Abstract Numerous writers (1–6) state that death education is instrumental in removing denial, thus facilitating exploration of death fear and anxiety. In the process, fear is resolved and is no longer an appropriate response to thoughts of death. An end result is an acceptance of death as an integral and meaningful part of life. Empirical support for the above statements is quite limited, however, (7–9) with contradictory (10–12) and insignificant (13–16) findings being reported with some regularity.


In spite of different acts and schemes of government to empower the women in the country, they are discriminated and marginalised at every level of the society, whether it is social participation, political participation, economic participation, access to education and also reproductive healthcare. Women empowerment cannot be possible unless women come with and help to self-empower themselves. There is a need to formulate reducing feminised poverty, promoting education and prevention and elimination of violence against women.


Abstract : For the equivalent compacted ring resonator, beam injection can help maintain bare resonator power coupling at the unperturbed value. For small misalignments, injection improves bare beam quality, but it does not improve quality degradation due to astigmatism. For the annular ring resonator, beam injection maintains both bare resonator power coupling and beam quality at the unperturbed values for very small misalignments. And, as expected, this resonator is much more sensitive to misalignment than its equivalent compacted resonator. Additionally, the reverse wave analysis has shown the unstable ring/linear stable MO injection configuration to offer satisfactory reverse wave suppression. Based on bare resonator analyses injection locking shows promise. To determine its potential, loaded resonator analyses for high-power devices must be performed. mode discrimination, possible parasitics, sensitivity to misalignment,and scale-ability to high power are potential problems that need in-depth investigation. Additionally, the technical issues associated with cavity length equalization to less than lambda; matching of the MO and HEL spectra; and the stability, mode matching and power requirements for the MO need to be addressed experimentally so the real hardware requirements can be established.


This paper presents a view of a vessel traffic system in a portion of the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes Waterway, consisting of the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and connecting channels which form a 2,234 mile (3260 km) seacoast from the Atlantic Ocean to the heart of the North American continent. Emphasis is on international management, sector control, VHF calling and working frequencies, legal justification of special frequency allocation by the Federal Communications Commission and its application in a current active vessel traffic control system. The paper deals with a working vessel traffic control system -- its growth, management, current status and future technology.


National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA) is helping to spearhead critical legislative efforts that include reauthorizing the Ryan White CARE Act, opposing mandatory testing proposals, and protecting the needs of people with AIDS in the debates over Medicaid and other Federal health programs. Led by a newly elected nine-member executive committee, NORA's membership now numbers over 150 organizations and is cochaired by Winnie Stachelberg, of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and Gary Rose, of the National Association of People With AIDS. Founded in 1987 by the AIDS Action Council and others, NORA is dedicated to fighting for a fair and effective Federal response to AIDS. NORA's recent efforts have included briefings for the Senate and House on the Ryan White CARE Act and yearly budget recommendations for AIDS programs to Congress.


For any given random variable Xi∈,i=1,2,with the first moment EXi=μi and the second moment EX2i=σ2i+μ2i and EX1X2=μ1μ2+σ12,by using the principle of duality and exactly dominating quadratic function,we can get the upper and lower bounds of two kinds of trancated random variables and the estimation of the upper bound of varmax(0,X1-X2-K).


The primary methods for producing vacancies in the refractory oxides for tunable lasers are neutron irradiation and thermochemical reduction at high temperatures. The latter offers several distinct advantages. However, there are two serious problems: long-lived phosphorescence from anion vacancies and crystal darkening. The former is shown to be due to H/sup -/ ions which serve as metastable electron traps to form H/sup 2 -/ ions (proton with three electrons occupying oxygen vacancy sites). The localized vibrational modes and electronic transitions of the H/sup 2 -/ ions have been identified. Photoconversion between F and F/sup +/ centers is shown to involve H/sup -/ in equilibrium H/sup 2 -/ conversion. The crystal darkening is shown by analytical electron microscopy techniques to be due to scattering from metallic precipitates containing primarily iron.


[Purposes]This study aims at analyzing the operation index system of the scientific journals' WeChat;thus it can promote cross-media integration of scientific journals,and take the advantages of the WeChat operation.[Methods]The study proposed the core indicators by adopting methods such as interdisciplinary research and empirical research.[Findings]The operation index system of the scientific journals' WeChat provides an important reference for the operation of scientific journals.[Conclusions]The scientific evaluation index system of WeChat would improve operational efficiency of scientific journals,ultimately enhancing brand awareness and competitiveness.


Impact‐ionization current during saturation mode operation is widely known in MOS devices. Although not noted in previous work, minority carriers also may be observed in the substrate, together with hole current. These minority carriers can degrade the MOS depletion layer lifetime, thus limiting the performance of MOS dynamic devices. A series of experiments utilizing the C‐t method, the MOS capacitor surface potential measurement, and the charge‐coupled device (CCD) is described, which provides evidence for electrically generated electrons in the substrate of n‐channel MOS structures.


NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase was highly purified from liver mlcrosomes of phenobarbital-induced rats by column chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, DEAE-Sephadex A-50, and hydroxylapatite in the presence of deoxycholate or Renex 690, a nonionic detergent. The purified enzyme gave a single major band with a molecular weight of 79,000 daltons on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. FFN and FAD were present in about equal amounts. The most active reductase preparation catalyzed the reduction of 40.9 pmoles of cytochrome c per min per mg of protein and, as an indirect measure of cytochrome P-450 reduction, the oxidation of 2.0 pmoles of NADPH per min per mg of protein in a reconstituted hydroxylation system containing benzphetamine as the substrate.


Since 1991 the Australian Industrial Relations Commission has been prepared to recognize enterprise bargaining agreements. A phenomenal growth in enterprise agreements has occurred in recent years. In Western Australia a new framework for employment negotiations was introduced in 1993 in the form of workplace agreements. Using a case study approach, the implementa tion and relative effectiveness of the two frameworks has been researched in two key state government agencies considered to be models in enterprise bargaining and workplace bargaining, respectively. It is clear that both frame works have been successful and need to remain in place, to provide employers and employees with appropriate employment regulation options. The frame work chosen by the organization will depend on the type of relationship the organization has with its employees and the nature of the change occurring within it. Organizations with the ability to determine the appropriate bargain ing framework will succeed in implementing change while others may be daunted by the task. With the election in 1993 of the conservative Liberal and National Coalition government in Western Australia, a new phase of public sector industrial relations © 1997, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. 15 doi: 10.2190/BECT-111T-5449-Y6DK http://baywood.com 16 / TRAVAGLIONE, TAYA AND KHAN reform was quickly put into place. The new government came into power with definite ideas about restructuring the public sector. It has used mechanisms such as industrial and workplace agreements to bring about the change it believes to be necessary. This article investigates how the government has gone about this task specifically through its industrial relations agenda. In Western Australia, there now exist two distinct frameworks for wage deter mination for public sector employees. There are the traditional federal and state industrial relations commissions, which follow the national and state wage case decision and award across-the-board wage increases, and then there is the commissioner of workplace agreements, who, apart from being bound by the Workplace Agreements legislation, can approve individually tailored employ ment agreements within the provisions of the Minimum Conditions of Employ ment legislation. The implementation and relative effectiveness of the two frameworks has been researched in two key state government agencies considered to be models in enterprise bargaining and workplace bargaining, respectively. The agencies selected are Main Roads Western Australia (MRWA) and the Building Manage ment Authority (BMA). Data on MRWA was collected using a detailed structured interview format, comprising ten questions. The major participants involved in the negotiation process at MRWA, who also participated in the structured interviews, were representatives from management, unions, and employees. The structure of the process at the BMA did not allow for structured interviews because the BMA did not elect to follow the path of negotiations with their unions and employees in the manner of MRWA. THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION FRAMEWORK The development of the Australian industrial relations framework has been constrained by the legal framework operating in the country. The Australian Constitution was based on the United States model of federation. Specific legisla tive powers are conferred on the federal government, with residual powers exer cised by the individual states of the federation. While Australian trade unionism was shaped out of Australia's British colonial origin, the evolution of the formal structure of conciliation and arbitration in Australia has had no resemblance to that of Great Britain [1]. Great Britain maintained a tradition of noninterven tion by legal institutions in the collective relationships between employer and employee, while Australia established a system of compulsory arbitration, with the creation of industrial relations commissions in all six states and at the federal level. These commissions have wide-ranging powers covering both economic and dispute situations. These commissions operate on the basis of compulsory arbitra tion. In such a system, in the event that the disputing parties are not able to reach an agreement through conciliation, the commissions are able to arbitrate to resolve ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE / 17 disputes. The resulting employment regulation document is known as an arbitrated award. Even in the case of arbitrated awards imposed by the commis sions, the vast majority of clauses are typically agreed between the disputants [2]. In recent years both state and federal governments have deregulated their industrial relations systems, restricting the powers these commissions traditionally enjoyed [3]. The major form of employment regulation in Australia prior to October 1991 was the arbitrated award. An arbitrated award is a ruling handed down by the Industrial Relations Commission that incorporates the terms of employment between employer and employee. The parties to an award include employers and unions but not employees. Thus, employees do not have the power to directly change an award and can do so only through their unions. It was not until 1991 that an impetus was provided for major workplace reform in Australia. In October 1991 the full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, in handing down the National Wage Case decision, stated that the commission would be prepared to recognize collective bargaining through its guidelines on enterprise bargaining agreements. These agreements had to be negotiated through a single bargaining unit in an enterprise or section of an enterprise. Where the agreement would replace an existing award or awards, it had to express the enterprise bargaining wage increase as a separate amount from the standard rates of pay and state all efficiency measures agreed. The decision of the full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission meant that bargain ing on conditions of employment moved from a centralized bargaining approach to a decentralized enterprise bargaining approach. The Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission is governed by the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA), which came into effect in March 1980 under the title of the Industrial Arbitration Act 1979 (WA). On March 1, 1985, the Industrial Arbitration Act 1979 (WA) was substantially amended (including the name change) with an emphasis placed on the process of conciliation, as distinct from arbitration, as the preferred process of resolving disputes. In January 1992 the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC) in its State Wage Decision adopted the Enterprise Bargaining Prin ciples set down by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) in its October 1991 National Wage Case Decision. Enterprise bargaining, which is governed by the Industrial Relations Act (WA) 1979, requires union involvement. The formal enterprise agreement (referred to in the act as an industrial agreement) is between an employer and a union or unions and therefore without a union there is no possibility of a formal agreement that can be ratified by the WAIRC. It had been widely argued that enterprise bargaining under the Industrial Rela tions Act 1979 (WA) had excluded a large number of organizations that did not have a union presence. Currently, approximately 60 percent of private sector firms are nonunion [4]. In Western Australia the state government decided to address this problem by offering employers and employees the choice of remaining under 18 / TRAVAGLIONE, TAYA AND KHAN the jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA) or following the path of workplace bargaining under the Workplace Agreements Act 1993 (WA). Workplace bargaining pursuant to this latter act does not require union participation. THE COMMISSIONER OF WORKPLACE AGREEMENTS FRAMEWORK The Workplace Agreements Act 1993 (WA) provides an alternative bargaining system. Where the parties choose to enter into a workplace agreement, they are no longer bound by any award, industrial agreement, or other determination of the WAIRC. Section 7A of the Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA) provides that: Without limiting the other provisions of this Part, this Act has effect subject to the Workplace Agreements Act 1993. Provisions exist for the making of individual or collective workplace agree ments. Individual workplace agreements are agreements between an employer and an individual employee. Collective workplace agreements are agreements between an employer and two or more employees. The legislation provides for the appointment of bargaining agents by employers and employees. Any person or organization may be appointed as a bargaining agent. Thus the legislation allows employees to choose their own bargaining agents, who might not necessarily be trade unions. The requirement that every workplace agreement must contain a dispute settling procedure is contained in section 21 of the act. There is an acceptance that some disputes will not be able to be resolved internally as the legislation requires that there be an arrangement to arbitrate on any dispute about the meaning or effect of the agreement. One of the clauses that must be contained in all workplace agree ments must provide that the parties agree to accept the arbitrated decision. A means of appointing an arbitrator must be stated in the agreement and each party has the option of referring the dispute to the arbitrator. The parties may agree to appoint anyone as the arbitrator. The Industrial Relations Act 1979 (WA) allows an industrial relations commissioner to be appointed by the parties as an arbitrator to a workplace agreement. The agreement could be worded in such a way that the parties agree that the means of appointment would allow for organizations such as mediation associations to provide an arbitrator on request. The legislation does not provide for a means


