【Objective】 To review published literature and perform a meta-analysis summarizing the evidence in support of the association between childhood asthma and three exposure factors(indoor air pollution by using coal for heating,respiratory infections and breastfeeding). 【Methods】 Online database were systematically searched which included China Journals Full-text Database for publications since 2002.The meta-analysis included only original studies.It was used to derive a combined odds ratio(OR) and 95% confidence interval(CI) and test for heterogeneity in the findings between studies. 【Results】 5 studies met inclusion criteria.Compared with control,respiratory infections conferred the most significant increased odds of childhood asthma(OR:2.26,95%CI:1.88~2.64).Similar increase in the OR of childhood asthma due to indoor air pollution(OR:0.35,95%CI:0.20~0.50) was also observed.Breastfeeding was the protective factor of childhood asthma(OR:0.36,95%CI:0.55~0.17).There was no evidence of heterogeneity that was statistically significant(P0.05). 【Conclusions】 This analysis found strong and consistent association between respiratory infections and childhood asthma in China.It suggests that there is minor effect of indoor air pollution on childhood asthma.And breastfeeding was found to be protective factor.More works need to be done to improve breastfeeding rate because the rate shows a tendency to descend as a result of the fast rhythm of urbanism in China.


In this paper, the authors suggest a design of transmission system used in realtime trains operation status based on GPS with train dispatching radio communication system and railway packet switched network .The system can implement data transfer between train and ground according to the technology of datavoice synchronous,information disposal and computer net. The design is proved to be effective.


In both France and Italy, research on communism has mainly focused on the Communist parties' structures of command and on their doctrinal adaptation; much less attention has been given to their structures of support, and-in particular-to their capacity to find supporters for an aggressive social strategy. Reasoning from a model of voting stability which emphasizes the need for voter continuity in parties of mass mobilization, like the Communist party, we compare the French and Italian parties along two indices of voting stability: first, an index of overall electorate volatility; and second, an index of internal electoral fluidity. Using electoral statistics over a series of five or six national elections at the communal level in Italy and at the cantonal level in France, we compare the scores of the PCI and PCF along these two measures and demonstrate what appears to be a greater potential for mass mobilization in the electorate of the Italian party, a potential-it should be added-which seems to contrast with the differences in the two parties' structures of command, and with the differences in the revolutionary will of their respective leaderships.


Thegeneforfamilial malignant melanoma andits precursor lesion, thedysplastic nevus, hasbeenassigned toaregion ofthedistal short armofchromosome 1,which is frequently involved inkaryotypic abnormalities inmelanoma cells. We haveexamined loci onchromosome lpforloss- of-constitutional heterozygosity in35melanomas and21mel- anomacell lines toanalyze therole ofthese abnormalities in melanocyte transformation. Loss-of-heterozygosity atloci on chromosome lpwasidentified in15/35 (43%) melanomas and 11/21 (52%)melanoma cell lines. Analysis ofmultiple metas- tases derived fromthesamepatient andofmelanoma and lymphoblastoid samples fromafamily withhereditary mela- nomashowed that theloss-of-heterozygosity atloci ondistal lp isalate event intumorprogression, rather thanthesecond mutation that wouldoccur ifmelanoma wereduetoacellular recessive mechanism. Comparisons withneuroblastoma and multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN2)suggest that thefrequent


540 yellow catfish(Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) were selected and fed with different levels of Lentinan for 8 weeks.Then the head kidney macrophages and peripheral blood leukocytes of yellow catfish were separated by Percoll continuous density gradient centrifugation.Furthermore,NBT reduction,Griesse reagent colorimetry and MTT assay were used to evaluate the respiratory burst activity of head kidney macrophages and proliferation of peripheral blood leukocytes in order to discuss the effects of LNT on the activity of immunological cells of yellow catfish.The results indicated that oxygen respiratory burst activity of head kidney macrophages was enhanced at all the levels of LNT;and extremely increased at the levels of between 1 200 mg/kg and 1 500 mg/kg(P0.01).The nitrogen respiratory burst activity of all the LNT groups was also increased,and 600 mg/kg LNT level increased significantly(P0.05),and was significantly improved at 900~1 500 mg/kg LNT level(P0.01).The activity of proliferation of peripheral blood leukocytes of all the LNT groups was enhanced(P0.05);and was significantly enhanced at the levels of from 600 mg/kg to 1 500 mg/kg(P0.01).In conclusion,LNT could effectively enhance the activity of immunological cells of yellow catfish.


Old Russian texts provide an opportunity to study the early state of the Russian vocabulary. The vocabulary structure of the Old Russian texts included the words of the Proto-Slavic language, a large number of calques and artificially created words. The absence of written records of the Proto-Slavic language, in which its vocabulary would be recorded, deprives us of the primary source of the meanings of such words. The Proto-Slavic root *lěp- had an undivided meaning. Undivided meaning of the root *lěp- is a potential problem in the interpretation of the words with this root used in ancient Russian texts. Another problem in the lexical-semantic study of words in the Old Russian texts is that words being semantic calques received additional meanings under the influence of Greek. In this regard the paper shows the formation of the concept of beauty in words with the root *lěp- used in ancient Russian texts. The purpose of this article is to study the evolution of the concept of beauty in the words with the Proto-Slavic root *lěp-. The article provides a comparative analysis of lexical meanings of the words with the root *lěp- containing the concept of beauty (used in ancient Russian texts) with their Greek equivalents. Such words are contained in ancient Russian written records: "The Life of St. Andrew the Fool", "The Chronicle" by John Malalas, "The Chronicle" by George Amartol, "History of the Jewish War" by Josephus Flavius, Christianopolis (Acts and Epistles of the Apostles), Uspensky Сollection of XII–XIII centuries, etc.


This paper reports on a recently funded study which sought to identify the key themes which support school leaders in promoting positive student behaviour. Widespread concern is being expressed across Europe regarding a perceived increase in cases of unacceptable or anti-social behaviour in schools and its impact on levels of academic achievement. The issue has mainly been interrogated via research and development which has sought to enhance provision at initial teacher level. Yet international studies on 'school discipline' indicate that it is the school leader who is the key actor in promoting positive attitudes to learning and behaviour. This paper explores the views of a small group of school leaders, in order to identify specific professional and personal characteristics which appear to be required to promote such conditions. The implications and potential use of these findings for the professional development of school leaders is then considered, using examples drawn from the project.


The road forestation design is an important part in road construction of small towns.The paper puts forward that the road forestation design should accords with the environment of small towns and has the characteristics of ecology and lower cost according to the road feature of small towns by analyzing the problems in road forestation design of small towns at present in China,and proposes the countermeasures and suggestions for forestation design of different roads based on analyzing different road types in small towns.


As has been discussed at length in this publication, one of the main focus areas in this debate is whether to open the dura, which is the outer covering of the brain and spinal cord. Those who advocate leaving the dura untouched or not completely opening it point out that cutting open the protective covering of the brain greatly increases the risk of complications, including CSF leaks, infections, and additional scarring of the dura itself, and results in more pain and longer hospital stays. They believe that most of the benefits of decompression surgery come from removing the bone both skull and vertebra and that opening the dura completely is not worth the added risk. In fact, one study seemed to show just that; electrical tests during surgery showed that most of the decompressive effect on the brainstem occurred after the bone removal.


Weather monitoring in general and lightning detection in particular is of paramount importance since it is life threatening to humans and animals, dangerous to electronic gadgets. It is important to monitor the lightning detection in real-time to avoid the deaths caused by lightning. In this paper we present the design and development of an IoT based Storm (Lightning) detection system with a provision to display message on an Android mobile using Cloud computing technology. The entire system is built around Franklin lightning detector chip AS3935 on a thunder click board with an on-board integrated coil antenna MA5532. This board is connectedto the Texas Instruents' CC3200 LaunchPad and SIM900A GSM module to complete the design. The communication interface established between sensor and ThingSpeak cloud via CC3200 will help online data monitoring anywhere in the globe. Provision is made to store the history of lightning on a SIM card for further analysis such as estimation of rainfall. The experiment is performed at Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapuramu. The identified location and the lightning values are displayed on Cloud (IoT-Cloud). The software is developed using Energia IDE.


Appreciation the RMB exchange rate impact on every aspect of human life after exchanges rate reform. Choose a suitable model to predict exchange rate,make financial policy and investment decision is every important to economic subject. This paper base on the ARIMA model and GRACH model,analyze the prediction error of two models,which scholars home and broad usually use. The result shows that GRACH model is better than ARIMA model in forecasting of RMB exchange rate.


