Buildings are central elements of future smart grids. Heating and cooling demand are predictable within reason, building mass as well as heating and hot water systems provide inherent storage capacity. Additionally, the fluctuation between peak and average power of a building is much more friendly to the grid than of other network nodes like wind power or electric mobility. A local heating grid partially supplied by renewable solar heat is currently built in a town in Bavaria. Heat pump systems provide additional storage capacity for electricity grid surplus while they serve as wind energy dump for the local utility company. Cogeneration plants and peak-power boilers provide heat and power in times of low energy coverage. The low temperature heating grid supplies decentral heat pumps, which provide required heat at a much higher temperature level to each building. The paper describes basic modeling aspects for district heating grids with on SimulationX / Green City. An interesting solar-aided grid example helps to identify benefits of new modeling approach.


Objective: To explore the prognostic factors for patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage. Methods: The clinical data of 203 patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage were analyzed. The role of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), the site and volume of bleeding, Glasgow score and complicating diseases in the prognosis of patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage were observed. Results: The death rate of SIRS group was much higher than those without SIRS (P 0.01). In the SIRS group, the more positive item it has, the higher death rate will be (P 0.01). There were differences between the sites of bleeding in death rate (P 0.01). There were also significant differences between the volume of bleeding in death rate (P 0.01). The low Glasgow score accompaniea with high death rate (P 0.01). The death rate of patients complicated with other diseases was higher. Conclusion: SIRS, the site and volume of bleeding, Glasgow score and complicating diseases might be valuable clinical factors in predicting the prognosis for patients with hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.


Continuous subcutaneous administration of leptin normalizes blood glucose levels in rodent models of type I and type II diabetes independent of changes in food intake, body weight and plasma insulin. We tested whether an acute intravenous leptin infusion changed blood glucose in normal and diet‐induced leptin resistant rats and determined if this could be used as a marker of leptin sensitivity. Leptin responsive, chow fed male Sprague Dawley rats and leptin resistant rats fed chow, lard and 30% sucrose or chow and 30% sucrose were fitted with jugular vein catheters. They were infused with either saline for 32 min, low dose (LD) leptin (1.9µg/kg/min) followed by high dose (HD) leptin (3.75µg/kg/min) for 16 min each, or only HD leptin for 16 min. Infusion of either LD leptin or HD leptin alone did not change blood glucose. Infusion of LD leptin followed by HD leptin decreased blood glucose in leptin responsive, but not leptin resistant rats. Leptin infusion increased serum leptin in all groups, but had no effect on serum insulin, glucagon, 18 hour weight gain or 18 hour energy intake in any rat. The leptin‐induced decrease in blood glucose correlated with leptin responsiveness measured as a leptin‐induced inhibition of food intake. This effect is consistent in control rats and absent in two rat models of leptin resistance. Thus, this acute non‐lethal test is a novel method of testing leptin responsiveness in rats.


INTRODUCTION: There are 22,000 women diagnosed each year with ovarian cancer. Because of the improvements in modern-day medicine, there are a growing number of cancer survivors living with the long-term effects of their treatment. Thus, sexual function is becoming a growing concern for overall quality of life in this population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study investigating the prevalence of sexual dysfunction in ovarian cancer survivors using the Female Sexual Function Inventory. The survey and demographics information were collected from the Pittsburgh National Ovarian Cancer Coalition walk and ovarian cancer support groups held by the Allegheny Health Network from September 2013 to April 2014. The questionnaire assesses sexual dysfunction over a period of 4 weeks in six different domains: sexual desire or interest, arousal, ability to become or stay lubricated, orgasm, discomfort or pain, and satisfaction. RESULTS: Thirty-five of 40 participants were eligible using inclusion criteria: older than 18 years old, history of ovarian cancer and last treatment more than 6 months ago. The average participant was married or cohabitating (79.4%), heterosexual (97%), college-educated or greater (67.6%), Caucasian woman (85.3%), mean age 56 years old, and (66.7%) found pay basics not hard. Twenty-five of 35 (71.4%) survivors were classified as having sexual dysfunction, and the domain, pain, was the most frequent reason. Cronbach's &agr;, which measures internal consistency and reliability of a test, was 0.973 for the Female Sexual Function Inventory. CONCLUSION: The Female Sexual Function Inventory is a reliable assessment of female sexual dysfunction. It can be a vital tool in helping health care providers and ovarian cancer survivors openly communicate, guide therapy, and improve overall quality of life.


As a result of the research leading to the 1998 AIR workshop and the subsequent analysis, the neutron issues posed by Foelsche et al. and further analyzed by Hajnal have been adequately resolved. We are now engaged in developing a new atmospheric ionizing radiation (AIR) model for use in epidemiological studies and air transportation safety assessment. A team was formed to examine a promising code using the basic FLUKA software but with modifications to allow multiple charged ion breakup effects. A limited dataset of the ER-2 measurements and other cosmic ray data will be used to evaluate the use of this code.


This article describes the new trends in the field of "Electronic Information Sources", as well as the educational and evaluation methods that libraries use.


On-farm trials were carried out in two data collection periods to evaluate the performance of growing-fattening pigs fed on local sources of carbohydrates supplemented with 200 g/day of protein from soya bean grain or meal, in both cases enriched with vitamins and minerals. In the first period, four farmers with a total of 33 pigs using the traditional system based on concentrates provided base line data. In addition, the use of sugar cane juice (SCJ) and soya bean cooked grains on a single farm including 29 animals was evaluated. The growth rate was calculated by linear regression from data of the live weight of the animals , which was recorded every 14 days, and used as a response variable in a model that included the effect of the farm as a variation factor. This effect was found to be significant (P<0.05). The means for daily gain (g/day) on the farms using the traditional system based on commercial concentrates ranged from 527 up to 623 g/day, while on the farm with SCJ daily gain was 427 g/day. In the second period a revolving research fund was established and the experimental diets evaluated were based on sources of carbohydrates available on each farm and the use of 500 g of a protein supplement (40% protein) from soya bean meal. In this period, growth rate of the animals was calculated as described above and the effect of farm and diet were included as variation factors in the variance analysis. Both factors were found to be significant (P<0.05) for daily gain. The adjusted means for daily gain on the different diets were: commercial concentrate (baseline data, 20 animals in 4 farms) 567 g/day; SCJ (24 animals in 2 farms) 518 g/day; plantain and bananas (8 animals in a single farm) 367 g/day, and for farm and kitchen wastes and residues (24 animals in 4 farms) 512 g/day. It was concluded that protein is the main limiting factor and it was recommended that work in this area be given the highest priority. The fact that the farmers were willing to repay 8.5 % above the value of the inputs borrowed indicates their willingness to participate in further research, and the constructive role that a revolving research fund can play to facilitate on-farm livestock research.


This study addressed the psychometric properties of the Children's Social Skills Test (THAS-C). Results were divided into two parts. Initial studies investigated 257 children attending Grades 2 to 4 in public schools of two cities in the countryside of the state of Sao Paulo. Study 2 assessed 1381 children and adolescents aged 7 to 15 years from public and private schools in cities located in the countryside of the state of Sao Paulo. Infit and outfit indexes showed adequate fit for both items and people. A progression analysis using Rasch measurement model showed greater people's ability in function of response categories. On the other hand, the outfit index suggested good fit in all categories. These data show relevance for the structure of three analysis categories. Few items showed DIF. Precision data obtained with these two methods showed satisfactory indexes. These data enable validity evidences based on the internal structure. Such findings may facilitate the assessment process and planning of interventions that are more focused on individual needs.


Recent events, such as the Ukrainian crisis, political protests in Belarus, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's escalation, have clearly demonstrated that the so-called 'national question' has remained an acute issue in the post-Soviet space. Being surrounded by Russia's neo-imperial calls, but also by the dominating titular culture in the country of their current residence, ethnic Russians, and their national belonging arouse the interest of academia. Simultaneously, the tremendous expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as the popularity of social media in the ex-Soviet republics, opens new opportunities for the conception of a national image, especially for young people. Hence, the studying of ethnic and civic belonging in the post-Soviet context requires an additional technological viewpoint. While Cyberspace in Kazakhstan remains state-controlled, Russia employs social media to unite its compatriots around the Russian national idea. However, the Internet may also support alternative identity constructions, grassroots movements, and the search for new national belongingness among ethnic minorities. How do young Kazakhstani Russians define their national belonging in the light of their social media usage? Which homeland do they imagine, and which role does Instagram play in this process? To answer these questions, I conducted explorative research, which was based upon a qualitative content analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with young Kazakhstani Russians and a quantitative content analysis of local Instagram accounts. Interviewing ethnic Russians from big Kazakhstani cities demonstrated that these young people avoid formal national categories and creatively combine their multiple nation-related identities and belongings. Although social media content from Russia is present in their social media feeds, Ka-zakhstani Russians did not express any particular attachment to their historical "homeland." Instead, they defined themselves as Kazakhstanis and advocated for ethnocultural pluralism and innovation inside and beyond Kazakhstan's national borders. Their openness towards global cooperation is also reflected in their use of social media. At the same time, a close connection to a local space was widely relevant among Kazakhstani Russians. Posting Instagram stories from their everyday life, communicating with local friends, and consuming local news and event announcements, immersed young Kazakhstani Russians into the local city-related environment. Among the whole geographical and thematic content variety, following one or another urban account was an essential part of Kazakh-stani Russians' social media use. As the Instagram analysis proved, textual and visual content on city-related accounts has blurred the boundaries between different discursive paradigms of national identity existing in Kazakhstan and presented the country in a positive light. In addition to other usage patterns, this provides an opportunity for these young people to construct a particular image of Kazakhstan, which helps them to find their social identity gratification and maintain positive self-esteem. As a result, their sense of belonging to Kazakhstan grows, allowing them to manage their multiple nation-related memberships while creating new categories beyond any formal definitions.