By using the data of rice Planthopper of Jiangsu and weather background(stream and temperature field on 700hPa and 850hPa),the low level circumfluence characteristic during immigration peaks was analyzed in Jiangsu 2007.The average circumfluence background and wind velocity distribution that lead to rice planthopper rapid increasing were discussed.The results showed that there were two kinds of circumfluence to arise Jiangsu rice planthopper rapid increasing in 2007.Firstly,there was obvious southwest low level jet due to southwest warm-humidity air stream.Secondly,there was northeast stream by the tropic cyclone moving to north or west.The range of southwest airflow(gale area) in 700hPa and 850hPa took on well showing meaning to rice planthopper area.There was some relation between the gale range in 850hPa of tropical cyclone and back immigration of planthopper in 2007.The results provided references to forecast the rapid increasing time,influence area and back immigration condition.


Disparities in treatment and mortality for colorectal cancer (CRC) may reflect differences in access to specialized care or other characteristics of the area where an individual lives.


To design a drainage system for a landfill cover or bottom liner properly, the engineer must be able to estimate the maximum saturated depth over the barrier for any proposed configuration. This paper presents an analytical solution for steady drainage on a sloping impervious barrier with no flow across the upstream boundary. Based on the Dupuit approximation, this solution defines all possible phreatic‐surface profiles. The shape of the phreatic‐surface profile depends on the values of three dimensionless parameters: the barrier slope, the ratio of the vertical inflow rate to the hydraulic conductivity of the drainage layer, and the ratio of the saturated depth at the downstream boundary to the maximum drainage distance. Several distinctly different types of profiles are possible. A graph is provided for determining the maximum saturated depth directly.


Introduction: A large portion of researches conducted worldwide depend on stored samples that will most often be subjected to the process of extracting genetic material for molecular biology analysis. These samples archived are an extremely valuable source for retrospective genetic studies. These include mutation screening in cancer-critical genes as well as pathogen detection. Aim: The aimed of this study were to evaluate different methods of DNA extraction in frozen tissue, FFPE and blood.  Results: We compared 13 different DNA extraction methods. All 63 samples (20 FFPE tissues, 23 frozen tissues and 20 blood) were obtained from women undergoing breast cancer treatment at Barretos Cancer Hospital. The purity and yield of the extracted DNA were evaluated by NanoDrop® Spectophotometer. All extractions independently sample used were found suitable for amplification of fragments up 311 bp amplification was marginally successful. Conclusion: QIAamp DNA FFPE Tissue kit was found to have better quality for FFPE samples and also excellent yield. For frozen tissue samples, excellent purity and yield values were seen for QIAamp DNA Mini and Blood Mini Kit. Buffy coat samples showed better results with QIAamp DNA Mini Blood and Mini Kit. We conclude that the extraction method plays an important role regarding performance in molecular applications.


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We have been applying an adoptive immunotherapy protocol to patients with malignant brain tumors using OK‐432‐activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (OK‐MCs). In order to elucidate the mechanism of OK‐MCs' cytotoxicity, we examined the expression of Fas ligand mRNA in OK‐MCs and the cytocidal activity of these cells against a human glioma cell line, T98G which expresses a high level of Fas. The expression of Fas ligand mRNA was low in non‐treated peripheral blood mononuclear cells and was elevated by treatment with OK‐432, irrespective of the dose employed. Apoptosis of T98G cells induced by OK‐MCs was unequivocally inhibited by the pretreatment of T98G cells with ZB4 monoclonal antibody, which binds to Fas and blocks the binding of Fas ligand to Fas. These data indicate that the cytotoxic activity of OK‐MCs via apoptosis seems to be at least partly mediated by the Fas ligand/Fas system. Adoptive immunotherapy using the Fas ligand/Fas system could be a new treatment modality for human malignant brain tumors.


The preceding chapter focused mainly on the ethical and aesthetic motives of Boom authors for favouring a distinctive literary style. However, it would be premature to suspend discussion at that point; the present chapter will therefore first concentrate on the social and political stimuli that gave rise to magical realism as a literary tendency, and will then relate this boost to postcolonial writing. At the same time, further attention will be given to the evolution of the dichotomy between lo real maravilloso americano and realismo magico, narrowing analysis down to the Caribbean diaspora and its literary production. These observations will lead to reconsideration of the homogenization of styles implied by Bhabha's celebration of magical realism as "the literary language of the emergent postcolonial world,"1 which disregards the contribution of the rich shades of Boom-inflected narrative techniques still present in contemporary literature.In his article on post-Boom writing, Rory O'Bryen notes that the term 'magical realism', apart from denoting a narrative technique, has also been treated as a marketing label, since it "functions simultaneously as a positive marker of essentialised difference."2 Even in a Latin American context, the simplification of the amalgam of styles that flourished during the literary experimentation from the 1940s onwards is wrongheaded from the outset. Despite the assumption that distinctions between magical realism, marvellous realism, postmodern realism, neo-fantastic realism and so on might be unprofitable in contemporary writing, the present study urges differentiation among them. 'Magical realism' as an umbrella term might be useful from a promotional angle and to make this kind of literature more marketable.3 However, it is imperative to create such a distinction from a critical perspective given that these literary techniques are driven by different interests, whether aesthetic, ethical or political. These different narrative styles might appear to be similar to the unaccustomed eye, but they have become a rich source of discussion for scholars. Therefore, all these determining features should be considered seriously, since authors consciously employ them as expressions with a specific purpose that might be blurred by literary homogenization.There has been a special concern in recent decades about revising history and identity in Postcolonial Literatures in English4 through the examination of folklore, which can be prompted by several factors:an emergent society's need for renewed self-description [which] displaces the established categories through which the West had constructed other cultures either in its own image or as alterity, questions the western capitalist myth of modernization and progress, and asserts without nostalgia an indigenous preindustrial realm of possibility.5Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly also favoured by a political intention, subtle in some cases, to narrativize global empathy for postcolonial and displaced communities: for David Chariandy, the feelings of belonging and unbelonging, together with the disaffection towards the host country experienced by diasporic communities - mainly second-generation immigrants - can be discussed and interpreted in more complex ways than by simplifying the issue to the threat that these communities might pose to the nation-state, as used to be the case.6 Literature might serve as the perfect catalyst for this debate, inasmuch as recent decades have seen interest in fostering distinctive voices. Some of these voices have materialized in the form of the Boom and ethnic literatures, as well as in the remarkable increase of academic departments devoted to postcolonial studies. It is because of this that I believe that what Bhabha calls the literatures of an 'emergent postcolonial world' are probably abetted not only by the internal pressure exerted by ethnic minorities and subaltern communities but also by the external inception of a neoliberal view of the world that implies another turn of the screw towards globalization. …


The transition between bridge or tunnel and plain track has different rail pressure and distributed stress on formation. This paper shows distribution of rail pressure on transition at which spring stiffness are changed. By this study, it is revealed that the changing into relatively high stiffness causes increased rail pressure visibly and draw up dynamic track force. A medium stiffness structure and reinforced rail could be effective for reducing track force on the transition.


