Quantitative approaches in the study of language variation have been strongly influenced by the sociolinguistic methodologies established by Labov's (1966 [1982]) study of the speech community of New York's Lower East Side. The sociolinguistic variables that have been pursued and studied in subsequent work have often used the non-linguistic variables that Labov investigated as their primary focus. This has led to some valuable findings both within and across cultures, and perhaps more importantly provided the field of linguistics with a model for reaching out and co-opting the methods and existing insights from other fields as a means of enlightening and furthering linguistic praxis. Indeed, much of the essential early work in sociolinguistics research was conducted by extending the frameworks and interests of other fields such as anthropology and sociology. There has been a recent reemphasis in sociolinguistics, led by researchers working on the interaction of language and gender, to renew this tradition of reaching out to other fields in order to benefit from what they can tell us about the interpersonal functions of languages and communication. Sociolinguistic studies have for some time standardly adopted the methodologies of participant observation or network sampling that are drawn from anthropology and sociology. Recently this has been accompanied by a resurgence in interest in the methodologies and theory that underlie much of the work that has been pursued in social psychology over the last two decades. In this paper1, I will try to bring some of these elements together with some previous findings on how language is used as a social marker. In particular, I will use examples that illustrate speakers' use of linguistic markers as markers of group identity, where the in-group/out-group boundary is drawn on the basis of the speaker's sex. I will attempt to show that previous variationist findings have already shown us the complexity of the notion of sex or gender as a group identity, and that the complexity of a speaker identification like gender or sex lies in its own status as a variable. I will argue that identities vary in their salience from person to person, and even within the same person from one communicative situation to another. I will conclude by presenting a proposal for a model of speaker identity that reflects some of the more important characteristics of speakers' identities that I will have presented, namely: (1) Speakers possess many different identities some personal; some group (or social). (2) Identities vary in their salience in different communicative events, but all of a speaker's different identities are always present and available to them in a communicative event.


This paper describes theoretical studies of the Winchendon field performance data using a computer model, FROST1, developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). The Winchendon field test site was constructed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (MDPW) during the fall of 1977. Data on frost heave, frost depth, and thaw weakening were then obtained during the next three winter seasons. FROST1 assumes one-dimensional vertical heat and moisture flux, and is intended for use on problems of seasonal freezing and thawing of nonplastic soils that range from silts to silty sands and gravels above the water table. These simulations have shown that the computations are sensitive to the input thermal and hydraulic soil parameters, porosities, and boundary temperatures and pressures. Nevertheless, they provide guidance in the selection of input parameters for FROST1. Parametric studies were made to provide design curves that show, for two water-table depths, the reduction in maximum heave with increasing amounts of frost protection. These curves will assist designers in evaluating the required depth of frost protection and in particular the effects of only partial frost protection in situations where factors such as buried utilities or economics preclude the use of non-frost-susceptible (NSF) materials to the full frost depth.


Cross-view image matching aims to match images of the same target scene acquired from different platforms. With the rapid development of drone technology, cross-view matching by neural network models has been a widely accepted choice for drone position or navigation. However, existing public datasets do not include images obtained by drones at different heights, and the types of scenes are relatively homogeneous, which yields issues in assessing a model's capability to adapt to complex and changing scenes. In this end, we present a new cross-view dataset called SUES-200 to address these issues. SUES-200 contains 24120 images acquired by the drone at four different heights and corresponding satellite view images of the same target scene. To the best of our knowledge, SUES-200 is the first public dataset that considers the differences generated in aerial photography captured by drones flying at different heights. In addition, we developed an evaluation for efficient training, testing and evaluation of cross-view matching models, under which we comprehensively analyze the performance of nine architectures. Then, we propose a robust baseline model for use with SUES-200. Experimental results show that SUES-200 can help the model to learn highly discriminative features of the height of the drone.


Tomato flu, also known as tomato fever, is a newly identified virus in India that causes high temperatures, extreme fatigue, and aches and pains. Case studies have revealed that immunocompetent people can contract the virus; therefore, this may be a new Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease strain (HFMD). Although tomato fever shows symptoms similar to COVID-19, the virus is not related to SARS-CoV. Tomato fever is a self-limiting illness and there is no specific treatment/vaccination till date. The rare viral infection is in endemic state and is considered non-life threatening. Because of the fear of emergence of fourth wave and dreadful experience of COVID-19, vigilant management is desirable to prevent spread of tomato fever.


By collecting and analyzing Instructions to Contributors of the Chinese and American core journals of basic medicine,this paper investigates the formats and the contents of abstracts that should be included in them.The Chinese core journals of basic medicine normally adopt a four-heading format and the content necessary in abstract is little mentioned in their Instructions to Contributors.In contrast,American core journals of basic medicine usually use a non-structured abstract format and outline comparatively detailed content necessary in the abstract.


The crystals of 1-(2-pyridymethyl)-2,4,6-triphenylpyridinium perchlorate are monoclinic, space group P 21/b. The unit cell parameters are a = 18.941(5), b = 19.502(6), c = 15.135(5),y = 115.99°(2), Z = 8, d0 = 1.31(3), dx = 1.319 g/cm3. The structure has been determined by direct methods and refined by block diagonal least squares to R0 = 0.08 for 2520 reflections. The phenyl rings in both molecules (I) and (II) are planar. These rings are twisted with respect to the central pyridyl rings.


Adsorption behaviors of Ni(II) ions were investigated using amorphous alumina as adsorbent. In the adsorption kinetic study, it was observed that Ni(II) ions were bound to the alumina surface in two adsorption stages, the rapid and slow adsorption stages. The rapid adsorption proceeded within 1 hr, thereafter the slow adsorption occurred. The results of adsorption isotherm experiments showed that the Ni(II) adsorption obeyed the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm, and that the adsorption enhanced with increasing pH. The change in ionic strength did not exhibit a conspicuous trend in Ni(II) adsorption, thereby suggesting that the adsorption occurs through surface complexation rather than electrostatic interactions. The amounts of adsorption were measured with varying pH at three different Ni(II) concentrations under the condition of constant ionic strength, showing that with increasing Ni(II) concentration, the percentage of adsorption decreased and the adsorption edge was shifted to a higher pH value.


Infectivity of soil was measured by incubating samples on potato tuber slices during and after outbreaks of potato blight in three years. Surface soil was always more infective than deeper soil, the most infective surface soil containing the equivalent of 2100 sporangia of P. infestans per ml. Infectivity usually diminished rapidly with increasing depth, and only occasionally did infectivity below 2 in. exceed the equivalent of 100 sporangia per ml. Exceptionally large infectivity was once found at all depths sampled after heavy rain, but rain did not consistently affect infectivity. The surface soil remained infective for at least 32 days after the haulm was killed with acid, but the concentration of viable spores declined to a small value during the first week after treatment. In the laboratory infectivity persisted for 11 weeks after sporangia were mixed with unsterilized soil originally with a moisture content of 20%. P. infestans mycelium grew only in sterilized soils, perhaps because some soil micro‐organisms inhibit its growth, and others (e.g. Trichoderma viride) parasitize it or lyse it (e.g. by Rhizoctonia solani). The three soils tested all contained substances that inhibit the germination of sporangia.
RESP-5297


Concentration, distribution and switching of acoustic, visual and tactile attention in blind, light-sighted, deaf, mentally retarded and normal children (on the average 19 years of age) were studied. It has been found that audio-tactual and audio-visual distribution of attention combine well (the average decrement of performance constitutes 14.5%) in comparison with visual-tactual distribution (the average decrement of performance constitutes 40.2%). According to the index of velocity of attention concentration, the subject groups distributed themselves as follows: blind, normal, light-sighted, deaf and mentally retarded. According to the index of attention switching, the subject groups distributed themselves in the following order: light-sighted, normal, mentally retarded and deaf. According to the index of intermodal distribution of attention, the subject groups distributed themselves in the following way: blind, normal, light-sighted, mentally retarded and deaf.


To provide a shorter time to complete the change in the art prior to the bill count in the bill accommodating retractable library. Having a customer operating unit, bill inlet-outlet, discriminating portion, retractable library, vault, and a main control unit and the like. Chargeback library need not be disposed in the bill from the bill accommodating library from the position after the determination through the upper portion, a lower portion of the bill receiving box focused on, in particular, by thickening the outer contour of the lower portion of the covering can improve security by using bidirectional transport path design allows easy transport and road maintenance is improved, the upper unit does not have dishonored the library it is possible to save space and so on, in a relatively short time to complete is very convenient for users of the change. When the unit is determined by determining the amount of a bill is greater than a genuine bill deposit amount input by the customer when the operation unit, by temporary storage of the idler drum type, may be formed into the space between the genuine bill and coin chargeback, preventing a bill mix effects.


This paper introduces the development aspects of an intelligent agent for mutual fund investment decisions. The success of next-generation Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems mainly depends on making intelligent systems more useful for automated planning and strategic-level decisions, rather than using them merely for transaction processing at the operational level. The required knowledge for the development of the rule base has been adapted from the literature and the working of the intelligent agent prototype has been demonstrated using suitable examples. The developed system, based on fuzzy logic, takes a wide range of values as input and comes out with a unique decision, whereas an ordinary expert system would have given multiple decisions as output. Vagueness handling is possible on the internet and this helps the evolution of ERP, for which internet enabled strategic decision-making is of paramount importance.


