This thesis is focused on marketing plan preparation for czech retail company Lazně Luha-covice, a.s. In the first part there are all theoretical informations which are necessary for successful marketing planning. The second part describing implementation of theoretical rules into daily marketing practice of the above mentioned company, market, competition analysis and suggestion of marketing communication. The project part is structured marke-ting plan itself to give synoptic overview of all marketing activities.


It introduces the check of reservoir in Xili,points out the problems existed in the process of the carrying out of management check,and aiming at the generated difficulty,it puts forward the corresponding methods,to impel the realization of the management check target,in the end to assure the prime water supply,at the same time prompt the sustainable develop of special district economy.


The importance and the functions that Xi an ancient city wall of Ming and Qing dynasties plays in molding the city landscape style are discussed.The function that city wall plays in the overall landscape as well as the relationship between city wall and other essential landscape factors are analyzed.Simultaneously,the situation of the utilization and protection of the city wall is briefly analyzed.Finally,some problems such as landscape pollution,transportation and social environment are proposed and further more several solutions to resolve those problems are provided.


Of all the defence mechanisms, only one — Dissociation — is treated as a separate diagnostic category in the third edition of the 'Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' (DSM-III) (American Psychiatric Association 1980). Delusional marital jealousy, for instance, could be classified as one of the projective disorders, but this is not done. A group of disorders based on dissociation should be easily defined and organized, in comparison with the relatively bewildering array of psychotic disturbances. Yet DSM-III does not provide a conceptually coherent set of dissociative diagnoses. This problem in DSM-III is best illustrated by partial forms of multiple personality disorder (MPD) which at present receive the unsatisfactory diagnosis of atypical dissociative disorder. First, the organization of other sections of DSM-III will be discussed.


This paper is argues that increasing the number of private labels products in grocery stores is not always an efficient strategy for a retailer wishing to enhance her unit sales. Although private labels can be effective for providing higher margins or developing customer loyalty program, their increased number of Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) assumes item deletions for other types of brand - especially national brands. For this study, we choose to focus on the composition of the whole brand assortment rather than the competitive advantage of this or that brand type. This paper proposes an econometric approach to this assortment reshaping issue. Using data drawn from a retailer panel (provided by IRI Inc), we construct a Multiple Adaptive Regression Spline (MARS) model to investigate the relation between both private label's and national brand's SKU and store-level unit sales. Results are given with respect to store size. We find that only in biggest stores higher levels of private labels leads to enhanced sales.


The results of investigations to determine the height and period of waves generated by wind blowing over lakes, reservoirs, or bays, protected from ocean swell, are given. Some information is presented on the variability of wave length and crest length as a function of fetch in the generating area. Recommendations are made for further investigations which are needed to adequately define the relationships between wave characteristics and wind velocity.


This chapter surveys central issues concerning children's parents. The chapter first addresses the two faces of parenting, parenting as a phase of adult development and parenting as an instrumental activity vis-a-vis children. Next, the chapter briefly overviews the origins of parenting studies, theories of parenting, and future directions in parenting research. The following two sections of the chapter address the principal actors in the human drama of caregiving, mothers, fathers, and children's other principal caregivers, and, then, cognitions and practices that principally instantiate parenting. With the actors, attitudes, and actions associated with parenting introduced, arguments for the meaningfulness of parenting effects are then evaluated in correlational designs and various kinds of experiments that demonstrate the value of parenting (challenges to parenting effects from behavior genetics and group socialization theory are also addressed). Parents and parenting vary tremendously, and determinants of parenting are a major issue in the field; the multicausal origins of parenting in characteristics of parents, characteristics of children, and contextual characteristics are explored next. The chapter closes with some practical issues-;for example neglect, abuse, and parenting interventions-;before reaching more general conclusions.

Keywords:

behavior genetics;
bioecological theory;
children;
cognitions;
family systems;
fathers;
grandparents;
mothers;
parent-child relationships;
parents;
practices;
socialization


Relatively unique multi-spectral fiber system is made to detect kidney tumor margins by 4 spectroscopy methods: IR-absorption, Raman-scattering, NIR-reflection and fluorescence - to develop the best spectral fiber sensors for intraoperative diagnostics.


We review the problems with quantum mechanics. We then obtain the theory of quantum mechanics on phase space which is immune to these problems. We give some examples which are not treatable with the "ordinary" quantum mechanics.


Companies analyse large amounts of sensitive data on clusters of machines, using a framework such as Apache Hadoop to handle inter-process communication, and big data analytic tools such as Apache ...


it is now the trend of reform to separate the construction engineering quality test institutions from the construction engineering quality supervision institutions. Inevitability of establishing independent construction engineering quality test institutions is discussed from aspects of history and current status of China's construction engineering quality test system and development of market economy.


The sensitivity of logarithmic pixels at low light levels is limited by the dark current that flows through the load transistor in the pixel in parallel with the photocurrent. A new layout for a logarithmic pixel is reported that significantly reduces the dark current in the pixel. In addition a simple change to the bias voltages applied to the pixel means that the new layout can simultaneously exhibit a linear response to low-light levels and a logarithmic response at higher light levels.


Li Feng is a professor of economics at Texas State University. She has served as a Visiting Scholar in the Center for Education Policy Analysis at Stanford University and a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her research focuses on the economics of education, labor economics, and health economics, exploring topics such as teacher labor markets, school accountability, and collective bargaining agreements. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the American Educational Research Association. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association for Education and Finance Policy. She received her PhD in Economics and Education Specialist in Education (EdS) from Florida State University. Cassandra Hart is a professor of education policy in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis. She evaluates the effects of school, state, and national education programs, policies, and practices on overall student achievement, and on the equity of student outcomes. Her recent work has focused on online education in both K–12 schools and community colleges, school choice programs, school accountability policies, and effects on students of exposure to demographically similar teachers. She holds her PhD in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University.


At present, the enterprise-like operation has become the necessity for the radio and television medium industry, and what kind of operation mode is adopted is the key for the success of the enterprise-like operation of the radio and television medium industry. Through the theoretical analysis of the six kinds of enterprise's operation modes, and referring to the successful examples of the image operation of Shanghai Wenguang Group and Hong Kong Phoenix Satellite Television, and connecting with the features of the radio and television medium industry itself, this paper puts forward the opinion that the radio and television medium industry should take the image operation as the leading operation mode.


Twelve moderately to severely involved chronic stroke survivors (>12mos) were randomized to one of two treatments: 1) functional neuromuscular stimulation and motor learning (FNS ML) or 2) Robotics and motor learning (ROB ML); Treatment was: 5hrs/day, 5ays/wk, for 12wks. FNS ML had 11⁄2hrs/session devoted to FNS (surface electrodes) for wrist/hand flexors/extensors. ROB ML had 11⁄2hrs/session devoted to robotics shoulder/elbow training. The primary outcome measures were the functional measure, the Arm Motor Assessment Test (AMAT) for the shoulder/elbow movements (AMAT S/E) and for wrist/hand movements (AMAT W/H). The secondary measure was the Fugl-Meyer upper limb coordination (FMUE). FNS ML produced gains in AMAT W/H and FMUE. ROB ML produced gains in AMAT S/E, and FMUE.


The relevance of the work is determined by the need to improve the electrical distribution grids of railways on the basis of digital technologies. The article presents advanced methods of transportation and distribution of electric power in smart power grids of railways based on multi-agent control. The analysis of the power supply system for stationary railroad consumers was performed and advanced ways of their development were defined. These methods should provide increased speed, adaptive determination of restrictions on using electric power equipment, management of mode parameters, sectioning and power flow modes in electrical distribution grids, restoration of power supply after emergency events. The method of adaptive control of transportation and distribution of electric energy in the power supply system of stationary railway consumers is developed based on the hierarchical structure of IEC 61850. This method takes into account the coordination of managing and local controllers in the data exchange environment, the control results and the variable area of responsibility of controllers and their division according to their functional purpose based on the multi-agent approach. The method of power flow control was developed to reduce power losses, increase the capacity of transport channels and ensure the restoration of the normal mode of the electric network by reconfiguring it and controlling active elements based on graph theory. The method takes into account the expected daily load curve, limits on the demand for capacity by active consumers and the possibility of a closed mode of electrical network operation through controlled cross-sections. The simulation results presented on the test circuit have showed the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed approaches.


Integration of olfactory, visual, and tactile aesthetic cues of appearance in the impression formation process was examined. Eighty-nine female college students, each responding to three fragrances, rated 30 fabric swatches on 7-point Likert-type scales as to the fabrics' likeliness to be worn by someone who prefers to wear a particular fragrance. Rank orders of fabrics for the two fragrances with similar olfactory structures were associated (p <. 05) whereas rank orders of fabrics for two pairs of fragrances with dissimilar structures were not associated (p > .05) according to Spearman correlations, suggesting multisensory integration of appearance cues. A priori visual and tactile aesthetic qualities of fabrics ranked high or low for each fragrance were examined for similarities. Similarities of visual and tactile qualities were found within each group of fabrics for each fragrance, suggesting multisensory integration of appearance cues on an aesthetic level.


