users (i.e., insiders, community users, and public users). The TREC website can support data reuse for insiders and community users, but not necessarily public users. The GRI repository can support data reuse for some insiders only. The findings have multiple implications for research data management.


The paper deals with the influence of an external perpendicular magnetic field on a domain wall motion in glass-coated amorphous microwires. The dependence of the domain wall velocity on the external axial magnetic field is measured at the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. Subsequently, the microwire is rotated in a perpendicular field. The results show that the rotation of the microwire in the perpendicular magnetic field increases the domain wall velocity at certain rotations. At the same time, it shows that the mobility of the domain wall varies periodically with the rotation of a microwire. The results are discussed in terms of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.


SNV works in the areas of Agriculture, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Energy. In the WASH sector, SNV's focus is on engaging all relevant actors in WASH initiatives, from effective approaches to water supply and sanitation functionality to ensuring sufficient attention to hygiene and realising market-based solutions. Next to sanitation demand creation and improving governance, strengthening service value chains and hygiene behavioural change communication are key elements of our work.


Provided is a conductive resin composition which is improved in electrical conductivity without deterioration of rheology and work lifetime by using a metal salt of carboxylic acid. The conductive resin composition comprises a resin; a conductive filler; and a metal salt of an organic acid except a metal acrylate and a metal methacrylate. Preferably the organic acid is a carboxylic acid of the metal salt of an organic acid; the metal is selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, Mg, K, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pd, Pt, Ag, Au, Hg, Al and Sn; and the conductive filler is selected from the group consisting of gold, silver, copper, cobalt, silver-coated graphite, a copper alloy, platinum, palladium, nickel, aluminum, silver-coated copper, an alloy of silver and platinum, bronze, and brass alloy.


offers the future possibility of various permutations for accreditation through parttime study and short courses. An overview of these current initiatives suggests that a strategic review of the range of choice for study at post-graduate level in this 'new age' is now appropriate, for there is bound to be a significant increase in the numbers of people working along this new pathway towards the highest level of qualifications. Comprehensive provision in popular and related musics has long been relevant and needed in the UK. The long-standing integration of this music in the USA and, more recently, in parts of Europe further endorses the need for its inclusion within the mainstream of music education. Popular music is now beginning to be formally acknowledged within one of its spiritual homelands. The people's music appears to have come of age!


The aim of this work was to assess the internal radiation dosimetry, human pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of the 99m Tc-labeled murine monoclonal antibody (MAb) ior egf/r3, used for diagnosis of epithelial tumors. Five patients were included in this study. Multiple blood and urine samples were collected and sequential anterior and posterior whole-body scintigraphies up to 24 hr postinjection were acquired from all patients. The internal radiation dosimetry was estimated using the methods developed by the Medical Internal Radiation Dosimetry (MIRD) committee. Raw data were computed from operations between scintigraphic images and regions of interest (ROI). The residence times of the activity on the source organs were computed to assess the absorbed dose by 24 target organs. The dosimetric results showed that liver, gallbladder and spleen received the higher absorbed dose. The computed mean values were 0.69 mGy/MBq, 0.19mGy/MBq and 0.37 mGy/MBq, respectively. The mean value of effective dose was 1,2E-01 mSv/MBq and the effective equivalent dose was 9,2E-02 mSv/MBq. The Pharmacokinetics and Biodistribution results showed that this compound have a biexponential plasmatic and blood clearance with a rapid biodistribution phase and a slower elimination phase. This compound was excreted by the urinary and hepatobiliary systems. Liver was the principal target organ of this product showing a great retention of the MAb. These dosimetrics results have allowed to use the ior egf/r3 kit in a safe and controlled way Palabras clave: internal dosimetry, pharmacokinetics and biodistribution, 99mTc,monoclonal antibody.


Background— Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication following cardiac surgery. While AKI severity is associated with increased risk of short-term outcomes, its long-term impact is less well understood. Methods— Adult patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery at eight centers were enrolled into the Northern New England biomarker registry (n=1,610). Patients were excluded if they had renal failure (n=15) or died during index admission (n =38). defined using the AKI Network (AKIN). We linked our cohort to national Medicare and state all-payer claims to ascertain readmissions and to the National Death Index to ascertain survival. Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox's proportional hazard modeling were conducted for time to readmission and death over 5 years. Results— Within 5 years, 513 patients (33.8%) developed AKI with AKIN stage 1 (29.9%) and stage 2–3 (3.9%). There were 620 (39.9%) readmissions and 370 (23.8%) deaths. After adjustment, Stage 1 AKI patients had a 31% increased risk of readmission (95%CI: 1.10–1.57), while Stage 2–3 patients had a 98% increased risk (1.41–2.78) compared to those with no AKI. Relative to those without AKI, Stage 1 patients had a 56% increased risk of mortality (1.14–2.13) while those Stage 2–3 patients had a 3.5-times higher risk (2.16–5.60). Conclusions— AKI severity using the AKIN stage criteria is associated with a significantly increased risk of 5-year readmission and mortality. Our findings suggest efforts to reduce AKI in the perioperative period may have significant long-term impact for patients and payers in reducing mortality and healthcare utilization.


The present work deals with the techno-economic analysis of a novel combined power cycle consisting of a molten-salt solar tower power plant with storage supported by additional heat provided from ...