The Kunlunshan Tunnel and Fenghuoshan Tunnel in the Gela Section of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway lie in the permafrost area of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau at an elevation of more than 4500m.Up to now they remain the highest tunnels built in such surrounding rock and special climate in the plateau permafrost area in the world.The difficult point of technology is to preserve the frozen soil and protect the tunnel support during construction under the cold and oxygen-deficient environment.In this paper,through reseach on construction plans and technologies in practices,two modes of tunnel ventilation are presented,one being the preheating ventilation systerm and the other being the common ventilation systerm together with the shouldered-type oxygen-supply adopted in the Kunlunshan Tunnel and the diffusion-type oxygen-supply adopted in the Fenghuoshan Tunnel.Wet-shotcrete supporting,tunnel lining and construction of waterproof heat-insulation layers are introduced.Engineering indexes are also provided.The research results have reference value to construction of similar tunnels.


A spacer (76) for use in an extraction bath type liquid. The spacer (76) includes an annular TYPE TAZON (78) adapted to axially rotate around its axis VERTICAL CENTRIFUGAL FORCE TO GENERATE AN AIR TO BE APPLIED INPUT; A plurality of grooves (92) each having input portions (96) and output (94) in the housing (78) to allow dust and dust particles (122) have entered the inflowing air and liquid particles (126) A BATH FLUID be removed to an inner area of the housing (78) and incorporated there, so that particles INCORPORATED (128) undergo CENTRIFUGAL FORCE AND THEREFORE SEPARATE inlet air. PARTS OUT (94) or grooves (92) allow particles INCORPORATED BE ISSUED IN FORCE FROM INSIDE AREA HOUSING (78) and are forced radially outward by centrifugal force generated by rotation AXIAL, QUICK accommodation ( 78).


All previously published papers were reproduced with permission from the publisher. ABSTRACT Guldberg-Kjär, Taina (2013). ADHD in old age-Self-rated symptoms and Clinical information from a Population-Based Swedish Sample Aged 65 and older. Our knowledge of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased in recent years. However, given sparse information about its course and manifestations in later life the overall aim of the thesis was to explore the frequency with which elderly individuals report childhood and current symptoms that may indicate a history of ADHD. The more specific aims were: 1) to investigate whether gender, age, marital status, number of employments, educational level, perceived problems in childhood, self-reported health and memory were significantly associated with childhood and current ADHD symptoms, 2) to compare scales capturing ADHD symptoms for older individuals' self-reports about childhood and current ADHD symptomatology and relating these results to the DSM-IV ADHD criteria, and 3) to analyse daily functioning, past psychiatric history, family psychiatric history and overall health history in older individuals meeting criteria for late life ADHD and to illustrate typical life courses through case reports. Study I The 25-item Wender Utah Rating Scale was administered in a population-based sample of 2500 persons aged 65 to 80 to study the prevalence of self-rated childhood ADHD. Demographics, self-ratings of problems in childhood, current health and memory were also investigated. A total of 1599 individuals participated corresponding to a response rate of 64%. The prevalence rate was 3,3% using a cut off score of 36 or more in the WURS-scale. Men rated significantly more ADHD symptoms. Those reporting more childhood ADHD symptoms also claimed general problems in childhood as well as worse current health. In Study II we examined the persistence of ADHD symptomatology across the lifespan by comparing older individuals' self-reports about current ADHD symptoms and childhood symptoms. Based on the WURS scores (below and above 36) in Study I, two sub-samples were randomly drawn, each with 30 individuals who were clinically worked-up using the Wender Riktad ADHD Symtom Skala (WRASS). Our finding suggests a persistence of self-reported ADHD symptoms over the entire lifespan. In Study III we compared different scales capturing ADHD symptoms for self-reports about childhood and current ADHD symptomatology. We also related these reports to the DSM-IV ADHD criteria using the WRASS and Barkley Scales. The results support the idea of life long persistence of ADHD symptoms. In Study IV we explored problems in daily functioning, …


Background: In the word telemedicine "tele" is applying telemedicine is to the practice of medicine "at a distance" which often involves a consultation between a patient and doctor who are geographically separated, using a video conference link. The pandemic situation which is present globally has pushed the patient and healthcare providers to get help in alternate forms of communication through telephones, internet, and social media, to avoid the spread of infection to others. Objectives: The study aims is to level of knowledge about telemedicine and effectiveness of computer assisted teaching program among staff nurses. Methods: A pre experimental one group-pre test, post test only research design was conducted among 60 staff nurses. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used. Structured questionnaire method was used to collect the demographical data and knowledge about telemedicine. The data was summarized, processed with descriptive and non-parametric statistics. Among 60 samples 1 show that level of knowledge regarding telemedicine before and after computer assisted training program. Results: The knowledge of pre test score was 46.5% and the post test knowledge score was 84.6%, then the level of knowledge gained was 38.1%. This 38.1% of knowledge gain is the net benefit of this study, which indicates the effectiveness of computer assisted program. Conclusion: The comparison of overall pretest and posttest percentage of knowledge level ( p< .001) shows computer assisted training program was an effective method of improvement of knowledge among staff nurses regarding Telemedicine.


You are responsible for obtaining consent before making a trade effluent discharge to the public sewer - failure to do so is a criminal offence. To obtain consent please contact your local business waste water advisor who will explain the application process.


Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is one of the most serious public health and social problems in the world. Transmission of HIV occurs in the age group of 20 years or below. One of the ways to prevent HIV transmission is to improve the knowledge so the attitude and practice can be changed. The objectives of this study was to identify the knowledge, attitude, and practice of HIV infection among university freshmen students year 2016/2017. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional quantitative study. Samples were selected using proportional random sampling and primary data were collected using questionnaires which were self-completed by 122 Universitas Padjadjaran freshmen students year 2016/2017 in November 2016. Questionnaire consisted of sociodemographic, knowledge, attitude, and practice data regarding to HIV infection. The collected data was analyzed dan presented in the form of tables and figure. Results : Respondents had a median age criterion of 18 years, 52.5% were female, 73.8% high school originated outside Bandung and 19.4% knew information about HIV/AIDS through the internet. There were 18.9% of the respondents classified as having "Good" knowledge, 63.9% classified as "Satisfactory" and the other 17.2% were classified as having "Poor" knowledge of HIV. There were 52.5% respondents who had negative attitude towards HIV discussion and 96.7% of the respondents had good practice. Conclusions : Lack of knowledge and negative attitude towards HIV infection and the presence of high risk practice for HIV infection demanded that students should receive reproduction health education to support the prevention of HIV infection.


The current system of setting targets for the number of acceptors to be recruited by the family planning program in India as well as in most developing countries is based on demographic stipulations. The family planning worker is merely given a target number of acceptors which he or she has to recruit. This traditional target setting exercise is an estimate of a set of numbers ignoring or assuming the quality of characteristics of acceptors on the basis of past performance. It is highly unlikely that this approach will improve the effectiveness of the program at the peripheral level. Once the targets are set they become the goals for the administrators at the national state or district levels. As an alternative approach the attempt is made to classify the eligible couples in a population into 3 priority groups on the basis of their fertility potential. Priority 1 would include all eligible couples where the wife is younger than 20 where there have been 3 or less live births and where the last live birth occurred within the past 5 years. Priority 2 includes all women whose last live birth occurred during the past 5 years but who does not fall into the priority 1 classification. Priority 3 includes all women or their husbands who have been sterilized as well as those who have not been sterilized but whose last live birth occurred 5 or more years earlier. The family planning program needs to concentrate in the near future on priority 1 couples and secondarily on priority 2 couples. There is no need to attach any family planning target to priority 3 couples. It is necessary to set a separate target for each of the 2 priority groups for operational purposes. In evaluation of the performance of family planning workers there is a need to consider the priority groups from which the acceptors have been recruited.


"Laishui,Laiyuan,Yixian"poor area which is the demonstration area of poverty alleviation around the capital in the city of Baoding,is the main poverty alleviation area in Hebei province.The vegetable industry in the demonstration area plays an important role in promoting the poverty alleviation.In the present paper,SWOT matrix analysis method was used to analyze the internal and external factors which may influence the poverty alleviation development about the vegetable industry in the poor area.Based on the analysis result,the strategy matching method was proposed to raise some thoughts on the development strategies,then the related strategy countermeasures were put forward from the government,enterprises and farmer families to promote poverty alleviation by developing vegetable industry.