The sucrose accumulation characteristics of sugarcane planted at different altitudes in different months were analyzed. Sugarcane cultivar Mintang 69 /421 was planted in the field at the altitudes of 400 m,600 m,800 m,1 000 m,1 200 m,1 400 m and 1 600 m,respectively,and the Brix or sugarcane sucrose content was measured in different months. The altitude was found to give different influences to the sucrose content of the sugarcane at different accumulation stages. The sucrose content of the sugarcane was affected greatly at the altitude between 400 m and 1 000 m at the early accumulation stage,and it decreased as the altitude increases. But the sugarcane sucrose content did not change much at the altitude between 1 000 m and 1 600 m. The altitude had slight influence on the sucrose accumulation at the middle and late accumulation stages. As the altitude increased the sugarcane sucrose accumulation generally tended to decrease but not considerably,and the sucrose content changed much at different altitudes. Numerous other environmental factors beside altitude gave influence to sugarcane sucrose accumulation.


Despite the strengthening of vehicle emissions standards and test methods, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from on-road mobile sources are not being notably reduced. The introduction of real driving emission (RDE) regulations is expected to reduce the discrepancy between emission regulations and actual air pollution. To analyze the effects of RDE regulations on heavy-duty diesel vehicles, pollutants emitted while driving were measured using a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) for Euro 5 and Euro 6 vehicles, which were produced before and after RDE regulations, respectively. NOx emissions were compared as a function of emissions allowance standards, gross vehicle weight (GVW), average vehicle speed, and ambient temperature. NOx emissions from Euro 6 vehicles were found to be low, regardless of GVW; emissions from both vehicular categories increased with a decline in the average speed. To reflect real road driving characteristics more broadly in the RDE test method for heavy-duty vehicles, it is necessary to consider engine power, which is a criterion for classifying effective sections, in the moving average window (MAW) analysis method, as well as including cold start conditions.


HFE-7100 and FC-72 fluorinert are two fluids used during weapon component manufacturing. HFE-7100 is a solvent used in the cleaning of parts, and FC-72 is the blowing agent of a polymeric removable foam. The presence of either FC-72 or HFE-7100 gas in weapon components can provide valuable information as to the stability of the materials. Therefore, gas standards are needed so HFE-7100 and FC-72 gas concentrations can be accurately measured. There is no current established procedure for generating gas standards of either HFE-7100 or FC-72. This report outlines the development of a method to generate gas standards ranging in concentration from 0.1 ppm to 10% by volume. These standards were then run on a Jeol GC-Mate II mass spectrometer and analyzed to produce calibration curves. We present a manifold design that accurately generates gas standards of HFE-7100 and FC-72 and a procedure that allows the amount of each to be determined.


Study on a disorder-free many-body localization is reported for the flat-band Creutz ladder, which was recently realized in cold-atoms in an optical lattice. In a non-interacting case, the flat-band structure leads to a Wannier wavefunction localized on four adjacent lattice sites. In the flat-band regime both with and without interactions, the level spacing analysis exhibits Poisson-like distribution. This indicates the existence of the disorder-free localization. Calculation of the inverse participation ratio supports this observation. Interestingly, this type of localization is robust to weak disorders, whereas for strong disorders, the system exhibits a crossover into the conventional disorder-induced many-body localization phase. We also find non-ergodic dynamics in the flat-band regime without disorder. The memory of an initial density wave pattern is preserved for long times.


The U.S. Mars Exploration Program comprises at least one Discovery mission (Mars Pathfinder), and the Mars Surveyor Program, plus sample return missions and other missions to prepare for possible human expeditions to Mars, The original themes of the Mars Surveyor Program (which are still the official program goals) are to understand Life, Climate and Resources on Mars, with these themes tied together by the common thread of Water. The program will launch (on average) two missions every 26 months. The missions launched between 1996 and 2001 will include a lander and an orbiter at each opportunity, launched on the Delta family of launch vehicles, International participation is an important factor in the program, and relationships are being established with Russia, Europe and Japan. The program is severely cost constrained, with missions costing about $ 150M apiece or less, including launch and operations. The ability to move about the Martian surface is key to the Mars Exploration Program. This paper addresses the overall Mars Exploration Program strategy, with an emphasis of the role of rovers in the program, Specifically, the need for improvements in rover performance is addressed, In 1965 Mariner 4 flew past the southern part of Mars and sent back pictures of an ancient, heavily cratered terrain, apparently moonlike and lifeless. 'I%vo flybys in 1969 also imaged the same part of Mars. But in 1971 Mariner 9, and later the Viking orbiters in 1976, discovered a vastly more interesting view of Mars, Mars was found to be a planet of stark contrasts. Viewed from orbit the surface features range from ancient, cratered terrain like Earth's moon, to giant volcanoes, to a canyon as long as the United States is wide and five times as deep as the Grand Canyon, indicating that Mars was much more geologically active than the moon, It's only 1/8 as massive as Earth, but it has as much dry land area as Earth because Mars has no oceans. There's evidence that water once flowed and cut channels on the surface four billion years ago. But the surface is now dry except for two constant polar caps with reservoirs of water ice, some thin water-ice clouds, and a periodic dusting of frost. After Mariner 9, it was thought that life might have developed during a wetter time on Mars, and might even still be present in the soil. Close-up on the surface, as revealed by two Viking landers in 1976, Mars resembles an earthly desert like California's Mojave. The Viking landers carried experiments to look for life in the top layer of Martian soil. The results were disappointing. This layer has apparently been sterilized, probably by the ultraviolet light which is hardly diminished by the thin Martian atmosphere. In addition, atmospheric conditions at the surface of Mars are not very friendly for life, The atmosphere is less than l% as dense as Earth's and is almost all carbon dioxide. It's M on Mars, especially in


East Norwegian employs pitch accent contours in order to make lexical distinctions. This paper researches listeners' ability to make lexical distinctions in the absence of f0 (ie. whispered speech) as the listener attempts to determine which pitch accent word token best fits into a whispered ambiguous utterance in spoken Norwegian. The results confirm that local syntactic context alone is not a reliable cue to assist in lexical selection and concur with Fintoft (1970) in suggesting that listeners utilise a separate prosodic cue, possibly syllable duration or intensity, to make the pitch accent distinction in whispered speech.


The apartheid epoch introduced a web of laws that influenced public and private structures and ideological apparatuses, including educational institutions, to give an inferior status to Black people. South Africa was also upheld by a deeply patriarchal system which marginalised the status of women in society. This meant that most people in senior positions in South African organisations were predominantly white and male. The consequence of racism and patriarchy meant that there have been a low number of Black women professors in institutions of higher education. This study therefore aimed to examine the discourses of Black women professors in post-apartheid South Africa. This study used the Critical Race Theory (CRT) and critical consciousness, to understand the challenges that Black women professors encounter and how they strategically navigated these challenges in institutions of higher education, respectively. The Black women professors were recruited from two South African universities. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The significance of the study is that it identified discourses, which could be useful to understand the kinds of challenges that may operate in higher education and ways to shift these existing challenges. The findings showed two main challenges encountered by Black women professors namely: (1) feelings of being unwelcomed within the academic space and (2) being undermined in their leadership positions. Black women professors seemed to navigate these challenges by (1) being vocal, and (2) being intentional, about excelling in their work and (3) adopting a transformational leadership style. The study feeds into how South African higher education institutions can accommodate Black women professors, as they navigate through their career.


In article the detailed characteristic of the balance sheet as one of the main forms of accounting reports, its types and value in management of the enterprise finance is given, what changes are brought, according to the new order of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. In article the economic essence of an asset, a passive everyone of its sections and articles also is stated. Methods of reading the balance sheet and interrelation between assets and a passive will be stated in the following article.


Several works are aiming to develop techniques allowing detecting False Data Injection Attacks, which represents one of the most harmful attacks due to its ability to damage a Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). Among these techniques the watermarking represents one of the most used ones. This paper proposes the design of a False Data Injection Attack (FDIA) against a CPS protected by a watermark-based detector. The attack herein proposed is achieved in two phases. The first one is a passive phase, where the adversary builds a black box model of the system. Then, he uses the already built model to create the FDIA without being detected by the watermark based detector. The extensive simulations prove that this attack could be used to deceive the system even with the presence of a dynamic watermark.


Abstract A model simulating VCM batch stripping is proposed. It includes three modes of mass transfer: 1) from solid to vapor (nucleate boiling), 2) solid to liquid (both bulk diffusion and Knudson diffusion), and 3) liquid to vapor (Fickian mass transfer). The involved partition and mass transfer coefficients have been measured to reduce the number of unknown parameters in the model equations. Devices were constructed to measure the three phase (solid/liquid/vapor) concentrations vs stripping time for parametric estimation and examination of model validity. It appears that the batch stripping data can be matched successfully. The model is used to study the mass transfer mechanism at different stages of the batch stripping cycle and the sensitivity of different parameters. In the beginning period, nucleate boiling was found to be comparable with the second mode (solid to liquid) mass transfer which presides gradually in later stages of the cycle. The third mode (liquid to vapor) mass transfer appears to b...