1. the art that the invention defined in the claims The present invention will on the dynamic priority message transmission system based on priority and priority adjustment unit and the dynamic priority message processing method using the same. 2. The invention attempts to solve the technical challenges The invention is based on dynamic priority to allow to send and receive data at any time according to the number of nodes and a transmission medium (a communication bus) communication network environment ensures minimum transmission delay time of a message in, and that each node prioritize consisting of to provide a message transmission device and the priority rankings using the same apparatus and message processing method that purpose. 3. Resolution of the subject matter of the invention, The invention, according to a dynamic priority message transmission system based on ranking, a plurality of nodes in communication network environments with record their priorities, and at least first to record the lowest priority in the priority storage means; If the monitor is a communication bus, the communication bus is idle (idle) state monitoring communication bus means for transmitting the message; If from another node at the same time a message is sent, and the it has detected compared to the priority of the node, if his lower priority without sending the message, the priority is high, by sending a message to resolve the message collision resolving conflicting message means; The reporting an identifier of the message to determine if the message is its own node will handle the message filtering means for performing filtering; And according to a predetermined specific rule, and includes the priority adjustment means for adjusting the priority of the corresponding node. 4. An important use of the invention, The invention yiyongdoem such a communication network system. Dynamic priority, CAN, TTP, TTCAN, FlexRay, communication bus, the node


This book is organized in three parts. Part I, Car Glut, begins by showing how deeply enmeshed we are in the car culture. Part II, Car Tracks, is a history, tracing the car from Henry Ford's mass-produced Model T in 1908 to the present to depict how this happened. It explores how a benign technology to mobilize Americans would transform a human-scaled landscape into the kingdom of the car. Part III, Car Free, takes its lessons into the future. It offers solutions, some new, some traditional, to show how we can relieve this dependence and destruction and secure human and global well-being. It is this book's conviction that we can find, create, and revive the remedies, and that planning solutions depend, in the end, on land use solutions--on mobility based on human movement and transportation beyond the private automobile. A bibliography and an index are provided.


The article examines the judicial process in the British Parliament over John, the Duke of Marlborough, accused of embezzlement of funds and assignment of invested significant sums. The author suggests that Tory Parliament sought to justify Marlborough's denial of all his command posts and his dismissal of high politics. In this sense, charges of the Duke were largely falsified.


The creative work of the heiress of the Zinkiv manor Yelyzaveta Trypilskа, who developed her own style of original sculpture and samples of industrial ceramics through the synthesization of works of traditional Ukrainian pottery on the one hand, and European academic drawing, painting and plastics on the other, is unique. Owing to Auguste Rodin's lessons and learning from many fathers of symbolism, Art Nouveau and art deco, the artist mastered different techniques, materials of small-scale sculpture and, through the specific decorative effect, which sometimes verged on naturalism, developed her own manner in Soviet porcelain figurines of the late 1920's – early 1930's. The purpose of the article is to analyze the formation and development of the plastic language of the sculptor of the first half of the 20 th century Yelyzaveta Trypilskа, whose creative heritage belongs to Ukraine, Russia and Azerbaijan. The research methodology consisted in the historical and cultural method (to distinguish the components of the sculptor's idiom); the historical-comparative method (to comprehend the achievements of Yelyzaveta Trypilskа in Soviet porcelain and easel sculpture of republics of the Soviet Union, where she worked during the first half of the 20 th century); the method of theoretical generalization (to interpret the features of her work in ceramics, including fine ceramics, and other materials); the method of art critical analysis (to identify the signs of the master's creative work). The s cientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization of the basic creative heritage of Yelyzaveta Trypilskа, who, being of noble birth, was compelled to work outside Ukraine for a long time, and the recovery of lost or forgotten knowledge concerning the life and creative work of the artist in domestic art culture. Conclusions. The research provided for the analysis of the life and career of the outstanding sculptor of the first half of the 20 th century Yelyzaveta Trypilskа, through which the plastic language of the artist was transformеd. Given the fact that the art heritage of the sculptor was scattered across at least three countries of Europe and Asia for a long time, only at the beginning of the 21 st century was it possible to create the list of about thirty basic works of the master, part of which belong to the greatest achievements of fine porcelain of art deco in the Soviet Union.


This research aims to explore the policy of an Islamic boarding school in preparing students to face the intelligence age, for example, why students are prohibited from carrying gadgets in an era where gadgets are a basic necessity. This research is a type of qualitative research using descriptive analysis method that focuses on in-depth observation. In this case, the researchers interacts directly with the subjects to be researched by means of observation and interviews. The research results show that the reasons why students are prohibited from bringing gadgets include 1) Maintaining the nature of santri (student of Islamic school) 2) remembering the noble ideals of Islamic Education, 3) Maintaining motivation to focus on studying and reciting the Quran, 4) Protecting students from negative currents, and 5) Maintaining the stability and conduciveness of the educational environment. The policy implemented is to provide special allocations for ICT lessons, both theory and practice, to be studied by students.


Herein, two sulfhydryl‐functionalized polymers, namely, EDT‐HCPS and TMPMP‐HCPS, were synthesized according to the Friedel‐Craft s alkylation and nucleophilic substitution, and they were used to adsorb Pd2+ and Ag+ from aqueous solution. The Friedel‐Crafts alkylation offered the polymers with hyper‐cross‐linking frameworks composed of plentiful rigid methylene. The nucleophilic substitution brought abundant functional SH groups (the sulfur contents were 12.6 and 9.4 wt%, respectively) to the polymers. The adsorption results showed that the capacities of Pd2+ and Ag+ on EDT‐HCPS were larger than TMPMP‐HCPS, and the higher quantities of functional SH groups and the porosity played a beneficial role. The equilibrium data can be characterized by the Langmuir model, and the maximum capacities of Pd2+ and Ag+ on EDT‐HCPS at 308 K were predicted to be 383.92 and 212.93 mg g−1, respectively. The produced polymers represented superior adsorption selectivity, reproducibility, and reusability, demonstrating their excellent performance for the adsorption of Pd2+ and Ag+, and analysis of the adsorption mechanism demonstrated that the SH groups played a major role due to the strong chemical complexation of the functional SH with Pd2+/Ag+.


A semiconductor avalanche photodetector includes a light absorbing layer (2) formed of n-type InGaAs, a first semiconductor layer (3) having a mesa structure and constituting a multiplication region, a second semiconductor layer (4) formed either of the second semiconductor material less highly doped than the first semiconductor layer, the part of the upper surface of the photodetctor corresponding to said multiplication region, and a pn junction extending across said mesa to said second semiconductor layer (4).


These tech-savvy physicians will play a big role as meaningful use requirements put more emphasis on integrating IT and quality. Just asking doctors to volunteer some time to serve on a committee "just doesn't fly anymore".


The present invention relates to new vectors expressible in a host comprising the rhaBAD promoter region of the L-rhamnose operon operably linked to a transcriptional unit comprising a) a nucleic acid sequence which is heterologous to said host b) a prokaryotic signal sequence operably linked to said nucleic acid sequence, whereas said prokaryotic signal sequence is selected from signal peptides of periplasmatic binding proteins for sugars, amino acids, vitamins and ions and, whereas the expression of said nucleic acid sequence is controlled by said promoter region. Also disclosed are: the use of said new vector for the regulated heterologous expression of a nucleic acid sequence in a prokaryotic host; an isolated and purified nucleic acid sequence expressible in a host comprising the promoter region of the L-rhamnose operon; and a method for producing a polypeptide in a host using said vector.


Recently the departments of aviation-related in the college are increased as the aviation industry is rapidly expanded. To enhance their competitiveness and have differentiation, it is emphasized for each department to manage and teach their students well. Therefore this study aims to examine self-efficacy and academic adjustment of aviation-related college students and investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and academic adjustment. To achieve the objectives, it conducted a survey of aviation-related college students in C university from Apr. 27th. 2015 to May. 22th. 2015. A total of 225 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 statistical package program and frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, multiple regression analysis, correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA were conducted. The result released that general self-efficacy was recognized higher at the department of aviation operation than aviation maintenance and aviation service and social self-efficacy was recognized higher at the department of aviation service than aviation maintenance and aviation operation. Also general self-efficacy had an influence on the motivation, application and performance and social self-efficacy affected motivation, performance and academic environment. The implication of these findings would help to manage aviation-related college students, develop their departments and provide the directions for future research.


Relatively little attention has been paid to the aetiology of male breast cancer and the current understanding of female breast cancer, primarily related to reproductive events, cannot be readily transferred to understanding the cancer in males. However, since male breast cancer occurs in the absence of factors related to childbearing and menstruation, its aetiology may provide special insights into the causes of breast cancer in women. We examined lifestyle risk factors for male breast cancer as part of a Canadian, multi-site, population-based, case–control study. Eighty-one newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed cases and 1905 male controls aged 42–74 were analysed using unconditional logistic regression. Increased risks were found for men with a mother or sister with breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 3.65, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.62–8.19). Higher physical activity levels (moderate, and strenuous recreational plus occupational) were associated with a decreased risk of male breast cancer (highest quartile, adjusted OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.26–0.91). Similarly, higher risks were associated with higher weight 2 years before interview (2.19, 95% CI 1.08–4.43), maximum weight (OR 2.66) and higher body mass index (OR 1.60). Higher vegetable consumption and coffee consumption were associated with decreased risk, whereas higher beta-carotene, vitamin E and calcium supplementation were associated with statistically significant increased risk. The small number of cases and multiple comparisons preclude strong conclusions, but our study is consistent with studies suggesting obesity and family history increase risk, and physical activity decreases risk of breast cancer.


