The current dissertation presents two published empirical studies and one new study informed by the findings and recommendations of the first two. The first study investigated how intrapersonal factors (self-esteem, psychological distress, and optimism) and social-contextual factors (social support, sense of community, and empowerment) relate to the psychological well-being of 100 youth experiencing homelessness. The results indicated that all six variables were significantly related to well-being, but the intrapersonal factors had a stronger association with psychological well-being than the social-contextual factors. The second manuscript is a qualitative study investigating what community means to youth experiencing homelessness, what communities they are a part of, and how these communities contribute to their well-being. This study found that 1) youth generally define community in ways that align with current theory on sense of community, 2) youth view community as important, and 3) their experiences within community settings promote their overall well-being in a variety of ways. However, the findings also suggest that community is not always a positive experience for these youth. The third manuscript is a qualitative study undertaking a more detailed and contextualized exploration of community supports and well-being among youth experiencing homelessness. This study centered the perspectives and lived experiences of youth and engaged them in reflection on how their community supports and well-being might impact their short- and long-term goals. Further, this study explored how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted well-being and community supports among youth. Findings from the final study have the potential to inform future research aimed at supporting the well-being and needs of youth experiencing homelessness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)


This article explores methods and recommendations for determining a child's passion, interest, and talent for sports. It deals with the issues of pedagogical and psychological orientation of the child to sports.


As is well known – Newton's corpuscular model of light can explain the Law of Reflection and Snell's Law of Refraction. Sadly and regrettably – its predictions about the speed of light in different mediums runs contrary to experience. Because of this, Newton's theory of light was abandoned in favour of the wave theory. It [Newton's corpuscular model of light] predicts that the speed of light is larger in higher density mediums. This prediction was shown to be wrong by Foucault's 1850 landmark-ing experiment that brought down Newton's theory. The major assumption of Newton's corpuscular model of light is that the corpuscles of light have an attraction with the particle of the medium. When the converse is assumed, i.e., the corpuscles of light are assumed to not have an attraction-effect, but a repulsion-effect with the particles of the medium, one obtains the correct predictions of the speed of light in denser mediums. This assumption of Newton's corpuscles repelling with the particles of the medium – this, might explain why light has the maximum speed in any given medium.


The invention relates to a high-strength inorganic foaming fireproof heat preservation wall material produced by using argil and a production technology thereof. According to the technical scheme, the argil, red clay and limestone are prepared into tiny fine powder, the tiny fine powder is evenly mixed in proportion, the fine powder mixed material is evenly laid in a firing mold, a high-strength fire-resistant steel net is fixedly installed in the mold and arranged in the middle of the fine powder mixed material, and the mixed material and the fire-resistant steel net are integrally fired through a high-temperature firing kiln at a time and formed through cooling. The heat preservation plate has the advantages that the overall supporting structural strength of the plate can be adjusted and enhanced through the strength of the steel net arranged in the middle of the plate, the application range of the plate in engineering is larger, the safety of the building plate in the using process is improved, and the service life of the building plate in the using process is prolonged.


Japan has paid much attention to marine development and utilization.Many measures are adopted in marine strategy,marine policy and marine legislation.This paper mainly introduces Japan′s marine policy in recent two years,which include "A Proposal of Marine Policy for the 21th Century" and "A Proposal of Japan′s Marine Basic Plan".Based on the study of these policies,some suggestions on China′s marine policy and measures are put forward in the paper.


This article presents a synthetic review of impact evaluations examining the effectiveness of community-driven development (CDD) and curriculum interventions in improving social cohesion in sub-Saharan Africa. The review found weakly positive impacts of CDD and curriculum interventions on social cohesion outcomes, although only two findings were replicated across studies: one positive and one negative. Causal chain analysis of data on implementation and contextual factors relating to the CDD interventions found that broad and substantive participation was often lacking, suggesting the interventions have often not been carried out in accordance with the theory of CDD.


In this study, two different applications of the combination of XRF and µCT will be discussed. The first application is a way of obtaining chemical information on the different compounds in the inner part of a granite. This information can not be measured directly with XRF, but can be derived from the XRF spectra and µCT data together. In the second application, the chemical elements present in volcanic rock are analysed, providing information about their origin.


This chapter discusses two of the Christian Legal Centre's (CLC) cases to examine the ways in which theological categories are recognised (or misrecognised) in law. These cases involved a nurse and a schoolgirl seeking exemptions from uniform policies that prevented their wearing a cross necklace and a purity ring respectively. For those at the CLC, these cases functioned as proof of the legal system's discrimination against Christians. By virtue of Reformed Christianity's antinomian approach to religious dress — that is, because Protestants do not usually see religious dress as a requirement — the courts felt justified in denying these claimants the 'right' to wear religious jewellery. The CLC interpreted this as anti-Christian bias. For the members of Christ Church, however, the cases were problematic precisely because they seemed to imply that one needed to wear a cross to be a Christian, thereby conflating grace and law and misrepresenting the faith to outsiders. The chapter uses this theo-legal dispute to explore the ways in which English law constructs material religion as optional and inessential, such that cases aiming to protect the right to wear religious jewellery end up confirming the ease with which restrictions can be placed on it.


On March 26th,2006,M.A.K.Halliday delivered the inaugural lecture entitled "Working with Meaning: Towards an Appliable Linguistics" to mark the official launch of the Halliday Center for Intelligence Application of Language Studies hosted by the City University of Hong Kong.This paper starts from making a distinction between appliable linguistics and applied linguistics or applicable linguistics,and attempts to argue for the following points: the long-term goal of appliable linguistics is to construct a semogenetic system of language,its guiding principle is dependent on social accountability to explain and describe semogenesis,and its current research focus is intelligent application.The paper also touches upon the relation between appliable linguistics and Marxist linguistics.


This article tries to explain the meaning of fiction into the essence of the novel. The power of fiction, through the reading makes the reader a hero who accepts the imaginary world as a real one. It´s objective is to extend the novel´s theme, in order of the impressionable activity during the last years in our country.


Subprime crisis of Wall Street, USA triggered global crisis and the economy of the whole world was impacted seriously. This crisis not only involved financial field, but also influenced the real economy of the whole society. China has entered WTO and become an entirety with close connection to the world economy. Therefore, China was also influenced greatly in this crisis. Regarding how to take decisive measures under the current financial crisis and make Chinese macro economy develop healthily and orderly, we can analyze the development status of Chinese economy, study main difficulties faced currently and put forward corresponding countermeasures.


THE internet is a tool. It can stimulate ideas, share good practice and it can certainly support the high standards of teaching and learning that already exist in our key stage 1 classrooms. It is associated with numerous issues, but used correctly, the internet can help us to come closer than ever in meeting our children's individual needs.


The objective of this study is to investigate the flexural characteristics of functionally graded fiber-reinforced cementitious composite (FG-FRCC) concerning the fiber volume fraction (Vf) varying in layers and the layered effect in bending specimens. The FG-FRCC specimens, in which Vf increases from 0% in the compression zone to 2% in the tensile zone, are three-layered specimens using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) FRCC that are fabricated and tested by a four-point bending test. The maximum load of the FG-FRCC specimens exhibits almost twice that of homogeneous specimens, even when the average of the fiber volume fraction in the whole specimen is 1%. The result of the section analysis, in which the stress–strain models based on the bridging law (tensile stress–crack width relationship owned by the fibers) consider the fiber orientation effect, shows a good adaptability with the experiment result.


The many new distributed energy resources being installed at the distribution system level require increased visibility into system operations that will be enabled by distribution system state estimation (DSSE) and situational awareness applications. Reliable and accurate DSSE requires both robust methods for managing the big data provided by smart meters and quality distribution system models. This paper presents intelligent methods for detecting and dealing with missing or inaccurate smart meter data, as well as the ways to process the data for different applications. It also presents an efficient and flexible parameter estimation method based on the voltage drop equation and regression analysis to enhance distribution system model accuracy. Finally, it presents a 3-D graphical user interface for advanced visualization of the system state and events. We demonstrate this paper for a university distribution network with the state-of-the-art real-time and historical smart meter data infrastructure.


A method is described for the determination of estrone, equilin, and equilenin in mixtures by infrared spectrophotometry. Optical density measurements are made at a selected absorption peak for each component, and from these data the concentration of each ketosteroid is determined by a graphical approximation method.


Bolthausen established a bound of order 1/√n on the rate of convergence in the central limit theorem for martingale difference arrays having bounded conditional moments of order 4. In the present paper it is shown how much this moment condition can be relaxed while maintaining the same rate of convergence. An example shows that, unlike in the i.i.d. case, a moment condition of order 3 is not enough. Furthermore, exact rates of convergence are derived for moment conditions of order between 2 and 3.


Atomic Magnetic Moments Interaction Between Two Spins Magnetism Associated with the Itinerant Electrons The Magnetization Curve Hyperfine Interactions Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Magnetic Resonance in Magnetic Materials Appendices Index.


8578 Background: Tumor overexpression of the albumin-binding protein SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine) is associated with poor prognosis in multiple cancers. SPARC in the tumor microenvironment may be associated with tumor cells and stromal components. While previous studies examined SPARC only in tumor cells and/or fibroblasts, it remains unclear which tumor SPARC components may be associated with poor prognosis in different tumors. Recently we have found that plasma SPARC may contribute to poor outcomes in tumor models. Herein, we examined all tumor microenvironment components as well as plasma SPARC levels to develop a SPARC signature that may be correlated to outcomes. Methods: 76 chemo naive and pretreated patients (pts) with unresectable stage IV melanoma were treated with nab-paclitaxel (nab-P, 100 mg/m2) and carboplatin (C, AUC 2) on d 1, 8, and 15 of a 28 day cycle until disease progression. SPARC in tumor biopsies was measured using a validated SPARC IHC. IHC data were analyze...


