Objective To construct a community nursing quality evaluating system,and provide the evidence and strategy of high nursing quality of community health system.Methods Using Delphi method,16 specialists with the professional titles of supervisor nurse or higher and over ten years of nursing experience on community nursing quality management were consulted in two rounds from 18 district community health centers and quality control centers in Shanghai.Results Specialists were quite active while specialists' Cr was 0.86 and coefficient of coordination was 0.18-0.35(P0.01).The community nursing quality evaluating indictors consisted 5 first-level indictors: nursing quality of community nursing center,nursing quality of community nursing station,contract of family doctor and nursing quality of door-to-door service,satisfaction of nursing team,and innovation of community nursing quality(the portion were 0.51,0.15,0.19,0.09,0.06),24 second-level indicators,and 33 third-level indicators.Conclusion The specialists' activity,authority,and concentration of their opinions are quite high.Community nursing quality evaluation indicators should reflect the community nursing function(6 in 1),the regional characteristics and the concept of continued high quality service.


In the case of soft ground or large exciting force, the soil in the certain depth of the foundaon will assume the elastoplastic property, which results in the decrease of the reonant frequency of the nonlinear vibation of foundation In this paper , three simplified methods for the nonlinear resonant frequency of the fpimdation are reviewed and compared with experimental data .A polynomial interpolation of the relationship between reaction force and displacement of subsoil is proposed , which leads to simpler governing equation for the foundation vibration (Duffing equation and more accurate calculation of the nonlinear resonant frequency .


Effect of anisotropy on the physical tensor description of the negative index of refraction material acting as a substrate is found on the electromagnetic field distributions. This is done for the case of a microstrip structure, whose configuration is commonly used in microwave and millimeter wave integrated circuits. These ab initio studies have been done self-consistently with a computer code using a full-wave integral equation numerical method based on generalized Green's function utilizing appropriate boundary conditions. Field distributions are provided over two decades of frequency in the cross section of the uniform guided wave structure, from 0.2to20GHz. It is found that modifying the tensor can allow control because the wave changes volumetrically, or switches from volumetric to surface, in its distribution of fields.


Two Francis turbine units with the single capacity of 250MW are installed in Pankou Hydropower Station.According to the characteristics of the clear river water power generation,the specific hydraulic design is conducted by the model and its performance can meet the contract requirements.The main components of water turbine are made of stainless steel,the generators are designed as semi-umbrella structure,the electrical part adopts the class F insulation.The basic situation of Pankou Hydropower Station and the river reach,research and development program of water turbine units,the structure and characteristics of the unit,and the main parameters of turbine are briefly introduced.


Dear Sir, The interesting paper published by Lessa et al. described four patients with immunological reaction against central nervous system (CNS) after influenza A (H1N1) immunization. A few environmental factors such as bacterial infections, viral infections, and vaccinations have been considered triggers for immune destruction of CNS. The influenza virus has historically been associated with cases of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a sleep and neurologic disease characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and sleep fragmentation. Recent Chinese study demonstrated a 6.7-fold increased risk of developing narcolepsy after H1N1 pandemic vaccination in 2009. However, just Pandemrix vaccine has been related to increased risk of narcolepsy. Pandemrix is a monovalent vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to influenza pandemics in 2009. GSK vaccine contains an immune adjuvant called AS03 that has the function to increase the immune response. The association between narcolepsy and vaccination for influenza A (H1N1) during pandemic in Europe and North America was also suggested in Sweden. Likewise, studies show higher risk of narcolepsy and cataplexy after H1N1 pandemic vaccination in Sweden, Finland, and Canada. In Brazil, vaccination against pandemic influenza H1N1 was released in March and April 2010, and about 25% of the population was vaccinated by Pandemrix4. According to the Ministry of Health of Brazil, more than 24 million people were vaccinated against the H1N1 flu. The number corresponds to more than 80% of the priority group that was formed by the elderly, children, pregnant women, health professionals and populations indigenous. An autoimmune response to development of narcolepsy or other CNS injuries can have genetic susceptibility. The higher prevalence of HLA-DQB1*0602, which is present in 88%-98% of patients with narcolepsy and cataplexy is an example. The immunological theory of narcolepsy defends an attack against hypothalamus with consequent lost of hypocretin cells. It is possible that narcolepsy and CNS lesions described by Lessa et al. after H1N1 immunization have common immunological pathophysiology. Should be very interesting to check which kind of H1N1 vaccine was used in these four patients.


According to the 2003 - 2009 statistical data of eight cities in Changzhutan urban agglomeration, we have taken a deep study on financial eco-environment index system structure and competitiveness evaluation. First of all, we choose the reasonable evaluation indexes and tested the reliability and validity of the indexes, so as to determine the method and model of evaluation indexes. Then, we estimated the local financial eco-environment competence of the eight cities, and compared the results. Results show that: the core city-Changsha has mature financial eco-environment; Zhuzhou and Hengyang have the developing financial eco-environment; and the main form of the rest cities' financial eco-environment is backward. Keywords: Financial eco-environment; Competitiveness; The principal component analysis


Taking law-ruled economic construction as the leading orientation of developing market-oriented economy is not only an effective way to solve many prominent problems in contemporary economic construction, but a essential guarantee for a full, harmonious and sustainable economic deveolpment. This paper puts forward feasible means of law-ruled economic construction after discussing the definition and attributes of law-ruled economy and theoretically practically analysing law-ruled economic construction.


Dihydrogen bonds attract much attention as unconventional hydrogen bonds between strong donors of H-bonding and polyhedral (car)borane cages with delocalized charge density. Salts of closo-borate anions [B10H10]2− and [B12H12]2− with protonated organic ligands 2,2'-dipyridylamine (BPA), 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen), and rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) were selectively synthesized to investigate N−H...H−B intermolecular bonding. It was found that the salts contain monoprotonated and/or diprotonated N-containing cations at different ratios. Protonation of the ligands can be implemented in an acidic medium or in water because of hydrolysis of metal cations resulting in the release of H3O+ cations into the reaction solution. Six novel compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction and FT-IR spectroscopy. It was found that strong dihydrogen bonds manifest themselves in FT-IR spectra that allows one to use this technique even in the absence of crystallographic data.


Abstract Parameters are presented enabling the Cubic Plus Association (CPA) concept to be applied with the Peng-Robinson equation for petroleum reservoir fluids carrying water and any of the gas hydrate inhibitors, methanol, mono-ethylene-glycol, or tri-ethylene-glycol. The acid gases, CO2 and H2S, are treated as solvating components, which do not self-associate, but cross-associate with water and hydrate inhibitors. Association is not considered for the remaining petroleum reservoir fluid constituents. The presented concept and parameters enable CPA to be used in flow assurance and process simulations on produced reservoir well streams containing water and hydrate inhibitors, while retaining consistency with prior reservoir simulations carried out using the Peng-Robinson equation on the water free reservoir fluid. A comprehensive data material for the mutual solubility of gases and aqueous components and hydrate inhibition is used to determine the pure component parameters and binary interaction parameters for associating components.


The planar wire array Z pinch experiments with insulated aluminum wires coated with 2 μm polyimide were carried out on "QiangGuang-I" facility (100ns, 1.3 MA) and compared to those with ordinary aluminum wires. Experimental results indicate that surface insulation can affect the implosion dynamics and radiation character of Z pinches. The resistive heating energy and imploding mass may be increased by exploiting the effect of surface insulation. In the surface-insulated wire array Z pinch experiments the multi-peak phenomena were considerably suppressed, whereas the improvement on the X-ray yield was not observed.


Objective: To establish the transplanted tumor models of human lung squamous cell carcinoma in nude mice, and to explore the relationship between the tumorigenicity of carcinoma tissues and Ki-67 expression level. Methods: Lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues were collected from 21 patients who underwent surgical resection at the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Anhui Provincial Hospital from August 2013 to January 2014. Lung carcinoma tissues were subcutaneously implanted into nude mice within 1 hour after surgical resection. The tumorigenicity of transplanted carcinoma tissues was observed, and the characteristics of patients with primary tumors that could form xenograft tumor (XG group) and couldn't form xenograft tumor (no-XG group) were compared retrospectively. The expressions of p63, cytokeratin 5/6 (CK5/6), thyoid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) and Ki-67 were detected by immunohistochemistry, and the expression level of Ki-67 was semi-quantitatively analyzed by H-score method. The mutation status at the exons 18-21 of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene was examined by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR. Results: Twelve (57.1%) xenograft models were succsessfully established after total 21 lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues were implanted into nude mice. The tumorigenicity of lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues in nude mice was correlated with differentiation (Z = -2.821, P = 0.005) and size (Z = -2.809, P = 0.005) of primary tumor in patients. High homogeneity of the expressions of p63, CK5/6, TTF-1 and Ki-67 as well as EGFR gene mutation status was found between xenograft tumors in nude mice and the lung squamous cell carcinoma tissues from the patients. The average H-score of the expression level of Ki-67 in XG group was 2.76±0.54, which was significantly higher than that in no-XG group (1.37±0.77) (t = 4.855, P = 0.001). Conclusion: The xenotransplantation models of patient-derived lung squamous cell carcinoma in nude mice were successfully established. Their tumorigenesis may be correlated with the expression level of Ki-67 in lung squamous cell carcinoma. This model system retains the basic biological characteristics of human lung squamous cancer, suggesting that it may provide a perfect platform for the research on human lung squamous cell carcinoma. DOI:DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2014.11.349


Background: At present, malaria cases in Suriname occur predominantly in migrants and people living and/or working in areas with gold mining operations. A molecular survey was performed in Plasmodium falciparum isolates originating from persons from gold mining areas to assess the extent and role of mining areas as reservoirs of malaria resistance in Suriname. Methods: The status of 14 putative resistance-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms in the pfdhfr, pfcrt, pfmdr1, and pfATP6 genes was assessed for 28 samples from gold miners diagnosed with P. falciparum malaria using polymerase chain reaction amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and the results were compared with earlier data from nonmining villagers. Results: Isolates from miners showed a high degree of homogeneity, with a fixed pfdhfr Ile51/ Asn108, pfmdr1 Phe184/Asp1042/Tyr1246, and pfcrt Thr76 mutant genotype, while an exclusively wild-type genotype was observed for pfmdr1 Asn86 and pfdhfr Ala16, Cys59, and Ile164, and for the pfATP6 positions Leu263/Ala623/Ser769. Small variations were observed for pfmdr1 S1034C. No statistically significant difference could be detected in allele frequencies between mining and nonmining villagers. Conclusion: Despite the increased risk of malaria infection in individuals working/living in gold mining areas, we did not detect an increase in mutation frequency at the 14 analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms. Therefore, mining areas in Suriname cannot yet be considered as reservoirs for malaria resistance.