Therapies for prostate cancer depend on age, rate of the cancer's growth, the specific benefits and drawbacks of treatment, and stage of disease. Patients older than 70 years of age with a slowly growing, localized tumor may be placed on active surveillance. Patients with localized disease, for whom watchful waiting is inadequate, can undergo surgical removal of the prostate or radiation therapy. Even with these options, the disease recurs in 20% to 30% of patients. For more advanced cases and for cancer that has spread beyond the prostate gland, andro gen-deprivation therapy is commonly used with or without surgery. 2,3


The observed distribution of fluxes and spectral indices of flares at X-ray and gamma-ray range are analyzed with particular attention to variation with heliocentric longitude of these distributions and their moments. It is shown how these distributions can be used to set constraints on the distribution and average values of model parameters describing the characteristics of the accelerated electrons and flare plasma. The models assumed are the nonthermal thick target models, whereby accelerated electrons with power-law spectra and Gaussian pitch angle distributions are injected at the top of a coronal loop with two kinds of converging field geometries


The magnetic susceptibility of tris(pyrrolidine-1-carbodithioato)iron(III) and the tris(diethyldithiocarbamato) derivatives of chromium(III), manganese(III) and iron(III) were measured down to temperatures of 4·2 K and below. The susceptibilities are independent of the strength of the magnetic field. The magnetic moments of the chromium and manganese compounds are essentially independent of temperature and near the spin-only value. The moment of Fe(Et2dtc)3 falls from 2·10 to 1·85 B.M. between 83 and 4·2 K. This behaviour is interpreted in terms of a low-symmetry splitting of the 2T2g term. The magnetic susceptibility of tris(pyrrolidine-1-carbodithioato)iron(III) became almost constant below 3 K, and cannot be accounted for on the basis of the zero-field splitting of the 6A1g ground term suggested by other studies.


Purpose – The paper's aim is to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of the relationship between providers and consumers of a "high‐credence" service, in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approach – A model of antecedents and outcomes was constructed. Relationship quality was conceptualized as the degree of trust in and satisfaction with the service provider. Data collected in face‐to‐face interviews with over 200 clients of 12 health‐care clinics questionnaire survey were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling, to test six hypotheses.Findings – The findings support the hypotheses and show that the service providers' expertise, empathy, likeability, and communication effectiveness significantly influenced relationship quality, leading in turn to the likelihood of re‐patronage and word‐of‐mouth recommendation.Research limitations/implications – The study suggests ways in which service providers can improve the quality of the customer relationship. Findings can be generali...


This position paper argues for the value of a mixed-method approach to understanding and contextualizing user-knowledge of information flows on social media sites, despite the challenges posed by such a process. There is an imperative need for such research because, as social media sites become further entrenched as dominant vehicles for communication, knowledge and beliefs regarding these technologies will play an ever increasing role in users' abilities to understand information filtering bias on social media, gauge the risks for information disclosure, make meaningful decisions about use and how to protect their privacy, participate in conversations around how information flows in these spaces should be governed, and ultimately, these beliefs and sets of knowledge help shape users' power relative to these systems.


The author examines the stock market reaction to annual earnings information releases using data for a sample of firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Using the event study method, the author found that the magnitude of the cumulative abnormal returns is dominated by significant reactions 20 days before the earnings release date, which suggests that a portion of the market reaction may be due to private acquisition and, possibly, abuse of information by insiders. The persistent downward drift of the cumulative abnormal returns, 20 days after the announcement, is inconsistent with the efficient markets hypothesis.


That recycling is beneficial for the environment is a widely held view. The econo- mic potential of recycling, however, is not well known. The purpose of our research is to measure the contribution recycling activities make to the economic health of a state's economy. In terms of economic development, local and state governments and the public at large often think in terms of a factory, a facility, producing one identifiable product. An automotive plant, such as BMW, has a location, an identifiable product, and entry points into the facility that make it relative easy to quantify economic impacts. In other words, it is easy to count the workers entering and leaving the plant; it is easy to see the materials being delivered; and finally we can easily see the product rolling off the assembly line. Car manufacturing is categorized in the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system as 371, Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Equipment, and in the newer North American Industrial Industry Classification System (NAICS) as 336111, Automobile Manufacturing. The directly observable flows into the plant can be applied to a regional impact model to then determine the total economic impacts within a regional economy. Recycling, however, is not so easily identified. There is no one category that captures the variety of activities that fall under recycling. Researchers have been confronted with similar problems in analyzing other amorphous industries, such as "tourism" and "retirement." Much like recycling, there is no well defined category for tourism. The economic activities associated with tourism, like recycling, are diffuse and spread across the entire region. No one wears a uniform that identifies him as an employee in the recycling industry. Analysts cannot plant themselves at a well defined location, such as a steel mill, and count workers as they enter to determine the jobs impact. Further, supply chain links are not easily identified. The most common method to deal with these problems is to combine survey data with an impact model. This is the method we used in this research.As Table 1 indicates, researchers have identified a number of industrial classifications that fall under recycling.1 The first column provides commonly used descriptions of the type of industries that engage in recycling. The second column provides a match the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The third column matches the SIC categories with IMPLAN sector codes. IMPLAN, as we discuss later, is a model used by analysts to assess regional economic impacts. It has the advantage of being calibrated specifically to South Carolina. The important point to observe in this table is the wide range of industries that may be classified as being engaged in recycling activities.The South Carolina Department of Commerce maintains and publishes a directory of businesses that are recycling service providers. At the time of this survey, there were 340 firms listed in the directory. Our survey found that firms ranged in size from 1 employee to 553 employees. Recycling activities ranged from an artist who uses recycled materials in her art work to steel and wood reprocessing to computer recycling. ?-waste (electronic waste) is one example of the dynamic and growing nature of the industry.2 The industry is also crossing borders: state and international. One company with headquarters in Florida has operations in South Carolina and collects electronic waste in South America.The survey instrument is presented in the appendix. The results from the survey are presented in the next section, followed by an analysis of the impact on the state of South Carolina. Applying IMPLAN to the survey data, we generate a weighted average multiplier for recycling. We also estimate the contribution to state taxes by recycling industries.Survey Analysis Outlook StatisticsNinety-two percent of the firms responding have an optimistic outlook on the growth of their industry. …