ABSTRACT After observing the growth of the Indian and Filipino Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors, Kenyan policy-makers and managers made substantial investments in international internet infrastructure and BPO marketing campaigns. While observers continue to discuss the sector in terms of its international work opportunities, in recent years the sector has increasingly focused on contracts sourced from Kenyan and other East African clients. The government has also refocused efforts on attracting international BPO companies. This domestic turn signals both the difficulties of gaining access to overseas work due to the power of incumbents and the increasing use of the internet and ICT-enabled automation within Kenyan organisations. In effect, better connectivity has enabled a two-way globalisation of services: Kenyan BPO companies can access international work opportunities but connectivity has also contributed to the inflow of international business practices into Kenya. The conclusion examines what these shifts might entail for the sector and its workers in future.


Objective To explore the indication, to describe the key of operative technique in detail and to summarize the early results in mini-incision and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) total hip arthroplasty (THA) for hip disorders. Methods From Mar. 2003 to Mar. 2005, 43 patients (49 hips) were performed with MIS THA. The mean age of patients was 53.2 years ranging from 22 to 79 years. There were 22 males and 21 females. The average body mass index (BMI) was 23.4 ranging from 17.1 to 30.2. Using the modified postero-lateral approach, MIS THA was performed with cementless prostheses. For comparison, 35 patients (43 hips) were performed with standard THA at the same period. The age and BMI of patients in both groups were similar, but the pattern of disorders was different. The comparative items included preoperative bleeding, operative time, incisional length, postoperative functional recovery, and prosthetic position. Results 31 patients (MIS THA) and 25 patients (standard THA) were followed from 6 to 24 months (mean 13.1 months). No complications occurred in MIS THA. Dislocation appeared in one patient with standard THA at the two days after operation. The length of incision was 9.3 cm (range, 8.7 to 10.5 cm) in MIS group and 16.8 cm (range, 14 to 20 cm) in standard THA group. The difference was significant statistically (P 0.05). Perioperative blood loss was (318±223.1) ml in MIS THA and (523±210.7) ml in standard THA respectively. The postoperative drainage was (252±169.1) ml and (507±217.7) ml respectively in two groups (P0.05). The operation time was similar in two groups. The recovery of function was rapid in MIS THA at the early stage, but the functions of joint were similar in both groups six months after operation. The prosthetic position was good both in MIS and standard THA. Conclusion The MIS THA can be indicated in selected patients with hip disorders. The advantages of MIS THA are less trumatic, less blood loss, good cosmetic incision and rapid recovery of function. The MIS THA can only be used by surgeons rich in experience in THA and in hospitals provided with necessary instruments.


Background: Incidence rates of HIV are higher among African-born immigrants than in the general US population. In Minnesota, African-born immigrant women accounted for 40% of all adult females (as assigned by birth) living with HIV and 39% of new diagnosis in 2021, while constituting only 2% of the female population. Findings from a preliminary study point to gender-specific, sociocultural factors as drivers of HIV in this population. Key among these is the lack of sexual and reproductive health knowledge, consequent to cultural norms that regard sex-related discussions as taboo, making African women particularly vulnerable to HIV infection. Conventional HIV prevention programming has not been effective as these approaches lack cultural congruence. In the absence of culturally responsive strategies, AB women are likely to remain at significant risk of HIV. Program Description: This report is a description of the process and key elements employed in developing a curriculum for culturally-responsive, community-based sexual and reproductive health education for HIV prevention among African-born women. The Curriculum Design Team (CDT) of five (5) AB immigrant women adapted and augmented the Becoming A Responsible Teenager (BART) curriculum and developed a culturally congruent theoretical framework to guide programming. Feedback on the curriculum and programming was sought from community members through focus groups with African-born men and women, respectively. Recommendations: Feedback from community-engaged efforts included alignment with cultural norms and values regarding the roles and influence of women; ensuring cultural appropriateness of content and delivery; racial-concordance of facilitators and participants; and use of informal social group setting as critical elements to facilitate engagement of African-born women in the proposed approach to HIV prevention in this population.


Improving the quality of traditional farmers on a technical, social and economic scale, is strongly influenced and determined by the capacity to carry out pond business activities related to managerial patterns and work relationships that are formed.  This research was conducted in October – December 2021. Milkfish (Chanos-chanos) aquaculture business in Bonto Manai Village was chosen as the case, because the aquaculture system managed by the community is dominated the traditional aquaculture system. The purpose of this research is to analyze the knowledge of traditional aquaculture as a technical practice in managing aquaculture businesses, as well as to analyze the work relations of traditional aquaculture businesses which are internalized in the local culture of the community. The methodology used is a case research method with a descriptive qualitative data analysis approach described in the life history of the informants. The results showed that traditional farmers in milkfish (Chanos-chanos) aquaculture in Bonto Manai Village have acquired knowledge gained through experience passed down from generation to generation, starting from the construction and management of pond subgrade, seed stocking, rearing, harvest and post-harvest. Accompanied by rituals based on belief as a traditional value. The managerial pattern and work relations in the management of traditional pond business have three types of management, namely; aquaculture business which is self managed by the owner of the aquaculture land with involving two to three workers, aquaculture business which is managed based on a leasing system, and aquaculture business which is managed by a rapture system.
Keywords: Managerial Pattern, Work Relations, Traditional Pond, Milkfish


The hypocretin (HCRT) system of the perifornical‐lateral hypothalamic area (PF‐LHA) has been implicated in the facilitation of behavioral arousal. HCRT neurons receive serotonergic afferents from the dorsal raphe nucleus. Although in‐vitro pharmacological studies suggest that serotonin (5‐HT) inhibits HCRT neurons, the in‐vivo effects of 5‐HT on HCRT neurons in the PF‐LHA and associated behavioral changes have not been described. We examined the effects of 5‐HT delivered locally into the PF‐LHA using reverse microdialysis on its neuronal activity and the consequent sleep–wake changes in rats. First, we quantified Fos expression (Fos‐IR) in HCRT and other PF‐LHA neurons following unilateral 5‐HT perfusion in awake rats. Second, we determined the transient effects of 5‐HT perfusion on the extracellular activity of the PF‐LHA neurons recorded via microwires placed adjacent to the microdialysis probe. Third, we examined the effects of 5‐HT perfusion into the PF‐LHA on the sleep–wake profiles of the rats during the lights‐off period. Unilateral perfusion of 5‐HT into the PF‐LHA in awake rats dose‐dependently decreased the number of HCRT neurons exhibiting Fos‐IR. 5‐HT also inhibited the discharge activity of four of five responsive wake‐related, putative HCRT neurons. However, unilateral perfusion of 5‐HT into the PF‐LHA did not produce significant behavioral changes during the 2‐h recording period. These results confirm the in‐vitro findings that 5‐HT exerts inhibitory influences on HCRT neurons but further suggest that the inactivation of a limited number of HCRT neurons by unilateral 5‐HT microdialysis may not be sufficient to induce behavioral changes.


A system of arrays of nanowires side-coupled to a quantum wire is studied. Transport through the quantum wire is investigated by using a noninteracting-electron Anderson tunneling Hamiltonian. An analytical expression of the conductance at zero temperature is given, showing a band with alternating forbidden and allowed minibands due to the discrete structure of the nanowires. The conductance is found to exhibit a forbidden miniband in the center of the band for an odd number of sites in the nanowires, while shows an allowed band for an even number. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Cosmic rays accelerated to ultra-high energies (E >4⋅1019 eV) in electric fields in accretion discs around supermassive black holes are discussed. Particle injection spectra are assumed to be harder than those formed in acceleration at shock fronts. It turned out that cosmic rays with injection spectra supposed contribute a little in the particle flux detected with ground-based arrays. But in the extragalactic space particles generate a noticeable flux of the diffuse gamma-ray emission compared with the data obtained with Fermi LAT instrument (onboard the Fermi space observatory). The intensity of neutrinos generated by cosmic rays propagating in the extragalactic space is also derived. The model intensity of cascade neutrinos is much lower than that of astrophysics neutrino. It is concluded that possibly supermassive black holes are cosmic ray sources which contribute slightly to the particle flux detected on the Earth, but these sources should be taken into account analyzing components of extragalactic diffuse gamma-ray emission.


Inhibition of mouse liver carboxylesterase activities by O-ethyl O- p -nitrophenyl phenyl phosphonothioate (EPN), O,O O, O-tetramethyl O,O'-thiodi- p -phenylene phosphorothioate (Abate) and O,O-diethyl O- p -nitrophenyl phosphorothioate (parathion) were compared with the capacities of these insecticides to potentiate the in vivo anticholinesterase action of O,O-dimethyl-S-(1,2-dicarbethoxyethyl) phosphorodithioatese (malathion). Diethyl succinate, triacetin, methyl butyrate and malathion were used as substrates in the carboxylesterase assays. EPN's potentiation of malathion was more closely associated with its inhibition of triacetin esterase than with its inhibition of diethyl succinate, methyl butyrate or malathion esterases. Abate's potentiation of malathion was not specifically associated with inhibition of hydrolysis of any one of the substrates. Five milligrams per kilogram of parathion inhibited diethyl succinate, triacetin and methyl butyrate esterases by 75% but did not potentiate malathion's toxicity. Under conditions of approximately equal inhibition of diethyl succinate, triacetin and methyl butyrate esterases, tri- o -tolylphosphate, EPN, Abate and parathion produced marked differences in the degrees of malathion potentiation and in the amounts of malathion esterase inhibition. Five milligrams per kilogram of EPN and 100 mg/kg of Abate inhibited all four esterases to the same degree in liver, lung, kidney and plasma, but EPN potentiated malathion's toxicity twice as much as Abate. However, both compounds potentiated malaoxon's [O,O-dimethyl-S-(1,2-dicarbethoxyethyl) phosphorothiolate] toxicity to the same degree. This suggests that Abate inhibited the oxidation of malathion to malaoxon. These results indicate that carboxylesterase inhibition is not, by itself, sufficient to predict the relative capacities of various compounds to potentiate malathion's toxicity.