The article considers the sequential strategies mixing in the matrix game as an algorithm for finding the optimal player's strategy. Strategies are mixed in such a way as to obtain a row of the payment matrix with constant elements. As a result, such a row is deleted as dominated, or determines the value of a game. The games with two moves of the second player, which are solved without the use of the simplex method, are analyzed at each stage.


☆ Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflicts o ⁎ Corresponding author. Department of Critical Care Dental University Graduate School, 1-5-45, Yushima, B Japan. Tel.: +81 3 5803 5959; fax: +81 3 5803 0168. E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com (C. Mitaka). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrc.2014.03.031 0883-9441/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. Please cite this article as: Mitaka C, et al, Po treatment period, J Crit Care (2014), http:/


The thermal expansion coefficient of BC2.5N heterodiamond determined by means of high-temperature X-ray diffraction, is negligible up to 800°C, it changes abruptly in the range 900–1100°C and increases steadily above 1100°C. The thermal expansion coefficient is ca. 5.5×10-6 K-1 in the range 1100–1300°C. This expansion coefficient is in fairly good agreement with that of cubic BN at high temperatures. The rapid expansion preceding the steady expansion is unknown for diamond and cubic BN. The thermal expansion behavior is discussed from a structural viewpoint.


The ultrasonic velocity of the alkali-borosilicate with different transition metal oxides (TMO) has been studied using the pulse echo technique. The elastic moduli such as elastic constant and bulk modulus have been obtained from the experimental data. Changes in the structure with different gamma irradiation doses have been investigated by using FTIR spectroscopy and ultrasonic studies. The results show that structural changes in the BO3 to BO4 due to TMO and irradiation are obtained.


The main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationships among China civil aviation industry market structure, regulation system, property right structure and civil aviation performance. Relative data of China civil aviation from 1986 to 2007 has been used in this paper. The research tries to explore that how three important variables including market structure, regulation system and property right structure, effect commonly on civil aviation performance in transit period, and statistically evaluate three variables' influence effect and other factors' separately on civil aviation performance. The analytical results show that there are insignificant relations between market concentration degree and output, significant positive relations between market concentration degree and ticket-price, and significant negative relations between market concentration degree and profit, regulation system re-construction has significant positive effect on output, insignificant effect on ticket-price, and significant negative effect on profit, and there are significant positive relations between state-owned property right ratio and output, significant positive relations between state-owned property right ratio and ticket-price, and significant positive relations between state-owned property right ratio and profit.


My theme is the difference between the respective first acts of Synthetic Cubism by Picasso and Braque, Still Life with Chair-caning and Fruit Dish and Glass (figs. 1 and 2). The purpose is two-fold: first, to suggest that Braque's project, overshadowed by Picasso's, contains evidence of an architectural consciousness of a different nature and is, in certain fhdamental ways, more instructive; and second, to describe how the competing, dialectical issues contribute to an understandingheading of one of my own projects. It is well known that the invention of collage in 1912 was the anomalous creative act that marked the break from Analytical Cubism to Synthetic Cubism an act more disruptive to the philosophical structure of the Western pictorial tradition than even Picasso's Les Demoiselles d 'Avignon five years earlier. And, if it is less well known that Le Corbusier and Ozenfant were the first, in La Peinture Moderne, 1925, to identify the phenomenon of collage as evidence of a violent break in the evolution of Cubism, it is Fig. 2


This paper will deal with the results from a case study of comparing a certain intersection and its present traffic signal system with two alternative reconstructions, one with a more advanced traffic signal system and the other as a roundabout without traffic signals. The site is located in the semi-central urban area in Malmo, Sweden. The research methodology used is traffic simulation and calculations of emissions related to singular vehicles' driving patterns by a specially developed computer programme. The aggregated results of total emissions, for various substances depending on certain real traffic situations for different times of the day, give the possibility for comparisons. The paper thus presents a research methodology and a survey method for investigating alternative intersection design.


A new measurement system and the testing device was developed to characterize the temperature regulation properties of textile fabrics based on the mechanical device, microelectronics, sensors and control system. A series of indices were defined based on the typical heat flow-time curve and the raw data to characterize the temperature regulation performance of textile fabrics. The measurement principle, the mechanical device and the evaluation method for the temperature regulation properties of textile fabrics were introduced. Twelve types of fabrics made from different textile materials were tested. The one-way ANOVA analysis was conducted to identify the significance of the differences of the indices among the fabrics. The results show that each index is significantly different (P<0.05) among the different sample fabrics.


The hydrogen distribution in an austenite–martensite dual‐phase steel was investigated using silver decoration and scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy. The silver decoration technique optimized for spacial resolution reveals interfacial segregation of hydrogen along the plate‐type martensite–martensite grain boundaries. In addition, the scanning Kelvin probe force microscopy kinetically elucidates that hydrogen preferentially diffused out from the martensite–martensite grain boundaries. These preferential sites of hydrogen desorption correspond to the regions of hydrogen‐assisted damage.


In 100 cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) reported from 10 metropolitan areas to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) after the 1976-77 influenza vaccination campaign and matched associate or spouse controls, we searched for risk factors for GBS other than A/New Jersey/1976 influenza vaccination and acute respiratory infection. The 47 vaccinated cases recalled influenza vaccination in past years less frequently than did controls (p < 0.025). Cases and controls did not differ in the number of previous vaccinations or in interval from last vaccination, Cases also gave a history of allergy less frequently than controls. There were no other significant differences.


The nonlinear interaction of terahertz (THz) pulses with optical fields in Kerr, gaseous media is a key ingredient for broadband THz detection schemes [1]. Terahertz field-induced second harmonic generation in solid-state media has also been considered for THz detection and as a tool e.g. for liquid dynamics investigations [2,3], while four-wave mixing has been addressed as a possible mechanism for THz generation [4,5].


Objective To reveal the auesthetic effect and feasibility of Coutinuous waist auestesia by low dosage levobupivacaine in the elderly抯 hipbone replauewent.Methods 40 patients of hipbene replacement are selectdbetween 70~90 years old to 2 groups.Lgroup(n=20);0.75% levobopivacaine 2ml+0.9%NS3ml, Bgroup(n=20) 0.75% bopivacaine 2ml+0.9%NS3ml.Both groups are injto the arachuoid by the vebcity of 0.1ml per sec.Results The anesthetic effect are same in the two growps also the blood stream dynamics. Conclusions The appli cation of continous waist anesthena by low dosage levobopivacaine in the elderly's hipbone rephcement is safe and fensibce.


This book comprises papers presented at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Roundtable 2002, held from 7– 8 November at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. It is a timely and valuable addition to the entrepreneurship and SME literature that focuses on Southeast Asia. For many decades until recently, economic development in Southeast Asia was driven primarily by large multinational corporations. Economic strategies also tended to favour foreign direct investment. These have changed as a result of the financial crisis of 1997–98 and the subsequent regional economic slowdown in 2001, as well as the rise of China and India as economic powerhouses. Entrepreneurship and small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) now play increasingly important roles in driving economic development in Southeast Asia. The book focuses on new policy initiatives by different governments in Southeast Asia in addressing issues related to entrepreneurship and SMEs. Contributors to the book include researchers, academicians, analysts, economists and politicians from the ASEAN countries, England, Japan and the Netherlands. The book is most relevant for policy makers, researchers and analysts, academicians and students, and business practitioners with an interest in economic development in Southeast Asia. It is not just highly informative; it is also analytical, rigorous and well grounded in sound theory and empirical data. The Foreword gives an overview of the new role played by SMEs in economic growth strategies, and puts forward a case for government intervention in the form of providing a pro-business environment for SMEs, strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs, and creating synergies for and providing financial and other assistance to SMEs. Chapter 1 provides the background and overview. The content of the remaining chapters can be summarized as follows. Chapter 2 discusses the various definitions of entrepreneurship, whether entrepreneurship can be developed, and the need for a clear definition of entrepreneurship to facilitate the formulation of policy initiatives. Chapter 3 explores new export opportunities for SMEs in Southeast Asia and the facilitating role that governments can play. Special emphasis is given to Indonesia. Chapter 4 focuses on SMEs in Thailand and Malaysia, and suggests that they enhance their competitiveness by improving technical and managerial skills through training and education. It also highlights financing problems and the inability of financial institutions to evaluate the creditworthiness of SMEs. Chapter 5 discusses the trend of multilateral and bilateral donor agencies favouring a more integrated approach for SME development based on institutional reforms, better services and financial tools under a less regulated environment with greater participation from the private sector. Chapter 6 discusses the roles played by governments in supporting agricultural and rural development programmes in Southeast Asia (eg Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam) and suggests development strategies to boost employment opportunities and income. Chapter 7 focuses on significant SME clusters in Indonesia and argues for the government to promote an environment for these clusters to grow and for new ones to be created. Chapter 8 discusses the Malaysian experience of developing SMEs in the electronics industry and the need to have a critical mass of demand for products and services from larger companies. Chapter 9 highlights the impact of financial and human resources and organizational constraints on the sustainability of policies, programmes and projects to promote SMEs in the Philippines. Chapter 10 argues for the setting up of a dedicated agency for SMEs in Singapore that not only assists SMEs in overcoming constraints, but also in fostering linkages. Chapter 11 recommends initiatives to assist SMEs in the automobile industry in Thailand to develop it into a production hub. Finally, Chapter 12 suggests policy emphasis for the transitional economies of Southeast Asia (ie Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) to promote and develop SMEs and entrepreneurship. Overall, the book is very well written and readable. If there is any area for improvement, perhaps it is that the chapters could be better organized into related themes with linkages between them. This would provide readers with a better framework to appreciate the book.