Objective To study the variation rule of serum homocysteine and hemorheology in patients with transient ischemic attack.Methods Thirty five patients with transient ischemic attack in our hospital from April 2011 to June 2012 were selected as observation group,and 35 healthy personnel at the same time were selected as control group.Then the serum homocysteine and hemorheology indexes of two groups were compared.Results The serum homocysteine and hemorheology indexes of observation group were all higher than those of control group,and those items of patients with higher seizure frequency were all higher than those of patients with lower seizure frequency,there were all significant differences(P 0.05).Conclusion The serum homocysteine and hemorheology of patients with transient ischemic attack are all higher than those of healthy personnel.


In 1991, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initiated a formal collaboration for the purpose of introducing recent scientific advances into applied dispersion models. A working group (AMS/EPA Regulatory Model Improvement Committee, AERMIC) of three AMS scientists and four EPA meteorologists was formed to facilitate this collaborative effort. The result of the effort is AERMOD (AERMIC Model). The US Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose AERMOD as a replacement for ISCST3 for most regulatory modeling applications. It is of considerable interest to those industries being regulated to learn, not only how accurate AERMOD is, but also how AERMOD compares with the current regulatory model, ISCST3, for the complexities of real industrial sites. What will be the impact of changing from ISCST3 to AERMOD for these industrial sites? This paper describes comparisons between AERMOD and ISCST3 for three industrial sites. These sites are a refinery, a gas compressor station, and a Portland Cement plant. The results of the comparison show that AERMOD may calculate either higher or lower than ISCST3. AERMOD and ISCST3 results may be fairly similar for some modeling scenarios, and quite different for others. Differences between the models exceeded a factormore » of two in one case in this study.« less


The experimental evidence for the effects of rain, insects, and ice on airfoil performance are examined. The extent to which the available information can be incorporated in a calculation method in terms of change of shape and surface roughness is discussed. The methods described are based on the interactive boundary layer procedure of Cebeci or on the thin layer Navier Stokes procedure developed at NASA. Cases presented show that extensive flow separation occurs on the rough surfaces.


The topics related to violence in Colombia generated by illegal armed groups (guerrilla and paramilitares) have been studied by different kind of actors such as academics, private sector, NGOs, multilateral agencies, United Nations – UN, and of course, the national government, presenting different methodologies and approaches for research, achieving different kind of conclusions. See: Pshisva and Suarez (2006), Sanchez and Diaz (2005, 2004, 2003), Barrera (2004), and Rubio (2002) among others. Unlike of the articles cited before, which are related to the impact that the illegal armed groups have in topics as investment, education, drug traffic, justice, and municipalities finance. Our job has as objective to analyze the impact that the presence of illegal armed groups have in the price of real estate assets. In order to achieve the objective to quantify impacts and estimate all externalities producing by illegal armed groups, using a hedonic focus, this research paper analyzes at municipal scale, the behavior of real estate price within the municipalities which have presence of «guerrilla» and «paramilitares». The research is divided in five parts. First, it presents a brief introduction about historical aspects of the conflict in Colombia. Analyzing the historic context regarding to how the guerrilla groups emerged at the middle of 60s decade as a consequence of differences between main politics parties that Colombia has had. At the same time the reasons by which paramilitar groups emerged at middle of 80s decade are described.


At IX International school-seminar in Moscow questions of urgent therapy in the nephrology, the new data of the morphological character of glomerulonephritis and also tactics of treatment of patients with chronic disease of kidneys in infringements of osteo-mineral exchange and an anemia were discussed. The certain attention has been payed to the questions of replaceable renal therapy and disease of rejection of a transplant.


The authors discuss the role of partial particle-hole symmetry in calculations of thermopower. The authors resolve the apparent conflict between the work of Krempasky and Schmid and Vilenkin and Taylor regarding the potential cancellation of the Hasegawa terms (which arise from phonon renormalisation of the scattering vertex) in terms of whether or not particle-hole symmetry is assumed. For real crystals, diagrams of even order such as those representing the Hasegawa terms cannot be ignored.


In 1718, George Frideric Handel premiered Acis and Galatea for the Duke of Chandos. In 1788, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's adaptation of Handel's masque debuted, and after forty years had passed, Felix Mendelssohn's adaptation premiered. Through an analysis of the two adaptations, each composer's approach to presenting older music comes to the forefront of a discussion on performance practice. In the Mozart version, the addition of wind parts epitomizes the sound of the Viennese school. In Mendelssohn's version, he makes such remarkable changes to Handel's score that certain movements are completely reconceived. Moreover, the historical background of Mozart and Mendelssohn shares common elements such as early training in transcription and emulation. This prepared each composer for the task of making an adaptation of Handel's masque. This similar background sheds light on the way these two composers were trained in composition early in their careers, their capacity to supplement newly composed music, and their involvement with the civic choral societies. iv Acknowledgments


This study attempted to examine whether there is a relationship between parental stress and the accessible and mobilizable social capital of mothers raising young children by the mothers` employment status. The sample included 284 employed and 287 non-employed mothers who have children younger than the age of 5. Three research questions were as follows: 1) do the accessible and mobilizable social capital of mothers and parental stress differ by the mothers` employment status? 2) are the accessible and mobilizable social capital of employed mothers related to the level of parental stress? And finally, 3) are the accessible and mobilizable social capital of unemployed mothers related to the level of parental stress? The results showed that no significant difference was found in accessing social capital by the employment status of mothers. However, employed mothers were capable of mobilizing more social capital for childcare assistance than non-employed mothers. The parental stress of employed mothers was significantly lower than that of non-employed mothers. For employed mothers, their mobilizable social capital contributed to the reduction of parental stress. For non-employed mothers, their capability of accessing social capital significantly predicted lower levels of parental stress. These results indicate that the concept of social capital could be taken into consideration when explaining the parental stress of married mothers raising young children.


This In Brief summarizes key findings of the AARP Public Policy Institute issue paper, Just Getting By: Unmet Needs for Personal Assistance Services Among Persons 50 or Older with Disabilities, by Mary Jo Gibson and Saty Verma. Persons with disabilities who do not receive all of the assistance they need with essential activities, such as bathing, dressing, and cooking, face daily challenges in doing simple things that people without disabilities take for granted. If their needs remain unmet, they are at risk for more severe disability, hospitalization, and institutionalization.


Abstract Temperature T (30-150°C) and pressure p (0-6 kbar) dependence of the permittivity e and the spontaneous polarization Ps of PbFe1/2Nb1/2O3 ceramics prepared by the use of alkoxides are presented. The e has a broad maximum at the transition point Tt. The value of the exponent for the logarithmic plots of the reciprocal e versus the reduced temperature above Tt is 2.0, which is almost independent of p. As p increases, the Tt decreases with dTtldp = -3.7K/kbar and the maximum value of e decreases. The T and p dependence of e and Ps are explained by a phenomenological theory.


The Indian ethnic group remains underrepresented despite the continued advancement in the field of speech and language therapy (SLT) in Malaysia. This study aims to investigate the perception of Malaysian Indian Pre-university students towards a career in the health sciences and specifically for the SLT profession. This was a cross-sectional study that employed convinience sampling method to recruit participants. A total of 110 Indian pre-university students from urban cities of Kuala Lumpur and Johor were recruited. The findings showed majority of the respondents (>90%) placed importance on a career that provided "high salary," "job stability," and "career's social standing in the community." Almost all respondents recognize the medical, pharmacy and nursing profesion compared to only <3% who were familiar with the occupational therapy, audiology and SLT profession. Respondents perceived the SLT profession as "suited for females," "interesting" and provided "opportunities to meet people." None of the respondents perceived SLT as a profession that "suited for males," "high salary" and "a scientic course." Only 5% of respondents would consider a career in SLT. Findings from this study can be used to increase awareness and to change inaccurate perceptions regarding health science profession especially SLT amongst the Indian ethnicity. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JSKM-2017-1501-08


Virtual Environments (VEs) attempt to give people the illusion of immersion that they are in a computer generated world. VEs allow people to actively participate in a synthetic environment. They range from a single-person running on a single computer, to multiple-people running on several computers connected through a network. When VEs are distributed on multiple computers across a network, we call this a Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE). Virtual Environments can benefit greatly from distributed strategies. A networked VE system based on the Client-Server model is the most commonly used paradigm in constructing DVE systems. In a Client-Server model, data can be distributed on several server computers. The server computers provide services to their own clients via networks. In some client-server models, however, a powerful server is required, or it will become a bottleneck. To reduce the amount of data and traffic maintained by a single server, the servers themselves can be distributed, and the virtual environment can be divided over a network of servers. The system described in this thesis, therefore, is based on the client-server model with multiple servers. This grouping is called a Distributed Virtual Environment System with MultipleServers (DVM). A DVM system shows a new paradigm of distributed virtual environments based on shared 3D synthetic environments. A variety of network elements are required to support large scale DVM systems. The network is currently the most constrained resource of the DVM system. Development of networking architectures is the key to solving the DVM challenge. Therefore, a networking architecture for implementing a DVM model is proposed. Finally, a DVM prototype system is described to demonstrate the validity of the modelling and network architecture of a DVM model.