Abstract Nickel(II) can be genotoxic, but the mechanism of its genotoxicity is not fully understood and the process of DNA repair may be considered as its potential target. We studied the effect of nickel chloride on the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-mediated repair of DNA damaged by γ-radiation and idarubicin with the alkaline comet assay in normal and cancer cells. Our results indicate that nickel chloride at very low, non-cytotoxic concentration of 1 μᴍ can affect PARP-mediated DNA repair of lesions evoked by idarubicin and γ-radiation. We also suggest that in the quiescent lymphocytes treated with γ-radiation, nickel(II) could interfere with DNA repair process independent of PARP


Background: Incidences of serious failures in the treatment of infectious disease by antibiotics caused by the emergence and spread of drug resistant strains of the microorganisms/multiple drug resistant bacteria have led to new global search for more effective anti-infective microbial agents from natural sources. This study intends to examine the anti-microbial potentials of the leaves of Aspilia africana, which is employed in the treatment of wounds and sores by traditional medical practitioners in Nigeria. Objective : To evaluate the anti-microbial potentials of the isolates from leaves of Aspilia africana (Pers.) C. D. Adams (Aristeraceae), using isolated clinical strains of pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus substilis, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Candida albicans and Candida stellafoidea . Methodology: Three compounds isolated from butanol fraction of the methanol extract of the dried powdered leaves of Aspilia africana through repeated silica gel column-chromatography and sephadex gel filtration, were evaluated for anti-microbial potentials using Agar-well diffusion method. Results: The isolated compounds identified as oleanolic acid, ursolic acid, and corosolic acid by 1D, 2D-NMR and FITR spectroscopic analyses inhibited the growth of all the pathogens with inhibition diameters ranging between 25 – 33 mm compared with the standard drugs used. The MIC, MBC/MFC of the plant extracts ranged from between 5.00 and 10.00 mg/mL while that of the isolated compounds ranged between 0.0125 and 0.0500mg/mL Discussion: From the results, we conclude that isolated compounds namely oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and corosolic acid are the bioactive constituents responsible for the anti-microbial activity of Aspilia africana . Key words: Aspilia africana, Anti-microbial, Oleanolic acid, Ursolic acid, Corosolic acid


Discussions about the rationality or irrationality displayed by actors with regard to risk often assume an implicit canonical conception of reason. However, when actors engage with the practicalities of risk issues, in their specific contexts, a diversity of informal modes of reasoning may be seen to inform their actions. This paper argues that such reasoning practices, rather than constituting anomalous exceptions to mainstream theoretical accounts of risk phenomena, need to be recognized as an important topic for investigation in their own right. Indeed, examining this sphere of interaction patterns seems to shed light on mechanisms that generate the distinctive characteristics of risk issues in human experience. The growth in importance of the technical discourse of risk in professional practice creates an increasing number of situations where the micro‐politics of contingency overlaps with formal audit controls, so raising important questions about the character of risk reasoning by experts and lay people alike.


Mr. John McCreary has written an excellent and valuable article on the religious thought of Josiah Royce,' and on this account he has put students of Royce, of American philosophy, and of religious thought in general greatly in his debt. And this is especially true, since good critical analyses of Royce's thought are few indeed, and their number is all out of proportion to his importance as a thinker. There are, however, a number of significant questions which may, I believe, legitimately arise in connection with Mr. McCreary's article; and as one who has recently printed a volume on Royce2 in which his analysis of religion is given a good deal of attention, I venture to point out certain of these questions which are of importance. Ordinarily it seems that no one should be held accountable for what he has not said or what he has omitted, especially since this is invariably dependent on what someone else thinks should have been said. However, when the neglect of material leads not merely to an incompleteness which can be remedied simply by enlarging a conception along certain lines but to a more seriously defective impression, it is necessary to turn critical attention to what has been left out. The main criticism to be advanced against Mr. McCreary's study is that, for one reason or another, it almost entirely neglects what is, from the standpoint of an interest in Royce's thought on religion, the most important writing of all, namely, The Problem of Christianity. These lectures, together with the very important Bross Lecture, The Sources of Religious Insight, are essential for an understanding of Royce's doctrine of interpretation and community, two concepts which he regarded as absolutely fundamental not only to his religious thought but also to his entire philosophy.3 Unfortunately, despite the fact that he is by no means unaware of the community theme in Royce (see esp. p. I26), Mr. McCreary makes only a few references to The Problem of Christianity, and nowhere does he mention the Bross Lecture. The omission of these works is particularly unfortunate because Mr. McCreary maintains that he is concerned principally with "the religious aspect of Royce's philosophy" and, "in particular, with its explicit constructive significance for current issues in religious thought" (p. II7). I believe the analysis in my Royce's Social Infinite shows that the two works I have mentioned, together with The Philosophy of Loyalty, constitute just that part of Royce's work most relevant to Mr. McCreary's central theme, but, unfortunately, they are left virtually untouched by him. Why Mr. McCreary omitted material of such capital importance is difficult to explain, unless it is because he thinks of these works as either unimportant or simply repetitive of material published prior to and directly after the turn of the century. That the latter is a possible explanation is suggested by Mr. McCreary's reference to The Conception of God as a "late work" (p. I23). This is puzzling indeed because Royce's Religious Aspect of Philosophy, his first book (apart from the logical primer, which does not concern us here), appeared in I885 and The Conception of God in I897, while The Sources of Religious Insight, The Philosophy of Loyalty, The Problem of Christianity, and The Hope of the Great Community, all genuinely "late" works, date from I908 onward. Anyone, therefore,


I-line lithography, together with single-layer resist processes, practically, have been limited to 0.45 micrometers design rules in the semiconductor industry. For design rules of 0.4 micrometers and below, several contrast enhanced methods have been proposed for i-line lithography, mainly phase shift masks, modified illumination methods, and surface imaging techniques, etc. This paper describes the sub-half micron process performance of 0.48 NA and 0.54 i-line steppers on various topography wafers which are suitable for 0.35 - 0.40 micrometers and 0.40 - 0.45 micrometers design rules. The latest high performance i-line resist and high contrast developing scheme have been chosen for this study. The process windows for the sub-half micron features on various topography wafers are reported. The feasibility to use these processes for the production with lower K1 is also addressed.