Background: A medication error, defined as a failure in the treatment process that leads to, or has the potential to lead to, or harm the patient. It can occur at any step of the medication use process. A special attention should me focused on medication error to prevent the patients from being harmed and to optimize treatment. Prescription errors can be very serious and can lead to dangerous health conditions. Objective: To analyze the quality of prescription and to assess the prevalence of prescribing and medication problems reported in Khartoum dental hospital pharmacy. Method: a descriptive, cross sectional study conducted in Khartoum Dental Hospital. 154 prescriptions were collected randomly. Results: A total of 154 prescriptions were collected and reviewed from Khartoum Dental Hospital. The study revealed poor knowledge of the dentists about the drugs used in dentistry and they do not follow the legal requirements regarding prescription writing. The duration of therapy was not mentioned in 94.23% of prescriptions. The patient"s and doctor"s address/Tel number were not written in all prescriptions neither the patient"s weight and sex (error=100%). The total quantity of the medicine prescribed were not mentioned in 84.61% of prescriptions. Conclusion: There is a need to critically address the legibility of prescription and all other information of a prescription concerned with patient, prescriber and drugs to minimize the occurrence of medication errors and to optimize therapy.


Space weather researches have become more and more important, according to the expansion of the "humanosphere" to space. On the other hand, space weather researches are mainly for circumterrestrial space, and it is insufficient to forecast the radiation hazard for deep space probes that are located far from the earth. We aim to forecast and evaluate the radiation hazard for such space probes far from the earth by using data taken by Extreme Ultra Violet Imager (EUVI) on board Solar Terrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO). For this purpose, we have to know how much we can predict flares by using only EUV full-disk images. Therefore, we start with validating how accurately we can predict flares by using EUV images taken by Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) on board Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). We compared EUV fluxes for flares with X-ray GOES fluxes, and found a positive correlation between them. We also examined the temporal properties in EUV emissions both for flare-productive and non flare-productive regions.


An I-V model for short gate-length MESFETs operated in the turn-on region is proposed, in which the two-dimensional potential distributions contributed by the depletion-layer charges under the gate and in the ungated region are separately obtained by conventional 1-D approximation and the Green's function solution technique. Moreover, the bias-dependent parasitic resistances due to the modulation of the depletion layer in the ungated region for non-self-alignment MESFETs are also taken into account in the developed I-V model. It is shown that good agreement is obtained between the I-V model and the results of 2-D numerical analysis. Moreover, comparisons between the proposed analytical model and the experimental data are made, and excellent agreement is obtained. >


As of late March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has battered the world. More than 40,000 people have died with over 800,000 people confirmed infected; financial m...


The present paper aims at investigating the role of interaction between stylistics and pragmatics, as two linguistic approaches, that play on the interpretation of literary texts. Stylistics is thought to be a multidisciplinary field that interacts with other linguistic fields and branches for the analysis of literary and non-literary texts. The language of dramatic texts is seen to be similar to that of everyday usage, therefore, pragmatic theories are used to interpret it. Stylistics applies these theories for stylistic effects. Consequently, the paper intends to examine the role which these two fields play in the analysis of literature and its importance


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a theory that applies Miller et al.'s (1960) Test-Operate-Test-Exit (TOTE) concept to the psychophysiology involved in electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback (BFB).

Design/methodology/approach

Six components are presented, namely, the teleological brain, attractors as the "test" in TOTEs, EEG production, positive and negative feedback, synaptogenesis and designated actor, and then integrated into a theoretical structure. Comparisons with the previous conceptualizations are discussed, and finally, suggestions for practical application and needed research are offered.

Findings

Previous theories neglected significant variables and promoted unverified conceptualizations. These issues are redressed with a psychophysiological, cybernetic theory.

Research limitations/implications

The pursuit of substantive research needed to verify the theory would improve the scientific foundations for EEG BFB.

Practical implications

This theory shifts the designated actor in BFB to the participant's brain, away from the BFB provider. EEG BFB is thus viewed as a means for neuronominalization driven by the brain's attractor systems instead of as an intrusive intervention.

Social implications

The theory proposes a much more participant-centric process than previous modes, which also promotes self-determination. The research validation needed for the theory could produce wider EEG BFB acceptance and application.

Originality/value

The theory is a complete departure from previous conceptualizations. It is the first instance of TOTE application to psychophysiological processes, and it is the first fully cybernetic conceptualization of EEG BFB.


The relevance of the study of physical recreation in the sociocultural context is proved by the fact that in modern researches the authors proceed from its historically set concept as a method of recovery of man's physical health, and it makes sense that it is the subject of intensive researches, first of all within the same scientific discipline - physical culture, which is recognized as its main generic term. This approach to the study of physical recreation is widely spread in numerous adduced definitions, the main directions of theoretical and applied researches. As a result of this interaction new research directions were designed. The interdependence of physical, sociocultural and psychological aspects is covered in the new light. The most significant changes are observed between physical recreation, psychology and cultural anthropology. The interpretation of physical recreation within the sociocultural system made of two closely related parties - social and cultural enables: firstly, significant expanding and extending the existing ideas on the cognizable phenomenon, supplementing them with sociocultural knowledge; secondly, identifying the ways of realization of the potential of physical recreation in the sociocultural space of man's living; thirdly, showing the role and the meaning of physical recreation in solving particular problems such as formation of personal health culture as a primary general human value, its socialization and integration into the sociocultural community, development of cultural values. And fourthly, since the interaction of the society and culture is universal it is heuristically appropriate to extrapolate the potential of physical recreation to other spheres of human vital activity.


The discernibility matrix is an important concept in the rough set theory and is the basis of computing the core and reducts of decision tables. Inconsistent data in decision tables results in the different definitions of discernibili- ty matrix. In this paper, the relationship between inconsistent deision tables and consistent decision tables is analyzed, and the method which can convert inconsistent decision tables into consistent decision tables is presented. The equiva- lent definition about any two types of discernibility matrix is proposed. Based on these results above, the relationship of three types of discernibility matrix is discussed and some properties are proved. The properties show that the three types of discernibility matrix can be unified based on the converting method and the equivalent definition, so one can use only method to construct the discernibility matrix in practice.


The amount of salt to make seed sorting solution of the specific gravity of 1.13 was reconsidered and determined as 3.8 ㎏ salt in 18 L water, which is lower amount than currently used. Five rice cultivars were examined. Percent germination and seedling emergence were not similar. Seedling emergence rate of Japonica varieties, Nampyungbyeo and Daerypbyeo-1 were 87% and 95% under specific gravity of 1.13, respectively. Seedling emergence rate of Tongil type variety, Dasanbyeo was as high as 67% in specific gravity of 1.06. Seedling emergence rate of waxy rice, Hwasunchalbyeo and Aranghangchalbyeo were examined. Seedling emergence rate was 94% in both cultivars in specific gravity of 1.04. Seedling emergence rate was same in specific gravity of 1.08 which is generally used for selecting seed currently. Early growth (plant height, leaf number, and dry weight) were not significantly different by specific gravity within species. In all cultivars except waxy rice, highest seedling emergence rate was observed in specific gravity of 1.13 which is currently used for selection and decreased as specific gravity is lowed. However, considering total amount of seeds in each group of specific gravity, amount of seed in lower specific gravity group is relatively small and total seedling emergence rate within variety dose not show big difference. However, if seeds with low speicific gravity are produced due to the bad grain filling condition and consequently total seed content of low specific gravity increases, results will be differnt. Reduction in total growth and yield could occur. It will be important to comply with the seed sorting criterion of 1.13 for Japonica, 1.06 for Tongil, and 1.04 for waxy rice variety to ensure the maximum rice growth and yield.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is addressing technological and operational approaches to reducing aircraft turnaround time at airport terminal gates. In support of NASA, this preliminary investigation parametrically analyzes potential impacts on runway system delay at three study site airports: Chicago O'Hare (ORD); Boston Logan (BOS); Las Vegas McCarran (LAS). The study assesses takeoff and landing delay impacts using NASA's Airspace Concepts Evaluation System (ACES). ACES is a fast- time simulation of gate-to-gate flights in the nationwide airport and airspace system. ACES is adapted to represent capacities at each study airport for 2004 and to model aircraft connections for paired gate arrival-departure flights and non-connected flights. The analysis examines alternative gate connection scheduling procedures based on schedule padding, reduced minimum turnaround time and schedule slack parameters. The scheduled departure times for gate-connected flights are shifted to account for minimum turnaround time reduction without changing the arrival flight schedule. The minimum turnaround time reductions range from 11 to 30 minutes depending on aircraft type; these parameter values are half the reported current minimum turnaround times. A gate departure scheduling procedure examined in this study maintains approximately the overall origin-destination market scheduling policy and contains schedule slack useful for absorbing gate arrival delays. The study finds that reduced minimum turnaround time has a generally positive impact on runway system operations subject to favorable traffic loading patterns. Delay reduction gains are associated with the capability to shift connected departure flights to earlier scheduled gate departure times such that traffic peaks at the runway system are diminished while retaining schedule slack.


Objective To detect the application method and effect of solution focused approach in psychological intervention for patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods A total of 120 patients with diabetes mellitus in community were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 60 cases in each group. The patients in the control group were subjected to general supportive psychotherapy while their counterparts in the observation group were received solution focused psychotherapy according to the 5 steps of the solution focused approach. Patients' blood glucose, serum lipid, glycosylated hemoglobin, and blood pressure in both groups were investigated before and after psychological intervention. Results There were significant differences in the scores of HAMA, subjective support and utilization of support between two groups (P < 0.05 for all) . Other indicators of the two groups were no significant difference. Conclusions The solution focused approach comes into good effect when appling in psychotherapy for patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus. Psychological intervention can improve the patients' emotional and social support level.