With the aim of broadening the wave-frequency bandwidth of high-efficiency, a small-scaled dual oscillating-water-column (OWC) system consisting of two heave-only and onshore units was numerically investigated by a well-validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Based on the popular open source package OpenFOAM, the volume of fluid (VOF) method was employed to track the transformation of the air–water interface under the excitation of regular waves. The six degree of freedom (6DOF) solver was applied to duplicate the heaving motion of the floating device. The effects of the two chamber widths b 1 and b 2 , the vertical restraint force (represented by the dimensionless stiffness coefficient K), the back-lip draught d 2 of the floating device, and the gap Δ L between the two OWCs on the hydrodynamic characteristics and the wave energy conversion efficiencies were examined. The numerical results show that a larger width ratio b 2 / b 1 with a relatively shallow back-lip draught is more conducive to the high-performance over a broader frequency range. The floating device with a stronger vertical restraint force is more satisfactory for the high-performance of the system. Moreover, a relatively small gap is more recommended in the stage of design and construction.


D URING the 1980s there has been a rapid increase in the rate of business ownership change in the United States. The value of the companies involved in such transactions increased almost sixfold between 1980 and 1986. The high rate of ownership change has stimulated growing interest (and in some cases concern) among policymakers, scholars, and the public about the causes and effects of ownership change, particularly about its effects on efficiency (hence "competitiveness"). Some theories of ownership change, and anecdotal or fragmentary evidence concerning these changes, suggest that various kinds of ownership change-such as hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts, and voluntary divestitures-result in reductions in administrative and managerial employment, both absolutely and relative to production employment. Carl Icahn, a prominent performer of hostile takeovers, claims that we have "created a corporate welfare state. . . . companies are burdened by layers of vice presidents who not only don't produce, but are often counterproductive. . I and other 'raiders' usually eliminate the people who are most


The behaviours of induction motor, even the lifetime, are strongly depending on the power supply quality, such as voltage sags, harmonics and voltage unbalance. The winding temperature increase resulting to insulation breakdown has been considered as one of major causes of the motor failure. This paper investigates the lifetime impact of voltage fluctuations on induction motor, particularly the induction motor operating lifetime reduction which is contributed from stator current variation characteristic. Additionally, the induction motor lifetime expectancy analysis with different load level is also represented subject to two voltage fluctuations conditions, which is (1) constant voltage magnitude change with different modulation frequency. (2) flicker level Pst = 3 with different modulation frequency. (3) different voltage magnitude change with different modulation frequency. The demonstration results show the decrease of induction motor lifetime caused by voltage fluctuations is considerably depended on voltage change, modulation frequency and load level, and this reduction tendency cannot be indicated by the flicker index Pst value. Thus, one advanced power quality (PQ) index need to be proposed to specify the impact on electrical equipment originated from low frequency voltage distortion.


The changes registered worldwide with respect to the ambient quality determined people to consider, a primal objective, the protection and improvement of environmental conditions. The 2002/49/EC Directive, adopted by the European Parliament and European Union Council on 29 June 2002, settles the defining objectives of environment protection against phonic pollution. One of directivepsilas objectives is monitoring environmental problems by soliciting member states competent authorities to create strategic mapping of noise for roads, railways, airports, and important urban settlements, using harmonized noise indicators. As part of this thematic the informational and communication technologies brought an important advantage. This paper presents an informational system, which gives a simple but powerful tool to develop strategic mapping of noise produced by road traffic, accordingly with the European directives and regulations. There are described some methods for evaluation of used indicators in order to develop noise strategic maps, system architecture, functionality and distributed data acquisition subsystems.


Background/Aims: Abnormal apoptosis of granulosa cells (GCs) is thought to involve in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS); however, the associated cellular and molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Methods: Primary GCs were obtained from healthy women and women with PCOS. The cell proliferation and apoptosis were analyzed in insulin-stimulated and insulin receptor gene (INSR) siRNA-transfected GCs. The protein expression of Akt-mTOR-S6K1 signal molecules was measured by Western blot. Results: This study showed that 1 nM of insulin significantly stimulated cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis, and decreased the telomerase activity in GCs from both the healthy women and PCOS patients (p < 0.001), but silencing of INSR expression blocked the effects of insulin. Insulin induced significantly more apoptosis in GCs from PCOS patients than from healthy women (p < 0.01). Insulin significantly increased the ratio of p-Akt/Akt, the expression of mTOR protein, and the ratio of p-S6K1/S6K1 in GCs from normal control than in cells from PCOS patients (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Insulin-induced apoptosis of GCs, less activation of Akt-mTOR signaling, and reduction of telomerase activity may be associated with the pathogenesis of PCOS.


The invention discloses a low-energy simulative light source system of a thermal performance detection device for building sun-shading. A manual simulative light source detection method adopts manual simulative sunlight which is close to the natural light spectrum, the calorific value of a simulative light source is found to be high during detection, the consumed refrigeration power is too high, and the refrigeration time of a hot cell is long due to the large calorific value of the light source. The low-energy simulative light source system comprises the manual simulative light source, a light source box, a heat-dissipating system and a heat-dissipating control system, wherein four walls of a liner of the light source box adopts full-spectrum reflection plates, the light source box is placed inside the hot cell, a light-transmitting opening is reserved, a piece of ultra clear glass is installed at the light-transmitting opening, and the radiation direction of the manual simulative light source is perpendicular to the surface of the ultra clear glass. The heat-dissipating system and the heat-dissipating control system can exhaust heat inside the light source box indoors or outdoors according to different indoor temperature conditions, so that the refrigeration energy consumption of the hot cell and the indoor air-conditioning energy consumption can be reduced, and the refrigeration time of the hot cell can be shortened.


In recent years, the Supreme Court has narrowed or eliminated private rights of action in many legal regimes, much to the chagrin of the legal academy. That trend has had a significant impact on health law; the Court's decisions have eliminated the private enforcement mechanism for at least three important healthcare regimes: Medicaid, employersponsored insurance, and medical devices. In a similar trend outside the courts, state legislatures have capped noneconomic and punitive damages for medical malpractice litigation, weakening the tort system's deterrent capacity in those states. This Article points out that the trend of eliminating private rights of action in the four stories I consider is actually a trend of shifting regulatory authority from state judicial forums to federal executive forums, which is (I argue) a wise reallocation of authority for healthcare regulation. In all four stories, federal executive regulators are (and have been, throughout the stories' timelines) poised to take over the regulatory job, but they have not yet done so. The Article urges completion of the shift—a consolidation of regulatory authority in the federal executive and a full disarming of state judicial enforcement power. ∗ Peter Paul Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law. J.D. 2006, University of Chicago. Thanks to Allison Hoffman, Christopher Robertson, Vincent Chiao, Nancy Moore, Jack Beermann, Gary Lawson, Larry Yackle, Ken Simons, David Seipp, Anup Malani, and Kevin Outterson for helpful comments and suggestions. 11/4/2009 DRAFT: Do not cite or circulate without permission A.R. Moncrieff The Supreme Court's Assault on Litigation


The author outlines the scientific works of Anton (von) Rosas (1791-1855), professor of ophthalmology in Padua and Vienna. Rosas' scientific opinions are compared with those of his teacher (G. J. Beer) and contemporaries. Three topics of medical and surgical ophthalmology have been analyzed in detail: epidemic-contagious ophthalmia of the army, cataract and artificial pupil. Rosas appears as a protagonist of the ophthalmologic culture of his time.


The influence of the sizing of ground taps on the noise injected into a 1.5GHz low noise amplifier (LNA), by a stepped buffer, for a heavily doped CMOS process is quantitatively examined. Precise modeling provides good agreement between measurements and simulations. A 10dB increase in isolation was achieved by scaling the area of the substrate contact by a factor of 400, and by increasing the proximity of the contacts to the sensitive transistors


This paper presents a detailed study as to how we can achieve optimum Cycle time without hampering Quality while performing grinding operations on the Deep Groove Ball Bearing (Inner and Outer Races). This work has demonstrated the application of Half Fraction Factorial Design method to achieve optimal production cycle time for 6203 Deep groove ball bearing. For study fifteen likely parameters were identified in their descending order of priority along with the process expert. Two operating levels, one Best of the Best (BOB) & other Worst of the Worst (WOW) were selected and three sets of runs were conducted. Then another three sets of runs were conducted with revised set of parameters.


Addition of Si¢H bonds to C=X and CŽX (X = C, O, N) bonds, the hydrosilylation reaction, is of great importance for the preparation of functionalised silanes, silicone polymers, crosslinking of silicone polymers and many other materials of the silicone industry. To date, in industrial applications this reaction is most exclusively performed by precious-metal catalysts, and most importantly by platinum, which suffers from high prices, high toxicity and limited availability. Driven by economic as well as ecological concerns, there has been significant recent progress in the development of new catalysts for the hydrosilylation of carbonyl derivatives. In particular, catalytic systems based on main group and first transition series metals has received significant attention, including the asymmetric versions of this reaction. In contrast, much less research has been performed for base-metal-catalysed hydrosilylation of olefins. Earlier attempts at these reactions were compromised by unwanted alkene isomerization, hydrogenation and dehydrogenative silylation processes. The first breakthrough in this area came in 2004 when Chirik and co-workers reported the application of bis(imino)pyridine complexes of iron (1, Scheme 1) to catalytic regiose-


In modern systems, not only the number and the posi tion of the functioning or the failed components ar e the main factors that keep the system into the functioning state or transform it i nto failure state, but the contribution or the work ing probability of the component is also a very important one. This contribution is usually called the component weight. In this paper, the rel iability and the failure functions of the consecutive weighted k-out-of-n: F linear and circular system, the weighted f-out-of-n: F system, the weighted ( ) , , n f k linear and circular system and the weighted , , n f k linear and circular system are obtained.