This article will firstly discuss the history of Persian influence in Southeast Asia in relation to Muslim co-existence as well as touch upon the threats to Sunni-Shia unity in Southeast Asia and end with a conclusion. In the section two, this article will discuss the contemporary Sunni-Shia relations of tensions and attempts at reproaching (taqrib) Sunni-Shia reconciliation.


The protection of firms' identity is one of the main problems raised by the diffusion of counterfeit products. Firms protect their identity by fighting counterfeiters in their main and ancillary markets, as well as against diffusion of dangerous counterfeit products that can damage their brand and reputation. We describe the strategies of the firm and of the counterfeiters in these two contexts, and test our hypotheses using a unique dataset reporting 3333 battles taken by a high-tech firm against more than 2000 counterfeiters in 75 countries over a 6-year period. We find broad support for our hypotheses on the strategic behavior of the firm and of the counterfeiters, highlighting the difficulties firms find in protecting their main markets, and their advantages in limiting the diffusion of dangerous counterfeit products


We present a new gene prioritization method that learns a probabilistic knowledge model from a knowledge base and free text research documents and exploits it to prioritize candidate genes. The knowledge model is represented by a network of associations among the domain entities (e.g., genes) and is extracted from a domain knowledge base (e.g., protein-protein interaction database) or a corpus of text documents (e.g., PubMed documents). This knowledge model is then used to perform probabilistic inferences and applied to the task of candidate gene prioritization. We evaluate our new method on five diseases and show that it outperforms a recently described network based method for candidate gene prioritization.


One of the pathogens able to produce haemorrhagic fevers is Ebola virus, classified in the Filovirideae family, which has four sub-types, the most analyzed of which is the Zaire sub-type. The genome of this virus contains the information of seven structural proteins and one non-structural  glycoprotein called Small Secretion Glycoprotein of the Ebola Zaire virus (SSGP). Using bioinformatic tools and previous studies about the Ebola virus, we predicted the tertiary structure of the small secretion glycoprotein (SSGP EBO-Z), and based on that, we generated a model to explain the mechanism by which the virus enters host cells, where receptors of the cell surface play an important role. This provided an explanation for the symptoms and pathological damage found in patients.


The issue for this essay is interaction between exegetical and translation principles in light of a critical analysis of the ideas put forward by Walter Benjamin in his controversial and mystical work, The Task of the Translator.


In the late 1990s the millennium bug enjoyed much publicity and 'millennial preparedness' was considered a top priority by governments and the corporate world alike. As awareness of its possible effects spread, concern about the millennial problem became a popular obsession that grew into a craze. This chapter argues that this outburst of collective fascination with the Y2K bug was a knee-jerk reaction to troubled times. The popular craze surrounding the millennium problem nonetheless displayed facets that can be described as religious. The chapter also argues that the millennium bug scare was one possible response to the anomie that ensued the fall of the Iron Curtain. The concept of implicit religion can be used as an analytical tool to help one understand such outbursts of collective emotion as the millennium bug scare. Keywords: digital apocalypse; implicit religiosity; millennium bug scare; Y2K bug


A research work, presently in process of completion, on popular religiosity in Latin .America 2 will supply numerous data on the quality of the population's catholicism. Obviously, the process of religious socialisation is of the upmost importance in the context of such a field of investigation. On the other hand, the relationship between popular religiosity and deficient catechesis is already evident to those in charge of the catechesis 3. Nevertheless, no survey has been carried on up to now that would convey a systematic view of the whole problem of religious catechesis in Latin America. It is here that the present scheme becomes significant. Its aim is to develop a systematic study of an issue


The main goal of endodontic procedure is to provide a complete 3-D seal of the tooth from the periodontium. When this is not possible by othograde approach, retrograde filling needs to be done. Plethora of dental materials is available as root end filling material. This article reviews on the advantages and disadvantages of various retrograde materials as well as discusses new materials


High-current high temperature superconducting (HTS) cables have been developed for use in HTS power devices. This paper presented the structures of HTS cables, including Conductor on Round Core (CORC) cable, Twisted Stacked-tape Conductor (TSTC) cable, and Double coaxial cable. Subsequently, three-dimensional finite element method numerical models were built to analyze the electromagnetic characteristics of the cables, and the critical current of the cables is about 380 Ampere @77 K, self-field. Using the T-A formulation, the numerical model assumed a sheet approximation for conductors, which shortened computational time. The T-A formulation were verified by experiments on a superconducting tape. Then HTS cables with different configurations were made, as functions of different transport current and background magnetic field, and different pitches of Double Coaxial Cable inner conducting layer. According to the results, the ac losses of Double coaxial cable and CORC cable decreased 40% than the TSTC cable with different transport current, and the Double coaxial cable ac loss decreased 20% than the CORC cable when background magnetic field was in the range of 20–60 mT. Conclusions obtained from this study will be helpful for understanding the ac loss properties of HTS cables and useful in design of HTS power devices (such as HTS transformer), using HTS cables.


Advances in autonomy offer the potential for dramatic positive outcomes in a number of domains, yet enabling their safe deployment remains an open problem. This work's motivating question is: In safety-critical settings, can we avoid the need to have one human supervise one machine at all times? The work formalizes this scalable supervision problem by considering remotely located human supervisors and investigating how autonomous agents can cooperate to achieve safety. This article focuses on the safety-critical context of autonomous vehicles (AVs) merging into traffic consisting of a mixture of AVs and human drivers. The analysis establishes high reliability upper bounds on human supervision requirements. It further shows that AV cooperation can improve supervision reliability by orders of magnitude and counterintuitively requires fewer supervisors (per AV) as more AVs are adopted. These analytical results leverage queuing-theoretic analysis, order statistics, and a conservative, reachability-based approach. A key takeaway is the potential value of cooperation in enabling the deployment of autonomy at scale. While this work focuses on AVs, the scalable supervision framework may be of independent interest to a broader array of autonomous control challenges.


Background: In addiction field, there is more attention on men than women, while women are more vulnerable to addiction. Because of the importance of women in the family foundation, we decided to investigate this subject. Purpose: This study aims at the effect of 8-weeks of combined training with methadone on cardiovascular inflammatory markers fibrinogen and CRP on addicted women. Method: This study accomplished as a semi-experimental research. 24 addicted women were randomly selected as samples from Zahedan Mohabbat addiction Camp that divided in two groups of methadone (N= 11) and methadone/ exercise (N= 13) by the same variables such as age, BMI, type and duration of drug withdrawal. The protocol of combined exercise was included of aerobic added to strength training; also methadone was taken according to the camp instructions, too. Blood sampling, pre and post 8 weeks exercise were directly collected from anterior veins of samples and the levels of plasma fibrinogen and CRP were measured in lab. To compares of the pre and post tests means for each group as well as both groups, paired and independent t-test via SPSS software version 24 were used, respectively. Statistical significant level was considered PResults: The results showed that CRP values in both groups decreased significantly (methadone: P 0.05). Conclusions: It has suggested that the method of methadone/ exercise might be used as such as methadone method by the same results on plasma fibrinogen levels and CRP for withdrawal addiction women.


Post-traumatic complex regional pain syndrome is type 1 (CRPS) is uncommon and can cause the disability of patients. Complex dislocation of the meta-carpophalangeal (MCP) joint on the index finger is rare. We reported a case of CRPS1 after trauma and we used fluidotherapy   as a treatment method. To our knowledge this case has not been reported yet.


The Monolithic PiezoActuator (MPA) described in this work proposes the amplification of the piezoelectric deformation by a lever mechanism designed in a bulk piezoceramic plate. The advantages of the monolithic approach are to make the structure compact and to avoid problems of assembling reducing consequently production costs. In addition, several DOF (Degree Of Freedom) MPA can be designed with this approach. The total displacement using the MPA can reach some microns for a few millimeters size device. A numerical model has been used to simulate the static and dynamic behavior of a 1 DOF MPA. Static and dynamic measurements show a maximum displacement of around 6 mm and bandwidths as high as 5 kHz. The second part of this work is devoted to the open-loop position control of the MPA. The piezoelectric actuation is generally known to have a static behavior with a good linearity. Actually, when such an actuator is controlled by the electrical voltage, the typical hysteresis between this voltage and the corresponding deformation of the actuator can reach 20% for a soft PZT. Experimental results show an hysteresis under 10% and weak non-linearity for the MPA compared to standard piezoactuators. In order to linearize the open-loop motions, an open-loop control device which control the quantity of free electrical charges on the micro-actuator has been developed. The implementation of the control method has also given very encouraging results for MPA prototypes used in the laboratory.


