Maggot therapy is the use of sterile fly larvae in the treatment of superficial wounds in humans and animals. Lucilia sericata (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae are most commonly used for this purpose. Nowadays, larval therapy is widely used in the treatment of diabetic and infectious human wounds. Larval therapy in veterinary medicine has been used in dogs, cats, horses, and even ruminants. A 5-year-old crossbreed (Arabian and Kurdish) stallion was referred to a Veterinary Private Sector in Tabriz city that suffered from a necrotic wound on its forelimb skin following a snakebite injury. The owner had seen the snake in the horse stable. Skin necrosis was observed on the dorsal of the right forelimb which extended to the ventral of the adjacent neck and chest. Despite this extensive skin injury, the horse was alert with a normal appetite and no sign of lameness was detected.  Intravenous fluid therapy, systemic anti-inflammatory, and antibiotics were used for the horse's general condition support and topical oxytetracycline and zinc oxide but had no effect on healing necrotic wounds. Maggot therapy was performed on the necrotic skin. Unfortunately, the larvae died after inserting less than 24 hours. The maggot therapy was unsuccessful in the treatment of skin necrosis in this experience and the larvae died in this short time. However, more clinical trials on the efficacy of maggot therapy for extensive skin necrosis and studies on the effects of snake venom on the maggots are needed.


The present invention relates to a structured aqueous surfactant composition having a low pH, surfactant compositions of the present invention are anionic phosphate ester surfactants, anionic sulfonate surfactants, and anionic selected from the group consisting of a carboxylate surfactant one or more anionic and a surfactant, wherein the at least one anionic surface active agent is contained in an amount of about 3 parts to about 40 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the composition parts, the composition has a pH value lower than about 5, represents a shear releasable viscosity (shear-thinning viscosity), is characterized in that it can be suspended in the component having a water-soluble as water-insoluble or partially. Surfactants, structuring, pH, suspension, shearing releasability, the viscosity


The availability of pollen for fertilization of Moss' Early cherries and its dispersal by wind and by honeybees was studied in the laboratory and in a cherry orchard. Ripening and dehiscence of anthers was promoted by higher temperatures and lower relative humidities. Airborne pollen concentrations in the orchard were greater between 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. than during the remainder of the day. Flight activity of bees was related to ambient temperatures and bee visits to cherry flowers were comparable with those for apples. Enclosing trees in beeproof cages caused a marked decline in fruit yields.


Big data sets are composed of many records with various attributes. In order to extract information from big data sets, this paper researched a $V$-type big data which satisfied the logical characteristics of "attribute disjunction". Based on the inverse packet set theory, this paper put forward some new concepts of big data block, such as matrix, element of block. Using these concepts, this paper presented two structures of block reasoning, and then presented three theorems for block element, such as intelligent separation theorem, intelligent retrieval the-orem, and equivalence class theorem; Based on the separation and retrieval criteria of block element, this paper presented the separation and retrieval algorithm of block element. Finally, this paper researched the application of big data intelligent retrieval in credit default.


This article introduces the social marketing framework and its function in health promotion.Taking the California "5A Day Campaign" as an example,this article presents the application of social marketing in health promotion.Compared with the PRECEDE-PROCEED framework,social marketing framework represents a promising future in health promotion in China.


Purpose: A shortage of primary care, rural practitioners exists in the United States. The increasing number of physician assistants (PA) in the workforce could be an important resource in improving access to primary care services for rural patients, yet little is known about the specific factors influencing a PA to choose to practice rural medicine. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors that influence PA program graduates to choose rural medicine. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted by electronic survey. Participants were recruited from the membership of the Texas Academy of Physician Assistants (TAPA). Main outcome measures were the correlations between rural clerkships, rural background, and rural practice. Participants were also queried regarding 16 additional factors that might influence practice choice. Results: A relationship exists between rural background and rural practice choice (&khgr;2(4) = 16.08, P = .003). Correlation also was identified between completion of rural clerkships and rural practice choice (&khgr;2(1) = 10.67, P = .001). Factors found to have the most influence on PAs to choose rural practice were (1) desire to serve the needs of the community; (2) type of practice; and (3) supervising physician characteristics. Conclusions: PAs with a rural background and those that completed rural clerkships have a greater propensity toward rural practice after graduation. It is possible, for programs with an interest or a mission of increasing the number of their graduates who choose rural practice, that knowledge of factors that influence their graduates' practice choices may prove beneficial.


Photonics-based mm-wave communication systems employing optical heterodyning can enable high-capacity wireless networks for systems beyond 5G. This work presents photonic, optoelectronic and signal processing technologies to overcome phase/frequency noise issues associated with photonics-based mm-wave systems.


The spread of information-communication technology (ICT) devices in full and/or hybrid electric vehicles is posing increasing issues about coexistence between communication and electric power systems. Particularly, under different operating conditions, the time-variant and nonlinear behavior of the involved power-electronic devices may cause detrimental electromagnetic interference (EMI) effects for onboard ICT devices. The use of passive or active EMI filters can mitigate EMI, yet their effective design requires the knowledge of the actual modal impedances of the involved components. With the final objective to support EMI filter design, in this work, the frequency response of the common mode (CM) and differential mode (DM) impedances of a complete automotive power train is investigated under different operating conditions. Moreover, both low-frequency functional aspects and high-frequency parasitic effects are considered and modelled properly.


Figs. 1, 2. Left: Toshio Aoki, Persimmons in an Indian Basket, 1895. Oil on canvas, 24 1/2 x 32 1/8 in. Cantor Arts Center, The Michael Donald Brown Collection, made possible by the William Alden Campbell and Martha Campbell Art Acquisition Fund and the Asian American Art Initiative Acquisitions Fund, 2020.21; right: Toshio Aoki, Title unknown, c. 1890. Watercolor and sumi ink on paper, 27 3/4 x 21 3/4 in. Cantor Arts Center, The Michael Donald Brown Collection, made possible by the William Alden Campbell and Martha Campbell Art Acquisition Fund and the Asian American Art Initiative Acquisitions Fund, 2020.24


This study aims to study the safety of oil and gas pipelines under stress corrosion conditions and grasp the corrosion damage situation timely and accurately. Consequently, a non-destructive testing method combining magnetic flux leakage testing technology and a kernel function extreme learning machine improved by genetic algorithm (GA-KELM) is proposed. Firstly, the variation of the corrosion defect dimension and profile with time is obtained by numerical simulation. At the same time, the distribution of the magnetic flux leakage signal under different defect conditions is analyzed and studied. Finally, feature selection is carried out on the magnetic flux leakage signal distribution curve, and GA-KELM is used to predict the depth and length of corrosion defects so as to realize the non-destructive testing of the pipeline defects. The results show that different geometric features result in different magnetic flux leakage signal distributions. There is a corresponding relationship between the defect dimension and extreme value, area, and peak width of the magnetic flux leakage signal distribution curve. The GA-KELM prediction model can effectively predict the depth and length of corrosion defects, and the prediction accuracy is better than the traditional extreme learning machine prediction model.


Background and aim Cirrhotic patients with gastroesophageal varices and non-tumoral portal vein thrombosis have a higher risk of re-bleeding and poor prognosis. This study aimed to analyze inflammatory biomarkers and thromboelastography in cirrhotic patients with portal vein thrombosis. Methods A total of 385 consecutive cirrhotic patients with gastroesophageal varices were prospectively enrolled between 1 December 2016, and 31 August 2017. Of these, 231 were eligible for analysis and were divided into portal vein thrombosis (n = 103) and non-portal vein thrombosis (n = 128) groups based on computerized tomography angiography findings. Results Patients with portal vein thrombosis generally had higher Child-Pugh scores than those without portal vein thrombosis (6.38 ± 0.12 vs. 5.81 ± 0.09, P < 0.001). The serum albumin levels were significantly lower in patients with portal vein thrombosis (35.90 ± 0.52 vs. 38.52 ± 0.43, P < 0.001). The portal vein thrombosis group had significant higher serum levels of interleukin 6 [4.85 (3.15–6.99) vs. 3.09 (2.06–5.20) pg/ml, P < 0.001] and tumor necrosis factor alpha [10.70 (7.60–15.20) vs. 9.07 (7.03–11.60) pg/ml, P = 0.020]. The interleukin 6 level was 2.5-fold higher in patients with portal vein thrombosis (adjusted odds ratio: 2.574; 95% confidential interval: 1.248–5.310). Thromboelastography showed that TEG-R, the reaction time, was significantly lower in the portal vein thrombosis group [5.20 (4.80–6.30) vs. 6.00 (5.20–6.95), P = 0.009], indicating enhanced coagulation activity. Conclusion This study confirmed the important role of systemic inflammation in portal vein thrombosis. Interleukin 6, an important inflammatory cytokine, is independently associated with portal vein thrombosis. The correlation between the interleukin 6 level and portal vein thrombosis requires further investigation.


The catalytic approaches fulfilled by the singly dispersed metal atoms anchoring on the solid materials were categorized as single‐atom catalysis. In this perspective, after briefly introducing the history in this research field, we compare the differences between single‐atom catalyst and several terms indicating some heterogeneous highly dispersed metal catalysts. Single‐atom catalysts could provide the simplified models in exploring the catalytically active structures, and a new era of designing catalysts at the atomic scale is thus opened. In this context, single‐atom catalysis may be regarded as a bridge to combine the homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Moreover, the materials containing isolated metal centers also provide great opportunities in many other applications, such as medicinal treatment, selective separation of gas molecule, and quantum devices. At last, challenges to the single‐atom catalysis are discussed.