Theproblem ofthefuzzy Ho,state feedback control foraclass ofuncertain nonlinear systems withtime-varying input andmultiple state delays isaddressed inthis paper. TheTakagi- Sugeno (T-S) modelwithtime-delay andparameter uncertainties isadopted formodelling nonlinear systems. UsingPDC method andLyapunov functional method, thesystematic design proce- dureforthefuzzy robust controller ispresented intheformof linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). A sufficient condition isderived fortheexistence offuzzyHo,state feedback controller which guarantees theclosed-loop system isasymptotically stable andthe effect ofthedisturbance input oncontrolled output isreduced toaprescribed level. Finally, anexample isgiven todemonstrate theeffectiveness oftheproposed method.


Organic peroxides could form when dimethyl ether in methanol is stored for three to six months at a time. The objective of this work was to determine the level of peroxide formation from dimethyl ether in reagent grade methanol and raw methanol at room temperature under 3 atmospheres (45 psig) of air. Raw methanol is methanol made from syngas by the LPMEOH Process without distillation. Aliphatic ethers tend to react slowly with oxygen from the air to form unstable peroxides. However, there are no reports on peroxide formation from dimethyl ether. After 172 days of testing, dimethyl ether in either reagent methanol or raw methanol at room temperature and under 60--70 psig pressure of air does not form detectable peroxides. Lack of detectable peroxides suggests that dimethyl ether or dimethyl ether and methanol may be stored at ambient conditions. Since the compositions of {approximately} 1.3 mol% or {approximately} 4.5 mol% dimethyl ether in methanol do not form peroxides, these compositions can be considered for diesel fuel or an atmospheric turbine fuel, respectively.


Objective To objectively assess the improving effect of the acupuncture technique and point selection on shoulder pain and function in shoulder periarthritis patients, which were performed by Huang Xuanwei, one of the national first one-hundred successors who followed senior doctors of traditional Chinese medicine to acquire their academic experiences, and professor and consultant physician of Guiyang College of traditional Chinese medicine.Methods Seventy-eight patients with shoulder periarthritis were randomly allocated to a treatment group of 39 cases and a control group of 39 cases.Pain and function indices were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.Results There were statistically significant differences in pain degree and function between treatment and control groups(P0.05).Conclusion The study indicates that Prof.Huang Xuanwei's acupuncture technique and point selection has a more marked improving effect on shoulder pain and function in shoulder periarthritis patients as compared with the control group.


Partial discharge(PD) sources identification and orientation is one of the key problems for PD online monitoring of transformers.Electromagnetic vector sensor(EMVS) has been successfully applied to estimate the electromagnetic sources' spatial parameters and polarizations.In this paper,a single EMVS is proposed to measure the ultra-high frequency(UHF) signal for PD detection and orientation.With its output data processed by a narrowband filter,the number of PD sources can be estimated exactly by using minimal describing length(MDL) rule or smoothed rank sequence(SRS) method.Based on which,the spatial parameters and polarizations of PD sources can be obtained by adopting MUSIC algorithm to estimate the spatial spectrum of the data's covariance matrix.The results of simulate experiment show that this method is capable of identifying three PD sources and estimating their azimuth,elevation and polarization.It is practical and hopeful to realize the PD orientation in transformer online PD monitoring.


Cytotoxic breast cancer therapies reduce tumor burden by killing tumor cells, yet simultaneously generates tumor cell debris. Apoptotic and necrotic debris that are not cleared by the immune system create a pro‐inflammatory microenvironment, fueling tumor burden by disrupting the resolution of inflammation. A paradigm shift is emerging in understanding the resolution of inflammation as an active biochemical process with the discovery of novel specialized pro‐resolving lipid autocoid mediators (SPMs), such as resolvins (Rvs) and protectin conjugates in tissue regeneration (PCTRs), as well as endogenous resolution programs. We have previously reported in mice models that resolvins (e.g. RvD1, RvD2, and RvE1) reduce tumor growth, however the role of protectins in cancer remains unknown. To assess whether stimulating the resolution of inflammation would inhibit breast cancer progression, we utilized protectin (PCTR1) to treat established models of estrogen receptor (ER) positive (EO771) and negative breast cancer (4T1). PCTR1 sharply reduced tumor growth in the EO771 and 4T1 breast cancer models at only nanogram concentrations (15 ng/day) without toxicity when administered alone or in combination with chemotherapy (paclitaxel) and/or immunotherapy (anti‐cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte‐associated protein 4, CTLA4). Notably, PCTR1 inhibited tumor growth in combination with immunotherapy (anti‐CTLA4) or immunotherapy plus chemotherapy (paclitaxel) in ER positive (EO771) breast cancer. Also, PCTR1 inhibited ER negative tumor growth (4T1) alone and in combination with paclitaxel and/or anti‐CTLA4. Remarkably, PCTR1 alone or in combination with chemotherapy (paclitaxel) reduced gene expression and protein levels of pro‐angiogenic factor CXCL12/SDF‐1 in the tumor microenvironment. PCTR1 dampened the therapy‐induced cytokine storm, by counter‐regulating levels of TNF‐α, CCL2/MCP‐1, CXCL10, CCL5, CXCL13, and IL‐1β in vivo. Taken together, we demonstrate that PCTR1, a pro‐resolution lipid mediator, inhibits breast cancer progression via debris clearance and counter‐regulation of the cytokine storm. The use of protectins to enhance immunotherapy is a novel approach to inhibit breast cancer progression via resolution of inflammation that remains to be evaluated in humans.


Vaino Vahakallio (1886-1959) was one of Finland's most prolific and recognized architects of the 1920s and 1930s. Of his realized projects, a full 150 remain. This monograph is based primarily on an analysis of Vahakallio's buildings themselves and the various documents pertaining to them. The central questions of the study are the fundamental questions about modernity and modernization in Finland. The study asks: In what way did Vahakallio's commissions reflect the modernization of Finnish society itself? Was there something modern about his professionalism even if his artistic work was not in the avant-garde? These questions are answered through an analysis of the architect's professional image, his networks and his artistic production. The study aims to expand the notion of the architect's role and style by examining his designs for several building types, especially from the 1920s and 1930s. The modernization of Finnish society provided Vahakallio with his most important professional opportunities in education, business, industry, and the increasingly important area of leisure. Many factors made Vahakallio a successful architect: good networks, responsiveness to the changing tastes of different types of clients, a sensitivity to fashion, his rational designs and his expertise in new building technologies. Despite his importance Vahakallio has been ignored in the histories of modern Finnish architecture. When "pure functionalism" was taken up as the modernist ideal from the 1950s Vahakallio's stylistic diversity became a liability.%%%%Teknillisen korkeakoulun arkkitehtiosaston tutkimuksia, ISSN 1236-6013; 22


This survey first illustrates that policies making waste disposal relatively expensive have been key determinants of the benefits of remanufacturing and the closely related activities of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling (the 3Rs) in Japan. These policies have generally been product specific and sought to compensate for the failure of private markets to force polluters to bear the costs of negative externalities (costs) imposed or reward those who impart positive externalities (benefits) by reducing pollution through the 3Rs or remanufacturing. Notably they have not discriminated much among different types of firms. Second, the profitability of remanufacturing or more general reuse is found to vary among industries or products, depending on the technologies and consumer preferences involved. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in agricultural and construction machinery and of copiers and related office equipment and services are examples of firms that find narrowly defined remanufacturing relatively profitable. In contrast, other OEMs in non-metallic minerals find that reuse or remanufacturing is not generally possible, largely because of the nature of their products but they have substantial and


Iron sand soil of Purworejo Coast, Central Java, Indonesia isdominated by sand materials having low organic matters and contains 12.51% of iron. The objectives of the study were toobserve the occurence of Azospirillum spp.on iron sand and rhizosphere soils and to assess theirabilityin fixing atmospheric nitrogen, producing indole acetic acid, and solubilizing inorganic phosphates in vitro. The results showed that a hundred and eighteen strains of Azospirillum spp. were successfully isolated from iron sand and rhizosphere soils. The bacterial population on iron sand and rhizosphere soils were ranged from 0.01-6.0 x 105 CFU g-1and 0.04-8.0 x 107CFU g-1, respectivelly. Most of bacterial isolates were capable of fixing nitrogen ranging from 5.73-99.539 ppm, and higher abilities were shown by six isolates of HR11, HP51, KP11, KR13, KP35, and KR66. These six selected isolatesalso produced IAA and solubilized phosphates. Strain of HR11 showed the highest IAA production which was about58.84mg mL-1;and higher phosphate solubilization of Ca3(PO4)2 was shown by HR11 and KP35 isolates with E values of 140.74 and 133.13, while higher solubilization to FePO4 showed byKP11 and KR66 strains with E values of 140.60 and 127.22. Among all phosphorous substances, AlPO4 appeared to be the most difficult substance to be solubilized by the six bacterial tested