Abstract : It is agreed that the most valid approach for the determination of active aluminum is the eudiometer method. A round robin test showed that the available eudiometer methods left much to be desired. This laboratory, undertook the development of an improved eudiometer method. (Author)


Biofuel consumption in Romania is over 160,000 tones if we consider the rate of 4% required to participate in diesel fuel sold, of which most is imported. Production capacity of Romanian companies can ensure an achievement of 280-300 thousand tons of biodiesel per year. In 2007, Romania has produced only 30,000 tones of biodiesel. By-products obtained from the biofuel industry were introduced in feed of lambs. Regarding the body weight gain, all experimental groups were situated beyond the control group. Body mass growth rate is 3.5 times higher in the group fed with supplement of sunflower meal, 4.16 times higher in that fed with soybean meal supplements and 5.2 times higher in the group fed with additional rape meal. After the second week, the differences are decreasing, as the absolute value of body weight gain. Analyzing main serological and biochemical parameters of lambs, normal levels of total protein, albumin, glucose, K, increased urea, alkaline phosphatase and low values of the enzyme AST, cholesterol , Na, Fe, Ca., Mg were founded. As deviations compared to reference values from literature are not significant it can be concluded that these products used in appropriate proportion in feed of lambs are not harmful to their health.


In natural convection flows, the fluid velocities are highly dependent on the thermal field and property variations can have a strong effect on both the flow and thermal fields. To examine the effect of property variations, at first, numerical analyses covering wide range of the Prandtl number under the same Rayleigh numbers have been carried out. Next, we have modeled the viscosity and thermal conductivity as parabolic functions of temperature and a comprehensive set of numerical solutions have been obtained to understand the effect. The Prandtl number dependence of Nusselt number is fairly strong even though the effect is still weak compared to the Rayleigh number dependence. When thermophysical properties are dependent on temperature, the flow field showed a fairly weak variation except near boundaries, whereas the temperature field is strongly affected, especially by the temperature dependent thermal conductivity.


SUPPLEMENTARY irrigation is important for sugarcane productivity and viability of cane farming in many regions where rainfall is the main source of water supply to the crop. Growers have to contend with variable and unpredictable rainfall and with variable water allocations. Because of uncertainty about the season's water allocations, growers are reluctant to use all their assured allocation early for fear of dry periods later in the growth of the crop. In many seasons allocations are not fully utilised. Growers require some way of assessing the risk of using their water early. An optimising technique ('Watersense') for determining the best time to irrigate sugarcane with limited irrigation was developed using the APSIM-Sugarcane model. Watersense aims to find an irrigation strategy that minimises overall water stress and provides the highest yield. A replicated experiment was established on the farm of David Lawson near Bundaberg to compare irrigation schedules based on Watersense ('Plus' treatment) and the grower's considerable experience ('Grower' treatment). The treatments were compared by noting irrigation times and yield components, determined by sampling, over three ratoons (2 nd , 3 rd and 4 th ). Crop water use was measured with an EnviroSCAN system in the last two ratoons. The Grower and Plus irrigation schedules were remarkably similar for the second and third ratoon crops. In the fourth ratoon, the grower used all the water available by April while Watersense saved some water for May. In the third ratoon, biomass was greater in the Grower than the Plus treatment even though the Plus treatment used more water. In the fourth ratoon, sucrose content was higher in the Plus treatment and resulted in a slightly greater sucrose yield in this treatment.The probability of predicting the correct irrigation date is much greater for irrigations in the near rather than in the distant future. While information about irrigations far into the future may be vague, the information can indicate by when the allocations should be used. Watersense should help growers to use their allocations at the best time and should encourage use of all water allocated every year.


Purpose: This study is done to investigate the attitudes of teachers toward mental illness and to provide appropriate information about mental illness. Methods: The participants were 228 teachers recruited from 15 elementary schools in the National Capital region and B metropolitan city. Data were collected from October to December, 2013 and analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and Scheffe test with SPSS 18.0. Results: Neutral attitudes (77.4±7.79) toward mental illness were shown among the teachers. A negative attitude for stereotyping (23.2±6.08), a positive attitude for optimism (19.3±3.01) and neutral attitudes for coping (19.3±1.92) and understanding (15.6 ±3.05) were revealed. Conclusion: The results indicate that elementary school teachers have neutral attitudes towards mental illness which is closely related to the experience of learning about mental illness. Thus, when teachers learn about mental illness they can understand and guide children who have unusual behaviors.


Since the Asian and Brazilian exchange rate crises have occurred, the reaction
of authorities has been the subject of an intense debate. Indeed, coping with a
speculative attack, domestic authorities both increase interest rates and contract
fiscal policy. It appears that such a combination of policy instruments is counterproductive. This paper analyses the credibility of the policy-mix used by authorities.
But, opposite to traditional credibility models, fiscal policy is explicitly introduced in
the loss function of the authorities. The model suggests that a restrictive fiscal policy
is not necessary a credible decision to defence the exchange rate target.
Classification JEL: E5; E6; F4


The present invention relates to an integrated motor cover air cooler, a cooling tube and a motherboard including an end cap member; a side cover is opened motherboard cooling tank for the cooling pipe member fitted on the coolant tank and fixedly connected to cooling ; sides of the cooling channel cover board has radial cooling ribs fixedly connected to the heat sink and the air guide. Advantage of the present invention are: on the one hand to reduce the auxiliary cooling device internal air in the liquid to cool the motor structure, the air cooling function on the other hand increase the motor by the motor structure itself in performance, simple and compact structure, low vibration and noise, maintenance free and further improve the operational reliability of the motor.


The company system is one "two-edged sword", at the time of creating the fortune for the society, it has also brought a series of social problems to us. The companies should undertake the social responsibilities , this is the inevitable request of the economic development.Besides the shareholder's interests, we should enhance all the other social benefits to the maximum. The social responsibilities held by the company for the benefits of the wide workers has become an important part of contemporary economic democracy.


Product reliability is ultimately reflected and validated in the field with use of products in real environment. With intensified competition in the market place, the product development and validation cycle becomes shorter. This means the products released to the market might not have been fully validated ideally in the development phase. Meanwhile, new technology makes collecting the data from the field more convenient. The best use of field data is crucial in improving product reliability and satisfying customers. On the other hand, field reliability data can be masked, non-homogeneous, seasonal, mixed with non-reliability factors, and incomplete. They may not necessarily accurately reflect inherent product reliability. There have been many data analysis methods developed over the years. Most of them are parametric methods involving time-to- failure distribution or stochastic process. Good summaries of the challenges and methods in the field data analysis can be seen in [1]–[3]. While the parametric data analysis methods are very useful and remains fundamental, they have some limitations summarized below. (2)The mathematical assumptions for applying these methods often time do not hold in real world. (2)The selection of the analysis method depends on specific application. This makes it hard to provide a unified analysis approach in todays' fast pace office environment which requires more standard and unified analysis and reporting tool leading to quick reaction and timely decision making. (3)Parametric methods are typically mathematically complex. It may not be very intuitive to people who are not familiar with the statistics. Industry practices need the methods easy to understand and explain, more objective with less assumptions and data manipulation, and even easy to visualize. (4)Parametric methods typically have high requirement for data accuracy, which is difficult to meet in reality. The methods that relax this requirement but still provides good value can be very much welcome. (5)Parametric methods typically require more detailed analysis, such as distribution type choice, single or mixed distribution, etc. which makes data analysis automation with big data difficult. There have been efforts in analyzing the field data with non-parametric approach, which can avoid or mitigate many difficulties in the parametric analysis methods though it may not reach the detail of the analysis as the parametric methods do. [3]–[6] are good examples. The field data in many applications exhibit a common format [4], [7], [8] in which for each time period such as a month, certain number of products are released to the market; while certain number of failures occurs. This format of data can be called Nevada format data (table or chart). It applies to both non-repairable systems and repairable systems. Some reliability software package like Weibull $++$ from Reliasoft has the function of the warranty data analysis in Nevada format [7]. In this paper, the effort is made to generalize the Nevada format data analysis methodology and make it a unified and relatively simple tool for industry applications. The analysis methods for some typical uses of Nevada format data are presented. Examples are provided throughout the paper. .


This thesis deals with technical monuments which located mainly in the Czech Republic and in Poland, especially on the territory of the Czech-Polish borderland. A substantial part of thesis includes the marketing mix analysis of one selected monument in the Czech Republic and one monument in Poland. Monuments were presented and subsequently was stated how it was the process of transition from the industrial object into a tourist attraction.


Objective To explore diagnoses/treatments of tuberculosis(TB) in Guizhou Province,to analyze the status of delayed diagnoses / treatments and its related influencing factors.Methods A interview questionnaire survey was carried out by simple random sampling method in 249 TB patients in Guizhou.A statistical software was used to do related statistical analysis.Results In 243 valid questionnaires,99 TB patients had delayed visits to doctors(40.8%,57 males,42 females);34 had delayed diagnoses(14.0%,21 males,13 females);29 had delayed treatments(11.9%,19 males,10 females).By Logistic regression analysis,there was significance in effects of local residence,awareness about TB symptoms and doctors to be seen on delayed visits to doctors(P 0.05),and in effects of local residence,family income,awareness about doctors to be seen and TB being able to be cured on delayed diagnoses(P 0.05),and in effects of local residence,family income,awareness about TB symptoms,TB being able to be cured and TB regular treatment courses on delayed treatments(P 0.05).Conclusion High rate of diagnoses /treatment delay were found among TB patients in poor and remote areas,affected by several influencing factors.TB control should be strengthened,knowledge about TB prevention and treatment be popularized,floating population be managed standardly,to promote patients to have timely diagnoses and treatments to improve its cure rate.