The methods of literature,questionnaire,interview,investigation and statistics were applied to study the female college teachers in Xinxiang city of their physical exercise behavior characteristics.Results show that various factors affect the teachers' physical exercises behavior,the foremost among which are sports attitude,leisure time,school sports education,the mass media,sports hardware and sports management.


Based in the hydrologic characteristics, several models created with the Stella language were set out to explain the physical and chemical functioning of the Lake Boa, a meandric lake of the River Meta located in the Middle Caqueta Basin at the Colombian Amazon. The first model exhibited the changes in the water column level due to the regional flood pulse. The other models considered the effects that the hydrological pulse causes over the chemical variables in the lake, especially on total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The models revealed that the flood pulse was the main force that modified the chemical and physical lake characteristics; however during time that lake is disconnected from the river, the lake gained chemical autonomy and some elements were re-suspended from the sediments, or they were affected by other processes not measured in this study like primary production, bacterial production, and excretion. The development of the models for the TP and the DOC had in consideration the fact that each one of these substances has a determined pattern of movement in the aquatic ecosystem. Some observations with respect to the utility of the models developed in the prediction of the dynamics of the Lake Boa are included.


This work compared the variation of weight of Mg 1%Ca as cast in different concentrations of hydrofluoric acid (HF) such as 45% - 40% - 35% - 25% - 20 % - 13% - 7 % for 24 h at room temperature to be utilized in biomaterial application like hip, knee implants that have effect on corrosion resistance. By immersion Mg 1%Ca alloys in HF, the layer of MgF2 was constituted on the surface of alloy and this layer improves the corrosion and causes weight gain. The results show that in order to get a better corrosion resistance, surface treatment should be done in 40% of HF, because the weight gain is more than other HF concentrations.


Abstract The adequacy of resources for programme implementation is a premise for achieving the targets set in the road map for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) 2021–2030. During the decade 2010–2020, international health aid and pharmaceutical donations have driven progress to control and eliminate NTDs. In the next decade, domestic financing will be critical to sustain NTD control and elimination programmes. Tracking domestic resources for NTD programmes through country health accounts, a relatively mature health system resource tracking platform, could be the first step in raising the visibility of NTDs in the discussion of national health resource allocation.


This article analyses the visions, careers, and companies of Jack Ma of Alibaba and Geng Le of Blue City. Jack Ma is a well-known business leader and visionary, whereas the less well-known Geng Le only began to receive more attention since launching a successful gay dating app in 2012. The article focuses on the personal narratives and visions of these two IT entrepreneurs. It provides new perspectives on the role of individual entrepreneurs in relation to the Chinese state's global ambitions and vision of creating a "strong internet country." It argues that the commercialisation and platformisation of the Chinese internet, and the growing transnational nature of Chinese IT companies, serve to make them more, not less, co-dependent of the state and its visions. The internet's emancipatory potential is today increasingly conflated with consumption, and online spaces and social relations are subject to both commodification and datafication.


The proliferation and accessability of the Internet have made it simple to view, download, and publish source code. This paper gives a short tutorial on how to create a new Common Lisp project and publish it.


Application of othotropic composite materials makes the engineer to get ultra-light structure with higher load-bearing capability easily. This paper gives the optimization algorithm considering both the topology and the optimal configuration of the fiber in composite material. In the procedure of optimal design of mechanical part, to get structure with high ratio of performance-cost, the layout of structure (include topology, material and shape etc.) and the properties of material in different othotropic direction should be designed simultaneously, thus the full capability of material can be used efficiently. An ideal optimal structure should possess good macroscopic material layout and microscopic distributed properties. This paper gives the mathematical formulation of optimization problem, in which the topology and the layout of fiber are considered simultaneously. Implementting procedure and solving stratigies are given. For non-convex of the optimization formulation, mathematical programming strategies are given in the paper. The effects of the different composite material property on optimal topology of structure are discussed. Topology optimization of orthotropic material structure gives good result. All numerical examples show the feasibility and validity of topology optimization formulation and solving approach proposed in the paper.


A study was conducted to assess out the hypocholeseteremic activity of Cow urine ark and Aloe vera extract in broilers. A significant decrease was observed in serum cholesterol, triglycerides, total lipids, LDL and VLDL. Significant increase was reported in HDL levels. The study reveals that Cow urine and Aloe vera extract has marked hypolipidemic activity.


To assess the influence of clinical, psychological, and psychophysical variables on long‐term clinical outcomes after the application of either physical therapy or surgery in women presenting with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).


In order to develop the non-contact scraped surface heat exchanger with the non-contact scraper blades, experiments were performed for cooling corn syrup water solution as a test process fluid flowing in a typical scraped surface heat exchanger with a constant clearance between the scraper blade and the heat transfer surface. The local heat transfer coefficient and the power consumption were measured by varying the flow rate and the viscosity of test process fluid, and the rotational speed of scraper blades for the some constant non-contact clearances in the different scraped angles. Based on these experimental data, the effects of the non-contact clearance and the scraped angle on Nusselt number and Power number were examined in comparison with these correlations for the perfect contact scraped surface heat exchanger with the blades pressed to the heat transfer surface by springs. As a result, it was clarified that Nusselt number and Power number in case of the noncontact clearance 0.2 mm had decreased from those in the perfect contact scraped surface heat exchanger by 0 30 % with an increase in rotational Reynolds number and by 60 % on the whole, respectively.


The invention discloses a switch line phase modulation circuit with a microstrip line adjusting device. Four diodes are a first diode, a second diode, a third diode and a fourth diode. The cathode of the first diode is connected with the anode of the third diode. The cathode of the fourth diode is connected with the anode of the second diode. The cathode of the second diode is connected with the anode of the first diode through a short microstrip transmission line. The cathode of the third diode is connected with the anode of the fourth diode through a long microstrip transmission line. A connecting line between the first diode and the third diode is connected to a first capacitor for signal access. A connecting line between the fourth diode and the first diode is connected to the output end of a second capacitor. The switch line phase modulation circuit further comprises a first phase inversion amplifier connected to phase modulation signals. The first phase inversion amplifier is in series connection with a second phase inversion amplifier, and the second phase inversion amplifier is in series connection with a resistor. The input end of the resistor is connected with the second phase inversion amplifier. The connecting line between the fourth diode and the first diode is also connected to the output end of the resistor.


A training activity on making virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been carried out for the GMIT Petra Binilaka women's group, Oeltua village, Taebenu sub-district, Kupang district. This service aims to improve the welfare of the people in Petra Binilaka and can improve the ability and skills of the GMIT women's group to process coconuts into virgin coconut oil (VCO). VCO making training is carried out using the fishing method. This service activity was carried out at the Petra Binilaka Congregation for the women of the GMIT women's group, most of whom were housewives. The target of community service to be achieved is to invite the GMIT Petra Binilaka Women's group who lives in V Binilaka hamlet, Oeltua Village, Taebenu District, Kupang Regency to process coconuts into virgin coconut oil (VCO). The result of the training is that the Petra Binilaka GMIT Women's Group has the ability to process coconuts into virgin coconut oil (VCO) and has an understanding of the benefits of VCO oil from a health and economic perspective and can improve the quality of GMIT women's service programs in the congregation.

Keywords: training, practice of making VCO, virgin coconut oil (VCO)


18 Mycobacteria have a large and distinctive ensemble of DNA helicases that function in DNA 19 replication, repair, and recombination. Little is known about the roster of RNA helicases in 20 mycobacteria or their roles in RNA transactions. The 912-amino acid Mycobacterium smegmatis 21 HelY protein (MSMEG_3885) is a bacterial homolog of the Mtr4 and Ski2 helicases that regulate 22 RNA 3' processing and turnover by the eukaryal exosome. Here we characterize HelY as an RNA23 stimulated ATPase/dATPase and an ATP/dATP-dependent 3'-to-5' helicase. HelY requires a 3' 24 single-strand RNA tail (a "loading" RNA strand) to displace the complementary strand of a tailed 25 RNA:RNA or RNA:DNA duplex. The findings that HelY ATPase is unresponsive to a DNA 26 polynucleotide cofactor, and that HelY is unable to unwind a 3'-tailed duplex in which the loading 27 strand is DNA, distinguishes HelY from other mycobacterial NTPase/helicases characterized 28 previously. The biochemical properties of HelY, which resemble those of Mtr4/Ski2, hint at a role 29 for HelY in mycobacterial RNA catabolism. 30