Key words:
Diabetes mellitus;  Community;  Solution focused approach;  Psychological intervention


The key to the success of a P2P reputation system is the feedbacks aggregating mechanism. Based on human cognitive psychology, Tree-Trust, a novel reputation model is introduced, in which the concept of direct trust tree (DTT) is presented innovatively. The main contributions include: (1) in Tree-Trust, feedbacks are searched by using DTT instead of in broadcast way of other work, which makes the proposed model have a better scalability than exiting approaches; (2) two new parameters, quality factor and distance factor, are introduced to adjust the peers' scale of aggregation computing automatically; (3) a novel self-feedback mechanism is used to integrate peers' direct trust degree into reputation evaluation, which can overcome the difficulty of subjective assigning method for weights of the trust decision factors. Simulation's results clearly show that, compared to the existing models, the proposed model is more robust on dynamic adaptability, and has remarkable enhancements in the scalability of system-scale.


Epidemic thunderstorm asthma (ETSA) refers to large‐scale acute bronchospasm events associated with thunderstorm. The most serious episode ever recorded occurred in Melbourne, Australia, in November 2016, where more than 3500 patients were treated in hospitals and 10 died. Previous work has been focused primarily on patient presentations to emergency departments. The prevalence of individuals with milder, non‐emergent symptoms and who may be at risk of more serious episodes in the future has not previously been explored.


Recently, coordination tracking control problem has been favoured by many researchers due to its application value, especially in formation mission and entrapment or escorting mission (Ma et al., 2019). Owing to measurement noise, modelling errors, external disturbances, and modelling simplifications, unmodelled dynamics often exist in practical systems, which can severely degrade the performance of the system and cause unstable control systems. In addition, disregarding the practical issues such as input saturation and obstacles may have serious consequences. Therefore, it is necessary to study these issues with regard to coordination tracking control.


Social network is overwhelmed by huge amount of unstructured data, ability to find specific content or events in large collections of textual documents such as Twitter data stream is important. This requires a substantial effort of information filtering to investigate the relevant topics and events. Different approaches have been used to deal with event detection or trending topics problem but suffer from high computational cost, low quality results, time and scalability. Clustering with large numbers of attributes and variables depends on effective similarity search (nearest neighbour) algorithms. In order to explicitly capture the optimality of tweets event, a method is proposed to improve clustering efficiency for large data by integration of a Bit-Locality Sensitive Hashing (BLSH) as a cluster search space reduction. This study employs Jaccard similarity and performs independent random permutation minHash on random twitter data. The data representation on k-appropriate nearest neighbour (k-ANN) represent all the data points in binary and maps the complex high-dimensional dataset to feature space for faster clustering. It relates the ANN with higher probability for data that are similar which corresponds to the smaller bit data representation. The BLSH on DBSCAN algorithms analysed the effect of representations in N-grams (uni, bi and tri-gram) to mine the concepts needed to handle event containing multiple topics/events after filtering retweets and preprocessing. Finally, an evaluation is performed on the basis of cluster quality index, volume of activity of tweets for efficiency, CPU time as well as scalability by trending the tweets events to improve computational cost.


Through a questionnaire survey of teachers of special classes for children with low vision in Japan's primary and lower secondary schools, this study aims to clarify the basic data of children in these classes, the realities of their learning situations, and the realities of the instruction they receive from their teachers. A special class for children with low vision is a class specially organised in primary and lower secondary schools to deliver an education that is appropriate to children with low vision. Basic data items for children covered grade, sex, and visual acuity and also the written characters, low-vision devices, and textbooks that they use in their studies. The survey also elicited responses about the information and communication technology (ICT) devices that teachers use in their teaching, their number of years' teaching experience, their number of years' experience teaching children who are visually impaired, and the content or topic of training that they desire to improve their specialisation in the education of children who are visually impaired. In addition to obtaining statistics on basic items related to children's sex and visual acuity, the results revealed change in children's actual situations over the years through comparison with the results of previous studies. Specifically, the percentage of children with visual acuity under 20/66 increased, and the usage rate of braille decreased. We also learned that while usage rates of enlarged textbooks and ICT devices are increasing, the rate of using low-vision devices is decreasing. In addition, it was revealed that a majority of teachers had less than 3 years' experience in education for children who are visually impaired, regardless of general teaching experience, and that there is a considerable need for training in basic knowledge.


distinguished Brazilian writer, Afonso Pena Junior, and the Portuguese Jesuit historian, Padre Francisco Rodrigues, over the exact nature of a document in the Jesuit archives at Rome, which the latter has quoted in a mangled and incomplete form. Despite all Dr. Pena's efforts, the Jesuit authorities at Rome stubbornly declined to let him have either a copy, or a microfilm, or a photograph of the document in question, even after the Brazilian ambassador had intervened on his behalf. Such an attitude is doubly unfortunate, in that the enemies of the Society are thus given a peg on which to hang their accusations of Jesuit casuistry and evasiveness ; whereas, in point of fact, the great bulk of the original Jesuit correspondence is written honestly and intelligently, irrespective of whether the writers were missionaries in India, China, or Pern. Fr. Correia-Afonso's own work is partly a summary of the previous detailed studies and monographs of Fathers Heras and Hosten, already familiar to students and historians of Mughal India. The few snippets which he gives from the original records at Rome inevitably whet our appetite for more, particularly with regard to the voluminous but lesser known Jesuit letters from their missions in Southern India. As R. Sathayanatha Aiyar has written in his History of the Nayahs of Madura, Madras, 1924 : ' the history of the reigns of Tirumala Nayaka and his two immediate successors, at least from 1656 to 1682, could hardly have been written with sufficient fulness but for these records '. The book is well printed, illustrated, and indexed, and contains a useful bibliography and appendices. It should convince all but the most prejudiced opponents of the Jesuit missionaries of the value of their work in this field.


Abstract The use of conservative surgical techniques to treat mitral valve regurgitation secondary to acute endocarditis is controversial. Reconstruction of the anterior leaflet may represent an additional challenge in such a setting. We report a case of mitral valve repair where extensive excision of the anterior leaflet and related chordae tendinea was necessary because of large vegetation secondary to acute endocarditis. The "double‐orifice" technique was performed and allowed the salvage of the native valve. There was no recurrent infection at 6 months from surgery, with optimal hemodynamic results. (J Card Surg 7998; 73:24–26)


Soil was treated with microwave digestion, sealing vessel digestion and electric hot plate digestion to detect Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni and Cr with AAS. Results showed that microwave digestion is better than the other two methods due to its complete and fast digestion. The best condition of microwave digestion is selected through experiment.


In this issue, Roman-Gomez et al. ([1][1]) report on the correlation of a positive CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) status, defined by aberrant hypermethylation of four genes ( DKK3, sFRP2, PTEN , and P73 ) with outcome in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who harbor the TEL-


Abstract : The overall effective thermal resistance of a corrugated fiberboard container was determined as a function of air velocity and board thickness, and an appropriate design curve is presented. The thermal resistance of the container is treated as a sum of resistances, with individual resistance values presented for the interior interfacial contact resistance, the board resistance, and the exterior boundary resistance. Behavioral differences were found for heating versus cooling at conventional board thicknesses and a possible explanation for this behavior is presented. (Author)


According to one embodiment, a pickup head includes a plurality of light sources, a first objective lens, second objective lens, a driving unit, a first control unit, a second control unit, light receiving units. The first objective lens focuses a first light beam at a first recording layer. The second objective lens focuses a second light beam at a second recording layer. The driving unit moves the first objective lens and the second objective lens in a first direction and a second direction. The first control unit corrects displacement from target track along the first direction. The second control unit controls a moving direction of a position of the second light spot in the second direction.


The invention discloses a free-curved-surface-type detecting system, which comprises a laser generator, a collimating lens, a first computing holographic element, a second computing holographic element, a projecting lens, an illuminating system, a spatial filter and a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) image sensor, wherein the first computing holographic element is used for carrying out first-time diffraction for parallel light; the second computing holographic element is used for diffracting first-level light which is diffracted by the first computing holographic element; the spatial filter is used for filtering interference stray light; and the CCD image sensor is used for obtaining an interference image. In the free-curved-surface-type detecting system disclosed by the invention, a free-curved-surface-type error is obtained by analyzing the interference image (concretely an interference fringe) on the basis of a Fizeau interference principle, so that the non-contact type detection for a free-curved-surface type can be carried out, and the detecting precision of the free-curved-surface type is improved.


A 'semantic gap' divides two regions of language when the meanings on the one side are very different from those the other. The gap considered here divides language about the physical (quotidian or scientific, classical or quantum alike) from language about the mental—as discussed in an extensive philosophical literature over the last half-century (perhaps continuously with much older literature), which attempts to establish its existence and interpret its significance. To my mind, the gap (if perhaps not each of its alleged manifestations) genuinely exists, but the literature misinterprets its significance. The source is a pervasive, but fundamentally mistaken assumption regarding the 'protosemantical' issue of what meaning is (essentially or fundamentally): roughly, meaning is assumed to be representation (depiction, description, information); sharpening, a theory of meaning is assumed to be ineliminably a theory of truth-conditions imposed on the world. While pervasive and venerable, the assumption is at best viable in a local special case, at worst a gross oversimplification resulting from a misunderstanding of that special case—or, at any rate, it is surely optional. For on a viable alternative, meaning is, roughly, expression (display, commitment, articulation); sharpening, a theory of meaning is ineliminably a theory of endorsement-conditions imposed on our mental states. Endorsement-conditionalism relocates the 'perspective' of meaning from the world to the mind, marking a radical departure from our tradition's long-hegemonic truth-conditionalism (but also from a far older broadly 'scientistic' outlook, over-emphasizing 'objectivity' and downplaying 'empathy'). Theory of meaning benefits extensively; even better, the startup cost is minimized by extensive continuity with central truth-conditionalist apparatus. Significant for present purposes, though, is the very different take it offers on semantic gap phenomena: to my mind, a strongly preferable one, free from the spectres of dualism, epiphenomenalism, and a disintegrating 'separatist' image of mind. Section 1 sketches the various semantic gap phenomena—the 'explanatory gap'; the 'epistemic gap' (exemplified by 'Black-and-White Mary'); the 'suppositional gap' (exemplified by the alleged 'conceivability' of zombies). Section 2 gives the sense in which these are 'semantic', by connecting them to logical consequence and thence meaning; sketches up a more-or-less state of the art framework for truth-conditionalist semantics; and with it extracts from the semantic gap phenomena various dispiriting consequences (antiphysicalism; epiphenomenalism; 'separatism'). Section 3 sketches the endorsement-conditionalist alternative, and implements an 'expressivist' analysis of mental sentences in close alliance with 'simulationism' (on which reasoning about the mental involves 'empathy', analyzed here as akin to supposition). Section 4 offers the endorsement-conditionalist take on the semantic gaps: first, the 'expressivism' blocks the dispiriting consequences; second, various details of the account are used to analyze the various semantic gap phenomena—in particular, epistemic gaps are traced to imperfections of empathy; the 'trivalence' behind endorsement-conditionalism severs the path from epistemic to suppositional gaps, and both zombies and inverts are shown to be inconceivable; and the explanatory gap is traced to an essential 'viewpoint-shift' between reasoning about the physical and about the mental.


