We study magnetic properties and interfacial characteristics of all-epitaxial $D{0}_{3}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{3}\mathrm{Si}/L{2}_{1}$- ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{3\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{Si}/L{2}_{1}\ensuremath{-}{\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeSi}$ Heusler-compound trilayers grown on Ge(111) by room-temperature molecular beam epitaxy. We find that the magnetization reversal processes can be intentionally designed by changing the chemical composition of the intermediate ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{3\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Mn}}_{x}\mathrm{Si}$ layers because of their tunable ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase-transition temperature. From first-principles calculations, interfacial half metallicity in the ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeSi}$ layer is nearly expected when the sequence of stacking layers along $\ensuremath{\langle}111\ensuremath{\rangle}$ of the ${\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}\mathrm{MnSi}/{\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeSi}$ interface includes the atomic row of $L{2}_{1}$- or $B2$-ordered structures. We believe that ${\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeSi}/{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2}\mathrm{MnSi}/{\mathrm{Co}}_{2}\mathrm{FeSi}$ trilayer systems stacked along $\ensuremath{\langle}111\ensuremath{\rangle}$ will open a new avenue for high-performance current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistive devices with Heusler compounds.


Purpose/Background: Latinas are 20% less likely to receive the HPV vaccine and, in Idaho, are 35% more likely to die of cervical cancer than non-Latinas -16.2/100,000 in Latinas vs. 7.6/100,000 non-Latinas-. Research indicates that this disparity is due to low health literacy, and barriers of language, culture, and poverty. This project's purpose was to assess the efficacy of a community-based intervention designed to increase rural Idaho Latina health literacy about cervical cancer prevention and detection, about the Women's Health Check program, and to assess participant attitudes towards child HPV vaccination. Materials & Methods: Investigators trained six bilingual Latinas from rural SE Idaho as promotoras. Project investigators and promotoras created videos in English and in Spanish providing information about cervical cancer prevention, detection, treatment, the HPV vaccine, and the Women's Health Check Program. The promotoras identified Latina participants (n=44) from their communities, delivered educational materials in participant homes and at schools, and administered pre and post Although not statistically significant, Spanish a larger change in to vaccinate mean scores 2.14 to 1.18 Discussion/Conclusion: All participants demonstrated increases in knowledge and intention to vaccinate. Results indicate that there was a significant movement in the report of increased intention to vaccinate children for HPV. The project shows that Latinas in rural SE Idaho lack knowledge of cervical cancer prevention and detection including the role of the HPV vaccine in the prevention of cervical and other associated cancers. Language choice indicates continued need for bilingual health education. Data shows that a community-based, bilingual intervention is effective in this community.


Abstract : A simple salts medium with only glucose as the energy source and buffered by Tris.HCl or HEPES has been developed for the culture of rabbit sperm cells. Cells remain motile for 20 hr and develop hyperactivated motility after incubation at 37 OC for 0.5-1 hr in air. The motility characteristics and parameters such as Vc, AALH, and linearity of the hyperactivated and nonhyperactivated cells are not different from those of cells cultured in the commonly used CO2carbonate buffered media such as DM and T6. This minimal medium extends the use of the rabbit sperm cell for in vitro toxicity testing to include volatile compounds and compounds that form insoluble carbonates, sulfates, or phosphates. Also, the system can be used to assess the potential antifertility effects of chemicals by measurement of changes induced in development of hyperactivated motility by the chemicals. Medium, Videotape, Hyperactivated Rabbit, Toxicity, In vitro, Sperm cells.


This article serves to broadly address formalist approaches to rendering natural settings psychological in cinema, or, in other words, mobilizing landscapes to function beyond their usual function as narrative backdrop. By "formalist" it should be understood that such an approach to visual representation is both inherently aggressive and experimental, where one implies the other, especially when compared to more realist modes of expression. Instead of human characters portrayed within an authenticating wilderness, as in the typical classical Hollywood Western, the precise topography of the landscape becomes reflective of a particular human consciousness.


THE ECONOMIC CRISIS currently besetting post-communist Russia has given rise to a febrile and potentially unstable cocktail of resurgent national pride and an acute awareness of national poverty. This in turn has inspired a mixture of reflection on the potential riches of a country so generously endowed with natural resources and nostalgia for the former, imperial grandeur of the pre-1917 regime. In relation to this, the alleged squandering of the nation's wealth by the communists has been a popular theme in the Russian media since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Also of note is that some attention has begun to be focused upon the fate of the huge gold reserves which had been accumulated by the tsars in the late imperial era. It is widely known that some Romanov gold was sold during World War I in order to feed the Russian War machine and that in the early 1920s the Soviet government exported gold in order to finance the import of Western technology. Not so well appreciated (particularly in the West) is the fact that a significant part of the Imperial Russian Gold Reserve found its way into the custody of Admiral Kolchak's anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia and the Far East during the Russian civil war. Following the Red Army's defeat of the eastern counter-revolution in early 1920, much of the gold held by Kolchak was recaptured and returned to Lenin's dominion. Rumours as to the ultimate fate of the remainder, however, have abounded ever since: tales of its misappropriation, loss and illegal expenditure during the confused years of the civil war have become common currency.' It is the purpose of this article, therefore, to describe, in as much detail as the available sources allow, how it was that a portion of the Russian gold reserve came to fall into Kolchak's hands, and to present the


The performance of Information Retrieval systems is a key issue in large web search engines. The use of inverted indexes and compression techniques is partially accountable for the current performance achievement of web search engines. In this paper, we introduce a new class of compression techniques for inverted indexes, the Adaptive Frame of Reference, that provides fast query response time, good compression ratio and also fast indexing time. We compare our approach against a number of state-of-the-art compression techniques for inverted index based on three factors: compression ratio, indexing and query processing performance. We show that significant performance improvements can be achieved. 1DERI (Digital Enterprise Research Institute), National University of Ireland, Galway , IDA Business Park, Lower Dangan, Galway, Ireland. Acknowledgements: The work presented in this paper has been funded in part by Science Foundation Ireland under Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Lion-2). Copyright c © 2010 by the authors DERI TR 2010-12-16 1


A series of novel hybrid heterocyclic compounds, 3-(3-alkyl-2,6-diarylpiperin-4-ylidene)-2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-ones were synthesised and a comparative study was also carried out under microwave irradiation. The synthesised compounds were characterised by their melting points, elemental analysis, MS, FT-IR, one-dimensional NMR (1H, D2O exchanged 1H and 13C), two dimensional HOMOCOSY and NOESY spectroscopic data. All the synthesised title compounds were screened for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activity against clinically isolated strains namely B. subtilis, M. luteus, S. typhii, S. paratyphii B, S. felxneri, P. vulgaris, A. niger, Mucor, Rhizopus and M. gypsuem and the results were discussed.


The combined data of two Coulomb excitation experiments has verified the purely electromagnetic population of the K{pi} = 4{sup +}, 6{sup +}, 8{sup -}, and 16{sup +} rotational bands in {sup 178}Hf via 2 {le} {nu} {le} 14 K-forbidden transitions, quantifying the breakdown of the K-selection rule with increasing spin in the low-K bands. The {gamma}{sup -}, 4{sup +}, and 6{sup +} bands were extended, and four new states in a rotational band were tentatively assigned to a previously known K{pi} = 0{sup +} band. The quasiparticle structure of the 6{sup +} (t 1/2 = 77 ns) and 8{sup -} (t 1/2 = 4s) isomer bands were evaluated, showing that the gyromagnetic ratios of the 6{sup +} isomer band are consistent with a pure {pi} 7/2{sup +}[404],{pi} 5/2{sup +}[402] structure. The 8{sup -} isomer band at 1147 keV and the second 8{sup -} band at 1479 keV, thought to be predominantly {nu} 7/2{sup -}[514], {nu} 9/2{sup +}[624] and {pi} 9/2{sup -}[514], {pi}7/2{sup +}[404], respectively, are mixed to a degree approaching the strong-mixing limit. Based on measured matrix elements, it was shown that heavy-ion bombardment could depopulate the 16{sup +}more » isomer at the {approx}1% level, although no states were found that would mediate photodeexcitation of the isomer via low-energy x-ray absorption.« less


In the present article has been made to attempt a study on conceptual frame work of corporate social responsibility planning and strategy . There is an impressive history associated with the evolution of the concept and definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR).


The understanding of glass transition temperatures Tg in drug and polymer systems is indispensable for drug encapsulation and delivery. Amphiphilic block copolymers consisting a various ratios of poly(methyl methacrylate) (Tg = 100 °C) and poly(ethyl acrylate) (Tg = −22 °C) as the hydrophobic block have been synthesized via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization as drug delivery carrier for albendazole (ABZ). Self-assembled micelles with diameters of ∼25 nm with glassy (PMMA) and soft (PEA) core have been synthesized. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used to evaluate crystallinity and miscibility of ABZ with the core-forming polymer. All drug–polymer systems are compatible, but they become less miscible with increasing amount of PMMA. The most noticeable difference was the suppression of the crystallinity of the drug with increasing PEA content, a prerequisite for long shelf life of the drug carrier. Since the different micelles are subject to different ther...


This paper presents the result of a theoretical study on a new fluid den- sity measuring concept which uses the effect of external fluid loading on a vibrating thin plate. The underling physical principle of this concept is that the resonance frequencies of an immersed vibrating plate change with the surface impedance changes caused by the mass density variations of the external fluid. In this paper, the analytical solutions of resonance frequencies with specific gravity are demon- strated by a COMSOL the finite element simulation. The theoretical analysis pre- sented in this paper shows that the resonance frequencies of an immersed vibrating thin plate affect significantly with surrounding fluid loading, which is loaded as an extra added mass. The resonance frequencies shifted to lower frequencies when the fluid specific gravity increased. For the resonance frequency ratio applied to the specific gravity estimation of onsite measurement, the increases in this coeffi- cient are directly proportional to the increase with the specific gravity. In addition, size effect on the thin plate is also presented. The results show that the thickness of the thin plate is the most important factor for this resonance frequency ratio. Finally, the preliminary experiment of the thin plate immersed in the various fluid loading is also accomplished. The comparison shows that the experimental results agree reasonably well with the finite element simulation. Based on these results of the theoretical analysis and the experiment in this paper, using the loading by the external fluid on the vibrating thin plate is feasible.