MELO, J. L. F. On the multiplicity of positive solutions for a class of fourth-order elliptic problems by LusternikSchnirelman category. 2014. 112 p. Ph.D. thesis Instituto de Ciências Matemáticas e de Computação, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, 2014. In this work we study the existence and multiplicity of positive classical solutions for a class of fourth-order problems under Navier boundary condition, relating the number of solutions to the domain topology, more speci cally, to its Lusternik-Schnirelman category. We also introduce the notion of critical and noncritical regions related to one of our problems, in order to ensure conditions to existence of solutions.


Adolescents are young people between the ages of 10 -24 years according to the Department of Health, Philippines and 10 - 19 years according to the World Health Organization. Adolescents are often thought of as a healthy group. Men in the United States suffer regularly from condition such as urinary tract infection. While based on the Field Health Service Information System (FHSIS) Annual Report for the first quarter of 2013, the cases of UTI among males ages one year to sixty five and above in Bauang, La Union were 25, and cases of UTI among adolescents ages 10-24 were 10.

This study aimed to determine the predictors on the prevalence of urinary tract infection among adolescents in selected high schools of Bauang, La Union, the result of which will be the basis of a health guide. The health guide was divided into different parts as follows: the title, the objectives of the health guide, definition of the disease, the main discussion and the evaluation.

The descriptive-correlation developmental method of research was utilized to assess the health care practices of adolescent males. I made use of a questionnaire-checklist in gathering primary data and other information needed in response to the objectives of the problem. Gathered data were treated using frequency counts, percentages, weighted means, averages, Pearson product moment correlation, and stepwise regression.

It was conducted in the calendar year 2012-2013. The study was limited to five hundred eighty-six (586) high school students in four (4) high schools in Bauang, La Union. They were selected through stratified sampling method.

Results showed that adolescent males in the Municipality of Bauang, La Union are composed largely of a low- income families, the largest group of number of respondents were in the range 2-3 siblings, and predominantly Roman Catholics. Analysis further revealed that the respondents still conform to proper personal hygiene, eating habits, elimination, and rest and sleep pattern, though the study showed that the respondents are poor in hygiene before and every after sexual contact or masturbation.

Though the results showed that they still conform to proper health practices, religious and moral beliefs still take part in influencing their way of life which significantly affected their health practices.Furthermore, low family income greatly influencedtheir way of life which significantly affected the implementation of urinary health practices. As such, among the three profile variables, average monthly income was the predictor of health practices as evidenced by 33.4% R2.


Objective To explore the role of mdr1 and CD34 expressions and their correlation in leukemia of chemotherapy(AML).Methods We detected mdrl and CD34 from 30 acute myeloid leukemia patients before and after chemotherapy with RT-PCR and FCM.The cytogenetic analysis was done at same time.Results The expression of mdr1 is 24/30 in acute myeloid leukemia patients.The positive rate of mdr1 expression was 54.2%(13 patients) in CR group and 48.2% in no-CR group(11 patients) by RT-PCR.In six cases of MDR1 negetive expression,only one case of chemotherapy did not achieve complete remission.In 18 cases of CR group,15 cases of CD34+ rates was 2.1% and 9 cases of CD34+ rates was 5.7% in 12 cases no-CR group by FCM.Conclusion Multidrug resistance gene expression affected the prognosis of AML,CD34+ can be used as prognostic indicators in AML.


Summary

The histological structure and development of spines on the skin surface of Takifugu obscurus were studied during larval development conducted artificially with an average 30‰ salinity and 18.0–20.3°C water temperature. The epidermis comprises an outermost layer, middle layer, and the stratum germinativum, and contains three types of gland cells: small spherical or flask-shaped mucous cells, larger sacciform mucous cells, and large granular cells. The dermis and subcutis follow. The spines first appear over the ventral region at 10 days after hatching and consist of two parts: a central long tapering portion which projects into the epidermis and eventually outside of the body, and a short supporting basal portion that is embedded within the stratum compactum layer of the dermis. The central, long tapering portion has two very short processes on top until 25 days after hatching, but these two separate spines fuse into one 30 days after hatching. In contrast, the short supporting spines rooted at the base consist of three to six small spines (usually four to five spines) and are present even in the adult stage. Therefore, calcareous spines consisting of one central long spine and three to six smaller supporting spines form tetra- and septaradiate spines (mainly penta- and hexaradiate). The spines first appear over the ventral region.


In his book "The World Is Flat" of Mr. Freidman,the writer described a new operation mode for enterprises under a global context. Because of the development and popularity of network and information technology,this made it possible to integrate the resources worldwide no matter whether the enterprises are large or small. To operate successfully for any organizations,the key is the core competitiveness and efficient business mode. Clearly,it is valuable to conduct a study of flat organizations. The paper focuses on information-based operation pattern of flat organizations. Furthermore,this paper will testify the feasibility and validity of operation mode for flat organizations through case study.


A diabetes management education pro gram for diabetic patIents and health care professionals is presented. It is based on the DIACRONO system [1). The Program is a set of trainlng/instruc tion educational uni ts and an information system to support. them, composed by the computer station where computation and human interface is provided and a local area network that allows the integration of the Program within a running Diabetes Management De partment. The prolonged survival of diabetic patients made possible by insulin treat ment revealed new complications associated with the disease; so, the application of computers and electronics to aid the con trol and treatment of diabetic patients has shown that its real benefit is entire ly conditioned by the degree of integra tion of the therapy in the personal beha vior of the patient, through training.


The effects of artificial and solar UV-B radiation on the gravitactic (formerly called geotactic) orientation of the freshwater dinoflagellate Peridinium gatunense were measured under artificial UV-B radiation and in a temperature-controlled growth chamber under solar radiation in Portugal. Circular histograms of gravitaxis show the impairement of orientation after UV irradiation. The degree of orientation, quantified using the Rayleigh test and top quadrant summation, decreased as the exposure time to the radiation prolonged. The effects of artifical UV-B radiation on orientation are stronger than those of solar radiation, probably because the radiation source emits higher fluence rates below 300 nm than found in solar radiation. After UV radiation, the gravitactic orientation under artificially increased acceleration at 2 g was drastically affected.


In this study the rate and order of hydrolytic degradation of candesartan cilexetil drug standard under both basic and acidic conditions at room temperature were investigated. The obtained samples were then analyzed by using RP-HPLC. The column used was Shim-pack 15x4.6mm i.d, particle size 4.6 µm. The mobile phase was acetonitrile: formic acid (80:20 v/v) in isocratic elution mode. UV detection was performed 254 nm. Base degradation experiments indicated a prominent degradation peak. Moreover, the drug was found to follow first-order degradation kinetics with a rate constant k1 0.111 min -1 and a half-life (t1/2) and shelf-life (t90) 62.4 minutes and 9.45 minutes, respectively. Acid treatment of the drug showed that degradation took place that follows zero-order kinetics with rate constant k0 value of 0.0229µg/ml. min, t1/2 and t90 of 21 hours and 4 hours 16 minutes, respectively. The results of hydrolytic degradation showed that the prodrug is more sensitive to basic than acidic conditions.


In this paper, we design and implement a mobile crowdsensing smart roadside parking system, called ParkCar, exploiting the key elements that a mobile crowdsensing system (MCS) should possess. We present its architecture and basic operational characteristics, placing emphasis on the specific solutions adopted to respond to specific MCS open challenges, related mostly to efficient task assignment process, data quality and integrity, energy efficiency, security and privacy and incentive provisioning.


Acoustic surface waves are excited by a contact transducer on plane structure composed by multilayered bonded composite plates. A laser vibrometer is used to measure the Lamb waves surface displacements. Spectral analysis in the time domain and in the space domain are processed from experimental data. Then the modes identification is performed from the experimental dispersion curves. Many types of bonding defects are investigated. The physical interpretation of the results involves conversion modes, reflection and transmission through the defect.