OBJECTIVE To investigate temperature sensitivity of chitosan(CS)/carboxymethylchitosan(CMCS)/ glycerphosphate(GPS) hydrogel and study drug release profile of CS/CMCS/GPS hydrogel loading indomethacin and indomethacin/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex. METHODS Using the method of inversion of test tube, temperature sensitivity of CS/CMCS/GPS hydrogel was studied under different ratio of CS and CMCS and GPS at various pH of the mixture solutions. β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex of indomethacin was prepared and characterized by IR. Drug loading and cumulative release of drug was detected by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. RESULTS The gelation time (GT) of CS/CMCS/GPS hydrogel was first increased from 370 s to 490 s and then decreased to 90 s at the considition of 37 ℃ and pH 6.8 when the ratio in volume of 2%CS-2%CMCS-56% GPS from 10 ∶ 1 ∶ 2 to 10 ∶ 10 ∶ 2. The GT was within 66-407 s when the volume ratio of CS-CMCS-GPS was from 10 ∶ 3 ∶ 1 to 10 ∶ 3 ∶ 6. The suitable pH to gelate for CS/CMCS/GPS system was at 6.8-7.2. This system could rapidly be gelated at 37 ℃ under the appropriate volume ratio of CS/CMCS/GPS and pH. The in vitro dissolution showed that the cumulative release at 12 h of thermosensitive CS/CMCS/GPS gel loading indomethacin or indomethacin/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes was 65.2% and 52.8%, respectively, which was significantly lower than that of raw indomethacin for 87.6% and inclusion compound of indomethacin for 82.1%. CONCLUSION CS/CMCS/GPS system with appropriate the volume ratio and pH can be gelable fastly at 37 ℃ . Thermosensitive gel incorporating β-CD inclusion compound of drug showed more significant sustained release, and can be a good potential drug carrier for temperature sensitive and sustained drug delivery system.


As to the fixed asset management in university,there does exist several problems,such as the unsound administration organization and system,serious waste of unoccupied assets,weak daily management,and slack management of running fixed assets.In order to reinforce the university management of the fixed assets,we must enhance the management conscious of the university staff,improve management organization,establish the economic responsibility system,and improve the professional quality and management ability of the administrative personnel.


The essence of the paper is to examine the Infectious Diseases laws and the Nigerian Quarantine Act of 1926 and see if the laws cover the COVID-19 pandemic like the Spanish fluid, Ebola etc. Also, whether other eminent laws are required to mitigate deficiencies in the existing laws. The emergency laws and COVID-19: guidelines (law enforcement) will also be analyzed. In a nutshell, the legal analysis of relevant emergency legislation and/or jurisprudence as it is applicable to principal controls and compliance proposed by World Health Organisation and member countries for the monitoring, control and administration of the disease will be examined. The enforcement of the emergency rules and laws and its impact on human rights violations will equally be x-rayed with a view to recommend mitigations and solutions. This paper concludes by advocating a health law that will cater for health emergencies and aligning with best world health practices for Nigeria


This report for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services describes the design and implementation of a uniform data set of provider characteristics, the Medicaid Analytic eXtract Provider Characteristics (MAXPC) file. Using the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System as its source, these high quality data help support provider-based research activities such as comparative effectiveness research.


In 2014 we had an opportunity to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Gerhard Gentzen's and Stanisław Jaśkowski's first publications on natural deduction and also first Gentzen's works on the sequent calculus. One of the events focusing on the great contribution of Gentzen and Jaśkowski was the conference Trends in Logic XIII, which took place on 2–5 July, 2014 in Łódź. The book under review contains extended abstracts of the lectures given by invited speakers and of the papers presented during the conference. We concentrate on the latter. It should be emphasized that the aim of this review is to introduce and briefly summarise the results of the papers rather than comment on or discuss them. We hope that the reader finds some of them interesting and worth pursuing further.


CONVERSION OF COAL METHANE. ON SCATTERED COAL IN OIL OIL AND WE DO RESPOND MIXTURE RESULTING WITH CONTAINING GAS HYDROGEN. A FEATURE IS ESSENTIAL TO iNJECT THE MIXTURE IN A rEACTOR IN THE FORM OF JET SPRAY 10, 11 PARALLEL TO JETS Solid Particles 4, 5, 6 AS HEAT TRANSFER AGENT.


This study sought ways to increase the level of mental health management and services in Yeoju area to promote the welfare of the area. There is a shortage of psychological counseling services which is a common phenomenon in rural area, and this lack of psychological counseling services lowers the level of mental health management in the community. These problems can be solved through the establishment of a community service network for mental health services, especially psychological counseling experts, and cooperation with various organizations in the community in Yeoju. To this end, this study not only provides quality psychological counseling services to Yeoju people, but also explores ways to induce active participation of them. As a result, collaboration and partnership between the lifelong education project and psychological counseling service, which are actively underway in Yeoju area, were proposed. For this proposal, the situation of Yeoju was investigated and analyzed along with the theory that is the foundation. This study put stress on the bottom-up approach in which local residents actively participate in and promote psychological counseling services and actively interact with other residents. It was implied that it is very practical to designate a lifelong educational institution that can satisfy not only intellectual needs but also emotional needs and needs for welfare services.


With regard to the dynamic spectrum allocation on wireless cognitive network, a dynamic Bertrand game algorithm of the channel pricing of licensed users was proposed using Bertrand equilibrium. Then, the relationship between stability of Nash equilibrium and speed parameter adjustment was analyzed. Consequently, step response function was utilized to replace the non-concussive process of game, and three-value method was proposed for getting step response parameters. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can obtain stable channel price when the value of speed parameter is less than 0. 04. Besides, the feasibility of using a step function to analyze the concussion game process is proved, and this method is convenient for licensed users to make real-time price and bring more economic benefits.


Abstract An important issue in emergency medical services (EMS) is ambulance dispatching and relocation. EMS response time is usually measured by the response time of an ambulance (RTA), the time between receiving a call and the ambulance's arrival at the scene. EMS's success also depends on response time to the patient (RTP), the time between receiving a call and starting the service to the patient in a hospital. This study aims to use RTP to decide about ambulance dispatching and relocation. RTP is affected by the distance of the patient to the chosen hospital and the crowding in the hospital. Thus, this study integrates ambulance dispatching and relocation with hospital selection to better provide both RTA and RTP along with coverage while considering an overcrowded emergency department (ED). A mixed-integer linear programming model is developed to solve the proposed problem. The model's performance and the impact of the ED overcrowding factor have been examined in the context of a real case study from Utrecht, Netherlands. Findings reveal that considering RTP in joint ambulance dispatching and relocation has a 39% positive impact on the patient's average response time. Further, considering ED crowding with RTP results in 91% and 9% improvement in RTP and RTA with the same demand coverage, compared to typical ambulance dispatching and relocation problems, respectively.


Malaria is still the most dangerous parasitic disease in the tropics. Attempts to provide alternative treatments which are highly efficacious, safe and widely available i.e. traditional medicine is therefore, required. Asam gelugur (Garcinia atroviridis Griff T Anders) is one of traditional medicines which has been recognized as an effective antimalarial drug. This study is therefore, aimed to assess the effect of Garcinia atroviridis leaf extract on Plasmodium berghei efficacy oral preparation on mice as a model. Thirty mice were inoculated by P. berghei and then randomly allocated into 6 groups of 5 mice which were treated with the following dose of Garcinia atroviridis leaf extract 90 mg/kgBW, 180mg/ kgBW, 360mg/kBW , 720mg/kgBW and another control group were given a solution of NaCl 0,9% and fansidar with dose of 5mg/kgBW/day. Each groups were. treated for the periode of 4 days after the inoculation of Plasmodium berghei. The degree of parasitemia were examined daily using thin blood smears up to 4 days from the inoculation and were analyzed by log-probit method. It can be shown from the study that an oral dose of 360mg/kg of G atroviridis had a statistically significant inhibition effect (p


SUMMARY Central retinal artery occlusion produces an ischemic infarct of the inner two thirds of the retinal layers. Most common etiological factors are vascular emboli from the head or left heart conforming an emergency, which is not very frequently encountered in the ophthalmologic clinical practice. This report documents the clinical and fluorescein angiographic findings in a subject with carotid artery insufficiency. This patient was initially seen with an acute central retinal artery occlusion, optic disc neovascularization and amaurosis fugax. The ophthalmoscopic findings showed whitening of the posterior pole, arterial attenuation and pale optic disc. Serial fluorescein angiograms showed a nearly total shutdown of choroidal and retinal perfusion and eventual development of a huge optic disc neovascular frond. This suggests a previously existing ischemic oculopathy with a superimposed acute central retina artery occlusion.