Background: In patients with foreign bodies in their digestive systems, old age is associated with higher rates of incidence and complications. Therefore, we compared the characteristics of geriatric patients with nongeriatric patients who were found to have with foreign bodies in their digestive systems. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 497 cases of foreign bodies in the digestive system over the period from 2010 through 2014. Patients were divided into two groups: nongeriatric (20-64 years, n=404) and geriatric (≥65 years, n=93). Results: The geriatric patients had more underlying diseases (12.0% vs. 3.0%), took longer to arrive at the hospital (8.92± 21.31 hours vs. 4.50±14.76 hours, p<0.001), and had higher complication rates (4.3% vs. 0.2%, p<0.001), and longer hospital stays (4.88±4.26 days vs. 3.08±2.97 days, p<0.001). The following factors were significantly different between the geriatric and nongeriatric patients: type (p<0.001) and the locations (p=0.001) of the foreign bodies and their management (p=0.001). In the geriatric patients, the detected foreign bodies were more frequently located in the esophagus (46.0% vs. 17.4%), especially in the upper esophagus (30.0% vs. 14.5%). Smooth-shaped foreign bodies (18.0% vs. 5.0%) and food lumps (16.0% vs. 3.3%) were also frequently detected in the geriatric patients. Conclusion: In comparison with nongeriatric patients, the geriatric patients had more smooth-shaped shaped foreign bodies such as food lumps in their esophagi, and this patient group also showed higher rates of admission and complications. Thus, differences between geriatric and nongeriatric patients should be considered carefully in evaluating foreign bodies in the digestive system to prevent late diagnosis and further complications.


In order to improve the retrieval accuracy of contentbased image retrieval systems, research focus has been shifted from designing sophisticated low-level feature extraction algorithms to reducing the 'semantic gap' between the visual features and the richness of human semantics. This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive survey of the recent technical achievements in high-level semantic-based image retrieval. Major recent publications are included in this survey covering different aspects of the research in this area, including low-level image feature extraction,similarity measurement, and deriving high-level semantic features. We identify five major categories of the state-of-the-art techniques in narrowing down the 'semantic gap': (1) using object ontology to define high-level concepts; (2) using machine learning methods to associate lowlevel features with query concepts; In addition, some other related issues such as image test bed and retrieval performance evaluation are also discussed. Finally, based on existing technology and the demand from real-world applications, a few promising future research directions are suggested. Keywards: Content-based image retrieval, Semantic gap,Image segmentation, Gabor Filters 1.INTRODUCTION With the development of the Internet, and the availability of image capturing devices such as digital cameras, image scanners, the size of digital image collection is increasing rapidly. Efficient image searching, browsing and retrieval tools are required by users from various domains, including remote sensing, fashion, publishing, medicine, architecture, etc. For this purpose, many general purpose image retrieval systems have been developed. There are two frameworks: text-based and content-based. The text-based approach can be tracked back to 1970s. In such systems, the images are manually annotated by text descriptors, which are then used by a database management system(DBMS) to perform image retrieval. There are two disadvantages with this approach. The first is that a considerable level of human labour is required for manual annotation.The second is the annotation inaccuracy due to the subjectivity of human perception [1,2].To overcome the above disadvantages in text-based retrieval system, content-based image retrieval (CBIR) was introduced in the early 1980s. In CBIR,images are indexed by their visual content, such as color,texture, shapes. The pictorial database consists of picture objects and picture relations. To construct picture indexes, abstraction operations are formulated to perform picture object clustering and classification. In the past decade, a few commercial products and experimental prototype systems have been developed,such as QBIC [4], Photobook [5], Virage [6], VisualSEEK[7], Netra [8], SIMPLIcity [9]. Comprehensive surveys in CBIR can be found in Refs. [10,11]. 1.1. The semantic gap The fundamental difference between content-based and textbased retrieval systems is that the human interaction is an indispensable part of the latter system. Humans tend to use high-level features (concepts), such as keywords, text descriptors, to interpret images and measure their similarity.While the features automatically extracted using computer vision techniques are mostly low-level features (color, texture, shape, spatial layout, etc.). In general, there is no direct link between the high-level concepts and the lowlevel features [2]. Though many sophisticated algorithms have been designed to describe color, shape, and texture features, these algorithms cannot adequately model image semantics and have many limitations when dealing with broad content image databases [12]. Extensive experiments on CBIR systems show that lowlevel contents often fail to describe the high level semantic concepts in user's mind [13]. Therefore, the performance of CBIR is still far from user's expectations.In Ref. [1], Eakins mentioned three levels of queries in CBIR. Level 1: Retrieval by primitive features such as color, texture, shape or the spatial location of image elements. Typical query is query by example, 'find pictures like this'. Level 2: Retrieval of objects of given type identified by derived features, with some degree of logical inference. For example, 'find a picture of a flower'. Level 3: Retrieval by abstract attributes, involving a significant amount of high-level reasoning about the purpose of the objects or scenes depicted. This includes retrieval of named events, of pictures with emotional or religious significance, etc. Query example, 'find pictures of a joyful crowd'. Levels 2 and 3 together are referred to as semantic image retrieval, and the gap between Levels 1 and 2 as the semantic gap [1]. More specifically, the discrepancy between the K. Vijay Kumar et al, / (IJCSIT) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technologies, Vol. 3 (5) , 2012,5231-5235


Representatives from 34 local interagency coordinating councils participated in a training on the development of interagency agreements. Coordinators of these councils or their designated representative participated in an interview about the process and 29 of the councils submitted written agreements within 9 months of the final training date. Results indicate that most communities included the majority of the legal requirements of transition in their agreements. Communities whose agreements were signed by agency administrators were rated somewhat higher for the number of legal requirements and quality indicators contained, when compared to those that remained unsigned. Interview participants identified policy issues such as ensuring continuity of services and interpretations of regulations as significant barriers to the writing of an agreement.


Background and Purpose: Axillary brachial plexus block is the method of choice for surgical procedures of upper arm except shoulder region. Distribution of local anaesthetic toward neurovascular space may be a reason for failed block. We investigated the axillary block effectiveness by singeand double-injection technique. Materials and Methods: Ninety patients (21–81 old; ASA I-IV) scheduled for upper arm surgery were divided in three equal groups during prospective, double-blind study. Nerve position was located with neurostimulator (Stimuplex® HNS 11)(0.5 mA, 2Hz and 0.1 ms). In Group S (single-shot), mixture of 30 mL (15 mL 0.5% bupivacaine and 15 mL 2% lidocaine) was injected only above axillary artery (25 mL around median and 5 mL around musculocutaneus nerve). In Group U and R (double-shot), the same mixture of local anaesthetic was applied above (10 mL around median and 5 mL around musculocutaneus nerve) and below axillary artery (15 mL around radial or ulnar nerve). Motor and sensor block were determined (Bromage scale, Pinprick method). Statistic analysis was done (SSP11.0). Results and Conclusions: Effective block analgesia and anaesthesia was achieved in shorter time in Group R (18+/4 and 26+/–3 min)(Group U: 34+/–4 and 41+/–3 min, Group S: 35+/–4 and 45+/–2 min) (P=0.0000) (Table 2). Block effectiveness was significantly higher after radial nerve stimulation (92%)(Group U 88% and S 76%) (P=0.630). Faster motor block was achieved in Group R (18+/–4)(Group U 26+/–3 and S 35+/–4 min) (P=0.000). Double-shot technique with primar radial nerve stimulation, allows better motor and sensor axillary block in comparison with single-shot technique.


This is a white paper covering the results of a literature search and preliminary experiments on materials and methods to remove and immobilize gaseous radionuclided that come from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.


The Glucagon‐Like Peptide‐1 (GLP‐1) receptor is the target for certain anti‐diabetic medications. The GLP‐1 receptor is a cell‐surface receptor that elicits a number of responses upon activation leading to reduced blood glucose and various other effects. A number of cell‐surface proteins have been shown to change expression level in response to various stimuli, such as nitric oxide and cytokines. Alterations in the level of cell‐surface receptors can increase or decrease responses through that receptor. The purpose of this study is to measure GLP‐1 receptor expression on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in response to cellular activation by various compounds.


Abstract Short term secular change in body size and physical fitness of Polish youth 7-15 years of age resident in an industrial region of Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland was considered across two surveys, 2001-2002 and 2010-2011. Subjects were students in the same schools in both surveys 1892 boys and 1992 girls in the first and 1237 boys and 1236 girls in the second. In addition to height and weight, performances in six fitness tests were measured in each survey. Height, weight and BMI increased significantly across surveys. Statistically controlling for secular gains in height and weight, only static strength (hand grip) and running speed - agility (shuttle run) improved significantly between surveys in three age groups (7-9, 10-12, 13-15 years), while explosive power (standing long jump) showed negligible changes except in girls 13-15 years among whom performances declined significantly. Speed of upper limb movement (plate tapping), flexibility (sit and reach) and trunk strength (sit-ups) declined between surveys, except for trunk strength in boys 13-15 years which did not change. In conclusion, after statistically controlling for secular gains in body size, physical fitness items changed variably over the decade.