Under this project several field protocols and test equipment have been developed, which in a rational manner, combine the results from laboratory and field tests with those used for quality control during construction. The significance of the project is that more rational methods for quality control during construction can be developed, at the same time, feedback to the pavement design engineer can be provided in terms of the assumption made to design the pavement. The protocols proposed have potential to provide the first step towards developing performance-based specifications. This report contains the results of an effort to address the issues related to the implementation of the devices recommended in the day-to-day operation of TxDOT. The major issues that are addressed are the repeatability, reproducibility of the methods, means of relating the measured parameters to the design moduli, and relating the parameters to performance of the pavement.


We analyze the supersymmetric features of isolated double-well potentials, both symmetric ones and ones under an asymmetric perturbation. Our studies are in concert with results obtained elsewhere. Further on, a particular interest is paid to double- and single-valley potentials occurring in pairs on applying the adiabatic approximation to coupled electron-vibrational mode systems. Among the latter are Holstein's small polarons and the vibronic (off-center) band-species performing a finite-orbital-momentum helical motion. Our results seem to revive an earlier assertion for the existence of artifacts in the adiabatic approximation.


Coolant and machining fluid company Oemeta's new two-component machining fluid concept HYCUT is proving a winner with metalworking firms of all sizes


A Task Force was established by the International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) to develop evidence-based and consensus-based recommendations for the long-term pharmacologic treatment of restless legs syndrome/Willis–Ekbom disease (RLS/WED). The Task Force reviewed the results of all studies of RLS/WED treatments with durations of 6 months or longer presented at meetings over the past 2 years, posted on Web sites of pharmaceutical companies, or published in peer-reviewed journals, asking the questions, ''What is the efficacy of this treatment in patients with RLS/WED?'' and ''What is the safety of this treatment in patients with RLS/WED?'' The Task Force developed guidelines based on their review of 61 papers meeting inclusion criteria, and using a modified evidence-grading scheme. Pregabalin has been established as effective for up to 1 year in treating RLS/WED (Level A evidence). Pramipexole, ropinirole, and rotigotine have been established as effective for up to 6 months in treating RLS/WED (Level A). The following drugs have been established as probably effective (Level B) in treating RLS/WED for durations ranging from 1 to 5 years: gabapentin enacarbil, pramipexole, and ropinirole (1 year); levodopa (2 years); and rotigotine (5 years). Because of associated safety concerns, pergolide and cabergoline should not be used in the treatment of RLS/WED unless the benefits clearly outweigh the risks. Other pharmacologic therapies have insufficient evidence to support their long-term use in treating RLS/WED. The IRLSSG Task Force also developed consensus-based strategies for the prevention and treatment of complications (such as augmentation, loss of efficacy, excessive daytime sleepiness, and impulse control disorders) that may develop with the long-term pharmacologic treatment of RLS/WED. The use of either a dopamine-receptor agonist or a2d calcium-channel ligand is recommended as the first-line treatment of RLS/WED for most patients, with the choice of agent dependent on the patient's severity of RLS/WED symptoms, cognitive status, history, and comorbid conditions. 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


The enhancement factor αD ≡ 1+ δαD is defined (in D dimensions) as the ratio of the particle density at the origin to the density far upstream in the incident beam. At high incident momentum p (and for regular potentials) the first Born approximation is known to be adequate in 3D and 1D, and is assumed to be adequate also in 2D; it entails δα1 = ─δα3 if U(r) in 3D equals U(x) in 1D when r = x. For central potentials U(r) with U(0) finite, previous work implies δα3 ~ ─δα1 ~ ─mU(0)/p2, and δα2 = 0 to the same order h°. It is shown that if U(r→0) ~ U(0) + rU'(0) + ..., then δα2 ~ (2mU'(0)h/p3)(π/16), the value of U(0) being irrelevant. IfU(r→0) ~ ─C/rq, with 0 < q < 2, then δα3 ~ ─δα1 ~ (2mC/hqp2-q) π½Γ(1-½ q)/2Γ(½+½q); and, with -1 < q < 2, δα2 ~ (2mC/hqp2-q)π½Γ2(1-½q)/2Γ(½q)Γ(3/2-½q). The only mathematics needed in 3D and 1D is the standard asymptotic estimation of Fourier integrals; but in 2D one needs to develop corresponding methods for integrals where the sine or cosine has been replaced by a product J0Y0 of two Bessel functions.


Effects of nonmagnetic and magnetic impurities on [ital d]-wave and extended-[ital s]-wave superconductors in two dimensions are studied. After the effects on the density of states are investigated, the effects on the dynamical spin susceptibility are studied. In the clean limit, the magnetic response has significant wave-vector dependence if the gap has a large anisotropy. When impurities are introduced this dependence is smeared. In the extended-[ital s]-wave superconductor with a fully open gap, the response at low frequencies is strongly suppressed at low temperatures in the clean limit. Magnetic impurities can give rise to low-lying excitations in the gap and enhance the low-frequency magnetic response at low temperatures. It is found, however, that the intensity is still quite weak with a moderate concentration of the impurities. It is discussed how these results can help in the determination of the symmetry of the order parameter of the high-[ital T][sub [ital c]] superconductors.


Background:: Urinary problems in elderly men are often caused by prostate disorders of which BPH is the commonest.. BPH presents with BOO;; urodynamic study is the gold standard for diagnosis of BOO but is invasive.. IPP is a non - invasive test that can predict BOO.. IPSS is an objective assessment of BOO symptom severity..
Objective : The objective of the study is to study the correlation between IPP and IPSS..
Patients and Methods:: A hospital based cross - sectional prospective study of new symptomatic BPH patients who present ed to the urology clinics of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital,, Nnewi.. Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the hospital and informed consent from patients.. After evaluation (iincluding IPSS,, PSA and prostate biopsy when PSA > 4ng//mml)),, participants had abdominal ultrasonography measurement of IPP from midline sagittal image of the prostate (aat bladder volume ≥ 100mls)) using Prosound SSD3500 (AAloka Co Ltd,, Tokyo,, Japan)) with abdominal probe frequency of 3.5 MHz.. IPP was divide d into three grades (ggrade I:: 0 - 4.9mm;; grade II::55.0 - 9.9 mm;; grade III:: 10.0 mm and above)).. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 (IIBM,, SPSS,, Chicago,, IL,, USA)).. The data was subjected to ANOVA (tto compare mean parameters among

different grades of IPP)) and Pearson's correlation was used to assess correlation where necessary.. P - Value < 0.05 was considered significant..
Results:: Hundred and one men with a mean age of 67.09±±110.93 years were included in t he study.. The mean BMI was 25.80±±33.92 kg//mm 2 . Most of the participants had highest educational level of primary education (550.5%%)) while 82.2 % w ere married.. The average IPSS,, IPSS - S , IPSS - V , QoL index , T PV , IPP and PSA were 17.05±±77.62,, 7.81±±55.17,, 9.24±±33.16,, 4.75±±11.59,, 68.33±±446.53 mls , 13.50±±77.47mm an d 7.35±±112.49 ng//mml respectively.. There was significant differences between the mean IPSS (pp = 0.000)),, mean IPSS - S (pp = 0.000)),, mean IPSS - V (pp = 0.002)),, mean TPV (pp = 0.000)) and mean PSA (pp = 0.015)) among the three grades of IPP.. There were a significant po sitive correlation s between IPP and IPSS (pp = 0.000 ) ; IPSS - S (pp = 0.000 ) ; IPSS - V (pp = 0.000)) ; IPSS QoL index (pp = 0.000))..
Conclusion:: There were significant positive correlation s between IPP and IPSS,, IPSS - S , IPSS - V , and IPSS QoL index.. There were also significantly higher IPSS,, IPSS - S , IPSS - V , and IPSS QoL index in BPH patients with IPP of 10.0 mm or more..
Key Words:: Intravesical prostatic protrusion,, IPSS,, IPSS QoL index,, BPH..


Data taking of the experiment on free neutron oscillation is in progress at ILL reactor in Grenoble. The already achieved oscillation time limit is τNN≥0.7×108 s.


Summary Inversion of the transien t voltage response of a coincident loop electromagnetic system above polarizable ground is performed using a neural network approach. The voltage response, which includes a negative part, is inverted for the Cole-Cole parameters of the ground. The inversion is found to be successful with low root mean square (RMS) error using voltage response data for one loop radius. Reduction of the RMS error results when using data from two loop radii and when dividing the parameter ranges into two groups. The results could be effectively used as starting models in classical inversion programs to obtain more accurate results since the present results are free of trapping in far local minima.