(1985). The structuring of Hispanic ethnicity: Historical and contemporary perspectives. Ethnic and Racial Studies: Vol. 8, Ethnicity and Race in the U.S.A: Toward the Twenty-First Century, pp. 49-74.


The present invention relates to a method of using the configuration of the reduction area, improving the solid chemical feed circulating combustion containing hydrocarbon group having the structure below - a first reaction zone (R1) operating under fluid bed conditions, concentration; The second reaction zone (R2); In the second mixture from the reaction zone (R2) of the non-combustion of solid feed particles, fly ash, the rapid isolation region separating the oxygen transfer material particles (S3); Fume exhaustion region (S4); Some are first being immediately recycled to the reaction zone (R1), the other part collecting the ash through the line 18, the first reaction zone (R1) to the line separation outlet for recirculating the concentrate particles through the 20 area in (S5) is a particle stream branch region (D7) is sent. The present invention also relates to a chemical-circulating combustion plant applying the method described above.


A single-stage multi-path operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) is presented. The proposed amplifier uses the transconductance enhancing technique in an upgraded folded cascode (FC) amplifier. It significantly improves the DC gain, unity-gain bandwidth and slew rate compared with previous FC amplifiers with the same power consumption. Simulation results in 90 nm complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology show that the proposed OTA achieves a 59.1 dB DC gain and a gain bandwidth of 650 MHz, which makes it suitable for fast-settling switched-capacitor circuits.


Using aerial photographs and a PC (personal computer) based photogrammetric instrument, the author measured landscape features to characterize clearcuts in a "multiple‐use" forest of the outskirts of Oslo, Norway. One hundred and forty‐six clearcuts were examined for area and non‐timber features (such as buffer dimensions and residual vegetation). The results of three dimensional digitized data—captured directly off the stereophotos—created the profiles of clearcuts on private and public land. In addition, the application of PC‐based photogrammetry to natural resource management is discussed.


The invention discloses a full-automatic pipe laser-cutting device which can realize the automatic material feeding and discharging in the radial direction of the pipe and can complete the processing of the pipe in one time. The full-automatic pipe laser-cutting device comprises a material-feeding mechanism, a cutting mechanism and an output mechanism arranged in sequence, wherein the cutting mechanism comprises a rack; a laser cutting head is movably arranged on the rack; two material clamping and holding devices used for clamping the two ends of materials and capable of rotating in the axial direction of the materials are arranged on the rack respectively; a manipulator and a driving motor for driving the manipulator are arranged on the material-feeding side and the material-discharging side of each material clamping and holding device on the rack; each manipulator comprises a mounting base rotationally arranged on the rack and connected with the force output shaft of the driving motor; a telescopic arm and a retractable hydraulic cylinder for driving the telescopic arm are arranged in each mounting base; a clamping hydraulic cylinder is arranged on each telescopic arm; a movable clamping block is arranged at the end part of the piston rod of each clamping hydraulic cylinder; a fixed clamping block matched with each movable clamping block is arranged on each telescopic arm; a fan-shaped balancing weight is arranged on the other side, opposite to each telescopic arm, of each mounting base.


Technologies of small object observation planning and survey with the use of space-based opticalelectronic remote sensing systems are studied. A brief analysis of methods used to reduce the volume of recorded data is presented. The possibility of contraction of spatial redundancy in a one-dimensional array of data recorded on board of the spacecraft is investigated. Models of survey objects for nonstationary observation conditions are developed, a method for reduction of spatial redundancy is proposed.


This paper presents a comparison of three spectral features for automatic phone recognition in sub-optimal environments. An exclusive study is carried out with a phone recognition system called phonetic engine (PE) developed in the Manipuri language. The Manipuri language is a scheduled Indian language being used as the official language in the State of Manipur. However, there is no standard database of the language so far. Therefore, a PE has been built for this language. Here phonetic transcriptions are done and then modeling of each phonetic unit is carried out using hidden Markov model (HMM). Speech feature extraction is a very important stage in the development of such a PE. An analysis of phone recognition accuracies of the PE due the three dominant spectral features: MFCC, PLP and LPCC have been studied here. It is found that PLP and MFCC outperform LPCC features under all circumstances.


With the development of information technique, it is urgent to provide the capability of digital communication for the short-wave radios which are generally used for audio communication in remote country. For this reason, a novel interface circuit is designed in order to meet the requirement of field operation in oilfields. The wireless transmission of digital signal is realized by using single-chip AT89C2051 as a kernel of hardware. The hardware circuit and programming flow chart are presented. The design of short-wave data transmission interface circuit makes full use of the current short-wave radios and meets the continuously increasing demand of the data transmission in oilfields.


In the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries, the operation of highly exothermic reactions with the autocatalytic features may lead to safety issues. From the safety point of view, identification of the autocatalytic features and the corresponding kinetics for a given reaction are of significant importance. In this work the simultaneous kinetic and thermodynamic analysis of a case reaction of esterification between acetic anhydride and methanol is first carried out under isoperibolic conditions using a reaction calorimeter. Two kinetic models, that is, autocatalytic kinetic model and second order kinetic model, are used to fit the temperature profile. The results show that the calculated reaction enthalpy (ΔH, 67.88 kJ/mol) by the autocatalytic kinetic model is much closer to the experimental value (63.22 kJ/mol) than that by second order model (100.06 kJ/mol), indicating that the autocatalytic kinetic model is more appropriate to the reaction. With the case study, we also demonstrate that an insigh...


The aim of this work is the analysis of female characters in the mentioned novels written by Benito Perez Galdos. The analysis is concentrated on mutual relationship of these characters and on the influence of surrounding social and cultural background. The influence of world realistic literature on author´s writings is taken into account as well. The conclusions of this work show the unique character of the books written by Benito Perez Galdos, especially variable characters that appear in them.


The embodiment of the invention provides a negative plate of a storage battery and a manufacturing method thereof, belonging to the field of chemical power source. The negative plate comprises lead powder, carbon material, barium sulphate, humic acid, lignin, stearic acid and additive at the mass ratio of 100:10-30:0.6-1.2:0.2-0.6:0.1-0.5:0.2-0.5:0.4-1.2. The negative plate of the storage battery and the manufacturing method thereof can improve the high-rate discharging capability of the storage battery and prolong the service life of the battery.


The authors report the occurrence of new retinal breaks in the immediate postoperative period following pars plana vitrectomy and intravitreal infusion of silicone oil for advanced proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). This postoperative complication is important to recognize in light of the renewed interest in the use of silicone oil for the treatment of PVR.


The concept of unsourced multiple access (UMAC) has been developed toward the massive access scenario in future wireless communications. Recently, a basic framework of UMAC has been proposed where every message is encoded by polar codes. In this contribution, we extend the utilization of polarization-adjusted convolutional (PAC) codes into the aforementioned framework, in order to reap its advantage in excellent error performance in the context of short block length. The performance comparisons of the above mentioned schemes demonstrate that the new structure of UMAC with PAC codes is capable of exhibiting improved error performance with reducing complexity when compared to that with polar codes.


Asphaltene aggregation causes several problems in the petroleum industry, and an understanding of the aggregation behavior is needed to solve the problems. In this study, the effects of asphaltene concentration on aggregate size were investigated to elucidate the aggregation mechanism of asphaltene. Diffusion coefficients (D) of three asphaltenes from the vacuum residue (VR) of Khafji, Iranian Light, and Maya crude oils and one resin were determined in deuterated chloroform solution using pulsed-field gradient spin−echo 1H NMR. The pulsed-field gradient spin−echo 1H NMR of asphaltenes and resin showed different diffusion behaviors from well-characterized reference compounds such as polystyrene because of structural and compositional irregularities; that is, they are a complex mixture of molecules of various molecular weights and structures. From the D values, their average hydrodynamic radii were estimated. The concentration dependency (0.1−30 g/L) of the D values and the hydrodynamic radii support the wi...


A LCC-S compensated wireless power transfer (WPT) system with dual decoupled receive coils and a cascaded PWM regulator is proposed in this brief. The dual decoupled receive coils, comprising of bipolar coil and unipolar coil, provide two power paths. Most of input power is transferred to load directly through bipolar coil while only small portion of input power is transferred through unipolar coil and the cascaded PWM regulator, which can reduce power loss effectively. The output voltage of WPT system is regulated by the cascaded PWM regulator, thereby wireless communication links (WCLs) is not required in the feedback control loop, which leads to simple control circuits and good stability. Compared with conventional WPT system with two-stage power conversion, it is cost-effective as voltage/current stress of PWM regulator can be significantly alleviated. Besides, the LCC-S compensated WPT system can operate under zero phase angle (ZPA) condition with low voltage-ampere rating components. A 1.5kW prototype is built and experimental results show that the system efficiency up to 93% can be achieved under full load, which is 2.3% higher than that of conventional WPT system with two stage power conversion.


It is an important task to speed up the innovative talents development for building the innovative country.Based on the investigation,this article put forward that innovation process is a kind of problem solving process.And then,suggested the training positioning for innovation talented: to raise dynamic innovation ability.Based on discussion some typical enterprise related practices,the article analyzed the relationship between major project practice,organization learning mechanism and the innovative talent development.At last,gave the strategy model about innovative talent development related dynamic ability training.