This paper constitutes the study of Mechanical Properties like Bending Strength of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% HFRPC material used as Bio-material. An attempt is made to develop 10%, 20% 30% and 40% HFRPC material with low density, economical for bone implant with respect to biocompatibility and the mechanical behavior of human bone, such as cortical, according to the ASTM D-790-02 for Bending test using the polyester resin as the matrix material with the HFRPC 10%, 20% 30% and 40% of the material with fiber weight fraction, random continuous long fiber orientation, by using the Hand Layup fabrication technique the specimens are prepared. The bending tests are conducted by preparing varying percentage of standard specimen. It is found that there is appreciable improvement in bending Properties of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% HFRPC material. This Study suggests 30% and 40% of HFRPC material may be suitable for the different application in the replacement of human bone. From the Experimental results it is found that by increasing the weight fraction of the fiber or percentage of fiber which will increase the bending strength and also increases the density and mass of composite specimen. This study suggests that the HFRPC material is less cost, low density and high strength biocompatible material and may be suggested for implant, especially for cortical bone. From the Experimental results the strengths of HFRPC materials may be suitable the cortical Strength. Finally 30% and 40% HFRPC material can be suggested for cortical. Further it can be tested for remaining mechanical cortical properties. Keywords— Hybrid (sisal and banana) Fibre Reinforced Polyester Composite Materials (HFRPC), cortical, bending test and Hand lay-up Technique. UTM.


The authors show that the two-spiral problem can be easily solved using a standard back propagation neural network by properly encoding the raw input data. The authors also examine and compare several data encoding schemes for use in neural networks to improve the training efficiency and generalisation property.


The principles and approaches of training engineering personnel for the development of waterways in the Arctic regions are continuously developing all over the world and unite training in natural and applied sciences with broad practice. International practice of education involves the allocation of the maritime transport industry from the general tasks of engineering surveys on the shelf, hydraulic engineering construction, ensuring the safety of maritime navigation. Training in most countries of the Arctic Council of other countries is part of the state programs for the innovative development of the Arctic zone, as well as international educational associations and projects. A detailed review of higher education institutions that provide training for the Arctic is given, current and prospective specialties in bachelor, master and advanced training programs are examined. Examples of national and international partnerships for the consolidation of resources in the field of personnel and scientific provision of sustainable social and economic development and development of the northern territories of the Russian Federation are considered. The aim of the work is to study the changes and adaptations of engineering education in the field of water transport for the Arctic regions in relation to modern conditions, consider the issues of organization and management of the educational process, the distribution of education levels of bachelor-masterengineer specialist, scientific activity, international cooperation and practice for students. Training of personnel for the Arctic regions is highly demanded, taking into account the development of the many-sided activities of many countries in the production of hydrocarbons on the shelves of the freezing seas, the construction of marine and river transport infrastructure, the extension of navigation on the routes of the Northern Sea Route, and industrial power supply of the territories.


Julia Prest's Theatre under Louis XIV announces itself as a rather ambitious project. Its ambition becomes even more apparent by its subtitle: she extends her study of Classical theatre to the rather ideologically overdetermined realms of sexual and gender identity. The reader will immediately recognize a rather obvious reference to the work of Judith Butler in Prest's subtitle: the Performance of Gender . . ., but even the most recalcitrant of seventeenth-century scholars need not fear Prest's book: he will not be confronted with an elaborate analysis of transvestism, drag or gender-bending seventeenth-century frolickers. Instead what we have is a serious, rather traditional, literary–musicological survey of one of the most interesting aspects of theatrical spectacle in the seventeenth-century, i.e. the role of 'crosscasting' (as opposed to 'cross-dressing') in court ballet, drama and opera during Louis XIV's long reign. Prest brings to her work a 'bona-fides' in music and musicology that most of our seventeenth-century scholars do not have. She is thus well positioned to discuss the overlapping phenomena of dance, music and drama. Her study proceeds rather prosaically from the history of 'cross-casting' (that is men/ boys playing women's roles, and vice-versa) from the mid-sixteenth century Jesuit academies, to the court ballets of the early part of Louis XIV's reign, where the young monarch enjoyed participating in the ballets he organized for his court's entertainment, through the dramatic productions at St Cyr to conclude with a discussion of the gender ambiguities of opera. In the court ballets different aristocrats were, as Prest dutifully notes, cross-cast as they interpreted various allegorical roles. Prest continues her explorations of this interesting phenomenon in her discussion of the young ladies of St Cyr who took on male roles in Racine's Esther and Athalie. She concludes her study with a good chapter on 'gender ambiguity' at the century's end with the triumphant emergence of opera as a form of theatricality that threatened tragedy's preeminence. Prest study offers an interesting overview of the phenomenon of 'cross-casting' at the same time that she presents considerable paraphrase of that underappreciated impresario of court ballets, Benserrade. What we are not given is any detailed analyses of the most intriguing problematics that the book's title seemed to promise. Despite all the recent work on cross-dressing, on 'gender' politics inspired by the work of Butler, but also that of M. Garber, K. Weil and R. Stoller, Prest's work remains intriguingly unimpressed. Although aware that 'cross-casting' as a theatrical phenomenon and 'cross-dressing' as a sociological, psycho-sexual phenomenon are not exactly congruent, there are enough areas of overlap to provide a rather vast terrain of exploration of seventeenthcentury constraints on sexuality, on gender formation and thus the implications for the creation of a certain conception of French culture and civilization as to expand our canonically informed 'idées reçues' of Classicism. Perhaps this was not Prest's intention. She seems content to point to these interesting possibilities while containing her own study within a well informed but rather traditional discussion of a theatrical convention that remains, in her work, conventional.


A feasibility study was performed to investigate actuator technology which is relevant for a particular application of active noise control for gas turbine stator vanes. This study investigated many different classes of actuators and ranked them on the order of applicability. The most difficult requirements the actuators had to meet were high frequency response, large amplitude deflections, and a thin profile. Based on this assessment, piezoelectric type actuators were selected as the most appropriate actuator class. Specifically, Rainbows (a new class of high performance piezoelectric actuators), and unimorphs (a ceramic/metal composite) appeared best suited to the requirements. A benchtop experimental study was conducted. The performance of a variety of different actuators was examined, including high polymer films, flextensional actuators, miniature speakers, unimorphs, and Rainbows. The displacement/frequency response and phase characteristics of the actuators were measured. Physical limitations of actuator operation were also examined. This report includes the first known, high displacement, dynamic data obtained for Rainbow actuators. A new "hard" ceramic Rainbow actuator which does not appear to be limited in operation by self heating as "soft" ceramic Rainbows was designed, constructed and tested. The study concludes that a suitable actuator for active noise control in gas turbine engines can be achieved with state of the art materials and processing.


To observe and evaluate how the implementation of gamebased learning can improve students' focus in class and at the same time having fun with their study.


The main topic of the article is to indicate the lyrical and — somewhat on the margin — biographical strategies used by Leszek Baron in the film Leśmian from 1990, the aim of which was, on the one hand, to tell about a selected fragment of the life of the Polish poet Bolesław Leśmian (1877–1937); and, on the other, the use of film means as an equivalent of the poetic imaging characteristic of the author of W malinowym chruśniaku. The research material is primarily the fictional film about Leśmian. The aim of the text is to show how Baron understood the psychology of Leśmian's work and the specificity of his poetry. This entails the need to problematize individual dimensions of the production, that is, to analyze the perspectives adopted by the director. Ultimately, it leads to answering the question: how does Baron try to present the figure and work of Leśmian to new recipients who already belong to a different space-time?


Transmural healing is a promising target in Crohns' disease (CD) but remains poorly investigated. We aimed to evaluate the kinetics of transmural healing in CD treated with anti-TNF and to assess whether transmural healing is associated with more favourable outcomes.

 It was a retrospective study from an MRI database of 449 patients performing MRI for luminal CD. Inclusion criteria were: CD patients older than 18 years-old receiving anti-TNF therapy, with an objective sign of inflammation on morphological evaluation (endoscopy or cross-sectional imaging), who underwent at least one MRI examination to assess therapeutic efficacy and follow-up longer than 6 months. Patients treated with anti-TNF agents for treat isolated perianal lesions were excluded. We used a statistical model based on imputation according to the last observation carry forward and clinical relevance. Each CD MRI lesions were then assessed every month during the first year. For segmental analysis, we used a division into six segments (jejunum, ileum, right colon, transverse colon, left/sigmoid colon and rectum). Transmural healing was defined as no MRI lesions.

 Overall, 148 patients were included. Among them, 81 were female (55.7%), 43 (34.4%) were current smokers and 56 (37.8%) had prior intestinal resection. The median CD duration at baseline was 7.6 years [1.4–15.2]. At baseline, 80 patients (54.4%) were anti-TNF-naïve. During the study, 69 patients (46.6%) were treated with infliximab, 77 patients (52%) received adalimumab while only 2 patients (1.4%) were treated with golimumab A combination therapy with thiopurines or methotrexate was found in 108 patients (74.0%) and 30 patients (20.3%) received concomitant steroids at the time of inclusion. Among 148 patients and 303 MRIs, 387 segments were analyzed. The rate of transmural healing was optimal between M6 and M8 and plateaued from the eighth month. The kinetics of transmural healing in CD patients treated with anti-TNF agents is presented in Figure 1.

 Among the 148 patients with CD, 29 patients underwent intestinal resection (19.6%), 32 patients (21.6%) required an hospitalisation due to CD and 61 patients (41.2%) discontinued anti-TNF for therapeutic failure. In multivariable analyses, transmural healing was associated with decreased risk of surgery (HR=0.19[0.04–0.86];p = 0.03) and anti-TNF discontinuation (HR=0.42 [0.21–0.84]; p = 0.01) while we observed a trend for decrease risk of CD-related hospitalisation (HR=0.56[0.22–1.43];p = 0.23).