HOSPITAL REFORM. IT would seem to be a necessary part of the organisation of medical relief, that the aid which the State grants to the pauper claEses should not be injured and confused by a demoralising interference of private charity which asks no questions. It has been said that medical relief cannot be jobbed; and on this ground the Government, in introducing reforms in the administration of th-e Poor-law in I867, were disposed freely to extend that part of the public relief which belonged to the pauper sick, and to distribute its burdens over a wider area than other Poorlaw charges. By the introduction of the dispensary system in principle, and by the adoption of the chief reforms urged by the Workhouse Infirmaries' Association, the legislature purported to make an efficient provision for the destitute sick poor. We may be permitted to congratulate the members of our profession, and especially many of those who were officially connected with that Association, and took an active part in preparing public opinion and in moulding the ultimate form which it assumed, that that great and humane work has, during the last four years, led to results vastly beneficial to the sick poor. The provision now made for the destitute sick, if not yet complete, is incalculably superior to that which existed but a few years since, and excels that of any other country. To their efforts are due those invaluable asylums, but for which it is hard to say how the population of London could have met the epidemics of relapsing fever and of smallpox which have heavily overtaxed even these enlarged resources-epidemics which have been brought upon us by defects in other departments of central and local administration to which the profession, and


This work investigates the problem of permuting a sparse rectangular matrix into block diagonal form Block diagonal form of a matrix grants an inherent parallelism for the solu tion of the deriving problem which has been recently investigated in the context of mathematical programming LU factorization and QR factorization We propose bipartite graph and hypergraph models to represent the nonzero structure of a matrix which reduce the permutation problem to those of graph partitioning by vertex separator and hypergraph partitioning respectively Besides proposing the models to represent sparse matrices and investigating related combinatorial problems we provide a detailed survey of relevant literature to bridge the gap between di erent societies in vestigate existing techniques for partitioning and propose new ones and nally present a thorough empirical study of these techniques Our experiments on a wide range of matrices using state of the art graph and hypergraph partitioning tools MeTiS and PaToH revealed that the proposed methods yield very e ective solutions both in terms of solution quality and runtime


Throughout its range from Nova Scotia to Alberta, south to Alabama, Texas and New Mexico, the typical Osmorhiza longistylis (Torr.) DC., has villous sheaths at the base of the petioles, especially of the upper cauline leaves, the peticles and blades are evidently pubescent, and the fruits are sparingly bristly on the ribs. In contrast, there was noted in Spearfish Canyon of the Black Hills regicn of South Dakota, a concentration of plants which showed an absence or sparsity of hairs on the sheaths, a marked reduction of the pubescence of the leaves, and fruits which were glabrous or with only a few bristles. A comparison of the pubescence of the blades and sheaths of the two plants is shown in Fig. 1. A few intermediates were observed. The less pubescent plant may be designated:


Adapts B/S structure programs design method, integrates ASP develop environment with Access database, designs and develops a dynamic Web page form of online recruitment system. Introduces the design thoughts of online recruitment system, elaborates the system structure of online recruitment system, the development environment and language of this system,the development methods adopted in this system,the function of database system,etc.


Thermoplastic copolymer compositions which contain 50 to 82 wt.-% of a SAN copolymer A1 and 15 to 55 wt.-% of a graft copolymer A2, which has an average particle size of 50 to 150 nm and is constituted of at least one rubber-like graft base with a glass transition temperature Tg < 0 DEG C, at least one alkyl acrylate, the cyclic cross-linking agent dicyclopentadienyl acrylate and a non-cyclic, additional cross-linking agent, and of 20 to 40 wt.-% of at least one graft shell composed of styrene and acrylonitrile; and auxiliary agents and/or additives, have improved gloss when exposed to weathering.


Sleep is a necessary process to maintain the normal physiological function of the human body and an important guarantee to improve people's quality of life. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder seriously affecting human healthcare, which is also considered to be a potential risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This work investigates sleep state monitoring and OSA recognition from the heart rate variability dynamics. By investigating the topological properties of the state point clouds in the reconstructed phase space, the nonlinear dynamics pattern is well distinguished when the sleeping state changes. We proposed a Shannon entropy analysis and feature learning framework developed with the topological summaries, which shows good classification ability in the OSA detection experiments. The proposed approach is a promising solution for the clinical use of sleep state monitoring in real-time computing occasions.


The multidimensional product between an N-dimensional array B and an M-dimensional array C produces an (N + M − 2L)-dimensional array A from the dot-product-like contraction of L pairs of dimensions in B and C. For example, in the multiplication

indices a,b,… are contracted, and the remaining indices i,j,k,l,… are mapped from matrices B and C to the target matrix A.

We have developed an algorithm, which we incorporated into a program called GENPRD, for interpreting the topological description of a general multidimensional matrix product, optimizing the execution path, and finally evaluating the product.

No specific information about the nature of a given product is included in the program. Instead, GENPRD is driven by two tables: one specifies the indices to be contracted and the mapping of the uncontracted indices to the target array; the second one indicates the organization of the arrays in secondary storage. The tables are text files which are read at execution time. The information is then processed to form an optimized set of loops for evaluating the product and performing associated I/O.

GENPRD is implemented in a program for quantum-chemical computations using many-body perturbation theory and the coupled-cluster method. This implementation produced code that ran at 90% of the speed of the hand-coded version. Ultimately, GENPRD will reduce the FORTRAN code from 20,000 lines to 2,000 lines.


A method for the determination of oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) by liq⁃ uid chromatography⁃tandem mass spectrometry (LC⁃MS / MS) was developed. By using derivat⁃ ization reagents, N,N⁃dimethylethylenediamine (DMED) and d4⁃N,N⁃dimethylethylenediamine (d4⁃DMED), OA and UA in real samples and standard samples were derivatized separately. The derivative products of the standard samples were used as stable isotope internal standards, and accurately added to the samples and standard working solutions. Good linearities were obtained in the concentration range of 0􀆰 01-10 μg / L with correlation coefficients (r) greater than 0􀆰 99. The limits of detection of OA and UA were 0􀆰 92 ng / L and 1􀆰 06 ng / L, and the recov⁃ eries were between 98􀆰 7%-102􀆰 7% and 97􀆰 2%-105􀆰 0%, respectively. The method can be used for the detection of OA and UA in loquat leaf extract with high sensitivity.


This paper presents an efficient extended Kalman filter implementation of a single-camera visual simulataneous localization and mapping (vSLAM) algorithm, vSLAM is a novel algorithm for simultaneous localization and mapping problem widely studied in mobile robotics field. The algorithm is vision and odometry-based. The problem with the implementation of all SLAM algorithms is the state vector size and the full covariance matrix, which in large environments may become prohibitively large. In this paper we show that moving landmark from the state vector to the map vector, using the camera characteristics, can maintain a reasonable number of landmarks in the state vector and then reduce the computational complexity of the update loop. At each time the algorithm maintains the map vector, which contains invisible landmarks, separated from the state vector. We use a Pioneer II robot and motorized pan tilt camera models to implement the algorithm.


Atherogenesis and its clinical sequelae account for most deaths world-wide. It results from a distorted lipid metabolism and imbalanced immune response. In this review we discuss common and emerging risk factors that lead to plaque formation, the biology behind it, and recent advances and challenges in atherosclerosis therapy. Kardiologie up2date 11 ê2015 Hotline – Koronare Herzerkrankung und Atherosklerose 215


We report 25 cases of a peculiar sclerosing epithelioid variant of fibrosacroma (SEF) simulating an infiltrating carcinoma. The tumors occurred primarily in the deep muscuature and were frequently associated with the adacent ascia or periosteum. The patients' ages were 14 to 87 years (median, 45). Fourteen were male and 11 female. The tumors were located in the lower extremities and limb girdles (12 cases), trunk (9), upper limb girdles (2), and neck (2). They measured 2 to 14.5 cm in greatest dimension (median size, 7cm) and were gray to white and firm. Histologically, the lesions were characterized by a proliferation of rather uniform, small, slightly angulated, round to ovoid epithelioid cells with sparse, often clear cytoplasm arranged in distinct nests and cords. In all cases there was prominent hyaline sclerosis, sometimes reminiscent of osteoid or cartilage and foci of conventional fibrosarcoma. Occasional myxoid zones with cyst formation and foci of hyaline cartilage, calcification, and metaplastic bone were also seen. Mitotic figures were generally scarce. Vimentin was detected in 13 of 14 cases, epithelial membrane antigen in seven, S100 protein in four, and neuron-specific enolase in two. Cytokeratins were detected with AE1/AE3 and CAM 5.2 in two cases. Leukocyte common antigen. CD68 antigen, HMB45, desmin, and α-smooth muscle actin were negative in all cases. In 13 of 14 cases, 75% or more of the cells stained for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). K167 immunostaining with MIB showed low proliferative activity in all cases, averaiging 5% of tumor cells or less. In all cases, p53 was detected by immunohistochemical methods; bel-2, an antiapoptosis marker, was detected in more than 90% of the cells in 11 of 12 cases. Ultrastructurally, both the epithelioid and spindled tumor cells had features of fibroblasts. Follow-up in 16 cases ranging from 13 months to 17 years 3 months (median, 11 years 4 months) revealed persistent disease or local recurrences in 53% of patients and metastases in 43%. The metastases were to the lungs (4 cases), skeleton (3), chest wall/pleura (3), pericardium (1), and brain (1). Four patients died of disease, four were alive with disease, two were known to be alive but disease status unknown, and six had no evidence of further disease at last follow-up. The data suggest that SEF is a relatively low-grade fibrosarcoma; yet it is fully malignant despite the presence of histologically benign-appearing foci. The proliferation markers PCNA and K67 did not correlate with prognosis. The histologic differential diagnosis is broad and includes infiltrating carcinoma and, to a lesser extent, sclerosing lymphoma, synovial sarcoma, and a variety of other sarcomas in addition to benign fibroblastic proliferations. Recognition of SEF is important for prognostic and therapeutic reasons.