The invention provides a home service system, a home service system failure handling method, a home appliance, and a home service system server. A home appliance sends a first message to a main server, and judges that the main server fails when not receiving a connection signal fed back by the main server; and the home appliance sends a second message to a standby server according to pre-stored identity information of the standby server so as to be connected with the standby server. The home appliance and the standby server can be connected through information exchange therebetween only. Paralysis of the home service system when the server fails can be avoided without information exchange between the main server and the standby server or an additional server.


Within the framework of quantum chromodynamics we have studied the dependence of the production cross section of three-hadron-jet production in e/sup +/e/sup -/ annihilation on the polar angle and the azimuth as well as the magnitude of the maximal directed momentum T (thrust) to the first order in the running coupling constant ..cap alpha../sub s/, taking into account the polarization of the incident particles.


The problem of thin film vibration has always attracted scholars. The classical thin film theory is based on the integer order calculus to characterize the wave equation of thin film vibration, which ignores the characteristics of material memory in the modeling process. In this paper, a new film vibration model is proposed for the temporal memory of viscoelastic film materials, which solves the problem of time memory that the wave equations based on integer calculus theory can not ac-curately characterize materials. The properties reflected by the fractional-order calculus model are closely related to its entire development history, and this paper is based on the theory of frac-tional-order calculus. The fractional order model proposed by Westerlund is applied to the free vibration of viscoelastic film to obtain the fractional order wave equation of free vibration of thin film. Combining the initial conditions and boundary conditions of rectangular and circular films, a field system equation for the free vibration of viscoelastic films is established. Using the separation variable method, the Laplace transform solves the rectangular thin film wave equation. The results show that in the free vibration of the rectangular film, the fractional order α of the in-fluencing time factor has a very obvious effect on the mode shape.


The molecular descriptors include various topological indices, quantum chemical descriptors, physicochemical parameters and so on. They all give structure descriptions of chemical compounds. Chemometrics, especially, quantitative structureactivity relationship (QSAR) and quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) attempt to correlate physical, chemical and biological activities or properties with structural descriptors of compounds and find a suitable model, called metamodel, to establish relationships between molecule descriptors and activities or properties. The results are useful in theoretical and computational chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacology and environment research. Techniques in multivariate analysis and data mining, such as ordinary least squares regression, principal components regression, partial least squares regression, multivariate adaptive regression splines and multivariate additive regression tree, are useful tools for modeling. Metamodels generated by these methods, basically are linear models with independently identical distributed (i.i.d.) random errors. However, the assumption of independent and identical distributed errors in general metamodel is not always true. For instance, many examples show that there can still be unacceptably large residuals compared to measurement errors in many models of QSAR/QSPR research. The reason for this may be diverse. The simplest and the most natural reflection on our mind is that the unaccepted residuals could be dependent. These dependent errors will present more information than independent situation. For instance, we might use a stationary Gaussian process {z(xi), i = 1, 2, · · · , n} instead of independent random variables 2i's. In fact, the general Kriging approach just consists of parametric item and a stochastic process. In this thesis, we compared the Kriging models with other metamodels. Experiments showed that the proposed Kriging


Background: Isolated renal artery thrombosis (RAT) following blunt trauma is very rare. RAT after blunt trauma almost never occurs as an isolated event but rather accompanies major injuries. There has been a relative increase in diagnosis with the help of advanced imaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT). This study presents selective renal artery stenting in a patient with isolated RAT following blunt trauma. Case report: In this case, a young male presented with unilateral isolated RAT, affecting the left kidney, after thoracoabdominal blunt trauma with no clinical and laboratory abnormalities. Contrast enhanced CT (CECT) revealed thrombosis of the left renal artery with no contrast retention. CT angiography showed an occlusion of 2 cm in the middle segment of the left renal artery and an endovascular stent was placed. Renal artery flow was patent in the follow up. Percutaneous endovascular revascularization was successfully implemented in the patient and hypertension (HT) did not develop during short term follow up. Scintigraphy showed that the left kidney had minimal function. Conclusion: Minimally invasive treatment is encouraged for young patients with RAT occurring in the late period of trauma to save kidney function and prevent probable renal HT, although risk of low kidney function remains present. Percutaneous endovascular revascularization can be used safely instead of surgical revascularization, due to the minimally invasive nature and lower morbidity.


According to the characteristics of distribution system requirement of the telescope and its operation mode,controlling of base command is executed by the time-slot ring technology,this paper implies a controlling arithmetic for distribution system.


Skin stretch-forming is an important process in the field of aerospace manufacturing industry,whose advanced extent is one of important marks for judging the aircraft manufacturing capability and level of one country.In order to save manufacturing costs and improve work efficiency,multi-point forming technique is applied to stretch-forming of skin,simultaneously produceing especial dimple phenomenon.Using nonlinearity finite element software ABAQUS to simulate the process of double-curved skin multi-point stretch-forming,the effects of technical parameters are investigated.Moreover,by means of elastic cushion,dimples can be suppressed effectively.Simulation results show forming precision can be met fundamentally so long as the thickness of elastic cushion and elastic deformation are compensated appropriately.Elastic cushion technology is the most effective way to suppress dimpling.


There are some characteristics of poor quality,less organization,less salary,higher risks and costs during the transfer of labors from rural to urban areas and their employment thereafter.Many factors resulted in this unsatisfactory transfer,but the current system and institution impediment is the main barrier which hinders rural labors from their transfer and employment.Shanxi Province,one of less developed inner provinces of China,should develop labor intensive industries;reallocate land utilizing index with household registration system to promote the rural surplus labor.


As many deviated texts produced in the handing-down process of the three books on rituals,Zheng Xuan in late Eastern Han Dynasty made collations and discriminations of those books in addition to his annotation thereto.His principles on the discrimination include letter-meaning appropriateness,understandability and conventionality,rationality,normality and respects to original letters(which is specific to keeping the ancient letters in Yili(Ceremonial Rituals).Zheng collated and annotated the Three Books on Rituals for accurate expression of the classics without impairment to their understandability.Thus his acceptance or rejection of every letter in the classics is based on the rationality and normality of its usage under the given situation,on condition that the original meaning of the ancient letters is kept for restoration of the original version of the ritual books.Consequently the Three Books on Rituals edited by Zheng Xuan was accepted as the best edition in that field and handed up to date.Zheng Xuan's principles on the collation and annotation may also serve as beneficial references for contemporary filing of classical literatures.


Summary 1. A cholesterol-induced hyperlipemia was fully counteracted (reduced to normal levels) by feeding beta-sitosterol. 2. The decreased plasma clotting times associated with a hyperlipemia returned to control values when a normal lipid level was attained. 3. An inverse relationship was demonstrated between plasma clotting time in presence of Russell's viper venom and degree of lipemia; i.e., a hyperlipemia resulted in decreased plasma clotting time, and vice versa. 4. Addition of 4% beta-sitosterol to the diet prevented or reversed an increased lipid and cholesterol concentration in liver and aorta.


We take a new look at the comparison between the Stackelberg equilibrium and the Cournot equilibrium. We show that, when the elasticity of the inverse market demand equals the curvature of the inverse market demand weighted by the Lerner Index, a generic Stackelberg leader sets the same quantity and earns the same profit as a generic Stackelberg follower. When the curvature of the inverse market demand equals the total number of firms in the industry, a coincidence among the quantities produced by a first mover, a second mover, and a generic firm facing Cournot competition occurs.


Farmers' suicides' have been typically framed through official statistics and they have been explained in terms of agrarian economic distress. This book revises and extends such explanations on the basis of ethnographic work in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. It describes spatially grounded transformations taking place in the domains of production, consumption, social relationships, and gender identities in south India today. Its focus is on exploring how these interconnected transformations-and their engendered, emotional experiences-set the context for understanding suicidal behavior in a particular location. The understanding that 'farmers' suicides' are objectively, uniformly, and exclusively marked by 'farm-related' factors are thus interrogated. The book concludes by suggesting that 'farmers' suicides' are motivationally related to the wider field of rural suicides. Overall, the book contends that rural suicides relate to emerging mentalities and interactions around status, equality, and honour in contemporary India.


Abstract A distrust of focus on subjectivity and the individual provoked by his meeting with Sartrean existentialism led György Lukács to turn his early but qualified admiration of Søren Kierkegaard into an accusation of fostering a bourgeois culture of the kind Kierkegaard is usually thought to have opposed. Not every Marxian thinker has been equally wary of subjectivity, but all have found in Kierkegaard a crucial absence of concern for human exploitation within a context of natural scarcity. However, a more measured reading suggests a case for resolving the need to choose between Lukács's insistence on "spirit" as a collective notion and Kierkegaard's as cultivation of a trans-historically oriented, self-stabilizing social will.