Objective To observe the change in the immunologic function in patients exposed to long-term 192 Ir low dose radiation. Methods Fifty-two patients were accidentally exposed to 192Ir low dose radiation from May 9 to July 19, 2002. The fifty-two patients were divided into both the groups A and B according radiation dose estimated by the standard dose-response curves established via the analyses of dicentric rplus rings(dic+ r) and cytokinesis-block micronuclei analysis. There were 29 patients exposed to 0. 05-0. 19Gy in group A, and there were 23 patients exposed to 0. 20-0. 66Gy in group B. The contents of serum IgG, IgA and IgM, T lymphocyte transformation rate, and the positive rate of CD 3, CD 4, CD 8 and NK cells were determined 3 years after the radiation in all the patients. Results The contents of serum IgA and IgM in both the groups A and B were insignificantly different from those in the control group (P0. 05), but the contents of serum IgG, C3 and C4 were significantly lower in group B than those in the control group(P0. 01). The positive rates of CD 3, CD 4, CD 8 and NK cells, and lymphocyte transformation rate were significantly lower in both the groups A and B than those in the control group (P0. 01). The positive rates of CD 3, CD 4, CD 8 and NK cells, and lymphocyte transformation and the value of CD4+ /CD8+ in the group A were insignificantly different from those in group B (P0. 05). Conclusion No simulative effect of long-term low dose radiation on immunologic system is observed 3 years after the radiation. On the contrary, it is suggested the long-term dose radiation can inhibit the cellular immune response in the patients. It is very important to follow up the irradiated persons for long time.


The paper sets up a calculation of the effective exchange rate for Slovenia, and compares it to the methodologies used by the IMF, BIS, European Commission and ECB. Additionally we construct smaller regional effective exchange rates that help to explain the robustness of the Slovene export sector, especially in the cooling-off period of the global economy in recent years. The results show that some of the calculation methodologies can overshoot less favourable competitiveness dynamics. It is important to consider these results as different methodologies could draw different policy conclusions for the competitiveness stance of the Slovene economy.


The utility model relates to a coaxiality detector, in particular to a special grinding head coaxiality detector. The grinding head coaxiality detector comprises a base and a detecting device. The detecting device is fixed on the base, and is composed of a core shaft, a rolling bearing, a handle and a shaft sleeve; the core shaft is arranged in the shaft sleeve, and the bearing is arranged between the core shaft and the shaft sleeve; the handle is arranged at one end of the core shaft, and an interface which is adapted with a grinding head is arranged at the other end of the core shaft. When in detection, the grinding head to be detected is arranged on the core shaft by the interface which is adapted with the grinding head, the other end of the grinding head is jointed with the head of a dial gauge, the handle is rotated to drive the grinding head to rotate, and the measuring can be carried out from the kicking of the dial gauge. The provided grinding head coaxiality detector has the characteristics of simple structure, easy manufacturing and low production cost; the core shafts with multiple interfaces are prepared, so as to be convenient for detecting the grinding heads with different specifications.


This paper describes Multiple Family Group Therapy in a Child and Family Psychiatric Unit. The approach involves treatment of up to six families in a large-group setting with additional separate group sessions for parents and children. The approach lends itself particularly to socially isolated families with long-standing dysfunction.


NAFTA has initiated a procedure for addressing transborder economic problems in a more adequate and predictable fashion, potentially encouraging policy convergence between three disparate political cultures. Rather than addressing economic, social and environmental policy issues separately, trade policy now serves as a vehicle for negotiating policy convergence. Consequently trade officials are being forced to deal with an expanded array of domestic policy isues. This text presents a detailed examination of the initial NAFTA experience and evaluates its long-term implications beyond those of ending trade and tarriff barriers. In particular, it examines the cultural implications of this international arrangement. In addition, environmental protection and conservation issues are increasingly at the forefront of the international political agenda. NAFTA's environmental side agreement has created a way of addressing environmental concerns whilke protecting local standards, illustrating the attempt to achieve policy convergence by means of a trade apparatus. NAFTA now represents the continuing tension between integration and the maintenance of national autonomy.


A rapid, sensitive and specific method for the quantitation of trillin in mouse tissues was developed and validated using highperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with an electrospray ionization (ESI) interface. The plasma proteins were precipitated with methanol and ginsenoside Rh2 was used as the internal standard (IS). Separation of trillin was accomplished on a Metachem ODS-3 analytical column (50 mm×2.0 mm, 5 µm) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrilewater-formic acid (80:20:0.1, v/v/v) which was delivered at 0.2 ml/min. The electrospray ionization was operated in positive-ion mode. Ions were monitored in the multiple reaction-monitoring (MRM) mode, and the fragmentation transitions were m/z 577.6→ 253.6 amu for trillin and m/z 621.5→603.7 amu for ginsenoside Rh2. This method has been successfully applied to study the tissue distribution characteristics of trillin after intravenous administration (at a dose of 7.6 mg/kg) to mice. The linear ranges of the concentration of trillin in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, and brain were 5–300 µg/ml. The magnitude of the AUC of trillin was, in descending order, lung, spleen, kidney, heart, and liver. The magnitude of the MRT was, in descending order, lung, spleen, kidney, heart, and liver.


Queue management, bandwidth share, and congestion control are very important to both robustness and fairness of the Internet. In this article, we investigate the problem of providing a fair bandwidth allocation to those flows that share congested link in a router. A new TCP-friendly router-based AQM (active queue management) scheme, termed WARD, is proposed to approximate the fair queueing policy. WARD is a simple packet dropping algorithm with a random mechanism, and discriminates against the flows which transmit more packets than allowed. By doing this, it not only protects TCP connections from UDP flows, but also solves the problem of competing bandwidth among different TCP versions such as TCP Vegas and Reno. In addition, WARD works quite well for TCP flow isolation even with different round trip times. In other words, WARD improves the unfair bandwidth allocation properties. Furthermore, it is stateless and easy to implement, so WARD controls unresponsive or misbehaving flows with a minimum overhead


The key to robust and yet accurate capacitive angular-position sensors is, besides a smart measurement principle, the design of the charge amplifier. In a given context robust means insensitivity to dirt, moisture and dew on the receiving electrodes. Other environmental influences play a secondary role and can be tackled routinely. This paper presents a charge amplifier model, and compares simulation results with measurements obtained by operating the amplifier under harsh environmental conditions. To verify these simulation results and to distinguish between measurement errors originating from the sensor topology and from the charge amplifier, a measurement system is demonstrated to observe charge amplifier influences on the measurement accuracy in isolation. With the aid of this system and the corresponding model, an improved charge amplifier circuit has been found. The achieved accuracy is fairly high even under the influence of large leakage currents. The superiority of the present model is compared to conventional designs.


Minoxidil (M) has obviated the need for bilateral nephrectomy in patients with severe hypertension (HBP) unresponsive to conventional drugs. However, use of this agent is accompanied by significant side effects including hirsutism and fluid retention. Captopril (C) has recently been shown to be useful for treatment of severe HBP and may offer an effective alternative to M. Experience with a 7 y.o. boy with HBP afforded the opportunity to assess the efficacy of C for HBP inadequately controlled by M. HBP followed an episode of crescentic glomerulonephritis with subsequent chronic renal insufficiency. In 1976, maximum blood pressure (BP) was 240/190 despite multiple drug therapy. M was initiated and adequate BP control was attained on 25 mg/day as well as Furosemide 400 mg/day and Propranolol 160 mg/day. Complications included transient pericardial effusion, episodes of congestive heart failure, and progressive cardiomegaly. In Jan., 1980, BP was 160/100-110 despite increase of the M to 50 mg/day. Creatinine clearance was 25 cc/min/1.73 sq.m.; serum creatinine = 2.1 and BUN=200 mg/dl; peripheral renin=60 ng/ml/hr. M and Propranolol were discontinued and C was initiated. Following 3 weeks of C, BP was 120/70 on a dose of 37.5 mg tid (2 mg/kg/dose), as well as Furosemide 80 mg/day and Metoprolol 100 mg/day. Renal function and BUN were essentially unchanged. No adverse effects were apparent. The initial results indicate that C was an effective hypotensive agent in a child inadequately contolled on M.


Pseudarthrosis is a rare complication of patella fracture. An orthopedic surgeon may have less than 10 cases in life career. When two patellar fragments are in status of gap displacement, the pseudarthrosis can be recognized by Double-hump Camel Sign. Patient's knee is observed from lateral view. The gap between two fragments constitutes an image of double-hump camel. During knee flexion the gap becomes bigger, while knee extension the gap smaller. Figure 1. Double-hump Camel Sign is pathognomonic for the pseudarthrosis of patella


The quantitative study of citation analysis, part and parcel of what has come to be known as information science, was a boon to sociologists and historians of science interested in the promulgation and refinement of scientific ideas, as well as the development of standards relating to attribution. It has been, however, an egoshattering bane to the vast majority of scientists who actually write the articles. If nothing else, citation analysis mathematically and resoundingly confirms the sneaking suspicion of most scientists that nobody really reads what they spend so much time and effort writing. According to Eugene Garfield, chairman of the Institute for Scientific Information (publishers of Current Contents ), the average number of citations an article published in 1973 receives by 1988 is 15—in other words, less often in any given year than you're supposed to visit your dentist.


The personal story of Larry Alexander, an active young businessman of 27 who was stricken with bulbar poliomyelitis. Hospitalized for two years, he was subjected to all the known methods for treating polio, both at the Sister Kenny Foundation in New Jersey and the Mary Mac Arthur Unit in Boston. He tells of his fears, his discouragement, pain, and helplessless as he lay in the iron lung and the rocking bed (the iron cradle). His gradual acceptance of his disability-quadriplegia-and his readjustment to life in his home and community are an inspiring example of human courage.


