One of the most striking features of Brazilian political history in the second half of the nineteenth century was the extent of centralization of power, decisions and economic resources in Rio de Janeiro, seat of the central government. This primacy of the imperial over the provincial and local governments was revealed in both its attributions and the fiscal resources it commanded. The article aims to measure the relative contributions of the provinces of the so-called North and South of the Empire to the total amount of receipts and expenditures of the central government. The results indicate a disproportionate contribution of the Northern provinces to overall collection, thus confirming contemporaries' views and earlier research on this issue.


ion was expanded and as a result "abstractions like 'the human mind' were produced by the method of conjectural history itself in order to make something that exceeded any individual incarnation available to intellectual contemplation" (Poovey 1998, 224). Poovey maintains that Smith's concept of a market system was inspired by Hutcheson and Hume's conjectural abstractions, rather than Petty's population measurements, Linnaeus' Oeconomia, or Quesnay's Tableau.


This paper puts forward a new explanation for the development of the Austronesian voice system. I argue that both voice marking and the nominalizing function of the affixes are present already at the Proto-Austronesian stage and propose that these affixes ultimately go back to reflexive markers (which further developed into intransitive markers) and prepositions. I offer a historical explanation for the development, which saw a typologically common system of transitivity markers and prepositional phrases transformed into the typologically rare voice system seen in Austronesian today. The proposal capitalizes on simple and well-motivated syntactic features: case marking, the shift from prepositions to preverbs, and reanalysis. Several previously troubling facts fall out straightforwardly from my proposal: promotion of arguments to the subject position and their semantic prominence, the existence of various peripheral functions of the voice affixes, the placement of the affixes, asymmetries in their functions, and tendencies in the later development. This paper explores the extent of the effectiveness of internal reconstruction as a tool of historical syntax. In the final part of the paper, I show how the diachronic development I have described projects to synchronic syntactic processes: historical development has transformed the Austronesian system of preverbs and transitivity markers into a system of low and high applicatives. I also analyze the synchronic syntactic stages in the development of Proto-Austronesian and use this analysis to explain the typology of preverb placement cross-linguistically.


: The article deals with increase of logistic performance for the retail business through operational planning and scheduling distribution of goods using micro-logistic model. The objective of the research is to rationalize the spending resources of enterprise in the distribution of final production via increase of productivity and logistic activities due to higher customer demands for speed, flexibility, and other logistic aspects of customer service.


A simple, exactly solvable statistical model is presented for the description of baryonic matter in the thermodynamic conditions associated to the evolution of core-collapsing supernova. It is shown that the model presents a first-order phase transition in the grand-canonical ensemble which is not observed in the canonical ensemble. Similarly to other model systems studied in condensed matter physics, this ensemble inequivalence is accompanied by negative susceptibility and discontinuities in the intensive observables conjugated to the order parameter. This peculiar behavior originates from the fact that baryonic matter is subject to attractive short-range strong forces as well as repulsive long-range electromagnetic interactions, partially screened by a background of electrons. As such, it is expected in any theoretical treatment of nuclear matter in the stellar environment. Consequences for the phenomenology of supernova dynamics are drawn.


Forecasting annual economic growth is an important task to help local governments set goals and policies for socio-economic development. This study proposes and develops the forecasting method for economic growth at the provincial level in Vietnam named Dynamic Systems Modeling. It is an effective method to analyze the dynamic interactions between economic growth and related factors, which is useful for forecasting economic growth. This method is a combination of traditional statistics and machine learning that brings many advantages in forecasting. Specifically, (1) This method is used to forecast panel data, which helps to control both temporal and spatial problems of the forecast object; (2) This forecasting method bases on the comparison and selection of many different models; (3) Forecast results are verified, ensuring reliable forecast results. Through the data set collected from the Vietnam General Statistics Office from 2016 to 2020, we apply the Dynamic Systems Modeling method to forecast two important economic growth indicators at the provincial level, which are GRDP and GRDP per capita. The analysis and forecasting evaluation results show that the Dynamic Systems Modeling is an effective tool for forecasting economic growth at the provincial level in Vietnam.


In this new era of mobile internet, in the face of the demanding task of educating students and helping them to have correct values, so that they can understand socialism with Chinese characteristics better and be willing to make contributions to our Chinese dream of national rejuvenation, we teachers should advance with the times, and design our ideological and political education courses properly to enhance college students' integrative motivation to make learning a part of their everyday life, and help them develop a good habit in their lifetime. Based on constructivism, we can make use of some smart phone-based apps like "Xuexi Qiangguo" to have an integrative approach. This app is distinctive, authoritative, and powerful, like a great treasure house with a lot of news, theories, and stories. It is flexible, easily accessible, and efficient, and is able to us make a big difference in teaching. Our case study shows how we can actually rebuild a preview mechanism, upgrade our learning style and better evaluation mechanism for better teaching of some courses.


Abstract Fiddler crabs are generally considered polygamous as they tend to live in dense mixed sex colonies with numerous neighbours and individually defended territories. We show that the Australian fiddler crab, Uca capricornis, is socially monogamous based on behavioural experiments and observations of neighbouring males and females. The unusual relationship between neighbouring males and females in U. capricornis is selected for and maintained by intrasexual aggression and the ability to recognise and defend their partner.


Stroke or cerebrovascular attack (CVA) is the first cause of disability and the third cause of death in Argentina and in the world. The etiology of strokes is mostly ischemic (more than 80% of cases), with the most frequent causes being lacunar-ty-pe ischemic lesions of small vessels and thromboembolic lesions due to atherosclerosis of large arteries or cardioembolism. The sequences used in our study protocol include DWI, FLAIR, angio-RM 3D-TOF, SWI, and FSE-T1 (approximate scan time of 13 minutes). Different findings can be observed in each of these sequences that are indicative to determine the underlying etiology and estimate the time of evolution of the lesion. Currently, mechanical thrombectomy has become the treatment of choice in selected patients with acute ischemic stroke. Hemorrhagic transformation is the most feared complication after intra-arterial reperfusion therapy. The diffusion magnetic resonance technique is more sensitive for detecting ischemic lesions, allows one to suspect the etiology based on the lesion pattern, and provides valuable information for the selection of patients who are candidates for arterial reperfusion.


Recurrent neural nets are widely used for predicting temporal data. Their inherent deep feedforward structure allows learning complex sequential patterns. It is believed that top-down feedback might be an important missing ingredient which in theory could help disambiguate similar patterns depending on broader context. In this paper we introduce surprisal-driven recurrent networks, which take into account past error information when making new predictions. This is achieved by continuously monitoring the discrepancy between most recent predictions and the actual observations. Furthermore, we show that it outperforms other stochastic and fully deterministic approaches on enwik8 character level prediction task achieving 1.37 BPC on the test portion of the text.


Constraints can be violated by the successive iterates of the algorithm(even when starting from the feasible side).Constraints can be violated by the dynamic response of the plantbetween successive steady-state operating points generated by RTO.Constraints can be violated at any moment due to short termdisturbances.


The article uses concepts of polysystem theory, especially the notion of literary repertoire, to analyze mechanisms which take place when a particular (national) literary system adopts and makes use of elements of other systems' repertoires and in this way maintains its systemic optimum. An obvious model for these processes can be observed in Slovenian literature with reference to the work of a romantic poet, France Preseren, who introduced models and repertoires from other literary traditions in a systematic and original fashion. Later, these elements became a constitutive part of – by that time still underdeveloped and weak –the Slovenian literary repertoire.


Abstract : The main objective of this research, performed by Sven E. Eklund, a graduate student at the Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville, is to explore the fundamentals of electroplating of several refractory metals, such as tungsten and tantalum, from chlorofluoroaluminate melts and to compare with electroplating of these elements from the LiF-NaF-KF eutectic. There has been considerable interest in the electrochemistry and metallurgy of the Groups IV-B, V-B, and VI-B4 transition metals (so-called refractory metals) because of the potential use of these metals in electronic components, electrical devices, and the aerospace industry. Pure, coherent deposits of these metals were originally obtained by a method developed by Mellors and Senderoff (1) in 1965. This method uses electrolytic reduction to the metal from the ternary eutectic LiF-NaF-KF, or FLINAK. Mechanisms proposed in several articles by Senderoff and coworkers for the reduction of several metals (2-5) have spurred research into the refractory metals in molten fluorides.


Preface Bioengineering Approaches for Aetiological Research in Severe Pressure Ulcers Ion Beam Bioengineering Research in Thailand Analysis of Shell Structures Applying Triangular Finite Elements Bioengineering of Human Fetal Tissues for Clinical Use Gene Cluster or Operon Design by Ordered Gene Assembly in Bacillus subtilis (OGAB) Method Bioengineering of Glass-Ceramics & Ceramics for Dental Restoration Development of a Diagnostic System for Osteoarthritis Using a Photoacoustic Measurement Method & Time-Resolved Auto-Fluorescence Biotechnology & Agriculture Index.