Background: Taiwanese midwives began to receive professional training in 1907 during the Japanese Colonial Period. The profession of midwifery flourished until it was gradually sidelined by increasingly available professional obstetrics and medical care and changes in society and culture. Lee Chuan is a former professional midwife. She was born in 1921 in Tainan County and studied at the Midwifery Institute in Taichung, where she graduated in 1943. She worked as a midwife at the Jiangjyun Township Health Center in Tainan County in 1950. She joined the Kaohsiung Municipal Hospital in 1952 and retired from the Kaohsiung Municipal Ta‐Tung hospital in 1978. She ended her midwifery career in 1989.Purpose: This study explores the career of midwifery, including initiation, the learning process, and career as a precious historical perspective on the development of maternal‐infant care in Taiwan through the mid‐ and late‐20th century, a timeline that covers Japanese and Republic of China administration of Taiwan and addresses social, and culture contexts.Methods: An oral history approach was adopted to explore the midwifery career. Research included literature review, photograph compilation, a review of formal documents, and 14 face‐to‐face, in‐depth interviews with Lee Chuan. Content analysis was performed on collected information and triangulation was used to check rigor.Results: Three themes emerged, including: (1) growth and midwifery enlightenment; (2) midwifery learning experiences; (3) the career of midwifery.Conclusion / Implications for Practice: Results provide Lee Chuan's personal and professional history, underscoring the meaningful implication and values of traditional midwifery. Results further reveal the merits of the midwife profession. Lee Chuan's profession, humanity, and ways of social communications may also have lessons and insights for maternal and infant care and nursing professionals today.


To compensate the decrease in its revenue, most telecom operators have adopted similar strategy which is to provide faster Internet with low cost to its customers. Studies suggested that providing faster Internet with low cost can be achieved by reducing the cost of building next-generation access network. Among the various technologies introduced for next-generation access, long-reach optical access LROA is considered the largest candidate. This is due to the anticipated cost effectiveness of this technology. In LROA, more users can be supported over a common optical component (e.g., a transmitter, a fiber, or probably both), i.e., small number of entities is employed in the access network for service provisioning, which is considered as an improvement in the cost-sharing concept. Our objective in this paper is to verify the cost-effectiveness of this technology. To this end, a statistical-based cost comparison was conducted. The comparison was between the currently deployed passive optical networks (PONs), i.e., the Broad band PON (B-PON [G. 983]), the Ethernet PON (E-PON [IEEE802.3ah]), and the gigabit PON (G-PON [ITU-T G. 984]) and one of the LROA architectures proposed in the literature. The comparison process confirmed that the LROA requires less cost and cost per subscriber as compared with the currently deployed PONs.


In this paper, we study the convergence of a family of iteration methods to solve nonlinear equations in the complex plane. Two analysis of convergence are provided. We give a Kan-torovich-type convergence theorem under mild differentiability conditions with error analysis.


The continuously growing research to establish the quality of service (QoS) enabled multi-service network architecture has identified several essential mechanisms, among which call admission control (CAC) is assuredly one of the most important ones. This mechanism is responsible for keeping the number of ongoing sessions at the appropriate level in the network to meet the QoS requirements. Due to high call admission request rates, often being the case in core networks, it is essential to study and develop fast and scalable admission control functions. In this paper, we propose a new call admission control scheme based on topology aggregation. We use simulations to evaluate the performance of this scheme versus a traditional parameter-based admission control model. The results show that our CAC scheme achieves very good performances in terms of accuracy and scalability.


The Gaspari-Gyorffy theory for calculating the electron-phonon interaction $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ is extended to incorporate a correction to the rigid-muffin-tin approximation (RMTA). This correction is achieved by constructing a potential which has the correct asymptotic behavior at large distances and reduces to essentially a uniform potential well inside the muffin-tin sphere. This method is particularly applicable to the simple metals where the usual RMTA underestimates $\ensuremath{\lambda}$. The results obtained without any adjustable parameter are in better agreement with the experimental data than those obtained by the RMTA.


This study aims to determine the performance of drip irrigation technology as compared to conventional farmer's practice on rice growth and yield, grain quality, and water consumption. The research was carried out at the Sukamandi Experimental Station, Subang, West Java in July - October 2019. The test was arranged by a nested randomized block design with 5 replications. The main plot was water management with 2 levels: (1) Drip Irrigation Technology (DIT) and (2) Conventional Farmer's Practice (CFP) (flooded condition) as a comparation. Subplot was varieties with 4 levels: two hybrid rice (1) Hipa 8 and (2) Hipa 18, upland rice (3) Inpago 11, and irrigated inbred rice (4) Inpari 42. The result showed that yield of DIT not significantly different to CFP with higher number of tillers per m2. However, it was lower for plant height, tillering ability, grain filling, 1000 grains weight, transpiration rate, assimilation rate and stomatal conductance. For grain quality determination, DIT gave an increase in the average of grain density and impurities, but decreased in the average percentage of chalky and immature grains. In Hipa 18, DIT was able to produce a higher percentage of head rice. DIT only consumed 3864 m3/ha/season water irrigation compared with average water consumption in Sukamandi Field Station which range of 7460-8740 m3/ha/season.Keywords: Drip irrigation, Rice, Water, Yield, Grain quality


Manganese crusts were recovered from Enarete and Palinuro Seamounts in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The crusts consist of porous, black, layered Mn oxides up to 45 mm thick. In some cases, the surface has a black metallic sheen similar to that observed in crusts from the Tonga‐Kermadec Arc. The crusts overlie substrates such as calcareous sediment, siltstone, and oyster shells. They consist dominantly of 10‐A manganate and 7‐A manganate, with minor quartz, calcite, aragonite, illite, mont‐morillonite, plagioclase, and goethite. The sample having the highest Mn content contained 52.8% Mn, 0.15% Fe, 46 ppm Ni, 84 ppm Cu, 26 ppm Zn, 6 ppm Pb, and 2,130 ppm Ba, with a Mn/Fe ratio of 347. It also had a low rare‐earth element (REE) abundance (La 2.7 ppm) and a negative Ce anomaly (Ce/La ratio 0.5). A TV profile on Palinuro showed the occurrence of yellow (Fe oxyhydroxide or nontronite), black (Mn oxide), and white (sulfate) halos in the sediment and opaqueness in the overlying water. Nontronite and massive sulfides were...


I n the spring of 2003, Wolfgang Giere, the director of the Department of Medical Informatics at the J. W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, retired after more than 35 years of work in the area of computerized medical documentation and communication, i.e. Medical Informatics. Wolfgang Giere was born in 1936 in Königsberg, East Prussia, now Russia.After attending a secondary school specializing in the humanities, he studied medicine in Tübingen, Munich, Montpellier, and Marseille. As a medical doctor with experience in data processing, in 1968 he built up the first electronic patient record at a hospital in Duisburg. He then became the chief of the computer center of the famous German Clinic for Diagnostics in Wiesbaden, and from 1976 to 2003 he worked as a full Professor of Medical Informatics at the University Hospital in Frankfurt. For decades, Wolfgang Giere has been a strong influence on Medical Informatics in Germany with his ideas, projects, and his excellent international contacts. On the occasion of Wolfgang Giere's retirement, an international farewell symposium took place at Frankfurt University on May 16, 2003. In this issue of Methods of Information in Medicine you will find two papers referring to this symposium. The first one [1] presents an overview of seven lectures from this symposium, given by Otto Barnett, Eckard Fleck, Ruth Dayhoff, Clement Mc Donald,Yoichi Satomura, Gustav Wagner, and Frank Warda; and it includes some remarks and historical additions to Wolfgang Giere's paper as well as 40 references concerning recent publications on medical text processing and electronic patient records, which are the main topics Wolfgang Giere dealt with. The second one [2] is the manuscript of Wolfgang Giere's farewell lecture, which we adopted to the formal requirements of this journal, though we did not touch his special and individual views, commandments, or inspiring diction. We hope that these two papers not only give some insights to the history of Medical Informatics, but also encourage medical informaticians to develop better "Electronic Patient Information" with similar long-lasting effects, like those of these pioneers of Wolfgang Giere's farewell symposium.


Soils of Mewar (Udaipur valley) region of Rajasthan were found to contain very low amounts of water soluble and exchangeable manganese, the latter being absent in some cases. Exch. Mn increased on air drying and storing of soils. Either of these forms showed no relationship with the manganese uptake by gram and wheat. Reducible Mn, which had a significant positive correlation with manganese content of gram plant though not of wheat, appears to be more important and practically constitutes the active form in the soils. Total Mn was significantly correlated with Mn in gram crop and it increased with silt+clay fraction. The organic (dil. alkali exttactable) fraction of soil had a low content of manganese. High Fe/Mn ratios in wheat plants are also indicative of a low availability of Mn in these soils.


The effect of jump in electron mass at the crystal-vacuum interface on photoemission from semiconductors is considered. In the effective mass approximation, the angular and energy dependences of the electron transmission coefficient through interfaces with a jump in mass and potential steps of different signs, corresponding to negative and positive electron affinities, are considered. It is shown that due to the jump in mass, there are a critical energy and a critical angle of incidence of electrons, which separate qualitatively different angular and energy dependences of the transmission coefficient, respectively. The jump in mass makes it possible for electrons to transfer (up to complete transmission) through a positive potential step with a normal component of kinetic energy below the height of the step. The calculated dependences of the emission quantum yield of thermalized electrons on the affinity value are compared with the experimental data on photoemission from p-GaAs(Cs,O). Possible reasons for the significant differences between the experiment and the calculation are analyzed: a complex potential profile, including the near-surface band bending in the semiconductor and the image charge potential in vacuum, scattering in the (Cs,O) layer, and the need to go beyond the effective mass approximation and to take into account full Bloch nature of electron wave functions in semiconductors.


Restoration experiments of mangroves in Spartina alterniflora cutting area and cutting trial of Spartina alternif-lora were conducted.The results show that cutting is not effective to the resprouts number of Spartina alterniflora,and the axillary buds number increases with living roots biomass addition.Restoration effects of mangroves in Spartina alterniflora cutting areca were analyzed.The results show that bare-root seedlings of 1-year-old Bruguiera gymnorrhiza grow better than 1-year-old bare-root seedlings of Kandelia candel and Aegiceras corniculatum in these sites.The optimal planting density of bare-root seedlings of Kandelia candel is 100 cm×100 cm.The optimal hypocotyls planting density of Kandelia candel is 50 cm×50 cm and then 75 cm×75 cm.