DRUG INTELLIGENCE IS AN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL of hospital pharmacy, international in scope. As an independent journal it is not restricted in what it may publish by the policy of any organization. Rather it will seek out and focus attention on professional and scientific problems and make every effort to improve the profession, restricted only by the Editor's own conscience and principles. DRUG INTELLIGENCE will strive to produce "food for professional growth, not weeds for professional narcosis." Probably no pharmacists have more in common than do those in hospitals, regardless of the country in which they practice. Many of the innovations made by American hospital pharmacists have been adopted abroad. In turn, hospital pharmacists abroad have developed certain areas of practice to a more advanced state than have we. DRUG INTELLIGENCE will strive to provide an exchange of information and practices on an international scale and thus to bring to the attention of hospital pharmacists everywhere the better aspects of the various systems of practice. To accomplish this, we have started to gather an excellent team of Contributing Editors representing both American pharmacists and those from many other countries. This will permit DRUG INTELLIGENCE to achieve a high standard of quality with interest obtained through a variety of approaches utilizing the diversified background of the editors and authors. Among the objectives of DRUG INTELLIGENCE are the following: 1. To make pharmacists more sophisticated in their knowledge of drugs and thus to enhance their ability to make intelligent judgments regarding their properties and characteristics, distribution, and control within the hospital. The title, DRUG INTELLIGENCE, implies the ability to select, to discern and to understand the subject matter related to drugs. To accomplish this objective, DRUG INTELLIGENCE will bring to its readers a wide variety of scientific and professional articles on such subjects as drug interactions, biopharmaceutics or the effect of dosage form characteristics on therapeutic action, drug stability, formulation of investigational drugs, pharmaceutics, pharmacology, and sterile technics. 2. To emphasize to hospital pharmacists modem, broad concepts of their role as health practitioners. As we said in the Mirror to Hospital Pharmacy, "... the dispenslng function of the pharmacist, while important and even vital for patient care, is essentially a superficial practice of the profession which, by itself, does not utilize knowledge or skills sufficiently basic to merit professional recognition to the depth that lies within the grasp of hospital pharmacists." Hospital phannacists must be encouraged to relate more directly to the patient, the physician, and the nurse and to take his place on the health-eare team as a practitioner of clinical pharmacy In the same way that the physician is a practitioner of clinical medicine. This is a new role for the pharmacist, but it does not imply that his other roles be abandoned or neglected. 3. To encourage the development of specialization within hospital pharmacy in such areas as a drug information specialist; clinical pharmacy practice; product formulation, analytical and investigative work; nonsterile and sterile compounding; formulation and dispensing of radiopharmaceuticals; methodology of drug evaluation; drug distribution systems; administration or pharmacy management; teaching and training; and research. As we wrote in 1963, "As specialization within hospital pharmacy develops, career opportunities will be expanded greatly and will lead eventually toward new patterns of professional practice. . ." 4. To stimulate the development of a broader system of drug control throughout the hospital, in order to promote the safety and weHare of the patient, based upon the pharmacist's special professional and scientific knowledge. 5. To encourage the profession to extend its services to small hospitals, extended care facilities, and nursing homes where it is so greatly needed, and thus to stimulate new patterns of professional practice for the community pharmacist. 6. To bring significant social and historical events to the attention of hospital pharmacists. 7. To stimulate the teaching and research activities of the hospital pharmacist. DRUG INTELLIGE!'1CE does not expect to be always the best journal of hospital pharmacy, but it will always strive to be among the best. It will try to be an inspiration to its readers and to chart new pathways of professional practice.


Utilizing ANSYS nonlinear analysis is made on the in-plane stable bearing capacity of wedge-type compress-bending members.Under the conditions taking integral defect,local defect of web plate and residual stress in considerations the interaction between local buckling of web plate and overall buckling of members is studied as well as the failure forms of members,which reveal the functions of ANSYS in nonlinear analysis of structure.


We calculate the sensitivity to nu_mu->nu_e appearance oscillations in various Fermilab main injector neutrino beam configurations using simulations of a MINOS-like detector and an OPERA-like detector. We make the assumption of 3 neutrino generations, and that only solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations signals are "real." We find that a 6 GeV neutrino beam pointed at a fine-grained detector located at SLAC is optimal (for the central Super-K atmospheric neutrino oscillation Delta-m-squared value). We show that nu_mu->nu_e appearance signals and the sign of Delta-m_23-squared can be obtained at the 3-sigma level for theta_13>3degrees.


Context Humans have introduced lagomorph species in areas outside their native ranges for their meat, fur or value as game species. Assessing the rate of success of lagomorph introductions is vital to address the ecological damage they may cause. Cases of failed lagomorph introductions in apparently suitable areas may also shed light on mechanisms that may deter invasion, which are useful in developing strategies for population control. In Spain, it has been suggested that hunters introduced the non-native eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) to compensate for the recent drastic declines of the native European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Aims Our main goals were to investigate (1) whether Sylvilagus rabbits have indeed been introduced by hunters across Spain, and (2) whether the species has become established in Spanish ecosystems. Methods We interviewed 311 hunters or naturalists across Spain. The questionnaires inquired about the characteristics of game management in each locality, including the frequency of rabbit restocking, and particularly whether Sylvilagus rabbits had been released in the surveyed localities. In addition, we sampled 192 rabbit populations (n = 3974 individuals) across Spain by using molecular analysis to determine whether Sylvilagus rabbits were present in these areas. Key results Our interview results suggest that Sylvilagus rabbits may have been released in 6% of the 311 localities surveyed. However, molecular analyses failed to confirm their persistence, because all samples belonged to O. cuniculus. Conclusions We infer that Sylvilagus rabbits failed to establish themselves in Spain, although interviewees reported their introduction. Several reasons may explain the unsuccessful establishment of this species, such as a low propagule pressure, competition with native species, predation, inability to cope with local pathogens and unsuitable climatic conditions. Implications The risk of future introductions of non-native game species can be reduced through the implementation of stricter regulations of animal releases into the wild. Long-term monitoring networks should be developed to help identify non-native game species before they become established and spread to neighbouring areas, thereby preventing any ecological or economic impacts these species may cause.


Two sets of heat recovery steam generation (HRSG) with different structures are fitted in the gas-turbine of the peak-station. The operation conditions of two HRSG are very different. Based on the HRSG's structure, the peak-station operation conditions for many years were analyzed and contrasted. Some questions about selecting HRSG were pointed out, and several suggestions were provided for such peak-station.


MoO3 thin films have been deposited on clean glass slides using the spray pyrolysis technique. The samples were grown with different thicknesses by spraying on common glass substrates a solution of(ammoniummolybdatetetrahydrate) ((NH3)6Mo7O244H2O). The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrically through electrical resistivity measurements as a function of temperature. It was found that samples present crystalline structure associated with the alpha phase of MoO3 grown with preferential direction of growth along the planes (0k0). As result of increasing the volume of precursor solution sample surface becomes porous. The change in electrical resistance of MoO3 films by exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) at room temperature, makes the films obtained by this technique could be promising in its use in gas sensing devices at room temperature. PACS: 81.05.Hd  72.80.Jc


OBJECTIVE To prepare the inclusion compound of Cetirizine-β-cyclodextrin and investigate its properties.METHODS The inclusion compound was prepared by saturated solution method,and it was proved by the changes of physics properties before and after inclusion.RESULTS The average inclusion rate of the inclusion compound was 85.1%.The formation of inclusion compound was confirmed by the changes of UV spectra,solubility, taste,stability,X-ray diffractometry and infrared spectra.CONCLUSION The inclusion compound of Cetirizine-β-cyclodextrin can mask the bitter taste of Cetirizine.


The existing parity space-based fault detection approaches for non-uniformly sampled systems are mostly based on the known system models, and residual signals are generated and evaluated to reflect the inconsistency between the expected behavior and the actual mode of operation. For the system with unknown model parameters, system identification method is required to identify model first and then calculate the corresponding parity vector. In this paper, a novel nonuniformly sampled-data-driven approach to fault detection is proposed directly from test data instead of system identification, based on it, to achieve fast residual-generation as well as dimensionality reduction of parity matrix. Firstly, according to the input-output train data, a linear time invariant subspace lifting model is built for non-uniformly sampled system by use of the lifting technology and subspace method. Then, the parity space-based residual generation is designed by introducing instrumental variable to eliminate the unknown disturbances and faults in training set. Meanwhile, a causal residual system with reduced order is obtained according to non-uniqueness of the solutions of parity matrix. Furthermore, a fast synchronization of residual can be realized by inverse lifting computing. A simulation is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Systems including computer readable programs and methods of evaluating loan applications and extending loans to bor rowers secured by the borrower's undeveloped, but poten tially patentable and/or marketable invention idea, includes evaluating an invention idea invented by a borrower, assign ing a value to the invention idea and determining an amount of money to extended to the borrower, and obtaining one or more of an ownership interest in the invention idea or a security interest in the invention idea as collateral. Also disclosed are criteria for conducting an analysis of the invention idea to determine one or more terms of a loan to be extended to the borrower.


While unilateral patella tendon ruptures are frequently a complication among athletic patients below forty, cases of bilateral spontaneous patella tendon ruptures are rare and still not fully understood. We present a case of bilateral patellar tendon rupture in a 53-year old patient with a history of chronic renal failure. Primary repair utilizing the Krackow interlocking stitch technique provided excellent results in both knees. This case highlights the rare occurrence of spontaneous bilateral patellar tendon ruptures in patients with chronic renal failure.


BACKGROUND
Activated methods of thromboelastometry such as EXTEM and INTEM are routinely used in management of severe bleeding. However, sometimes the patient is bleeding despite the normal values of EXTEM/ INTEM. Non-activated thromboelastometry (NATEM) is the most sensitive to coagulopathy and shows pathologic results in such cases. However, it is necessary to find an appropriate time interval between blood sampling and NATEM analysis as the results are strongly influenced by time.

METHODS
In 18 healthy volunteers we performed NATEM analyses of citrated blood samples at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 60 minutes after sampling.

RESULTS
All NATEM parameters showed a procoagulation trend with the time elapsing from blood sample collection with coagulation time (CT) being the most sensitive parameter. After 20 minutes this parameter became relatively stable as the difference among CT at 20th, 30th, and 60th minute was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The least differences of CT values with maximum time window were found between 30 and 60 minutes.

CONCLUSIONS
Citrated blood sample becomes stable after 20 minutes of storage but the time window between 30 and 60 minutes seems to be more suitable for NATEM analysis in clinical practice.


By using a qualitative model of grounded theory, the author reconstructs the ethical codes by means of which a group of low income women from Santafe de Bogota, have been transforming their identities into personal, groupal, entrepreneurial, and communal dimensions. Such codes form, according to the author, an ethical nucleus for the narrative transformation of identity, and during this process social values are spiritualized. The codes are: mutual reconnaissance, solidarity ties, the expression of the own point of view, contribution to the group, and understanding of the other.