Aluminum and its alloys have excellent properties (e.g. specific weight, corrosion resistance) that are beneficial for a wide range of industrial applications. By forming a natural oxide layer of a few nm thickness, these materials are able to protect themselves from the progression of corrosive attack. Unfortunately, this oxide layer limits the use of pure aluminum for cathodic corrosion protection. Adding the right alloying elements can help to prevent the formation of the oxide layer and thus self-passivation.
 Electrodeposition is an elegant and cost-efficient method to deposit thin films on substrates with complex shapes. The choice of the electrolyte, its composition and the deposition parameters allow the tuning of the layer properties. Electroplated aluminum materials open up the possibility of replacing environmentally hazardous materials such as cadmium. Aluminum cannot be electrodeposited from aqueous electrolytes due to its negative Nernst potential (-1.66 V vs. NHE). Non-aqueous media make this possible due to large electrochemical windows. However, they are often limited by expensive and highly flammable chemicals (e.g. SIGAL and REAL process). High investment costs for process and plant technology are the consequence. Ionic liquids (ILs) allow the deposition of reactive metals such as aluminum at room temperature. They have a very low vapor pressure and are non-flammable. In addition, they exhibit good solubility for numerous metal salts and lower differences in the deposition potentials of the metals.
 This paper discusses the use of imidazolium-based chloroaluminate ILs for the electrochemical deposition of aluminum alloys for cathodic corrosion protection of high-strength steel. As an essential part of upscaling IL-based processes, the use of multianodes, their limitations, and the use of additives to optimize the deposition process and the coating properties will be discussed.


The paper presents new evidence on the predictability of excess returns on common stocks for the Standard and Poor's 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial portfolios at the monthly, quarterly, and annual frequencies. It shows that recursive predictions obtained on the basis of the excess returns regressions are capable of correctly predicting a statistically significant proportion of the signs of the actual returns. The paper also shows that the switching portfolios constructed on the basis of the signs of the recursive predictions mean-variance dominate the respective market portfolios when trading takes place on a quarterly or annual basis. This result holds even under a high transaction cost scenario. However, due to the larger number of transactions at the monthly frequency the monthly switching portfolios only mean-variance dominate the respective market portfolios when transaction costs are zero or low.


A simplified theory is presented for the flow of air through a single orifice or constriction. This theory is then extended to cover the flow of air through a labyrinth gland having several constrictions of equal area. Experiments are made over a wide range of pressure ratios to determine the coefficient of discharge for a single annular constriction having a small clearance. It is found that the curve has the same general characteristics as that for a circular sharp-edged orifice. The discharge coefficients are then used to calculate the critical ratio of inlet pressure to outlet pressure for a labyrinth gland. The results obtained agree well with experiments on a stationary labyrinth gland of the staggered type in which the number of constrictions may be varied from one to fourteen.The theoretical pressure distribution is derived and compared with experimental values under conditions where the pressure drop across the last constriction is either less or greater than the critical value. Finally, the coef...


The NASA passenger ride quality apparatus (PRQA), a ground based motion simulator, was compared to the total in flight simulator (TIFS). Tests were made on PRQA with varying stimuli: motions only; motions and noise; motions, noise, and visual; and motions and visual. Regression equations for the tests were obtained and subsequent t-testing of the slopes indicated that ground based simulator tests produced comfort change rates similar to actual flight data. It was recommended that PRQA be used in the ride quality program for aircraft and that it be validated for other transportation modes.


X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to investigate the surface and the interface of the (Ba,Sr)TiO3/Pt structure. In the surface region, Ba 3d5/2, Ba 3d3/2 Sr 3d5/2 and Sr 3d3/2 comprise two chemical states: the perovskite phase and the non-perovskite phase, whereas only a non-perovskite phase exists in the interface region. According to the XPS analyses, it is proposed that such a domination of the non-perovskite phase corresponds to the interfacial layers caused by the mismatch between BST and Pt.


This paper introduces a novel method for synchronizing two energized AC grids through a fast synchronization machine, which integrates a battery energy storage system (BESS) with a grid-imposed frequency voltage source power converter. The grid-imposed power converter is used to automatically provide the desired amount of power to the synchronous generators, and the BESS is connected to the DC side of the power converter, which exchanges energy with the grids. This method can achieve fast synchronization of grid frequencies and phases through active and automatic power exchanges between the battery based power converter and the grids. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been demonstrated by simulating interconnection of two synchronous generator based systems in the Matlab/Simulink environment. The simulation results show that compared with traditional methods the synchronization time can be reduced by an order of magnitude by using the proposed method.


To the Editor:

Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is a common inherited hemolytic anemia with a prevalence of at least 1 in 5,000 people.[1][1] The clinical features of HS are anemia, jaundice, and splenomegaly. The clinical forms in adulthood are mild, typical, and severe. However, HS is commonly


The cis-oxa- (13a-d) and -aza-σ-bishomobenzene (13 e) derivatives have been synthesized; they are sufficiently stable to be isolated in pure form. On heating, 13a-e are easily isomerized into the π-bishomobenzene analogues 14a-e, the processes 13 a ⇄ 14 a, 13 b ⇄ 14b and 13d ⇄ 14d being reversible. Some kinetic and thermodynamic data for these σ, π,bishomobenzene transformations are presented.


The frailty syndrome is a growing clinical challenge requiring preventive therapeutic strategies to reduce functional and organic impairment in the affected elderly. Thus, the objective of this research was to verify the acute effects of whole body vibration (WBV) on cardiac autonomic modulation in the elderly and the long-term effects of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) associated WBV on inflammatory biomarkers, body composition, outcomes. and functional disorders in pre-frail elderly women assessed by the criteria established by Fried. Initially an exploratory pilot quasi-experimental study was conducted with 17 community-dwelling elderly to investigate the short-term effects of WBV on the cardiac autonomic system. The acute effects of WBV on cardiac autonomic modulation were assessed by holter, providing: data on nonlinear dynamics variables obtained through symbolic analysis, Shannon entropy and complexity indices; data of time and frequency domain linear variables; data on systemic cardiovascular variables; and reported short-term adverse effects. In the second phase of the research, a randomized clinical trial was conducted with elderly women who presented the pre-frailty phenotype. The volunteers were randomized into three possible groups: inspiratory muscle training group associated with whole body vibration (Group1), sham inspiratory muscle training group associated with full body vibration (Group2) and sham inspiratory muscle training group associated with full body vibration sham (Group3). The volunteers were evaluated at two different times: pre-intervention and after 12 weeks of intervention. The primary outcomes were: respiratory muscle strength (RMS), distance covered in the six-minute walk test (6MWT), balance and functionality, as well as secondary outcomes: anthropometric measurements (body composition) and brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), respiratory muscle endurance, diaphragmatic thickness and mobility, reported femoral quadriceps muscle thickness, and adverse effects of intervention. The IMT was performed with the POWERBreathe® equipment 7 times a week, with load intensity adjusted to 40% of the maximal inspiratory muscle strength. WBV training was performed through a vibrating platform. It was demonstrated in Article 1 that one WBV session does not seem to have any effect on the behavior of the linear analysis variables, however a reduction in the 1V% pattern was observed revealing less sympathetic modulation in the elderly. In Article 2, an increase in RMS, balance and 6MWT was shown, with time reduction in the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), without changes in handgrip strength (HS) and muscle metabolism assessed through glucose and lactate variations. during the 6MWT. Finally, Article 3 did not verify changes in serum BDNF, peripheral muscle thickness and mass despite increased RMS, thickness and diaphragmatic mobility. Application of a WBV session reduces the 1V% standard in the elderly, and a WBV associated IMT program is effective in increasing RMS, functionality, balance, 6MWT, thickness and diaphragmatic mobility, with no effects on HS, serum BDNF, thickness. and peripheral muscle mass in prefrail elderly women.


The German government recently made a large number of changes to migration legislation, in relation to asylum seekers and refugees who have immigrated since 2015. While the impact of some reforms may be socio–political, most of them also have fiscal implications. This study uses generational accounting to analyse the effects of these legislative changes on the German fiscal system. The results show that these reforms will likely have overall positive effects on future German public finances; they also highlight the importance of successful integration in general and the positive financial contributions accruing from the immigration of relatively young and skilled workers.


Abstract As an Indian Secretary General takes up the reins of the Commonwealth this analysis looks back to the symbiotic birth of India and the modern Commonwealth in 1947–1949. It asks whether we can learn anything from the decision-making process that brought them together initially that might inform our comprehension of their current relationship and the opportunities for further contemporary engagement.


In its ®rst edition of 2000, the BMJ announced that it had become the ®rst general medical journal to sign up with PubMed Central. Under the scheme, to be operated by the US National Institutes of Health, it will make available to PubMed Central electronic versions of all original articles as soon as they are published. These will then be freely available through the PubMed Central database. The journal will also cooperate with two other schemes: one to digitize all copies of the journal back to 1840 to make them available for electronic retrieval; the other to make the latest articles available to those in the developing world who would not normally have access to the journal.* A meeting of associated journal editors a few weeks later discussed these developments in some depth. They agreed that the next ®ve years or so will be a journey into the unknown. The only thing they would say with any con®dence was that no one at this stage can predict the probable outcome. By the middle of the decade, then, the institutions of medical publishing will almost certainly look very different. So what will this mean for the scienti®c paper as we now know it?


The students' academic behaviours and academic performance differ with their epistemological beliefs. Different social-cultural and educational contexts inculcate differences in students' epistemological beliefs. However, the impact of the nature of the academic programs on students' epistemological beliefs is most obvious. The students of different disciplines can have different epistemological beliefs. These different epistemological beliefs differ in their impact on students' academic performance and academic behaviour. Hence, the current study evaluated the interrelationships of various educational programs and epistemological beliefs and their importance in students' academic performance. The volunteer university students provided data about their academic programs, epistemological beliefs, and academic performance. Researchers used the Generalized Structured Component Analysis approach to calculate the suitability of specified measurement and structural models. The impact of subjects of the soft field of study such as Behavioural Sciences, English Literature was negative on naive epistemological beliefs in knowledge structure and omniscient authority compared to subjects of the hard field of studies such as Mathematical, Physical Sciences, and Biological Sciences. The Business Sciences from the soft applied field of study had the least noticeable negative impact on naive epistemological beliefs compared to other subjects of pure soft and pure hard field of studies. Only, the belief in quick learning had a significant negative impact on students' academic performance.