This study assessed the bio-efficacies of phytochemical extracts from peels, pulp and seeds of citrus fruits species on adult Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles funestus under laboratory conditions. The assessment established the most potent extract(s) that could be adopted in  sustainable control of malaria vectors. The peels, pulp and seeds obtained from Citrus sinensis, Citrus aurantifolia, Citrus limonum, Citrus reticulata and Citrus vitis were air-dried for 21 days, avoiding contamination. They were ground into powder and stored in air-tight glass bottles. The volatile phytochemical oil extracts were obtained from the powdered materials by Soxchletextraction method using Diethyl ether as solvent at temperature range of 60 o C - 80 o C for 6 hours. The extracts were left overnight at Laboratory temperature of 28.5 o C to allow the remaining ether to  evaporate. Standard methods were used to carry out qualitative and quantitative characterization of the active compounds present. Five different concentration grades, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%,were prepared volume for volume, from each extract stock. A mixture of 20 live active adult An. gambiae and An. funestus were released by means of an aspirator into each of the 5smallsquared-shaped cardboard boxes which had already been labeled according to the different concentrations. With the help of insecticide spray pumps, the boxes were sprayed,one after the other,with their corresponding concentrations of the extracts via their fine-meshed netted holes and then blocked. The time each box was sprayed with the extract aerosol was noted. A control was set up with another set of five boxes, each containing the same 20 live and active adult An. gambiae and An. funestus, and sprayed respectively, with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% concentrations of a commercial insecticide (called "Kill All"). 10 minutes later, the boxes were opened to check for death of the mosquitoes, and the result was recorded. Apart from the 5% all other concentrations of the extracts from the peels, pulp and seeds of C. sinensis , the peels and seeds of C.reticulata and C. limonum , and the peels and pulpof C. aurantifolia and C. vitis , showed different degrees of mosquitocidal activity. These observed variations in the bio-efficacies of the different extracts could be attributed to the corresponding variations in their qualitative and quantitative bioactive compound contents. Therefore, phytochemical extracts, having proved efficacious on adult mosquitoes as demonstrated in this study, suggest that they can be successfully adopted in sustainable control of malaria. Key words : Phytochemicalextracts,  Citrus  fruit  species, Anopheles gambiae, Anopheles funestus,Bioefficacy


The microstructure changes in the commercial silicon nitride SN88M after tensile creep at the temperatures 1250°C-1400°C under the stresses of 140 - 430 MPa and lasting up to 10 000 hours were investigated. Creep induced changes in the grain boundary phases were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) a. nd scanning transmission electron microscopy with electron energy loss spectroscopy (STEM/EELS). XRD revealed the transformation of the ytterbium oxynitride crystalline phases at the multigrain junctions in the as-received materials into disilicates in the whole volume during creep tests. This change was confirmed by EELS. Epitaxially grown layers of silicon nitride were observed at the junctions of silicon nitride grains and transformed phase due to the Yb-rich precipitates segregated at the original facets. The reaction of the oxynitride with amorphous silica leading to the reduction of the amount of silica at the grain boundaries and formation of new silicon nitride epitaxially reprecipitated on the original grains is proposed as the mechanism for the observed grain growth and phase changes during creep.


Objective To study the significances of various gastroscopic findings in chronic atrophic gastritis.Methods To contrastively analyse various findings of CAG under gastroscopic direct vision and their corresponding pathologic diagnosis in 55 cases, and to calculate respectively the sensitivity and specificity of CAG, intestinal metaplasia (IM), atypical hyperplasia (ATP) through various gastroscopic expressions.Results Of the 55 patients CAG 30 cases, CAG and CSG 25 cases were diagnosed by endoscopy; the pathological diagnoses were CAG 36, CSG 8 and CAG plus CSG 11 cases. The coincidence rate of diagnosis between endoscopy and pathology was 85 45%. The sensitivities of gastroscopic findings in CAG to their pathology were about 12 77%~51 06%. Some manifestations in gastroscopy such as piebald change and flat protrusion in CAG have high specificity to pathology about 87 50% and 75 00% respectively. The dominated white phase, prominent vascular pattern with flat protrusion and piebald with erosive protrusion attained the specificity of 100% to the pathology. The asperous and granular changes had higher diagnostic value about IM, its sensitivity and specificity was 66 67% and 71 74% respectively. The dominated white phase and prominent vascular pattern had higher sensitivity, 71 74% in diagnosing ATP. Erosive protrusion had higher specificity, 68 89% in diagnosing ATP.Conclusion Piebald change, asperous and granular changes, dominated white phase and prominent vascular pattern under gastroscopy are highly helpful to the pathological diagnosis of CAG, IM and ATP. But the combination of gastroscopic and pathologic examination is the inevitable procedure in correct diagnosis of CAG, IM, and ATP.


This paper presents a virtual reality remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) Pilot Simulator using an open source game engine to decrease the development cost and time. The primary element in carrying out underwater missions in a hostile environment lies within the skills and experience of an ROV pilot. Training for ROV pilot is essential to prevent damage to expensive field equipment during the real operations. The proposed simulator differs from the existing simulators in the market is the use of modern game engine software to develop a "serious game" for ROV pilot trainee at much lower cost, mobility and shorter time-to-market. The results revealed that proposed virtual simulator software using Unity3D game engine could develop a high fidelity virtual reality training for the underwater operation.


A high proportion of women with ovarian cancer use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments during and after their conventional cancer treatment. The aim of this article was to investigate the extent of the potential problem associated with concurrent use of CAM and conventional chemotherapy through review of available case reports and clinical trials in the literature describing CAMrelated adverse events in ovarian cancer patients. A systematic search was conducted using the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to retrieve pertinent research articles or case reports describing adverse events in patients and clinical trials that examined the effects of herbs and supplements used concurrently with cancer chemotherapy. The search identified only 1 relevant case report and 1 clinical trial that met inclusion criteria. These were the only studies that specifically investigated patients with ovarian cancer. This extensive review found few data suggesting potential for adverse events related to concurrent use of CAM substances and conventional chemotherapy for ovarian cancer. Clinical recommendations regarding drug-CAM interactions when CAMs are used to treat a variety of cancers are most frequently based on evidence from in vitro studies. Existing data are weak and conflicting; few human studies have been conducted. Caution is still warranted because of the high frequency of CAM use by cancer patients and the existing theoretical potential for adverse events or reactions with chemotherapy. EDITORIAL COMMENT (The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (http://nccam.nih.gov) is situated within the National Institutes of Health. Per their introduction, ''complementary'' generally refers to using a nonmainstream approach together with conventional medicineI Alternative refers to using a nonmainstream approach in place of conventional medicine.'' The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine further divides CAM into 2 categories: natural products, such as herbs, and mind-body practices, such as acupuncture. In regard to cancer, the goal of a CAM approach is to decrease tumor size and extend survival. Because alternative treatments vary from country to country, doses are not standardized, and treatments are not processed through traditional pharmaceutical methods, study of the efficacy of alternative treatments can be difficult. We are now a medical society that appreciates systematic reviews and well-designed randomized controlled trials. Given the above, it is difficult to study alternative treatments in these contexts, and thus our understanding of their place in our treatment repertoire is limited. In the current study, Drs Sweet and colleagues undertake a systematic review to define CAMrelated adverse events specifically in ovarian cancer patients. The authors found only 1 case report and 1 clinical trial that met their inclusion criteria. Limitations of their study are notable for their search included agents commonly used in the treatment of cancer and was not felt to be ''exhaustive,'' and they did not include newer targeted agents. They conclude that their results should offer relief for those concerned about the adverse effects of CAM. They do recommend 741 Gynecologic Oncology Copyright © 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. caution regarding CAM because of potential reactions with traditional chemotherapy. The authors emphasize the need for additional data, particularly in vivo research. It is estimated that almost 50% of cancer patients will at some time or another utilize CAM while undergoing treatment for cancer. It is hypothesized that involvement and decision making regarding treatment, oftentimes treatments in the realm of CAM, may improve patients' quality of life, and thus seeking CAM choices brings some personal satisfaction to patients. A literature search was performed for headings of CAM and ovarian cancer, and this yielded approximately 20 studies in the last 10 years. In contrast, performing the same search for breast cancer and CAM yielded more than 500 studies. Thus, while studies of CAM in ovarian cancer are sparse, there is much more information in the breast cancer realm, and more adverse events are reported here. Concerns regarding CAM, in particular medicinal agents, include concerns regarding direct toxicity of CAM agents, interaction with pharmacokinetics/ metabolism of concurrent standard chemotherapy when taken together, and the concern that some CAM agents actually negate or reduce the efficacy of standard treatment. To date, there are no strongly compelling studies to indicate that CAM can reduce tumor burden and enhance survival in cancer patients. Yet, patients continue to seek this avenue of treatment, hoping and believing CAM will make a difference. It is difficult to discourage such hopefulness. It is recommended that cancer physicians gently remind patients that there is no evidencebased rationale for integrating CAM, and if not careful and thoughtful, some harm may come. The question still remains: is there a benefit to CAM therapy for cancer?VLVL) 742 Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey Copyright © 2013 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.


Measuring quantum effects in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes with multipartite entanglement Cathal Smyth Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Physics University of Toronto 2015 This thesis is a compilation of studies on delocalization measures, entanglement, and the role of quantum coherence in electronic energy transfer (EET) in light-harvesting complexes. The first two chapters after the introduction provide foundational knowledge of quantum information and light-harvesting, respectively. Chapter 2 introduces concepts from quantum information such as purity, bipartite entanglement and criteria for its measurement. The peripheral light-harvesting complex LH2, isolated from the anoxygenic purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas acidophila, is employed as model system of interest. This light-harvesting complex, along with a description of the process of light-harvesting, the presence of quantum coherence, and the different models used to simulate EET, are described in chapter 3. In combination these two chapters lay the foundation for chapter 4, a critical assessment of the current measures of delocalization employed in EET studies, their relationship, and overall effectiveness. The conclusion is that entanglement based measures are most effective at measuring quantum effects, and that they can be related to more conventional delocalization measures such as the inverse participation ratio (IPR) by taking into account the entropy of the system under study. All the measures within this chapter are known as bipartite measures, and only measure the strength of correlation between two sites.