In this paper, the nature of the coefficient of friction (CoF) of diamond-like carbon (DLC)-protected rubbers is studied. The relative importance of the viscoelastic and adhesive contributions to the overall friction is evaluated experimentally by modifying the contact load and the adhesive strength between the surface and the counterpart. The results indicate that the increase of CoF during the tribotests under non-lubricated conditions is caused by the increase of the adhesive contribution to friction motivated by the growth of the contact area during the test. In the case of oil lubricating condition, the adhesive force is minimized and the CoF is observed to decrease during the tribotest. This is caused by the reduction of the viscoelastic contribution due to the variation of the shape of the contact area. The role of the microstructure of the DLC film on the efficiency of the oil lubrication is also discussed.


(a) Rainfall Analysis was done for the whale country based on reliable rainfall data available for the period (1907 to 1956 inclusive), and which also covered all the river basins from Walawe through to Menik Ganga. Results of this study have been reported in the Hydrometeorology of Ceylon (1962). (b) Detailed rainfall analysis of long term data from 40 rainfall stations for the w h k of the Walawe river basin was carried out in 1959-60 and results published in the Resources of the Walawe Ganga Basin (1960). ;


Collichthys lucidus is distributed in the coastal waters and estuaries of the northwest Pacific Ocean, including the Yellow Sea and East China Sea. This species is rapidly becoming one of the most important marine fishery species in China. Extensive studies have shown that the abundance of C. lucidus has recently declined significantly because of overfishing and environmental degradation. To develop conservation measures there is a need to better understand the genetic population structure of C. lucidus. Fish(n=209) were collected from seven sampling locations in the south Yellow Sea and East China Sea, including Lianyungang, Dafeng, Chongming, Zhoushan, Wenzhou, Ningde, and Xiamen. A 611 bp mitochondrial CO I sequence was amplified by PCR then used for genetic structure analysis. We detected 44 haplotypes, the haplotype diversity index ranged from(0.416±0.112) to(0.720±0.076), and then ucleotide diversity index ranged from(0.001 10±0.000 35) to(0.004 44±0.001 64). The results of an AMOVA revealed there were two groups(north and south). The shallow topology of the haplotype neighbor-joining(NJ) tree and the UPGMA tree based on genetic distance suggests there is distinct phylogeographic structure across the seven populations. We define south Wenzhou as part of the southern group, and north Wenzhou as part of the northern group. The estimate of gene flow between the southern and northern groups was 1, which indicates that gene exchanges between these two groups are rare. Based on the expansion parameter τ, we speculate that the separation occurred during the Pleistocene, and the migratory behaviorof C. lucidus likely explains the current lack of differentiation within the southern or northern groups. Our results can be used to inform the sustainable exploitation and conservation of wild C. lucidus populations.


Abstract What types of households own life insurance? Who owns term life and who owns whole life insurance? These are questions of great interest to insurers that operate in a highly competitive market. To answer these questions, we jointly examine household demand of two types of insurance, term and whole life, using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, a probability sample of the U.S. population. We model both the frequency and the severity of demand for insurance, building on the work of Lin and Grace by using explanatory variables that they developed. For the frequency portion, the household decisions about whether to own term and whole life insurance are modeled simultaneously with a bivariate probit regression model. Given ownership of life insurance by a household, the amounts of insurance are analyzed using generalized linear models with a normal copula. The copula permits the bivariate modeling of insurance amounts for households who own both term and whole life insurance, about 20% of our sample. These models allow analysts to predict who owns life insurance and how much they own, an important input to the marketing process. Moreover, our findings suggest that household demand for term and whole life insurance is jointly determined. After controlling for explanatory variables, there exists a negative relationship for a household's decision to own both whole and term life insurance (the frequency part) and a positive relationship for the amount of insurance purchased (the severity part). This indicates that the greater the probability of holding one type, the smaller the probability of holding the other type of life insurance. However, higher demand for both types of insurance exists when a household decides to own both. This mixed effect extends prior work that established a negative relationship, suggesting that term life insurance and whole life insurance are substitutes for one another. In contrast, our findings reveal that the ownership decision involves substitution, but, for households owning both types of insurance, amounts are positively related. Therefore, term and whole life insurance are substitutes in the frequency yet complements in the severity.


This work elaborates on: i) why the sliceable bandwidth variable transceiver (S-BVT) represents a key enabler for next-generation optical metro networks; ii) how it should be designed to take benefit of its capabilities and advanced features; and iii) which are the promising technologies to be adopted addressing the most relevant requirements and challenges. Specifically, S-BVT architectures based on multicarrier modulation and flexi-grid technologies, adopting cost-effective optoelectronic front-ends, enable flexible adaptation to dynamic traffic and variable path condition, targeting high capacity and scalability, while saving network resources and costs. Programmability and modularity are envisioned for integration in software-defined optical metro networks.


(57) Abstract: diblock based on synthetic thermoplastic rubbers, triblock, multiblock and / or radial block copolymers, in a sustained release containing from about 1 to about 50 weight percent based on the weight of the non-aqueous Eakeageru. Ratio triblock, multiblock and / or radial block copolymer of the diblock is from about 0 to about 100 percent, it is possible to change in either direction. Gelling agent, a hydrocarbon, one or more soluble substance in a hydrocarbon, or a mixture thereof, its physical properties, plays an important role in controlling the slow release rate. The composition of the hydrocarbon may vary the length of the carbon from the C-5 to C-30, and the vapor pressure can be varied up to about 600mmHg at 20 ° C.. Hydrocarbons in the range of about 20 to 95 percent of the total weight of the gelled composition, based on the weight. Sustained release dosage or active substance, one or more flavoring agents, deodorants, masking agents, pest repellents, an air care active substances such as pesticides, may contain from about 0.1 to about 30 weight percent of the gel .


Speech is one of the typical feature parameters and contains semantic information as well as singular information. So we can use semantic information for speech recognition, and singular information for identity verification. In order to realize secure and user-friendly human interface, both characteristics of speech should be utilized through simple procedures. In our paper, an identity verification method using speech is proposed. The proposed method utilizes CELP parameters which is used in speech coding scheme for mobile communication systems such as PDC in Japan, and can verify him/her only with the coded information. Therefore, following merits are given; (1) a speaker verification function can be easily realized in mobile terminals or networks by adding a little functions. (2) CELP parameters contain characteristics of articulation, so speaker can be verified whatever he/she speaks. We apply the latter merit to a challenge-response type verification named text-indicated speaker verification method which is realized by a text verification function as well as a speaker verification function, and both functions utilize only CELP parameters. In the proposed method, a system indicates texts that a user should speak at a verification process. So strength of security for disguise is increased. The reliability of the proposed method will be discussed with simulation results in this paper.


Serbian migration practice is the result of often conflicting policies at the
 regional, state and local level. The manifold values and interests
 constituting the concepts on which these policies were based have led to the
 transformation of the presence of migrants in certain areas into an object of
 political manipulation. Thus the presence of migrants became a focal point of
 conflicts between the state and local government, or between people with
 different interests.


As the achievable accuracy for single point positioning with GPS is insufficient for many applications, DGPS services have been established all over the world. They can be distinguished into so-called Local Area DGPS services (LADGPS) for small areas such as a country and Wide Area DGPS services (WADGPS) for larger areas such as a whole continent or even worldwide. All of them have in common that for the DGPS services, distinct methods for generating differential GPS corrections have been developed. However, the main disadvantage of LADGPS Services is that position accuracy of a user degrades as the reference-to-user separation increases. The spatial decorrelation of the error sources, i.e., the atmospheric propagation and satellite orbit errors, are the main causes for the degradation of position accuracy. The combination of the measurements of several reference stations can be used to model these error components separately. Starting from the discussion of the mathematical connections and the illustration of the main error sources on pseudo range measurements, this paper will concentrate on the essential features and differences of LADGPS and WADGPS services. For that purpose, also the characteristics of existing correction data services in Europe of each of these groups are analysed. The focus of these analyses will lie on the error modelling and the estimation of correction data in connection with the achievable accuracies. In the following, possibilities for embedding the common solution strategies of WADGPS concepts in LADGPS are discussed. Finally, practical studies of one of these possibilities, the virtual reference stations concept, using data of a test network in Germany will be presented.


Purpose: The best initial therapy for patients (pts) with coronary artery disease (CAD) and severe ischemia by SPECT-MPI is controvertial. Inspired by the ongoing ISCHEMIA Trial, designed to prospectively evaluate optimal medical treatment versus revascularization as the first line therapy in pts with high ischemic burden, we evaluated the current treatment trends, overall mortality and the long term prognostic value of revascularization in patients referred for SPECT-MPI.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 18,892 pts referred for SPECT-MPI between Jan-2004 and Dec-2008, selecting pts with severe ischemia (SSS>13) and unknown CAD. Overall mortality and revascularization status were obtained by phone. Survival analysis and the prognostic value of revascularization, classical CAD risk factors and left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) on mortality were obtained by Kaplan-Meier and Cox multivariate analysis.

Results: From 4096 ischemic pts, 715 had SSS>13 but only 255 had no previous known CAD. A mean follow-up time of 4.4 years (SD 1.8) was obtained in 227 (88.4%). Mortality rate was 18.5% (42/227). Management strategy data from 194 pts was obtained. Of these, 123 (63%) underwent percutaneous (70%) or surgical (30%) revascularization, while 71 (37%) were managed conservatively. The overall mortality curves stratified by treatment option were not statistically different (log-rank test p-value = 0.52). The multivariate analysis is presented on the Table. Revascularization did not changed mortality prognosis (HR 1.83; 95% CI 0.72–4.66).