The natural disasters caused by extreme precipitations significantly have increased around the world. In the US, wild fires and flooding appear to increase year-by-year. The extreme precipitations are attributed to the climate change. Over recent years we have successfully used the random walk to simulate the global warming in many places around the world. This encourages us to use the random walk model to simulate the precipitations. In this investigation, we used the random walk model to simulate the precipitations in 50 US state capitals for the 20th century. The results show that the random walk can approximately simulate the precipitation in these cities in both 1/–1 and decimal forms. Thus the results suggest the random mechanism is one of causes for unusual precipitations over recent years.


We present a wavelength locking platform enabling the feedback control of silicon (Si) microring resonators (MRRs) for the realization of a 4 × 10 Gb/s wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transmitter. Four thermally tunable Si MRRs are employed to multiplex the signals generated by four directly modulated lasers (DMLs) operating in the L-band, as well as to improve the quality of the DMLs signals. Feedback control is achieved through a field-programmable gate array controller by monitoring the working point of each MRR through a transparent detector integrated inside the resonator. The feedback system provides an MRR wavelength stability of about 4 pm (0.5 GHz) with a time response of 60 ms. Bit error rate (BER) measurements confirm the effectiveness and the robustness of the locking system to counteract sensitivity degradations due to thermal drifts, even under uncooled operation conditions for the Si chip.


Binary detection integrator is characterized by its simplicity, resistance against asynchronous interference, and its good detection performance. It suffers from detection loss due to non-homogeneous background. To overcome the limitations of binary integration, the Adaptive Binary Integrator (ABI) is used. ABI achieves the advantages of automatic detection and adaptive thresholding over the binary integrator. The presented adaptive binary integrator is designed and implemented using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The performance of the proposed ABI is evaluated through the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). The implemented hardware is evaluated experimentally under different conditions of noise, asynchronous interference, sea clutters, and rain clutters. High probability of detection is achieved by designing the Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) processor which is the first stage in the proposed ABI for relatively high probability of false alarm. The final probability of false alarm is then reduced by the effect of integration.


This study utilises a split-sample experimental approach where six different choice experiment designs that vary in the number of attributes are used to control for the effects of design dimensions and consumer inferences in assessing consumer demand. Our application is in the use of gestation stalls (crates) in pork production. Our findings suggest that effects of both the mixture of attributes included in the design and consumer inferences on the specific attributes presented in experiments influence estimated willingness-to-pay and consumer welfare. Implications are that when researchers limit their studies to the use of a unique choice experiment design, resulting willingness-to-pay estimates might not be robust to different specifications.


To eliminate the influence of wave on the sub-bottom profile,a new processing method is presented.The proposed approach firstly picks up the first arrival automatically based on the improved energy ratio method,and then performs median filtering and moving average filtering to process the first arrival according to its feature.Difference between the unprocessed and post-processed first arrival is considered to be the time shift caused by the wave.Subtracting the time shift from the original profile record can eliminate the wave-induced distortion effect on sub-bottom profile.The real data processing results show that this processing method is effective and useful.


The development progress of hollow fiber reverse osmosis(RO) membranes were introduced briefly,and mainly illustrated the developments of cellulose triacetate hollow fiber membranes,structure characteristic and technical levels of their modules,the competition with RO wound membranes and the growing market both at home abroad.The pretreatment of sea water using hollow fiber ultrafitration(UF) microfiltration(MF) mem-branes were introduced.


Present investigation was planned to evaluate time period of bud breaking in Centella asiatica with different concentration of plant growth regulators, a medicinal herb distributed throughout the worldwide. For the study, concentrations were designed for response surface model describing bud breaking growth in optimum conditions. A combination of BAP (2 mg/L) + gibberellic acid (GA3, 0.5 mg/L) was achieved at a best initial bud breaking at 8thhour. Longest time period taken for bud breaking was shown in combination of BAP (0.5 mg/L) + naphthalene acetic acid (NAA, 0.5 g / L) and BAP (0.1 mg/L) + adenine sulphate (0.5 mg/L) which was recorded at 84th hour. Half strength MS media was supplemented with IBA alone (2 mg/L) and in combination with IAA (0.5 mg/L) to attain an early in vitro rooting. Their interactions observed were statistically significant (P < 0.05).

 Key words: Centella asiatica, bud, plant growth regulator, medicinal plant.


Simulating autonomous virtual actors living in virtual worlds with human-virtual interaction and immersion is a new challenge. The sense of "presence" in the virtual environment is an important requirement for collaborative activities involving multiple remote users working with social interactions. Using autonomous virtual actors within the shared environment is a supporting tool for presence. This combination of Artificial Life with Virtual Reality cannot exist without the growing development of Computer Animation techniques and corresponds to its most advanced concepts and techniques. In this paper, we present a shared virtual life network with autonomous virtual humans that provides a natural interface for collaborative working and games. We explain the concept of virtual sensors for virtual humans and show an application in the area of tennis playing.


In the special processes field, where welding processes are historically among the most significant examples, laser welding and cutting are certainly among the technologies that stand out the most due to their innovative content and potential for industrial applications, also when considered in synergy with conventional arc welding processes, such as MIG welding, for example. On the other hand, they are clearly distinguished from arc welding processes due to their technological specificity, particularly with reference to the methods adopted for personnel and process qualification. The fundamental aim of this paper is to analyse the state-of-the art in relation to standardization activities, with particular reference to the qualification of personnel and processes in accordance with European standards.


Objective To investigate the association between physical intimate partner violence and low birth weight. Methods This cross-sectional study included 604 children with approximately 30 days of age who visited four primary health care units in the city of Rio de Janeiro , Brazil, for the second dose of hepatitis B vaccine. Children with a birth weight below 2.500 g were considered underweight. Information regarding physical intimate partner violence was obtained by the Portuguese version of the Conflict Tactics Scale. The study investigated the 12 months prior to interview. Physical intimate partner violence was analyzed as a dichotomous variable and cumulatively. Associations between physical intimate partner violence and low birth weight were verified by logistic regression models based on crude and adjusted odds ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Results Some (7.1%) babies were born underweight, and 33.6% of the mothers had been exposed to physical intimate partner violence. Physical intimate partner violence was significantly associated with low birth weight (OR=3.69; 95%CI=1.57-8.66). Notably, the odds of low birth weight increase with the severity of violence. Conclusion These findings draw attention to the consequences of physical intimate partner violence on the nutritional status of newborns and emphasize the need of greater attention during prenatal care to improve women's quality of life and to reduce the rate of low birth weight.


GRACE (short for Graduate Robot Attending Conference) speaks with a feminine voice, has an animated face, demonstrates many features of human social interaction, and is, as her name informs us, a robot. GRACE is the creation of a group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and other institutions. She was the sole entry into this summer's mobile robot challenge in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, at the national meeting of the American Association of Artificial Intelligence.


The development of new capabilities in high resolution photoemission is allowing detailed studies of the role of collective many-body excitations in the decay of a photohole. This in turn provides new insights into the physics of condensed matter systems, in particular the strongly-correlated systems, which exhibit a rich variety of exotic phenomena including high Tc superconductivity.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


A mathematical model was proposed for describing the longitudinal and transverse vibrations of sucker-rod string,longitudinal vibration of tubing string coupled with fluid columns vibration in the directional and horizontal well bore with plane curve.The relationships on several given mathematical models were discussed.Based on different assumptions,the characteristic transformation for a set of partial differential equations of the mathematical model was given,and a set of diagonal partial differential equations were obtained.The relatively complex model could be transformed into a reduced model that is easy to be solved.The generated model is suitable to prediction,design and fault diagnosis of suck and pumping system.


In recent years consistent attention has been devoted to novel types of lithium rechargeable batteries in which the metal anode is replaced by a lithium-source anode. The general interest in these batteries, often called rocking-chair batteries, has increased consistently; however, the idea of exploiting the rocking lithium systems for achieving improvements in safety and cycle life is not new, but dates back to the beginning of the eighties


Low Vocabulary Ability of Children in Group A Kindergarten Tunas Bangsa, Sukamaju District, North Luwu Regency. Action research cycle refers to Mc Kernan's action research model which divides into 7 stages, namely situation analysis (reconnaissance), problem formulation and clarification, action hypothesis, action planning, implementation of action with monitoring, evaluation of action results, reflection and decision making for further development . Overall, the average vocabulary ability through hand puppets increased from an average of 8.12 or 34% in cycle 1 to 19.24 or 80% in cycle 2 with an average increase of 11.12 or 46%, thus the success rate of children's abilities based on Mills' action success criteria ≥71% vocabulary ability through hand puppets in group A TK Tunas Bangsa, Sukamaju District, North Luwu Regency was found to have experienced success.


Thrips-borne Tospovirus pathogens adversely affect many globally important crops. Among 16 distinct virus species in the Tospovirus genus, four species including Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) causing necrosis disease in tomato have been reported in India. Identification of stable sources and further utilization of wild relatives as gene sources to increase levels and diversify the bases of resistance may offer good management for the disease. A total of 13 wild species of tomato (Solanum peruvianum), two S. pimpinellifolium, one S. chilense, one S. pennellii and three check cultivars (S. lycopersicum) along with two cultivars (S. lycopersicum) having the Sw-5 and Sw-7 genes were evaluated under field conditions during three consecutive seasons (June to October 2008, July to December 2009, August 2010 to February 2011). Among all, a high degree of field resistance (>80%) was detected in seven lines of S. peruvianum (L00735, L00671, L00887, L06138), S. chilense (TL02226) and S. pimpinellifolium (L03708, TL02213) lines. The field data was also supported by negative reaction against a polyclonal antiserum of the nucleocapsid protein (N) of PBNV in direct antigen coating-enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (DAC-ELISA). The cultivars with Sw-5 and Sw-7 genes were highly susceptible to PBNV.