 Transmural healing, which is associated with better outcomes in CD, can be achieved in more than half of patients with CD. The best time to assess transmural healing was between 6 to 8 months after starting anti-TNF therapy.


We will concern ourselves with three aspects of the assembly of the cell wall of gram-positive organisms, namely: 1. What is the export unit for the cell wall polymers? That is, what is the simplest molecule that becomes attached to preexisting cell wall? 2. Where is new cell wall material inserted in the cell surface? 3. How are the cell wall polymers teichoic acid and peptidoglycan linked to each other? We have studied in vivo cell wall assembly in Bacillus subtilis to answer the first two questions and have investigated teichoic acid assembly at the enzyme level in B. subtilis and in Staphylococcus aureus H. As a general caution, our results on in vivo assembly apply in the strictest sense only to B. subtilis. Though we believe that they commonly apply to bacilli, they probably do not apply totally to cocci, which represent a very different morphogenetic problem that has been discussed in detail elsewhere by us and by others.2 The cell walls of B. subtilis and of S . aureus H are composed of a multilayered peptidoglycan network, and some of the glycan strands have linked to them either teichoic acid or, under some conditions, teichuronic acid (a polymer of N-acetylgalactosamine and glucuronic acid). In the strains we have used, B. subtilis Marburg has polyglycerophosphate chains in the cell wall, of which approximately one half are fully glucosylated.3 S. aureus H contains polyribitol phosphate substituted with N-acetylglucosamine re~idues.~ An observation made by Ellwood and Tempest 5 showed that it is possible to alter the polymers in the cell wall of B. subtilis by changing the phosphate concentration in the growth medium. At high phosphate levels, teichoic acid is synthesized; at limiting phosphate levels, teichuronic acid is synthesized. We have found that the change in the synthetic pathway is very rapid and occurs without demonstrable lag when the phosphate concentration is modified. This alteration in the nature of the specialized cell wall polymer allows us to determine whether teichoic acid or teichuronic acid is linked to preexisting peptidoglycan chains or only to peptidoglycan chains synthesized at the same time as these polymers are made. FIGURE 1 illustrates the design of a double-label experiment for teichoic acid synthesis. The results clearly indicate that teichoic acid is linked only to glycan strands synthesized at the same time as this polymer is produced. Similar experiments with identical conclusions have been performed for teichuronic acid biosynthesis (FIGURE 2). These experiments demonstrate that the export unit for these polymers,


In the present study. we investigated cell type-specific effects of glucocorticoid on cellular function and gene expression in different brain cells. Dexamethasone (DEX, ㎛), a synthetic glucocorticoid, was treated for 24 h in HT-22 neurons, C6 astrocytes and BV-2 microglial cells. DEX Irealment significantly increased cellular mRNA levels of crystallin alpha B in C6 astrocytes and the effects were reversed by glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist RU486 (Mifepristone). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 200 ng/ml) -induced NO release, nuclei translocation of NF-κB, degradation of cytosol IκB, and mRNA expression of TNF-alpha in microglia, a well-known phenomenon presenting pro-inflammatory capacity of microglia, was suppressed by DEX treatment. These effects were reversed by RU486 treatment. Our results suggest that glucocorticoid might deteriorate neuronal survival and maintenance offunction. Astrocytes and microglia might protect damaged neurons vulnerable to stress hormone. Taken together, we postulate neuron-glia interaction and the specific roles of neurons, astrocytes, and microglia in stress responses and stress-related psychiatric disorders such as depression.


Abs tract: Vis ual im pacts of fore s t ope rations are of incre as ing conce rn to fore s t m anage rs . Tools are available for evaluating, and pote ntialy avoiding, proble m s in vis ual q uality re s ulting from poody de s igne d h arve s t unit boundarie s . One of th e s e visualization tools is applied in com paring various h arve s t unit s h ape alte rnative s in an upland h ardw ood s tand on s te e ply s loping ground. Vis ualization tools w e re found to be m os t s uite d 10 placing s m al le ave s trips w ith in large r cle arcuts for obs curing some are as from vie w and giving th e im pre s s ion of a s e rie s of s m ale r cutting units .


Abstract The aim of this paper was to analyse the relationship between market concentration and market interest rate. Taking into thought the relationship between the level of concentration within a market and the level of competition, it can be deduced that an increment in concentration results in a decrease in competition. In order to test the above mentioned relationship, the authors used a panel dataset covering the period 2010Q1-2019Q4. The set includes quarterly data of all banks that operated in the Republic of Serbia. First of all, a correlation analysis was applied to determine whether there is a quantitative agreement between interest rates and concentration measures, and also a regression analysis i.e., econometric evaluation of panel regression models. In order to test the hypothesis, a total of 12 regression equations were applied. Results indicate that that the concentration indicators have a statistically significant and negative impact on the overall active interest rate in only two regression models, which is inadequate to support the hypothesis that there exists a systematic influence of concentration in the banking industry on interest rates. As a conclusion, the regression analysis imposes that the variations of the total loan interest rate can be explained to the greatest extent by the systematic and robust influences of the key policy rate of the NBS and the interannual inflation rate for the given quarter, as well as by the robust tendency of a linear decline over time.


The demand for increased thrust, higher engine efficiency, and reduced fuel consumption has increased the turbine inlet temperature and pressure in modern gas turbine engines. The outcome of these higher temperatures and pressures is the potential for unconsumed radical species to enter the turbine. Because modern cooling schemes for turbine blades involve injecting cool, oxygen rich air adjacent to the surface, the potential for reaction with radicals in the mainstream flow and augmented heat transfer to the blade arises. This result is contrary to the purpose of film cooling. In this environment there is a competing desire to consume any free radicals prior to the flow entering the rotor stage while still maintaining surface temperatures below the metal melting temperature.This study evaluated various configurations of multiple cylindrical rows of cooling holes in terms of both heat release and effective downstream cooling. Results were evaluated based on a new Wall Absorption parameter which combined the additional heat available from these secondary reactions with the length of the resulting flame to determine which schemes protected the wall more efficiently. Two particular schemes showed promise. The two row upstream configuration reduced the overall augmentation of heat by creating a short, concentrated reaction area. Conversely, the roll forward configuration minimized the local heat flux enhancement by spreading the reaction area over the surface being cooled.© 2014 ASME


E-government is an important tool for public sector transformation. The number of e-services available on government websites continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The usage of mobile technologies in the public administration not only provides an alternative communication and services channel for citizens, but also allows to go further. M-government is emerging as the next big wave for ICT use in the public sector. The aim of this article is to find out what are the factors that affect user acceptance of mobile e-government services or how can we motivate the citizens to utilize services. This paper applies the technology acceptance model to explore users' requirements for the adoption and usage of e-government services.


Shooting is a very important link in basketball.The scoring rate in the grueling match frequently depends on the psychological state of players while shooting.Thus good psychology can help players to enter into an optimum playing condition as soon as possible and to bring their due standard into full play.


Fatigue testing of asphalt mixtures was conducted using the beam fatigue device proposed by SHRP researchers. The results from laboratory prepared specimens were compared to results from field sections tested under controlled conditions by the Federal Highway Administration's Accelerated Loading Facility (ALF). The results indicate that a direct comparison of fatigue life between laboratory and field material is not possible since laboratory properties do not account for pavement structure. However, relative comparisons between asphalt type and layer thickness are possible and can be used to aid in the selection of materials and structure of a pavement. Using the data from the ALF and the laboratory, a preliminary evaluation of the binder parameter G*sin was done. The conclusion is that G*sin? is only applicable to pavement sections under relatively high tensile strains that mimic the strain-controlled conditions under which the parameter was derived.


Extramedullary relapse constitutes an uncommon manifestation of multiple myeloma, but central nervous system involvement as the only manifestation of relapse appears even less common. A 50-year-old man with a history of multiple myeloma achieved complete remission after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Fifteen months later, he presented with central nervous relapse with no signs of systemic disease.


Introduction. Every patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus secretes less insulin than necessary for his/her level of insulin sensitivity, and many of them have some degree of insulin resistance. The mix of insulin defi ciency and insulin resistance is different for each patient and, in any patient, it may vary during the course of the disease. The aim of our study was to examine the degree of -cells function and the presence of insulin resistance in patients with a long-standing type 2 diabetes. Methods. The study included 30 patients of both sexes (12 males, 18 females), with the mean values of age 59 years (SD=7.88) and the disease duration of 10 years (SD=5.36). The mean value of BMI was 31 kg/m2 (SD=4.74). The fasting glucose and insulin concentrations and HbA1c in the blood were determined by the standard laboratory methods. The percentages of functional -cells in the pancreas (HOMA%B), insulin sensitivity (HOMA-%S) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were calculated using a HOMA calculator v2.2. Then, the data were analyzed by statistical software SPSS 19. Results. The mean HbA1c was 10 % (SD=1.52) and FBG 12 mmol/L (SD=4.15). The mean insulin was 13 μmol/L (SD=6.11) and HOMA-%B 31 % (SD=18.99). The median value of HOMA-%S was 49% (32.2-82.4) and HOMA-IR 2 (1.2-3.1). 87% of patients had a HOMA-IR >1. Conclusion. The highly reduced -cells function and the consequent insulin defi ciency, usually combined with the moderate insulin resistance was determined in the patients with a long-standing type 2 diabetes mellitus.