Reports of spontaneous pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum as a complication of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have been increasing. COVID-19 causes inflammatory disease mainly affecting the respiratory system. Severity varies from asymptomatic pulmonary findings on imaging to acute respiratory distress syndrome along with pleural effusions, consolidations and spontaneous pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax. The aim of this paper was to review the literature to explore the association between pneumomediastinum/pneumothorax and COVID-19 respiratory disease, both in patients on ventilators and without ventilators, on a spontaneous basis. To this end, we conducted a comprehensive online literature search using PubMed for articles published with the key words of 'spontaneous pneumothorax', 'pneumomediastinum' and 'COVID-19'. Further references were obtained through cross-referencing the bibliographies cited in each publication. We found that spontaneous barotrauma is one of the complications associated with COVID-19 infection and has been observed in patients with and without mechanical ventilation. The process of pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax development is not well understood, especially in patients without underlying lung disease or on mechanical ventilation. We identified various factors that predispose to barotrauma. First, the direct infection of the Type I and Type II pneumocytes by the virus. Second, the pressure gradient between the alveoli and the pulmonary interstitium. Finally, barotrauma can occur secondary to the severe inflammatory response from the COVID-19-related cytokine storm. These conditions are all associated with severe alveolar damage and rupture of the alveolar wall that can produce pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax, both in mechanically ventilated patients and non-ventilated patients. Open Peer Review Reviewer Status AWAITING PEER REVIEW Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article. Page 1 of 9 F1000Research 2021, 10:412 Last updated: 15 JUN 2021


Ion conduction in materials enables active functions including actuation, sensing, and transport. Work at Virginia Tech has found that bio-inspired materials, relying on ion conduction, can be used to develop fluidic pumps and power sources using biological molecules. In the past, these studies have involved the formation of a planar bilayer lipid membrane (BLM) formed across the pore(s) of a synthetic substrate. However, a new technique for BLM formation has been adopted that eliminates the need for a supporting substrate. Self-contained aqueous droplets are injected into a bath of organic solvent with dissolved lipid molecules and result in the formation of lipid monolayer-encased water droplets. When two droplets are brought into contact with each other, the hydrophobic tails of the lipid molecules zip together, creating a stable bilayer lipid membrane at the droplet interface. The incorporation of proteins into this lipid membrane interface makes it possible to tailor the permeability of the membrane and control transport of species from one "cell" to another. Preliminary results indicate the successful insertion of alpha-Hemolysin (αHL), a self-inserting protein that creates ion conductive pathways across the membrane. Controlling the transport of species from one compartment to another is demonstrated using feedback control of current flowing through the interface.


It is clear physics and mathematics have a special relationship not enjoyed by the rest of science. Although Wigner's classic title "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences" [1] speaks of all science, his claim of unreasonableness is specific to physics. For the rest of science, his unreasonableness claim lies with the structure of maths, such as i, e and π turning up over the place. But what is so unreasonable about maths' relationship with physics? It all started off so well. It can be argued that the identification of a relationship between physics and maths by Galileo defined the birth of physics [2]:


Objective: To review clinical outcomes data for patients treated with oral ribavirin for noninfluenza respiratory viral infections (NIRVIs). Data Sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed Central (1972 to June 1, 2015) were queried with the following search term combinations: "Oral" AND "ribavirin" AND ("respiratory syncytial virus" OR "metapneumovirus" OR "parainfluenza" OR "coronavirus" OR "rhinovirus" OR "enterovirus" OR "adenovirus"). Study Selection and Data Extraction: Included studies must have characterized the clinical outcomes of a cohort of patients treated with oral ribavirin for symptomatic NIRVIs. Case reports and series with <5 cases, conference abstracts, and articles written in languages other than English were excluded. Data Synthesis: Of the 1256 unique reports, 15 met inclusion criteria: 12 retrospective, 3 prospective, and 3 comparative with untreated control groups. All studies except for 2 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) studies were in immunocompromised patients (9 malignancy/stem cell transplant, 4 lung transplant). The mortality rate ranged from 0% to 31% in malignancy/stem cell transplant recipients treated with oral ribavirin, and 1/108 (0.9%) ribavirin-treated lung transplant recipients died at 30 days. Three studies (one each for malignancy, lung transplant, and MERS-CoV) suggested a clinical outcomes benefit with oral ribavirin compared with supportive care alone; however, the nonrandomized design precludes efficacy determination. Hemolysis was the most common adverse reaction, occurring in 14% (54/375) of patients. Ribavirin was discontinued in 4% of patients secondary to adverse reactions. Conclusions: Oral ribavirin should be considered for the treatment of NIRVI in immunocompromised adults (malignancy/stem cell transplant or lung transplant) or adults with MERS-CoV.


The effects of the emotions on various organ systems have been covered extensively in the medical literature, but comparatively little has been written on the psychosomatic aspect of the nose, ear, and throat diseases. Wolff and co-workers 1 have observed that a life situation engendering conflict and anxiety is followed by nasal hyperfunction exaggerating the symptoms of rhinitis. Weiss and English 2 point out that emotional factors can be an underlying basis in patients who continuously "catch cold." Emotional imbalance has been suggested as a causative factor in vasomotor rhinitis 3 as well as in Meniere's disease. 4 In addition to the effect of the emotions, many of these complaints can frequently be attributed to autonomic imbalance. Fowler 5 expresses the view that the allergic type of cold is due to parasympathetic overactivity while the infectious type may be due to overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. Rothlin and Bircher


Drilling through hard massive carbonate formation combined with naturally induced torsional vibration due to bit-formation interaction is often resulting in unnecessary down time caused by downhole tool failures, sub-optimal drilling performance and extra trip to change out worn out bit. The torsional vibration is also well known as as stick and slip. To address the challenge, special PDC bit with advanced cutter technology were utilized in ERD well in Offshore East Java. The key focus when selecting the bit was on PDC cutter shape selection to improve drilling efficiency and utilization of higher strength material elements to improve stability and impact durability of the cutting structure critical in drilling hard and harsh rocks. The bit record, bit type configuration, QA/QC process, hydraulic & stability analysis and secondary cutter materials consideration were also specifically analysed when selecting this bit to improve bit performance further and ensure the bit could be repairable & reusable after being used. The first field run of the bit incorporating all this technology mentioned above was performed on last two (2) ERD well drilled in East Java Offshore area, at the 8.5in hole section with 7 bladed, 16mm cutter. The bit successfully drilled total of 3,029 ft interval through massive carbonate formation for both wells. The bit reached target depth without bit change. The bit had proven to reduce drilling torsional vibration stick & slip from severe to medium level. Both bit run also had set considerably remarkable slip-to-slip Rate of Penetration (ROP) for ERD wells category, which had significantly improved by 69.35% compared to previous ERD well drilled in same carbonate formation with ERD profile. When on surface, the bit was observed still in excellent condition for this application. The enhanced PDC bit selection had proven to enable drilling into more challenging torsional vibration induced formation in massive Carbonate formation and challenging ERD trajectory thus improving overall drilling performance and achieve actual rig time & cost saving compared to plan.


Java performance the definitive guide getting the most out of your code warrior renew healing from military sexual traumaas well competing by design the power of organizational architectureas well summary and analysis of bellevue: three centuries of medicine and mayhem at america's most storied hospital: based on the book by david oshinskyas well 2005 ford explorer sport trac owner manual and maintenance scheduleas well occhi verdi (i romanzi oro)as well john deere 210le service manual pdfas well het sprekend gedierte natuurgedichten geillustreerdas well the perfect scoop: ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and sweet accompanimentsas well construction managementtextbooksas well bohemian-inspired jewelry 50 designs using leather ribbon and cords by lorelei eurto 2012-05-29as well learning to read onlineas well summer sucks and so do his clientsas well erasmus and the age of reformationas well over the counter natural cures expanded edition take charge of your health in 30 days with 10 lifesaving supplements for under 10as well strategic leadership and management in nonprofit organizationsas well gabriella lewenz c m forrestas well beas niece playwrights canada pressas well the politics of judgment aesthetics identity and political theoryas well a discernment journeyas well managing aviation projects from concept to completionas well verscholen in noordholland 15 losse dorpsschetsenas well ebook online constance story plymouth patricia clappas well the songs of salanda and other stories of suluas well fairy gardening 101: how to design, plant, grow, and create over 25 miniature gardensas well black like us a century of lesbian gay and bisexual african american fictionas well tcl scripting for cisco ios networking technology 1st first by blair raymond durai arvind lautmann john 2010 paperbackas well simplified swahili longman language textsas well usa studies weekly week 24 answer keyas well book practical candle magic candle makingas well 50 leveled math problems level 1as well after day germany unconquered unrepentantas well for the time beingas well advances medicine biology leon berhardtas well factory owners manual for 1966 dodge chargeras well hughes poems everymans library pocket poetsas well die stadt in der wa ste citadelleas well varaciones sobre tema popular gallegoas well ecotourism programme planning by fennell d a cabi 2002 paperback paperbackas well effective teaching in correctional settings prisons jails juvenile centers and alternative schoolsas well drugs in pregnancy and lactation a reference guide to fetal and neonatal riskas well , etc.


This paper presents results on the effects of the fusion of a pyrazole ring containing prochiral isopropyl and benzyl groups at N/sup 1/ and c/sup 3/ to the MN/sub 2/X/sub 2/ metallocycle, variation in the nture of the central metal atom, of the donor atom X (O, S, or Se), and of the substituents R/sup 1/, R/sup 2/, and R/sup 3/ on the spectral characteristics and kinetic and activation parameters for enantiomerizaiton in the Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II), and Pb(II) bischelates (III) prepared using imines of 1,3-disubstituted 4-formy1-5-hydroxy-, 4-formy1-5-tthio-, and 4-formy1-5-selenopyrazoles.