[1] A silver-iodide seeding agent was released, which may have resulted in enhanced precipitation over 100 km downwind from the point of release. This study attempts to determine whether this enhancement occurred. It is not possible to quantify the amount of precipitation that would have been released from an unseeded cloud if it has already been seeded, since no two clouds are alike. As a result, numerical models remain the best tool to investigate the effects of cloud seeding. We use a three-dimensional mesoscale cloud-resolving model, and we simulate seeding of a region with temperatures below 0°C in front of a target cloud that might lead to a change in cumulative precipitation far from the initial seeding area. Our model simulations show that this cloud seeding enhances cumulative precipitation 110 km from the center of mass of the initial seeding area by about 50%.


The Government Telecommunications Network Long Distance service (GTN LD) was a private network operated for government departments and agencies. It was managed by the Government Centre for Information Systems (CCTA) on behalf of central government. The service was a basic long distance voice service offering on-net and off-net calls. Basic point to point dial up video conferencing and mobile services were also available on GTN (LD). The service was provided by government for government and the key benefit of GTN was that it was cheaper than PSTN offerings. The CCTA were able to use the buying power of the government community to achieve economies of scale. Research showed that although being the cheapest offering available, the GTN was heavily congested, lead times for new connections were slow, account management was poor due to a lack of resources, fault reporting was badly dealt with because the site connections was basically an overall private network and the bill presented to each department was not broken down in any way. As a result of the "Competing for Quality" policy, the CCTA assessed its activities and concluded that the GTN long distance services should be outsourced. (6 pages)


A Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on-chip integrated photonic made of polymer waveguides (PWs) sensor with a pair of interference arms of different sizes was directly written using a two-photon polymerization (TPP) technique. The sensor exhibits good temperature response characteristics due to the effective refractive index of two asymmetric interference arms to temperature changes varies, and the temperature sensitivity can reach −348.5 pm/°C in the temperature range of 20 °C–60 °C without any treatment. Moreover, after packaging with temperature-sensitive material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the sensitivity of the sensor increased by about six times, exhibiting similar heating and cooling sensitivity within the range of 30 °C–70 °C, approximately −2.01 nm/°C. As a compact on-chip photonic device, the proposed sensor has excellent temperature sensitivity, biocompatibility, and stability. It is expected to be integrated into a variety of small and complex environments to achieve temperature monitoring.


This article examines the changing nature of public health services and their relationship with the public in post-war Britain by an analysis of the exhibitions mounted by Medical Officers of Health (MOsH) in London. Focusing on the period 1948–71, the article explores a time when public health practice, and the problems it faced, were in flux. A decline in infectious disease and an increase in chronic conditions linked to lifestyle required a new role for public health services. Exhibitions were one of several methods that MOsH used to inform the public about dangers to their health, but also to persuade them to change their behaviour. The exhibition, though, offers a unique insight into the relationship between public health authorities and the public, as exhibitions brought MOsH into direct contact with people. It is suggested that in the MOsH exhibitions we can find signs of a new relationship between public health practitioners and the public. Whilst elements of the pre-war, often moralistic ideology of public health services could still be detected, there is also evidence of a more nuanced, responsive dynamic between practitioners and the people. By the end of the 1960s, 'the public' was increasingly being thought of as a collection of 'publics', including individuals, target groups and vocal respondents.


Micromaps (for example, see Carr and Pickle, 2010) display multiple maps on the same exhibit, with different geographic units highlighted in each map. A conditioned choropleth map (CCM) is a type of micromap with multiple maps arranged in a panel layout conditional on one or two categorical variables, with highlighted regions shaded according to a main variable of interest. CCMs have been used in a wide variety of applications (for example, see Carr and Pickle, 2010; Carr, Wallin, and Carr, 2000; Carr, White, and MacEachren, 2005; Friendly, 2007).In this article, I demonstrate how to use CCMs to explore variation in housing cost-to-income ratios (HCIRs) in the 50 states and Washington, D.C. For renters, HCIR equals monthly rent plus utility and fuel costs, divided by monthly household income. For homeowners, monthly costs can include mortgage payments, property insurance, property taxes, utility and fuel costs, condominium fees, and mobile home fees, in addition to other costs.I analyze the association of HCIRs with two other variables: percentage of the population in urban areas (hereafter, percent urban) and married couple households as a percentage of total households (hereafter, percent married). Data on HCIRs and percent married are from the American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) for 2007 through 2011 (Ruggles et al., 2010);1 data on percent urban are from the 2010 census.State HCIR estimates vary from 23.8 percent in West Virginia to 36.9 percent in Washington, D.C., with a median of 29.5 percent in North Carolina and a mean of 29.9 percent. State percent urban estimates vary from 33.0 percent in Vermont to 100 percent in Washington, D.C., with a median of 73.1 percent in Virginia and a mean of 72.5 percent. State estimates of percent married vary from 19.3 percent in Washington, D.C., to 58.5 percent in Utah, with a median of 46.5 percent in Michigan and a mean of 46.1 percent.When computing means and percentiles, we could weight geographic units by population or number of households. For this article, I gave all observations equal weight.Exhibit 1 displays a CCM2 mapping HCIRs conditional on percent urban and percent married. Exhibit 1 displays nine micromaps in a three-by-three panel layout. Panel columns correspond to three categories of percent urban, indicated by the bottom horizontal slider, and rows correspond to three categories of percent married, indicated by the right vertical slider.HCIRs in exhibit 1 are shaded according to three categories indicated by the horizontal slider at the top of exhibit. Cut points in exhibit 1 for all three variables are roughly the 33rd and 66th percentiles. Cut points are reported below the top and bottom sliders, and to the right of the vertical slider. Percentages of observations in the categories are reported above the top and bottom sliders, and to the left of the vertical slider. For each variable, I will refer to the lowest category as "low," the middle category as "medium," and the highest category as "high." In exhibit 1, the 33 percent of observations in the low HCIR category with HCIRs between 23.8 and 28.1 percent are shaded light gray; the 35 percent of observations with medium HCIRs from 28.2 to 31.5 percent are shaded medium gray; and the 31 percent of observations with high HCIRs from 31.6 to 36.9 percent are shaded black.In exhibit 1, the low percent urban category includes states with percent urban estimates between 33.0 and 65.7 percent; the medium percent urban category is for states with estimates between 65.8 and 82.6 percent; and the high percent urban category includes states with estimates from 82.7 to 100 percent. Likewise, in exhibit 1, the low percent married category includes states with estimates between 19.3 and 46.0 percent; the medium percent married category includes states with estimates between 46.1 and 47.2 percent; and the high percent married category is for states with estimates between 47. …


Industrial lignins comprise a mixture of substances, including volatile, low-molecular weight compounds. In material applications of lignins, these volatiles contribute to the malodor of the finished product. We developed a method based on solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) to assay qualitatively and quantitatively the volatiles emitted from lignin samples. Substances were identified by mass spectra and retention indices, while quantitation was achieved by multiple headspace sampling (MHS). Guaiacol and dimethyl disulfide were calibrated as representative compounds for the most prominent substance classes. The method was validated and gave good recovery, ranging from 89 to 123% for dimethyl disulfide and 90 to 105% for guaiacol, a measurement range of several dozen nanogram to a few micrograms, which can be extended by adjusting the sample amount, and limits of detection of 86 ng for dimethyl disulfide and 25 ng for guaiacol. Sample preparation is limited to weig...


Bacteria identification in fish is important; hence it provides update information on emerging and existing organisms thereby enriching the gene bank on fish disease. This study investigated bacteria associated with milt in cultured samples of African catfish- Clarias gariepinus. Catfish broodstock were collected from private Fish Farm in Ogun State, Nigeria. Fish samples were taken to the Microbiology laboratory, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Ogun State for milt microbial analyses, and amplicon were taken to International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan for molecular characterization. Bio-edit was use for importing and mining nucleotide sequences into gene bank. The results revealed that the following bacterial organisms were present in the milt of Clarias gariepinus: Aeromonas caviae, Proteus mirabilis, Serratia rubidaea, Pseudomonas mosselii, Acinetobacter soli and Klebsiella variicola. The Basic Local Alignment Search Tools revealed the percentage similarity ranging from 86- 97.04% and their accession numbers. These bacteria indicated high levels of faecal contamination in the environment. In conclusion, bacteria were found in the milt of cultured catfish and are capable of being pathogenic to humans and may increase the vertical transfer to fry during breeding and rearing stage.


Purchasing plays an important role in the logistics management. Since the price of materials fluctuates constantly, to revise the formulated material purchasing strategy timely is a necessary procedure to reduce the operating cost. This paper proposes a method to find the revising purchasing quantity of the original strategy in the price fluctuating situation. This method combines with the idea of the financial risk measurement technique of CVaR under the assumption that the decision maker is the type of risk aversion. This paper proves the effectiveness of the method and verifies it with an application case.