Drug induced pancreatitis (DIP) is a serious adverse effect of many commonly used drugs. Pegylated interferon (peg- IFN) and ribavirin used for treatment of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection and various protease inhibitors (PIs) such as indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir and saquinavir used for HIV infection have been reported to cause DIP; although the mechanism of pancreatitis is not well known. Recently, telaprevir and boceprevir are introduced for treatment of HCV genotype 1 infection along with peg-IFN and ribavirin. There are no reports of acute pancreatitis due to telaprevir and boceprevir in liver transplant setting. We managed two such cases; both were male with HCV genotype 1 infection, had living donor liver transplantation for hepatocellular cancer few years ago and stable on cyclosporine. Both developed AP a month after adding one of PI to their combination therapy. First patient had past history of partial response with peg-IFN and ribavirin and retreated with addition of telaprevir to combination therapy. Second patient received peg-IFN and ribavirin for 4 months and then boceprevir was added. Patients were managed conservatively, the culprit PI was stopped and they recovered. We used the Naranjo Probability Scale for Adverse Drug Events to estimate the probability that a drug was the cause of the acute pancreatitis. A score of 7 was calculated in both patients, indicating a probable adverse drug reaction. The algorithm devised by Trivedi et al to diagnose drug-induced pancreatitis was also used and confirmed that this was likely to be a drug reaction. There is adequate circumstantial evidence pointing to telaprevir and boceprevir as the cause of their acute pancreatitis. Further evidence is needed but in the meantime we would recommend routine monitoring of amylase levels for all patients on triple therapy and advise patients of potential symptoms for which they should seek medical advice.


is to promote the cultural heritage in the existing museum collections by enhancing accessibility and initiating future development of museum programs for improving inclusion of vulnerable groups in society children with autism and their families. The "Open museums" project is the first of its kind in the Republic of North Macedonia that approaches the integrated treatment of this issue by emphasizing the importance of families in this specific field of interest.


We have carried out high pressure theoretical structural studies of yttrium nitride to examine the phase transition phenomena from the NaCl structure to CsCl structure by using a three-body potential model. The phase transition pressure (140 GPa) predicted by this approach is close to the phase transition pressure, predicted by others (138 GPa). Yttrium nitride is a novel and less explored material. Under high pressure yttrium nitride goes through a sudden collapse in volume showing the first order phase transition. To understand the effect of pressure we studied bulk properties, elastic constants and their combination. The pressure volume equation of state provides meaningful signatures of physical and chemical phenomena under high pressure. Moreover we have successfully checked the stability criterion for this compound.


Looks at a research project to design a generic robotic gripper able to assemble a PC board with electronic components as efficiently as possible. Discusses the concept of grouping electronic components into part families to allow for the design of a generic gripper to manipulate a component from each group. Outlines the design and operation of the gripper and the monitoring of its performance. Concludes that the concept of a low cost, low maintenance generic gripper compares favourably with specialized robotic end‐effectors.


A container (100) for consumer articles, the container (100) comprising a box (20) comprising a box front wall (22), a box back wall, a box bottom wall, and first and second box side walls (24a, 24b);and a lid (40) comprising a lid front wall (42), a lid back wall, a lid top wall (46), and first and second lid side walls (44a, 44b). A lower edge of the lid back wall depends along a hinge line from a top edge of the box back wall, with the lid being moveable about the hinge line between an open position and a closed position, in which at least a portion of the lower edge of the first lid sidewall (44a) abuts at least a portion of the upper edge of the first box side wall (24a), and in which at least a portion of the lower edge of the lid front wall (22) abuts at least a portion of the upper edge of the box front wall (42). The first box side wall (24a) is connected to the box front wall (22) by a first box edge portion (25), and the first lid side wall (44a) is connected to the lid front wall (42) by a first lid edge portion (45). The shape of the first lid edge portion (45) is different from the shape of the first box edge portion (25), such that, when the lid (40) is in the closed position, the lower edge (47) of the first lid edge portion (45) is disposed beyond the upper edge (27) of the first box edge portion (25) in a transverse direction of the container (100).


Lightning is the transfer of significant charge between two charged object, it can appear between cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-air and cloud-to-ground. All lightning activities are correlated with charge movement and therefore, it can be studied using measurement of electrostatic field (slow field changes), radiation field (fast field changes) and magnetic field affiliated with charge movement. The measuring equipment was a parallel flat plate and vertical whip antenna with an analog filter buffer circuit, connected to a digital high speed oscilloscope. In principle, both antenna have a similar measuring operation, with the exclusion of the antennas dimension, mode of transient recoder and the association of circuitry characteristic (decay time constant). This measurement setup are commonly used to perform electric field characterization related to various lightning events such as as preliminary breakdown, stepped leader, return stroke, subsequent return stroke, dart leader, dart-stepped leader, narrow bipolar pulses and cloud activity between strokes, such as regular pulse trains, K and M changes and chaotic pulse trains. The measurement systems are located very close to the sea, with respect in obtaining a perspicuous explaination of lightning propagation effects on sea instead on land. Noise-distorted effects in data captured usually introduce in a noisy environment or when the lightning strike far from the measurement station, thus the data gathered from the measurement need to be filter using MATLAB computer simulation before conducting further analysis. A promising wavelet 1-D technique, then, were used in signal denoising process rather using conventional filtration. In this works, the state of art in measuring vertical component of electric field focalized sea area during the thunderstorm days been demonstrate and explained.


VoIP is becoming more and more popular and as such a potential target for hackers. Providing security for VoIP services is therefore pertinent for telecommunications. Without correct mechanisms to ensure callers' authentication, transmission confidentiality and availability of the service, security of the VoIP users is at risk. The fact that VoIP relies on IP infrastructure make it vulnerable to any attack that targets the network. Consequently, whatever may be the nature of the attack, there is a good chance that the attacker is capitalizing on a weakness in the VoIP protocol being used. VoIP is different from other IP services in the sense that its security is normally treated as one of the service properties configurable by the user. This article provides an overview of the VoIP security configuration requirement, aimed at empowering public VoIP user With the strategies to mitigate threats.


A novel low-power endoscopic image compressor is designed that occupies small silicon chip area, gives a

high compression rate and maintains acceptable image quality. By utilizing unique properties of human gastrointestinal

tract images, computationally simple and elegant methods are employed. The employed methods

are lifting scheme based two level 1-D discrete wavelet packet transform, uniform quantization, chrominance

component sub-sampling, differential pulse code modulation and Golomb-Rice entropy encoder. All the modules

are highly optimized from computational complexity, efficiency and memory requirement perspectives.

The proposed algorithm requires neither demosaicking nor de-interleaving operations that require large memory

and consume a significant amount of power. The proposed image compression scheme achieves a compression

rate of 81.31 % with peak signal to noise ratio of 39.45 dB. The implementation of the algorithm

in 130 nm standard CMOS process technology occupies a core area of 0.342 mm×0.342 mm. It consumes

48.4 I¼W of power for encoding two color mosaic frames, with a resolution of 512×512, per second. The

proposed endoscopic image compression scheme gives a power consumption reduction of about two orders

less than the realizations proposed in literature.


This paper presents the results of the study on the extraction capacity of 1,8,15,22-tetra(1heptyl)resorcin[4]arene and its octasubstituted derivatives containing thiophosphoryl, ester and amide groups in the presence of Pb(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) in solvent extraction process. Effects of the structure and concentration of the resorcinarene extractant and the composition of the aqueous phase as well as its acidity on the efficiency and selectivity of removal of the examined metal ions from model aqueous solutions were determined. The 1:1 stoichiometry for complexes formed between Pb(II) and Cr(III) and the octasubstituted resorcin[4]arenes was determined by classical slope analysis and loading test.


To study the mechanisms of xylazine anesthesia on the central nervous system by investigating the changes of excitatory monoamine neurotransmitter content in different encephalic regions in rat.32 rats were randomly divided into four groups(control group,the anesthesia group,restore Ⅰ and restore Ⅱ group). The contents of norepinephrine(NE)and dopamine(DA)of each encephalic region was determined by HPLC with fluorescence assay. In result,after the intraperitoneal injection of xylazine 60 mg/kg,anesthesia group: the contents of NE in brain,cerebellum,brainstem, hypothalamus, hippocampus decreased significantly(P0.05),contents of DA in brain,hypothalamus and hippocampus decreased significantly(P0.05),but the content of DA in cerebellum and brainstem was not changed significantly(P0.05). The results indicated that central anesthetic effect of xylazine may be related to the decrease of the content of NE in each encephalic region and the content of DA in cerebellum and brainstem.


In 2011, the world population reached another milestone of seven billion people and according to the United Nations World Population Prospects' (2011) projections, it will grow by almost 1.4 billion people by 2030.1 In 2010, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) comprised 12 percent of the world's population, which is expected to increase to 16 percent by 2030 (United Nations, 2011). This is driven by average annual population growth rates of above two percent for the entire period to 2030 (albeit declining), as well as considerable declines in infant and child mortality (Lam and Leibbrandt, 2013). This transition to lower birth and death rates is known as the demographic transition and has important implications for the size of Africa's working age population and thus labour force.


The Revolution wrought by Antiseptic and Aseptic Methods.Special Hospital Installations.-Surgery of the Cranium and the Brain.-Ocular Grafting.-Statistics of Staphylorrhaphy. -Naso-pharyngeal Polypus.-Inter-crico-thyroid Laryngotomy. -Mammary Ablation.-Gastrostomy.-Radical Cure ofHernia. -Ovariotomy.-Hysterectomy.-Inversion and Prolapse of the Uterus.-Cauterisation of Fistula.-Transperitoneal Nephrectomy.-Suprapubic Lithotomy and Cystotomy.-Internal Urethrotomy.-Urethral Anaplasty.-Excision of Varicocele.Hennequin's Extension Apparatus. -Pseudarthrosis. -Preliminary Liqature in Disarticulations.-Osteo-plastic Amputation of the Foot.-Resection, with Osseous and Periosteal Suture. Osteo-clasis.Tendon-grafting. Autoplasty. Hemostatic Forceps.