View this table:

Multivariate analysis

Conclusions: Mortality in severely ischemic patients is high. Revascularization was the main treatment option, although only age was predictive of mortality. Based on this limited retrospective analysis, clinical management may be a safe alternative to revascularization for this high risk population, making the ongoing prospective ISCHEMIA Trial essential to guide future first line treatment recommendations.


The purpose of this study is to develop and implement a program for learning second language (L2) academic vocabulary with the objective of enhancing vocabulary learning strategies for reading proficiency and comprehension.
This specially tailored program, based on language learning research, consists of five alternative strategies in order to identify ways of learning academic vocabulary for university level efl learners. Vocabulary knowledge not only implies being familiar with the meaning of a word, but also with its form (spoken, written, and its affixation) and its uses (collocations, grammatical pattern, and limits of its use). My experience as an english teacher of university students is that learners have considerable technical vocabulary because they are required to read texts in english related to their field of study. For that reason, their word knowledge is merely related to meaning by translation.


ABSTRACT As invited editors of this 2-part Special Issue, we ended the Introduction to Part I of this Special Issue (Read & Szokolszky, 2018) with a claim that the Ecological Psychology revolution would not be complete without Developmental Ecological Psychology. The inclusion of developmental work requires considering some basic questions regarding change in organism-environment systems over time and of how to describe and study such changes over stretches of time. J. J. Gibson (1966, p. 321) ended with a dedication to "all persons who want to look for themselves." We dedicate this 2-part Special Issue to all persons who want to look for themselves over time.


Hypothesis The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) flap seems to be a practicable but underestimated flap for reconstructive and plastic surgery of the head and neck.


Two cluster chalcohalide compounds, namely [Cr7S8Cl2(NH3)14.5(H2O)1.5]Cl3·H2O (1) and [Emim]2[Sn2As2S4(S2)2Br2.43Cl1.56] (Emim = 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium) (2), have been ionothermally synthesized and characterized. The structure of 1 features a corner-shared double-cubane-like cationic cluster, whereas that of 2 features a face-shared incomplete double-cubane-like anionic cluster representing the first Sn/As chalcohalide compound with an organic cation. Thermal stabilities, optical and magnetic properties have also been studied.


Two free vascularized osteocutaneous fibula flaps were used for reconstruction of mandibular defects in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lower gingiva.One had been carried out as a secondary reconstruction nearly three years after sectional mandibulectomy including a mandibular angle. In this case complete necrosis of the skin paddle and infection surrounding the intraosseous wires occurred after the operation. The defects of the soft tissue were closed spontaneously after several weeks and infection was managed by removal of the wires. As a result, a flat contour on the reconstructed mandibular angle was obtained. It is thought that this might be because of the straight form of the fibula. As we could not improve the scar contraction caused by the first surgery, jaw movements are still limited.The second patient had undergone an immediat e reconstruction after sectional mandibulectomy of the premolar and molar region. Hematoma and infection after operation was managed by drainage. The latest result showed a satisfactory face contour and adequate jaw movements. The morbidity of the donor site was light in both patients.We concluded that a free vascularized osteocutaneous fibula flap is useful for reconstruction of the mandibular defects particularly in the straight part of the body, associated with limited soft tissue loss. Furthermore, immediate reconstruction is recommended.


One of key pathways for the spread of non-indigenous species is through discharge of ballast water, which can cause biodiversity loss, environment deterioration, and economical damage. Ballast water discharging is among the most influential causes for the non-indigenous species introduction in the Adriatic Sea. Preliminary simulations of a 3D numerical model of sea circulation and passive particle transport are presented and discussed in this paper. These results will be used as benchmark for future research and measurements, as well as for modelling behaviour of active particles.


needle biopsy was reported as fibrocystic differentiation. In 1998 mammography showed a 63 mm × 34 mm × 25 mm lesion located in the same quadrant. The lesion was resected completely. Pathologic examination showed leiomyoma and fibrocystic disease. In 2000 a tumoral mass growing in the upper quadrant was assessed. A round, solid, 96 mm × 86 mm mass with cystic and necrotic changes in the upper outer quadrant of her left breast was assessed sonographically (Fig. 2). It was larger than the mass diagnosed in 1998 (Fig. 3). Needle biopsy was repeated. The report showed the possibility of malignancy. Lumpectomy was performed and the pathologic outcome was malign schwannoma. Modified radical mastectomy and axillary lymphatic dissection were performed. The tumor cells were in a solid sheet and had a pleomorphic appearance with irregular nuclei and slightly large eosinophilic cytoplasm (Fig. 4). Pathology stated no further malignancy on the margins of the resected tissue. The patient is under close follow-up in our department without adjuvant chemotherapy. The patient is alive with no evidence of recurrence more than 2 years after surgery.


This study is based upon the `overflowing cylinder' experiment and develops an ionic theory for the advection-diffusion dynamics of surfactant in this experiment. It is hoped that a consideration of these ionic effects can account for discrepancies between theoretical and experimental results for the overflowing cylinder.

We begin by describing in detail the general fluid and surfactant dynamics and produce a model for this ionic system. We apply the model to a range of different problems to gain an understanding of the ionic effects.

Finally, we address the original nonionic model presented for the analysis of the overflowing cylinder experiment and decipher a parameter missing from some papers which study this experiment.


Forecasting the development of agricultural production, like the forecasting of any other sphere of human activity, is probably the most complex process in comprehending and scientifically predicting patterns of the distant future. In the socialist system of national economic planning, forecasts are becoming a most important stage preceding the elaboration of long-term plans. The Directives of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU call for improvements in long-term planning methods and for the elaboration of a long-range plan based on scientific forecasts. In the Report to the Congress, L. I. Brezhnev, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU emphasized: "The realization of the most important economic and sociopolitical tasks will require not five years but a much longer time.


The naturally occurring marine alkaloid halichlorine, isolated from the black marine sponge Halichondria okadai Kadota, has been claimed to selectively inhibit the induced expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and might therefore be useful in the treatment of allergic inflammatory diseases and cancer. Stimulated by this intriguing biological profile, as well as the challenging architectural features of halichlorine, a significant amount of work related to the synthesis of this compound has been disclosed. Since the first total synthesis of halichlorine by the Danishefsky group, two other syntheses have been reported by Heathcock and more recently by Clive. The remainder of the many publications in this area have dealt very largely with construction of the azaspirocyclic core system and with formal synthesis reliant on the Danishefsky route.


The aim of this study is to determine the predictive power of students' perception of alienation (weakness, anomy, meaninglessness, isolation) over students' learned resourcefulness perception. The participants of this research are 820 university students at Bozok University in Turkey during 2013-2014 school years. In the research Student Alienation Scale and Learned Resourcefulness Scale were used. Student Alienation Scale has four sub scales which are weakness, anomy, meaninglessness, isolation. Learned Resourcefulness Scale has one dimension. A simple linear regression analysis was carried out to identify how the perception of alienation of students affects (predicts) the learned resourcefulness perception of the students. It is concluded that there is a significant positive and low-level relationship between students' alienation perception and learned resourcefulness perception. According to the results, it can be said that, 7 % of the total variance in the students' perception of learned resourcefulness results from their weakness perception. Also 1 % of the total variance in the students' perception of learned resourcefulness results from their anomy perception. And 2 % of the total variance in the students' perception of learned resourcefulness results from their meaninglessness perception. Finally 2 % of the total variance in the students' perception of learned resourcefulness results from their isolation perception.


Now that sport is big business nationally and internationally, it is not surprising that sports disputes – especially commercial ones – are on the increase. So, the question naturally arises, how best to resolve them. By traditional methods - through the courts – or by modern ones, that is, by alternative dispute resolution (ADR)? ADR takes many forms and mediation is proving to be an appropriate and effective way of settling sports disputes of various kinds extra-judicially. Mediation has not escaped the attention of the European Union, which over the years has taken a particular interest in sport as an economic activity, and this article will take a look at the recent EU Directive on Mediation and its application to and likely impact on sports business disputes in particular.


Introduction: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common type of arthritis in
children and teens. The inflammation of various joints causes pain. Early diagnosis and
management of the patients, which include medication and rehabilitation therapies, can reduce the onset of complications. Despite the progress in managing this disease, there are cases which present severe complications. Material and Methods: A 13-year-old girl, diagnosed with JIA in a paediatric service in 2019, who is under treatment with Sulfasalzine since diagnosis, presented in the Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre of Băile 1 Mai with inflammatory pain in both knees, gait impairment with need of wheelchair, limited function in hands, elbows, shoulders, knees and hips which worsened in 2022, due to low compliance to the treatment and no check-up with a paediatric
rheumatologist. She had 8 admissions in the Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre between October 2022 and July 2023. The examination reveals that there is a severe limitation of mobility in both hips and knees, the hands' small joints, elbows and shoulders. Laboratory tests were conducted showing no inflammatory markers. The radiographic finds sustained the changes encountered at the clinical examination. During her admissions in the Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre, she underwent a complex rehabilitation program which consisted of kinetotherapy, hydrokinetotherapy, massage, occupational therapy and physical agents. The program was designed according to the needs and the disease activity. Pharmacological means were used for the management of pain. The results were limited and the ability of standing up and walking were
not recovered. Conclusion: In conclusion, JIA is a complex disease, which needs an early diagnosis and an early management program, which comprises of pharmacological treatment, rehabilitation program. Teamwork is necessary for managing JIA cases. The lack of compliance, and inadequate medication can lead to disabling complications.


