The need for a names-based cyber-infrastructure for digital biology is based on the argument that scientific names serve as a standardized metadata system that has been used consistently and near universally for 250 years. As we move towards data-centric biology, name-strings can be called on to discover, index, manage, and analyze accessible digital biodiversity information from multiple sources. Known impediments to the use of scientific names as metadata include synonyms, homonyms, mis-spellings, and the use of other strings as identifiers. We here compare the name-strings in GenBank, Catalogue of Life (CoL), and the Dryad Digital Repository (DRYAD) to assess the effectiveness of the current names-management toolkit developed by Global Names to achieve interoperability among distributed data sources. New tools that have been used here include Parser (to break name-strings into component parts and to promote the use of canonical versions of the names), a modified TaxaMatch fuzzy-matcher (to help manage typographical, transliteration, and OCR errors), and Cross-Mapper (to make comparisons among data sets). The data sources include scientific names at multiple ranks; vernacular (common) names; acronyms; strain identifiers and other surrogates including idiosyncratic abbreviations and concatenations. About 40% of the name-strings in GenBank are scientific names representing about 400,000 species or infraspecies and their synonyms.


Current component-based systems with inheritance do not fully protect the implementation details of a class from its subclasses, making it difficult to evolve that implementation without breaking subclass code. Previous solutions to the so-called fragile base class problem specify those implementation dependencies, but do not hide implementation details in a way that allows effective software evolution. In this paper, we show that one instance of the fragile base class problem arises because current object-oriented languages dispatch methods using open recursion semantics even when these semantics are not needed or wanted. Our solution, called Selective Open Recursion, makes explicit the methods to which open recursion should apply. As a result, classes can be more loosely coupled from their subclasses, and therefore can be evolved more easily without breaking subclass code. We have implemented Selective Open Recursion as an extension to Java, along with an analysis that automatically infers the necessary program annotations. We have collected data for the Java standard library suggesting that the additional programmer effort required by our proposal is low, and that Selective Open Recursion aids in automated reasoning such as compiler optimizations. 1. Inheritance and Information Hiding In his seminal paper, Parnas laid out the classic theory of information hiding: developers should break a system into modules or components in order to hide information that is likely to change [10]. Thus if change is anticipated with reasonable accuracy, the system can be evolved with local rather than global system modifications, easing many software maintenance tasks. Furthermore, the correctness of each component can be verified in isolation from other components, allowing developers to work independently on different sub-problems. Unfortunately, developers do not always respect the information hiding boundaries of components—it is often tempting to reach across the boundary for temporary convenience, while causing more serious long-term evolution problems. Thus, encapsulation mechanisms such as Java's packages and public/private data members were developed to give programmers compiler support for enforcing information hiding boundaries. While the encapsulation mechanisms provided by Java and other languages can help to enforce information hiding public class CountingSet extends Set { private int count; public void add(Object o) { super.add(o); count++; } public void addAll(Collection c) { super.addAll(c); count += c.size(); } public int size() { return count; } } Figure 1: The correctness of the CountingSet class depends on the independence of add and addAll in the implementation of Set. If the implementation is changed so that addAll uses add, then count will be incremented twice for each element added. boundaries between an object and its clients, enforcing information hiding between a class and its subclasses is more challenging. The private modifier can be used to hide some method and fields from subclasses. However, inheritance creates a tight coupling between a class and its subclasses, making it difficult to hide information about the implementation of public and protected methods in the superclass. In component-based systems with inheritance, it is easy for a subclass to become unintentionally dependent on the implementation details of its superclass, and therefore to break when the superclass changes in seemingly innocuous ways. 1.1 The Fragile Base Class Problem This issue is known as the Fragile Base Class Problem, one of the most significant challenges faced by designers of objectoriented component libraries. Figure 1 shows an example of the fragile base class problem, taken from the literature [12, 9, 2]. In the example, the Set class has been extended with an optimization that keeps track of the current size of the set in an additional variable. Whenever a new element or collection of elements is added to the set, the variable is updated appropriately. Unfortunately, the implementation of CountingSet makes assumptions about the implementation details of Set—in particular, it assumes that Set does not implement addAll in terms of add. This coupling means that the implementation of Set cannot be changed without breaking its subclasses. For example, if Set was changed so that the addAll method calls add for each member of the collection in the argument, the count variable will be updated not only during the call to addAll, but also for each individual add operation—and thus it will end up being incremented twice for each element in the collection. The root of the problem described above (which is just one instance of the larger fragile base class problem) is that the subclass depends on the calling patterns between methods in its superclass. Object-oriented languages provide open recursion, in which self-calls are dynamically dispatched, allowing subclasses to intercept self-calls from the superclass and thus depend on when it makes these calls. Open recursion is useful for many object-oriented programming idioms—for example, the template method design pattern [7] uses open recursion to invoke customized code provided by a subclass. However, sometimes making a self-call to the current object is just an implementation convenience, not a semantic requirement. The whole point of encapsulation is to ensure that subclasses do not depend on such implementation details, so that a class and its subclasses can be evolved independently. Thus inheritance breaks encapsulation when implementation-specific self-calls are made. Examples like these have led some to call inheritance antimodular. Most practitioners, recognizing the value of inheritance for achieving software reuse in component-based systems, would not go so far, but this example illustrates that reasoning about correctness is challenging in the presence of inheritance. A number of previous papers have addressed the fragile base class problem in various ways [8, 12, 13, 2, 11]. These solutions, however, either give up the power of open recursion entirely, or expose details of a class's implementation that ought to be private (such as the fact that the addAll method calls or does not call add in the example above).