The enrichment of the intergalactic medium with heavy elements is a process that lies at the nexus of poorly-understood aspects of physical cosmology. We review current understanding of the processes that may remove metals from galaxies, the basic predictions of these models, the key observational constraints on enrichment, and how intergalactic enrichment may be used to test cosmological simulations.


Abstract : A total of 180 cultural resources was recorded. All are historic. Of these, only 12 are located between Station 26/0+00 to Station 28/0+00, riverside; the area to be impacted by proposed Corps of Engineers action. Included in these 12 sites are three archaeological sites and nine architectural sites.


Programming contests are used by educational institutions as a way to attract high school students to computing degrees. While there has been some analysis of the artifacts and process of programming contests including complexity of algorithms and the impact of teamwork strategies on team success, there has been little work investigating the impact of programming language and team submission pattern on team performance. This paper presents the results of an analysis of five years of contest results for the Western New England University high school programming contest. The analysis looks at the frequency of submissions, types of errors that occurred, and languages used by winning teams. Results appear to indicate that Python and Java have the highest success rate and that the most frequent type of error is incorrect output.


Spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is an extremely rare complication that develops during or after a spontaneous pregnancy and requires timely diagnosis and appropriate intensive care. This article presents a rare clinical case of spontaneous ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome with the development of its severe clinical picture in the postpartum period. The article focuses on the fact of the difficult diagnosis of this syndrome in the postpartum period and the difficulties of differential diagnosis with systemic inflammatory response syndrome associated with current infection process. The correct diagnosis changed the treatment landscape, when the administration of the right therapeutic doses of low molecular weight heparin provided positive changes in the disease course with a benign outcome.


Brazil has a large hydric potential explored in many ways, especially for electrical generation. However there is a lack of studies about the wind acceleration a converge over the reservoir, affected by the surrounding topography and the low roughness of the water surface. In this work an evaluation of the phenomenon is performed thought observed data and numerical simulation using the WRF atmospheric model. The selected reservoirs are located in the Brazilian south-east region, and both have operating infrastructure of transmission. In view of that, we have tried to understand the influence of the joint reservoir-topography over the wind behavior. It was verified that in the Itumbiara reservoir (Goias State), the wind experiences acceleration with both cross and aligned wind with respect to the reservoir branches. Otherwise, the Tres Marias reservoir (State of Minas Gerais) shows that in the case of non-aligned wind the reservoir has not a significant influence over wind speed. It is concluded that for both reservoirs wind speed-ups are verified, caused by the joint reservoir- topography influence, that becomes more evident with speeds over 3.0 m/s (10 m over the ground) a velocity matching modern wind turbines cut out speed.


The purpose of this paper is to develop a model which analuzes negotiators' preferences for impasse resolution procedures in terms of their beliefs about certain characteristics of the procedures. This model is then empirically tested using data gathered from school district negotiators, management and union. The data provide moderate support for the model.


Poster presented at the 2012 Texas ETD Annual Conference. This poster describes the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries approach toward best practices in integrating ETDs and associated data.


We generalize the splitting theorem of Cai-Galloway for complete Riemannian manifolds with $\Ric\geq-(n-1)$ admitting a family of compact hypersurfaces tending to infinity with mean curvatures tending to $n-1$ sufficiently fast to the setting of smooth metric measure spaces. This result complements and provides a new perspective on the splitting theorems recently proven by Munteanu-Wang and Su-Zhang. We show that the mean curvature assumption in our result is sharp, which also provides an example showing that the assumption $R\geq-(n-1)$ in the Munteanu-Wang splitting theorem for expanding gradient Ricci solitons cannot be relaxed to $R>-n$. We also use our result to study a certain class of conformally compact quasi-Einstein metrics, giving, as generalizations of respective results of Cai-Galloway and Lee, necessary conditions for the boundary to be connected and for the bottom of the spectrum of the weighted Laplacian to be maximal.


The pseudoelastic behavior, in Cu-Zn-Al alloys cycled between the bcc phase (β) and the 18R martensite structure was analyzed for tests performed within the range [-196 °C - 50 °C]. The role of the temperature, in these fatigue experiments, is pointed out by a different evolution of the σ-e curves with cycling, which are related with changes in the nature and density of the defects formed in the bulk.


BACKGROUND
Sexual dysfunction is common, but often under-recognised, in people with schizophrenia. Many antipsychotic drugs are known to cause prolactin elevation, and it is often assumed that sexual dysfunction is a consequence of prolactin elevation. We investigated the relationship between sexual function and serum concentrations of prolactin and testosterone in men receiving regular long-acting depot injections of antipsychotic medication.

METHODS
Twenty-two men attending a community depot clinic participated. A structured interview was used to collect information about sexual function, and serum prolactin and testosterone concentrations were measured.

RESULTS
Sexual dysfunction was common, with 73% of men reporting problems in at least one area of sexual function. Six men had elevated serum prolactin and one had reduced serum testosterone. Antipsychotic drug dose was positively correlated with serum prolactin and negatively correlated with serum testosterone, but there was no association between serum prolactin or testosterone concentrations and any measure of sexual dysfunction.

CONCLUSION
Sexual dysfunction is a major problem for men living with chronic schizophrenia, but our results suggest that it is not directly attributable to elevated prolactin or reduced testosterone concentrations.


Investigation of fish fauna assemblages obtained by dissolution of calcareous rock samples from Early Devonian marine deposits of Podolia revealed new material of ischnacanthiform jaw bones. One family Podoliacanthidae fam. nov. and two new genera and species, Drygantacanthus semirotunda gen. et sp. nov. and Kasperacanthus serratus gen. et sp. nov., are established. The new family is based on one main key feature, the presence of denticle groups of Podoliacanthus type situated on the lingual tooth row. The family comprises three genera, Podoliacanthus , Drygantacanthus gen. nov., and Kasperacanthus gen. nov., as well as one new form undetermined to generic level. Another new form described in open nomenclature displays the remains of the most powerful known jaws among Podolian ischnacanthids known to now. The new forms have diverse main teeth morphology, which probably reflect differentiated hunting methods.