Language teacher education should provide student teachers with pedagogical content knowledge which is the knowledge that separates a teacher from a mere major of English. PCK means a student teacher will have knowledge of the content, the pedagogy as well as the context in which this will be used. This means the process of one acquiring PCK ensures that there is a link between theory and practice. This study therefore aimed at analysing the Bachelor of Education (Language) programme at Mzuzu University in order to understand how theory and practice are integrated. The data was generated through document analysis. The study has revealed that the programme has made an effort to integrate theory with practice through the kind of courses that are offered to the students. The English teaching methodology courses provide a platform in which the content is integrated into the practice. In addition, the theoretical knowledge gained in the lecture rooms is actualised through teaching practice.


ABSTRACT Children who were born used IVF in Poland are subject of vivid discussion nowadays. In this article, we probe the ontology of the in vitro child: do in vitro children exist? If so, how and where? We analyse how an 'IVF child' is constructed through public discourses and private narratives. We explore media publications, as well as doctors' and parents' narratives concerning IVF children. A very strong voice in the debate has Catholic Church, which opposes medically assisted reproduction. Our main interest in this text are the answers of children and adults born using in vitro. Even young children recognize some focal points from the debate over assisted reproduction and refer to them. Their narratives show that they feel interpellated into existence by various discourses. In this manner, we argue, being an 'in vitro child' in Poland is a political status, not a biological one.


The interaction of a thermal plasma jet with a substrate is encountered in diverse technological applications, ranging from plasma spraying to toxic waste treatment and plasma gasification. The flow of a jet produced by a nontransferred arc plasma torch impinging on a flat substrate is simulated using a fully coupled thermodynamic nonequilibrium model. The modeling results indicate that the dynamics of the arc inside the torch cause the quasi-periodic movement of the jet, which leads to the formation of complex patterns in the heavy-species and electron temperature distributions, together with significant deviations from thermodynamic equilibrium, near the substrate. It is observed that the evolution of the degree of nonequilibrium near the substrate is strongly correlated with the direction of movement of the jet and, hence, with the arc dynamics inside the torch.


Genetic factors,cultivation measures and ecological environment are internal factors and external conditions that affect fast growth of tobacco at early stage in field.The advances in the three influencing factors for tobacco growth at early stage in field were summarized.Moreover,the well-cellar style transplanting techniques for tobacco in Guizhou province were introduced.


The purpose of this investigation1 was twofold: (1) to determine the influence of the elementary and secondary schools on character and (2) to secure recommendations for a character education program. Three hundred graduate and undergraduate students in the Educa tional Sociology classes of New York University were asked to evaluate carefully their school experience as a factor in influencing their char acter. In order to allow the student freedom of expression, two ques tions were presented, both of a somewhat general nature : 1. As you think back over your public-school experience, what factors do you now feel had a lasting influence, positive and, or, negative upon your personality? 2. In the light of your analysis, what changes, if any, would you make in the attempt to develop a more consciously planned pro gram of character education? In the tabulation of the data, a sampling of fifty papers was read first in order that the committee might discover what factors and traits were mentioned. The remaining papers were then read using these lists as a basis for checking, and the results were tabulated according to the factors and traits mentioned and the frequency of occurrence of each. A list was kept of the recommendations suggested since they varied so greatly that no one method of grouping could be used. The results of these analyses were grouped under four headings: Factors influencing character, Favorable traits developed, Unfavorable traits developed, Recommendations suggested by the students. What are the schoolroom factors which influence character? The following table (Table I) presents the relative importance of such factors as felt by this group. A plus sign indicates a favorable influence and a minus sign an unfavorable influence. Several significant conclusions can be drawn from this table. The personality of the teacher is considered by this group as of primary importance, with a considerable preponderance on the positive side. Extra-curricular activities although mentioned less frequently were like wise considered a definite positive influence. While the curriculum was


The Supportive and Palliative Care Unit (SPCU), Eastern Health is the largest in-patient palliative care unit in Victoria, with 32 beds and a diverse interdisciplinary team.


Distributed Bragg reflector tapered diode lasers (DBR-TPL) emitting at 1064 nm are highly efficient and narrowband light sources which e.g. can be used for the treatment of eye diseases including the two main causes of blindness worldwide (i.e diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration) by laser coagulation via second harmonic generation (SHG) to the green spectral region. In this work, we present DBR-TPL with an additional internal DBR-grating at the output side of the tapered amplifiersection in comparison with DBR-TPL with standard facet coating of different reflectivities. Our DBR-TPLs are based on an epitaxial structure with a large and asymmetric waveguide to realize a small vertical far field for optimal coupling into SHG-crystals. All DBR-TPL consist of a 2 mm long ridge waveguide section, which contains a 1 mm long passive DBR-grating section at the end for longitudinal mode filtering. The amplifier-section is 4 mm long and forms a taper with a full angle of 6°. The influence of the front mirror reflectivity on laser performance including reliability is investigated. The DBR-TPL emit up to 9 W of optical output power in continuous wave operation at 25°C in a longitudinal single mode at 1064 nm and yet the spectral width remains below 20 pm. In favor of a high radiance the power content in the central lobe at a total optical output power of 8 W is greater than 75% for almost all devices. Aging tests revealed significant differences in the lifetime of the devices depending on their front facet reflectivity or length of the front DBR-grating, respectively.


Holy Communion as a meal . To reach the goat of this article two main issues are being investigated. The first concerns the relationship between meals in the Old and the New Testament and Holy Communion as a meal. The second issue is: what is the meaning of Holy Communion as a meal for the believer, i.e. what does it mean to eat the body of Christ and to drink his blood? By means of analysis and synthesis the relevant data from Scripture art investigated Due to a lack of sufficient exegetical material concerning the Holy Communion as a meal, several ad hoc passages had to be explored independently in order to obtain relevant data for the topic. In the course of this article matters pertaining the Holy Communion as a meal are also dealt with in the light of the obtained data from Scripture. In conclusion Holy Communion as a meat is finally defined in the light of the relevant and explored data from Scripture.


The quantification of the rare earth elements (REEs) in natural rocks and fluids is important not only for the sustainable use of geological resources but also for fundamental geological research. Due to significant improvements in experimental, modelling and analytical techniques, it was discovered that the REEs could be efficiently mobilised and transported by hydrothermal fluids. Thus, determining the REEs in fluids, especially in highly saline solutions, is a prerequisite to understand their fate in hydrothermal fluids. An analytical methodology was established to determine the trace quantities of the REEs in aqueous solutions with compositions typical to seawater and brines. The developed protocol was applied for the quantification of REEs in experimental sodium‐rich carbonate‐bearing hydrothermal solutions. For this purpose, we used two analytical approaches: (a) the REEs were chromatographically isolated from the charged matrix and introduced into a single collector quadrupole ICP‐MS and (b) direct determination of the REEs by LA‐ICP‐MS in experimental solutions loaded into glass capillaries without any additional isolation procedure. Both LA‐ICP‐MS and solution nebulisation ICP‐MS analysis after isolation of the REEs provide identical data in terms of REE concentrations in brines and are consistent within analytical uncertainties. Being an express method, LA‐ICP‐MS can be recommended for REE quantification in brines. At the same time, isolation of the REEs from the charged matrix with subsequent ICP‐MS measurement provides higher accuracy and precision, giving additional information for the REEs mass fractions that are below the detection limit of the LA‐ICP‐MS that was estimated at the ~ 10 ng g−1 level.


In this paper, we present an algorithm (CP_Hand_Activity) used to build an application that utilizes touch screen interface to help cerebral palsy (CP) children to develop and upgrade simple hand activities to reach more complicated functional activities which they can use in their daily lives. Our algorithm consists of four stages each with different number of levels; the CP's children should be able to finish these stages sequentially and in a specific amount of time until they are able to draw alphabet letter by using the electronic pen on the touch screen. All information attained from the algorithm such as time to complete stage, number of successes and failures are recorded in a separate database which is used to monitor the advancement of each case by their therapist.


As a public benefit and service department,the hospital needs to share and save many important data,but both viral invasion and natural disasters can bring a certain hidden danger to the security of information system,therefore,the research of hospital emergency plan has an extremely practical significance.Under common situation,management and technology are the main ways of information system construction.However this research indicates that it can be constructed from four different angles including the data level,the database level,the operating system level and the entire system level,which is not only feasible theoretically,but also operational.


Agniya Hemas Kusumaputri, 188.8.131.52.117. Therapeutic Community Method as Behavior Shaping of Drug Addicts in Institusi Penerimaan Wajib Lapor (IPWL) Mitra Alam Foundation of Surakarta. Thesis Guidance And Counseling Department of Islam. Faculty of Ushuluddin and Da'wah. IAIN Surakarta. 2017. Keywords: Therapeutic community, behavior shaping, and drug addicts. Drug problems are an important concern for many. Prolonged drug use will lead to negative behaviors that harm yourself and others. To deal with such drug problems requires both medical and non medical rehabilitation to restore its physical and social functions. In Surakarta there is a place of recovery for drug addicts who use social rehabilitation with therapeutic community methods. This therapy emphasizes the strength of the community that aims to change one's behavior for the better. Therefore this research intends to see how therapeutic community process as behavior shaping for recovery of drug addicts at IPWL Mitra Alam Foundation Foundation. The type of research used is descriptive qualitative, where researchers explain and describe the findings. Subjects in this study were counselors at IPWL Foundation Mitra Alam Surakarta. Techniques of collecting data using interviews, observation and documentation. Data analysis method used in this research is data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion. The validity of the data using source triangulation. The results of this study indicate that therapeutic community applied in IPWL Mitra Alam Foundation Surakarta is a method of social rehabilitation which contains physical, emotional and spiritual mentoring programs. The process of therapeutic community as the formation of the behavior of the first drug addicts begins by exploring the client's problems, the second determines the desired target change, and the third is the reinforcement through the built programs. In the therapeutic community, counselors can be used as role models. In practice, the formation of behaviors is part of the therapeutic community itself, so both have the same goal to awaken the client to deviant behavior and change the behavior for the better.