Students' poor understanding of COVID-19 can contribute to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases.. However, there is no validated instrument for measuring undergraduate student knowledge about COVID-19. This study is at the cutting edge of validating the psychometry of students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19. The assessment instrument consists of 18 items in the knowledge domain, 6 items in the attitude domain, and 12 items in the practice domain. This questionnaire underwent expert validation prior to being administered to 389 respondents. A RASCH model and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were applied to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the instrument. A four-factor model was tested for measurement model validity for knowledge domain, and two-factor model for attitude and practice domains by CFA. The results showed model yielded adequate goodness-of-fit values. In addition, results of RASCH model showed that the item content validity index was high. The item reliability for all the three domains was good, with a high separation index value. Thirty-six items were fitted to the model, based on recommended mean-square fit values, standardized Z-scores, and point-measure correlation coefficients. The response set in the questionnaire fit the Andrich threshold estimates well, and functioned as an appropriate model for the response category. The questionnaire thus shows excellent psychometric characteristics. Thus, this instrument can be used to measure undergraduate student KAP and can be implemented in future studies that want to assess the effectiveness of interventions to improve students' understanding of COVID-19.


A small scale fuel grade alcohol plant was designed, constructed and operated a decade ago. This plant design incorporated several innovative processes and features that are still on the cutting edge for small scale alcohol production. The plant design could be scaled down or up to match the needs of food processing waste streams that contain sugars or starches as BOD. The novel features include automation requiring four hours of labor per 24 hour day and a plug flow low temperature cooking system which solubilizes and liquifies the starch in one step. This plant consistently produced high yield of alcohol. Yields of 2.6 gallons of absolute alcohol were produced from a bushel of corn. Potato waste grain dust and cheese whey were also processed in this plant as well as barley. Production energy for a 190 proof gallon was approximately 32,000 BTU. This paper discusses the design, results, and applicability of this plant to food processing industries.


We have investigated the induced stability of mRNA encoded by the ermC gene in Bacillus subtiis. Induction of ermC gene expression by erythromycin is known to occur at the translational level. We show that this induction is accompanied by an increase in ermCmRNA half-life from about 2 min to about 40 min. Induced stabilization of ermC mRNA occurs independently of induced translation. The regulatory sequences required for stability are promoter-proximal and can confer induced stability on large mRNAs having diverse 3' ends. Translation of the ermC leader peptide and ribosomestalling in the leader peptide sequence are necessary for induced stabilization. The regulation of mRNA stability may be an important element in the posttranscriptional control ofgene expression. Although the differential stability of certain mRNAs is well documented, little is known about the factors that control mRNA decay. That mRNA in Escherichia coli can be degraded processively from the 3' end is implied by several studies. Bacteriophage X int gene expression from the PL transcript is negatively controlled by a site downstream of the int coding sequence (1). It has been proposed that a stable stem-andloop structure at the 3' end of int mRNA transcribed from the PI promoter is a barrier to 3'-exonuclease degradation, and that RNase III cleavage of the extended PL transcript allows degradation to proceed into int (2). RNase III processing at a bacteriophage T7 site, which was cloned downstream of a human interferon gene, has the opposite effect of stabilizing the upstream mRNA (3). Presumably, RNase III cleavage results in formation of an exonuclease-resistant site. An internal barrier to 3' exonuclease is also proposed to explain the differential stability of the 5' segments of rxcA mRNA in Rhodopseudomonas capsulata (4). This stability results in a 10to 30-fold increase in expression of upstream sequences of the polycistronic rxcA transcript compared to the expression ofa downstream sequence. Direct evidence for a 3'-to-5' directionality ofdecay was reported for the ompA message in E. coli (5). However, an alternative interpretation of these data has been offered (6). Most recently, it was found that the 3' end of the cry gene of-Bacillus thuringiensis conferred increased stability on other mRNAs in both E. coli and Bacillus subtilis (7). Analysis ofRNase IIand polynucleotide phosphorylase-deficient strains has implicated these 3'-to-5' exonucleases in mRNA turnover (8). Earlier studies on E. coli trp mRNA suggested a 5'-to-3' directionality of decay (reviewed in ref. 6), possibly initiated by endonucleolytic cleavage near the 5' end (9). More recent experiments on lacZ mRNA indicated that the 5' end of lacZ message decays before the 3' end is synthesized (10). Stabilization of bacteriophage T4 gene 32 mRNA is controlled by promoter-proximal sequences and requires a T4 phage product in trans (11). The existence of a 5' exonuclease in E. coli has not been demonstrated conclusively (12). Evidence has also been obtained for endonucleolytic cleavage (possibly at intercistronic regions) as the initial events in the decay of polycistronic lac (13) and gal (14) mRNAs. It would seem, then, that the decay of mRNA in E. coli can proceed by a number of mechanisms. For a gene that is being expressed, mRNA decay and translation may occur simultaneously. The effect of translation on mRNA decay has been examined by measuring mRNA stability during translation inhibition by antibiotics (see ref. 6 for review) and in hosts with conditional mutations in translation initiation (15) or translocation (16). The effects on mRNA stability observed in some of these experiments has been explained by a passive protection of nucleasesensitive sites by ribosomes (17). We have chosen the ermC gene, carried on plasmid pE194 in B. subtilis, as a model to study factors involved in mRNA stability in this organism. ermC encodes a rRNA methyltransferase ("methylase") (18) that confers macrolide/lincosamide/streptogramin B (MLS) resistance on the host by reducing the affinity of the ribosomes for these antibiotics (19,20). By a posttranscriptional mechanism, the synthesis of methylase protein is induced in the presence of low concentrations of erythromycin (Em), an MLS antibiotic. A "translation-attenuation" model has been proposed to explain the induction (reviewed in refs. 21 and 22). In the absence of inducer, the ermC mRNA leader region is folded so that the methylase ribosome-binding site (SD2) is unavailable for translation (Fig. 1). Em-bound ribosomes stall while translating a 19 amino acid leader peptide. This causes the leader mRNA to open, making the previously paired Shine-Dalgarno sequence (SD2) and initiation codon for methylase protein available for translation. It has been observed that induction of methylase synthesis is concomitant with a marked increase in ermC mRNA functional half-life (19). Here we report that induced ermC mRNA stability occurs even without translation of the methylase coding sequence. Induced stability requires ribosome stalling in the leader peptide. Models for the mechanism of stabilization are discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plasmids. The wild-type ermC plasmid was pBD144, which consists of pE194 with the chloramphenicol-resistance Cla I fragment of pC194 cloned into the single Cla I site of pE194. pBD142 is a high-copy-number derivative of pBD144, that carries the cop6 mutation (23). Construction of the UAA mutation (24) and the ermC-lacZ fusion (25) have been described. Construction of the SD2 mutation by oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis is described below. This mutation was cloned back into both the low-copy (pBD144) and Abbreviations: Em, erythromycin; MLS, macrolide/lincosarnide/ streptogramin B. *Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, 1 Gustave Levy Place, New York, NY 10029. 498 The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84 (1987) 499


The present invention relates to a codec negotiation method, comprising the steps of: a terminal, said first terminal belonging to a first domain / IP network, transmitting at least one message specifying for a given type of media stream, a list of codecs, said supply Oa, said first terminal is capable of using to communicate with another terminal, said second terminal belonging to a second domain / IP network; said message is intercepted by a transit device on the signaling path between said first and second domains / networks; transit device determines a codec list, said supply retouched Ob, from at least said supply Oa; transit device sends said supply retouched Ob to said second terminal; the second terminal determines a codec list, said response Rb Cb = {(1), Cb (2), ..., Cb (n)}, comprising n ≥ 1 codecs that are on the one hand, included in the supply retouched Ob, and secondly such that the second terminal is able to use them, and sends said response Rb transit device. According to the invention, then the transit device determines, from said Rb response, a list of codecs, said provisional retouched response, so as to comply with a priority criterion selected by the operators of the domains / networks concerned.


The effect of rapid thermal process (RTP) on oxygen precipitation in heavily boron-doped (HB) Czochralski (CZ) silicon (Si) wafers has been investigated. After RTP preannealing at high temperature, it was found that, contrary to lightly boron-doped (LB) silicon, a denuded zone (DZ) was not formed in the HB silicon. The oxygen precipitates and extended defects generated in the HB Si samples were smaller than those generated in the LB Si samples. It is considered that DZ formation by means of RTP may not be suitable for HB CZ silicon.


Metadiscourse is now a widely used term in academic discourse analysis. How academics employ rhetorical devices to structure their texts, establish reader-writer interaction and stamp their authorial stance regarding the conventions of the disciplines, cultures, and genres has been the subject of many studies. Despite the growing prominence of the term, however, some features of it, one of which is frame markers, have gone unnoticed. Frame markers signal the boundaries in the academic discourse for the readers' understanding, and they are a crucial rhetorical feature of metadiscourse. The present study examines the deployment of frame markers in research articles written between 2010 and 2019. Based on the analysis of frame markers in a corpus of research articles across four disciplines in social sciences, there were marked variations across the four disciplines in the use of frame markers and the occurrences of their sub-categories. The findings suggested that academic communities have a decisive role in constructing text structures in research articles. The results might offer guidance to academic writers on shaping the texts that their readers find persuasive.


A system paradigm is an abstract representation of system; it includes system architecture used to determine the types and numbers of components and their relations in the system. The design of system paradigm relies on customers' requirements and the characteristics of the manufacturing environment. Many system paradigms and design guidelines have been proposed for a variety of customers' needs including functions, cost, quality, personalization, and lead time of products. However, the consideration of sustainability becomes essential to today's manufacturing systems; a new challenge is how to evolve existing paradigms to accommodate the requirements of sustainability. In contrast to ample research activities on system paradigms in past decades, recent studies on system paradigms have been restricted, partially due to unclear research directions. Limited works can be found on conceiving new manufacturing system paradigms from the perspective of sustainability; most of the related literature concerns the new requirements of sustainability. The objectives of this work are (i) to examine the requirements of manufacturing systems in a wider scope; (ii) to revisit existing paradigms to clarify their limitations and bottlenecks; and eventually (iii) to identify some research directions, which will lead to a solution of sustainable manufacturing. To achieve these objectives, firstly, a brief description of today's manufacturing environment is provided. Secondly, the requirements of sustainability are discussed, and the relevant researches on system sustainability are surveyed. Thirdly, the reconfigurable system paradigm is focused, and the gaps between a reconfigurable manufacturing system and a sustainable manufacturing system are discussed. Finally, the future endeavors towards to the next-generation manufacturing system paradigms are discussed.