Regional microscopic anatomy of the epididymal duct of the dromedary camel was studied using H&E and a combination of Masson's trichrome and Verhoeff's staining. The initial segment of the epididymis was lined with high pseudostratified columnar epithelium with stereocilia; and with varying height levels from place to place giving the duct a "festooned" appearance. The nuclei of principal and basal cells were located in the basal one‐third of the epithelial cells. The duct was surrounded by a layer of circularly oriented smooth muscle cells; this peritubular smooth muscle thickened toward the termination of the epididymal duct. The middle and terminal segments of the epididymal duct were lined with the same type epithelium with no noticeable variations in height. The nuclei were located in the basal one‐half of the cells and spermatozoa were more evident in the lumen of the middle and terminal segments. Histochemical characteristics of epithelial cells were investigated using a panel of different lectins: Con‐A, DBA, MAA, SBA, SNA‐1, and WGA. These showed selective regional binding to different portions of the epididymal duct and varying degrees of binding to different cellular compartments. These regional variations in carbohydrate composition are discussed; they indicate a great deal of functional compartmentalization in the epididymal duct.


Transonic flows on the advancing side of a helicopter rotor and blade–wake/blade– vortex interactions (BWI, BVI) are the major sources of helicopter noise. Both phenomena should be accurately predicted for a successful improvement of state-of-the-art helicopter design. To account for the former, a fully compressible CFD solver is essential in computing the flow around rotor blades. In most compressible flow solvers, however, the artificial dissipation formulated for shock capturing may lead to an erroneous dissipation of the wake or tip vortices and their subsequent spreading. Furthermore, the typical operating Reynolds number is very high, which makes the application of LES to helicopter rotor flow infeasible. This article summarizes our technical efforts toward the development of high-fidelity CFD tools for rotorcraft applications as part of the DARPA Helicopter Quieting project. The key ideas in our strategy to overcome the difficulties previously stated are: (1) Coupling fully compressible and incompressible CFD solvers for near-blade and wake regions, respectively; (2) Incorporation of the low-dissipation algorithm (Mahesh et al. 2004; Ham & Iaccarino 2004) into the incompressible URANS solver for the wake region, in order to minimize the dissipation of vortical structures; (3) Using the most advanced four-equation v–f turbulence model (Durbin 1995) for improved predictive performance. This combination will resolve both compressibility and wake effects with solvers best suited for each purpose. We use the multi-block, structured SUmb code (Van der Weide et al. 2006) and the unstructured CDP solver (Ham & Iaccarino 2004) for compressible and incompressible flow solvers, respectively. These two codes have been successfully applied to the full gas turbine simulation (Medic et al. 2007). Note that the initial setup of the necessary computational frameworks such as a moving-mesh capability, coupling strategy, and validation cases is already reported in Hahn et al. (2005). As a continuing work, this article will mainly focus on more challenging validation cases. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 briefly describes new aspects of the revised coupling software. Section 3 introduces the technique of anisotropic adaptive mesh refinement. Validations for the UH-60A and HART-II cases are provided in Sections 4 and 5, respectively, followed by the rotational correction on the v–f model in Section 6.


On her way to New York in 1959, a young Australian journalist Lillian Roxon, who'd grown up as an impressionable teenager in the town of Brisbane awash with American servicemen, stopped in Hawaii to interview Colonel Tom Parker. Symbolically this would mark the beginning of Lillian's passion for rock 'n' roll. Ten years later, she was the queen of New York's coolest club, Max's Kansas City, and would write the first ever Rock Encyclopedia.


State machine obfuscation is an important step to harden circuits against reverse engineering. The work presents a state machine obfuscation enabled by Timing Camouflage. Flip-flops of state machines often have a combinational feedback path. This makes it challenging to directly apply Timing Camouflage. Therefore, we developed two methods to redesign a state machine, such that at least one of its flip-flops is free of combinational feedback paths while the original functionality stays the same. The Timing Camouflage enabled state machine obfuscation additionally allows a beneficial combination with logic locking. The results demonstrate that state-of-the-art techniques fail to extract a correct state machine or show decreased success in extracting a correct secret locking key from an obfuscated design.