Experience suggests that changes to the 1986 Health Care Quality Improvement Act's name-based reporting requirement would provide a regulatory path capable of fostering effective open communication about preventable medical error without the fear of malpractice claiming. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed the Communication and Optimal Resolution (CANDOR) Toolkit with reliance on expert industry input and lessons learned from the AHRQ's $23 million Patient Safety and Medical Liability grant initiative launched in 2009. CANDOR processes proactively engage healthcare providers, patients and their family in preventable harm communications. Experience has shown that this culture of open dialogue about preventable medical harm leads to organizational accountability and, when appropriate, successful early resolution. Lessons learned responses; applied system-wide have empirically demonstrated a reduction in future medical error and affiliated costs. Regulatory change has the power to help ally provider fear of litigation, provides for patient and family participation in care while addressing the reputational and economic concern providers face following medical error.


For the purpose of accurately capturing the traffic state on expressways, this paper develops a multistep prediction algorithm of traffic flows on consecutive sections of expressways based on the state space model. First, the Van Aerde fundamental flow diagram is selected to replace the trapezoid structure utilized in the original cell transmission model (CTM), and its applicability under unequal cell lengths is discussed. Second, based on the modified cell transmission model (VA-CTM), the state space model is constructed by taking density as the state variable, and space mean speed and flow as output variables. In this process, we modify the state equation in consideration of the correlation between state and output noise vectors. Subsequently, a multistep prediction algorithm is designed based on the extended Kalman filter. Finally, several consecutive sections on the Western 3rd Ring-Road Expressway of Beijing are selected as the case study site to validate the proposed model. The data used in the case study include floating car data (FCD), remote traffic microwave sensor (RTMS) data, and the surveyed data. Predicted traffic states by the proposed model are compared with those by the Historical Average (HA) model and auto-regressive moving average (ARIMA) model. Results show that the proposed model outperforms HA and ARIMA models, especially in predictions of traffic states at bottleneck segments. This means that the proposed model is especially robust in depicting queues' forming, dissipating, and shockwave.


We performed the basic evaluation of an immunoradiometric assay kit for serum thyroid stimulating hormone"Ab bead TSH kit EIKEN", and compared its results with those examined by"SPA C-S TSH kit"and"RIA-gnost®tTSH."In reproducibility of the intra- and inter-assay variance, dilution test and recovery test, good results were obtained in all of them by all kits. The TSH values measured by 3 kits significantly correlated (γ= 0.99) . Normal range of TSH values caliculated from the examination of the healthy controls were 0.32-4.51μU/ml by"Ab bead TSH kit EIKEN", 0.36-4.96 μU/ml by"SPA C-S TSH kit"and 0.23 - 2.68, μU/ml by"RIA-gnost®tTSH". In conclusion, these data indicated that"Ab bead TSH kit EIKEN"is very useful for measurement of the serum thyroid stimulating hormone.


A peptide (35kD) was purified by gel filteration with sephadex LH 20 and SDS-PAGE from storage proteins of wheat.The peptide is a material which can beused to form peptide vesicles after being sonicated in some aqueous solvent.The peptide vesicles can wrap various compounds of molecular weight ranging from 0.4 to 150 kD.The peptide vesicles which wrap the compounds can be kept in stablestate for months at 4 。C or for days at room temperature.The vesicles can bechanged into scale state by freeze drying and scale state can be changedinto state of vesicles by rehydrating.That is to say,they have the characterization of D R F (dehydration rehydration vesicles).The peptide vesicles prepared from modified protein can wrap water-soluble compounds,but they can only wrap hydrophobic compounds if the protein is not modified.It shows that the hydrophobic region is located inside membrane of the peptide vesicles.The protein contains 16 hydrophobic amino acid residues and a N-terminal Phe.


Gibson offers his spectacle of Christ suffering as a reel sacrament. To do so, he writes the Hollywood passion hero and the legalistic Western Christian myth over Jesus, or lifts the sign of Jesus' suffering into those mythic orders. In the West, as Gibson's success shows, this myth often masquerades as the nature of things. This myth transforms us into bastards who consume the suffering of others at a safe distance. We can confess this myth, as if it were a hierophany, or we can wrestle with it, exposing it as an interpretation.


Known for their ability to identify hidden patterns in data, artificial neural networks are among the most powerful machine learning tools. Most notably, neural networks have played a central role in identifying states of matter and phase transitions across condensed matter physics. To date, most studies have focused on systems where different phases of matter and their phase transitions are known, and thus the performance of neural networks is well controlled. While neural networks present an exciting new tool to detect new phases of matter, here we demonstrate that when the training sets are poisoned (i.e. poor training data or mislabeled data) it is easy for neural networks to make misleading predictions.


Based on the planning project of fire fighting and safety for Da-ya-wan Economic and Technical Development Zone made by our institute and Fire Fighting Bureau of Security Ministry,propose basic principles in fire fighting planning of chemical industrial park.The main content of fire fighting and safety planning is also described in the paper.


The Butantan Institute has great importance in the area of public health. It de-veloped research about ofidismo and the illnesses in the end of century XIX. Since the beginning of century XX, serpents proceeding from some localities of Brazil, are brou-ght by the population to the Institute, in result of the work initiated for Vital Brazil in its campaign against the ofidismo, exchanging serum for snakes. With increase of the snakes sent to the Institute the quantity of serpents collected and displayed the public grew. At the same time the Butantan spread out and divulged its educative research, productions and activities, based in its collections. The reception of serpents, known traditionally for suppliers of snakes in all Brazil, always was the door of entrance and destination of the animals in the Institute. Because of the great demand in the sending and it exchanges of the animal it was necessary the taxonomic studies to identify the new species that arrived, clarifying on the specify of the serum antiophidic. At the same time, it had the public interest in seeing and knowing the animals poisonous and another section if it improved in public expositions with educative character in the museum. These works had been significant to improve the collection, leading the sector of research and of public exposition, projecting the Institute in other national and foreign institutions. In results of these activities two sections if had established: one was specialized in receiving, identifying, to register, to store and to conserve the animals, divulging its scientific research and cataloguing the species. Another one was improved in public expositions with educative and museological character. Our ob-jective is to characterize the formation of these archives that shares one same origin and currently is recognized for: "Collection of Alphonse Serpents Richard Hoge", Laboratory of Herpetologia - Division of Scientific Development and Biological Museum - Division of Cultural Development.


The aim of our study was to investigate whether artificially increased intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) in rats lowers their cognitive potential and Rivastigmine is able to diminish this disturbance. Three groups of male Wistar rats were used: 1st saline; 2nd IIAP to 25mmHg and 3rd IAP + Rivastigmine. In shuttle-box test the following parameters was observed: number of avoidances, escapes and intertrial crossings. Saline group increased the number of avoidances on learning session and kept it in memory retention. The group with IAP decreased the avoidances and intertrial crossings during learning and memory tests. The group with model of IAP and rivastigmine increased avoidances and intertrial crossings on 335 ISSN : 2349 – 1604 (Volume – 3, No. 1, January 2016) Research article Indexed in SIS (USA), ASI (Germany), I2OR & i-Scholar (India) and SJIF (Morocco) databases Impact Factor: 3.835 (SJIF) SMU Medical Journal, Volume – 3, No. – 1, January, 2016 learning and memory tests compared to group with model. Our results allow us to conclude that high intra-abdominal pressure impairs learning and memory processes in rats. Rivastigmine improves cognitive functions in rats with intra-abdominal and subsequent cerebral hypoxia.


Ganglion impar block is a known useful method of controlling perineal cancer pain. Moreover, this method may be suitable for hyperhidrosis because the visceral cancer pain signal and sweating are transmitted by the same sympathetic chain. We experienced a patients who had suffered from systemic hyperhidrosis especially in the sacral and buttock area. She also had long-standing diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. Her excessive sweating occurred during hemodialysis. We treated this patients using a ganglion impar block and achieved a good result.


The invention belongs to the optical field, and particularly relates to a method and a device for measuring an angle of divergence of an infrared laser light source. Based on the reflection imaging principle, the measuring method uses a CCD imaging unit to record infrared laser emitted by a diffusion target, uses a zooming optical lens for imaging, converts an image to a digital image by a CCD video camera, and uses a computer processing system and the image processing technology to analyze light spots so as to obtain the beam divergence angle. The measuring device consists of the CCD imaging unit formed by the measuring infrared laser light source, the diffusion target, an attenuation piece device, the zooming optical lens, a light filter and the CCD video camera and the computer processing system(7). The measuring device and the measuring method of the invention have the advantages of easy operation, quick measurement, big measurement range of the divergence angle and relatively high measurement precision.


ABSTRACT The present study investigated the association between autistic personality traits and cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as whether intentionality attribution was atypical in individuals with autistic personality traits, such as in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, who tend to over-attribute intentions when facing accidental harm involving negative outcomes. One-hundred individuals performed tasks assessing autistic personality traits, Theory of Mind abilities, and provided intentionality judgments to scenarios characterized by side effects, which involved unintended negative outcomes as well. Results showed that autistic personality traits are associated with reduced cognitive and affective Theory of Mind abilities, as well as with increased intentionality attributions towards side effects. Reduced cognitive Theory of Mind ability mediates the relationship between autistic personality traits and over-attribution of intentionality, suggesting that individuals with autistic personality traits base their intentionality evaluations more on side effects than on agent's intentions, as in autism spectrum disorder.