Objective To investigate the clinical curative effect of conservative treatment with drug methotrexate.Methods 70 cases in the author's hospital of ectopic pregnancy were treated by Mefipristone and traditional Chinese drug from May 2010 to February 2012.Results After 70 cases were treated by Mefipristone and traditional chinese drug,62 cases were recovered,the cure rate was 88.57%,5 cases of adverse reactions,3 cases successed by surgery after healed.Conclusion The effect of conservative treatment with drug methotrexate was berrer,had a higher cure rate,fewer side effects was worthy to be popularized.


Patient suffers central nervous system damage after prolonged use of metoclopramide and ranitidine hydrochloride to control gastroesophageal reflux. Treatment is complicated by poor communication among providers and omissions in history-taking.


The practices and perceptions of educators formed through the creation and running of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provide a case study of how educators understandings of 'openness' change (Beetham et al 2012, p 3). We are interested in how educators engage with open education resources (OER) and openness as part of developing open online courses, and how this informs their practices and attitudes afterwards. Deepening understandings of these changes is important for informing strategies involving helping educators in adopting productive open educational practices. Our research question is how do educators' practices change or not change when using or not using OER in and as a MOOC? We are interested in whether and why educators adopt open practices in their MOOCs. We employ an Activity Theory (AT) conceptual framework as a heuristic tool to track and thickly describe educators' practices and perceptions. This frame enables us to locate educators' practices in a context of mediating nodes, i.e., tools/artefacts, rules, divisions of labour, and community – as they strive towards and consider their object. The object upon which the educators act is the development of a new interdisciplinary field. We focus on the role of two mediating artefacts introduced into the activity system, namely Creative Commons (CC) licenses and the 'MOOC design'. We describe how the open aspect of these artefacts mediate and affect educator's perceptions, attitudes and educational practices in the context of their object-directed activity system. We draw predominantly on semi-structured interviews with the MOOC lead educators and the MOOC learning designers. Interviews were conducted at two time intervals, before and after the MOOC has run. From this we craft two activity systems. We have categorised our findings according to Beetham et al's dimensions of open practices. Further, two broad themes emerged from the data analysis. These are Affordances of the MOOC and Reflection on educational practices.


This paper propose parallel implementation of Ant Colony System (ACS) algorithm for automated combinational circuit design. Ant Colony System is one of the most popular and widely used Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm and heuristic algorithm in general. As digital logic circuits become more complex, efficient circuit design is priority and use of heuristic methods are unavoidable. Unfortunately, the optimization problems became so complex in sense of their size, even the most powerful heuristic algorithms can't solve them on single CPU. In order to be able to tackle the problem, parallel version of ACS is needed and this paper presents CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) C language implementation.


S everal reports have shown that protein-energy malnutrition is common in patients with chronic renal failure (CRF), and that various anthropometric and biochemical signs of malnutrition are strong predictors of increased morbidity and mortality (1). A critical factor for the development of malnutrition is the dietary intake of protein, especially because patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) appear to have higher requirements for protein than the general population (1). The monitoring of protein intake is therefore important in the clinical followup of ESRD patients. In steady state (i.e., when the nitrogen balance is neutral) the net amount of protein catabolized should be the same as the amount of protein ingested. The total nitrogen appearance (TNA), that is, the sum of all nitrogen losses from the body plus the change in body nonprotein nitrogen (mainly urea nitrogen), re flects the net breakdown of protein, which in the steady state should be equal to the intake of nitrogen, the main source of which is ingested protein. Urea is the major end product of protein metabolism and urea nitrogen appearance (UNA: the sum of urea losses in urine plus dialysate plus changes in body urea nitrogen) closely reflects TNA, as demonstrated in several studies in nondialyzed and dialyzed patients with CRF (2 7). Hence, by directly measuring urea in urine and dialysate, and changes in body urea (4-8), or [in hemodialysis (HD)] by calculating UNA from pre and postdialysis blood urea concentrations and dialyzer clearance and dialysis time by kinetic modeling (3), it is possible to calculate TNA and the protein equivalent of nitrogen appearance (PNA) as 6.25 times TNA, which in the steady state reflects protein intake. The determination or calculation of UNA is now widely used as a powerful method for assessing protein intake in end-stage renal failure patients, although the precision of these estimates is far from perfect due to variations in nitrogen balance, fecal nitrogen excretion, and other nonurea nitrogen losses. This type of analysis was introduced by Borah et al. (3) in HD patients, but has also been applied to continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients (5-7) and nondialyzed patients with CRF (4,7). However, it appears that the relationship varies somewhat for different categories of patients (6). The results also differ to some extent between differ ent studies of CAPD patients (7,9,10), and there is still no agreement as to which formula is best for estimation of PNA from UNA. In the following we critically review the studies on which the various formulas for calculating TNA (and PNA) are based.


Economic reform in China has created a small but fast-growing private sector that has spurred rapid productivity growth. Growth of the private sector is predicated upon continued labor movements away from state-run industries and into private firms. This paper presents a theory of labor market sectoral choice demonstrating that three factors determine private sector labor supply--the difference in wages between the state and private sectors, private sector wage risk and risk aversion. Estimation of the model using survey data provides strong support for the theory. We find that the riskiness of private sector earnings has a greater effect in discouraging workers from taking jobs in private firms than the wage premium has in attracting workers.


Drawing upon resource dependence theory, this study examines venture relocation as a strategy to escape out of their financial resource dependencies. Using a unique longitudinal database of 155,435 U.S. high tech ventures who were started in the period 1995-2009, we demonstrate that the level of venture capital (VC) activity in a venture's state of origin is inversely related to the hazards of its relocation. More specifically, ventures who originate from regions with lower levels of VC activity are more likely to move to California or Massachusetts, the most VC rich regions in the U.S.. Finally, we show that relocation to California or Massachusetts is an effective but also a risky strategy to overcome financial resource dependencies. While this move increases the hazards of VC financing, a relocating venture is also more prone to failure. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.


The reliability of gate oxide on large-area surface defects (trapezoid-shape and obtuse triangular defects) in 4H-SiC epitaxial wafers is discussed. Time-dependent dielectric breakdown measurements revealed that the decrease of charge-to-breakdown occurred at a MOS capacitor including the downstream line of those defects. Cross-sectional TEM image and the simulation of the electric field indicate that non-uniformity of oxide thickness causes the degradation of the reliability of the gate oxide.


Degree Programme in Tourism Author or authors Xuesong Zhang Group or year of entry 2010 Title of report The Image of Wuhan as a Tourist Destination Number of pages and appendices 51 + 17 Teacher/s or supervisor/s Eva Holmberg, Gel Yucel Destination branding is a hot topic nowadays. One of the principal challenges facing many destinations is the need to differentiate themselves from competition with many of them offering very similar product offerings. Wuhan, which is the largest and populous city in the central China with thousands of historical development, is still looking for the appropriate image and own way of branding style. The aim of the thesis is to analysis current image of Wuhan as a tourist city, and to find out new way of branding Wuhan. The research is done through several steps. In the beginning a theoretical background is prepared to get a map of destination and city as a tourism product. Later on the thesis will analysis problems of Wuhan as a tourist destination and factors influencing the image. In the end, future suggestions will be given to build appropriate image of Wuhan in the tourism aspects. Quantitative research method is taken in the form of questionnaire. The contents are concentrating on the opinions and comments about image of Wuhan as a tourist destination from the viewpoints of Wuhan citizenship and Chinese visitors. 140 respondents of different nationalities answered the questionniares. Results were collected through several methods. The research will be beneficial for the Educational Bureau of Wuhan, Hongshan Department. Since the research method is mainly done by quantitative questionnaire, a majority of questionnaires were distributed through the bureau. Furthermore, the Edu-cational Bureau has built close co-operation with the Tourism Bureau of Wuhan, the research in the future will definitely helpful to the police making related to tourism of Wuhan.


In this paper, we propose a novel active 3D recovery method based on dynamic (de)focused light. The method combines both depth from focus (DFF) and depth from defocus (DFD) techniques. With this approach, optimized illumination pattern is projected on the object in order to enforce strong dominant texture on the surface. The imaging system is specifically constructed to keep the whole object sharp in all captured images. Consequently, only projected patterns experience the defocused deformation according to an object depth. Projected light pattern images are acquired within certain focused ranges similar to DFF approach, while the focus measures across these images are calculated for depth estimation by using DFD manner. This guarantees that at least one focus or near-focus image within depth of field exists in the computation. Therefore, the final reconstruction is supposed to be prominent to the one obtained from DFD and also less computational extensive compared to DFF provided.


It is well known that wind turbines have a negative impact on the landscape. But what is their impact on soundscape? Is this independent from the visual perception? Increasing research efforts are made to explain annoyance and complaints caused by wind turbines in detail, but still several questions are unanswered. The acoustical contribution of wind turbines depends on the technical design of the generator and of the blades. All of them produce low frequencies; some of them produce noise in the middle and higher frequencies with tones and modulations. It is clear that the A-weighted sound pressure level is not the appropriate indicator to predict resulting annoyance. The question is what must be considered to understand the perceived sound quality within the context of soundscape? Are psycho-acoustical parameters able to describe the sound character of wind turbines in a better way? To get an improved understanding of the complex interactions of the sound produced by wind turbines and the existing sounds...