Abstract The treatment of N-alkyl-5-nitroindazole with stannous chloride in ethanol, aftercoupling of the obtained amines with arylsulfonyl chloride in pyridine, gave the new 4-ethoxy- and 4-chloroindazoles bearing sulfonamide in moderate to good yields. Chlorination and ethoxylation of indazole were observed during the reduction of the nitro group with anhydrous SnCl2 in ethanol. The influence of the N-alkylation in N-1 and N-2 position of 5-nitroindazole on the reduction was investigated. The presence ofethoxy group and chlorine atom at position C-4 of indazole was confirmed by x-ray diffraction analysis of compounds 7a and 8a. Graphical Abstract


In the early nineteenth century, as part of a movement to Christianize the early American republic through education and persuasion, evangelical Christians developed a new type of theological school and an extensive theological print culture. The post-baccalaureate schools they established, usually called theological seminaries, were designed to be situated at the top of the educational system and to relate the Bible to all other fields of inquiry. The faculties, graduates, and publications of these schools influenced the content and formation of an allied Bibliocentric print culture. This paper highlights formative connections between theological education and print culture in the early republic by focusing on the life and literary work of Archibald Alexander (1772-1851), the founding professor of Princeton Theological Seminary and a prolific and prominent theological author during the first half of the nineteenth century.


High pressure is used to texturize food with two different strategies. The first strategy consists of using high pressure of several hundred MPa as a gelling agent per se to replace any other gelling or coagulating agents. In the second strategy, a moderate pressure of 100-300 MPa is used as a pretreatment to modify the food components properties in order to improve the efficiency of the traditional texturing treatment such as heat texturization, acid or rennet coagulation of milk, and so on. In both cases, pressure effects depend on many parameters such as the nature and the concentration of the macromolecules, the temperature of pressurization, the holding time and pressure, the pH, and the presence of additives. The behavior of real foods upon pressurization is even more complex compared to that of macromolecular model solutions due to their complex composition and, especially, to the presence of enzymes which are sometimes hardly affected by pressurization. Findings exposed in this article demonstrate that high-pressure technology is a unique tool to texturize food and provide products with unique properties.


As a consequence of the global financial crisis Germany has experienced the deepest slowdown of its economy since World War II. However, at least up to now the German labor market has not shown a strong reaction to the financial crisis. Given the sharp decrease in GDP the levels of employment and unemployment are still quite stable. One possible reason for the recent development is an increased level of labor hoarding, indicating that firms do not immediately adjust labor input in line with demand for their products. The paper uses both aggregate and firm-level data in order to examine the extent to which labor hoarding has contributed towards stabilizing the labor market during periods of recession. In addition, we examine the extent to which subsidized types of labor hoarding, such as short-time work, may have facilitated the retention of workers by employers. The paper shows that labor hoarding has been of certain relevance for the German labor market in times of economic slack. This is obviously true during the current crisis. Nevertheless, short-time work has also been used by firms which were not suffering significantly from an underutilization of their capacities. To avoid windfall gains the state should consider more effective targeting systems or advocate functional equivalents such as more flexibility in working time. Comment by Olaf Hubler.


We present the three-dimensional orbital motions of metal-poor stars in conjunction with their metal abundances, for the purpose of getting insight into the formation process of the Galaxy. Our sample stars, which include metal-deficient red giants and RR Lyrae variables observed by the HIPPARCOS satellite, are least affected by known systematics, stemming from kinematic bias, metallicity calibration, and secondary metal contamination of stellar surface. We find, for the stars in the metallicity range of [Fe/H] ≤ -1, that there is no evidence for the correlation between [Fe/H] and their orbital eccentricities, e. Even for [Fe/H] ≤ -1.6, about 16% of the stars have e values less than 0.4. We show that the e distribution of orbits for [Fe/H] ≤ -1.6 is independent of the height |z| away from the Galactic plane, whereas for [Fe/H] > -1.6, the stars at |z|≥1 kpc are systematically devoid of low-e orbits with e≲0.6. This indicates that low-e stars with [Fe/H] ≤ -1.6 belong to the halo component, whereas the rapidly rotating thick disk with a scale height of ~1 kpc has a metal-weak tail in the range of -1.6 < [Fe/H] ≤ -1. The fraction of this metal-weak thick disk appears to be less than 20%. The significance of these results for the early evolution of the Galaxy is briefly discussed.


Although the target article is groundbreaking and creatively conceived, there are troubling questions regarding its methodology and conclusions. The sample in the authors' study was drawn from a popular magazine's lists; there is no recognition of the fact that most faculty are now off the tenure track; and comparisons are made with the British system with no supporting data.


It has been hypothesized that Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter, has a large ocean underneath a thick layer of ice. In order to determine whether life exists, it has been proposed that an underwater glider (hydrobot) capable of propulsion could be sent to explore the vast ocean. In this research, we considered various smart materials to create a propulsion device inspired by dolphin tails. Dolphins are highly efficient and excellent gliders, which makes them the ideal candidate for ocean exploration. In order to select the best dolphin species, we began by reviewing literature and then utilized the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to compare the different species. Lagenorhynchus obliquidens (Pacific White-Sided Dolphin) was found to be the best choice for creating a bioinspired hydrobot. We then conducted literature review of various smart materials and using this knowledge constructed a hydrobot tail prototype. This prototype demonstrates that smart materials can be fashioned into suitable actuators to control a tail fashioned after a dolphin.


The long-wavelength transition radiation from the ultrarelativistic bunched elect rons on the thin metallic transverse-limited target has been considered. We have investigated the properties of transition radiation and whole electromagnetic energy flux in a pre-wave zone. The general formula for spectral-angular density of electromagnetic energy flux through the small-size detector in the "forward" and "backward" direction is obtained and analysed. We have showed that the angular distribution of electromagnetic energy flux in the "prewave zone" is strongly distorted in comparison to the case of transverse-unlimited detector.


Adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes (T2D) at a younger age are at increased risk for poor outcomes. We examined how family history of diabetes shaped the experiences and self-management perspectives of younger-onset individuals newly diagnosed with T2D. We conducted six focus groups between Nov 2017 and May 2018. Participants (n=41) were members of an integrated healthcare delivery system, had been diagnosed with T2D during the prior two years, and were 21-44 years old at the time of diagnosis. Each group met twice for 60-90 minutes, two weeks apart. Groups were led by an experienced facilitator, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded by two reviewers using thematic analysis. The average age of participants was 38.4 years (±5.8 years); 20 were women, 10 self-identified as Latinx, 12 as Black, 12 as White and 7 as multiple or other races. Over 65% had a family history of T2D. Having a family member with T2D facilitated self-management in several ways. First, personal familiarity with T2D and related lifestyle changes, as well as advice from older relatives, led individuals to feel that they were capable of modifying behaviors and made adjusting to the diagnosis easier. In addition, family members with T2D served as both positive and negative role models that motivated individuals to adapt relatives' health-promoting behaviors and take steps to avoid adverse outcomes. Conversely, for some, the perception that T2D diagnosis was inevitable was a barrier to initial self-care. Perceived lack of control over developing T2D due to family history of the disease led to feelings of self-blame and futility regarding self-management efforts. Our results highlight the importance of recognizing how familial experiences impact patients' ability to navigate a new T2D diagnosis. Proactively addressing perceived barriers to and facilitators of self-management in the context of family T2D history may aid in efforts to educate and support high-risk, younger patients establish a trajectory towards improved health. Disclosure M. A. Blatchins: None. K. Xu: None. A. Altschuler: None. R. W. Grant: None. A. Gopalan: None. Funding National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K23DK116968); Kaiser Permanente Northern California


Virtualizing the x86-based data center creates a dynamic environment for server application deployment and resource sharing. Resource management in this environment is challenging as applications are under fluctuating workloads causing diverse resource demands across their tiers. Resource allocation adaptation is essential for high performance machine utilization. This paper presents feedback controllers that dynamically adjust the CPU allocations of multi-tier applications in order to adapt to workload changes by considering the resource coupling between utilizations of application components. Our experimental evaluation on a virtualized 3-tier Rubis server application shows that our techniques work effectively.


The generation of pressure in the feed section of an extruder is analyzed. It is concluded that body forces must be considered since they provide the necessary conditions for pressure initiation. Solutions are given which take into account gravity forces in both vertical and horizontal screws together with centrifugal force. Some numerical results are also given which illustrate the practical importance of these effects.


An investigation of 94.5 GHz avalanche diode high order frequency multiplier is presented. The nonlinearity property of avalanche phenomenon has evoked great interest in high order frequency multiplication. Theoretical analysis of harmonic characters of avalanche current is outlined. In experiment 4.1 mW output power and 0.8% efficiency are obtained. Meanwhile the phase noise of 84 dBc/Hz at 10 KHz offset is measured.