Acrylonitrile-co-styrene-co-methylmethacrylate (AN-S-MMA) terpolymer was prepared by bulk and emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization techniques. The bulk and emulsion terpolymers were characterized by means of Fourierr transform infrared spectroscopy, 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, thermal gravimetric analysis, and elemental analysis. The kinetics of the terpolymerization were studied. The terpolymers were then incorporated into butadiene—acrylonitrile rubber (NBR)/ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) blends and into chloroprene rubber (CR)/EPDM blend. The terpolymers were then tested for potential as compatibilizers by using scanning electron microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The terpolymers improved the compatibility of CR/EPDM and NBR/EPDM blends. The physicomechanical properties of CR/EPDM and NBR/EPDM blend vulcanizates revealed that the incorporation of terpolymers was advantageous, since they resulted in blend vulcanizates with higher 100% moduli and with more thermally stable mechanical properties than the individual rubbers. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 3143–3153, 2003


Stability is one of the most important technical features of marine gravimeter. Scholars in our country do not pay much attention to the test and evaluation of stability for marine gravimeters. So the method of data processing for stability evaluation is not normal,and the requirements of technical features are not clear and definite. In this paper,the technological process for the test and evaluation of stability of marine gravimeters is discussed in detail. The analysis is focused on the influences of surrounding elements and gravity tides on the test results. A method of separating linear drift,colored noise and random error from total zero drift is proposed. And a perfect evaluation system of the stability for marine gravimeters is suggested. The quantitative requirement of limitation to the nonlinear drift is analyzed and investigated. Some clear and definite conclusions are obtained,which offer useful theoretical support for the revision of existing specifications for marine gravity surveys.


Air pollution is the contamination of the internal or external environment of any chemical, physical or biological material and altering the natural properties of the atmosphere. Air pollution is caused by natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, forest fires, or excessive evaporation, as well as by increasing traffic density, especially by artificial causes such as fuel types used by urban inhabitants and industrialization. Each year, countries keep statistics of deaths caused by different types of direct air pollution or indirectly by diseases caused by these different types of pollution. In this study, the impact of countries' geographical region and population density on mortality rates due to air pollution is analyzed. The data sets of Turkey and the nine neighbour countries in the region that include information for population density, the different types of pollution rates, the number of deaths caused by each type of pollution and their ratios to current population number were studied throughout a time period between 1990-2017. In the data analysis, air pollution types were examined one by one and it was sought to identify the similarities among countries. As a result of these analysis, it was shown that there are similarities between Turkey and the different neighbour countries on the death cases observed due to different types of air pollution. In the upcoming stages of the study, alongside with the natural causes of air pollution in the selected countries, the other factors such as industrialization, traffic, the number of gasoline / diesel / electric cars or the types of fuel used in heating will also be included in the analysis.


The main problem in the blood supply chain is inability of blood manager which
is Red Cross or Blood banks, provide blood product according the demand. Demand
for blood products in recent times tend to increase while the blood supply has not
able to compensate for the condition. On the other hand is still very difficult for Red
Cross or Blood banks to increase the amount of blood supply, due to health element
that difficult in maintaining or improving the quality of the donor. This problem more
difficult because of high complexity in the system as demand of blood product and
blood bags supply that are stochastic, and the characteristic perishable on each
product.
This study aims to develop simulation model use Discrete Event Simulation
(DES), which aims to evaluate and improve the blood supply chain performance, with
the scope of study is located in Yogyakarta Regional Red Cross and Dr. Soeradji
Tirtonegoro Hospital Blood Banks. The data used include the supply of blood bags,
demand of blood product, and the production of blood products in Yogyakarta
Regional Red Cross, as well as the amount of supply, demand and delivery of blood
products in BDRS Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro.
There are 3 models are constructed, namely sub-model of PMI Yogyakarta, submodels
BDRS Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro, and the integration model of PMI
Yogyakarta - BDRS Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro. The results of the supply chain
simulation generates values for each supply chain performance 16% shortage of submodels
for PMI Yogyakarta, 17% shortage for sub-models BDRS Dr. Soeradji
Tirtonegoro, and 13% shortage for the integration model PMI Yogyakarta - BDRS
Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro. Then several scenario are developed, consist of (1)
percentage change in product production, (2) decrease in the number of blood bags
reject, and (3) increase the amount of demand PRC from BDRS Dr. Soeardji
Tirtonegoro to PMI Kota Yogyakarta for 24%. The combination of the scenario (1)
and (2) give the increasing blood supply chain performance significantly for PMI
Kota Yogyakarta, and scenario (3) give the increasing performance significantly for
BDRS Dr. Soeradji Tirtonegoro. In addition, use sensitivity analysis on the parameter
of modelling, it�s found that the changes in the value of the amount of demand for
blood product is the most sensitive parameters provide performance change in the
system
Keywords: discrete event simulation, blood supply chain, scenario development,
sensitivity analysis


The MS. Psalter, which is exhibited by our Fellow the Rev. Canon Cooke, by the kind permission of the Governors of the Grammar School of Bury St. Edmund's, is a fine example of an English monastic service-book, and is of interest because it can be shown by internal evidence to have belonged to the great abbey of St. Edmund.


CITATION: Niu, C. Y., et al. 2018. Spectroscopic study of the possibly triaxial transitional nucleus 75Ge. Physical Review C, 97(3):034322, doi:10.1103/PhysRevC.97.034322.


From human plasma, fibrinogen was adsorbed at 4° C on thrombin activated immobilized fibrinogen. Additionally retained plasma proteins were eluted at 37° C with 1.0 M Trisphosphate buffer, pH 7.6. Fibrinogen was subsequently eluted with 1.0 M KBr. It was free of contaminating proteins and showed a high clottability after removing KBr. Fibrin covalently linked to Sepharose 6B was reduced with dithioerythritol in 8 M urea. Washing with 8 M urea removed only औ-chains and γ-chains, while α-chains remained fixed to the insoluble matrix. Following carboxymethylation, the affinity of the immobilized α-chains to plasma fibrinogen was tested. Fibrinogen was adsorbed as described above. This may indicate that the α-chains are predominantly responsible for fibrinogen-fibrin interaction. Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Sonderforschungsbereich 51.


TheA S –X S emission spectrum of BaO excited in a Broida-type oven was revisited using a Fourier transform spectrometer. Chemiluminescence was observed from excited BaO molecules generated from the Ba 1N2O reaction, and 82 vibrational bands of BaO were measured in the range 8900–21 000 cm 21 at a resolution of 0.04 cm . Vibrational levels were observed up to v9 520 of the ground state and up to v8511 for the excited state. In addition, 72 bands from the minor isotopomersBaO, BaO, andBaO were detected withv9 up to 14 andv8 up to 4. Over 15 500 lines withJ9 up to 119 were measured with a precision of about 0.005 cm , which shows that the Broida oven is an excellent source for high-resolution emission spectroscopy. Our main goal here is to obtain an optimum set of molecular constants for the ground electronic state. To avoid complications due to the well-known perturbations for vA8>1 of the A S state, our unified combined-isotopomer analysis used a novel combination of a Dunham expansion description of the ground state with independent band-constants for data involving A-state levelvA850, while fitting to an independent term value for each observed A-state vA8>1 vibration–rotation level of each isotopomer. Significantly improved ground-state constants and A-statevA850 band constants are obtained, together with term values for some 1372 higherv8 A-state levels. ©2000 American Institute of Physics. @S0021-9606 ~00!01732-3#


AIM To propagate and to identify neurotrophin-3 recombinant adenovirus vector. METHODS Recombinant adnoviral vector for NT-3 was propagated in 293 packaging cells. Viral titers were determined by tissue culture infections dose50 (TCID_ 50) method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequence analysis were employed to confirm the presence of the NT-3 cDNA in the genome of the adenovirus vector and its species. RESULTS High titers of recombinant adenoviral particles after propagation of Ad-NT-3 in 293 cells were obtained. The presence of replication competent adenovirus was determined morphologically by infecting 293 cells with different dilutions of Ad-NT-3 and monitoring them during 10 days for appearance of a cytopathic effect (CPE). Ad-NT-3 contains the gene of NT-3, which was human NT-3 by origin. CONCLUSION There is human NT-3 gene and replication competent adenovirus in Ad-NT-3.


A decreased cardiac 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (123I-MIBG) uptake has been used as a powerful tool to identify Lewy body disease, such as idiopathic parkinson's disease (IPD). We performed cardiac 123I-MIBG scintigraphy in patient with autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism (ARJP) with parkin gene mutation (PARK2). The findings showed normal cardiac 123I-MIBG uptake. Therefore, although the clinical features of ARJP are sometimes quite similar to those of late-onset IPD, cardiac 123I-MIBG scintigraphy may be used as a valuable tool to identify patients with IPD and to distinguish them from patients with other parkinsonian syndromes.