We show that Boolean functions expressible as monotone disjunctive normal forms are PAC-evolvable under a uniform distribution on the Boolean cube if the hypothesis size is allowed to remain fixed. We further show that this result is insufficient to prove the PAC-learnability of monotone Boolean functions, thereby demonstrating a counter-example to a recent claim to the contrary. We further discuss scenarios wherein evolvability and learnability will coincide as well as scenarios under which they differ. The implications of the latter case on the prospects of learning in complex hypothesis spaces is briefly examined.


Nobody disputes that almost three decades of U.S. trade (net saving) deficits have made the global system of finance and trade more accident prone. Outstanding dollar debts have become huge and threaten America's own financial future. Insofar as the principal creditor countries in Asia (Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, China since 2000) are industrial countries relying heavily on exports of manufactures, the transfer of their surplus savings to the saving-deficient United States requires that they collectively run large trade surpluses in manufactures. The resulting large U.S. trade deficits have worsened the "natural" decline in the relative size of the U.S. manufacturing sector and eroded the U.S. industrial base. One unfortunate consequence of this industrial decline has been an outbreak of protectionism in the United States, which is exacerbated by the conviction that foreigners have somehow been cheating with their exchange rate and other commercial policies. The most prominent of these have been associated with New York's Senator Charles Schumer. In March


Mode-interaction plays an important role in the dark soliton generation in the microcavity. It is beneficial to the excitation of dark solitons, but also facilitates a variety of dark soliton states. Based on the non-normalized Lugiato–Lefever equation, the evolution of dark soliton in the microcavity with mode-interaction is investigated. By means of mode-interaction, the initial continuous wave (CW) field evolves into a dark soliton gradually, and the spectrum expands from a single mode to a broadband comb. After changing the mode-interaction parameters, the original modes which result in dual circular dark solitons inside the microcavity, are separated from the resonant mode by 2 free spectral ranges (FSR). When the initial field is another feasible pattern of weak white Gaussian noise, the large frequency detuning leads to the amplification of the optical power in the microcavity, and the mode-interaction becomes stronger. Then, multiple dark solitons, which correspond to the spectra with multi-FSR, can be excited by selecting appropriate mode-interaction parameters. In addition, by turning the mode-interaction parameters, the dark soliton number can be regulated, and the comb tooth interval in the spectrum also changes accordingly. Theoretical analysis results are significant for studying the dark soliton in the microcavity with mode-interaction.


European integration is expected to enhance the attractiveness of EL) countries for domestic and foreign investors. This has caused concerns in developing countries that foreign direct investment there may be diverted to Europe. In preparing for the Single Market, European companies have indeed become more Eurocentric, but this mainly affected their investment activities in the United States. They neglected developing countries only temporarily and largely because of macroeconomic disturbance in Latin America. Likewise, European integration has not induced US and Japanese investors to curtail their investment activities in developing countries either. Sector studies show that closer intra-EU cooperation has not stopped the worldwide globalisation of EU companies: In the EU's automobile sector, the Single Market programme has not reduced the pressure to overcome cost disadvantages through globalised production and marketing. In the chemical sector, globalisation has increased, particularly because of oligopolistic competition for the US market. In the textiles and clothing sector, suppliers have continued their globalisation efforts, as world market conditions have forced them to invest not only in Europe and North America but also in Asian developing countries. Investors are apparently aware that they cannot afford to lock themselves into Fortress Europe, thus foregoing the cost advantages of international sourcing and marketing. Central and Eastern European countries are becoming major partners in the globalisation strategies of EU companies. Investments in this region are, however, unlikely to divert investment flows away from developing countries. In particular, there are no indications that investment locations in Asia have become less attractive. This region being the world's economic growth pole, EU investors have no choice but to improve their position in the highly competitive Asian markets by exporting to, and investing in, these markets.


Hydroxyl tagging velocimetry (HTV) is a molecular tagging technique that relies on the photo-dissociation of water vapor into OH radicals and their subsequent tracking using laser induced fluorescence. Velocities are then obtained from time-of-flight calculations. At ambient temperature in air, the OH species lifetime is relatively short (<50 s), making it suited for high speed flows. Lifetime and radicals formation increases with temperature, which allows HTV to also probe low-velocity, high-temperature flows or reacting flows such as flames. The present work aims at extending the domain of applicability of HTV, particularly towards low-speed (<10 m/s) and moderate (<500 K) temperature flows. Results are compared to particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements recorded in identical conditions. Single shot and averaged velocity profiles are obtained in an air jet at room temperature. By modestly raising the temperature (100-200 degC) the OH production increases, resulting in an improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Use of nitrogen - a non-reactive gas with minimal collisional quenching - extends the OH species lifetime (to over 500 s), which allows probing of slower flows or, alternately, increases the measurement precision at the expense of spatial resolution. Instantaneous velocity profiles are resolved in a 100degC nitrogen jet (maximum jet-center velocity of 6.5 m/s) with an uncertainty down to 0.10 m/s (1.5%) at 68% confidence level. MTV measurements are compared with particle image velocimetry and show agreement within 2%.


This paper provides a qualitative empirical analysis of the emergence of a new transnational municipal initiative, the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, launched on January 1st 2017. This new initiative is the result of a merger of two previously existing networks, the Compact of Mayors founded in 2014 by a coalition of city networks under the leadership of UN Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change Michael R. Bloomberg, and the Covenant of Mayors founded by the European Commission in 2008. While both these initiatives have been actively engaged in strengthening the role of cities and regions in the transnational climate policy arena, they have subscribed to different rhetoric and political strategies. The paper analyses the disparate logics of municipal climate action characteristic of the two initiatives, evident in the ongoing negotiations over the design of the common Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy. The paper draws on ethnographic evidence, interviews and documents to shed light on struggles over the politics of municipal climate data, focusing on disagreement about the role of common targets and tools, and the role of emission data for private investors


Since Matsuo and his coworkers reported fabrication methods of micromachined ISFET in 1970s1, a micromachining technology has been widely used to develop semiconductor based chemical sensors, especially ISFETs.2,3 However, sensor fabrication technology has some problems with regard to preparation of various kinds of sensing materials to be deposited onto semiconductor devices.4 As one of the important technical problems, it is difficult to develop the fabrication technology for patterning of sensing materials compatible for conventional semiconductor process. For example, Ujihira et al.5, Igarashi et al.6 and Pham et al.' reported the preparation of sodium and copper ion-sensitive membranes using the ion implantation technique as compatible with the conventional semiconductor process. The semiconductor based copper sensors can be useful for advanced control of industrial process, such as plating bath or in situ analysis of foods or chemicals. We have already proposed the chemically modified heavy metal hybrid ion sensors with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ).8'9 Since the chemical modification technique is compatible with the device fabrication process, we have proposed semiconductor based Cu2+ sensors (Cu2+-ISFETs) with TCNQ and obtained fairly good performance.10 So, we tried to fabricate the chemically modified copper ion sensors to control of sensor characteristics with another electron acceptors such as TCNQ methyl and dimethyl derivatives (MTCNQ and DMTCNQ). In this paper, we report the electrochemical characteristics of the chemically modified Cu2+ISFETs with TCNQ and its derivatives in detail. Experimental


The teacher's role conflict in current vocational colleges is on different levels and serious.But there are various reasons for the teacher's role conflicts in vocational colleges,which include the transformation of vocational education,people's expectation,and the individual causes of the teachers.


Objective To investigate the Color Doppler Ultrasound image features of Thyroid Carcinoma,as well as its application in the clinical diagnosis and differential diagnosis.Methods Study the ultrasound performance and results for 38 patients with Thyroid Carcinoma retrospectively,then analyze the two-dimensional ultrasound image features and blood flow signal for Thyroid Carcinoma patientsby contrasting with pathological verification.Results 34 in 38 patients with Thyroid Carcinoma werein accord with the pathology references,and the accord rate of ultrasound diagnosis was 89.47%.Ultrasound image mainly present solid or cystic solid echo nodule;irregular in shapes;fuzzy in boundaries;internalecho were heterogeneous;the calcification spots were characteristic as punctiform,clustered sandy;aboundance blood signal was observed in both peripheral and internal lesions.High-speed blood flow signals could be measured within the lesions by spectrum Doppler and presents turbulence spectrum.Conclusions The ultrasound performance of Thyroid Carcinoma presenta specific images.Two-dimensional ultrasound sound images combined with blood flow signal could help improve the accuracy of diagnosis.


Applied to millimeter wave systems, a Ka-band broadband transceiver front-end is developed. The system adopts the method of frequency mixing before frequency doubling, which effectively reduces the frequency doubling times and phase noise loss and improves signal spur suppression. Packaged devices are used in the low frequency circuits, dies are used at high frequencies, and thin film process filters are used in multi-stage frequency doubling filtering. These measures are effective in reducing costs. Through experimental tests, the transceiver front-end has sufficient power output and spur suppression. In the 30–35 GHz operating band, the output power is 26 dBm, the power flatness is within 1 dB, the spur suppression is greater than −49 dBc, and the phase noise is better than −84dBc@1KHz at 35GHz. The receiver gain is 55dBand the gain flatness is within 3dB. The transceiver system has a unique design and low cost, and has broad application prospects in millimeter wave systems.