Objective To conduct more rational and scientific cost estimation on TB/HIV co-infection control and prevention in Qilin CDC of Qujing City in 2009 for providing the cost estimation methods system of at the County/District level CDC.Methods According to a series of TB/HIV co-infection control and prevention work processes and mechanism,referred the methods of the four-level cost calculation assessments in hospital and the operating time distribution coefficient,the total costs,cost structure,and unit costs were estimated for TB/HIV co-infection response in Qilin CDC.Results Through the cost estimation methods,the total investment cost was 386 423 Yuan in the TB/HIV prevention and treatment of Qilin District CDC in 2009,including Qilin CDC invested cost(45.1%),the Global Fund project input cost(33.7%),and the free pays for the patient cost from state(21.2%).Meanwhile,the study also showed the series of unit cost,for example training,workshop and test.Conclusions Through the TB/HIV co-infection response cost structure analysis and cost estimates,the total cost and unit cost are gradually broken down,and the results show that the Global Fund investment is a strong complement for the TB/HIV co-infection response against the basis of inputs in the CDC and the purpose of applying for Global Fund is fully achieved.The cost estimation study provides a scientific and effective basis for funding configuration at county level of government.


SUMMARY A previously described model of digestion in cattle fed sugarcane diets was applied to predict nutrient supply to the host animal from dietary intake, to indicate pre-experimentally the suitability of various supplements to enhance the milk production of dairy cattle in the tropics fed sugarcane–based diets. Potential milk production was calculated according to simulated energy and lipogenic, glucogenic and aminogenic nutrient availability. The addition of small amounts of urea (10 g/kg sugarcane fresh weight) improved microbial efficiency and degradation of substrates in the rumen, but further increases could only be achieved by supplements containing rumen degradable protein. The simulated level of absorbed amino acids was low in comparison with the level of absorbed energy and glucogenic substrates. This low amino acid availability was the factor most limiting milk production on sugarcane diets and supplements which increase the amino acid availability in the gastrointestinal tract are recommended. At increasing supplementation or intake levels, and once amino acid requirements were met, an increased absorption of energy and long chain fatty acids could enhance milk production. These suggestions should be evaluated experimentally in order to improve the model and ultimately, to result in an improved system to evaluate feeds, based on the supply and utilization of individual substrates.


The capability of digital pulse shape technique to acquire data from Si-CsI(Tl) detection cells has been already demonstrated. We have now applied this technique to the focal plane detector of MAGNEX spectrometer in order to measure the position coordinates using digital signal processing. This contribution presents the preliminary results.


An aberrant left gastric vein found in dissection is reported here. The right gastric vein did not exist and only the left gastric vein originating from the lesser curvature of the stomach was present. It directly entered the liver without typically joining the trunk of the portal vein. After giving off a small branch to the liver parenchyma, the left gastric vein merged into the left branch of the portal vein. This aberrant left gastric vein may correspond to the phylogenetic and ontogenetic "left portal vein." The aberrant left gastric vein is considered to play an important role as a portal collateral pathway of the portal system, which is critical not only in anatomy but also in clinical diagnosis. Clin. Anat. 13:134–137, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Control system architectures are expanding significantly in terms of functionality, complexity and scalability. Real-time programming methodologies have evolved in the last decade with increasing complexity of control system and scalability of equipment in the industrial automation domain. The paper proffers an analytical survey of tools and methodologies that can enhance the control action simulation and software design. The paper includes a diagnostic view for application of Real Time-Languages like Giotto and RT-Java for time critical tasks within the control system. Secondly, the paper uses the statistical approach to model the network induced delays to manifest their impact on control system operation. The aim of the paper is to analyze, model and validate the timing aspects within a control loop and physical plant operation


Papers have been published during the past year by Gorham, 1 Wheelon 2 and Kopeloff 3 showing the simultaneous variation in acidity in different portions of the gastric contents. These observations are important from a clinical standpoint, if they can be verified. We have carried out a series of similar observations in about fifty cases, making about 500 analyses of gastric contents, to (1) see what variation exists; (2) determine the cause of the variation; (3) try to overcome it, and (4) study its relation to fractional gastric analysis as ordinarily carried out. Fractional analysis is based, either consciously or unconsciously, on the assumption that small fractions of the gastric contents are representative of the whole contents of the stomach at the time, and that fractional curves, as ordinarily obtained, represent changes in gastric secretion. METHODS Forty of these fifty cases were routine gastrointestinal patients, and ten were healthy persons.


This study aims to determine the effect of human capital and the use of information technology on the competitive advantage of Sharia banking. The study takes an analysis unit of Indonesia Sharia banking. The type of data used is primary data using a questionnaire which sampling used is a stratified random sampling model where respondents in this study consist of leaders and employees in Sharia banking. This research uses desciptive qualitative approach. Data analysis used PLS consisting of Outer Model test (Validity and Reliability) and Inner Model test (coefficient of determination and T test). The results show that human capital has no significant effect and the use of information technology has a significant effect on the sustainable competitive advantage of Sharia Banking.