Critical infrastructure is becoming increasingly connected, with tighter integration to the Internet of Things (IoT). Transportation systems in particular are getting smarter with increased cooperation between vehicles and the supporting infrastructure (V2X communications), and with intelligent devices introduced in the ecosystem, either tightly integrated to the vehicle (e.g. ECUs, cameras, ...) or external sensors (e.g. temperature sensor in an attached container, smart traffic light, ...). A number of communication and security protocols are being standardized for this Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS). However, using the current C-ITS standards, the security of individual devices may terminate at the gateway of a vehicle, and consequently in most existing vehicles, individual systems leak sensitive data across vendors. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end security architecture between C-ITS devices and back-end servers, in which sensitive data from individual devices can be transmitted without trusting third-parties providing the communication infrastructure (e.g. proxies, vehicle gateways, routers). The proposed solution is a standardbased integrated system that exploits recent IoT security standards and ensures inter-operability between CITS protocols and conventional Internet protocols. We perform a formal analysis of our architecture using the Tamarin Prover and show that it guarantees the secrecy and authenticity of the communications under adversarial settings.


Signatures of lensing of the cosmic microwave background radiation by gravitational potentials along the line of sight carry with them information on the matter distribution, neutrino masses, and dark energy properties. We examine the constraints that Planck, PolarBear, and CMBpol future data, including from the B-mode polarization or the lensing potential, will be able to place on these quantities. We simultaneously fit for neutrino mass and dark energy equation of state including time variation and early dark energy density, and compare the use of polarization power spectra with an optimal quadratic estimator of the lensing. Results are given as a function of systematics level from residual foreground contamination. A realistic CMBpol experiment can effectively constrain the sum of neutrino masses to within 0.05 eV and the fraction of early dark energy to 0.002. We also present a surprisingly simple prescription for calculating dark energy equation of state constraints in combination with supernova distances from JDEM.


A case of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following pulse therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is reported.A 39-year-old woman developed polyarthralgia and fever during her second pregnancy at the age of 29. Alopecia, Raynaud's phenomenon and malar erythema developed later. She was admitted to another hospital in January 1982 because of polyarthralgia. Laboratory examination showed positive antinuclear antibody, high titers of anti-DNA antibody, leukopenia and telescoped urinary sediments. She was diagnosed as SLE and was treated with prednisolone 40mg/day. Polyarthralgia and malar erythema disappeared, but telescoped sediments remained unchanged.She was transferred to this hospital in April 1982 for the purpose of renal biopsy. Laboratory findings on admission were as follows: the whitecell count 3, 800, CRP 1+, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate 97mm per hour, RA test negative, antinuclear antibody positive, anti-DNA antibody 805U/ml (RIA), anti-RNP, Sm, SS-B antibodies negative, anti-SS-A antibody 1:16, CH50 13.6U/ml, C3 33mg/dl, C4 9mg/dl, and circulating immune complex 20.0ug/ml (Clq binding). 24-hour urinary protein was 1.3 g/day, and urinalysis revealed 13-15 white blood cells, 12-13 red blood cells, 10-13 granular casts and 1-2 hyaline casts per field. The creatinine clearance was 91ml/min. Renal biopsy showed active diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis. She was treated with prednisolone 60mg/day, but telescoped sediments were unchanged. Pulse therapy was porformed twice with methylprednisolone 1g/day for three days in August. In September, anti-DNA antibody and serum complement were almost normal. Velcro rales became audible in both lung bases and arterial blood gas values worsened. Interstitial pneumonitis due to SLE was suspected and prednisolone was increased to 100mg/day. Immunosuppressive drugs and plasmapheresis were added. The titer of antibody to CMV (complement fixation) rose from 1:16 in April to 1:128 in September. Urine culture for CMV performed in September was reported as positive in October. Prednisolone was tapered. Blood gases improved. In February 1983, ulcers of stomach and tongue developed. The histological examination revealed cytomegalic inclusion bodies. Lung biopsy was not performed.CMV infection is rare in adults and reported mostly in patients with organ transplants and neoplasms, who usually received corticosteroids or immunosuppressive drugs and were severely immunocompromised. CMV infection in adults is thought to be due to recrudescence of latent virus, triggered by an immunologic defect in the hosts. CMV infection in SLE was so far reported only in one case in Japan. CMV infection should be kept in mind in cases of SLE under severe immunosuppression such as pulse therapy.


Owing to the large distribution gap between the heterogeneous data in Visible-Infrared Person Re-identification (VI Re-ID), we point out that existing paradigms often suffer from the inter-modal semantic misalignment issue and thus fail to align and compare local details properly. In this paper, we present Concordant Attention Learning (CAL), a novel framework that learns semantic-aligned representations for VI Re-ID. Specifically, we design the Target-aware Concordant Alignment paradigm, which allows target-aware attention adaptation when aligning heterogeneous samples ( i.e ., adaptive attention adjustment according to the target image being aligned). This is achieved by exploiting the discriminative clues from the modality counterpart and designing effective modality-agnostic correspondence searching strategies. To ensure semantic concordance during the cross-modal retrieval stage, we further propose MatchDistill, which matches the attention patterns across modalities and learns their underlying semantic correlations by bipartite-graph-based similarity modeling and cross-modal knowledge exchange. Extensive experiments on VI Re-ID benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed CAL.


This study evaluates the life cycle energy of insulation boards made from agricultural waste in Thailand, compared with conventional insulation. The evaluation was determined using Life Cycle Energy Analysis methodology which identified the embodied energy of insulation materials over their pre-use phase - manufacture and transportation. Three waste materials were chosen according to their availability and thermal properties for thermal insulation: bagasse, coconut coir and rice hulls. The conventional insulation materials for comparison are cellulose, fibreglass and rock wool. The results from LCEA show that the currently available agricultural waste insulation boards have higher embodied energy than conventional thermal insulation. Only the insulation board made from coconut coir has lower embodied energy than rock wool insulation whilst the embodied energy of bagasse board is almost eight times higher than that of rock wool insulation.


The effects of a staff development program on supervisory task completion were compared with the impact of assigning a target date for task completion. Task completion was not affected by the staff development program, but improved upon implementation of a target date procedure. The implications for developing antecedent stimulus intervention procedures are discussed.


Abstract This is an interactive computer tool for teaching breast imaging to fourth-year medical students. The web-based game allows for competitive play between two students, or between one studen...


Mathematical model delivered both from knowledge of a system and from experimental data may provide additional information about the system under consideration. This information may be further exploited for different purposes, such as prediction, diagnosis, decision making and system control. Data-driven models have been found to be particularly useful in assessment of some human abilities in sport and medicine. We demonstrate the usefulness of data-driven models in custom eHealth application. KeywordseHealth; Wireless Sensors; Endurance Training; Estimation; Decision Making Support; Optimization


22 The Hearing Journal September 2019 Emerging research on the relationship between hearing loss and dementia reveals a possible causal link that could impact audiology and memory care drastically in coming years. Though the exact association between the two conditions is yet to be identified, recent studies have determined four potential theories for the biological and cognitive processes underlying the link. With further research on the horizon, researchers predict breakthroughs in the near future.


Thirty nine isolates of microorganisms were isolated from the nira (palm sap from inflorescence stalk of Corypha utan Lamk. or Borassus flabellifer L., laru (fermented palm sap) and their ability to produce amylase has been done. The result of screening showed that eight isolates were positive in the starch iodine test, but their amylolitic activities relatively lower. The amylolitic activities show that laru is not potential source of microbial amylases. In liquid media containing 2% soluble starch, three isolates of fungi (LG4, LMS1, and MI-1) produceamylase and reached a maximum activity at 3 days fermentation, with levels 56.31x102 , 46.78x102 and 41.49x102 U/mL (one unit activity is define as micromoles of glucose produce per mL per minute). Two yeast isolates which isolated from laru or kayu laru were showed their ability to ferment the gula aer and produce ethanol, CO2 and some organic acids, it were identified as Pichia anomala. The other bacterial isolates were identified as Bacillus licheniformis BL43, Chromobacterium sp., Lactobacillus sp., Micrococcus roseus (Staphylococcus roseus), and Bacillus coagulans, its show the lower amylase activities.© 2008 Jurusan Biologi FMIPA UNS Surakarta.Key words: palm sap (nira), fermented palm sap (laru), amylase, fermentation, East Nusa Tenggara


patients suffering from right ventricular dysfunction. This article briefly discusses the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the development of right ventricular dysfunction. Laboratory biomarkers of diagnostic/prognostic value in patients suffering from right ventricular dysfunction are discussed in detail. According to the literature review, the following laboratory biomarkers have the greatest prognostic value in right ventricular dysfunction: cardiac troponins, brain natriuretic peptide, cardiac fatty acid binding protein. A number of other new biomarkers, in particular copeptin, growth differentiation factor-15, Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin and cystatin C, according to several studies, are also predictors of adverse outcomes in patients with right ventricular dysfunction, however, due to insufficient research, they have not yet found widespread use in routine clinical practice.


Data are presented on the electroluminescence from an ensemble of self-organized quantum dots excited at low current densities. The ensemble contains ∼105 dots, which produce a ground state spectral emission with a 14 K linewidth of ∼1 meV at low current density (∼5×10−2 A/cm2). While the spectra show clearly discrete energy levels, we suggest that obtaining a single ground state emission from the ensemble may be due to interdot electronic coupling. Spectral broadening decreases for decreasing current density due to electronic state filling, even for the lowest current densities studied.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the responses of young consumers to suspected covert and overt product-brand recommendations in a blog. Design/methodology/approach – Experimental design was applied to investigate the effect of covert and overt marketing on young consumers' perceptions of blogger credibility and their behavioural intentions. Findings – Overt marketing had a negative effect on behavioural intentions, such as future interest in the blogger, intention to engage in word-of-mouth, and purchase intention. Covert marketing did not affect the intended behaviour. Neither covert nor overt marketing influenced the blogger's credibility. Research limitations/implications – The study was delimited to a small sample; one blog, one type of product recommendation, and a well-known brand. Young, well-educated consumers with experience in reading blogs may be able to filter the brand recommendations and focus on the content of the blog. Practical implications – This study has implications fo...