Hypertension is a high-risk condition that causes of deaths, stroke, and coronary heart disease. This studyaims to determinethe effect of giving pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) baruasa on systolic and diastolic bloodpressure of elderly with hypertension.The research is quasy experimental design with pre-post test group. A total of 36 elderly people withhypertension were divided into intervention group and control group by random sampling. Data wereanalyzed using Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon with 95% confidence level.The results of this study indicate that: There is an effect giving pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) baruasa on thesystolic blood pressure of elderly with hypertension (p = 0.001 <0.05); (4) There is an effect giving pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) baruasa to the diastolic blood pressure of elderly with hypertension (p = 0.001 <0.05).The conclusion of this study that consumption of pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) baruasa can reduce of bloodpressure on elderly hypertensive in Jeneponto district.The suggestions for researcher presumably can further investigate the influence of pigeon pea baruasa onblood pressure in elderly man with hypertension and long storage time (expiration date) of pigeon peabaurasa


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the curative effect of CI in children with GJB2-associated NSSNHL.

METHOD
The evaluations of curative effect with CI include auditory threshold, IT-MAIS/MAIS, CAP, SIR. MESP. The outcomes of 40 cases with GJB2-associated NSSNHI, were compared 80 patients with negative results of screening of gene mutation (control group).

RESULT
In comparison with control group the auditory threshold in children with GJB2-associated NSSNIL is better, however had no significant difference in other tests (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
CI could he performed on children with GJB2-associated NSSNHL. Postoperative outcomes of hearing and speech were satisfied.


METHODS. A unilateral chronic ocular hypertensive model was established by injections of microbeads into the anterior eye chamber of adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Fingolimod was administered to one group of rats intraperitoneally every week for 3 months. The scotopic threshold response (STR) was recorded to assess the function of the inner retina. Changes in cell density in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining on retinal sections and axonal count of the optic nerve was performed using Bielschowsky's silver staining. Effects of drug treatment on activation of Akt and Erk1/2 were evaluated using Western blotting by assessing phosphorylation levels of these proteins. The expression of S1P receptors in the optic nerve head region was also evaluated using Western blotting and immunohistochemistry.


An analysis of 54 drift net samples obtained over a 72-hr period in riffle areas of the St. Joe River, Idaho, showed that a distributed concentration of 0.1 rag/ liter (100 parts per billion) of 1,1'-methylenedi-2naphthol for a 13-hr period cause no significant increase in insect drift during the sampling period. Eight species of insects in the orders Trichoptera and Ephemeroptera represented 87% of the total drift insects. All species drifted in greater abundance during the night. AN EVALUATION OF SQUOXIN ON INSECT DRIFT A study was conducted 9-11 July 1968 to determine the effects of "squoxin" (1,1'methylenedi-2-naphthol) on insect drift. At low concentrations this chemical will kill northern squawfish, Ptychocheilus oregonensis, and not harm game fish (MacPhee and Ruelie 1969). This study was conducted commensurate with eradication of squawfish from a section of the St. Joe River in northern Idaho (MacPhee and Reid 1971). Drift with did cycles is a phenomenon of many stream insects (Waters 1962, 1969; Elliott 1970; Brusven 1970). Hoffman and Surber (1948), Coutant (1964), Gibson and Chapman (1972) and others have shown that certain toxicants, e.g., insecticides, cause pronounced increases in insect drift. An abnormal increase in drift immediately after introduction of a fish toxicant would suggest excessive acute stress and possible toxic effects to insects. An evaluation of the effects of squoxin on insect drift is an important ecological consideration because aquatic insects are the •Submitted with the approval of the Directors, Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station as Research Paper No. 9; Idaho Forest Wildlife and Range Experiment Station; and Idaho Water Resources Institute. principal food of many fishes and are integral components in the stream ecosystem. Excessive aquatic insect drift caused by squoxin could ultimately disrupt the normal food chain in streams. MATERIALS AND METHODS A 35-kn, section of the St. Joe River, located between Marble Creek and St. Joe City, was treated with squoxin at a maximum distributed concentration of 0.1 rag/liter. The river through this section has a mean width of 83 m and mean depth of 1.3 m; pools average 4.6 m deep. Riffle substrates are rubble and gravel. A single drift net (0.3 x 0.6 m, fitted with a nylon bag with 0.8-ram pore size) was placed in approximately center channel in each of the ,three riffle sites. A control station (Station f) was located 0.96 km above and two test stations (Stations II and III), 1.1 and 6.56 km below the point of squoxin application. Squoxin was applied for 13 hr. Water velocities through the three nets were approximately 0.78, 0.30 and 0.72 m/sec, respectively. Discharge varied from 35-38 ma/sec and water temperature ranged from 16-20 C during the study. Drift samples were collected at 4-hr intervals for three consecutive 24-hr periods. The initial 24-hr period was sampled prior to the introduction of squoxin and served to standardize drift-net catchability. Samples were preserved in 70% alcohol in the field and subsequently sorted and identified in the laboratory. A goodness of fit test was used to determine significant differences between treated and control drift samples for major insect species. Data for Stations II and III were analyzed separately and in combination. Combined values for the two stations reduce variability and increase sample size. Observed and empirically determined expected values were compared in a 2 X 3 contingency table by a chi-square test of significance. No significant change due to treatment with the selective squawfish toxicant was deemed to exist for populations which had chi-square values smaller than 5.991, p < .05, 2 d.f. Water analysis has shown that 1,1t-methySHORT PAPERS AND NOTES 363 TABLE 1.--Principal drift taxa exposed to 0.I mg/llter o); 1,1'-methylenedl-2-naphthol ] r a 13-hr period; percentage change in dri);t net counts );oilowing treatment relative to expected values calculated [or Stations II and III; and chi-square interpretation o[ signi);icance (P • 0.05) );or a 3-day period Station II Station III Stations II and III Percentage Percentage Percentaxe Number of insects of insects of insects of followin• Statistical following Statistical following Statistical insects b treatment c interpretation treatment 1⁄2 interpretation treatment c interpretation Class Insecta 7,038 90.8 Significant 107.2 (all drift spp. ) decrease Order Ephemeroptera 5,369 89.2 Significant 109.5 decrease Ephemerella 1,152 82.6 Significant 94.6 flavilinea decrease Ephemerella 818 75.0 Significant 104.3 tibialis decrease Epeorus 2,284 82.8 Significant 112.7 longimanus decrease Cinggmula sp. 242 92.9 Not 97.7 significant Baetis spp. a 636 94.6 Significant 101.4 decrease Order Trichoptera 1,249 90.8 Significant 95.4 decrease Hgdropsgche sp. 628 81.1 Significant 100.7 decrease Brachycentrus sp. 363 103.9 Significant 50.8 increase Significant


Most of us use credit. Credit lets us use goods and services while we pay for them. Consumers can get credit because lenders can identify which borrowers are likely to pay their bills. They do so by obtaining the payment histories of individual consumers from credit reporting agencies or bureaus. Credit reporting agencies collect and report personal credit histories and debt repayment practices to their subscribers–mostly area businesses and banks. Local credit bureaus report their information to the three major creditreporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Between them, these agencies cover all fifty states, are highly computerized, and have millions of files and millions of subscribers paying a monthly fee for this information.


Benign superficial lesions of vocal fold (nodule, polyp, cyst and Reinke's edema) arise from the epithelium and the lamina propria. Vocal abuse and misuse presumably lead to excessive mechanical stress and trauma in the membranous portion of vocal fold, resulting in wound formation. Wound healing leads to remodeling of the superficial layer of the lamina propria. This tissue remodeling leads to formation of benign vocal fold lesions. These lesions are classically treated by conventional microsurgery and recently by CO2 laser. The use of the CO2 laser for the surgical treatment of Minor Associated Pathological Lesions (MAPL's) is still controversial. Some preferred cold instruments, whereas others appreciate CO2 laser as a novel alternative to conventional microsurgery for benign vocal fold lesions. To summarize the reviewed literature the issue of CO2 laser versus cold instruments is still controversial and the stage is open for more studies.

 The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of Co2 Laser versus cold instruments in the treatment of benign lesions of the vocal folds regarding voice outcome & vocal fold function.

 A meta-analysis study is done to assess the use of Co2 Laser versus conventional microlaryngeal surgery in treatment of vocal fold benign lesions.

 This study does not reveal any detectable differences in clinical outcomes in patients with nodules, polyps and cysts who underwent excision via CO2 laser or cold instruments.

 There is no sufficient evidence to determine if conventional surgery or CO2 assisted surgery is better.


Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been widely applied to various medical procedures. The daily growth of medical data leads to human mistakes in manual analysis; and increases the need for automatic analysis.  Therefore, applying tools to collect, classify, and analyse medical data automatically is essential. Medical imaging issues are extremely complex, due to the high importance of correct diagnosis and treatment of diseases in healthcare systems. For these reasons, automatic medical image analysis algorithms are used to help increase the reliability and accurate understanding of medical images. The objective of this paper is to investigate the use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithms, such as multilayer perceptron (MLP), Jordan/Eleman network, Self-Organizing Feature Map (SOFM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), to early detect bladder cancer (diagnosis), to determine tumour staging (for the sake of prognosis), and to assess the accuracy of MRI in T staging bladder cancer. A set of functional images, taken by Magnetic Resonance (MR), was used. It was found that multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network gave better results than all other algorithms. We developed a model that defines cancer level in order to enhance its treatment. Experimental results show that the devised approach increases the accuracy of bladder cancer diagnosis to 81.8% using Generalized Feed Forward (GFF) after processing for more than 40 hours.


This article presents theoretical reflections and empirical data on metacognitive aspects of memory and reading problems in children with reading-comprehension disabilities. A distinction is made between metacognitive awareness and metacognitive control processes. It is hypothesized that metacognitive awareness will bring about differences between good and poor comprehenders. Differences in control processes are more complex and must be carefully articulated. The ability to discriminate the relative difficulty of different sections of material to be read and/or studied is particularly important. This strategy is considered together with the "time allocation" strategy, in which the student discriminates between items requiring a greater or lesser expenditure of cognitive resources. Discrimination difficulty and differential allocation of cognitive resources are involved in cognitive tasks such as reading and memory. Experimental results suggest that, depending on the nature of a task, control processes can be employed differentially. Poor comprehenders present less adequate control processes while reading a passage, but not while memorizing isolated lists of items.