It is not important whether these rocks end up being called members of the "sanukitoid suite." What is important is understanding why certain Archean "calc-alkaline" rocks tend to have higher Ni and Cr contents and are thus more primitive than most modem "calc-alkaline" rocks. We need to be able to distinguish the intermediate to siliceous rocks with high Ni, Cr, and LILE abundances and high Mg#'s from other "calcalkaline" rocks, evaluate their abundance, and determine their origin, because they may be an important ingredient in the evolution of the continental crust. We recommend the use of the term "sanukitoid suite," because giving this suite of rocks an unambiguous name-whatever the name-helps us to distinguish, describe, and discuss them. KOTO, B. 1916. On the volcanoes of Japan, part V. Journal of the Geological Society of Japan, 23: 95-127. NIELSEN, R. L. 1985. EQUIL: a program for the modeling of low-pressure differentiation processes in natural mafic magma bodies. Computers and Geosciences, 11: 53 1-546. 1988. TRACE.FOR: a program for the calculation of combined major and trace-element liquid lines of descent for natural magmatic systems. Computers and Geosciences, 14: 15-35. TATSUMI, Y., and ISHIZAKA, K. 1982. Origin of high-magnesian andesites in the Setouchi volcanic belt, southwest Japan, I. Petrological and chemical characteristics. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 60: 293-304.


PREVIEW The picture is all too common. In fact, you probably see it in about 1 of every 10 patients who come through your door. The runny nose, scratchy throat, itchy eyes, recurrent sneezing, and annoying cough all point to an allergy. But where do you start and how far do you go in your search for the cause? In this article, Dr Volcheck describes the most commonly used tests for detecting sensitivity to specific IgE allergens and discusses the clinical usefulness and practicality of the various diagnostic procedures.


This presentation from the 2003 Internet Librarian Conference shares some experiences from two "real-life" Web site usability studies, including tips and tricks for carrying out a Web usability study.


Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is an increasing threat in hospitalized patients and inappropriate empirical antimicrobial therapy is known to adversely affect outcome in ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial usage, incidence, etiology and antimicrobial resistance trends for prominent nosocomial pathogens causing ventilator-associated pneumonia in a clinical-surgical ICU. Methods: Gram-negative bacilli and S. aureus causing VAP, as well as their antimicrobial resistance patterns and data on consumption (defined daily dose (DDD) per 1000 patient-days) of glycopeptides, extended-spectrum cephalosporins and carbapenems in the unit were evaluated in two different periods (A and B). Results: Antimicrobial use was high, mainly of broad-spectrum cephalosporins, with a significant increase in the consumption of glycopeptides ( P< 0.0001) and carbapenems ( P< 0.007) in the period B. For A. baumannii and members of the Enterobacteriaceae family a 5.27 and 3.06–fold increase in VAPs, respectively, were noted and a significant increase in resistance rates was found for imipenem-resistant A. baumannii ( P= 0.003) and 3rd generation cephalosporins-resistant Enterobacteriaceae ( P= 0.01) isolates in this same period. Conclusion: Our results suggest that there is a link between antibiotics usage at institutional levels and resistant bacteria. The use of carbapenems was related to high rate of resistance in A. baumannii and therefore high consumption of imipenem / meropenem could play a major role in selective pressure exerted by antibiotics in A. baumannii strains.


Measurements have been made in a laboratory scale furnace to examine the effect of chamber pressure on power deposition in electron beam remelting. Both commercial purity titanium and tantalum cylinders instrumented with embedded thermocouples have been used as targets in the study. Owing to the fact that a direct measurement of the power distribution was not possible, a finite element based transient heat conduction model has been employed to analyze the measurements. The results of the analysis indicate that the distribution of power density can be adequately described as a normal Gaussian and that the beam is focused as the pressure is increased from low to moderate pressures (0.004 to 0.15Pa) then gradually defocused as the pressure continues to increase (0.15 to 0.8Pa). A detailed examination of the data with the model indicates that the predominant effect of pressure is to alter the beam focus and not the amount of power deposited. A comparison of the results obtained from the tantalum target, where no liquid metal was present, and the titanium target, where liquid metal was present, indicates that liquid metal vapor acts to defocus the beam. Finally, an examination of the effect of pressure on the behavior of the liquid pool indicates that the predominant effect of defocusing is to alter the pool depth.


Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, Centre for Natural Products Discovery (CNPD), School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria, Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States


Even as primary pathologies of spleen are unusual, cysts arising from spleen are very rare. On presentation of a patient with left hypochondriac mass and possibility of primary splenic cyst as a diagnosis, we took a systematic review of cystic lesions of spleen, pathogenesis, diagnosis and basis of their management, in regard to use of imaging studies and surgical approaches to the cyst either as total or partial splenectomy.


For many years continuous processing has been a focus of the work in the USSR by the All-Union Scientific Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Machinery in Moscow. Fundamental to all continuous processing is the continuous casting of steel or such nonferrous metals as copper and aluminum. The main advantage of continuous casting is that it improves the homogeneity of the metal; improved homogeneity enhances the quality of semifinished forms. Those advantages in turn reduce the waste of metal when the still-plastic materials are processed into finished products and also increase the strength of the finished products. Continuous casting as it is applied to steel is now widely employed in several countries. Molten steel is continuously poured from a ladle into a tundish, which functions like a funnel to deliver the stream into a water-cooled mold. A grid clamp, or dummy bar, introduced into the mold serves as a plug that is attached to the leading part of the stream. As the metal solidifies at the walls of the mold, the dummy bar and solidified metal are drawn out of the mold. Because molten metal is fed into the mold continuously, the solidified strand steadily grows in length. The metalmore » in the mold solidifies first at the walls, where it forms a thin solid crust, whereas the core remains liquid. A zone of secondary cooling is established downstream from the mold. There the strand is cooled intensively and solidifies throughout.« less


One or more toy figures are described herein, as is a method for making such toy figures. The toy figures preferably include a changeable facial image. The figures include injection molded, single-piece body portions, including a head having a sticker receiving area. The sticker receiving area is provided as a recessed portion of the body portion. A sticker is placed on the sticker receiving area. The sticker is provided as a sticker having a lenticular image, the sticker including an image having at least one first image and having at least one second image as part of the lenticular image. The sticker will show the first image if held in a first position (or first orientation or first angle), and the second image if held in a second position (or second orientation or second angle).


A considerable number of disabled people require adaptations to the controls of a standard car in order to be able to drive it. Such adaptations include conversion from foot operation to hand operation; conversion from hand steering to foot steering; and the re-location of minor controls. Many disabled people are able to drive because of these adaptations and this helps them achieve independent personal mobility. The paper describes how early conversions were fairly simple and only fulfilled the need of a proportion of disabled people, mainly those who were less severely disabled. The use of hydraulic systems and power assistance has extended the range of people being able to drive and with these conversions more severely disabled people have become able to drive. This paper describes a research project that was intended to examine the feasibility of converting a vehicle to minimal effort controls using electronic and other systems. The project was initiated by a charity called Motability, which is also discussed in the paper.


For hydraulic looper system in the hot strip finishing mill,the nonlinear model of looper rising up was built by studying on moment relations in rising up and valve-hydraulic cylinder model.The model was simulated and analyzed in looper tension control system based on the actual hydraulic looper parameters in one iron and steel industry and real calculations.The result of simulation shows the deduced model of looper rising up accords with the real looper rising up.


Abstract does not appear. First page follows.
 Introduction
 The production of gum by stone fruits and stone-fruit trees is rather common. The gumming appears most
 often on the branches or trunks and is associated with injury from an organism, an
 insect, or a mechanical source. Gumming on the fruit is less common than that on the
 tree, and gumming restricted to certain varieties occurs even less frequently. The
 Phillips Cling, a leading canning peach, suffers from gumming of the last-mentioned
 class; and since about 1927 the losses from this cause have constituted a major problem
 of the growers of this variety. This paper deals with the description and case history
 of the disease, together with experiments in its control.
 Types of Gumming
 At least four different types of gumming occur on the Phillips Cling.(2)3 All types of gum exuding from the fruit seem to have one common characteristic: they
 are all clear and colorless. Stone(7) has described a gum of similar appearance occurring on peaches.
 Gumming from External Injury.—The peach, in common with most other stone fruits, will gum when subjected to an
 external injury such as an insect puncture, limb or leaf rub, or Coryneum (shot-hole) infection. A wide variety of gumming from one or more of these causes
 may be found on the Phillips Cling. The gum does not occur at any particular place
 on the periphery of the fruit and may appear at any time before the yellow undercolor
 begins to develop prior to harvest.