Co–ZnO inhomogeneous magnetic semiconductor thin films were synthesized on the subnanometer scale by sputtering. Room temperature ferromagnetism with high magnetization was found. Large negative magnetoresistance of 11% was found at room temperature, and its value increased with a decrease in temperature up to 36% at 4.8 K. The mechanism for large negative magnetoresistance is discussed.


Abstract Herbage production and population regeneration characteristics of nine subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) cultivars were measured on a steep, dry, north-facing hillside at Ballantrae Hill Country Research Station, New Zealand. A close, linear relationship (r = 0.914) between subterranean clover herbage production and flowering date was observed. The latest flowering cultivar, 'Tallarook', gave the highest herbage yields (average = 770 kg dry matter (DM)/ha per year) and, in the latter stages of the evaluation, was superior in seedling regeneration. Exceptions to the general relationship between time of flowering and herbage accumulation were: 'Howard' in 1983/84—higher production than predicted because of exceptionally good seedling regeneration; 'Clare' in both years—lower production because of poor persistence (<3 years); and 'Mt Barker' in both years—lower production because of poor initial establishment. The mid-late or late-flowering cultivars 'Larisa', 'Mt Barker', and 'Tallaro...


Photoluminescence (PL) properties of β-FeSi2 polycrystalline thin films and Si/β-FeSi2/Si doublehetero (DH) structure samples grown by an RF magnetron sputtering method were investigated. In the thin films, the PL intensity at 1.54 μm was increased in B-doped β-FeSi2 films. In the Si/B-doped β-FeSi2/Si DH samples, the PL intensity became much larger than the B-doped thin films. In the dependence of PL intensity on β-FeSi2-thickness, the PL intensity strongly depended on the β-FeSi2 thickness and showed a maximum at 2.5 nm. In the measurements of PL lifetime, the PL lifetimes were constant in the DH samples with different thickness of β-FeSi2. These results showed that the confinement of photoexcited carriers in the β-FeSi2 layer decreased as the β-FeSi2 thickness increased.


The formulated diet comprised of cotton seed cake, flour, fermented chicken manure, beach silt, Sargassum thanbergii meal, green vegetable meal, fish meal and egg shell meal was supplemented with xanthan gum 1.0%, guar gum 1.5%, k-carrageenan 2.0%, xanthan gum 1.0%+guar gum (3:7) or xanthan gum 1.5%+k-carrageenan(3:7). The group without binders was as control. They were fed to juvenile sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) with average body weight (0.51±0.040) g for 15 days in laboratory. Determined the water stability, digestive rates of crude protein and crude fat, and weight gains of sea cucummber. The results showed that the sea cucumber fed with the diet containing xanthan gum 1.0%+guar gum (3:7) grew faster, and had high digestibility of crude protein and crude fat, and low water stability of (15.0±2.5)% for 16 hours .


A number of studies on teaching assistant robots (or peer tutoring robots) have proven that robots can be considered effective tools for language education. Interactive storytelling, in particular, can be used for enhancing the teaching of English as a foreign language. This can be used in robot aided learning of English. However, the biggest obstacle to the interaction between human beings and robots in field studies is the robots' low-success rate of face and voice recognition. This causes some children to utterly give up interaction with robots or to just ignore them altogether. This paper explores robot storytelling elements to look at ways of generating and maintaining interaction between teaching assistant robots and children. Robot storytelling about the robot's own weak recognition was examined to see if it could address the challenge of changing children's attitudes and maintain interaction between the children and the robot. It was concluded that teaching assistant robot storytelling is effective in increasing children's tolerance towards robot weak recognition.


. inability of individuals to predict and control their own lives (learned helplessness. The "central" figures of 137'segments were identified, including well-known individu4s or groups, as well as "unknowns" symbolizing more abstract concepts such aS stitus,.social class, or national'peoples.. Researchers then rated each figure on'a five-point *helplessness" scale,,based on the figure's comparative inability to affect the outcome of events or bphaviors described.' Results showed that more than 25% of the figures were rated as not helplest:while approximately 40% were.rated as strongly or compl,eteTy helpless. The remainingqigures were rated mildly ot dOderateay' helpless. Five types of figures accounted for almost 62% of all central figures: Ameridan public,'.foreign nations, United, States politicians and public officials, business persons or organizations, and persons with diseases or illnesses. In those segments where the"centrfil figure'was the, Xmerican public, the mean helplessness score was markedly higher than the average for the ,entire Sample. It is clear that the in-depth reports of "Sewent Three" mirror a'reality Ofperceived helplessness. (HTK)


We investigate higher dimensional cosmological models in the semiclassical approximation with Hartle-Hawking Boundary conditions, assuming a gravitational action which is described by the scalar curvature with a cosmological constant. In the framework the probability for quantum creation of an inflationary universe with a pair of black holes in a multidimensional universe is evaluated. The probability for creation of a universe with a spatial section with $S^{1}XS^{D -2}$ topology is then compared with that of a higher dimensional de Sitter universe with $S^{D -1}$ spatial topology. It is found that a higher dimensional universe with a product space with primordial black holes pair is less probable to nucleate when the extra dimensions scale factors do not vary in an inflating universe.


In the context of critical reconstruction of the current conceptions about knowledge and information, this paper analyzes the Floridi approach of this issue, through its map of problems in the philosophy of information. Other texts of the author are uses, as the map of semantic information, when contributed to the understanding of his point of view. It is considered that the choice of constructivism, the subordination of epistemology to the philosophy of information and the rejection of the association of information with representation, are part of the author's effort to sustain that the validation of knowledge depends on information, and the validity of the information depends on modeling process based on data.


In December 2020, Indonesia was introduced to the long Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phenomenon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) introduced the term "post-COVID condition" as a health problem that persists after four weeks from the first exposure to COVID-19. The National Institute for Healthcare and Care Excellence (NICE) classifies COVID-19 infections into three categories based on disease duration: (1) acute infection for up to 4 weeks; (2) ongoing infection within 4-12 weeks; and (3) post-COVID-19 syndrome for more than 12 weeks and not associated with an alternative diagnosis. One of these phenomena is lung fibrosis. About 80% of COVID-19 survivors had mild to severe chest X-rays in 6 months of follow-up with decreasing lung function. COVID-19-related lung fibrosis is still not widely researched. COVID-19 survivors who develop lung fibrosis usually recover independently, but some develop persistent lung fibrosis. The use of antifibrotic agents, such as nintedanib, has long been approved for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, its use in the cases of lung fibrosis due to COVID-19 has not been widely studied.  Nintedanib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. It inhibits receptor activity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF). Those actions will eventually inhibit the proliferation, migration, and transformation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts in lung fibrogenesis. Therefore, an antifibrotic agent is potentially needed to inhibit COVID-19-related lung fibrosis to improve quality of life and prevent further lung damage.


Program interfaces needed for the creation of a simulation model are discussed in this report. The composition of the simulation toolkit MICIC4 oriented to a team way of a simulation project implementation is considered


Abundance of conditions were providing for philosophically synthesizing the essence of information in our era: a great deal of related conclusions were offering in many domains of science, the information were accumulating through the "evolution of information" and "information-emerging",engendering a lot of contradictions of social transferring, that make the nature of information in the universe emerging. Based on this ground, we brought forward a researching creed on the new viewpoint on information. We think that the categories of "substance and information" will be more symmetry than of "substance and consciousness " in explaining the unification of universe; the essence of information was displaying in the history of evolution; the evolution of information follow the law of recursion, the information might be apprehended as the relativity in whole, and be apprehended as the recording and recursion of the relativity; it is representing as the contradiction between "informatization"and "Wu hua"in the existent informatization society; The information's essence will become true reality in the "cultural phase" of human being,etc. The new viewpoint on information guided by philosophy will be a great important researching project in the new century.


Oil recovery in subsea and other applications with high intervention costs are becoming more common. These wells require downhole equipment to have a high level of reliability. Oil companies subsequently are continually searching for further means of testing prior to downhole deployment. This paper is a review of issues related to testing of one segment of downhole production equipment, electrical submersible pumping (ESP) motors. The particular testing reviewed in this paper is partial discharge (PD) testing. ESP motors operate in a pressure range that minimizes the risk of partial discharge-initiated failures, yet many ESP customers ask for partial discharge testing. Understanding partial discharge and how it affects ESP motors is important to understanding when and where PD testing is proper for a particular application. This paper is a review of issues related to partial discharge and testing for partial discharge in electrical submersible pumping motors.


The purpose of this chapter is to provide evidence-based findings on student engagement within smart library spaces. The focus of smart libraries includes spaces that are enhanced with the internet of things (IoT) infrastructure and library collection maps accessed through a library-designed mobile application. The analysis herein explored IoT-based browsing within an undergraduate library collection. The open stacks and mobile infrastructure provided several years (2016-2019) of user-generated smart building data on browsing and selecting items in open stacks. The methods of analysis used in this chapter include transactional analysis and data visualization of IoT infrastructure logs. By analyzing server logs from the computing infrastructure that powers the IoT services, it is possible to infer in greater detail than heretofore possible the specifics of the way library collections are a target of undergraduate student engagement.


ROL is a deductive object-oriented database system developed at the University of Regina. It supports important object-oriented features such as object identity, complex objects, classes, class hierarchies, multiple inheritance with overriding and blocking, and schema deenition. It also supports structured values such as functor objects and sets, providing powerful mechanisms for representing both partial and complete information about sets. It provides a uniform declarative language for deening, manipulating and querying databases. This paper describes the structure and operation of ROL.