A 2017 American Bar Association report emphasizes the importance of negotiation skills. A Contracts course is the ideal setting in which to introduce law students to these skills. Negotiation takes place in the shadow of the law, especially the shadow of contract law. Including a negotiation exercise in a Contracts course provides students with experiential learning by bringing to life contract law and related ethical concepts. This article shows you how to include a negotiation exercise, "The House on Elm Street," in your Contracts course. The exercise has been tested worldwide in degree courses and in executive programs involving attorneys, judges, managers, and others. The article opens in Section I with instructions on how to set up the exercise. Section II provides a script for debriefing the exercise, including related slides. The article concludes in Section III with discussion of a document that enables students to assess their performance and to develop a plan for improving their negotiation skills.


Acute Lung Injury (ALI) is a devastating complication of acute illness and one of the leading causes of multiple organ failureand mortality in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The detection of this syndrome is limited due to the complexity of the disease, insufficient understanding of its development and progression, and the large amount of risk factors and modifiers, and delayed radiographic results [1]. In this paper, we propose a novel detection framework forALI that encompasses physician's experience, knowledge of pathophysiology, results of clinical trials and patient data. It involves three complementary techniques, namely, rule-based Fuzzy Inference Systems, Bayesian Networks, and Finite State Machines. The proposed application was validated on Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data for 600patients from Mayo Clinic (300 ALI and 300 Controls) and it attained sensitivity in the range of 72.3-92.3% and specificity in the range of 60-80.3% depending on the technique used, as opposed to the 30%sensitivity by bedside clinicians [2].


Sl M M A R Y : Classiricalion tasks arc esscntial in hiomcdieül Signal proccssing. Ncuro-fii///y Systems h; i \c sdf-learning capahilitics and can bc uscd to solve complcx prohlems by using a predefincd, transparent mlcbasc, vvhosc validity can be confirmed. A new mciluul is proposed hcrc for adapting the degrces of livcdom öl each luz/y set in ncural Icarning. Compared 10 cxisting methods, the newly developed algorithm showcd morc robust and effective error reduction ilunng the learning proccss, and the results were cqually disiributed among ihe Output classcs.


This work describes a straightforward and sensitive method for the multi‐residue analysis of aminoglycoside antibiotics (kanamycin B, amikacin, neomycin B and paromomycin I) in bovine milk samples. The method involves the pre‐capillary derivatization of antibiotics with sulfoindocyanine succinimidyl ester (Cy5) and their separation and determination by MEKC with LIF detection. The optimum procedure includes a derivatization step of the antibiotics at 25°C for 30 min and direct injection for MEKC analysis, which is performed in about 20 min by using borate buffer (35 mM; pH 9.2) with 55 mM SDS as an anionic surfactant and 20% ACN as the organic modifier. Under these conditions, dynamic ranges of 10–500 µg/L and RSDs (within‐day precision) from 3.8 to 5.3% were obtained. These results indicate that the proposed MEKC‐LIF method is useful as a selective and sensitive tool for the determination of these antibiotics and surpasses other reported electrophoretic alternatives. Finally, the method was successfully applied to bovine milk samples after a simple solid‐phase extraction clean‐up and preconcentration procedure. The aminoglycosides were readily detected at 0.5–1.5 µg/kg levels with average recoveries ranging from 89.4 to 93.3%.


In this article, the dynamic fracture behavior of hole-initiated cracks in functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic (FGMEE) bi-materials with exponential variation is studied by Green's function method, and SH-wave is considered as an external load acting on the bi-materials. The mechanical model of the cracks is constructed through interface-conjunction and crack-deviation techniques, thereby simplifying the crack problem to solving a series of the first kind of Fredholm's integral equations, from which the dynamic stress intensity factor (DSIF) at the crack tips is expressed. Numerical results clarified the factors that affect the DSIF, including wave number, incident angle, the geometry of the defect, and the gradient of the bi-materials. The accuracy of the present methods is examined by comparing the obtained results with the reference solutions. Compared with previous traditional numerical and analytical methods, the methods proposed in this paper are relatively more effective and applicable, and provide a new perspective for studying the fracture problems of FGMEE materials with more complex defects in practical engineering.


Technological innovation in agriculture was substantial during the 20th century. Is "modern" technological control of the environment replacing a "primitive" dependency on natural advantages and disadvantages, or has agricultural production remained persistently dependent on the environment? This paper estimates how the 20th century modernization of United States Plains' agriculture changed the impact of environmental characteristics on agricultural land values. Despite substantial technological innovation and rising land values from 1945 to 2002, counties' environmental characteristics largely maintained influence on land values. Environmental change has become no less costly, as technological innovation has not reduced the importance of natural advantages or disadvantages.


Abstract Let M be a module over a ring. We first introduce a certain algebraic subsystem Σ of the lattice of all submodules of M (an orthosystem of submodules). We then show that any ortholattice can be represented as a Σ for a suitable module. Next, we introduce linear (resp. pre-Hilbert) ortholattices as those ortholattices that allow for a "linear" representation Σ (resp. for a meet-preserving "linear" representation Σ). These notions involve a type of splitting property of Σ. As an important example, we show that any Boolean algebra is pre-Hilbertian. We then find that linear orthosystems are orthomodular and that they satisfy the ortho-Arguesian law. In the rest, we consider complete orthosystems. We show that each complete orthosystem can be induced by an orthogonality relation on M. If is a linear orthospace on M then the collection of all -closed submodules is a complete orthosystem, and vice versa. Finally, we address a natural model theoretic question on the axiomatization of orthomodular orthosystems.—The results obtained may contribute to the algebraic foundation of quantum theory.


Background and Purpose: National guidelines recommend tobacco cessation counseling at every clinic visit using the 5 A's, defined as asking about status, advising to quit, assessing readiness to quit, assisting in quitting, and arranging for follow-up after quitting. However, providers cite barriers such as lack of time and personal discomfort with the subject as reasons conversations are not held. This practice improvement focuses on overcoming these barriers through an evidence-based intervention in a small, urban, primary care clinic. Methods: A onetime staff education session about guidelines paired with a protocol algorithm and enhanced patient resources was trialed to determine its effect on the frequency of charted cessation conversations. An electronic health record documentation template, or dot phrase, measured the frequency of 5 A use in clinic visits for identified tobacco users. Providers received performance feedback twice during eight weeks of data collection. An attitude survey, administered before implementation and upon completion of data collection, determined the effect of the intervention on provider attitudes toward discussing tobacco use. Conclusions: The average frequency of use of the dot phrase was above the goal of 50% during the data collection period. Frequency of charting of all 5 A's was higher during the data collection period than at baseline. Provider attitudes about discussing cessation demonstrated no significant changes, based on baseline and post-implementation survey responses. Implications for Practice: Education and enhanced resources to facilitate tobacco cessation conversations have a positive impact on the frequency that clinic providers document tobacco cessation conversations with identified tobacco users. TOBACCO CESSATION IN PRIMARY CARE 3 Introduction Problem Description Tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2014). In addition to contributing to multiple cancers, tobacco use also plays a role in the development of heart and lung disease and affects existing conditions, such as Type-2 diabetes (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2014). National guidelines advise providers to query all adult patients about their current level of tobacco use, recommend cessation, and provide behavioral and pharmacological interventions at every clinic visit (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, 2015). The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides evidence based guidelines that recommend utilizing the first three of the "5A's" on all tobacco users; defined as asking about smoking status, advising to quit smoking and assessing the patient's willingness to quit (AHRQ, 2008). If the patient is ready to quit, the additional two A's of assisting the patient in quitting and arranging for follow-up within a week of the patient's determined quit date are required (AHRQ, 2008). Unfortunately, despite these guidelines providers frequently fail to assess and intervene consistently with tobacco users (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Enhancing the ability of staff to deliver effective tobacco cessation counseling is a goal among providers at a small, primary care clinic in the Northwest region of the United States serving Medicaid and uninsured adult African American patients. Prior to implementation of the intervention, the clinic's standard practice was to ask all patients about current tobacco use on intake with further cessation conversations left up to the discretion of the provider. Barriers to providing quality tobacco cessation identified by clinic staff include lack of time, reduced prioritization and low level of patient readiness to quit. Additionally, staff identified inadequate TOBACCO CESSATION IN PRIMARY CARE 4 clinical cessation intervention skills as a barrier, defined by the staff as an inability to know how to effectively direct cessation conversations. Available Knowledge The barriers identified by staff are not isolated to this clinic, but are echoed in a qualitative study by Blumenthal (2007) among providers caring for underserved communities. Additionally, Meredith, Yano, Hickey, and Sherman (2005) found that providers with more favorable attitudes towards smoking cessation have higher rates of patient-reported smoking cessation behaviors. Therefore, working through barriers faced by providers may improve their attitude towards discussing tobacco use with patients and, in turn, increase quit rates by patients. While evidence-based guidelines for tobacco cessation exist, many patients are not screened to determine tobacco use or provided with assistance quitting (Linder, Rigotti, Schneider, Kelley, Brawarsky, & Haas, 2009). Previous studies have demonstrated that less than 30% of smokers seen for primary care visits are offered evidence-based assistance in quitting (Bentz et al., 2007). When tobacco dependence is understood as a chronic disease requiring multiple interventions and quit attempts (US Department of Health, 2008), the importance of provider identification and documentation of tobacco use, and subsequent counseling, is underscored. Further support of this is the frequency with which smokers cite a provider's advice to quit as an important motivator for cessation (US Department of Health, 2008). In a review of 42 studies conducted between 1972 and 2012, Stead et al. (2013) concluded that a brief cessation discussion by providers significantly increases the likelihood that someone who uses tobacco will quit and be free of use for at least 12 months. More intensive discussions, advice, and follow-up support further increase the likelihood that someone will quit tobacco products (Stead et al., 2013). This highlights the importance of ensuring providers are adequately trained to TOBACCO CESSATION IN PRIMARY CARE 5 identify tobacco use among their patients, start and continue the dialogue surrounding cessation, and support patients through the challenges of quitting. Previous studies demonstrate the efficacy of provider education about the 5 A's on the rates of documented cessation conversations. Caplan, Stout and Blumenthal (2010) utilized an intervention at a clinic serving predominately African American patients in the state of Georgia that consisted of provider education and patient provision of Pathways to Freedom, a culturally sensitive educational brochure. Comparing the frequency of 5 A's use preand post-intervention, with 308 identified tobacco users in each group, Caplan, Stout and Blumenthal (2010) found statistically significant increases (p < 0.0001) in the frequency of provider charted advising (89 post v. 37 pre), assessing (73 post v. 16 pre), assisting (65 post v. 19 pre) and arranging (53 post v. 18 pre). Gordon, Andrews, Crews, Payne and Severson (2007) compared a control group to a group of providers educated on using the 3 A's (ask, advise, and assess) to a group using 5 A's (ask, advise, assess, assist, and arrange) among dental office staff and found significant data for higher levels of quit rates among those receiving 3 or 5 A's compared to the control who received neither (χ2 (1, n = 1381) = 3.37, p<0.05). The data from this study indicates that even partial completion of the 5 A's produces significant results for quit rates compared to usual care. In addition to the effect of provider education on behavior change, other studies demonstrate the impact that enhanced resources can provide on the frequency of appropriately utilizing the 5 A's. Katz, Muchlenbruch, Brown, Fiore and Baker (2002) added a real-time alert in the electronic health record (EHR), performance feedback reports, and an algorithm guideline for clinic staff in addition to AHRQ guidelines about tobacco cessation. Compared to a group who only received AHRQ guidelines with no additional prompts or resources, Katz et al. (2002) found that the intervention group had significantly greater (p ≤ 0.05) rates of providers asking TOBACCO CESSATION IN PRIMARY CARE 6 about smoking status (71% intervention v. 58% control), advising to quit (50% intervention v. 19% control), asking about willingness to quit (66% intervention v. 14% control), providing quit literature (30% intervention v. 0.01% control), setting a quit date (28% intervention v. 0.001% control) and discussing pharmacotherapy (36% intervention v. 0.02% control). The effect of provider feedback on performance was also demonstrated by Bentz et al. (2006) who report significantly (p < 0.001) higher rates of advising (71.6% intervention v. 52.7% control), assessing (65.5% intervention v. 40.1% control) and assisting (20.1% intervention v. 10.5% control) implementation among providers receiving individual performance feedback. Rationale The primary theory guiding the practice improvement is the Theory of Reasoned Action. Using this theory, behavior is believed to be influenced by an individual's attitude about the behavior and by his or her subjective norms, defined as the individual's perception of other's opinion of the behavior (White, 2012b). This theory assumes that individuals are rational beings and that to successfully change behaviors, the individual must have a positive attitude towards the change, feel they have control over the change, and perceive the change as positive by their social group (White, 2012b). An individual's attitude towards a behavior is influenced by his or her beliefs about the outcome of the behavior and his or her evaluation of the expected outcomes (White, 2012b). For this practice improvement, addressing the common barriers to provider provision of smoking cessation can help the individual providers at the clinic develop a more favorable attitude towards performing the intervention. Furthermore, informing the providers of the evidence-based nature of the intervention, and its success in similar practice environments, can help to foster positive