SUMMARY Thevalue ofaQRSscoring systemderived from12leadelectrocardiograms toestimate left ventricular ejection fraction was assessed ina prospective studyof285hospital survivors of myocardial infarction. Inthese patients boththeQRSscoreandejection fraction were measured by radionuclide ventriculography atdischarge. Thecorrelation between ejection fraction andQRS scorewasweak. In22patients whodied during six to12months follow up theability oftheejection fraction andQRSscoretopredict mortality was assessed intermsofsensitivity, specificity, predictive value ofapositive andnegative test, andefficiency. Forejection fraction 6sensitivity wasrespectively 73%and64%,specificity 73%and56%,predictive value ofapositive test18%and11%,predictive value ofanegative test97%and95%,andefficiency 73%and56%. Bothejection fraction andQRSscoremay beused toidentify patients atlowandhigh risk during oneyearfollow up,but, contrary toinitial expectations, theQRSscoreappearstobeoflittle value in estimating ejection fraction andisless accurate thanejection fraction inpredicting late survival in hospital survivors ofmyocardial infarction.


The authors prove the existence of a convex domain G with smooth boundary for which an eigenfunction corresponding to an eigenvalue of problem with operators of elliptic type is of variable sign. Bibliography: 10 titles.


In this paper we utilise new methods of Calculus of Variations in $L^\infty$ to provide a regularisation strategy to the ill-posed inverse problem of identifying the source of a non-homogeneous linear elliptic equation, satisfying Dirichlet data on a domain. One of the advantages over the classical Tykhonov regularisation in $L^2$ is that the approximated solution of the PDE is uniformly close to the noisy measurements taken on a compact subset of the domain.


Abstract : This report represents a thorough introduction to the modeling and coding techniques needed to effectively use the computer program called GENMOD to analyze the design and performance characteristics of automated production lines. The program was developed by the Product Assurance Directorate, ARRADCOM, and has been used by various organizations to successfully model a wide variety of lines. The intent of this manual is four-fold: (1) to explain the general functioning of the program; (2) to provide detailed information on each of the building blocks available; (3) to present numerous examples of how the blocks are combined to construct production lines; and (4) to alert the user to various special features of the program which might prove valuable. For GENMOD's purposes, a production line is characterized as a sequence of distinct independent operations that are performed in turn on an identifiable product. Prior to the first operation, this product is considered as nothing more than a pile of raw material and following the last operation it is a finished product. At any point in between, the product is considered semi-processed.


Due to complex mathematical nature of computer science, it is considered a complex and arduous subject by college students. Due to a gradual decrease in computer science students, in spite of a growing demand for computer science professionals, it is crucial to find a way to attract computer science students by making the concepts even more fascinating and absorbing. The aim of this paper is to develop game theme based instructional modules for computer science students that motivates and engages students while contributing to their learning outcomes. Game theme based instructional modules are designed to encourage faculty to teach and motivate students to learn the concepts of object oriented programming using interactive, graphical, game-like examples. This paper discusses the design parameters and implementation of the module and describes a case study of adopting the module in an existing class. The results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of the instructional module and the possibility to include it in the existing curriculum with minimum alterations to the existing established course material. The instructional modules act as a supplement to an existing course and enable faculty to explore teaching with a game-theme materials and helping students to be more motivated and engaged in class.


The objective of this application is to provide a net banking facility to all potential customers. Using this facility customer can quickly complete their transactions online. The purpose is to design a system which simplifies the banking related operations. In present system all traditional works are done either manually or using Internet. This requires customers to visit the facility to complete the work or one has to access an Internet facility. This often wastes time and results in more effort. The proposed system is a web based application and provides a centralized database with all related information. The application is a banking facility through which all payments can be done at a single place. The system provides a number of interfaces for different functionalities and operations. This enables customers to quickly complete all works and also to verify the results of various transactions.


To study their hybridization potential, two species of the genus Aegilops (Aegilops geniculata Roth; Aegilops triuncialis L.) and two durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) varieties ('Oued Zenati' and 'Hoggar') were crossed, where Aegilops was the female parent. The four cross combinations were tested during five years in order to release the genitors having the most affinity for obtaining interspecific hybrids. The parents were also characterized for their drought stress tolerance during the crossing period. The results confirm the tolerance of Aegilops sp. and adaptation of the durum wheat varieties to climatic conditions governing the Algerian cereal zones. 81 hybrids F1 were obtained. Differences in hybridization affinity between the parents were very remarkable. The combination of parents Aegilops geniculata/' Oued Zenati' has produced the highest number of hybrids (54 or a rate of 5.23 %), followed by Aegilops triuncialis/'Oued Zenati' (18 hybrids or a rate of 3.88 %). The crossing of the two Aegilops species with the Hoggar variety produced a small number of hybrids. Among the advantages of this crossing, the obtaining of hybrids in caryopsis without resorting to the embryos rescue. Hybrid seedlings expressed a maternal cytoplasmic heredity. However, no adult plant could have been regenerated.


The utility model relates to an all weather no water tank pressure bearing type solar energy water heater, which comprises a heat collecting device which is composed of a plurality of glass vacuum collector tubes (4) by ''L'' shape inarching drainage tube (9) series into a collector , the cold water inlet pipe (5) of the first collector tube is provided with a back valve (6) and a pressure switch valve (7), the hot water outlet pipe (1) of the end collector tube is cascaded with a pressure-relief safety valve (3), every the first to the fourth end collector tube is provided with a temperature transmitter (21). The pressure bearing type water heater uses the glass vacuum collector tube with fairly big caliber, has double function of collecting heat and storing water, conducts heat once a time, heat transfer is fast, collecting thermal efficiency is high, pressure bearing capability is strong, vacuum incubating effect is well, water temperature of hot water is stable, the model is used for the solar energy water heater and the collecting heat system, can match with the building to be an integration, is well-arranged and of beautiful outlook.


The present article analyzes the relationship of the couple and the role of women in couple relations in the early twentieth century by using the heroes of the great Uzbek novel "Kecha va Kunduz", created by A. Chulpan. The images of women of three different ages in the novel were used in the analysis. Zebi is a young Uzbek woman, Miryokub's wife is a middle-aged Uzbek woman, and Kurbanbibi is an older Uzbek woman and their characteristics and commonalities are shown. Their sense of childbearing is glorified.


We follow up on our (Radhakrishnan & Deshpande) radically different interpretation of the observed structures and morphologies in the X-ray observations of the nebulae around young pulsars (PWNe). In our general model for PWNe (Radhakrishnan & Deshpande), originally motivated by the Chandra observations of the Vela X-ray nebula, the bright arcs, the jetlike feature, and the diffuse components in such nebulae can be explained together in detail, wherein the arcs are understood as traces of the particle beams from the two magnetic poles at the shock front. We consider this as important evidence for collimated particle beams from pulsars' magnetic poles. In this paper we discuss the variability in the features in the Vela X-ray nebula observed by Pavlov and coworkers and assess the relevance and implication of our model to the observations on the Crab and other remnants. Our basic picture after incorporating the signatures of free precession of the central compact object can readily account for the variability and significant asymmetries, including the bent jetlike features, in the observed morphologies. The implications of these findings are discussed.


This article intends to achieve a new formulation of beam vibration with quintic nonlinearity, including exact expressions for the beam curvature. To attain a proper design of the beam structures, it is essential to realize how the beam vibrates in its transverse mode which in turn yields the natural frequency of the system. In this direction, new powerful analytical method called Parameter Expansion Method (PEM) is employed to obtain the exact solution of frequency-amplitude relationship. Afterwards, it is clearly shown that the first term in series expansions is sufficient to produce a highly accurate approximation of mentioned system. Finally, preciseness of the present analytic procedures is evaluated in contrast with numerical calculations methods, giving excellent results.


Studies have not yet examined the trends and risk factors of biphasic and recurrent anaphylaxis in the United States using International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision (ICD‐10) CM codes. The goal of this study is to examine the trends of biphasic and recurrent anaphylaxis in all patient care settings (inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and observation).


Modern society faces the situation when the quantity of students' independent work becomes a defining part of education. The independent work organization in higher education demands reconsideration, correction and innovative pedagogical decisions.Efficient independent work requires its participants (students and professors) to understand well the process itself, namely, its purposes, tasks and participants' roles. The purpose of this article is to analyze the results of the Faculty of Philology and Mass Communication (Transbaikal State University) students' notion of independent activity. This analysis was carried out by means of faculty students surveying. To research the current state of independent work the following issues were studied: students' general notion of independent work; their theoretical and practical knowledge on the issue; their understanding of the main characteristics of independent work; the degree of independence of their work; their motivation for carrying out independent work tasks; preferable forms of control when assessing independent work and other questions.Results of the questionnaires analysis allow to draw conclusions that it is necessary to shape students' competent notion of the independent work purposes, tasks, ways and forms; improve the current assessment system of students' work and take into account students' independent work results when estimating training outcomes; to optimize training approaches; to wider use various modern technologies in educational process, which allow to motivate students to independent research.


Using variational method,the electron-phonon interaction energy of polaron at ground state and the first excited state in a rectangular quantum wire were studied.The numerical results show that as the sizes of the quantum wires decrease,the correction energy increase.