This paper addresses the problem of tracking a non maneuvering target in a maritime surveillance context, under emission constraint. In such a situation, the onboard radar shall be used as few as possible, in order not to be detected. To maintain the tactical situation, it is convenient to take advantage of other non emissive sensors such as ESM. However, we have to jointly face the problem of nonlinear filtering and the lack of observability due to bearing-only measurement. This paper proposes to compare the performances of two algorithms based on Extended Kalman Filter : Cartesian coordinates and Modified Polar coordinates. Simulation results demonstrate that the latter is well adapted to long mission durations where radar is almost not used, while the former gets significantly more inaccurate.


quite so intrigues and challenges the imagination of men in our day as does this question of responsibility in our new age. It is lamentably true that each of us attempts to put the responsibility upon the other. The lay world says to itself and to us, "You of the Church are responsible inthiscoming age"; and various factions and divisions of the lay world turn to each other and say, "You are responsible, the Church is responsible, the college is responsible, industry is responsible, science is responsible." The truth of the matter is that every one of us must bear a certain share of the responsibility.


Due to performance and low complexity, JPEG-LS become the standard of lossless and near-lossless image compression. However, it can't accurately control code rate when it is applied in near-lossless compression. This paper is thus devoted to rate control for near-lossless image compression with JPEG-LS. A model of coding bit-rate under a high bit-rate with respect to mean absolute difference (MAD) and coding quantization parameters for prediction coding is first proposed. Then a rate control method for near-lossless compression is designed based on the model for JPEG-LS. In the process of a specific image coding, to control the bit-rate, quantitative parameters are adjusted piecewise based on the model. Experiments show that the proposed method can make final code rate close to a preset rate. It's different from other methods that quantitative parameter fluctuating within a wide range can be avoided because of the accurate model of bit-rate. As a result, the proposed control method can achieve approximate optimal rate-distortion performance.


: Hyper-heuristics are considered as one of the most popular search methods which can solve NP-hard problems. They aim to achieve level of generality of search techniques for solving a wide variety of problem domains. Hyper-heuristic framework involves two levels, high-level, and low-level heuristics. The high-level heuristic is responsible for selecting and applying an appropriate low-level heuristic to generate solutions and deciding whether to accept or reject the new solution. Low-level heuristics are a set of problem-specific heuristics. In this paper, we propose to improve the performance through adding a new level strategy to the hyper-heuristic framework. The highest-level strategy adopts the roulette wheel selection mechanism to select the appropriate hyper-heuristic according to its performance during the search process. The highest-level strategy selects the appropriate algorithm from a predefined set of hyper-heuristic algorithms to improve the generated solution. The performance of the proposed approach has been compared with one of the most recent methods as well as with other hyper-heuristics that used as components of the proposed approach. The results have been carried on six of commonly used benchmark datasets. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed framework. Hence it outperforms the other methods in five of the six benchmarks.


After World War II, the Polish educational system was based on the following principles: (1) free education at all levels of schooling; (2) compulsory attendance at a seven-year (from 1961 this became an eight-year) primary school until the age of 17; (3) a uniform school system permitting the transition from lower to higher levels, with identical programs for particular types of schools; (4) secularization of education; and (5) state aid in the form of scholarships and dormitories for students attending secondary and higher schools. The effort undertaken to develop the educational system in the postwar years produced effects relatively quickly: * Illiteracy was liquidated at the beginning of the 1 960s. This was a demanding task, for before World War II about 20 percent of the total population over the age of 10 was illiterate. * The idea of universal primary education was put into practice. * The system of secondary, vocational, grammar-school, and higher and university education was expanded. * The educational system covered schooling for adults, special schools for physically or mentally handicapped or socially maladjusted children, and preschool education. As a result of free education and material help for pupils and students from large or lower-income families, access to learning became relatively common and upward social mobility was possible for a considerable number of young people from working-class or


This paper presents an approach to optimally select and allocate flexible ac transmission (FACTS) devices in a distribution network in order to minimize the number of voltage sags at network buses. The method proposed is based on the optimization of a preselected objective function using simple and niching genetic algorithms (GA). The objective of the optimization is to achieve the improvement in overall system sag performance of the network. Using proposed GA-based optimization, the location, the type and the rating of six (in total) FACTS devices are optimized simultaneously. Three types of FACTS devices are implemented in this study, namely, static var compensator, static compensator, and dynamic voltage restorer. The performance of the proposed algorithm is tested and illustrated on 295-bus generic distribution system.


We analyze the dynamics of gas-dust coupling in the presence of stellar radiation pressure in circumstellar disks, which are in a transitional stage between the gas-dominated, optically thick, primordial nebulae, and the dust-dominated, optically thin Vega-type disks. Meteoroids and dust undergo radial migration, either leaving the disk due to a strong radiation pressure, or seeking a stable equilibrium orbit in corotation with gas. In our models of A-type stars surrounded by a total gas mass from a fraction to dozens of Earth masses, the outward migration speed of dust is comparable with the gas sound speed. Equilibrium orbits are circular, with exception of those significantly affected by radiation pressure, which can be strongly elliptic with apocenters extending beyond the bulk of the gas disk. The migration of dust gives rise to radial fractionation of dust and creates a variety of possible observed disk morphologies, which we compute by considering the equilibrium between the dust production (at radii . 10AU) and the dust-dust collisions removing particles from their equilibrium orbits. Sand-sized and larger grains are distributed throughout most of the disk, with concentration near the gas pressure maximum in the inner disk. Smaller grains (typically in the range of 10 to 200μm) concentrate in a prominent ring structure in the outer region of the gas disk (presumably at radius ∼100 AU), where gas density is rapidly declining with radius. The width and density, as well as density contrast of the dust ring with respect to the inner dust disk depend on the distribution of gas and the mechanical strength of the particles, but do not depend on the overall dust production rate. Our results open the prospect for deducing the distribution of gas in circumstellar disks by observing their dust. We have qualitatively compared our models with two observed transitional disks around HR 4796A and HD 141569A. (Gas component has been detected, but not yet mapped in detail, in the second object.) Dust migration can result in observation of a ring or a bimodal radial dust distribution, possibly very similar to the ones produced by gap-opening planet(s) embedded in the disk, or shepherding it from inside or outside. We conclude that a convincing planet detection via dust imaging should include specific non-axisymmetric structure (spiral waves, streamers, resonant arcs) following from the dynamical simulations of perturbed disks. Subject headings: accretion, accretion disks—circumstellar matter—planetary systems: formation


Simple Summary Patients with stage IIB-IV melanoma who have had surgery are recommended to receive systemic adjuvant therapy, intended to target the residual micro-metastatic disease and reduce the risk of melanoma relapse and death from melanoma. Multiple adjuvant therapy regimens have been tested over the past three decades leading to regulatory approvals. Due to significant improvements in relapse-free survival, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockades and BRAF-MEK inhibitors (for BRAF mutant melanoma) are currently used as the standard-of-care adjuvant treatments for surgically resected stage III-IV melanoma. In the US, pembrolizumab has achieved regulatory approval as an adjuvant therapy for resected stage IIB-IIC melanoma, while nivolumab is currently under FDA review for this indication. This review examines melanoma's phase III adjuvant treatment trials, focusing on the latest updates. It also reviews the role of biomarkers in potentially individualizing adjuvant therapy and summarizes the main limitations and future directions of adjuvant therapy options for high-risk melanoma. Abstract The consideration of systemic adjuvant therapy is recommended for patients with stage IIB-IV melanoma who have undergone surgical resection due to a heightened risk of experiencing melanoma relapse and mortality from melanoma. Adjuvant therapy options tested over the past three decades include high-dose interferon-α, immune checkpoint inhibitors (pembrolizumab, nivolumab), targeted therapy (dabrafenib-trametinib for BRAF mutant melanoma), radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Most of these therapies have been demonstrated to enhance relapse-free survival (RFS) but with limited to no impact on overall survival (OS), as reported in randomized trials. In contemporary clinical practice, the adjuvant treatment approach for surgically resected stage III-IV melanoma has undergone a notable shift towards the utilization of nivolumab, pembrolizumab, and BRAF-MEK inhibitors, such as dabrafenib plus trametinib (specifically for BRAF mutant melanoma) due to the significant enhancements in RFS observed with these treatments. Pembrolizumab has obtained regulatory approval in the United States to treat resected stage IIB-IIC melanoma, while nivolumab is currently under review for the same indication. This review comprehensively analyzes completed phase III adjuvant therapy trials in adjuvant therapy. Additionally, it provides a summary of ongoing trials and an overview of the main challenges and future directions with adjuvant therapy.


We report the photoluminescence characteristics of a colour centre in diamond grown by plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition. The colour centre emits with a sharp zero-phonon line at 2.330 eV (λ=532 nm) and a lifetime of 3.3 ns, thus offering potential for a high-speed single-photon source with green emission. It displays a vibronic emission spectrum with a Huang–Rhys parameter of 2.48 at 77 K. Hanbury–Brown and Twiss measurements reveal that the electronic level structure of the defect includes a metastable state that can be populated from the optically excited state.


Bioassays in 12×17×3-m field cages showed an airborne chemical was released from the hairpencils of the male Heliothis virescens (F.) before mating. When receptors on the female antennae detected the pheromone during courtship, release of female sex pheromone ceased. Emission of the female sex pheromone was effectively terminated if the females were exposed to 50 male equivalents of hairpencil extract or to untreated 2-day-old (virgin) male tobacco budworms. Extracts of hairpencils made with ethyl ether were almost as effective as live males, but extracts made with carbon disulfide did not successfully suppress the production of the sex pheromone.