A review is presented of recent theoretical advances on a fundamental problem in statistical mechanics that concerns the three-phase contact line ℒ and its tension τ near a wetting phase transition. In addition to answering the intriguing question whether or not ℒ and τ vanish at wetting, recent work has also revealed that τ displays universal singular behavior, reflecting critical phenomena associated with the wetting transition. Three factors are crucial for determining the fate of ℒ and τ at wetting: the order of the wetting transition, the range of the intermolecular forces, and the upper critical dimension du, above which mean-field theory holds and below which fluctuations dominate. For most systems studied experimentally, du < 3, so that the mean-field predictions should be correct in d = 3. In the thermal fluctuation regime, for d < du, hyperscaling predicts the value 2(d – 2)/(d – 1) for the critical exponent of τ(θ), in the limit that the contact angle θ approaches 0.


This report describes the process and result of a master thesis project in the subject of Industrial design engineering at Lulea University of Technology, performed during 20 weeks in spring to aut ...


The article examines the quality issues over the management of state-owned enterprises (SOE) in Brazil as of mid-September 2016. Also cited are the enactment of the SOEs' Governance Law, which mandates independent auditing of the SOEs' balance sheets, the need for SOEs to create a statutory audit committee, and the minimum requirements for transparency in the conduct of business by SOEs.


Epidemics are a typical aspect of life and death in ancient centuries which deeply affected the psyche of people. Between the mid-14th and the beginning of the 18th century, the plague was among the most dangerous infectious diseases afflicting European society.1 Apart from its economic and demographic consequences, a subject worthy of research is the reaction of our ancestors in the face of this direct life threat. As part of the study area, the subject of this article is the activity of the Jesuits during the plague that spread in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 18th century. In the context of the ongoing Great Northern War (1700 – 1721), the aforementioned epidemic caused a significant demographic drop. The Fathers of the Society of Jesus could not remain indifferent to this event. The plague led the Jesuits to face two major challenges: the fulfillment of the Order's mission to support Christians in achieving salvation, and protection of the owned human and material resources, in order to renew their pastoral work and teaching after the end of the epidemic. As part of the broader subject of the relationship between Church and society, the analysis of the various initiatives taken by the Jesuits will highlight both the strategies used by the monks in times of imminent threat, as well as the impact


Review(s) of: Reading Robinson: Companion Essays to Friendly Mission edited by Anna Johnson and Mitchell Rolls, xi + 238 pp, Quintus Publishing, Hobart, 2008, ISBN 9780977557257 (pbk), $34.95.


Free-piston heat engines are being examined by a number of international research groups as an option for conservative technology, as they are not limited by the movement of the crankshaft as in conventional engines. The free-piston engines are employed in applications like power generation using conventional methods. The higher compression ratios provide higher cycle efficiencies and also boost in-cylinder temperatures increasing mechanical stress, pressures, and heat transfer losses. This paper presents different in-cylinder flows by computational fluid dynamics for various compression ratios ranges from 7 to 15 and estimates were made to find best compression ratio for the optimal engine operating performance and characteristic.


Timothy Boswell, managing editor of Studies in the Novel, interviewed Aleksandar Hemon in Denton, Texas, on March 2, 2015. Hemon is the author of three novels—Nowhere Man (2002), which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Lazarus Project (2008), a finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award; and the justpublished The Making of Zombie Wars (2015)—as well as two collections of short stories (The Question of Bruno [2000], Love and Obstacles [2009]) and a collection of essays (The Book of My Lives [2013]). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, a "genius grant" from the MacArthur Foundation in 2004, and a PEN/W.G. Sebald Award in 2011. Hemon left his native Sarajevo to visit Chicago in 1992, planning to stay for a matter of months. After the outbreak of war in Bosnia, he was unable to return home and remained in the United States, where he studied English while working such jobs as a Greenpeace canvasser, bike messenger, and ESL teacher. He published his first story in English in Triquarterly in 1995. His work, which is often compared to that of Vladimir Nabokov, now appears frequently in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, Granta, Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere, and he writes in Bosnian for the web portal Radio Sarajevo. Hemon's books thus far have all dealt in some way with the Yugoslav wars, Bosnia, or Chicago, and they blur the lines of genre and the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction—as he points out, there is no such distinction in Bosnian literature. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two daughters.


This chapter reconstitutes Patience as foundational to Joris Hoefnagel's creative endeavor and engagement with the natural world. Through an anthropomorphic approach to the figure of Patience, Hoefnagel speaks not in abstract allegorical terms but in those of lived experience. Hoefnagel's interpretation of patience as a theme, beginning with the volume's first drawing, also stands out from other visual personifications of the virtue produced in the sixteenth-century Netherlands within the context of the reform movement. Throughout the twenty-three drawings in the volume, Hoefnagel's emblematic representations of patience alternate between the external world of nature and the internal world of the city. These two categories - the landscape and the urban vista - would have resonated for Hoefnagel and Johannes Radermacher with the actual lived environment of their hometown of Antwerp, a once-burgeoning mercantile center surrounded by productive farmland and gentrified suburbs. Keywords: emblematic art; Johannes Radermacher; Joris Hoefnagel; patience ; sixteenth-century Netherlands


This chapter explores the meanings of natural diversity: what it consisted of, whence it arose, and why it was important, in one text. The idea of natural diversity had different meanings and associations in each of these contexts, and the interaction of these various meanings and associations is one of the principal sources of the book's coherence and power. One of the most resonant expressions of the idea of natural diversity appears in the passage in which "Polo" described the Indian kingdom of Coilum. Marco Polo's vision of the world as essentially and naturally diverse contrasts strongly with the two principal narratives produced by earlier European travelers to the Mongol court, those of the friars John of Pian di Carpini and William of Rubruck, who were sent in 1245-46 and 1253, respectively, as missionaries and ambassadors by the pope and the king of France. Keywords: John of Pian di Carpini; Marco Polo; Mongol court; natural diversity; William of Rubruck


Niederschlesien, Dolni Slezsko, Silesia Interior. These are only three among many different names that define Lower Silesia region. Variety of words describing this geographical area is a symbol of its complex political history. Over the centuries this land belonged to the Poles, Czechs, Germans respectively. In 1945, after the Second World War, Lower Silesia became part of Poland again, but its former rulers had marked it by their cultures and traditions. The region was inhabited mostly by residents of the former Polish eastern borderland. This territory, on the strength of Yalta and Potsdam conferences' agreements, was irreversibly lost in ZSRR's favor. Polish settlers in Lower Silesia replaced Germans, who were forced to start new lives on post-war Germany territories. I would like to present how over 60 years (1945-2010) Polish writers have been perceiving and describing the process of the Lower Silesia recolonization. I will adopt following perspectives: 1. Lower Silesia before the war as an emanation of the borderland (e.g. works by Marian Jachimowicz). 2. Different Poles' attitudes towards germanness of the region (e.g. Henryk Worcell and Marek Krajewski). 3. Apology of the myth of multiculturalism (e.g. Tokarczuk). 4. The convention called "Lower Silesia little realism" as an individual effort to put down roots in the new land (e.g. Wojciech Grabkowski). 5. 'Lower Silesia – place called nowhere' – an unknown space as an alternative to well-worn convention (Lower Silesia young writers). After analyzing these issues, I will try to answer the question concerning the role of Lower Silesia in Polish literature, and I will discuss the parallels between the role of Lower Silesia motif in Polish literature and the initiation myth.


This paper proposes a capacitor voltage oscillation reduction method by using third harmonic zero-sequence current for Modular Multilevel Cascade Converter (MMCC) with Single Delta Bridge Cells (SDBC). A practical case study on an 80 MVar/ 33 kV MMCC-SDBC based STATCOM is used to demonstrate the method. The impact of the third harmonic zero-sequence current level of the capacitor oscillation reduction and the electro-thermal stresses on IGBT modules is investigated. An optimal parameter of the current level is obtained by compromising the above two performance factors. The capacitor bank volume is reduced by 23 % by applying the proposed method.


The induction rate and callus formation time are the key parameters during the process of callus induction.Mature seeds of Japanese lawngrass(Zoysia japonica) were used as explants to investigate the effect of the factors,including grinding,immersion and the way of transferring explants on the medium,on callus induction rate and formation time.Results are as follows: when the culture medium for callus induction was MS+ 2,4-D 5 mg/L + L-Pro 500 mg/L + sucrose 30 g/L + agar 7 g/L,pH5.8,(1) the callus induction rate was significantly improved after seeds were ground;(2) with the way of transferring explants on medium at random,the induction rate increased;(3) the induction rate was higher when the mature seeds were immersed in water for 72 h.Taken together,these findings suggest that after the mature seeds were ground,immersed in water for 72 h and transferred on medium at random,a little callus appears from explants after seeds were on medium 5~7 d,the callus formation comes to peak at 9~11 d,callus can be in subculture after 14 d,and the callus induction rate are as high as 95.6%.


Vapor refrigerant injection cycle with a flash tank has proven to be effective in improving system performance significantly at extremely low and high ambient temperatures. However, the control strategy of operating the system is still unclear. There is no open publication on the comprehensive study of the vapor injection cycle control strategy to date. This paper presents the experimental investigation on the control strategy of the vapor injection system using R410A as its working fluid. A prototype flash tank equipped with a flow visualization window was utilized to monitor and investigate the liquid-vapor separation, which guided the development of the system control strategy. The control of three valves was found to be critical to the reliable system operation: the injection port valve, the upper-stage expansion valve and the lower-stage expansion valve. The system was tested with different vapor refrigerant injection ratios under ASHRAE Standard Rating and Performance test conditions. Severe conditions of -17.8oC and 46.1oC were also used to evaluate the system behavior. The system was found to be operating steady with the liquid refrigerant in the flash tank maintaining a level of 40% to 60% of the tank height to ensure the reliable system operation.