Background: The incremental prognostic value of left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony, LV lead position and myocardial scar on long-term prognosis after CRT remains unknown. Objectives: To evaluate th...


e14691 Background: Evidence from preclinical models suggests that metformin may have antitumor activity against pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The effect in humans has not been well-described. A recent single-institution retrospective analysis suggested improved survival in diabetic patients who had been exposed to metformin. The current study was designed to determine whether metformin was independently associated with improved pancreatic cancer (PC) survival when compared to non-metformin controls using newly available national pharmacy data from Medicare Part D. Methods: Patients with diagnosed with AJCC Stage II-IV PC during 2007 were identified in the SEER-Medicare linked database. Part D events for oral diabetic medications were identified from the date of diagnosis until death or 12/31/2008, and divided into metformin-containing or non-metformin. Patients who did not receive an oral medication for diabetes, lacked continuous Part D prescription drug coverage, underwent surgical resection, or survived l...


The conventional wisdom on the accelerating rate of technological change is a truism, and might actually be truer than we realize. In many respects, the changes to the fabric of daily life witnessed during the years from 1801 to 1900 were more fundamental than those occurring during the subsequent century from 1901 to 2000. But the 19 century's transformation was largely predicated upon political, social, and technological changes that had occurred during the preceding 18 century. While one must always be wary of historical analogy, the next 100 years may well witness a similarly breathless degree of change, this time based on the political, social, and, above all, technological changes that have taken place during the past 25 years.


In a previous paper [10], these authors showed that posets provide a useful modeling framework for a reasonably large class of decentralized control problems. In this paper we show more connections between posets and decentralized control. Firstly, we show that previously known results about systems with time delays follow naturally using the poset framework. We also mention extensions of this to infinite-dimensional spatio-temporal systems. Secondly, we study conditions under which the properly known as quadratic invariance and poset structure are equivalent. Through this paper, we hope to convince the reader of the important role that posets seem to play in much of the current theory of decentralized control.


Abstract Objective. To determine the risk factors for the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Material and methods. A total of 620 patients who tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and were referred to Chiba University Hospital between February 1985 and March 2008 were included in the study and the following characteristics were analyzed: age, gender, status of hepatitis B e antigen, alanine aminotransferase level, HBV DNA level, and number of platelets (PLTs). Results. HCC was detected in 30 cases during the follow-up period (5.4 ± 5.1 years). Multivariate analysis revealed that age > 40 years [compared with patients aged < 40 years; odds ratio (OR) = 4.28; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.68–10.9] and PLT level < 206,000/μl (compared with patients with a higher PLT level; OR = 8.50; 95% CI = 1.98–36.2) were predictive factors for HCC occurrence. In patients aged > 40 years, the HBV DNA level (compared with < 5.0 log copies/ml; OR = 4.22, 95% CI = 1.13–15.8) and PLT level (compared with patients with > 196,000/μl PLTs; OR = 15.6, 95% CI = 2.06–118.3) were predictive factors for HCC occurrence. Conclusions. Advanced age and low PLT level were risk factors for HCC occurrence in patients with HBV infection. In patients aged > 40 years, viral load was also a risk factor for HCC.


Based on combustion process of diesel engine, the single aim function nonlinear programming mathematic model for the optimization of combustion process for Z12V190B diesel engine is established and computed using SWIFT, then brings forward the method diminishing the supply oil advance angle, making the ignition angle best and decreasing power generated by piston before up-stop-point to economize energy.


During the last years there has been a prolific academic debate on the possession by institutional investors of minority shareholdings in firms active within the same industry, leading to a potential distortion of market dynamics (the so-called "common ownership" theory). The common ownership doctrine raises a number of questions, and it should be looked at with caution in light of the prejudice that an incorrect antitrust assessment may have over the activities of financial institutions. This article attempts to clarify the reasons why the still new and fascinating theory of common ownership as a means of distortion of market dynamics has a long way to go before being an antitrust enforcement priority. It is debatable the same notion of the existence of a direct causality between common ownership and anticompetitive effects, whereas alternative variables may explain why in a certain period a rise in prices has been observed. In any event, even if potential antitrust risks were effectively found to materialize, the traditional competition law toolkit and the current regulatory obligations to which institutional financial investors have to comply with are suitable and sufficient to deal with the potential concerns that the common ownership theory eventually brings about and case-by-case evaluations are typical of and should guide any competition law theory of harm.


The article deals with the development of the theory of post-industrial society's social stratification. Today it is difficult to present stratification research in the form of a harmonious ordered sequence. The social stratification theory of the famous French sociologist Alain Touraine does not fit any of the usual classical directions. He revises economic determinism and puts accents on the sphere of knowledge and culture. Touraine tries to overcome the long-standing traditions of structuralism through the analysis of social action and social relations when analyzing the social stratification system. The modern «programmable society» is characterized by departure from the economic struggle and economic decisions, which have lost the autonomy and the central place that they used to have in the previous societies. Touraine's vision of the modern society's social structure differs from the vision of other post-industrialism theorists, especially from the ideas of American sociology, in particular, those presented in D. Bell's works. The author of the action theory focuses on the French model of society and takes into account the historical and cultural characteristics of its development. Touraine noted the significant changes which occurred in the stratification system of modern society and the nature of its main social conflict. It is the change in the power and the forms of social domination under the influence of new factors and social processes. The French sociologist made a significant contribution to the fact that the sociological explanation of the modern social stratification system is transformed. He described the main characteristics of the post-industrial society's class structure, the main trends of its development, offered the ways of using some categories necessary for the description of the modern post-industrial society's stratification system.


Traditional studies on the image motion of specularities have concentrated on the motion of isolated specular patches on known specular surfaces, where important parameters such as surface curvature are predetermined. Furthermore the considered surfaces are mostly convex and non-undulating. Here, I attempt to expand on some of the previous results, by examining the frequency characteristics of the global motion of specular markings on random, undulating surfaces subject to a lateral camera motion with constant velocity. I first expand the notion of a bowtie in the Fourier domain introduced by Langer and Mann[7] to accommodate the case of a smooth undulating surface, and then attempt to show that in most cases the global motion of the specular components for the considered surface and motion display roughly a similar power spectrum signature as the Lambertian components, characterized by a continuum of motions plane intersecting at the origin, which I call a blurred bowtie. The subtle discrepancies between the frequency profile of the Lambertian and specular components are also examined in the scope of this thesis.


From their beginnings, the Babi and Baha'i religions were conceived by their founders as world religions, comparable in universality and in divine mission to Christianity or Islam. Both the Bab and Baha'u'llah owned black African slaves who were intimately involved in every aspect of their households. The African American pioneers to Liberia included Vivian Wesson, who arrived with Mavis Nymon in August 1954. The list of territories with no Baha'is for West Africa included: the Ashanti Protectorate, British Cameroons, British Togoland, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, French Cameroons, French Togoland, Gambia, Northern Territories Protectorate, Portuguese Guinea, Spanish Guinea, and St. Thomas Island. The early history of the Baha'i faith in Nigeria differs somewhat from the narratives of other West African countries, since there was Baha'is in Nigeria from the 1940s - before Shoghi Effendi called for Baha'i pioneers to disperse to Africa. Keywords:African American pioneers; Baha'i; Baha'u'llah; British Cameroons; French Cameroons; Gambia; Nigeria; Portuguese Guinea; Shoghi Effendi; West Africa


In this work, we report on a novel lurasidone hydrochloride (LH)–shikimic acid (SA) co-amorphous system (LH–SA). It was formed via hydrogen-bonding interaction between LH and SA using a solvent evaporation method. The formation of the LH–SA co-amorphous system was confirmed by the powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. The intermolecular interaction between LH and SA was explored by FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and molecular dynamic simulation. Interestingly, we found the pH-dependent solubility behavior of the co-amorphous system was retained in the pH range of 1.0–6.8, suggesting that the hydrogen-bonding interaction might not be the main reason for restoring the pH-dependent solubility behavior of LH. The solubility and dissolution rates of the co-amorphous LH–SA system were remarkably improved in comparison with the crystalline LH. We believe that the co-amorphous system might show great potential in enhancing the oral bioavailability of LH.


The problem of personalization in Information Retrieval has been under study for a long time. A well-known issue related to this task is the lack of publicly available datasets that can support a comparative evaluation of personalized search systems. To contribute in this respect, this paper introduces SE-PEF (StackExchange - Personalized Expert Finding), a resource useful for designing and evaluating personalized models related to the task of Expert Finding (EF). The contributed dataset includes more than 250k queries and 565k answers from 3 306 experts, which are annotated with a rich set of features modeling the social interactions among the users of a popular cQA platform. The results of the preliminary experiments conducted show the appropriateness of SE-PEF to evaluate and to train effective EF models.


The main results of research on breeding pears in the southern Urals. Identified four donors agronomic characters, created 37 breeding varieties, including 9 varieties entered in the Register of New Varieties of Plants approved for use.