Way of the Cross contains the last moments of Jesus's life. It begins with the judgment and ends when the body is entombed. This story of Jesus's death can also be seen like a picture that shows human's life. Existential problems are written in Way of the Cross next to religious because of particular God's presence in human being. The evanescence is one of those issues, which are analysed by the authors of reflections fulfilling structure of 14 episodes that create Jesus way to Calvary. The idea of this article is to show and analyse the examples of consideration the death and mourning taken from contemporary Way of the Cross texts. The analysis of them leads to conclusion that human looks for a confrontation with the picture of evanescence. This experience helps people to understand their nature which nowadays is displaced by society.


Arian Period: The first Visigothic king who took notice of the Jews was, according to our records, Alaric II (484–507). In his Breviarium published in 506, to which should be added Paul's Sententiae, he substantially adopted the laws in force in the Roman Empire at the time of the Visigothic conquest. The Arian successors of Alaric, for all their wide legislative activity, do not seem to have introduced any changes relating to the Jews.


Understanding carbon dioxide generation and decay patterns in buildings with high occupancy levels is useful to identify their indoor air quality, air change rates, percent fresh air makeup, occupancy pattern, and how a variable air volume system to off-set undesirable CO2 level can be modulated. A mathematical model governing the generation and decay of CO2 in building envelopes with forced ventilation due to high occupancy is developed. The model has been verified experimentally in a newly constructed energy efficient healthy house. It was shown that the model accurately predicts the CO2 concentration at any time during the generation and decay processes.


The present volume makes available in one convenient place all the research papers published by Raymond D. Mindlin in the course of a half-century of professional activity. Included, in addition, is the full text of three of his extended review articles, because these remain timely as well as historically important. Also to be found here is a brief sketch, written by one of us, his student and co-author, colleague and friend. It contains Mindlin's basic biographical data, although it dwells primarily on an analysis of his work and a chronicling of his accomplishments. The papers reprinted herein are reproduced photographically as they ap peared originally. We have excluded several short review articles; moreover, to our regret, because of constraints of space we have been unable to print three extended reviews. These are: "The photoelastic method of stress analy sis," published in volume 10 of the Journal of Applied Physics; a short mono graph, "Dynamics of package cushioning," which may be found in volume 24 of the Bell System Technical Journal; and the chapter entitled "Analogies," written for the Handbook of Experimental Stress Analysis."


Car insurance is a highly competitive business line in the insurance industry. Companies face a very large number of claims year-on-year and must decide carefully when to doubt a given claim, or when to simply cover the accident without question. In this presentation, we will show the results of a decision support system that ranks claims by their level of risk, suggesting which claims should be checked by an expert agent from the insurance agency. The decision support system analyses both common structured data, such as claim times and claimant information, and the report made by the claimant in free-text format. We show different strategies to deal with the text information, from using simple bag-of-words models, to much more complex embeddings using transforms such as Latent Semantic Analysis and fastText embeddings. Both sources of data, text-based and structured, are then used to create different predictive models estimating the probability that any given claim is fraudulent. Results indicate that there are clear gains in using more sophisticated models, but that data quality, specially having reliable fraud labels, might force the use of simpler models. We also will discuss how these models change business practices, by streamlining fraud detection as part of the day-to-day operation of insurance companies.


The environmental impact of using large electrical generators in the University of Technology in Iraq is studied. These generators are utilised due to the lack of electricity from the national grid. The emissions are very high and exceed the acceptable limits set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the World Health Organization and Iraqi Standard No. 4950. The impact of switching to the use of photovoltaic cell systems, as what is done in the Energy and Renewable Energies Technology Center (ERETC), and the environmental impact of this transformation are also studied. Results show that when the generators are used, high concentrations of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 are released, exposing students and staff to health hazards. The amounts of pollutants from SO2, H2S, NOx and volatile organic compounds are high due to the high sulphur content in Iraqi diesel fuel. Generator noise is extremely high that it could pose serious health risks to university staff and students. Furthermore, using the photovoltaic system considerably reduces PM1.0 and PM2.5 concentrations by 85.6% and 52.4%, respectively. The levels of CO2, CO, H2S and SO2 decrease by 60.5%, 49.6%, 91.7% and 95.3%, respectively. The noise inside ERETC is reduced by 29% compared with that in the external environment. Shifting towards the generation of photovoltaic electricity instead of using fossil fuel generators provides an immediate and appropriate treatment of Iraqi atmospheric pollution.


: A grand challenge of computational biophysics is accurate prediction of interactions between molecules. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have recently gained much interest as a tool to directly compute rigorous intermolecular binding a ffi nities. The choice of a fixed point-charge or polarizable multipole force field used in MD is a topic of ongoing discussion. To compare alternative methods, we participated in the SAMPL7 and SAMPL8 Gibb octaacid host − guest challenges to assess the Atomic Multipole Optimized Energetics for Biomolecular Applications (AMOEBA) polarizable multipole force field. Advantages of AMOEBA over fixed charge models include improved representation of molecular electrostatic potentials and better description of water occupying the unligated host cavity. Prospective predictions for 26 host − guest systems exhibit a mean unsigned error vs experiment of 0.848 kcal/mol across all absolute binding free energies, demonstrating excellent agreement between computational and experimental results. In addition, we explore two topics related to the inclusion of ions in MD simulations: use of a neutral co-alchemical protocol and the e ff ect of salt concentration on binding a ffi nity. Use of the co-alchemical method minimally a ff ects computed energies, but salt concentration significantly perturbs our binding results. Higher salt concentration strengthens binding through classical charge screening. In particular, added Na + ions screen negatively charged carboxylate groups near the binding cavity, thereby diminishing repulsive coulomb interactions with negatively charged guests. Overall, the AMOEBA results demonstrate the accuracy available through a force field providing a detailed energetic description of the four octaacid hosts and 13 charged organic guests. Use of the AMOEBA polarizable atomic multipole force field in conjunction with an alchemical free energy protocol can achieve chemical accuracy in application to realistic molecular systems.


The main objective of this paper is to test the applicability of a Quality of Working Life model (QWL). Specifically, it sought to describe the model of QVT adopted, to analyze QWL indicators and factors from the perspective of professors of public institutions and to check the suitability of that model to assess QWL in public sector institutions. An online questionnaire was applied at two different times. The sample was initially composed by 354 professors of Minas Gerais and 317 professors from Quebec. In the second phase, respectively, 274 and 252 professors participated. Data were collected between January and May 2013. Correlation analysis showed that both the indicators as well the analyzed factors showed results consistent with the reference model. The results show that the complementary constructs related to the meaning of work were also consistent with previous research that supported the construction of the systemic model of QWL analysis.


The evaporation of volatile chromium species from ferritic stainless steels (FSSs) used as interconnect is well-known as degradation source for planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stacks. This work presents a feasibility study to quantify chromium evaporation from FSSs. It is based on measuring carbon dioxide produced by an intermediate reaction. Cr evaporated is collected by sodium carbonate forming sodium chromate and carbon dioxide. Measuring the resulting carbon dioxide allowed to quantify online the amount of reacted chromium with the carbonates. The post-experiment quantification of sodium chromate confirmed the applicability of the proposed method.


Experiments to determine the yield losses induced by the sugarcane mosaic virus were carried out in Sertaozinho and Lencois Paulista, Sao Paulo. The plots were planted with four levels of initial mosaic infection, e.g., 0, 25, 50 and 100%. Virus spread in the experimental plots of the variety CB 46/47 was noticeable, but it was negligible for the variety IAC 50/134. The linear regression of plant-cane yield on increased mosaic infection was significant for the two varieties and two localities. Yield differences between initially healthy and 25% mosaic infected plots were significant for CB 46/47; percentages of yield reductions were 27 and 19%, in Sertaozinho and in Lencois Paulista, respectively. In the 100% infected plots, the yield reduction was 71%, in the two localities. For the variety IAC 50/134 the only highly significant difference in yield was between plots planted with healthy sets and plots planted with 100% infected sets; percentage wise, the yield difference was 18%, in the two localities. Juice analyses of healthy and diseased canes revealed no differences.


"Making Sense of Mass Education provides an engaging and accessible analysis of traditional issues associated with mass education. The book challenges preconceptions about social class, gender and ethnicity discrimination; highlights the interplay between technology, media, popular culture and schooling; and inspects the relevance of ethics and philosophy in the modern classroom. The third edition has been comprehensively updated to include the latest research, statistics and legal policies. Each chapter challenges and breaks down common myths surrounding each topic, encouraging pre-service teachers to think critically and reflect on their own beliefs. The inclusion of a new chapter on alternative education reflects the ever-changing Australian educational landscape. In Making Sense of Mass Education, Gordon Tait expertly blurs disciplinary boundaries, drawing on sociology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, ethics and jurisprudence to provide a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental concepts of mass education."--publisher website The author acknowledges Briony Wainman as a contributor/creator of the supplementary material (digital/website content)


While sport has been touted as a bridge for racial equality, racial discrimination has been as present in recreational and sporting spaces, as in any other public spaces. Discrimination in these spaces can thus inform racial relations in a society. Few Canadian studies have been conducted on the development of racial discourses in the context of recreational spaces, especially from a historical perspective. Through the lens of swimming, a historically exclusive recreational and sporting activity, this paper aims at positioning swimming experiences within racial and power relations between Black and White people in Canada. The findings inform us that racial discourses were continuously reinforced in swimming spaces, and shaped Black Canadians' experience. The particularities of and similarities between the various cases discussed also underscore the nuanced and varied effects of pre-1970s informal racial discrimination policy in Canada.