A new binuclear cage-like complex, [Eu2(TCM)2(DMSO)6]·2DMSO, was synthesized via the reaction of H3TCM(H3TCM={2,4,6-tris[(2-carboxyphenoxy)methyl]-1,3,5-trimethylbenzene}) and Eu3+. Single crystal X-ray diffraction study reveals a centro symmetric binuclear neutral entity, space group P21/c with a=1.5188(2) nm, b=1.7135(3) nm, c=1.7578(2) nm, β=95.34(2)°, V=4.5549(9) nm3, Z=4. In the complex, Eu3+ metal centers are bridged together by mono- and bidentate carboxylate groups from two ligands. The most interesting fact is that the size of solvent molecules has a great influence on the binuclear cage-like complex in the shape of binuclear cage, the coordination mode of carboxylate group and the coordination number of Eu3+.


Organisation today are facing challenge in attracting the right talent to the organization. This challenge is even observed when they are recruiting candidates at the management institutes. The focus is always on the branding strategy so that the organisation is able to recruit the appropriate candidate. Employer Attractiveness has become a key area of the Talent Strategy framework of the organisation. The study attempts examine the perceived importance of dimensions of Employer Attractiveness as referred by Berthon et al(2005) and to contrast the perceptual differences (if any) regarding the gender, age, prior work experience and years of work experience on the candidates. The data is collected through a self-administered questionnaire based on the EmpAt Scale proposed by Berthon et al. The sample is collected from the final year students of the management institute. The analyses results indicated a significant difference in the perception of the dimension of Employer Attractiveness with reference to the demographic profile of the students. The study results help the organisation to frame the employer attractiveness strategies based on the important dimensions in order to establish a positive Employer Brand.


Linear polarization measurements have been a key to our understanding of the massive star system η Carinae and its surrounding Homunculus nebula. We here present the results of (linear) polarimetric imaging of η Carinae in the V band (F555W) with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (HST/WFPC2). The data agree well with previous ground-based measurements of the large-scale polarization across the Homunculus, allowing us to confirm that it is primarily a reflection nebula. The HST observations add information on the variation of the polarization across the lobes on small spatial scales. We provide measurements of the polarization in a variety of structures such as the jet, the skirt, the paddle, the southern ridge, and the spot, and discuss the properties of the polarization of the Homunculus on large and small spatial scales. Using a simple Mie-scattering model, we argue that of three previously proposed geometries for the three-dimensional structure of the Homunculus only the double-flask geometry represents a dust distribution which is consistent with our polarization map.


Correspondence: Carel w Le Roux imperial weight Centre, Department of investigative Medicine, imperial College London, London w6 8RF, UK Tel +44 20 3313 0532 Fax +44 20 3313 0673 email email@example.com Abstract: Obesity is an epidemic disease, and its prevalence is predicted to rise in the future. Many health and social comorbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cancer, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, arthritis, infertility, eating disorders, unemployment, and low quality of life, have been associated with obesity. Nowadays, bariatric surgery is the only effective treatment for severe obesity. An increasing body of literature demonstrates significant remission of obesity-related comorbidities and an increase in life expectancy after surgical treatment. Unfortunately, serious complications can appear after surgery, and the careful preoperative assessment of patients is necessary to estimate the indications and contraindications of bariatric surgery. Recent studies report the lower complication and mortality rates when bariatric procedures are performed in high-volume centers. The purpose of this review is to describe the techniques of the currently used surgical procedures and the clinical effectiveness of bariatric surgery. Additionally, the possible complications and mortality rates after bariatric surgery are discussed.


The acute toxicity of 1,3-dihydro-1-hydroxy-3-oxo-1,2-benziodoxole was re-evaluated. An LD 50 of 175mg./Kg. was determined for mice upon intraperitoneal injection of the title compound in a buffered suspension at pH 7.48. The symptoms observed upon injection of this compound in toxic doses were incoordination, lethargy, and respiratory depression. Upon autopsy, no observable lesions could be noted.


SUMMARY

This note gives explicit expressions for the elements of powers of a companion matrix, i.e. the matrix of transformation of a higher than first order linear dynamic econometric model into a first order one. It can be used as a reference for understanding the derivation of dynamic multipliers in such a model.


Waste oils used in biodiesel production contain high concentrations of free fatty acids. We studied the esterification of oleic acid, dissolved in soybean oil, with methanol in order to simulate its behavior. We used sulfonic exchange acid resin as the catalyst in two different reactors: a well-stirred slurry reactor (WSSR) and a spray tower loop reactor (STLR) both working at atmospheric pressure. Methanol was fed continuously to both the reactors with very low feed rates in order to minimize the amount of methanol emerging from the reactor outlet. This methanol removed the water produced in the reaction thereby favoring esterification. The WSSR and STLR had very similar performance in that were both better than that of a plug flow reactor (PFR) working in the same conditions of atmospheric pressure and low methanol feed rate. Both the WSSR and STLR showed liquid-solid phase mass transfer limitations. All the kinetic runs have been interpreted with a mathematical model adopting the kinetics previously developed by the authors using a well-stirred batch reactor. For both the reactors, the feasibility of a pseudocontinuous operation has also been successfully tested.


The"Digital Gap" generated by the economic globalization and informatization will expand the gap between the developed countries and the developing countries,which is unfavorable to our country's economic development,social progress and the increase of the comprehensive national power.Leaping over the "digital gap" needs the participation of the government,schools,enterprises and all social circles,and also needs strengthening the international exchange and cooperation.


Surface grating couplers are key components to couple light between planar waveguide circuits in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform and optical fibers. Here, we demonstrate by using simulations and experiments that a high coupling efficiency can be achieved for an arbitrary buried oxide thickness by judicious adjustment of the grating radiation angle. The coupler strength is engineered by subwavelength structures, which have pitch and feature sizes smaller than the wavelength of light propagating through it, thereby frustrating diffraction effects and behaving as a homogeneous media with an adjustable equivalent refractive index. This makes it possible to apodize the grating coupler with a preferred single etch fabrication process. The coupling efficiency of the grating coupler is optimized for operating with the transverse electric (TE) polarization state at the wavelengths near 1.3 µm and 1.55 µm, which are the bands relevant for datacom and telecom interconnects applications, respectively. The design and analysis of the grating coupler is carried out using two-dimensional (2-D) Fourier-eigenmode expansion method (F-EEM) and finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. The simulations show a peak fiber-chip coupling efficiency of ‒1:61 dB and ‒ 1:97 dB at 1.3 µm and 1.55 µm wavelengths, respectively, with a minimum feature size of 100 nm, compatible with 193 nm deep-ultraviolet (DUV) lithography. The measurements of our fabricated continuously apodized grating coupler demonstrate fiber-chip coupling efficiency of ‒ 2:16 dB at a wavelength near 1.55 µm with a 3 dB bandwidth of 64 nm. These results open promising prospects for low-cost and high-volume fabrication of surface grating couplers in SOI using 193 nm DUV lithography, which is now used in several silicon photonics foundries. It is also predicted that a coupling efficiency as high as ‒ 0:42 dB can be achieved for the coupler structure with a bottom dielectric mirror.


Background and Study Aims : To evaluate the effectiveness of pegylated interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection in a real life setting. Patients and Methods : Fifteen hospitals in Tunisia were included in this study. Data from consecutively treated chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, who received pegylated interferon, were collected retrospectively. Baseline demographic and clinical data, on-treatment virological and serological responses and adverse events (AE) were recorded. Sustained virologic response (SVR) is defined as an hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA concentration of less than 2,000 IU/mL six months after the completion of therapy. Results : A total of 351 CHB patients under peg interferon alfa-2a treatment were included in this multicenter, open label, non-interventional study. Thirty five HBeAg positive patients were identified (62% male, 23% advanced fibrosis). Six months after therapy, 24% had viral loads < 2000 IU/mL, 20% achieved HBeAg seroconversion and 5, 7% achieved HBs Ag loss. Three hundreds sixteen HBeAg negative patients were treated (72, 5% male, 24% advanced fibrosis). Six months post-treatment, 14 % had viral loads < 2000 IU/mL and 1, 2% achieved HBs Ag loss. Treatment was well tolerated in 92% of cases and was stopped in 5.2% of patients. In multivariate analysis, predictors of response to pegylated interferon were: age less than 50 years (P=0,04 IC [0,169-0,737]), precore mutant stain infection (p=0,04 IC [0,60-0,69]), a body mass index < 30kg/m 2 (P=0,05 IC [0,225-0,320]), and a pre-treatment serum HBV DNA level <20000IU/ml (P=0,03 IC [1,316-2,225]). Conclusion : PEG-IFN therapy in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is well tolerated and can achieve a good response especially if we select good responders.


The present article focuses on the gap between motivation and action in relation to condom use among drug users in non‐commercial relationships. The study showed that most drug users were not motivated to use condoms within steady relationships. In casual sexual relationships the intention to use condoms was higher, but several enactment factors were identified that may inhibit actual condom use. These findings about the difference in perceived type of sexual relationship and of the enactment factors should be taken into account when promoting safe sex among drug users.