We attentively read the Jha et al. paper recently published in Diagnostic Cytopathology. The author investigated that the minimum volume of pleural fluid required for detection of malignant cells by a retrospective analysis. First, all samples were received in containers free of anti-coagulants. For samples with a volume of more than 10 ml, the entire specimen was centrifuged and used for two cytospin slides and cellblock preparation. And if less than 10 ml, the entire specimen was centrifuged and used for both smear and cellblock preparation. But if less than 0.5 ml, the fliud was used to prepare the smear directly without centrifugation, and cellblocks could not be prepared. Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was analyzed for pleural fluid volume to assess its diagnostic accuracy and determine the most appropriate cut-off volume of pleural fluid within optimum levels of sensitivity and specificity. Finally, the author drew the conclusion that 13.5 ml was the minimum volume for the detection of malignant cells in the pleural effusion. This conclusion has greatly aroused our interest, because in our daily work, how to process pleural effusion to detect tumor cells more efficiently is also confusing, and there is no standardized operation guide as far as we know although some experts consensus was documented in china which we usually follow. First of all, the sample containers we use is totally different from the containers in this paper. In contrast, in our cytology unit of the clinical laboratory, all pleural samples were received in containers of 15 ml dry EDTA anti-coagulants (Figure 1A with red arrow). Therefore, all samples cannot form the cell pellets in the tube in presence of these dry EDTA anti-coagulants. If the samples were received in containers free of anti-coagulants, the cells will


The present invention provides compounds of formula Ⅰ: wherein the substituents are defined in claim see. Such compounds are the following compounds having superior activity producing a medicament; prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease (particularly arrhythmia), therapeutic treatment of gastrointestinal ulcers or diarrhea region.


Rapid confirmation of a diagnosis of tuberculosis is important for starting appropriate treatment early and for avoiding the inappropriate use of complex and potentially toxic drug regimens. Detection of the intact bacillus, either by direct smear or by ciiure, rFeFmins me only availale way to CUT th. d WILLS 7etaiIILy. GLLlL fth organism is too slow to influence initial decisions on treatment butMaoes alaW -ie Spzcie oiTT 43 311IIL tuturtLI-sensifivities. u nie direct smear is easy to perform and is the only readily available rapid diagnostic method, but depends for a positive result on the presence of more than 5 000 organisms per millilitre of sample. SMer negative aisease is thus a feature of half of all aLb vS infections and is virtually the rule for infection at other sites, where smaller numbers of organisms cause clinical disease (for example, pleura, meninges). A method for rapid confirmation of tuberculosis in the presence of small numbers of organisms would be a great advance in the management of this common condition. To be useful such a test would have to fulfil rigorous criteria, including speed, sensitivity, ease of performance, applicability in all clinical circumstances, ability to distinguish active from old disease and Mycobacterium tuberculosis from other mycobacteria (specificity), and low cost. Measurement of the umoral response to various m_bc hiterial anietssth -tprhn'L n


Five Pleniglacial cave bear assemblages from the cave of Goyet (Condroz, Belgium) were studied. The assemblages display different distributions of the skeletal elements, divergent proportions of broken bones, worn canines, carnivore gnawed bones and juvenile remains, and different sex ratios of the canines, indicating that most assemblages can be considered as different groups. The Pleniglacial climatic fluctuations had probably a substantial influence on the cave bear populations from the Condroz. Cave bear assemblage B4 is the only male dominated assemblage, with a high frequency of remains from young and prime aged males and from cubs of less than one year old. In cave bear assemblage A2 the proportion of remains of old males is high, while the frequency of juvenile remains is relatively low. Also in cave bear assemblage A3 the frequency of old males was rather high. Cave hyaenas preyed heavily on the bears from this assemblage. The preliminary data of assemblage B5 indicate that this female dominated assemblage yielded also an elevated number of juvenile remains. The data of assemblage Al do not permit to give detailed conclusions.


The invention provides an energy-saving anti-leakage curtain wall system. The system comprises an anti-leakage structure and a connection structure. A drainage cavity in a buckle lid is a first-stage anti-leakage mechanism, a water collecting tank is used for making a heat-insulation cavity be communicated with the drainage cavity to form a drainage channel, and a heat-insulation frame is a second-stage anti-leakage mechanism. The connection structure comprises spring plug-pins and connecting pieces, and cross beams are connected with a vertical column through the spring plug-pins. Each connecting piece comprises a vertical column matching part and a cross beam matching part, wherein the vertical column matching part and the cross beam matching part are installed on the front side of the cross beam and the vertical column which are adjacent to each other and fixed. A waterproof structure includes multi-stage waterproof measures, the process is simple, and installation is quick. According to the rain curtain principle, capillary water leaks in a room. All components are conventionally machined and can be machined in a factory, so the components can be positioned and installed only by being aligned to bolt holes, and construction is more convenient. The connecting pieces can be matched with the cross beams and a notch or the front end of the vertical column at the same time, the machining amount is small, and environment protection and energy conservation are achieved.


The invention relates to the technical field of gas sensors, and specifically relates to a thermal airflow sensor and a manufacturing method thereof. Through anodizing processing on an aluminum substrate, a porous anodic aluminum oxide structure is formed, and a silicon substrate in a cavity technology used in an existing thermal gas mass flow sensor based on a MEMS technology is replaced. The anodized aluminum of the microcosmic porous structure has relatively low heat conductivity coefficient and relatively high mechanical property, and has anti-shock performance while realizing heat insulation property. In a harsh working condition, the sensor can still stably measure gas flow. The microcosmic porous structure of the anodized aluminum has very good adaptability on the strength, directions, and temperature of airflow. Therefore, the invention provides a thermal gas sensor which has high responsiveness, high precision, and high stability. In addition, required heating and collection electrodes formed on an anodized aluminum layer through a deposition corrosion method simplify a drive circuit and improve reliability.


Adherence to guidelines for perioperative management of newer anticoagulant and anti-platelet drugs at Swedish orthopedic and anticoagulation clinics: a questionnaire study.


This article examines anew the implications of trade policy liberalisation for export performance in both developed and developing countries. The current empirical analysis departs from existing research in that it uses the 'Adstock' approach to investigate whether there exists a cumulative (i.e. sustainable) impact of trade policy liberalisation on countries' export performance. Using a panel dataset comprising 168 countries (both developed and developing) over the period 1998–2014, the analysis provides strong evidence on how the impact of trade policy liberalisation on export performance is sustainable, i.e. whether it is persistent over time. Specifically, more advanced countries appear to benefit from a higher sustainability of the impact of trade policy liberalisation on their export performance than relatively less advanced economies. Moreover, in lowincome countries there is no sustainability of this impact. The latter result could be explained by the structural weaknesses that prevent low-income countries from deriving the most benefit from their integration into the global trading system. Overall, the rise in anti-trade sentiment and the subsequent increase in trade protectionist measures are likely to hurt countries' export performance. In addition, it would particularly be desirable that the international community enhance its effort towards helping low-income countries address the structural trade-relating constraints that prevent them from fully benefitting from their integration into the global trading system. JEL Classification: F13, F14.


A simple approach to the on-wafer characterization of 3-port surface acoustic wave (SAW) diplexers using S- to Z- parameter conversion is proposed. The concept is first tested on a simple power divider model. The model is based on ideal transmission line elements and open circuit blocks. The results are excellent with total S-parameter errors below 10−9• The technique is then successfully applied to X-band delay line type 3-port SAW circuits connected using 50 Ohm characteristic impedance coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission lines.


Abstract This study examined beliefs about best teaching practices between Singapore and American teachers of gifted students. A total of 31 Singapore and 12 U.S. secondary gifted class teachers were interviewed and/or surveyed. The study's results suggested that there were more similarities than differences between the two cultures about what an exemplary teacher signifies, what constitutes qualities of exemplary teachers, and what challenges exemplary teachers are facing in the two educational systems. Regardless of different cultural backgrounds, it is somewhat universal that an exemplary teacher embodies content expertise, flexible instructional repertoires, and passion for the discipline taught and for the students under his or her care. Culturally unique characteristics appeared to be bounded by the system in which they work.


The paper considers basic perspectives of post-Keynesian macroeconomics. The author describes post-Keynesian views on theories of durables choice, endogenous money, financial fragility, hysteresis, conflict inflation and endogenous growth. The paper shows distinctions of post-Keynesian approach from both neoclassical tradition and other branches of Keynesianism. The author examines links between post-Keynesian macroeconomics and macroeconomics of Keynes. The paper also considers post-Keynesian views on economic policy and analyzes the relevance of post-Keynesian approach for the post-Soviet Russian economy.


In 2009, Brazil broke its own record for honey exports, generating revenues exceeding US$ 65 million. However, there is a gap, concerning economic aspects, for most apiculturists inserted in that chain. Thus, the investment needed for honey production on a home farm in Cajuru, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, was estimated with investment and production costs based on the Total Operating Cost (TOC) used by the Instituto de Economia Agricola, reaching R$ 97,093.00 as the total investment amount. For the economic analysis, considering the orange blossom and wild honey production, the operating cost was R$ 16,400.13, whereas the cost for raw materials amounted to 70% of the Effective Operating Cost (EOC) and 26% of the TOC, at a profit of 46%. Whit respect to the equilibrium point, the apiculturist needs to produce 4,659 kg of honey, or sell it at the minimum price of R$ 1.93/kg, in order to cover production costs. It was possible to find out, based on cash flows, an IRR of 7.24% and that the initial investment returns in 10 years, showing attractive results for this farming segment, considering the reasonable use of production factors as well as a progressive increase in the amount produced. KEY-WORDS: Apiculture; production costs; profitability.


In recent years, cities are facing the rapid urbanization phenomenon, the urban population growth and the immigration. This has resulted in a lot of problems such as difficulty in waste management, urban congestion, excessive energy use, shortage of supplies, traffic congestion and air pollution. All above force government to use ICT technology and introduce the concept of 'smart city' to promote the sustainable development of a city. As regions face similar problems, the goal of this study is to examine whether or not the concept of 'smart city' could be expanded and used to region and we present the case study of a Greek Smart/Digital Region.