High resolution X-ray emission spectroscopy (HRXES) is becoming increasingly important for our understanding of electronic and coordination structures. The combination of such information with development of quantum theoretical tools will advance our capability for predicting reactivity and physical behavior especially of 5f elements. HRXES can be used to remove lifetime broadening by registering the partial fluorescence yield emitted by the sample (i.e., recording a windowed signal from the energy dispersed fluorescence emission while varying incident photon energy), thereby yielding highly resolved X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectra. Such spectra often display resonant features not observed in conventional XAFS. The spectrometer set-up can also be used for a wide range of other experiments, for example, resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS), where bulk electron configuration information in solids, liquids and gases is obtained. Valence-selective XAFS studies, where the local structure of a selected element's valence state present in a mixture of valence states can be obtained, as well as site-selective XAFS studies, where the coordination structure of a metal bound to selected elements can be differentiated from that of all the other ligating atoms. A HRXES spectrometer has been constructed and is presently being commissioned for use at the INE-Beamline for actinide research at the synchrotron source ANKA at FZK. We present the spectrometer's compact, modular design, optimized for attaining a wide range of energies, and first test measurement results. Examples from HRXES studies of lanthanides, actinides counter parts, are also shown.


Objective: The aim of this study was to compare sexual function and satisfaction among premenopausal women who underwent hysterectomy-only versus those who underwent hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy. Material and Methods: An anonymous questionnaire on sexual function was distributed to premenopausal women who, in 2007, had been submitted in our institution to total hysterectomy by abdominal approach, with or without bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy, for benign gynaecologic conditions. Responses were compared between both groups. Results: Complete replies were received from 111 patients. Of these, 20 were excluded (six because they were sexually inactive, ive because they had r eceived preoperative sexual counselling, and nine because they had been diagnosed with preoperative psychological disease). The remaining 91 consti tuted our study group: 40 were submitted to hystere ctomy-only and 51 had undergone concomitant prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy. Mean age at time of surgery was higher in the bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy group (42.1 vs 47.7, p<0.001) and at 6-months of follow up, more women in this group had initiated hormonal replacement therapy (7.5% vs 35.3%, p=0.002). No statistically sig niicant differences were found between the two grou ps regarding the time taken to re-initiate sexual activity, the frequency of sexual intercourse, the rate of sexual dysfunctions appearing de novo and the degree of satisfaction with sexual life and wit h the surgery. The majority of women in both groups reported no change in frequency of sexual activity and sexual satisfaction before and after surgery. Conclusions: Prophylactic bilateral salpingo-oopherectomy at elective hysterectomy for benign disease in premenopausal women does not appear to affect patients' sexual function and satisfaction.


Key findings derived by the application of an automated protection security assessment solution on a nationwide transmission system are presented. Protection coordination and verification of settings through simulation is getting increasingly complex. Conventional protection coordination and simulation tools reach their limits of practical applicability for fast developing networks and changing operating conditions. New automated protection security assessment solutions can overcome existing limitations and allow the fast and systematic performance assessment of the protection system. A new approach to assess the adequacy of protection settings and schemes is presented. It facilitates the verification of selectivity of protection settings for large numbers of different operation and fault scenarios. The presented solution is capable to handle large and complex network structures, and also to analyze the system behavior of the protection system and network as a whole. New concise result visualizations were developed to support protection engineers and operators to identify potential weak points and limitations of the protection schemes and settings. The paper summarizes key findings and lessons learnt from an automated systematic protection performance assessment and enhancement project performed on a nationwide transmission system. It demonstrates how the applied solution can help to assure and improve the quality of protection settings through event-triggered or regular application. The in-depth evaluation allows the pinpointing of false settings in individual relays and for various different operating and fault conditions. If false or improvable settings are detected then the solution supports the calculation of new improved protection settings. To enhance quality control, a new set of settings can be validated and verified through simulation before application in order to maximize network utilization and grid reliability by reducing the risk of unwanted protection actions and cascading events.


For many years various State governments have tried to find an adequate and fair substitute for the general property tax on forest land. Heavy annual taxes were thought to discourage the practice of good forestry. Such taxes tempt the timberland owner to liquidate his forest capital; they discourage him from investing money in a long-range program to provide for future timber crops.


1. corporate performance, and its origin, became one of the most investigated topics in the finance and strategic literature, due to an extremely fast moving environment that disturbed the conditions in which most companies had generated for a long period relatively constant and high rates of return ; as a result, financial and organizational decline and failure perceived much attention from both researchers and economic authorities ;


Detection and tracking of different moving objects in the surrounding environment is an essential capability for any robotic perception system. This enables forecasting of object trajectories and safe navigation of a mobile robot, such as a self-driving car, toward its goal. In this paper, we demonstrate a multi-object tracker from image data in a tracking-by-detection paradigm. The tracking algorithm imposes no prior requirements on the tracked objects. This paper demonstrates how with a simple and intuitive cost function, competitive and real-time performance is achieved. Furthermore, the multi-object tracker is combined with a stereo visual odometry system to obtain a more complete knowledge of the environment. Beside 2D object detections and tracking in the image domain, this provides robot motion estimates and 3D object trajectories in the world frame. Evaluation and discussion of the system is presented along with a study on the effect of removing features lying on tracked objects on visual odometry performance.


Based on the concept of natural resources balance sheet, this paper discusses the necessity of preparing the natural resources balance sheet in China, and analyzes the theoretical basis for the preparation work. It also sums up the problems in the process of preparation at present, and then puts forward some rationalization suggestions accordingly, in hope of providing some references for the future research.


The utility model relates to a four-directional crab lifting operation vehicle. Drive axles which take a midpoint of a cross beam as a fulcrum and are connected with the fulcrum by pin axles and hinges are respectively arranged at the front of a vehicle body and at a rear cross beam. Wheels are arranged on the drive axles, the wheels are all driving wheels, or driving wheels and driven wheels arranged at four corners of the vehicle body in a diagonal position method, and a turning oil cylinder with double ejector rods is adopted for pulling the wheels for synchronous turning. The operation vehicle can smartly realize four-directional ambulation of advancing, falling back, moving left and moving right, can deflect left, deflect right and turn in situ, and can transport goods to every hole and corner of three-dimensional spaces in a narrow space. The utility model can be widely used for storing and accessing the goods, raising overhauling operations, etc.


Iron bulk self-diffusion coefficients were measured in Fe2O3 single crystals using an original methodology based on the utilization of 57Fe stable isotope as iron tracer and depth profiling by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The iron self-diffusion coefficients measured along c-axis direction, between 900 and 1100o C, in oxygen atmosphere, can be described by the following Arrhenius relationship: D(cm2/s)= 5.2x106 exp [-510 (kJ/mol)/RT], and are similar to reliable data available in the literature, obtained by means of radioactive techniques.


Surface acoustic waves (SAWs), which can be excited in thick aluminum (Al) grating, were analyzed in a simulation that combined both FEM and BEM. The simulation results were confirmed experimentally. First, we analyzed longitudinal leaky SAWs in an Algrating structure on a 171o-YZ'-lithium-niobate substrate. These SAWs have potential applications in high-frequency SAW devices because their velocities range from 6100 to 6500 m/s and their Q values are theoretically larger than 4000. Secondly, we analyzed SH-wave-type SAWs, which are suitable for wide-band resonators. These SAWs have a bandwidth of 10% in an Al-grating structure on a 15o-YXlithium-niobate substrate. Resonators using these SAWs were applied to 900-MHz-band voltagecontrolled oscillators. They provided high control-voltage sensitivity and good phase-noise performance.


Grazing can modify vegetation structure and species composition through selective consumption, modifying plant litter quality and hence decomposability. In most grasslands, moderate stocking rates maintain a mosaic of high-quality patches, preferentially used by herbivores ('grazing lawns'), and low-quality tall patches, which are avoided. In grazing lawns decomposition rates can be accelerated because of the higher litter quality of its component species and, besides, through the indirect effect of increased nutrient availability in soil. We aimed at testing this indirect effect using standard materials, comparing their decomposition in grazing lawns, open and closed tall tussock grasslands. We selected 10 patches of each type and sampled floristic composition, soil variables and cattle dung deposition. Standard materials were filter paper and Poa stuckertii litter. We prepared litterbags of 0.3 mm (thin mesh) and 1 mm mesh size (coarse mesh). Samples were incubated for 65 days in two ways: above-ground (thin and coarse mesh) and below-ground (only thin mesh), aiming at analysing the conditions for decomposition for surface litter and buried litter or dead roots, respectively. Physical and chemical soil variables did not differ among patch types, despite the differences in species composition. Closed tussock grasslands showed the lowest dung deposition, confirming the less intense use of these patches. Soil nitrogen availability (N-NO3- and N-NH4+) was not significantly different among patch types. Each standard material followed a different decomposition pattern across patch types. For above-ground incubated samples, Poa litter decomposed significantly faster in lawns, and slower in open tussock grasslands. Filter paper decomposed significantly faster in closed tussock grasslands than in the other two patch types. Decomposition of below-ground incubated samples did not significantly differ among patch types, in line with results for soil variables. Above-ground differences in decomposition may be associated with differences in microclimatic conditions resulting from differences in vegetation structure.