Barotropic FRW cosmologies are presented from the standpoint of nonrelativis-tic supersymmetry. First, we reduce the barotropic FRW system of differential equations to simple harmonic oscillator differential equations. Employing the fac-torization procedure, the solutions of the latter equations are divided into the two classes of bosonic (nonsingular) and fermionic (singular) cosmological solutions. We next introduce a coupling parameter denoted by K between the two classes of solutions and obtain barotropic cosmologies with dissipative features acting on the scale factors and spatial curvature of the universe. The K-extended FRW equations in comoving time are presented in explicit form in the low coupling regime. The standard barotropic FRW cosmologies correspond to the dissipa-tionless limit K = 0. Barotropic FRW cosmologies in comoving time t obey the Einstein-Friedmann dynamical equations for the scale factor a(t) of the universe supplemented by the (barotropic) equation of state of the cosmological fluidä a = − 4πG 3 (ρ + 3p) , H 2 0 (t) ≡ ˙ a a 2 = 8πGρ 3 − κ a 2 , p = (γ − 1)ρ , where ρ and p are the energy density and the pressure, respectively, of the perfect fluid of which a classical universe is usually assumed to be made of, κ = 0, ±1 is the curvature index of the flat, closed, open universe, respectively , and γ is the constant adiabatic index of the cosmological fluid.


Speech psychodiagnostics gives an opportunity to show the principles and tools of measurement, correction and development of the language ability of a person in accordance with individual psychological characteristics that manifest themselves in speech. The paper presents some experimental diagnostic techniques to study the leading modalities of perception of speech product (associates, text's psychological predicates, etc.). A technique to identify indicators of the dominant modality in spontaneous utterances and written texts of secondary school pupils is described. The peculiarities of perception and speech production of children with different leading modalities visual, auditory and kinesthetic are discussed; adapted techniques of speech psychodiagnosis "Pick up a word", "Portraying the concept of," "Mixed up instructions", "Living the name," "Choosing the characteristics from the given ones (including the possibility to continue) and others are shown. The result of the observation is the conclusion that the diagnosis and taking into account the leading modalities of perception can help the teacher to create the necessary conditions to avoid possible difficulties in new language material acquisition by the pupils. In addition, knowledge of the individual lateral profile, the ability to determine it, may serve as means of development of multimodal perception in children, the result of which is a complete perceptual image of the phenomenon under study.


The aim of this paper is to ascertain how customer service could be enhanced through employee engagement. Lack of documented evidence of the contribution of employee engagement to customer service improvements in the service sector in Zimbabwe motivated the researchers to carry out this study. Customer service is at the heart of
business growth and survival for organisations in the service sector. It therefore became imperative for this study to establish the contribution of employee engagement initiatives towards enhancing customer service. Organisations in Zimbabwe are focusing on re-capitalisation and re-industrialisation with the belief that organisational success may be enhanced, relegating people focus to a secondary status. However, a study on engagement within the service industry in Zimbabwe was therefore essential to ascertain the value of placing employee engagement at the centre of business success in enhancing customer service. The sample size for the study was 66 and the research adopted a mixed methodology approach, were a detailed description of employee
engagement was given while also making some statistical illustrations. The approach took a comparative case study design using two service organisations a hotel and a tour operator. Research instruments used to collect data included questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the research showed that 58% employees in the tour operating company were engaged and strategies such as employee share ownership schemes, training and development opportunities and competitive reward packages were in place in that company than in the hotel were engagement level stood at 39%. The conclusion drawn is that customer service could be enhanced through strategically employing and implementing human resource practices that foster employee engagement. A number of recommendations were put forward by the researchers that could improve engagement levels of shopfloor employees in both organisations in order to attain high standards of customer service.


The invention provides a distributed DNS inquiry log real-time statistic device. The device comprises a site log server and a center log server, wherein the site log server comprises a data receiving processing module used for receiving a DNS request of the current site and extracting statistic object data of the logs from the DNS request, a statistic module used for counting the statistic objectdata of the logs in real time and buffering the corresponding statistic results, and a response module used for responding to a real-time log inquiry request of the center log server and feeding the statistic results corresponding to the request back to the center log server; and the center log server is used for collecting and processing the statistic results fed back by the log servers of all sites. The device can realize the global and huge data quantity real-time statistic analysis of the inquired logs based on the distributed type structure of the DNS.


This paper presents a survey of the economics of unemployment. It covers competitive and imperfect competition models, the role of different methods of wage determination, and explanation of postwar unemployment patterns in the OECD countries. Copyright 1990 by Royal Economic Society.


Hardware-software simulator station 168-5UN P-2 is intended to teach the principles of working with radio-168-5UN P-2 and provide collaboration with the complex training facilities (KUTS) regarding voice communications. Hardware-software simulator station 168-5UN-F-2 provides: - external and functional fit radio-168-5UN P-2; - the removal of restrictions on the placement of hardware and software simulator with respect to the real radio station; - cheap and fast repair; - ability to work with both wired and wireless digital networks; - the ability to work from 220V and the battery real-168-5UN station P-2. The technical result is achieved in that in the housing a real radio station R-168-5UN-2 with connectors and control introduced single board computer, the remote control interface module P-168-5UN-2 with single board computer, Wi-Fi module, a voltage converter and a source supply, the inverter output voltage is connected to the input interface module and the converter input voltage and a single-board computer with external connections for the power station and the battery connection; interface module output is connected to a control panel P-168-5UN, Wi-Fi module is built into a single board PC.


The invention provides a manufacturing method for a multi-hole aluminum anode material. The method comprises the following steps that (1) high-purity aluminum powder is prepared through a high-pressure gas atomization technique, the purity of the high-purity aluminum powder is 99.9% or more, the size of powder particles is 1-500 [mu]m, and the range of the atomization air pressure is 1-17 MPa; (2) the powder prepared in the step (1) and a bonding agent are subjected to ball milling in a solvent medium, and solvents can be ethyl alcohol, acetone and lipid organic solvents; (3) mixed turbid liquid obtained in the step (2) is subjected to secondary ball milling after being dried, and powder mixed with the bonding agent is obtained; and (4) the powder mixed with the bonding agent and obtained in the step (3) is sintered after compression molding forming. The multi-hole aluminum anode material is high in porosity and small in void diameter, so that the effective superficial area of the multi-hole aluminum anode material is large, and a capacitor manufactured through the multi-hole aluminum anode material is high in electrostatic capacity. Meanwhile, the shape of multi-hole aluminum can be flexibly changed according to the requirements, and thus the shapes of the capacitor can be not limited to be cylindrical and square.


This research is based on the study which is attempted to examine the use of PACA reading strategies to promote students' teaching strategies in TEFL 1 class. The objectives of this study are (1) To find out the students' teaching strategies in TEFL I class before using PACA reading strategies, (2) To find out the significant difference between the students who use PACA reading strategies and those who do not use PACA reading strategies in their capability of teaching strategies in TEFL I class. The population of this study is the fifth semester students of English Department in PGRI University of Semarang. There are six classes of TEFL I class  in English Department and two classes are taken as the sample of the study. The classes are 5G and 5H. They are divided into the experimental class (5G) and the control group (5H). The result of the study shows that the students in the experimental class which were taught by using the technique of PACA Reading strategies to promote their teaching strategies had better achievement than the students in the control group which were taught without using the technique of PACA reading strategies. The average score of the pre-test of the experimental class was 76.72 and the control class was 72.85. The average score of the experimental class was 81.98 and the control class was 72.85. The pre-test and the post-test score then were calculated to get the t-test to know whether there was significant difference between the experimental class and the control class. The t-test was 0.47 and the t-table was 0.213. Then the t-test and t-table were compared. The data shows that the t-test was higher than the t-table. It means that there was significant difference between the experimental class and the control class.


Reporting work-related illnesses is an obligation for all doctors. This obligation has been inscribed in the Social Security Code for over 60 years (article L. 461-6), yet it is not often complied with in reality and tends to only concern one type of doctor : occupational physicians. Starting with a study carried out in Pays de la Loire, a region particularly implicated in the organisation of reporting work-related illnesses (WRIs), this article will take another look at the issues involved in reporting WRIs under three angles. The first re-examines the definition of WRIs : a category cut off from compensation and produced on a regional level. The second focuses on Ligerian occupational physicians' actions when confronted with the reporting measures for WRIs jointly implemented by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance and the Regional Occupational Medicine Inspection. The third angle questions the knowledge effectuated regarding the missions of regional players and the implications in terms of public health.


The utility model discloses a plug device used in crane, comprising a body fixed on an arm flexible cylinder, a frame at the bottom of the body, two horizontal cylinders respectively disposed at two ends of the body, horizontal pins inserted in the horizontal cylinders, two vertical cylinders disposed along the diagonal vertically on the body, vertical pins inserted in the vertical cylinders, and plugs connected on the top of the vertical pins. The utility model has simple structure, low weight, high reliability and high working efficiency.