Glycemic patterns throughout pregnancy are not well described, particularly early pregnancy. CGM used throughout the gestational period in uncomplicated pregnancies may help describe glycemic patterns in more detail. Blinded CGM data were collected throughout pregnancy from 760 pregnant patients ≥18 years old, with HbA1c <6.5%, no known diabetes, and gestational age <17 weeks. CGM data from uncomplicated pregnancies (pregnancy without gestational diabetes, large for gestational age birth, or hypertensive disorder of pregnancy) established the normative data set. Uncomplicated pregnancies (n=427, mean±SD age 32±4 years, 73% White non-Hispanic, mean HbA1c 5.1±0.3%) showed mean glucose during the entire gestational period was 99±7 mg/dL. Trimester specific mean glucose was: 103±7, 98±7 and 98±8 mg/dL for 1st, 2nd, 3rd trimesters. Figure 1 shows mean glucose by hour/trimester. Median (quartiles) percent time in range (TIR) 63-120 mg/dL was 86% (82-89%) for gestational period, and 84% (79-89%), 87% (82-90%), and 85% (80-90%) for 1st, 2nd, 3rd trimesters. Figure 2 shows TIR 63-120 mg/dL by 4-week periods. In uncomplicated pregnancies, mean glucose and TIR 63-120 mg/dL remained consistent throughout the gestational period. These normative CGM data will help set pregnancy-specific glycemic targets and will be important to compare to those 333 women in this study with complicated pregnancies.

 A.L.Carlson: Advisory Panel; MannKind Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Research Support; Abbott Diabetes, Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Insulet Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, Sanofi. J.Sibayan: None. P.Calhoun: None. C.Durnwald: None. R.Beck: Consultant; Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk, Diasome, Insulet Corporation, Research Support; Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc., Beta Bionics, Inc., Dexcom, Inc., Bigfoot Biomedical, Inc., Medtronic, Ascensia Diabetes Care, Roche Diabetes Care, Eli Lilly and Company, Novo Nordisk. Z.Li: None. E.Norton: None. R.M.Bergenstal: Advisory Panel; Abbott Diabetes, Eli Lilly and Company, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Roche Diabetes Care, Zealand Pharma A/S, Consultant; Ascensia Diabetes Care, Bigfoot Biomedical, Inc., CeQur SA, Dexcom, Inc., Hygieia, Onduo LLC, Sanofi, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, Research Support; Abbott Diabetes, Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, UnitedHealth Group. M.L.Johnson: Research Support; Abbott, Lilly, Insulet Corporation, NIH - National Institutes of Health, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, Novo Nordisk, Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc., Medtronic, Hemsley Charitable Trust, Jaeb Center for Health Research. S.Dunnigan: None. M.Banfield: None. K.J.Krumwiede: None.

 The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; United Health Group


Most existing content-based filtering approaches learn user profiles independently without capturing the similarity among users. Bayesian hierarchical models \cite{Zhang:Efficient} learn user profiles jointly and have the advantage of being able to borrow discriminative information from other users through a Bayesian prior. However, the standard Bayesian hierarchical models assume all user profiles are generated from the same prior. Considering the diversity of user interests, this assumption could be improved by introducing more flexibility. Besides, most existing content-based filtering approaches implicitly assume that each user profile corresponds to exactly one user interest and fail to capture a user's multiple interests (information needs).
In this paper, we present a flexible Bayesian hierarchical modeling approach to model both commonality and diversity among users as well as individual users' multiple interests. We propose two models each with different assumptions, and the proposed models are called Discriminative Factored Prior Models (DFPM). In our models, each user profile is modeled as a discriminative classifier with a factored model as its prior, and different factors contribute in different levels to each user profile. Compared with existing content-based filtering models, DFPM are interesting because they can 1) borrow discriminative criteria of other users while learning a particular user profile through the factored prior; 2) trade off well between diversity and commonality among users; and 3) handle the challenging classification situation where each class contains multiple concepts. The experimental results on a dataset collected from real users on digg.com show that our models significantly outperform the baseline models of L-2 regularized logistic regression and traditional Bayesian hierarchical model with logistic regression.


The invention provides a preparation method of abiraterone acetate. According to the method, firstly an intermediate product, namely coarse abiraterone is purified and refined, then a purified product of abiraterone is acetylated, the abiraterone acetate is directly prepared, accordingly the coarse abiraterone product which is in an off-white color, relatively high in purity and less in impurity is obtained directly, the coarse abiraterone product is further simply crystallized, the abiraterone acetate which is high in purity and meets the medicinal requirement can be obtained, and therefore the step of chromatography or tedious purification of an inorganic salt-precipitated crystal in a traditional method can be avoided. The method has the advantages of being more convenient and faster in operation and purification treatment step, more suitable for industrialized amplification production and the like.


Two new species of Aliciella, one from California and Nevada, the other from northeastern Arizona, and a new subspecies of Ipomopsis congesta from the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah are described and illustrated. From the interface of the Great Basin and Mojave deserts, Aliciella monoensis has long been confused with Aliciella (Gilia) subacaulis, but is distinct morphologically and cytogenetically. In badlands areas of Beautiful Mountain in the Chuska Mountain Range of Arizona, Aliciella cliffordii represents an ethologically unique relative of Aliciella haydenii. Ipomopsis congesta subsp. matthewii has long been confused with I. c. subspp. congesta, crebrifolia and frutescens, but is morphologically and geographically unique.


While other disciplines have made progress in advancing their science and practice of their research around health equity, oral health has made less progress. Despite special issues and consensus statements, there are opportunities for oral health research to contribute to this needed work, as the world battles pandemics of disease and racism. The purpose of this commentary is to operationalize how we can better integrate with intentionality and sustainability equity, diversity, and inclusion into oral health research. Knowledge Transfer Statement: By following best practices related to equity, diversity, and inclusion, oral health researchers may be able to advance the study of health equity, grow a diverse research workforce, and better respond to pressing public health problems.


In this report we study Markov processes on compact and connected Riemannian manifolds. We define a random walk on such manifolds and give a direct proof of the invariance principle. This principle says that under some conditions on the jumping distributions (i.e. the distributions of single steps), the random walk converges to Brownian motion when space is scaled by 1/N, time by N^2 and N tends to infinity (which has been shown with more general methods by Jorgensen and by Blum). To prove this, we show convergence of the generators on the set of smooth functions and we apply the Trotter-Kurtz theorem (as has been done by Blum, in a rather sketchy way and in a slightly different setting). We also show convergence of the corresponding Dirichlet forms. Then we show that the conditions on the jumping distributions are satisfied if they are compactly supported and have mean 0 and a covariance matrix which is invariant under orthogonal transformations. Next, we define random grids on a Riemannian manifold and we define random walks on them. We show that their Dirichlet forms converge to the Dirichlet form of Brownian motion, using the results above. We also prove a result that is a bit weaker than convergence of the generators in this case. Finally, these grids allow us to define the Symmetric Exclusion Process (SEP) on a manifold. Using the convergence results above, we follow the line of a proof of Seppalainen to show that the hydrodynamic limit of the SEP satisfies the heat equation. Some details still need to be filled in, but we believe that this method will allow us to study interacting particle systems and their hydrodynamic limits on Riemannian manifolds. Before all of this we start with an introduction to Markov processes, their semigroups and generators. In particular we focus on time-reversible (or symmetric) processes and the Dirichlet form with its properties. We also give an introduction to Riemannian manifolds and related notions.


The utility model discloses a cell phone charging stand. The charging stand comprises an input interface, a voltage reducing circuit, at least one pair of contact output interfaces and at least one limit mechanism, wherein one end of the input interface is used for being externally connected with a power supply, and the other end of the input interface is used for being connected with the input end of the voltage reducing circuit; the output end of the voltage reducing circuit is connected with the contact output interfaces; the contact output interfaces are arranged on the surface of the charging stand; the number of the limit mechanism is identical to the pair number of the contact output interfaces; and the limit mechanism and the contact output interfaces are positioned corresponding to a cell phone placed on the charging stand for charging. The charging stand adopting the structure can realize contact charging of the cell phone, and is convenient to use. The utility model further discloses a cell phone back shell matched with the cell phone charging stand.


: Pure electric vehicles play an important role in the rapid development of new energy vehicles due to their simple structure, zero emissions and high energy efficiency. With the implementation of the national electric vehicle strategy, the technology and products in the field of electric vehicles and their charging have developed rapidly, and the problems of charging safety and compatibility have become increasingly prominent. The structure of variable voltage charging of hub motor based on BMS and the working principle of variable voltage charging regenerative braking control method are introduced; Based on the theoretical model of variable voltage charging of hub motor, the control law of variable voltage charging regenerative braking of hub motor electric vehicle is explored. Firstly, the structure of electromechanical composite brake assembly of pure electric vehicle, the working principle of energy recovery and the main factors affecting the feedback effect of regenerative braking are analyzed in detail, and the distribution mode of electromechanical braking effort of regenerative braking system is studied. The solutions to the charging safety are given from the perspective of technology and management, and the safety issues that need to be studied are also put forward, so as to provide reference for the healthy development of electric vehicle industry.


An oscillator-amplifier tandem is described for a CO/sub 2/ laser whose infrared radiation output will be useful in plasma diagnostics. (AIP)


We investigated the dispersion characteristics of the propagation modes that progress on the tectorial membrane (TM). Recent studies have uncovered complex TM behavior and a possibility that TM might play an important role in the hearing system. An interaction between the TM and the fluid induces propagation modes, which are called TM modes. We found that there are several kinds of TM modes and analyzed the direction of the displacement of the TM that is caused by each mode. We also investigated the structural dependency of the angular wavenumber of each mode.