Biotic assemblages in aquatic ecosystems are excellent integrators and indicators of changing environmental conditions within a watershed. Therefore, temporal changes in abiotic environmental variables often can be inferred from temporal changes in biotic assemblages. Algae, macroinvertebrate, and fish assemblage data were collected from 91 sampling sites in 4 geographic regions (northeastern/northcentral, southeastern, south-central, and western), collectively encompassing the continental United States, from 1993 to 2009 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National WaterQuality Assessment Program. This report uses a multivariate approach to synthesize temporal trends in biotic assemblages and correlations with relevant abiotic parameters as a function of biotic assemblage, geographic region, and land use. Of the three groups of biota, algal assemblages had temporal trends at the greatest percentage of sites. Of the regions, a greater percentage of sites in the northeastern/north-central and western regions had temporal trends in biotic assemblages. In terms of land use, a greater percentage of watersheds draining agricultural, urban, and undeveloped areas had significant temporal changes in biota, as compared to watersheds with mixed use. Correlations between biotic assemblages and abiotic variables indicate that, in general, macroinvertebrate assemblages correlated with water quality and fish assemblages correlated with physical habitat. Taken together, results indicate that there are regional differences in how individual biotic assemblages (algae, macroinvertebrates, and fish) respond to different abiotic drivers of change.


Use of military analogy is rampant and considered an acceptable part of business vernacular. However, analogies only illustrate, and bad analogies make bad strategy. There are important lessons to be learned from military strategy, though. This article identifies "the ten principles of strategy" that corporate strategists could utilize in testing their strategic theories, concepts, and plans. Use of military analogy is rampant and considered an acceptable part of business vernacular. However, analogies only illustrate, and bad analogies make bad strategy. There are important lessons to be learned from military strategy, though. This article identifies "the ten principles of strategy" that corporate strategists could utilize in testing their strategic theories, concepts, and plans.


IMPORTANCE: Standardized clinical measurements of edema do not exist. OBJECTIVES: To describe a 19-point clinical edema score (CES), investigate its interobserver agreement, and compare changes between such CES and body weight. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Prospective observational study in a tertiary PICU of mechanically ventilated children with congenital heart disease. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Differences in the median CES between observer groups. RESULTS: We studied 61 children, with a median age of 8.0 days (interquartile range, 1.0–14.0 d). A total of 539 CES were performed by three observer groups (medical 1 [reference], medical 2, and bedside nurse) at 0, 24, and 48 hours from enrollment. Overall, there was close agreement between observer groups in mean, median, and upper quartile of CES scores, with least agreement observed in the lower quartile of scores. Across all quartiles of CES, after adjusting for baseline weight, cardiac surgical risk, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, or peritoneal dialysis during the study, observer groups returned similar mean scores (medical 2: 25th centile +0.1 [95% CI, –0.2 to 0.5], median +0.6 [95% CI, –0.4 to 1.5], 75th centile +0.1 [95% CI, –1.1 to 1.4] and nurse: 25th centile +0.5 [95% CI, 0.0–0.9], median +0.7 [95% CI, 0.0–1.5], 75th centile –0.2 [95% CI, –1.3 to 1.0]) Within a multivariable mixed-effects linear regression model, including adjustment for baseline CES, each 1 point increase in CES was associated with a 12.1 grams (95% CI, 3.2–21 grams) increase in body weight. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In mechanically ventilated children with congenital heart disease, three groups of observers tended to agree when assessing overall edema using an ordinal clinical score assessed in six body regions, with agreement least at low edema scores. An increase in CES was associated with an increase in body weight, suggesting some validity for quantifying edema. Further exploration of the CES as a rapid clinical tool is indicated.


2523 Background: The extradomain B of fibronectin (EDBF) is a promising target for cancer therapies due to its selective expression in newly formed blood vessels of SC and lymphomas. L19 is a human...


Australian educational action research has developed a community of practitioners through initiatives in school-based curriculum development, school-level evaluation, in-service education and participatory decision-making in schools. It has also developed as a disciplinary area in its own right (Brown, 1981). It has also developed an epistemology, rooted in critical social science (Kemmis, 1983; Grundy and Kemmis, 1981), with a characteristic set of research problems of other approaches to educational research and educational theory. These research problems are actively being pursued by a widening community of action researchers and action research facilitators around Australia.


The main goal of the SCEC award #118062196 was to investigate the role of different weakening mechanisms on the phenomenon of strain localization inside fault zones and the influence of each of them on the frictional response during seismic slip. It was done by developing a rate-and-state (visco-plastic) model encompassing internal lengths from multi-physical couplings, to provide qualitative assessments on the parameters dominating a fault's response. The model was implemented in a numerical code, allowing quantifying the role of each of these mechanisms during the seismic slip process. In particular, we aimed at providing scaling laws with respect of the role of each process in seismic slip sequence. The framework was indeed implemented, and in addition to the numerical results, experimental results were obtained to accompany some of the main conclusions of this work. The main scientific outcomes of the award were the following, listed by tasks:


It is well known that antenna characteristics can be significantly influenced by platform effects. While the "forward" problem of characterizing antenna performance on highly complex platforms has been well studied, an equally important problem is the "inverse" algorithm of spatially pinpointing where on the platform the undesirable scattering is coming from based on the forward solutions. In this paper, we set out to develop such a diagnostic algorithm to process computed or measured antenna radiation data. Our approach is based on the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) concept. ISAR imaging is a standard technique used in the microwave radar community to map the locations of dominant scattering off a target based on multi-frequency, multi-aspect backscattered data. We will extend this concept to the antenna radiation problem. By collecting multi-frequency, multi-aspect radiation data from an antenna mounted on a complex platform, we will form an ASAR (i.e., antenna SAR) image of the platform that will allow us to pinpoint the location of the dominant secondary radiation off the platform. Contrary to the conventional ISAR imaging, a key complication of the ASAR imaging scenario is that the antenna is located in the near field of the platform.


International trended assessments have long attempted to provide instructional information to educational researchers and classroom teachers. Studies have shown that traditional methods of item analysis have not provided specific information that can be directly applicable to improve student performance. To this end, cognitive diagnosis models (CDMs) were developed to identify the presence or the absence of multiple fine-grained skills or attributes. This study reanalyzed the TIMSS 2003 8th grade mathematics assessment by applying a cognitive diagnosis modeling approach to provide useful information about test takers. Specifically, the deterministic, inputs, noisy, "and" gate (DINA; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001) model was used to provide more valuable diagnostic information about how well students perform on underlying skills and cognitive processes necessary to answer mathematics problems. Results showed that the interpretable benefits of using the DINA discrimination index provided additional information about comparative differences between the U.S. and Korea.