The excellent reflectivity of germanium with respect to x rays makes it possible to use it as a monochromator. A thin segment was cut out from a Ge single crystal parallel to the (1 1 1) plane, testing it with K alpha -- Cu radiation generated at 30 kv and 10 milliamp in 1/2 sec, using a 15-cm distance between the film and the crystals. Results showed that the Ge yields sharper and higher intensity lines than NaCl, CaF/sub 2/ and CaCC/sub 3/ crystals. The absence of (222) is especially noteworthy. The Ge single crystal may be heated to 600 to 700 deg C without any noticeable plastic deformation. Layers with a radius of curvature of R = 380 mm have been prepared. This material has great potentialities as a monochromator. (TTT)


In an A-site ordered perovskite manganite Sm 1/2 Ba 1/2 MnO 3 , a new charge/orbital ordering pattern was found at room temperature. Electron diffraction studies revealed a series of superlattice reflections with modulation vectors at q 2 =(1/2, 1/2, 1/2) as well as at q 1 =(1/4, 1/4, 0) in the tetragonal setting ( a p × a p ×2 a p , a p being the cubic perovskite lattice parameter). Together with the results of the resonant X-ray scattering and the charge-transport and magnetization measurements, a new model for the three-dimensional charge/orbital ordering in the ordered perovskite is proposed.


2001b).While the argument about the effect of public investment in the economy mainly seems to validate crowding-in effect in developing countries and the opposite in developed economies, evidence of such findings remain inconclusive across countries and regions (Munthali, 2012). Several studies have looked into the effect of public investment on output growth (for example, Ahmed, 2009; Erden and Holcombe, 2006; Ahmed and Qayyum, 2007; Bucci and Del 2012). Other studies have analyzed the factors influencing private investment (for example, Martinez-lopez, 2006; Kamrul and Ruhul, 2011). However, the findings vary from one study to another with some of the studies having found private capital to be more productive compared with public capital (Hassan and Salim, 2011). Ramirez (2001) using panel data for Latin American countries investigated the association between public and private and established that public investment is important in determining private investment. Voss (2002) and Narayan (2004) in their studies found that rather than complementing private investment public capital acts as a substitute for private investment. Abstract: This paper analyses the effect of public capital on private investment in Kenya using time series data from 1980-2014. Vector Auto regression (VAR) model was applied to analyze the data. The empirical findings show that public investment promotes private investment in the short-run and in the long-run. This implies that a well-targeted public investment is important in minimizing bottle-necks thereby stimulating private investment. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the government to continue strengthening and pursuing investment policies in various sectors of the economy that could foster private investment. The government needs also to pay more attention to prudent investment to ensure reduction in private transactions costs thereby creating more opportunities for private investment.


Hibiscus moscheutos L.is the relative of Gossypium L.It has some eminent traits,such as earliness,good fecundity,cold-tolerance and Vertcillium wilt resistance and so on.In this paper,the well-spread and clear mitotic metaphase chromosomes of Hibiscus moscheutos were obtained.The karyotype analysis indicated that there was a pair of satellites on chromsome No.1,and the average length of Hibiscus moscheutos's chromosomes was 5.96±0.83μm.The arm ratios of 10.5% chromosomes were over 2,and the ratio of the longest chromosome to the shortest one was 1.68.The karyotype was 2A and the karyotype formulae was 2n=2x=38=32m+6sm(2SAT).No abnormal behavior was observed in the meiotic process of pollen mother cell of Hibiscus moscheutos.There were 19 bivalents(19Ⅱ)at metaphaseⅠ.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce CPU load.SOLUTION: A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a DMA controller, a memory controller, an arithmetic processing section, and a control integration section. The DMA controller controls data transfer to a memory, to control transfer of data stored in the memory. The memory controller controls transfer operation of the DMA controller, to transfer data stored in a storage section to the memory, or to store the data in the memory on the storage section. The arithmetic processing section executes error correction of data transferred by the DMA controller. The control integration section issues an instruction to the memory controller to start data transfer, and executes transfer completion processing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1


The purpose of this study was to investigate high school student achievement in child development concepts that are reflected in the Pennsylvania Family and Consumer Sciences Child Development Standards. A secondary goal of this research was to compare student achievement in child development concepts in child development courses that include a laboratory as an integral part of the course with achievement in child development courses that do not include a laboratory component. The design was a pretest-posttest experiment using an instrument which was developed for this study. The treatment was exposure to a high school semester-long family and consumer sciences course in child development. The subjects were 431 students from nine high schools in Pennsylvania. The experimental group consisted of two subgroups; one of the subgroups consisted of high school students enrolled in a semester-long child development course that was didactic in nature, without a child development laboratory experience. The second subgroup consisted of high school students enrolled in a semester-long child development course that was a combination of didactic instruction and experience in a child development laboratory. Students who were never enrolled in a child development course participated in the control group. The findings from this study offer evidence that participation in a high school semester-long child development course has a positive effect on students' knowledge of child development concepts. After the experimental group participated in a child development course, they differed significantly in their knowledge compared to the comparison group who did not participate in a child development course. A high school child development semester course, as evaluated in this study, does appear to have a significant impact on students' knowledge of child development concepts. Students who took a child development course showed significant improvement on posttests compared to pretest scores. Child development students who participated in a laboratory experience showed a significantly greater improvement on tests scores over child development students who took a didactic-style child development course with no laboratory experience.


Abstract Synthesis of magnesium hydroxide was performed by the precipitation method with the use of magnesium sulfate and sodium hydroxide. The infiuence of temperature and ratio of reagents was studied. Magnesium hydroxides, and the magnesium oxides obtained from them by thermal decomposition, were analyzed to determine their bulk density, polydispersity and particle size. The magnesium oxide with the largest surface area was tested as a catalyst in the oxyethylation of lauryl alcohol, and shown to be selective but poorly reactive in comparison with commercially available catalysts. Further studies are needed to improve its reactivity.


Meat analogue is a product made from vegetable protein, but conforms to or is similar to the properties of real meat. The quality of a food is determined by its physical, sensory quality, and chemistry including nutritional value and microbiology. The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptability and preference level of organoleptic properties, total plate number and the estimated shelf life of analog meat. The study used five %w/w ratios of cashew fruit: Isolated soy protein: white oyster mushroom, namely F1 (60%:20%:20%); F2 (50%:30%:20%); F3 (40%;40%:20%); F4 (30%:50%:20%); and F5 (20%:60%:20%). The study was conducted in five stages, namely the process of making analog meat, testing product acceptability (scoring), testing organoleptic properties, testing total plate count, and estimating shelf life product. The results of the test on the difference in the treatment of the addition of cashew fruit and ISP affect the acceptability of analog meat. The organoleptic test on the level of preference had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on the color, scent, taste, texture, and overall preference of analog meat. The most preferred analog meat color is F1, while the aroma, taste, texture, and overall preference for analog meat are F2. The ALT values of analog meat F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5 that were tested still met the requirements set by BPOM Number 13 of 2019. Analog meat stored at room temperature (20-25˚C) only lasted 2 days, while in cold storage (15-18˚C) can still last for 7 days. Cashew fruit meat has the potential to be developed into analog meat substitutes for animal meat that is organoleptically accepted and meets food safety criteria.


OBJECTIVE
This manuscript reviews how patient-reported outcomes data can be used to guide efforts to improve patient outcomes.

DESIGN
Review Manuscript.

SETTING
The clinical management of chronic, non-cancer pain.

SUBJECTS
Adult patients receiving treatment for chronic, non-cancer pain.

RESULTS
While there have been great advances in the science of pain and various therapeutic medications and interventions, patient outcomes are variable. This manuscript reviews how outcomes data can be used to guide efforts to improve patient outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Patient outcomes can be improved with standardization of the process of patient care, as well as through other quality improvement efforts. The cornerstone to any effort to improve patient outcomes starts with the integration of valid outcomes data collection into ongoing patient care. Outcome measurement tools should provide information on several key domains, yet the process of data collection should not pose a significant burden on either the patient or health care team. Efforts to improve patient outcomes are ongoing, and should be a high priority for every health care team.


This review article offers a critical analysis of Horst Eidenmüller and Gerhard Wagner's Law by Algorithm by focusing on four major sets of issues that are covered in this important work: (i) separate legal personality for artificial intelligence (AI) systems; (ii) the exploitation and protection of consumers; (iii) liability; and (iv) online dispute resolution. On separate legal personality, it is shown that neither unbundled products nor difficulties in proving that the systems resulted in damage or losses necessarily justify giving legal personality to AI systems. On consumer protection, it is argued that exploitation of consumers can be regulated by consumer protection legislation provided that reforms are made to remove enforcement hurdles. On liability, the issues arising from product liability legislation and problems associated with proving causation are critically examined. On online dispute resolution, smart contracts and self-driving contracts are distinguished, and a distinction is drawn between AI-assisted and AI-substitutionary adjudication.


This article demonstrates the urban anthropogenic threats and their impacts on Sainte Marie (Eastern Madagascar) mangrove ecosystem. In addition to conducting interview with 158 residents, floristic inventories were carried out in order to compare the mangrove structure between a control site and another one that was impacted by Belle Vue dyke (south of the District downtown) rehabilitation. From 2003 to 2014, the island of Sainte Marie lost 0.47% per year of its mangrove area. 87% of the harvested resources from this ecosystem are fish products and are related to human nutrition. The mangrove is used as a dumping ground for liquid and solid waste in the lots of Saint Joseph and La Pointe. Defecation in the open air is topical under the island's mangrove forest. A very weak resilience of the mangrove impacted by the rehabilitation of Belle Vue dyke was noted. Indeed, regenerations of Bruguiera gymnorrhiza and Ceriops tagal have struggled to rebuild. The total height and diameter of impacted trees decreased by 37.2% and 44.3%, respectively. The development of an updated urban master plan, including mangroves in the related zoning process is an imperative measurement for the conservation and/or valuation of existing lots.