The invention discloses a section bar for radiating, which comprises a heat conducting plate. A row of main radiating fins is arranged on one side of the heat conducting plate and perpendicular to the heat conducting plate, and a certain distance is reserved between the row of the main radiating fins and the heat conducting plate. Two rows of auxiliary radiating plates are arranged on the other side of the heat conducting plate and perpendicular to the heat conducting plate, and a certain distance is reserved between two rows of the auxiliary radiating fins. Protrusion portions at two ends of the heat conducting plate are provided with a fixing plate respectively, and a threaded hole is arranged at the bottom end of each fixing plate. The top end of each fixing plate is provided with a threaded hole too. The main radiating plates are arranged on one side of the heat conducting plate, and the auxiliary radiating plates are arranged on the other side of the heat conducting plate, therefore radiating area is increased, radiating speed is fast, and radiating effect is good. The fixing plates are arranged at protrusion portions at two ends of the heat conducting plate, and the threaded holes are arranged on the fixing plates to install the section bar for radiating on a heating piece, thereby being convenient to install.


During the last decade, large community cohorts have been established by the Korea National Institutes of Health (KNIH), and enormous epidemiological and clinical data have been accumulated. Using these information and samples in the cohorts, KNIH set out to do a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 2007, and the Korea Association REsource (KARE) consortium was launched to analyze the data to identify the underlying genetic risk factors of diseases and diverse health indexes, such as blood pressure, obesity, bone density, and blood biochemical traits. The consortium consisted of 6 research divisions, formed by 25 principal investigators in 19 organizations, including 18 universities, 2 institutes, and 1 company. Each division focused on one of the following subjects: the identification of genetic factors, the statistical analysis of gene-gene interactions, the genetic epidemiology of gene-environment interaction s, copy number variation, the bioinformatics related to a GWAS, and a GWAS of nutrigenomics. In this special issue, the study results of the KARE consortium are provided as 9 articles. We hope that this special issue might encourage the genomics community to share data and scientists, including clinicians, to analyze the valuable Korean data of KARE.


. Root systems of two Magnolia taxa were treated with spray applications of auxins to determine their effects on root regeneration. Spray application of 500 ppm of IBA doubled the number of adventitious roots regenerated from the cut ends of main roots in 1-year-old cuttings of Magnolia x Soulangiana (Soul.-Bod). Higher con centrations of IBA inhibited root regeneration. Auxin applications did not increase the number of lateral or branch roots. Root systems of Magnolia x Soulangiana were treated with spray applications of ethanol to determine effect of IBA on root regen eration. A significant negative linear relationship was found between ethanol concen tration and the number of adventitious roots initiated at the cut ends of main roots. Ethanol concentrations of 12.5% to 70% had no effect on the number of lateral roots. Root regeneration of Magnolia x 'Betty' was not stimulated with soil drench applications of 250 to 1000 ppm IBA. IBA and NAA concentrations of 1000 to 4000 ppm were inhibitory. Chemical names used: ltf-indole-3-butyric acid (IBA), 1-napthaleneacetic acid (NAA).


ABSTRACT Biopolymers have been widely investigated due to their environmental friendly nature. Kappa carrageenan is one of a biopolymer with strong stability, good film-forming tendency, and soluble in hot water. In this work, solid Magnesium biopolymer electrolytes has been developed using Kappa carrageenan with various molecular weight percentage (Mwt%) of Magnesium nitrate as salt, by solution casting technique using distilled water as a solvent. Structural, thermal, electrical, and electrochemical behavior of developed membrane are investigated using various techniques such as XRD, DSC, AC impedance, LSV, and transference number measurement. XRD confirms the amorphous nature of the polymer electrolyte. The biopolymer electrolyte of 1g Kappa carrageenan: 0.5 Mwt% of Magnesium nitrate Mg(NO3)2.6H2O has got maximum magnesium ion conductivity of 7.05 × 10−4 S cm−1.This membrane has got highest amorphous nature. The ionic connectivity has been improved to one order of magnitude due to the inclusion of 0.5 Mwt% of Ethylene carbonate plasticizer with the highest connecting biopolymer electrolyte 1 g K-Carrageenan: 0.5 Mwt% of Mg(No3)2.6H2O.Glass transition temperature of the prepared membrane has been measured by DSC technique. LSV technique is used to measure the electrochemical stability of the highest conducting biopolymer electrolytes. Primary magnesium battery is fabricated using maximum ionic conductivity biopolymer electrolyte (1 g K-Carrageenan: 0.5 Mwt% of Mg(NO3)2.6H2O and 1 g K-Carrageenan: 0.5 Mwt% of Mg(NO3)2.6H2O:0.5Mwt% of EC). The fabricated primary magnesium battery exhibits open circuit voltage of 1.8 V and 1.97 V have been observed for the 1 g K-C:0.5 mwt% of Mg(No3)2.6H2O and 1 g K-C:0.5 Mwt% of Mg(No3)2.6H2O:EC, respectively, and its performance is studied.


In this paper we discuss the growth and characterization of 3C-SiC epitaxial layers grown on both a Si substrate as well as on a novel substrate. The growth uses a typical three step process. First an etch of the Si surface is performed, second the surface of the Si is carbonized and third 3C-SiC is grown on the carbonized surface. Several characterization techniques were used to verify the quality of the 3C-SiC film. Microscopy was used to investigate the surface morphology, X-ray and electron diffraction were used to determine crystal structure, cross section TEM was used to verify crystal structure and highlight twinning, and x-ray topography was used to measure the strain fields induced in Si substrate at the 3C-SiC/Si interface.


Testing communication peripherals in an environment of systems on a chip is particularly challenging. The authors explore two test program generation approaches-one fully automated and one deterministically guided-and propose a novel combination of the two schemes that can be applied in a generic manner on a wide set of communication cores.


Abstract Hydropower structures hinder the movement and migration of fishes, impairing their life cycles. Additionally, downstream moving fish are often at risk of being injured during turbine passage. To improve hydropower production towards more fish-friendly techniques and management, knowledge on timing and extent of natural patterns of fish downstream movement is necessary. So far, migration behaviour of long-distance migrators such as eel or salmon has been well studied, but little is known about seasonal and diurnal movement patterns of nonmigratory species or medium-distance migrators. In this study, movement patterns of 39 fish species captured by stownets while transiting hydropower facilities in four impounded rivers were assessed and compared with the fish community composition directly upstream of the hydropower plants assessed by electrofishing. Strong differences between the fish community composition inhabiting the upstream sides of the dams and the fish detected in downstream passage were evident. In each study river, the downstream moving fish community composition differed significantly between spring and autumn. On average, significantly more fish were caught during the night (2.9 fish/hr) than during the day (1.3 fish/hr). Topmouth gudgeon, European grayling and pike-perch mostly moved downstream during the night, whereas roach, spirlin and bleak were the most frequent downstream moving fish during daytime. Downstream fish movement was positively related with turbidity, water temperature and discharge. The strong differences in seasonal and diurnal fish movement patterns suggest that fish damage can be strongly reduced by adaptive turbine and corridor management, for example by shutting down turbines at peak movements.


Background Non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM PD) presents a difficult clinical challenge. The presentation varies from transient respiratory pathogen to aggressive destruction, relying heavily on clinical symptoms, effective sputum culture and imaging. Although CT is a reliable and non-invasive method for diagnosing non-CF bronchiectasis, features of NTM PD on CT imaging are nonspecific and often undistinguishable from underlying respiratory conditions, concurrent infection or inflammation. NTM prevalence is increasing worldwide and non- CF bronchiectasis remains an important risk factor. Despite improved BTS/ATS guidance for treatment, the lack of specific CT findings in non-CF bronchiectasis patients makes decision to treat problematic. Patients and methods A retrospective analysis of CT reports of 261 consecutive non-CF bronchiectasis patients at Royal United Hospital, Bath was undertaken. Reports were scrutinised for the presence of seven CT characteristics: tree in bud, pulmonary nodules or nodularity, consolidation, cavitation, ground glass change, pleural thickening and pleural effusion. NTM culture status was recorded for each patient but Mycobacterium gordonae cases were classified as non-NTM. CT findings were compared between NTM positive sputum culture cases and NTM negative cases using Chi-squared for statistical significance between groups (SPSS version 24). Results 261 patients with non-CF bronchiectasis were identified. Of these 27 (10.3%) had positive NTM sputum culture (MAC 16 (59.3%), M. abscessus 5 (18.5%), M. chelonae 4 (14.8%), M. malmoense 1 (3.7%), M. xenopi 1 (3.7%)). In total the incidence of specific CT findings was as follows; tree and bud 50 (19.2%), nodules/nodularity 97 (37.2%), consolidation 51 (19.5%), cavitation 8 (3.1%), ground glass 30 (11.5%), pleural thickening 13 (5.0%), pleural effusion 10 (3.8%). 103 patients (39.5%) had none of these characteristics reported. There was no statistically significant difference in the presence or absence of CT signs in patients with NTM and no NTM (see table 1). Conclusions In non-CF bronchiectasis there appears to be no reliable CT findings to identify patients with NTM infection. There a remains a need for a high level of clinical suspicion in patients with bronchiectasis and microbiology remains the mainstay of diagnosis. Figure. No caption available.


Electrical properties and crystal structures of the system Pb(Sc/sub 1/2/Nb/sub 1/2/)O/sub 3/Pb(Zn/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/-PbTiO/sub 3/ are described. In this ternary system, the perovskite phase exists in the composition range of less 50 mol% of Pb(Sc/sub 1/2/Nb/sub 1/2/)O/sub 3/. Addition of excess PbO to this system is effective for obtaining the perovskite structure. In the binary (1-x)Pb(Sc/sub 1/2/Nb/sub 1/2/)O/sub 3/xPb(Zn/sub 1/3/Nb/sub 2/3/)O/sub 3/ system, the Curie temperature is decreasing with increase of x in the range of 0.3> x>O and it is increasing above x=0.3. Site preference in the perovskite structure must be considered for this nonlinear change of Tc.