Abstract In this article, I analyse the ways in which Nnedi Okorafor's Afrofuturist novel Lagoon (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2014) challenges stable and so-called normative identities and ways of being. Lagoon narrates the story of aliens landing in Lagos, Nigeria. Through its presentation of shapeshifting aliens, as well as the use of a plurivocal narrative technique enmeshed with Nigerian folktales and myths, the novel destabilises the notions of stable and fixed identities upon which heteropatriarchy rests. Drawing largely on queer and Afrofuturist theories, I argue that Okorafor's novel imagines alternative futures in which identities and desires are liberated from the rigidity of what is idealised and considered normal. I also argue that Lagoon's Afrofuturist perspective is unequivocally invested in undoing and working against Western hegemony, especially relating to imagining African realities. I highlight, ultimately, that the reader is integral in the process of creating new African realities.


Through subsurface irrigation laboratory experiments,soil wetting front were analyzed.The experiment take the Heilongjiang black soil,and the experimental dripper discharges were 1.10and1.38L/h,and the dripper was 30 cm deeply buried.The results indicatesd that wetting front diffusion range of dripper discharges 1.38L/h processing is bigger than the range of 1.10L/h,and at the beginning of the irrigation wetting front is round,as the extension of irrigation time wetting front is oval,with the extension of irrigation time,subsurface irrigation wetting front extension velocity decreases.


UBIQUITOUS Computing – the third paradigm of computing introduces the age of calm technology. It provides an attractive vision for the future of computing. Ubiquitous computing applications must deliver functionality in our everydayworld. But, they should be different from normal applications, as, service composition, description and discovery, inter-operability, adaptability, security impose greater challenge on ubiquitous computing applications. Conventional middleware systems like CORBA, DCOM,MOMand RMI have been used to address the challenges imposed by pervasive computing environments. All these systems have given rise to a wide variety of architectures. But, all the efforts have been independent and the architectures are not scalable and inter-operable. Web services have been used in the past for B2B integration and inter or intra enterprise communication. In this thesis, we have presented a new Web Service based architecture for ubiquitous computing applications. We have extended the concept of Web Service to create another layer of abstraction over the different existing architectures and expose their functionalities as services. The architecture easily solves the interoperability and adaptability problem between different ubiquitous computing architectures and provides standard protocols for communication and service composition, description and discovery purpose. The complexity of designing and implementing ubiquitous computing applications can be made easy with the proposed Web Service based architecture. Also existing conventional middleware based ubiquitous computing applications can be adopted to use this architecture. In terms of interoperability, scalability, robustness and security the Web service based architecture seems to be perfect for ubiquitous computing applications.


In this thesis we present a series of result that are framed in the theory of Matrix Orthogonal Polynomials, a branch of the very celebrated subject of Orthogonal Polynomials. In particular we study families of matrix valued orthogonal polynomials satisfying differential, difference or q-difference equations. The search for examples of matrix polynomials which are also eigenfunctions of certain matrix operators is a rather dificult issue. This dificulty is due to several reasons. The most important of these reasons is the increase of the difficulties in the computations related with the non-commutativity of the matrix product, and the existence of singular matrices. However, having a wide set of examples of matrix orthogonal polynomials has shown to be decisive in the study and discovery of new phenomena happening in the matrix orthogonality. This has been the case with the examples of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying differential equations. An example of the increasing knowledge about these families of orthogonal polynomials is shown in the last chapter of this memory. There, lot of tools developed in the last decades are used to build and study in deep an interesting family of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second order differential equations. Moreover, these families are shown to satisfy first order differential equations as well. In the case of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying difference equations, very little was known. Apart from some examples in size 2x2 (and some others reducible to the scalar case) there were no examples of such matrix orthogonal polynomials. With this thesis this lack of examples starts to be solved. Moreover, we introduce a method to construct examples of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second order difference equations, and by making use of it we give a variety of examples. Having such a method is of the main importance, because we skip the complexity in the computations that made the search of examples so difficult, and now dealing with matrix orthogonal polynomials and matrix difference equations becomes much easier to handle. The method profits of the factorization of a weight matrix and the symmetry equations for a discrete weight matrix and a difference operator. These symmetry equations are the starting point to develop the method. By making use of the examples obtained by this method, we explore new features and properties satisfied by this objects. For the case of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying q-difference equations, even less was known. In this thesis we establish the symmetry equations for the q-difference case, and we adapt the method developed for the difference case to obtain the first non-trivial examples of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second order q-difference operator. That emphasizes the power of the method to build examples for the difference case. With our method we construct an example of matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying q-difference equations, but this method can easily be used to get a wider class of examples and to explore their properties. With the content of this thesis we get a more complete view of the theory of matrix orthog- onal polynomials, and many questions can now be tackled, such as those concerning limiting relations among matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second order difference equations (or q-difference) and matrix orthogonal polynomials satisfying second order differential equa- tions.


The utility model discloses an intercooler of an engine, which comprises an intercooler body (1) and a drainage device (2) connected under the intercooler body (1), wherein the drainage device (2) comprises a water vapor inlet (21) and a drainage hole (22); the drainage hole (22) is arranged at the bottom of the drainage device (2); the intercooler also comprises a floater (23) and a sealing part (24) used for communicating the drainage hole (22) along with the floating of the floater (23) and plugging the drainage hole (22) along with the sinking of the floater (23); the sealing part (24) is arranged just above the drainage hole (22); and the floater (23) is fixedly connected to the sealing part (24). The function of automatic drainage can be realized by the intercooler when the accumulated water in the intercooler reaches a certain quantity. The utility model also discloses the engine comprising the intercooler, and the engine also has the same technical effects.


Gene silencing in transgenic plants has emerged in the last 5 years as a topic of intense interest for both applied and basic plant scientists. From the applied side, gene silencing has come as an unwelcome surprise. Early reviews of the prospects for plant genetic engineering did not pinpoint this as a potential obstacle. Rather, the anticipated challenge was to identify tissueand stage-specific promoters that could be used to obtain regulated transgene expression. Yet, silencing of transgenes is turning out to be a substantial problem, as described recently in an aptly titled review, "Transgene Inactivation: Plants Fight Back!" (Finnegan and McElroy, 1994). According to this article, of 30 companies polled, nearly all reported some problems with unwanted silencing of transgenes. While companies are struggling to find ways to avoid silencing, a small cadre of basic scientists has become fascinated by the phenomenon and is analyzing a variety of silencing systems. To this latter group, the phenomenon of silencing represents more than just an unwanted response to foreign genes; rather, it has opened a door that might lead to a deeper understanding of previously unsuspected ways that plants naturally use homologous or complementary nucleic acid sequences to modify gene expression, both in the nucleus at the DNA level and in the nucleus or cytoplasm as a means to control excess production of mRNA or replication of RNA pathogens. Initial studies of transgenic plants concentrated on those showing tissue-specific and/or high levels of expression. Plants that did not exhibit the desired expression characteristics were usually discarded. It was only a matter of time, however, until such plants would begin to be treated as objects of scientific investigation in their own right. In the late 1980s, papers started to appear that were devoted solely to describing cases of silencing that involved transgene/transgene or transgene/endogenous gene interactions. A central feature of all of these studies was that silencing was associated with multiple copies of homologous DNA sequences, which could comprise protein-coding regions, promoters, or both. Although the initial impulse was to lump these first cases together as a single phenomenon, it has since become clear that several different mechanisms are probably involved. These different mechanisms are united, however, in the sense that they all involve variations on nucleic acid interactions: DNA-DNA, RNA-RNA, and DNA-RNA. A general term that encompasses all of these phenomena is "homology-dependent gene silencing." Numerous detailed reviews of this topic are available (Jorgensen, 1992; Matzke and Matzke, 1993; Flavell, 1994; Matzke et al., 1994b; Mol et al., 1994).


This article provides a literature review of finite element simulation studies for metallic powder bed additive manufacturing processes. The various approaches in the numerical modeling of the processes and the selection of materials properties are presented in detail. Simulation results are categorized according to three major findings' groups (i.e. temperature field, residual stresses and melt pool characteristics). Moreover, the means used for the experimental validation of the simulation findings are described. Looking deeper into the studies reviewed, a number of future directions are identified in the context of transforming simulation into a powerful tool for the industrial application of additive manufacturing. Smart modeling approaches should be developed, materials and their properties should be further characterized and standardized, commercial packages specialized in additive manufacturing simulation have to be developed and simulation needs to become part of the modern digital production chains. Finally, the reviewed studies are organized in a table and characterized according to the process and material studied, the modeling methodology and the experimental validation method used in each of them. The key findings of the reviewed studies are also summarized.


RESULTS: Sensorimotor cortex activation increased after training (cluster data: voxels:1120; p<.0001; z-max: 8.55; MNI coordinate peak voxel:12,-26,80; %signal difference: 0.37±0.81) relative to pre-training. CONCLUSIONS: The sensorimotor increased activation associated with neuromuscular training is similar to motor recovery after injury and after long-duration (weeks) motor skill training. The increased sensorimotor cortex activation indicates the cortical representation may be functionally increased for knee motor control after the focused intervention. Future work with expanded sample sizes will map whole brain connectivity and other brain region activation changes associated with neuromuscular training.