The invention discloses a reduction annealing furnace for continuous reduction and heat treatment of sheet metal strips. By utilizing the reduction annealing furnace, reduction descaling of hot-rolled strips or annealing treatment of cold-rolled strips can be continuously performed in a high-efficient, low-cost and high-quality manner. The reduction annealing furnace comprises a heating reductionsection furnace body, an intermediate transition section channel and a cooling section furnace body, wherein the heating reduction section furnace body comprises an inner furnace shell, an outer furnace shell and an intermediate heat insulation layer, a furnace chamber which is of a hollow square-shaped structure is formed by the furnace shells and the intermediate heat insulation layer, the strips are introduced into the furnace chamber after being opened by an uncoiler at the center of the furnace body, revolved for a plurality of circles through the guide of a guide roller table in the furnace chamber, then heated, reduced or annealed and then led out of the furnace body, and further enter into the cooling section furnace body via the intermediate transition channel, the cooling section furnace body is of a hollow square-shaped cooling chamber constituted by the multiple sections of housings, and the strips are revolved for the plurality of the circles in the cooling chamber, cooled in a non-oxidation manner and coiled into strip coils by a coiling machine. The reduction annealing furnace disclosed by the invention has the advantages of low equipment investment, small floor area, low production cost and good product quality.


In this paper, a Montecarlo simulation to evaluate energy distribution in different tissues based on the Fitzpatrick scale, focusing on phototypes from II to V, is proposed. First, the standard Montecarlo simulation is used for every optic model, and then by a convolution, the response of the different tissue models for a flat and Gaussian beam is estimated, and with this data, a graphic representation of the energy distribution is made. The results of the study indicate that energy in higher phototypes is quite bigger in comparison with lower phototypes, and this demonstrates the need for more research on the protocols of light treatments in the Latin-America region.


Marijuanathe common name for the variable combination of substances in the leaves, flower tops, and even small branches of the hemp plant Cannabis sativa L.has been used as a medicinal herb for centuries. According to historical studies of medical practices in numerous ancient cultures, marijuana was believed to have curative properties, delivered through teas, oils, and ointments made from the hemp plant and from smoking dried parts of the plant in pipes or as cigarettes. Modern scientific investigation into the potential therapeutic uses of marijuana essentially began in the 1960s with the isolation and chemical characterization of the cannabinoids, a family of compounds in the hemp plant that is responsible for the psychoactive properties of marijuana. The cannabinoids, primarily delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly called tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC), are also responsible for the antiemetic, analgesic, appetite-stimulating, and antianxiety or sedative effects of marijuana. In the 1980s, basic science research provided key evidence that explains the reported therapeutic effects of marijuana: The identification of two types of cannabinoid receptors in humansin the brain and throughout the body on cells of the immune systemand the identification of natural cannabinoid molecules in the body that bind to and activate these receptors. These discoveries have opened the door to understanding the mechanisms of action of endogenous cannabinoids, as well as plant-derived or synthetic cannabinoids, in humans. Certainly not all the kinks in the pathways are worked out, and probably not all of the involved molecules have been identified yet, commented Billy Martin, PhD, of the pharmacology and toxicology department of the Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, But we're on the right track, characterizing the normal physiological pathways used by the cannabinoids to effect pain modulation, control of movement, control of visceral sensation, and other processes. The Public Issues Recently, the biomedical community, patients, patient advocates, and the public have been drawn once again to the ongoing debate about marijuana as medicine with the impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of the medical necessity defense made by the Oakland (California) Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. The case stems from a 1998 U.S. Justice Department civil law suit against the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative and five other California marijuana pharmacies for violation of federal drug laws by growing and distributing marijuana. These buyers clubs have been sanctioned by the state of California as places for patients with such conditions as cancer, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, glaucoma, and chronic intractable pain to purchase marijuana or marijuana plants legally. Since 1996, when California's Compassionate Use Act (Proposition 215) was adopted, California residents with specific medical conditions for which marijuana provides relief have been permitted to purchase, grow, and use marijuana on a physician's recommendation. Seven other states have adopted medical marijuana laws or passed ballot initiatives, indicating that at least a majority of the voting public in these states believes in the therapeutic potential of smoking marijuana. However, the U.S. Congress has taken a very different positionthat marijuana is illegal and its use is never appropriate, not even for medical purposes. Although the Supreme Court ruling on the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative case will be very specific (addressing a decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld the medical necessity defense, allowing the operation of marijuana buyers clubs), it will likely have some trickle-down effect on patients, physicians, and distributors or brokers of marijuana. The ruling, which is expected to be handed down by July 2001, will not strike any of the state laws. Other countries, most notably Canada and the United Kingdom, are also examining medical use of marijuana from a legal and drug-policy perspective. In April 2001, the Canadian government proposed rules, effective 31 July 2001, that would allow patients with specific medical conditions to buy, grow, and use marijuana on a physician's recommendation. The Law and Medical Use of Marijuana Under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970, marijuana is classified as a schedule I drug, meaning that it has a high potential for abuse and no recognized medical use (therefore, it cannot be prescribed). The Controlled Substances Act makes it a federal crime to purchase, possess, or prescribe marijuana; however, it does include a mechanism for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to decontrol, reclassify, reschedule, or add substances to a schedule. Efforts have failed to reclassify marijuana as a schedule II drug, the class of drugs that have a potential for abuse but are prescribable because of their therapeutic effects for very specific indications, although tightly regulated. Interestingly, dronabinol, a synthetic form of THC, which has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for cancer chemotherapyinduced nausea and vomiting and AIDS wasting, was originally classified as a schedule II drug and is now a schedule III drug (these drugs, which include anabolic steroids, are considered even less dangerous and have a potential for abuse lower than that of schedule I or II drugs; abuse of these drugs leads to only moderate or low physical dependence). The opiate morphine, which is the strongest pain-relieving drug available legally in the United States, is a schedule II drug. If marijuana were converted to a schedule II drug, with established controls on medical use, we need not expect problematic abuse by patients, commented John Benson Jr., MD, professor of medicine emeritus at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine in Portland and coprincipal investigator of a 1999 expert report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) assessing the scientific basis for use of marijuana as medicine. Benson added, In the 1950s there were concerns and worries about the illicit use of morphine. We've learned that the fear of producing addicts through medical treatment is unfounded, primarily due to the regulated distribution system for approved narcotics and the sick patients' lack of interest in abuse. Drug Regulation Issues and Drug Policy The opposition to moving marijuana to a less restrictive category (schedule II) is largely based on the fears that its illicit recreational use, already documented to be very high in the United States, would increase even further. Whether right or wrong, the recreational use of marijuana, the unquantified addictive potential of the smoked botanical product, and its perceived potential as an initiation into the use of hard drugs obfuscate the scientific and medical issues. The driving force for the adoption of medical marijuana laws is the broad legalization of marijuana; it goes beyond reclassifying marijuana, noted Eric Voth, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Kansas in Kansas City and chair of the Institute on Global Drug Policy. Voth emphasized that We should not have medicine by popular vote but by the tried-and-true FDA drug-development process. Certainly, there is a wide division between persons fighting the war on drugs and those who espouse antiregulatory principles. The latter includes groups that charge that a government conspiracy is suppressing data that unequivocally demonstrate marijuana's therapeutic efficacy. Whether the grass-roots efforts to petition the DEA to reschedule marijuana as a schedule II substance are wholly antiregulatory is debatable. In the middle of the U.S. drug policy and drug regulation tug-of-war are many scientists and physicians who agree that the classic pathway for drug development needs to be followed but also acknowledge that it may be nearly impossible to fulfill the FDA's requirement to demonstrate a measurable dose-response effect with smoked marijuana. Medical Marijuana Basic and Clinical Science Many scientists involved in marijuana research become emotionally aroused when weighing the medical benefits and toxic effects of marijuana, not necessarily because of scientific evidence but because of views on drug use and drug abuse. Nevertheless, the relevant scientific questions surrounding the issue of marijuana as a therapeutic agent presumably can be answered with collection and evaluation of data from controlled clinical trials. With the release of two major scientific reportsfrom the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1997 and from the IOM in 1999basic and clinical science evaluating the effects of marijuana has been elevated to the status of mainstream science. Equally important, marijuana research is now more easily funded. According to Steven Gust, PhD, special assistant to the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one major outcome of the NIH and IOM summary reports was that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) broadened marijuana access for research purposes by formalizing its policy on making marijuana available to NIH-supported and nongovernment-supported research. Researchers can obtain marijuana for their studies by following the normal regulatory process for clinical evaluation of a drugsubmitting an application for an investigational new drug with the FDA and registering the study with the DEA and after the study protocol is reviewed for scientific merit by DHHS. Surprisingly, only six proposals for marijuana research have been submitted to the DHHS since 1999 and, according to Gust, all six are in some stage of approval. He commented, This tells us that there is a lack of interest in the research rather than the argument we frequently hear about the government stonewalling efforts in marijuana research. Another likely explanation is that researchers are reluct


The characteristic property of the guided waves that attracts it for tube and pipe testing is that they propagate through the medium following the shape of the medium. Though guided waves are propagated for longer distances in pipes, the testing sensitivity is such to detect mostly the corroded areas of the pipes. In such condition the presence of smaller defects could not be identified due to lesser signal to noise ratio. The resolution possible to obtain in guided wave testing depends not only on frequency but also on its dispersive and divergence characteristics. In this paper, the flaw detection capability and resolution capability of guided wave on the pipe/tube are discussed .The distant defect indications are difering in dispersion characteristics from the nearer defects. Its dispersive nature af fects its resolving capability . The efect of dispersion on resolution characteristics and its dependency upon of the test range are explained in this paper .