Crowdsourcing has a huge impact on data gathering for NLP tasks. However, most quality control measures rely on data aggregation methods which are only employed after the crowdsourcing process and thus cannot deal with different worker qualifications during data gathering. This is time-consuming and cost-ineffective because some datapoints might have to be re-labeled or discarded. Training workers and distributing work according to worker qualifications beforehand helps to overcome this limitation. We propose a setup that accounts for input data complexity and allows only a set of workers that successfully completed tasks of rising complexity to continue work on more difficult subsets. Like this, we are able to train workers and at the same time exclude unqualified workers. In initial experiments, our method achieves higher agreement with four annotations by qualified crowd workers compared to five annotations from random crowd workers on the same dataset.


Most of the Indian exporters suffer from varying combinations of these disadvantages. Many techniques have been tried out by them, and are in operation, in exploiting overseas markets. In the Indian export scenario, one comes across instances of direct exports, indirect exports through the merchant-exporter or Export House, consortium approach with a number of producers joining together and, of late, joint ventures particularly in developing countries. One method that may prove valuable in improving export performance of Indian manufacturers is "collaboration with overseas parties for marketing Indian products abroad". An Indian party and a foreign party working together may be able to achieve within a short time what would probably be difficult for the former if it were to work entirely on its own.


The biyearly (i.e. 1990-1991) distribution of the biochemical composition of particulate matter together with that of phytoplankton composition, chlorophyll-a, primary production coupled with environmental conditions were studied in the hypereutrophic Villerest reservoir (located near the city of Roannne, France). The results showed that the P/C (protein/carbohydrate) ratio appears to be a relatively sensitive index integrating all metabolic functions of the cells. It responded well to variations of light level, temperature, nutrient supplies, hydrodynamic conditions and algal species composition. In addition, the coupling of P/C and N/P ratios along the three studied stations A, B and C allowed a discrimination of three types of ecosystems. Station A is a distinct riverine zone characterized by flow and mixing. It is followed by station B which is a transitional zone. Station C located near the dam is the most lake-like. This would imply that Microcystis cells are station-specific. The chemical composition of water and mainly the variations of N/P ratios are the deterministic factors of the mass occurrence of Microcystis aeruginosa. The summer growth phases of this species observed both sampling years started as soon as N/P levels decreased below 5. The proliferation of Microcystis did not seem to be regulated by biological factors. Any manipulation to lower N-inputs will translate into low N/P ratios allowing Microcystis to become dominant. A first step in the restoration of the Villerest reservoir passes through a dephosphoryzation of tributaries. In addition, in station C in order to limit the diffusive fluxes of phosphorus from the sediment, an appropriate management of the water gates of the dam should be attempted.


Coastal ecosystem play an important role in the environment of an economy barring the land locked economies. In this paper we have attempted to discuss valuation techniques for coastal ecosystem changes in India and a few other neighbouring countries. This paper is distributed over five sections, the first section being the introduction is devoted to the description of the objective, scope and the literature survey where ever exists. Though there are different types of valuation technique for high and low income economics yet there is no such appropriate methodology to estimate the changes of their coastal ecosystem over a period of time, such studies become important when economy adopt major economic policy changes directly and indirectly affecting its environment (India under the strategy of economic reform since 1990 affecting every aspects of economy including environment). In the second section we describe the salient features of different coastal ecosystem of different countries under study on the basis of available data a comparable manner as far as possible. We have taken here in adding to India the countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia. As India possesses very long coast line, we have consider here the coastal ecosystem in two different parts, based on the distinctive features. i.e. Eastern coast and Western coast. Island economies like Sri Lanka and Indonesia have there distinct ecosystem different from other. In section III we attempted to describe the changes of the coastal ecosystem of these countries and their affect on human well being (measures in terms of accepted indicators of human development) where ever possible. The database of such change is extremely sketching and rarely recorded. We have tried as far as possible the estimate the changes and their impact. Different valuation techniques for different type of environmental changes and measurement of human wellbeing as a consequence of such and also the appropriateness of valuation techniques to be applied for changes the coastal ecosystem discussed and analyzed in Section – IV. This section may be considered as the main thrust of this paper. The last section is meant for conclusion, policy prescription and suggested direction for future research in such valuation technique for measuring changes in the coastal ecosystems.


The utility model relates to the automobile stamping die field, in particular to a forming die for a thermal shield of an engine. The forming die comprises a die set composed of an upper die plate, a lower die plate, a guide post, a guide sleeve and two die feet, and is characterized by further comprising a pressing plate, a first female die, a second female die, a male die and a stroke limiting block, wherein the pressing plate is used for fixing the die feet, the first female die and the second female die are fixed on the lower die plate and attached to each other, the male die is in a step shape, fixed on the upper die plate, and matches with the first female die and the second female die, and the stroke limiting block is arranged between the upper die plate and the lower die plate. The forming die for the thermal shield of the engine has the advantages that the female dies and the male die are in a step shape, the structure is simple, and the brake forming of blank pieces of the thermal shield of the engine can be achieved; and the female dies are fixed on the lower die plate through limiting screws and leaning keys, and the stable installation of the female dies is achieved.


The utility of halogenation in protein design is investigated by a combination of quantitative atomistic simulations and experiment. The approach is applied to insulin, a small, therapeutically relevant domain amenable to simulation and semi-synthesis. In a singly halogenated aromatic ring, the simulations predicted regiospecific inductive effects to modulate multiple surrounding electrostatic (weakly polar) interactions, thereby amplifying changes in thermodynamic stability. In accordance with the simulations, stabilization of insulin is demonstrated by single halogen atoms at the ortho position of an invariant phenylalanine (2-F-PheB24, 2-Cl-PheB24 and 2-Br-PheB24; ΔΔGu = -0.5 to -1.0 kcal/mol) located at the edge of a protein crevice. Corresponding meta and para substitutions have negligible effects. The ortho-modified insulin analogs exhibit enhanced resistance to fibrillation above room temperature and retain biological activity in mammalian cells and in a rat model of diabetes mellitus. Consequently, halogen-based stabilization of insulin and other therapeutic proteins may provide a biophysical strategy to circumvent the requirement for a distribution "cold chain" in the developing world and enhance the shelf life of pharmaceutical formulations.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a technique for improving the sensitivity of electro-optic sampling (EOS) detection of terahertz waves. The technique is based on polarization filtering of the probe optical beam after the nonlinear detector crystal. By applying the technique to heterodyne EOS scheme, the sensitivity was increased by 8 times.


We report the design and fabrication of an amorphous-indiumgallium-zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT)-based 4-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for flexible displays. The DAC consisting 2 capacitors and 10 TFTs is 130 µm in width, compact enough to be fitted in one column of data drivers. The DAC shows good linearity under mechanical bending radius of 2 mm, making it applicable to flexible active-matrix displays.


A method of generating a signal being phase-shifted at a predetermined phase- shift division factor relative to a reference signal is disclosed. The method comprises: using the predetermined phase-shift division factor for selecting a modulation amplitude, modulating a control signal at the selected modulation amplitude, and combining the reference signal and the control signal to form the phase-shifted.


It is pointed out that thermal convection in many astrophysical and geophysical settings occurs in an unstable layer bounded above and below by regions which are stably stratified. The convective motions may extend a substantial distance into the adjacent stable zones. If the motions have little direct effect upon the mean stratification of the stable zone, then they are usually referred to as convective overshooting. The primary objective of the present investigation is to study the dynamics of overshooting at very large Rayleigh numbers, mainly with stellar applications in mind. Numerically this is only feasible if severe simplifications are made in the description of what are likely to be turbulent motions. The approach employed in the investigation utilizes nonlinear modal equations in which the vertical and temporal structure of the convection is described accurately at the expense of the horizontal structure. A summary of the salient properties of penetrative convection is provided on the basis of the results of the conducted studies.


Volume 3, no. 2, [e00379-15][1], 2015. Page 1: [Table 1][2] should appear as shown below.

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TABLE 1
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The present invention relates to a wireless access system supporting a full duplex radio (FDR) transmission environment. A method for a terminal to measure interference in a wireless communication system supporting FDR according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving an interference measurement resource at a measurement subframe; and measuring, at the interference measurement resource, interference from a neighboring terminal on the basis of an interference reference signal transmitted from the neighboring terminal. In addition, data is not transmitted or is transmitted with zero-power in the interference measurement resource.


Chronic sinusitis is quite common in the United States. Approximately 28% of cases of sinusitis are also associated with allergy. Our knowledge of the underlying immunohistochemical processes has grown considerably, and, with this growth, our ability to explain the development of sinusitis in the al


Algorithmsfor video quality assessment (VQA) attempt to predict the quality of a video in a manner that agrees with subjective ratings of quality from human observers. In this paper, we present an approach to VQA that combines the frame-based distortion measurement with a spatiotemporal analysis of motion dissimilarity. Our VQA algorithm, FDMD, applies our previous IQA algorithm, MAD [Larson and Chandler, 2010], to compute the frame-based distortion and develop a spatiotemporal model to capture motion dissimilarity through the STS images. The overall estimate of video quality is then determined based on a combination of these results collapsed across space-time. Testing on various video-quality databases demonstrates that FDMD performs well in predicting video quality.


The article discusses some of the problems of transformation of higher education that takes place in this country as a part of ideology of the competence approach. The ideas of this approach are analysed in a methodological perspective, in the aspects of personal focus, professionalism and subjective activation in education. It shows risks and positive opportunities of that direction of modernization of education, which is given by the ideology and can be traced in a number of practical amendments made in the life of higher school.