This paper closely combines the injection system balance theory and the numerical simulation tech- nique,as for the asymmetric two cavities of the mouse,if the plastic melt cannot reach each gate and fulfill each cavity in the same time,it will cause the heterogeneity of the pressure arrangement,which could lead to bad quality,or short shot to optimize the injection system,guarantee the melt can be able basically filling cavity in the same time,and realize the melt balance flow.From the analysis result,divides the flow channel the section shape and the size play a key role in balance melts in combination cavity flowing.


Background: More than 20 million babies are born each year with a body weight of less than 2500 g, and 17% of all births in developing countries. Birth weight plays a role in mortality and morbidity, development and, future health of children. Low birth weight is a significant risk factor for infant death and other physical disorders. Anemia that occurs in maternal can increase the risk of mortality, perinatal morbidity and can affect the state of newborns. Anemia in maternal is related to low gestational age, low birth weight, and increased risk of small infants for gestational age. Research on the relationship of maternal's hemoglobin levels in third trimester  to anthropometric measurement of newborns has never been carried out at Rumah Sakit Nasional Diponegoro (RSND). Objective: This study aims to determine relationship between maternal's hemoglobin levels in third trimester with anthropometry of newborns. Method: This research was a study with cross sectional design . Data is collected from medical records at RSND. Babies born viewed medical records to determine inclusion criteria in the study. Anthropometric data were collected for newborns and the third trimester hemoglobin level was recorded in pregnant women. Assosiation analytic was performed with chi square test. Results: There was a significant relationship between maternal's hemoglobin levels in third trimester with measurements of newborn weight, body length, and head circumference. Conclusion: Maternal's hemoglobin in third trimester affect the measurement of weight, body length, and head circumference neonates. Keywords: anemia, hemoglobin, anthropometry, maternal, newborn


Abstract A 105-day feed trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of probiotic feed supplement containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae on milk yield and its composition in Holstein Friesian cows. The trial was conducted in the region of Sidi Bouzid in the west of Tunisia. Effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been investigated on eight Holstein Friesian cows randomly divided into two groups of four animals on the basis of age, body weight, average milk yield, and lactation number. The first group was supplemented with 2.5 g/cow/day of probiotic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (2.5 1010 CFU/day) and the second group (control) was without the yeast. The study showed that supplementation with 2.5 g of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae per cow per day or 2.5 1010 CFU/day tended (P < 0.06) to increase milk production by 1.1 kg/cow. By cons, there was a significant increase of fat (P < 0.01; 52.8 and 46.9 g/cow/day) and protein (P < 0.05; 41.7 and 38.7 g/cow/day) content both for treated and control group, respectively. It is concluded that supplementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at 2.5 1010 CFU/day in the diet of dairy cows may have positive influence on milk fat and protei n yield (g/cow/day).


The essential of planning and management of coastal areas has been widely accepted globally for nearly 40 years. However, the coastal policies, strategies and programmes are not extensively incorporated in the framework of Malaysian land use planning system. As such, this paper looks into the scenario of the planning and managing of coastal land uses in relation to the experience of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor. Coastal management requires other tools in delivering its wide array of development objectives and strategies to make it more sustainable. In this regards, the framework of development and planning process is seen as one of the available tools to plan and manage coastal areas. The analysis and findings demonstrate that the practice of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor relatively plans and manages their coastal land uses as in accordance with the physical land use planning system, encompassing the components of forward planning in their long term vision for their area. Though it is evident that the current practice works well, the system can be further improved taking into consideration other influential factors such as establishing database and financial aspect.


ABSTRACT The design of a novel Banki–Michell type turbine, to be located in existing water pipelines, is proposed. The turbine has a very efficient diffuser which allows the turbine to be compact and, most importantly, to have in-line flanges for minimal piping modifications at existing sites. This turbine combines a simple geometry with stable efficiency in a wide range of water discharges. The design procedure estimates the outer diameter of the impeller, its width and the geometry of the diffuser. A series of experimental tests has been carried out to measure the efficiency of the proposed turbine prototype. The turbine was tested in two different configurations, with and without rotational velocity regulation. The results of the tests showed that rotational velocity adaptation improves turbine efficiency in a wide range of flow rates. A significant reduction of the optimal velocity ratio, with respect to the predicted values, is likely due to 3D effects not accounted for in the design procedure. A simple way to roughly estimate this extra energy dissipation is derived from experimental data.


This evaluation research aimed to assess the model development project of disease prevention and control district in Public Health region 14 and to examine the troubles and obstacles of the project. The study used Stake's concepts and model of evaluation together with Stufflebeam's or CIPP model to assess the project in 2 dimensions: 1) the vertical dimension was used to assess the context, input, process, and product, and 2) horizontal dimension examines satisfaction, expectation, and actual observation. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 60 subjects from health and other network partners involving in the disease prevention and control district project. The study used self-administrative evaluation and satisfaction questionnaires, project progress report, and participating observations for data collection and further analyzed by using content analysis, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The results showed that the overall vertical assessment of the project including context, input, and process were at high level of appropriateness. Furthermore, the product was improved from medium to high level after joining the project. The horizontal assessment showed that all 4 factors (CIPP) provided by the project were appropriate and consistent with the area context/problem as well as with the local governmental policy and expectation. However, the project was still, in some extent, lack of policy coordination at provincial level and non-health network parties, ineffective of building capacity for network core-team in data and system management skills, and insufficient of raising community awareness and participation. Therefore, it was recommended that the further project should: 1) well coordinate the disease prevention and control district policy at all levels both health and non-health parties, 2) develop tool kits and work practices for local personnel to use as a guideline as well as build capacity and transfer knowledge and skills to core-team of each community, and 3) develop monitoring and evaluation system that encourage local network participation and sharing for self-learning and improvement.


Marine organisms are having rich source biologically active metabolites and there are many reports of macro algae-derived compounds that posses a broad range of biological functions, such as antibiotic, antiviral, antioxidant, antifouling, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and anti-mitotic activities.1,2 Some of the marco algaederived bioactive compounds are amino acids, terpenoids, phlorotannins, steroids, alkaloids, polyketides, glycerols, cyclic peptide, polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, fatty acids, and acrylic acid.3,4 These bioactive potential of seaweeds are mainly used as a human food sources in Asian countries. Particularly, brown seaweed (Phaephyceae) is most complex group of algae and they are broadly distributed from tropical to polar zones of ocean in the world.5 Stoechospermum marginatum (C. Agardh) Kutzing belongs to brown algae and distributed from Indian Ocean to Australian ocean.6 It quiet effortlessly collected from the Gulf of Mannar near Mandapam coast (9o16 ́N,79o12 ́E) of Tamilnadu, India. Currently, this brown seaweed utilized for various aspects like used as a food in salads, fresh meal for breeding animals, manure for cultivation of vegetable and raw material for production of alginic acid and mannitol.7 Different essential oils along with methanolic and dichloromethane (1:1) extract of S. marginatum possessed antioxidant and antibacterial potential were also documented.3 Recent report revealed that the secondary metabolites present in S. marginatum were noticed to be boosted the activities of peroxidase, phenyl alanine lyase, catalyse, and poly phenol oxidase.8 Spatane derivatives from S. marginatum were well established regarding their biological activity.4 However, bioactive composition was differed depending on the geographical distribution, habitats including environmental conditions: water, temperature, salinity, light, and nutrients.9 In the present novel study was seems to be lacking based on the review of literature and therefore in the present pragmatic study intended to evaluate the anti-genotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects of Stoechospermum marginatum ethanol extract in rat model.


The invention discloses a gear train structure of a small diesel engine air cylinder. The gear train structure comprises an air cylinder body, a gear chamber cover plate, a crankshaft gear, an idle gear, an oil pump gear, a cam shaft gear, a hydraulic pump gear and an engine oil pump gear. The gear chamber cover plate is integrated to one end of the air cylinder body. A hydraulic pump and an oil pump are disposed on two sides of the gear chamber cover plate. The gears are distributed at one end of the air cylinder body to form the gear train. By the arrangement, potential safety hazards of seal surface oil leakage, water leakage and gas leakage caused by the fact that the gear chamber cover and the air cylinder body are mounted through bolts are avoided. Related gear train mounting holes are directly casted and machined in the diesel engine air cylinder body, the dimensional tolerance of the gear train mounting holes can be controlled favorably, gear train gear gap control difficulty is lowered, and diesel engine gear train transmission stability and reliability are increased.


This paper summarizes the life and work of Doctor of History, Professor of Kazan State University Ivan Mikhailovich Ionenko (1913–1989), a Soviet historian and the Honored Scientist of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. A list of sources necessary for reconstructing I.M. Ionenko's biography was compiled. The stages of his life path were identified. The influence of changes in the historiographic situation of the second half of the 1950s and the discussions held during the 1960s was discussed. I.M. Ionenko's participation in the activity of the Science Council on the Complex Problem "Great October Socialist Revolution" was analyzed. His role in the establishment and development of the Volga Section of the Science Council and the Regional Association of Agricultural Historians of the Middle Volga Region was shown. The focus of his research regarding the development of agricultural history, the Great Russian Revolution, and the Great Patriotic War was revealed. I.M. Ionenko's work as the head of the Department of USSR History of Kazan University and as the founder of the scientific school was considered. It was concluded that a thorough analysis of the research activities of I.M. Ionenko, as well as reviews of his works, office documents, memoirs (those of him and his colleagues), and archive may contribute considerably to the study of the scholar's biography.