Abstract. Due to the quantum confinement effect of graphene quantum dots (GQDs), the fluorescence properties of the GQDs can be adjusted by changing the size of the GQDs. We can obtain better fluorescence properties of the GQDs by varying the preparation conditions. GQDs were prepared by the pyrolysis method. To obtain GQDs with excellent fluorescence properties, the effect of different pyrolysis times and pH values on the properties of GQDs were studied. Fourier infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, and fluorescence spectroscopy (PL) were used to characterize the morphology, structure, and fluorescence properties of GQDs. The experimental results show that with the increase of pyrolysis time, the carbonization of citric acid intensifies, the size of GQDs increases, the fluorescence peak of GQDs broadens, and the dependence of fluorescence emission increased gradually. Fluorescence property changes with the pyrolysis time, the fluorescence property is optimal with the pyrolysis time of 30 min, and the suitable pyrolysis time will cause the citric acid sufficient reaction to produce the maximum yield of GQDs. Besides, GQDs fluorescence properties are also affected by the acid-base environment. The fluorescence of GQDs solution has the strongest in an alkaline environment and quenched in an acidic environment.


Sir, Your most acceptable Letter, dated July 4 old stile, came to hand on the 19th of the same month, new stile: upon the receipt whereof, I immediately open'd the piece of black Silk contain'd within it, where I found two little Worms dead, and one alive, which were sent you to be convey'd to me, as being taken out of a corrupt Tooth by smoaking.


This paper examined the concept of monetization and its importance in valuation of the forest's social and environmental service functions, vis--vis its sustainable management. Various monetization techniques are highlighted and discussed. Some of these include surrogate price and replacement costs or costs avoided, value of production increases, opportunity costs, travel costs, hedonic pricing and contingent valuation method. (CVM).
The use of CVM is canvassed for, because of its highly flexible framework for the valuation of virtually all social and environmental benefits. It can also be easily adapted in developing and less developed countries, where inadequacy of data on socio-ecnomic and environmental characteristics make the use of most other valuation techniques problematic. Keen interest in monetization of forest's non-market benefits, will ensure "holistic approach" to conservation of our natural environmental resources.
[JEXT Vol.2(1) 2001: 117-125]


Chest computed tomography is an important method for detecting lung cancer. Because early lung cancer nodules are small, making them difficult to detect, the current automatic lung cancer detection system can easily lead to missed diagnosis when detecting these nodules; therefore, accurate detection of early lung cancer nodules is crucial for improving the lung cancer cure rate. To reduce the missed diagnosis rate of early nodules in the detection system, it is necessary to optimize the extraction steps of candidate nodules. Based on the improvement of U-Net, this paper proposes noisy U-Net (NU-Net), which can enhance the neural network's sensitivity to small nodules by adding a special noise to the hidden layers in training. The neural network is trained using the LUng Nodule Analysis 2016 dataset and the Alibaba Tianchi Lung Cancer Detection Competition dataset. The comparative experiment between the U-Net and NU-Net reveals that the proposed algorithm's sensitivity to small nodules with diameters of 3–5 mm (97.1%) is greater than the U-Net value (90.5%).


ABSTRACT This paper reports the design and development of a planar triplexer for WLAN/WiMAX/5G Wi-Fi applications based on a composite right-/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) with low passband insertion loss, high channel isolation, wide stopband and minimal fabrication complexity. Even- and odd-mode methods are used to extract resonant properties of the globe-shaped open stub loaded stepped impedance resonator (GSOSL-SIR). The transmission line model of the GSOSL-SIR is analyzed and based on that; three bandpass filters are designed at 2.4/3.5/5.5 GHz. The equivalent LC circuit model for GSOSL-SIR-based CRLH-TL is provided with all lumped parameters fully defined. Finally, Triplexer is proposed by connecting all the three bandpass filters where each channel shows measured center frequency of 2.4/3.48/5.52 GHz with 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 22.08/22.19/16.3%. The proposed triplexer achieves high channel isolation (>30 dB) and low in-band insertion losses (1.1/0.87/1.3 dB) for the three filter channels. Additionally, the triplexer has measured 20 dB rejection levels from 6.5 GHz to 14.64 GHz and 10 dB rejection levels from 6.22 GHz to 19.85 GHz. The observed concordance between measured, electromagnetic simulated and equivalent LC circuit simulated results supports the utility of the design method.


Problems in reactor construction in West Germany, and the technical risks and possibilities involved in calculating their economic feasibility, are discussed in comparison with the situation in other countries. (auth)


Water-tunnel tests of a NACA 0012 airfoil that was oscillated sinusoidally in plunge are described. The flowered downstream of the airfoil was explored by dye flow visualization and single-component laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurements for a range of freestream speeds, frequencies, and amplitudes of oscillation. The dye visualizations show that the vortex patterns generated by the plunging airfoil change from drag-producing wake flows to thrust-producing jet flows as soon as the ratio of maximum plunge velocity to freestream speed, i.e., the nondimensional plunge velocity, exceeds approximately 0.4. The LDV measurements show that the nondimensional plunge velocity is the appropriate parameter to collapse the maximum streamwise velocity data covering a nondimensional plunge velocity range from 0.18 to 9.3


ABSTRACT The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of farrowing month (FM) and sex on growth performance (GP), measured in terms of body weight (BW) and dimensions such as the girth, length and the leg heights, of purebred Berkshire pigs reared in a hoop structure. Body weights were recorded at birth and every four weeks until 20th week for all traits. Backfat thickness (BF) was measured at the shoulder, in the middle and at the back with an ultrasound prior to slaughter. Least square means of GP traits were estimated with Proc Mixed in SAS 9.3 for fixed effects such as sex, parity, FM and FM by day of age interaction. Sex did not have a significant effect on GP. Farrowing month made a difference in GP, however. Pigs farrowed in June were born the heaviest and the largest and finished the heaviest and the largest at 20th week, closely followed by pigs farrowed in October. The smallest pigs were found in those farrowed in September. Prominent trend in correlation between BW and body measurement ratios could not be found. However, pigs with taller legs and shorter length at 8th week have smaller BF, indicating leaner meat.


Metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phr ase that ordinarily designates one thing: (A) is used to designate another (B), thus making an implicit comparison, in which "one thing (A)" is the reality, "another [thing] (B)" is the target, the similarity on which they (A and B) are compared is the ground(C). Metaphor is frequently used in daily life, especi ally in novels, which excel in various figures of speech, including metaphor. Th e paper explores the textual function of metaphor by analyzing Lu Xun's several short novels.


The aim of this quantitative study was to follow up children born extremely preterm (before week 29) in adulthood. The group of extremely preterm adults was compared to peers born at term. The extremely preterm and the control group have previously been followed up at ages 10 and 18. At the time of this study the participants were 27-28 years old. Questionnaires were sent to the two groups and 77 out of 101 (76%) participated in the study; 35 adults born extremely preterm and 42 adults born at term. The results show that the lives of adults born extremely preterm were comparable to peers born at term; no differences were found regarding having a relationship, having children, higher education or age they left their parental home. Results indicated no significant difference in well-being measured by Ryff's scales of psychological well-being. Regarding social relationships, measured by ISSI-SR, no differences were found in availability and adequacy of close relationships. The group of extremely preterm participants reported less social interaction, but was nevertheless pleased with the social contacts they had. Overall, the adults born extremely preterm have adapted well to adulthood and in most aspects they do not differ from peers born at term.


Several models of selective attention are reviewed, emphasizing how breakdowns in various parts of each model could result in certain attentional deficits. It is concluded that some evidence suggests that the ability to mobilize attention may not be as impaired in schizophrenia as is the ability to choose which stimuli are appropriate for attention. If so, then in any cognitive experiment involving schizophrenics, any schizophrenic subject would be particularly distracted by certain extraneous stimuli, while other schizophrenic subjects would be particularly distracted by other stimuli. The importance of this possibility for cognitive research in schizophrenia is discussed.


Objective To evaluate the antihypertensive effect and safety of diltiazem infusion in patients with hypertension emergency.Methods 72 patients with hypertension acute disease were divided into 2 groups which were:the diltiazem group(n=38) and the Sodium Nitroprusside group(n=34)according to whether diltiazem was applied or not.The changes of blood pressure,SBP,DBP and heart rate were monitored and compared.Results The effect on blood pressure was significantly dropped.Conclusion The data indicate that intravenous diltiazen infusion is effective and safe for patients with hypertension acute disease.


Comments and other filings concerning this application should be clearly marked with OE Docket No. PP– 481–1. Additional copies are to be provided directly to Mr. Donald Jessome, Chief Executive Officer, Transmission Developers Inc., Pieter Schuyler Building, 600 Broadway, Albany, New York 12207–2283, donald.jessome@ transmissiondevelopers.com and Jay Ryan, Baker Botts LLP, 700 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20001, jay.ryan@ bakerbotts.com.


The calculation models of AC and DC electric fields of valve side winding and bushing lead-out wires are established.The AC,DC and DC ploarity reversal electric fields are numerically calculated and analyzed.The distribution laws of AC and DC electric fields are obtained.


This study has the objective of develop a quality management system, which applies in an Ecuadorian food company; first the study proposes business objectives, which indicate the sector that must evaluated to propose improvements. The tools used were quality management indicators, which assess the compliance of procedures within the company and make comparisons with business objectives to determine their correct operation. These tools were implemented in a period of more than six months, within which the indicators were used, in order to specify the fulfillment of their business objectives. Finally, the varied results were evaluated in order to propose improvements for the company's growth.


The imposition of the audit culture on schooling has severely limited teachers' freedom and dignity, exacerbating traditions of teacher education and employment that are infantilizing. If teachers are to participate in the politics that determine curriculum and pedagogy, education programs must provide differentiated credentials that welcome adults into teaching and offer insight into the processes of political organizing and public speech.


In order to implement CGF entitys' intelligent decision more effectively,the design of an intelligent decision system was in-troduced based on the blackboard model,by predefining the blackboard structure,knowledge source structure and decision strategy.It can offer a simple and friendly platform for CGF.Furthermore,the algorithm of decision with uncertainty is used in the predefined control strategy,and it enables the intelligent decision systems to make decision more quickly and correctly.This system can satisfy the demand for the intelligent decision of CGF.


The effects of partially replacing grass-legume silage with barley straw, without or with either supplemental energy or protein, were assessed in 72 lactating beef cows. Diets were fed from calving in January-February until turnout to pasture in late May. Performance of cows and their calves was measured over this period, and weight and body condition were measured at weaning in September. Apparent digestibility and N balance of these diets was also assessed in growing steers. Replacing half the silage with barley straw reduced diet digestibility (P < 0.05), intake (P < 0.05), body weight (BW) gain (P < 0.001) and body condition (P < 0.001) of cows but did not affect BW gain or weaning weights of calves. Reproductive performance was also unaffected, although overall production efficiency (kg weaned calf kg-1 cow BW) was impaired (P < 0.10). When the silage-straw diet was supplemented with barley, metabolizable energy (ME) intake was increased to the level supplied by the all-silage diet. However, there wa...


This paper, a part of a Ph.D. thesis in progress, aims to compare the relative efficacy of the grammar translation method (GTM) and dramatics in developing composition skills of secondary school English language learners. Pre-test post-test control group design was used to collect data. The sample consisted of 138 secondary school students, and was randomly assigned to the control and the experimental groups on the basis of a pre-test. After the treatment, a post-test was administered in order to measure the difference of achievement. The rating scale for measuring different components of composition was developed and validated before the actual test. The t-test was used to find out the significant difference between the means of the two scores at the selected probability level i.e. x=.05. It was found that the students taught through dramatics performed significantly better than those taught through GTM. The study recommends that dramatics should be frequently used to develop creative and original writing among the learners of English.


G protein-coupled receptors are integral membrane proteins in cell signaling processes. Activation of G protein-coupled receptors by specific agonists promotes the activation of different G-proteins, activating different intracellular signaling pathways, including adenylate cyclase activation and intracellular calcium release. One of the G protein-coupled receptors studied is the kisspeptin receptor, which regulates reproduction and gonadotropin secretion. However, recent studies have shown that kisspeptin and its receptor have non-canonical roles in cell signaling and several biological systems. In the present review, we will present these different functions exerted by the kisspeptin system in different biological systems, such as the central nervous system, the cardiovascular system, and the immune system, as well as the role of this system in pathologies such as preeclampsia, diabetes, and cancer. Understanding their non-canonical roles in cell signaling may have important implications in developing new therapies for various diseases.

Keywords: Kisspeptin-1 Receptor, Kisspeptins, G-protein coupled receptor, Signal Transduction, Cancer, Diabetes Mellitus, Preeclampsia.


Emotional education has grown exponentially in the last decade, although outlining an emotional regulation from parameters of majority cultural groups that leaves aside the socialization of emotion from an affective ideal- or the expected behaviour on the emotional plane that considers cultural differences and education minority group family members. This study is to analyse research about the affective ideal in contexts of cultural diversity to contribute to it understanding in education, through a review of documents published in the Web of Sciences, Scopus, and APA PsycNet databases, in the diachronic period 2006-2021. The need for an emotional education that recognizes the affective ideal of the cultures shared in a territory is discussed. It is concluded that there is an incipient investigation of cultural mediatization on the affective ideal in contexts of sociocultural diversity, and little research in the educational plane. This should be preferred in Latin America, marked by models of monocultural emotional education models, which in culturally diverse educational settings, translates into discrimination and racism.


The secondary battery having a battery electrode plate, a method of manufacturing a battery electrode plate and battery electrode plates are provided. Method for producing a battery electrode plate includes the step of repeating the step, a drying step, calendering step, and the coating, drying and calendering steps of coating an electrode material on a current collector substrate (1) at least once. Capacity of the battery employing a battery electrode plate according to the present invention is high.


PURPOSE
The major purpose of the current study was to evaluate the psychologic and neuropsychologic functioning of patients undergoing treatment with autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Fifty-four patients with hematologic disorders or breast cancer completed a battery of psychologic and neuropsychologic tests before ABMT, at mid-treatment (1 to 3 days following bone marrow reinfusion), and predischarge (within 1 to 2 days before discharge from the hospital).

RESULTS
Analysis of pretransplant data showed significantly higher scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and Profile of Mood States (POMS) for patients with hematologic disorders as compared with patients with breast cancer. However, no baseline differences on neuropsychologic measures were found when patients were divided into groups based on prior exposure to cranial radiation and/or intrathecal chemotherapy. Serial evaluations at pretransplant, following return of bone marrow, and at predischarge were available for 34 patients. For the psychologic data, patients with hematologic disorders tended to be more distressed than breast cancer patients at baseline, but became less distressed over time. By contrast, breast cancer patients were relatively less distressed at baseline, demonstrated a significant increase in distress midtreatment, and returned to baseline levels at predischarge assessment. Scores on neuropsychologic measures that assessed higher order cognitive functioning generally worsened over time.

CONCLUSION
The results suggest a differential response on psychologic measures when comparing patients with hematologic disorders with those with breast cancer. However, both groups demonstrated a general decline in performance on neuropsychologic measures over the course of treatment.


Medical equipment and metering management is an important part of the hospital management.The development of modern hospitals put forward higher requirements for medical equipment quality control and management,and the information of medical equipment management about the procurement,configuration,application,repair and quality control were described. Medical measurement instruments in the hospital were need for the treatment of the patients,and medical equipment is closely related to measurement management.