United Nations Statistics have shown that, despite the fact that women make up just over half the world's population, they perform two-thirds of the work done worldwide. However, women's earnings only amount to 10 percent of the world's earnings, and they own only 1 percent of the world's property (Bazilli, 1991:17). These statistics speak volumes about women's position in the labour market South Africa is no exception to this pattern. Women in the Formal Economy The legacy of Apartheid means that women of different race groups are situated differently in the occupational division of labour. White women have better jobs than Indian and 'Coloured' women, who in turn have better jobs than African women. However, compared with the men in their respective race groups, women are in general employed ih more low-wage, low-skill occupations. This goes some way towards explaining why the earnings of women are generally proportionately lower than their rate of participation in economic activity. In predominantly 'female' industries such as the food, textile and garment industries, men occupy most of the more skilled and better-paid positions. Except for the mining industry, most of the traditionally male industries have become highly capital-intensive and high-wage sectors which unashamedly advertise for, and employ, male labour only (such as in the motor and petro-chemical industries). A recent study of the KwaZulu-Natal region (Posel et al, 1993) shows a strong feminisation of the labour force between 1983 and 1991. However, this is: not a panacea for women (who) are crowded into certain parts of the labour market, and predominate in low-wage, less secure jobs and in the informal sector. In consequence, women's incomes are substantially lower than those of men, and womenheaded households form a disproportiona tely large part of the poverty groupings (Posel, 1993:74).


The paper of Vladimir Koltchinskii has been circulating around for several years and already has become an important reference in statistical learning theory. One of the main achievements of the paper (further abbreviated as [VK]) is to propose very general techniques of proving oracle inequalities for excess risk under a control of the variance, that is, for example, under conditions (6.1) or (6.2) (often called margin or low noise conditions) or similar assumptions in terms of L2-diameters DP (F , δ) and other related characteristics. These conditions lead to fast rates for the excess risk, that is, to rates that are faster than n−1/2. The setup in [VK] is classical: methods based on empirical risk minimizers (ERM) f̂n are studied under the bounded loss functions. My comments and questions will be mainly about optimality of the excess risk bounds. This issue is not at all obvious, even in the case where the underlying class F is finite. We assume in what follows that either F = {f1, . . . , fM}, where fj are some functions on S, or this class is a convex hull F = conv{f1, . . . , fM}. Such classes F are used in aggregation problems where the functions fj are viewed either as "weak learners" or as some preliminary estimators constructed from a training sample which is considered as frozen in further analysis. Let Z1, . . . ,Zn be i.i.d. random variables taking values in a space Z, with common distribution P , and denote by F0 the space where the fj live. Consider a loss function Q :Z × F0 → R and the associated risk R(f ) = EQ(Z,f ) assuming that the expectation EQ(Z,f ) is finite for all f ∈ F0 where Z has the same distribution as Zi . Introduce two oracle risks: RMS = min1≤j≤M R(fj ) corresponding to model selection-type aggregation (MS-aggregation), and RC = inff ∈conv{f1,...,fM } R(f ) corresponding to convex aggregation (C-aggregation). The excess risk of a statistic f̃n(Z1, . . . ,Zn) is defined by E(f̃n) = E{R(f̃n)} − ROR, where the oracle risk ROR equals either RMS or RC. A natural question about optimality is how to find an estimator f̃n for which the excess risk is as small


A method is described to recognise hand-drawn cubes. The problem is treated hierachically and broken into several sub-problems. Each sub-problem is solved using essentially the same technique. This is an early version of the work detailed in Recognizing Cubes in Images.


Background: Adipose tissue produces and releases a variety of proinflammatory cytokines. The aim of this study was to investigate whether proinflammatory cytokines are increased and insulin resistance is presented in nonobese women with high body fat and low fat free mass.Methods: Sixty nonobese adult premenopausal women (body mass index, BMI


What happen in the brain when human beings play games with computers? Here a simple zero-sum game was conducted to investigate how people make decision via their brain even they know that their opponent is a computer. There are two choices (a low or high number) for people and also two strategies for the computer (red color or green color). When the number selected by the human subject meet the red color, the person loses the score which is equal to the number. On the contrary, the person gains the number of score if the computer chooses a green color for the number selected by the human being. Both the human subject and the computer give their choice at the same time, and subjects have been told that the computer make its decision randomly on the red color or green color. During the experiments, the signal of electroencephalograph (EEG) obtained from brain of subjects was recorded. From the analysis of EEG, we find that people mind the loss more than the gain, and the phenomenon becoming obvious when the gap between loss and gain grows. In addition, the signal of EEG is clearly distinguishable before making different decisions. It is observed that significant negative waves in the entire brain region when the participant has a greater expectation for the outcome, and these negative waves are mainly concentrated in the forebrain region in the brain of human beings.


This paper addresses the treatment of colonial history in videogames, particularly in empire-building strategy games such as Empire: Total War and Age of Empires 3. The aim is to address the lack of plurality in the portrayal of history in videogames and also to bring up postcolonial theory as yet another point of departure via which it is possible to explore the potential of digital games as a medium for promoting diversity and a more nuanced and representative way to think through history critically. To do so, a framework of postcolonial historiography, which has been in place in other related Humanities disciplines for decades now, has been introduced and employed to challenge historical notions that promoted an orientalist mono-narrative to describe the histories of erstwhile colonies such as India. Through the portrayal of the British Raj in videogames, this paper makes a broader point about the need to reflect postcolonial and plural voices in historical commentary in games.


The densification rate and grain growth rate of pure MgO powder compacts are measured between 1450 and 1650° C in air. Densification rate in a semilog plot appears to be linear up to about 94% of the theoretical, followed by marked nonlinearity. The time dependence of grain growth is 1/2 at the beginning and then decreases considerably with further sintering. Application of lattice diffusion model to the densification and grain growth data gives calculated diffusion coefficients in fair agreement with the directly measured diffusion coefficients for magnesium; they are also in fair agreement with the literature value of the diffusion coefficients calculated from various other kinetic processes in MgO.


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Despite the steep growth in social media usage, the growing popularity of influencers on social networking platforms, and growing prevalence of influencers as consumer engagers, scientific research that addresses in detail the evolution of the influencer industry and its commoditization has remained lacking. Today, we are witnessing the rise of new intermediaries in the influencer industry called Collab Houses that are deeply changing the dynamics of the influencer industry. This study aims to identify if the critical marketing functions of influencers are still critical for Collab Houses and how Collab Houses are fighting the commoditization trap. Through the in-depth analysis of a case study we identify the dynamics that, with the introduction of the Collab Houses, are leading the evolution of the market and how the role of influencers is changing with these new intermediaries. Specifically, this study breaks new ground in the conceptualization and empirical understanding of the commoditization phenomenon of influencers and their professionalization.


ABSTRACT Five patients with "nonendocrine" tumors, bilateral adrenal hyperplasia, hypercorticism and hypokalemia have been studied in an effort to understand the relationship between the tumors and the metabolic disturbance. An ACTH-like material was found in the primary tumor, in metastatic tumors and in the plasma of each patient. The pituitary ACTH content, on the other hand, was subnormal. Urinary corticosteroids, though qualitatively normal, were increased to levels greater than those commonly encountered in ordinary Cushing's disease. Attempts to suppress corticosteroid output with large doses of dexamethasone were ineffectual. All signs of hypercorticism, including the hypokalemia, were corrected following adrenalectomy in 2 cases. It is concluded that certain tumors autonomously elaborate an ACTH-like substance that stimulates the adrenal glands to secrete large quantities of corticosteroids; the corticosteroids, in turn, suppress the normal ACTH-secreting mechanism and, in addition, induce major ...


Abstract In this research intended to fabricate and develop an electrical furnace as the vacuum systems for melting glass by normal melt quenching technique under vacuum atmosphere. The 60Li2O: 10Y2O3: 29.5 B2O3: 0.5CeF3 glass system was prepared by this furnace. The properties of glass that prepare in air and vacuum atmosphere and comparative studied various properties such as physical, optical, luminescence. The result has shown that the density and refractive index was slightly decrease. The absorption edge of vacuum sample was shifted to shorter wavelength. The indirect and direct band gap of the vacuum glass sample higher than the air atmosphere glass sample which corresponded to the molar volume increase representing the enhancement of non-bridging oxygen (NBO) number in glass network. The photoluminescence of glass which preparing in vacuum was higher than in air about 2 times while the decay time are 101.83 ns (air) and 88.72 ns (vacuum), respectively.


In this work we present a study about the molecular structure and electrochemical behavior of a series of substituted 2´-hydroxychalcones and their conversion to the corresponding flavanones. The study was performed using density function theory (DFT) based on B3YLP with 6-311G basis set was used in order to investigate the effect of the electronic and structure properties for the isomerization process. Reactants, intermediates and products have an equilibrium state and one transition state that possess one imaginary frequency. The optimized structure, total energies ,hardness ,polarizability ,chemical potential and electrophilicity index were calculated. The relative energy calculated using DFT corresponds with those calculated in a practical way by the use of HPLC technique, the hardness profile along the reaction path in agreement with maximum hardness principle, and the minimum polarizability principle is obeyed in all cases.


In accordance with SMS format requirements issued by the professional meteorological observatory in Hebei Province, combining with the actual business and the errors occurred in recent years,SMS making and sending program was designed with Visual Basic6.0 on the basis of the access database.A long period of actual use showed that:The programming achieved the desired objective basiclly,the editing and sending of meteorological SMS was more convenient,errors have reduced dramatically and accidents were prevented effectively.


Lexington, Ky. ? Results of a survey examining cosmetic surgery practice patterns indicate that, at least among experienced specialists, the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same.