Present invention relates to a sandwich structure of one kind of interconnect chips, whereby the chip may be electrically and mechanically connected to each other face to face, and relates to a method of manufacturing the system. The present invention is intended to create a more cost-saving and more efficient manufacturing interconnected. This may be in the form of a sleeve or pin with a contact assembly (3) is arranged in fact between the chip (2), such contact generating component of the semiconductor chip (1) a contact pad (4,5) between electrically and mechanically interconnected and are soldered to the semiconductor chip.


We show that, starting from density‐dependent nucleon‐nucleon interactions (extended Skyrme forces), one is able to construct an interaction that leads to correct saturation properties in the nucleus and also behaves as a good effective interaction in describing low‐lying excitations. This is illustrated in various mass regions. In those regions where many protons and neutrons determine the nuclear structure, one has to resort on collective model descriptions. We shortly point out the importance of symmetry considerations (the Interacting‐Boson model). More in particular, we concentrate on those modes of motion where the interplay of protons and neutrons is dominant: the M1 scissor mode, intruder 0+ excitations and shape coexistence. Results for the Cd region, the Pb region and the N=20 nuclei are presented.


The acoustic radiation and scattering characteristics of an acoustic source in an unbounded deep water environment are different from those in a shallow water environment, where one has to take into account the influence of the boundaries on the source radiation impedance. In this paper the influence of the waveguide (surface and bottom of the ocean in a shallow water environment) on the radiation from an elastic noise source is investigated by means of a superposition method. The radiated sound is initially determined from the scattering of an incident wave from the elastic target. Using the superposition method [A. Sarkissian, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (1994)], the scattered field, including multiple scattering effects, is computed and represented by a series of point sources positioned inside the scatterer. A number of calibration points located at the surface of the scatterer are selected to determine the source strength of each point source using a least square approximation. Having obtained the source str...


Many topics are studied in English grammar and one of them is Conjunctions. In a discourse / long sentences are often found connecting words. Conjunctions is used to connect or link two words or two sentences to be one long sentence. This paper describes briefly the work of the types of connecting words and examples. This paper also uses a data sample or samples of data taken from several articles from the Tempo magazine. The purpose of selecting a paper topic of this work is to know about the extent to which journalists from the magazine's use of conjunctions in the writings that they produce. The discussion in the paper work is guided by several English grammar books as a reference that could support my idea or opinion on this topic. After reading, counting, tabulating types of conjunctions contained in the articles in Tempo magazine, it is found that conjunctions of the most dominant use is connecting words that show the relationship of two-level sentence is a sentence that one does not depend on the next sentence or any other, then followed by connecting words that show the relationship between the Complete Sentences and Fragment, while the connecting words that show the relationship between two sets of languages are equal is the word with the word, phrase by phrase, clause by clause, and sentence by sentence just a little in these articles. Paper work is expected to benefit the students.


Software development based on commercial off-the-shelf or COTS, components is currently drawing considerable attention. This paper presents the results of two complementary quantitative valuation methods applied to the assessment of the COTS-centric software development projects. We use a standard corporate finance tool, Net Present Value, as a basis for both methods. The first method, comparative valuation, investigates the economic incentive to choose the COTS centric strategy in a project vis a vis the alternative, the custom development strategy, through an incentive metric based on NPV. The analysis concentrates on the impact of product risk and development time on the defined metric. The second method, real options valuation, primarily deals with uncertainty. It is employed to investigate the value of strategic flexibility inherent in COTS-centric development. We provide examples of several such options and summarize qualitatively the results of their analyses. Using these two approaches, some common anecdotes of COTS-centric development can be substantiated by sound financial arguments. Through scenarios and sensitivity analyses, we show that different circumstances and assumptions give rise to different winning conditions. Some general principles are summarized at the end.


Digital designers increasingly use asynchronous circuit techniques to combat the design complexities, energy consumption, and manufacturing variabilities that affect modern VLSI circuits. Existing commercial FPGAs, due to their clocked architectures, cannot efficiently prototype asynchronous logic. This dissertation investigates asynchronous FPGA architectures and automated methods for their configuration, with the goal of quickly prototyping asynchronous designs.
First, we present a new asynchronous FPGA architecture that has integrated pipelining support and is configurable at the pipeline-stage level. This pipelined asynchronous FPGA has the property of slack elasticity and hence does not need explicit retiming registers to prototype high-speed pipelined designs. We report performance numbers that, for the first time, are competitive with and actually better than clocked FPGA architectures, and that are also competitive with full custom asynchronous design.
Second, we discuss logic synthesis methods for automatically mapping asynchronous designs to these FPGA architectures. We present a high-level synthesis technique that creates dataflow graphs of asynchronous computations and projects them onto a regular set of concurrent asynchronous pipeline stages. These pipelines can then be mapped to our asynchronous FPGAs using standard clocked place-and-route tools.


A towing method of a mold work footstep having a detachable cylinder and a movable pump is provided to reduce the cost by simplifying the mold work footstep, to drastically shorten the working time by remove influence of external environmental factors, such as wind, in towing the mold work footstep, and to reduce the weight of the mold work footstep and effectively assemble/disassemble the mold work footstep by separately forming the cylinder and a towing device. A towing method of a mold work footstep(a) having a detachable cylinder and a movable pump comprises the steps of: pouring concrete inside, demolding by moving a mold of the mold work footstep backward, and installing a shoe on the upper end of the poured surface; combining the cylinder connected with a hydraulic pump(60) on the lower shoe of the work footstep, moving the hydraulic pump to a next work footstep(b), and towing the former mold work footstep upward; inserting and fixing an upper end of a rail of the mold work footstep into the upper shoe; and disassembling the cylinder and installing to the latter mold work footstep to move the hydraulic pump placed on the mold work footstep to a next mold work footstep(c).