Mesoporous Mn-MCM-41 and Mo-MCM-41 molecular sieves were synthesized by hydrothermal method using manganese chloride, ammonium molybdate and sodium metasilicate as the source for Mn, Mo and Si. Mo(Im), Mn-MCM-41 was synthesized by impregnating Mn-MCM-41 with ammonium molybdate by wet chemical method. These materials were characterized by XRD, TGA, FT-IR and ESR techniques. The vapour phase oxidation of benzyl alcohol and cyclohexanol was attempted over these molecular sieves as a probe reaction. The principal products were benzaldehyde and cyclohexanone. The activity of Mn-MCM-41 was found to be better than the other two catalysis. The influence of time on stream was studied at 300°C for both the reactions over Mn-MCM-41 and Mo-MCM-41 molecular sieves. The conversion decreased very slightly with increase in time on stream.


Abstract Let $\mathbb C$ be a non-degenerate planar curve. We show that the curve is of Khintchine-type for convergence in the case of simultaneous approximation in $\mathbb R^2$ with two independent approximation functions; that is if a certain sum converges then the set of all points (x,y) on the curve which satisfy simultaneously the inequalities ||qx|| < ψ1(q) and ||qy|| < ψ2(q) infinitely often has induced measure 0. This completes the metric theory for the Lebesgue case. Further, for multiplicative approximation ||qx|| ||qy|| < ψ(q) we establish a Hausdorff measure convergence result for the same class of curves, the first such result for a general class of manifolds in this particular setup.


Data are presented on changes in physical properties and insecticidal activity resulting from modifications in chemical structure in two groups of compounds. The first group consists of propoxur and three closely related N-methylcarbamates and the corresponding N-acetyl compounds The parent compounds are all highly toxic to adult mosquitos by topical application in solution and deposits from water-dispersible powder formulations on plywood and plaster of Paris panels have long residual activity. N-acetylation is not accompanied by excessive loss of toxicity to mosquitos, but increases volatility to the extent that none of the four N-acetyl derivatives can be considered as potential residual insecticides. The second group consists of tetrachlorvinphos and related vinyl phosphates and vinyl phosphorothionates which show a wide range of toxicity both to adult mosquitos and to mammals.


Research and experience tells us that satisfied suppliers are more willing to provide preferential treatment to customers--treatment that can lead directly to market advantage. But what does it take to become a "preferred customer" and capture that edge? The findings presented here answer that question, offering a set of managerial actions to help buyers become the preferred customers of choice to their key suppliers.


Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is an unusual pleural‐based blastoma presenting in childhood composed by undifferentiated sarcomatous tissue with divergent differentiation and occasional benign epithelial‐lined structures. We are presenting the cytologic features of PPB as diagnosed by fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the lower lobe of the right lung in a 4‐year‐old girl. The smears showed highly malignant cells with hyperchromatic oval or multilobulated pleomorphic nuclei strongly suggesting an aggressive sarcoma. Histology of the aspirated material also revealed small fragments of a myxoid sarcoma with some pleomorphic anaplastic cells. Lobectomy and surgical pathologic investigation confirmed the diagnosis. PPB seems to be another tumor in which accurate diagnosis may be achieved by FNAC. Diagn. Cytopathol. 1998;19:303–305. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Adaptation in Contemporary Culture: Textual Infidelities seeks to reconfigure the ways in which adaptation is conceptualised by considering adaptation within an extended range of generic, critical and theoretical contexts. This collection explores literary, film, television and other visual texts both as 'origins' and 'adaptations' and offers new insights into the construction of genres, canons and 'classics'. Chapters investigate both 'classic' and contemporary texts by British and American authors, from Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe and Charles Dickens to Bret Easton Ellis, P.D James and Sarah Waters.

A diverse range of literary, film and television genres is examined, from romance to science fiction, the Western to the 'women's picture' and the heritage film to postmodern pastiche. With a thematic focus on key critical paradigms for adaptation studies - fidelity, intertextuality, historicity and authorship - this collection expands the field of adaptation studies beyond its conventional focus on 'page to screen' adaptations to include film remakes, video games, biopics, fan fiction and celebrity culture.


This Study was conducted to examine the relatonship between insufficient sleep and internet usage among middle school students. This study is a secondary analysis of the data collected via the 11th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey Questionnaire(2015) was conducted. The subjects of this were 34,299 middle school students who took the corresponding survey. Data analysis was complex stratified sample data were used with SPSS 22.0 program. The results showed that the internet usage during the weekday had a statistically significant effect on the sleep duration. Those who sleep over seven and under eight hours during the weekday were 1.18 times(p<.001) risk of using the internet for more than 3hours than those who sleep over 8hours during the weekday. Also, the value was 1.38 times(p<.001) for those who sleep over six and under seven hours, 1.84 times(p<.001) for those who sleep over five and under six hours, and 2.97 times(p<.001) those who sleep under 5hours. In conclusion, it was found that middle school students had the highest risk of using the internet for more than 3hours during weekday when sleep duration was less than 5hours. Therefore, proper management of the internet usage of adolescent is needed.


This commentary critically evaluates the capacity for the Green Climate Fund to deliver distributive justice in the light of Conference of Parties 17 and the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (UNFCCC, 2011b).


Abstract Recent years have seen an international move towards home treatment of acute mental health difficulties. This has been based upon trial data which do little to develop understanding of how or why this approach is as effective as it seems to be. In order to explore this question the study interviewed patients who had recently used the services of a crisis resolution home treatment (CRHT) team in the English East Midlands. Triangulated parallel qualitative analyses of 33 semi-structured interviews conducted by service users trained in research techniques demonstrated that successful CRHT reflected practitioners' ability to provide clients with a sense of feeling safe, accepted and understood. Unhelpful outcomes followed when participants did not experience such unconditionally supportive relationships. These findings further endorse the primacy of relational factors in mental health practice. They are discussed in relation to the Dodo Bird verdict upon psychological therapies and systemic difficulties acknowledging an inconvenient truth.


Objective
To explore the effect of ginsenoside Rd on regulatory T cells (Tregs)/helper T cell 17 (Th17) imbalance in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice models.

Methods
Fifty-four female C57BL/6 mice, aged 6-8 weeks, were randomly divided into ginsenoside Rd group, phosphate buffered saline (PBS) group and blank-control group (n=18). The EAE mice models in the first two groups were induced by classical Mog35-55 peptide immunoinduction method; ginsenoside Rd of 40 mg/(kg·d) was dissolved in PBS and intraperitoneally injected into the mice daily in the ginsenoside Rd group on 13th d of immunization; the mice in the PBS group and control group were intraperitoneally injected with same dose of PBS. Daily clinical symptom scale scores were obtained from the first d to the 20th d of immunization, and the lumbar spinal cords of the mice were taken for histological evaluation (inflammation scale and demyelinating scale) after the last symptom scale. On the 20th d of immunization, the spleens of each group were taken for cultivation; splenocytes were cultured in vitro for 48 h, and the culture supernatant was taken for detecting interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-17 levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA); the proportions of Tregs and Th17 in spleen tissues were detected by flow cytometry; real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the mRNA expressions of Janus kinase 1 (JAK1), Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), signal transduction and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), retinoic acid-related orphan nuclear receptors γt (ROR-γt) and forkhead gene p3 (Foxp3) in the lumbar spinal cords of mice in each group.

Results
(1) The clinical symptom scale scores and inflammation scale scores of ginsenoside Rd group were significantly lower than those of PBS group (P<0.05); there were a large number of inflammatory cells infiltration and loss of myelin in the lumbar spinal cord of PBS group, while the loss of myelin sheath in ginsenoside Rd group was obviously decreased as compared with that in PBS group; the demyelination scale scores between the two groups showed statistical differences (P<0.05). (2) As compared with those in the PBS group, the IL-10 level was significantly increased and the IL-17 level was significantly decreased in the splenocyte culture supernatant of ginsenoside Rd group (P<0.05). (3) As compared with the PBS group, the ginsenoside Rd group had significantly decreased proportion of CD4+IL-17+ cells and significantly increased proportion of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells in the spleen (P<0.05). (4) As compared with those in the PBS group, the mRNA expression levels of JAK1, JAK2, STAT3 and ROR-γt were significantly decreased, and Foxp3 mRNA expression level was significantly increased in the lumbar spinal cords of the ginsenoside Rd group (P< 0.05).

Conclusion
Ginsenoside Rd can improve the condition of EAE mice models by altering the expressions of Foxp3/RORγt/STAT3 signaling pathway molecules related to differentiation of Tregs/Th17, increasing the IL-10 level and Tregs ratio, and decreasing the IL-17 level and Th17 ratio.

Key words:
Ginsenoside Rd; Experimental autoimmune encephamyelitis; Regulatory T cell; Helper T cell 17; Cell imbalance


After the report in the 1970s by Dr Laragh's group that high plasma renin was a risk factor for cardiovascular events, renin and angiotensin II received much attention from the cardiovascular community as putative mediators of the detrimental effects of the renin–angiotensin– aldosterone system (RAAS) on the heart and vessels. Accordingly, because of this almost exclusive consideration for decades afterward, aldosterone was forgotten in this context until our group and others in the mid-1990s reported excess left ventricular hypertrophy and fibrosis in human primary aldosteronism, a common form of high blood pressure (BP) featuring low or undetectable plasma renin and angiotensin. A good deal of experimental work by Weber and Brilla, and independently by Rocha et al. concomitantly showed with elegant studies in rats that hyperaldosteronism and a high salt intake were associated with cardiac fibrosis, both in the left ventricle (LV) and in the right ventricle (RV), and also with clear-cut inflammatory changes.