The kicked atom is realized experimentally by exposing potassium np Rydberg atoms with n{approximately}388 to a sequence of up to 50 half-cycle pulses whose duration is much shorter than the classical electron orbital period. The Rydberg atom survival probability is observed to have a broad maximum for pulse repetition frequencies near the classical orbital frequency. Comparisons with detailed classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations show that this behavior provides an unambiguous signature of dynamical stabilization. The classical simulations further show that the kicked hydrogen atom is, depending on the pulse repetition frequency, chaotic or characterized by a mixed phase space with various families of fully stable islands within which the atom is stable against ionization. Signatures of stabilization and chaotic diffusion are also observed in the final bound-state distribution of the surviving atoms. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}


special note until 7th February, 1883, when he had an epileptic fit, the first he had ever had; and from this date he continued to have them at short intervals. On October 10th, 1883, I was called to see him about 10 a.m., and found him in bed, with a stream of blood issuing from the mouth of the urethra. The Medical Superintendent, Dr. Thompson, and I carefully examined him, when a bruise, 2 inches in length and 1 in breadth, was discovered on the right side of the perineum. Catheterism was tried, but failed; and he was seen at 2 p.m. by Mr. Greig Smith. Attempts to pass a catheter proving unsuccessful, and the bladder having become distended, Mr. Greig Smith performed perineal section. On making the necessary incision, the urethra was found to be completely severed, lying in a mass of blood-clot, and the neighbouring parts very much bruised. The central end of the urethra was found


Abstract We use a matching framework to explore the hypothesis that firing costs are a decreasing function of labor market tightness. Conventional wisdom suggests that differences in employment protection legislation (EPL) cause differences in labor market performance. Our hypothesis suggests a reverse causality nexus: it is labor market tightness which causes labor market rigidities. The endogeneity of firing costs produces a positive externality. We show that if this externality offsets the standard search externality, the model generates multiple equilibria. which reflect a trade off between wage moderation and the strictness of EPL. We demonstrate that the equilibria are not Pareto ranked. The analysis of local stability shows that, when firing costs externality offsets the search cost externality, the equilibrium is a stable node; vice versa, the equilibrium is an unstable saddle point. Finally, we investigate the question of social efficiency, obtaining a generalization of the Hosios (1990) condition.


In the days when the pub across the road was a legitimate extension of the hospital wards and on-call rooms, a bottle of beer strangely found its way to the sister's office. A nurse carrying a patient's dinner tray reawakened the hitherto dormant spirit of scientific inquiry. The fish was swabbed and the swab was sent for culture to the laboratory, accompanied by a test tube of beer labelled "urine." The beer came back "yeast cells, too many too count." The …


Objective:To study the expression of TGF-β1 on endosalpinx and the pathogenesy of TGF-β1 in the infertility caused by salpingemphraxis.Methods:Applied the immunohistochemistry SP to compare the expression of TGF-β1 on the endosalpinx between 30 infertility patients caused by salpingemphraxis and 30 normal patients(under sterilization).Results:The expression of TGF-β1 on the endosalpinx of the infertility patients caused by salpingemphraxis was absolutely higher than that of the normal group(P0.01).Conclusion:The high expression of TGF-β1 is possibly related with the infertility caused by salpingemphraxis,TGF-β1 maybe take part in the pathogenesy of the infertility caused by salpingemphraxis.


To define a threshold of maternal antibodies at risk of severe fetal anemia in patients followed for anti‐RH1 alloimmunization (AI).


OBJECTIVE
To establish HPLC fingerprint of Gentiana macrophylla, which was expected to be standards of quality control and identification of the Chinese crude drug.

METHODS
The HPLC method was used, chromatography conditions were Shimadzu C18 (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) column with gradient mobile phase of methanol-0.4% Phosphoric acid, UV detection wavelength was at 230 nm and the column temperature was at 25 degrees C with the flow rate of 1.0 ml/min.

RESULTS
5 peaks were identified as the characteristic fingerprints of Gentiana macrophylla and the fingerprints of the 14 samples had high similarities. The similarities of disqualified and fake medicinal materials were low.

CONCLUSION
This HPLC fingerprint of Gentiana macrophylla can be used as a standard of quality control and identification of the Chinese crude drug.


Novel necessary and sufficient existence conditions for convolution inverses of real finite sequences are derived. These conditions are obtained with the aid of well known conditions expressed in terms of the Fourier and z‐transforms. The conditions given in the paper imply suitable algorithms, which are convenient for checking the existence of convolution inverses of any real finite sequences.


A significant increase in gas price, known as a gas price spike, considerably influences travel behavior. People have considered reducing their fuel consumption by making fewer trips, choosing alternative commute modes, and changing household locations. Many studies suggest that travel behavioral changes, due to a gas price increase, are related to socio-economic, lifestyle, and neighborhood characteristics. This paper investigates perceived short and long-term responses to a hypothetical 100 percent gas price increase in Halifax, Canada. It uses stated response survey information from the Household Mobility and Travel Survey (HMTS) conducted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The study takes a latent class modeling approach in which the class membership component of the model is examined in relation to the socio-economic and attitudinal attributes. The study examines the short-term and long-term behavioral changes in effect of socio-demographic characteristics, land use and accessibility measures, neighborhood characteristics, and attitudinal variables. The model results suggest that the latent class logit model outperforms the conventional multinomial logit model in terms of model fit. The short-term model results reveal that lower income individuals ride transit more often whereas higher income individuals are insensitive to the change of gas price. An individual's reason for changing household locations is strongly related to their short-term response. In the long-term, individuals with lower incomes tend to change work locations rather than home locations. People living farther than one kilometer from a transit stop show the highest propensity to change home locations. Persons who own more than one household vehicle are more likely to purchase a more fuel-efficient vehicle. Higher income persons are more likely to make no change in the long-term. The behavioral responses investigated in this study provide valuable information for policy-makers to develop strategies to improve readiness of the communities more effectively.


IntroductionIn a stunning announcement on September 18, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Volkswagen of illegally installing software in its diesel cars that manipulated the amount of emissions occurring during testing of the levels of emission. The EPA alleged that Volkswagen used the software to turn on the full emissions control systems for the vehicle only when the vehicle was being tested for emissions. During any other time the vehicle was operating, the full emissions control system was turned off. The software would turn on the control systems when the car was running in a stationary position since that would be the condition when the car was being tested for emissions.The EPA estimated that when the full emissions control system had been turned off, the vehicle could release up to 40 times as much of the pollutant nitrogen oxide than is allowed under the Clean Air Act. Nitrogen oxide is a catalyst in the development of ozone and smog. It has been linked to a number of health issues including respiratory problems. One reason why Volkswagen set the emission control system to turn off is that it increases the power of the engine in areas such as torque and acceleration. The International Council of Clean Transportation (ICCT) research organization was researching on diesel vehicles and discovered that Volkswagen vehicles had different emission levels when tested in a laboratory when the car was stationary than when the car was driven on the road (Davenport and Ewing, 2015).The Discovery of the Emissions ManipulationThe ICCT is a nonprofit environmental group which includes a number of former EPA officials. ICCT wanted to test the emissions of vehicles in the United States since the EPA has more stringent emission standards than in Europe. As a result, the original goal was to try and "shame" the European automakers by demonstrating that more stringent emissions standards do not decrease the overall performance of the vehicle. The ICCT partnered with researchers from West Virginia University to test the vehicles. In addition, the California Air Resources Board joined the testing process since it had a specialized lab that could measure emission compliance (Vlasic and Kessler, 2015).The ICCT notified the EPA of its results from testing Volkswagen vehicles. The EPA did additional tests on the Volkswagen vehicles and discovered the software used to turn off the emissions control systems. The initial recall order by the EPA included 4 cylinder Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from 2009 through 2015 (Davenport and Ewing, 2015).On September 20, 2015, Volkswagen announced that it had suspended all sales of the four-cylinder TDI diesel engine vehicles in the United States. CEO Martin Winterkorn stated that "I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public," (Boston, 2015a). These diesel engines were marketed to the public as "clean diesel" (Ewing and Davenport, 2015). The software would measure variables such as the position of the steering wheel, the speed of the vehicle and barometric pressure to determine whether the vehicle was being tested for emissions. Based on these variables, the software would reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide emitted from the vehicle (Ewing, 2015a). The following day, September 21, 2015, the United States Department of Justice announced that it had started a criminal probe into Volkswagen's use of software to manipulate nitrogen oxide levels (Viswanatha, 2015).On the same day, it was revealed that Volkswagen had told environmental regulators for over a year that the differences in the emission levels between the testing conditions and the open road conditions were based on a technical error. It was only after the EPA threatened to withhold its approval on the 2016 Volkswagen and Audi models that Volkswagen admitted to the tampering of the emissions. Volkswagen could be fined as much as $37,500 per vehicle which could lead to an estimated $18 billion based on the initial estimate of the number of cars which had included the software (Vlasic and Kessler, 2015). …


Wesurveyed the species richness of galling arthropods in northeastern Australia in October 2002 and found 38 sorts of arthropod gall. The gall midge species richness on Eucalyptus spp. may support the microenvironment hypothesis in which the galling habit is considered to be adaptive to dry areas. In Green Island, the species richness of galling arthropods was very poor, since the island is too small and far out at sea. The galling species richness in Daintree National Park was apparently higher than the data recorded by Price et al. (1998) in the places locating on lower latitudes, but was lower than the previous data in Iguassu and Amazon,Brazil. The present data indicates that the species richness of galling arthropods is relatively high both under humid conditions and under high plant species richness in tropical rainforests.


Vascular access device for communication with the vascular system of a patient includes a status indicator. Status indicator senses that period in connection with the use of vascular access device has elapsed, the notification.