The purpose of this article is double, to clarify the uses by Newton's concept of Natural Law (LN), in the light of the problems and traditions available t...


Agent Communication languages were initially developed for exchanging information within multiagent systems composed of software entities. This article falls within the realm of mixed Multi-Agent Systems composed of humans and artificial agents which are embodied for simulating the human behavior. In order to increase the interactional capacity of virtual agents, a multimodal conversation acts library is proposed, based notably on speech acts and the expression of emotions linked to these acts. This study focus in particular on complex emotions, arising from agents' counterfactual reasoning. This multimodal conversation language will be used in future to express the communicative intention of the Embodied Conversational Agent Greta, able to communicate multimodally, verbal and non-verbal.


Taking kudzu root as the raw material,flavonoids were extracted from it.It was investigated that the effects of ethanol concentration,reflux extraction temperature,extraction time and ratio of solid to liquid on pueraria flavone extraction rate.The optimal extration conditions were obtained as follows: ethanol concentration 50%,extraction temperature 90℃,solid-liquid ratio is 1:30 and extraction time 3h.Under this condition,pueraria flavone extraction rate could reach 2.53mg/g.


The human culture and cognition are consequence of the thinking capability of human, and thinking is a social activity. People have similar idea and opinion interacts, and interactions force people to have similar idea and interaction take place locally. However, its effect is global. In this study, we try to determine define the computational thinking for saplings growing up algorithm (SGuA) which belongs to evolutionary algorithms. Thinking capability can be defined based on the process interaction for similar solutions. SGuA has four operators: mating, branching, vaccinating and surviving. We determined the computational thinking capability for each operator. Finally, we determined computational thinking capability of SGuA.


The previous studies have shown that PVDF pyroelectric sensor is a sensitive and low-cost detector for measuring of the output power, which is at milliwatt level. Due to the poor thermal stability of PVDF membrane and composite backer, the novel sensor has not been used for high intensity acoustic power measurement. In this study, a focused ultrasound transducer was used as an acoustic source with maximum acoustic power output about 25 W. A large-size PVDF pyroelectric sensor was fabricated for high power measurements. Besides that, multiple sets of acoustic power values were calculated under the known conditions. To protect the sensor from the high intensity ultrasound wave, the acoustic power measurement was carried out at low-intensity areas which are outside of the focal area of the transducer. To analyze the results, a physical model and a finite-element analysis method were introduced to analyze the influence factors of the measurement method by using PVDF pyroelectric sensor. Finally, some suggesti...


The future multimedia applications demand large bandwidth and require efficient multicast for economic use of network resources. The wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) networks have emerged as a promising technology to support high bandwidth demands. This paper proposes an expanded graph model to handle the multicast routing and wavelength assignment (MCRWA) problem in WDM optical networks. In the model, the WDM network is transformed into a graph. Application of graph theory algorithm will enable the routing and wavelength assignment to be done in a single step. The model is of general nature and is applicable to all kinds of WDM networks. We apply a degree-constrained SPH heuristic as an example to solve the MCRWA problem in a general WDM network that possesses finite light splitting and wavelength conversion capabilities. The simulation results show the broking performance of the optical networks under various constraints.


Modelling air combat as differential game recent approaches and future requirements.- Air combat aiming with a game in the lag of the radar data.- Control strategies in a planar pursuit evasion game with energy constraints.- A construction of the value function in some differential games of approach with two pursuers and one evader.- Barrier trajectories of a realistic missile/traget pursuit-evasion game.- Nonlinear effects in a variable speed pursuit-evasion game.- The direct Pontrjagin methods in the theory of differential games.- The problem of pursuit by several objects.- The method of characteristics for constructing singular paths and manifolds in optimal control and differential games.- Differential games and totally risk-averse optimal control of systems with small disturbances.- Differential games and artificial intelligence - A new approach for solving complex dynamic conflicts.- Simultaneous two-pursuer differential game.- Dynamic game applied to coordination control of two arm robotic system.- Approximation of differential games of pursuit-evasion by discrete-time games.- On discrete games of infiltration.- About the resolution of discrete pursuit games and its applications to naval warfare.- On Washburn's Deterministic Graphical Games.- Game theory and H ?-optimal control: The continuous-time case.- Controllers attenuating disturbances and initial-uncertainties for time-varying systems.- Robust stabilization of time delay systems based on Riccati type operator equation arising in differential games.- Quadratic differential games with overtaking optimality.- Tracking strategies for asymptotically admissible target paths in economic models.- Numerical solution of linear differential games.- Robust aircraft take-off control: A comparison of aircraft performance under different windshear conditions.- Iterative computation of nash equilibria in M-player games with partial weak coupling.- Approximate solutions to continuous stochastic games.- Solving dynamic games via Markov game approximations.- A game programming approach to efficient management of interconnected power networks.- Computation of cooperative and Stackelberg solutions when players are described by linear programs.


Abstract In numerical modelling and simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer phenomena, it should be ensured that the output data have practical meaning, so that the models are capable of automatic judging and evaluation of functions to predict the collapsing tendency of a fully-penetrated weld pool for any input process parameters. In this study, a subprogram is combined with a comprehensive model for weld pool behaviours in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) to evaluate and predict the tendency or possibility of the weld pool collapsing so as to avoid over-penetration and/or burn-through. The forces acting on a weld pool are analysed in detail. A model of static force conditions for a fully-penetrated weld pool is developed, and a criterion is set up to judge and evaluate the tendency for occurrence of over-penetration and/or burn-through defects. The transient variations of the forces affecting surface deformation and collapse of the weld pool are computed, and the percentages of their influencing roles are obtained. For a specific material and workpiece thickness, the threshold values below which the burn-through phenomenon does not occur are determined, and compared to the experimental results.


Introduction: Insomniadisorder suffered by many students, and may affects learning process, academic performance, and health. Besides that, learning process, memory disorder, and emotional health may influence academic performance, which is an important thing for their future. Aim: To know whether chronic insomnia disorder affect the Grade Point Average of third year students from faculty of dentistry. Method: This is an observational analytic research with cross-sectional method, was performed in Faculty of Dentistry Hasanuddin University in October 2017 by total sampling. The variables are chronic insomnia disorder, and academic performance. Insomnia is diagnosed by Insomnia Screening Questionnaire, and data pro-cessed by SPSS 24 (Saphiro-Wilk and T independent test). Result: The result shows that there is one outlier which has been excluded, while insomnia disorder prevalence is about 82.25% of 62 samples, chronic insomnia disorder is about 59.67% of 62 samples, and there is no difference between GPA of chronic insomnia group and non-insomnia group (p=0.343). Con-clusion: Chronic insomnia disorder doesn't affect the GPA of third-year students from faculty of dentistry.


A B S T R A C T The aim of this article is to discuss if the criminal processes allow to think the city of Rio de Janeiro as a violent city in the beginnings of the twentieth century. The author points out the identity of the individuals involved in those varied circumstances of violence and exposes the multiplicity of methods and themes that the criminal archives may offer to the researchers of the recent history of Brazil.


Cancer subtype information is critically important for designing more effective treatments. In this thesis, we introduce a new co-clustering algorithm for cancer subtype identification, which combines the information of gene networks to simultaneously group samples and genes into biologically meaningful clusters. We call our method network-assisted co-clustering for the identification of cancer subtypes (NCIS). Prior to clustering, we assign weights to genes: those that play key roles in the network and/or show significant variations among samples would be prioritized. This new approach allows us to rely more on genes that are informative and representative by including the weights as an importance indicator in the clustering step. Here we introduce a new weighted co-clustering method based on semi-nonnegative matrix tri-factorization. We evaluated the effectiveness of the algorithm on large-scale Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and breast cancer (BRCA) datasets from TCGA and on simulated datasets. We found that our NCIS method can achieve more reliable results with respect to the clinical features compared to conventional semi-nonnegative matrix trifactorization methods and consensus clustering. We also train two classifiers for GBM and BRCA subtypes identification based on NCIS's results. This new method will be very useful to comprehensively detect subtypes that are otherwise obscured by cancer heterogeneity, from various types of cancers based on highthroughput and high-dimensional gene expression data.


Abstract : The main objective of the study was to test a motivational enhancement (ME) intervention to address barriers to engaging in mental health treatment for recently returned veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The long term goal of the study was to increase veteran's participation in mental health treatment by using a Stages of Change model to reduce perceived stigma and barriers to treatment. The central hypothesis put forth was that veterans who receive motivational enhancement will demonstrate greater readiness to change and higher treatment program attendance than veterans who receive treatment as usual. This study demonstrates the difficulty and intensity in the recruitment of veterans in intervention studies for mental health reasons. Given that untreated mental illness can lead to many negative consequences and the stigmas associated with mental health use, veterans' engagement and retention in treatment are factors that require further research. The findings here suggest that the VA, DoD, universities and communities should develop projects that allow the use of resources and develop intervention of programs that enhance treatment usage among combat veterans. As a more general point, the study team feels there is a broader reason to continue this type of intervention study. An intervention such as the one described for this project could be of tremendous value to the many veterans now and in the future who are troubled by their war experiences yet are reluctant to commit to counseling. As a more general point, the study team feels there is a broader reason to continue this type of intervention study. An intervention such as the one described for this project could be of tremendous value to the many veterans now and in the future who are troubled by their war experiences yet are reluctant to commit to counseling.


In the article theoretical and practical aspects of marketing management in the sphere of educational services of higher professional education are presented. The marketing strategies used in higher education institutions are considered.