We study a curvature instability of a two-dimensional (2-D) vesicle induced by " impurities (intercalated molecules)". Impurity yields the free energy cost proportional to the membrane curvature and the impurity concentration. By simulating a model vesicle with spheres connected with tethered chains, shape transition is observed from ellipse to bi-lobocyte depending on the coupling constant between the vesicular curvature and impurities.


In order to investigate the flow and the mixing characteristics of the coal turbulent jet in the high-temperature surroundings,it is necessary to measure the flow field of Hencken Burner using PIV system.SiC particles were used to be as trace particles which could show the distribution of gas flow field,while the coal particles showed the coal jet flow field.It is indicated from the results that the transition point of the Re is about 1760;coal particles possess good scattering properties;the cold jet flow has stronger turbulent fluctuation compared with the hot jet flow under the same jet speed,which can be caused by the increasing viscosity when temperature increases.


This report documents the Water Division's comments, interpretations and recommendation on the Ranger Uranium Mines Pty Ltd water quality reports. Changes in cations and anions concentrations of the groundwater have been compared with the seasonal fluctuations, lithological changes and depths over the period Nov 1980 to March 1983 of mining and milling operations, in order to locate the contaminants and their controlling factors.


Purpose: Most studies have examined the effect of stretching and strengthening exercises on the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint). However, due to the importance of the relationship between core stability and pectoral girdle, especially in archery athletes, this study aimed to investigate the effect of six weeks of core stability exercises on the internal rotator muscle strength of the glenohumeral joint and its motor function in male archers. Methods: For this purpose, 30 athletes were randomly divided into 2 groups of 15: with core stability exercises (experimental group) and without core stability exercises (control group). The motor function was measured using the upper quarter Y-balance test (UQYBT), and the muscle strength of the lumbar muscles was measured using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD). Then, the experimental group underwent a selected exercise program for 6 weeks. Both groups were tested again (post-test). SPSS software version 21 was used to analyze the collected data; also, independent and dependent samples t-tests were used to compare the data. The significance level in the test was determined at 95%. Results: Changes in posttest results on internal rotator muscle strength (P=0.001) and motor function (P=0.022) showed a significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion: Therefore, due to the effect of core stability exercises on the above variables, it is recommended that archery athletes, in addition to specific exercises, do such exercises to improve the function of the glenohumeral joint.


Product innovation,which is the internal force of enterprise development,plays an important role in the development of the enterprise. The proper innovation method is the key to the product innovation based on the development of substance-field.The effective method of mechanical product innovation is proposed based on the change and the improvement of the model of substance-field to solve the technical problem of mechanical product innovation.An example is siren to explain the application process of the substance-field analysis at last.


Siemens has proposed a novel compact DC electrostatic tandem accelerator to produce protons of a few MeV and is currently commissioning a prototype at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The geometry of the accelerator involves large surfaces which are exposed to high electric fields and therefore need long procedures for conditioning. An automated system for conditioning has been developed. It reacts quicker to breakdowns than a human operator could do, thus being more effective and also reduces the time spent by research staff on the conditioning.


Objective. Trace elements are minerals required in minute quantities to maintain proper physical functioning. The role of trace elements in the process of parturition is poorly understood. This study was aimed to determine levels of trace elements' concentration in maternal plasma and umbilical venous and arterial plasma at term during active labor vs elective cesarean delivery (CD). Study design. A prospective case–control study was conducted. Forty healthy parturients in active labor at term with their newborns were compared to 40 healthy parturients matched for maternal age, parity, and gestational age, who delivered by elective CD (before commencement of labor). Samples of maternal venous blood and umbilical cord arterial and venous blood were drawn immediately following delivery. Trace elements' concentrations were measured using the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Results. Significant higher levels of manganese (Mn) and selenium were found in maternal venous plasma during active labor vs elective CD. Magnesium (Mg) levels were significantly higher in maternal venous blood during elective CD compared to active labor. Umbilical cord artery levels of Mg, Mn, and zinc (Zn) were significantly higher in active term labor vs elective CD. Also, significant higher levels of copper and Zn were found in umbilical cord vein between active labor and elective CD. Conclusion. Trace elements' concentrations differ significantly in fetal blood during active labor vs elective CD. Hence, trace elements may play a crucial role in the process of human parturition.


Abstract Alphonsus, c., Akpa, G.N., Oni, O.O., Rekwot, P.I., Barje, P.P. and Yashim, S.M. 2010. Relationship of linear conformation traits with bodyweight, body condition score and milk yield in Friesian × Bunaji cows. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 38: 97–100. To study the relationship of linear body measurements with body weight, body condition score and milk yields, data of 50 (F1) Friesian X Bunaji cows were collected. Analyzed conformation traits were; stature(ST), chest width(CW), wither height(WH), heart girth(HG), body length(BL), body depth(BD), rump width(RW), rear udder height(RUH), rear udder width(RUW), udder depth(UD), udder cleft(UC), fore teat position(FTP), rear teat placements(RTP) and teat length (TL). The genetic correlations of the body conformation traits (ST, CW, BD, HW, HG, BL, RW) with average BW and BCS were positive and ranged from 0.179 to 0.854 BW and 0.214 to 0.845 BCS, indicating that taller, wider, deeper and fatter cows tended to be heavier. The genetic and phenotypic correlations between milk yield and BCS were negative; −0.465 and −0.373, respectively. However, the genetic and phenotypic correlations between BW and milk yield were positive; 0.625 and 0.247, respectively. The genetic correlations between milk yield and body conformation traits (except ST and BD) were positive ranging from 0.188 (RW) to 0.823 (HG). It is concluded that selection emphasis on milk yield in these crosses might result in taller and less deeper animals. With reduced BCS and pendulous udder causing serious health and fertility problems. Therefore, selection based on more balanced breeding objectives is recommended.