Introduction In technology the use of pure materials is rare. The idea that, in order to get desired properties, one needs to use not pure materials but mixtures dates to prehistoric times, when it was discovered how much more useful copper was if tin were added to make bronze. So it is a natural idea to assume that one can broaden the range of materials that can be made from a few basic polymer types by mixing or blending these basic types together. However, it turns out not to be so easy; if you take a pair of common polymers, poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene, say, and mechanically mix them, you get a very brittle material whose properties are generally much worse than those of either of the pure ingredients. The reason for this is fairly clear — examination of the resulting material reveals that the two polymers separate to form coarse domains of pure polymer; there is no intimate mixing between the components. Moreover, the interface between the domains is very weak. The difficulty of making a strong bond between two polymers is something most people are familiar with; joining two different plastics is usually difficult with most glues, which form weak joints with plastics.


Abstract : An investigation was made of the problem of minimizing the drag of a slender, two-demensional body in hypersonic flow under the assumption that the pressure coefficient law is Newton's impact law as modified by Busemann to include centripetal acceleration effects. After the condition that the pressure coefficient be non-negative is accounted for and after arbitrary conditions are imposed on the thickness, the length, the enclosed area, and the moment of inertia of the contour, the minimal problem is formulated as a problem of the Mayer type and solved by the combined use of the Euler-Lagrange equations, the transversality condition, the Erdmann-Weierstrass corner conditions. and the properties of the switching function. The class of solutions was determined such that, among the four quantities being considered (the thickness, the length, the enclosed area, and the moment of inertiak of the contour), two are prescribed while the remaining are free. (Author)


Most evaluation methods for purchasing newer and enticing information and communication technology (ICT) in organisations are based on financial models, or are premised on the presumption that the new ICT is not replacing an existing ICT. However, the availability and constant proliferation of more powerful and functional ICT in most organisations today means that the models may need to recognise already existing ICTs in use. There is therefore a need for such a tool that can assist decision makers, particularly in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Using the Information Systems Success Model as the base model, the study developed a conceptual framework using financial and non‑financial models. Data collected from 222 SME owners using an online survey was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The key findings suggest that the psychological views of SME owners and the performance of the existing ICTs are important in the evaluation of existing ICTs. The study found that some features of the existing ICTs and SME surroundings do not matter, but the contentment of the SME owner with the existing ICTs does. This study is expected to assist SME owners with the creation of a handy tool to evaluate existing ICTs before considering newer enticing ICTs. The study recommends that SME owners should not base their decisions to continue using the existing ICTs on their personal experiences only. Future research, however, should consider other factors which may be relevant in the evaluation of existing ICTs.


Body: Objective .To explore the characteristics of the oxygen uptake efficiency (OUE) in patients with COPD, and analyze the relationship of its severity with airway obstruction and exercise tolerance. Methods . Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) and Cardiopulmonary exercise testing(CPET )were tested in 59 patients with stable COPD patients and 29 healthy volunteers, collection and analysis of successive breathing respiratory exchange parameters. Results.(1)Compared with the normal control group, the OUES and OUEP of the COPD patient group were significantly lower(P 0.05); the OUES of the GOLD stageII~IV was significantly lower compared with the normal control group;. The OUEP and OUE@AT of the GOLD stageII~III was significantly lower compared with the normal control group; (4) The OUES of the COPD patient group has significant positive correlate with the FEV 1 %pred (r = 0.581, P 0.05). (5) The the COPD patient group's OUES,OUEP,OUE@AT is significantly positive correlate (r=0.500, P <0.001; r=0.516, P <0.001;r=0.625, P <0.001)with the exercise tolerance. Conclusions .The oxygen uptake efficiency of patients with COPD is significantly reduced compared with the normal, and has a significant positive correlate with the severity of the airway obstruction and the exercise tolerance.


Provides a methodology for providing temporary cohesion of mosaic (pavement) fragments, in order to display them as they were. The methodology provides an outline of the needed materials, including copper foil and fresh mortar. The main advantage of this method is that it permits segmenting the mosaic floor and maintaining its original appearance. The article includes photographs of the final results that should be obtained.


Conrad's famous "The Secret Sharer" and the short story "La palabra asesino" ["The Word 'Killer'" in its English translation] by the Argentine Luisa Valenzuela both concern psychological self-exploration and selfdiscovery, through contact with a killer, a situation which challenges conventional moral standards. It is suggested that a comparison between the two stories may throw reciprocal light on both of them. In each story an act or acts of murder becomes a trigger which sets off a train of psychological events, somewhat different in the two cases. Discussion of the differences highlights the authors' priorities and the significance they attach to the darker side of the human personality. Both stories are highly ambiguous; but the ambiguity serves a different purpose in each case. Conrad is concerned with psychological "doubling"; Valenzuela with exploration of aspects of the human personality which in turn may be related to aspects of Argentina's collective personality as it expressed itself during the "Dirty War." An examination of the different forces in play in the two stories improves our understanding of both. This article is available in Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature: http://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol32/iss1/10 On the Dark Side: Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" and Valenzuela's "La palabra asesino" Donald L. Shaw University of Virginia The most outstanding feature of Spanish American fiction in the second half of the twentieth century was the emergence of the "Boom" writers, headed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. With the Boom, Spanish American fiction can be said to have come of age and to have taken its place in mainstream Western fiction, capturing a huge international audience. Since the Boom the most striking fact related to Spanish American fiction has been the emergence of a galaxy of women novelists and short story writers (the Boom group were all men) among whom the Argentine Luisa Valenzuela occupies a prominent if not a leading position, equidistant from the extreme reader-friendliness of Isabel Allende on the one hand, and the equally extreme experimentalism of her fellow Chilean Diamela Eltit on the other. Early in her career, Valenzuela seemed set to move in the latter direction, with El gato eficaz (1972), written (significantly) at the Writing School of the University of Iowa where several other major Spanish American writers of her generation honed their skills, and Cola de lagartija (1983). Both of these are very difficult and demanding novels in contrast to the much more accessible short stories of Cambio de armas (1982) which include "La palabra asesino," translated as "The Word 'Killer'" in Other Weapons (1985). In what follows I look comparatively at this very accomplished story and Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" (1910) with which it has features in common. It is not suggested that Valenzuela knew Conrad's novella, though the possibility cannot be discounted. Valenzuela was steeped in the writings of Borges, who was undoubtedly Spanish America's leading Conrad fan and may 1 Shaw: On the Dark Side: Conrad's "The Secret Sharer" and Valenzuela's " Published by New Prairie Press


Some embryos of Thais emarginata attain twice the shell length of others by the time of hatching (0.9 to 1.8 mm, +44% to -31%, about the mean). Larger hatchlings must have acquired more nurse eggs than smaller ones. Embryos tend to reach the same size when nurse eggs are scarce (in crowded capsules), and size differences are most apparent when nurse eggs are present in excess. Therefore, competition among embryos contributes little to hatching size differences. Embryos are distributed haphazardly among capsules; some capsules contain only one embryo which becomes large, while others contain as many as 33 embryos, each of which remains small. Nurse eggs are distributed more regularly. Embryos are also distributed haphazardly among capsules of Acanthina spirata. Each embryo of A. spirata has on average only 1.67 nurse eggs, and hatching size is correspondingly less variable (0.55-0.75 mm, +15% to -16%, about the mean). These nurse-egg feeders reach variable hatching sizes because some embryos share their yo...


ii To Gustavo, for his love, patience and support, and for always making me move forward. To my parents, for their unconditional love and encouragement. To all my family and friends, who in one way or another participated in this journey. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mentor, Dr. Cathia Bergeron, an example as a person and a professional, who I had an immense pleasure to work with. Throughout my thesis project, she guided me to the best path and helped me to take the most appropriate decisions. My sincere thankfulness also goes to my thesis committee which support, encouragement and insightful comments were fundamental to the completion of my work. I would like to deeply thank Dr. Marcos Vargas, my co-mentor in this project, for sharing his phenomenal knowledge in translucency studies and color science with me. Thanks for helping me developing the methodology of my research project and my critical thinking throughout these years. Special thanks go to Dr. Fang Qian for providing excellent and detailed statistical analysis. Thanks for the significant guidance on how to report the results in my thesis and for the suggestions on my presentation. I am also very thankful to Dr. Saulo Geraldeli for his friendship and suggestions in my thesis project, and to Dr. David Gratton for sharing his extensive knowledge in ceramics. Thanks also to Dr. Deborah Cobb, who as program director was always supportive and willing to help not only in my thesis project but also in the entire master program.


This thesis is about the public interest and how it is articulated in English plan-making practices. It is about recognising that the public interest can be conceptualised in multiple ways and exploring which of these conceptions are apparent in planning practices.
The literature tells the story of a concept that is simultaneously a crucial justification for planning activities, and an empty signifier, following its disputed conceptual coherence and historic use. The thesis therefore develops an understanding of the different ways in which it has been conceptualised. The resulting conceptual framework draws together process and outcome focussed conceptions of the public interest and suggests that the use of scale, in terms of both time and geography, might help in differentiating their use.

To understand how these different conceptions are influencing contemporary planning practices, qualitative methods are used to explore two cases that differ from the English tradition of making plans for a single local authority. The first is Central Lincolnshire, formed by merging the plan-making functions of three local authorities. The second case is the Peak District National Park, whose designation similarly gives the authority the power to plan for large parts of other local authorities within its boundary. However the cases contrast in their history; the Peak District was nationally designated, nearly seventy years ago, whilst Central Lincolnshire is a far more recent, locally driven construction.

The cases suggest how national policy reduces the space for local deliberation about what is in the public interest, with a tendency for each case to be dominated by particular intended outcomes. However this story is told differently for each case, by virtue of the different scales at which each authority aims to have an impact. In turn this has significant implications for how planning theory and practice might account for the public interest.