ABSTRACT Recent decades have seen substantial growth across many developed-world countries of right-wing populist political parties whose policies oppose immigration and multiculturalism as threats to the majority way of life there. These are exemplified in Australia by Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, which was successful at elections there at the turn of the twenty-first century and again in 2016. Part of this party's rhetoric focuses on the geography of immigrant groups in Australia's cities, with claims that their members live in ghettos. Is that factually correct? Using data from the 2011 Australian census this paper analyses the distribution of Asians and Muslims (the two groups picked out by One Nation and its leader) at four spatial scales within the country's 11 largest urban areas. It finds no evidence at all of intensive residential segregation of Muslims, and although there are concentrations of Asians—notably in Sydney and Melbourne—most residents claiming Asian ancestry live in neighbourhoods and suburbs where they form a minority (in many cases a small minority) only of the local population.


This paper addresses the provision of proportional differentiated services to an arbitrary number of traffic classes in terms of the class packet loss probability measured between the ingress node and the egress node of an OBS network. Our solution relies on a key idea: OBS networks consist of bufferless nodes and can therefore be regarded as a whole like a one-hop bufferless subnetwork characterized by a collection of loss probabilities computable with simple, approximate circuit switching models. Consequently, we believe it is possible to attain packet loss proportionality merely using a simple stochastic algorithm to assemble two classes of bursts, provided there exists some form of internal relative differentiation such that one of the burst classes has a much lower loss probability than the other. In order to evaluate the algorithm accuracy in attaining the proportionality, we present an analytical study of two idealized scenarios (a single link and a multi-node symmetrical network), including the effect caused by the flow dynamics of the traffic received at the ingress nodes. Our results show that, despite its simplicity, this approach is able to provide the desired proportionality over a wide range of operating conditions.


An apparatus and method for continuously displaying the same image while eliminating the residual image. The afterimage cancellation apparatus comprising: a display unit for displaying the input image signal and a controller for determining an image displayed on the display unit will continue to display a determined period of time, in accordance with predetermined movement information of the moving image display range position. Moving range of the user identification information does not allow the value of the moving image visually, and including a movement direction and movement amount. Thus, even if the same image is displayed on the display panel a determined period of time afterimage can be prevented.


We designed a 90 GHz band backward-wave oscillator (BWO) with a double-vane slow-wave structure (SWS). A double periodic alignment of metal vanes serves as an SWS wherein electromagnetic waves propagate along a staggered path. We determined the scale parameters of the SWS by dispersion curves and calculated interaction impedance using CST Studio Suite simulation software. Using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, we observed the expected radiation with a frequency of 90 GHz, stimulated by a 10 keV electron beam with a 200 mA current. The output power was estimated to be level of Watt. The good agreements between the predictions, based on the interaction impedance and PIC calculation results, offer a key to a timesaving estimation of radiation from a BWO without using PIC simulation.


This paper presents a new design approach for the soft-switching resonant converter with satisfying the multiple design conditions. As an example, the FM controlled class-E resonant converter is designed. By applying the class-E inverter at the inverter part, the resonant converter works with high efficiency at high frequencies. The class-E inverter has, however, problems, which are the high peak value of the switch voltage and the difficulty of the zero-voltage switching continuation against the load variations. Additionally, there is a restriction on the peak value of the transformer voltage. In the proposed design approach, we can find the proper component values, which satisfy the multiple constraint conditions simultaneously, by full-use of the numerical computations of the converter-characteristic visualization on the parameter space. From the quantitative agreements between the experimental results and numerical predictions, the validity and effectiveness of the proposed design approach were confirmed.


A Pseudo True Random Binary Generator (PTRBG) based on a Nested Linear Chaotic Maps (NLCM) is proposed. Implementing the synchronization of chaotic systems presents a challenge. The paper proposes an implementation of a generation and synchronization method of PTRBG using NLCM and backward iteration synchronization approach. A prototype has been developed through Texas Instruments TMS320C6416 DSP development kit. Randomness tests of the generated bits of the PTRB is performed using the NIST statistical


Dajia Village in Maihao Town of Wenchang City,Hainan,is the birthland of the Tang family.Having attached much importance to the compilation of their family genealogy,the Tang family has been continuously compiling and revising it for several generations since its initial compilation in 1861 in the Qing Dynasty.As the third edition of the family genealogy has so far been completed,this paper is an attempt to study and explore the third edition of the Tang family.


Autism Spectrum Disorder affects up to 2.5% of children and is associated with harmful health outcomes (e.g. obesity). Low levels of physical activity and high levels of sedentary behaviors may contribute to harmful health outcomes. To systematically review the prevalence and correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviors in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, electronic databases (PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, EMBASE, Medline) were searched from inception to November 2015. The review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42014013849). Peer-reviewed, English language studies were included. Two reviewers screened potentially relevant articles. Outcomes of interest were physical activity and sedentary behaviour levels and their potential correlates. Data were collected and analysed in 2015. Of 35 included studies, 15 reported physical activity prevalence, 10 reported physical activity correlates, 18 reported sedentary behavior prevalence, and 10 reported sedentary behavior correlates. Estimates of children's physical activity (34–166 mins/day, average 86 mins/day) and sedentary behavior (126–558 mins/day in screen time, average 271 mins/day; 428–750 mins/day in total sedentary behavior, average 479 mins/day) varied across studies. Age was consistently inversely associated, and sex inconsistently associated with physical activity. Age and sex were inconsistently associated with sedentary behavior. Sample sizes were small. All but one of the studies were classified as having high risk of bias. Few correlates have been reported in sufficient studies to provide overall estimates of associations. Potential correlates in the physical environment remain largely unexamined. This review highlights varying levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Research is needed to consistently identify the correlates of these behaviors. There is a critical need for interventions to support healthy levels of these behaviors.


The properties of tape diffusion processed Nb3Sn superconductor prepared on NbZr substrate are described. By appropriate heat treatment besides the ZrO2 particles the Nb4O suboxides are formed too. Consequently, the values of the Nb3Sn layer thickness and that of the critical current have increased and some mechanical properties are being improved, when compared with properties obtained on substrates without Nb4O particles.


Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living harmless transparent nematode. it has been extensively used as a biological model. It was the first multicellular organism to have genome completely sequenced and 40% of its genes have human matches. This soil nematode offered great potential for genetic analysis, partly because of its rapid (3-day) life cycle, small size (1.5-mm-long adult), and ease of laboratory cultivation. It is an important model system for biological research in many fields including genomics, cell biology, neuroscience and aging. Compared to the use of other model organisms, such as mice, the short life cycle of C. elegans reduces the experimental cycle and facilitates biological study. The mature "female," has precisely 959 somatic cells and the mature male, includes precisely 1031 somatic cells. As an invertebrate experimental system, it is now second only to Drosophila melanogaster in terms of convenience and popularity. Its transparency and the generation of multiple progeny have made the worm an attractive model for studies, including those on developmental and reproductive behavior. The properties of C. elegans and the research done using C. elegans provide a wealth of information and an attractive pool of resources for researchers.


This study was done to determine the water-extractable fractions of Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb and investigate changes in water-soluble organic C during the complete composting of a pile of ground municipal solid waste. No relationship was found between pH and extractable fractions of all metals, even if higher amounts of Pb and Zn were extracted when the pH of the composting material was below neutrality. The degree of stabilization reached by organic matter appears to be important in determining potential mobility of heavy metals


The kinetic parameters of the electron-transfer reaction, Cr(bipy)3++e\ightleftharpoonsCr(bipy)3, were measured by the galvanostatic double-pulse method at a dropping mercury electrode in N,N-dimethylformamide. The apparent and the corrected standard rate constants were 1.0±0.2 and 0.3 cm s−1 respectively, and the transfer coefficient was 0.6±0.1 at 25 °C. These rate constants were discussed in comparison with the corresponding homogeneous rate constant on the basis of the theoretical equation of Marcus. They were quite inconsistent with the value, 103 cm s−1, predicted from the corresponding homogeneous rate constant.The polarograms of Cr(bipy)3+ and Cr(bipy)3 exhibited three waves with half-wave potentials of −0.21, −0.65 and −1.19 V vs. a cationic glass electrode. The diffusion coefficients of these complexes, as determined polarographically, were identical: 3.2×10−6 cm2 s−1 at 25 °C.


Using a recent policy change regarding the prescription-term restriction as a policy instrument, the authors attempted to estimate the impact of FDC on treatment cost of hypertension. This study used a unique policy as an instrument to assess the causal impact of FDC on hypertension treatment, and potentially provides interesting evidence with regards to economic advantage of FDC. This is a well-written study with an interesting study topic and design. However, this study should more clarify the motivation and contribution of this study to the previous literature.


It is generally agreed that reducing the mean particle size of cereal grains in the feed of pigs results in marked improvements in nutrient digestibility and growth efficiency of the animals (NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL, 2012). However, this conclusion is primarily based on results obtained from studies on sorghum (OWSLEY et al., 1981) and corn (WONDRA et al., 1995). Recently in a study on brown rice, YAMAMOTO et al. (2016) found that for each 1mm reduction in mean particle size, the total tract energy digestibility increased by approximately 7.7%. This suggests that reducing the size of the brown rice particles fed to pigs improves growth efficiency due to the resulting increase in nutrient digestibility. Effects of brown rice particle size on growth performance is still unknown. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate effect of brown rice particle sizes on growth efficiency.