Objective To evaluate the impact of the off -pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) on left ventricular(LV) function with transesophageal echocardiography(TEE). Methods Blood flow velocities of pulmonary vein (PV) and mitral valve (MV) were performed in 21 patients with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction two weeks pre-OPCAB, and the left ventricular SV, CO and LVEF were measured by biplane Simpson′s method, the data were compared with the results observed one month post-OPCAB. Results The peak flow velocities of PV had significant difference between pre- and post-OPCAB(P 0.05 - 0.01 ).MVe wave and MVe/MVa of MV were increased significantly as well(P 0.05 ). LVEF and CO were also improved obviously, but there was no statistical significance. Only the SV had increased significantly(P 0.05 ). Conclusions OPCAB can improve LV function, especially systolic LV function significantly in short-term. TEE is a highly reliable method to quantitatively evaluate the clinical results of coronary revascularization.


ABSTRACT The quest to create a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine capable of eliciting broadly neutralizing antibodies against Env has been challenging. Among other problems, one difficulty in creating a potent immunogen resides in the substantial overall sequence variability of the HIV envelope protein. The membrane-proximal region (MPER) of gp41 is a particularly conserved tryptophan-rich region spanning residues 659 to 683, which is recognized by three broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (bnMAbs), 2F5, Z13, and 4E10. In this study, we first describe the variability of residues in the gp41 MPER and report on the invariant nature of 15 out of 25 amino acids comprising this region. Subsequently, we evaluate the ability of the bnMAb 2F5 to recognize 31 varying sequences of the gp41 MPER at a molecular level. In 19 cases, resulting crystal structures show the various MPER peptides bound to the 2F5 Fab′. A variety of amino acid substitutions outside the 664DKW666 core epitope are tolerated. However, changes at the 664DKW666 motif itself are restricted to those residues that preserve the aspartate's negative charge, the hydrophobic alkyl-π stacking arrangement between the β-turn lysine and tryptophan, and the positive charge of the former. We also characterize a possible molecular mechanism of 2F5 escape by sequence variability at position 667, which is often observed in HIV-1 clade C isolates. Based on our results, we propose a somewhat more flexible molecular model of epitope recognition by bnMAb 2F5, which could guide future attempts at designing small-molecule MPER-like vaccines capable of eliciting 2F5-like antibodies.


The Bank of England operates the United Kingdom's Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) infrastructure for the settlement of electronic sterling transfers. This infrastructure plays a vital role in the safe functioning of the UK financial system and in fulfilling the Bank's core purposes — maintaining monetary and financial stability. This article explains the role of the RTGS infrastructure, how it operates, and how it reduces risk in the UK financial system. It also outlines how the design of the infrastructure will develop in the coming years.


With the rising advancement of the multimedia technology, video compression is becoming a challenging problem. Although, there is availability of various standard compression algorithms, yet robust compression performance is yet to be seen in existing compression techniques. This paper also highlights that machine learning plays a significant contributory role in improving the performance of the video compression. Therefore, this manuscript offers a technical insight about the performance of existing video compression technique using machine learning approach. The contribution of this paper is its findings which states that machine learning approach do have significant advantage but the advantageous features are limited by the inherent and unsolved research problem. The core findings of this paper are basically to highlight the strength and limitations of existing methods as well as to highlight the research gap in terms of open-end research problems which requires immediate attention.


Th e article presents the meaning of professional work as experienced by teachers in the midlife transition period (the concept by P. Oleś). Qualitative research conducted with the use of an autobiographical method (a reference to the journal writing tradition of F. Znaniecki and his followers, including pedeutology experts) has been placed within the framework of everyday life sociology as presented by A. Schütz, P. Berger and T. Luckmann, and P. Sztompka. Th e purpose of the presented study is to focus on how the stage of one's development infl uences the quality of work and determines the meaning and importance of professional experiences. In order to describe it, a reference has been made to the research conducted among 6 female teachers in the midlife transition period.


We address in this paper the problem of privacy in the current architecture in electronic passports for the storage and transmission of biometric data such as fingerprints. The current architecture provides a good protection of biometric personal data but brute force attack could be used in the near future using cloud computing. We propose a new solution combining cryptographic protocols and cancellable biometrics to solve this problem. The biocode of an individual is protected by cryptographic keys exchanged by the PACE protocol. We put into obviousness the benefit of the proposed solution in terms of security and privacy.


The BPO sector is one of the fast-developing sector in India and it contributes substantially in our Gross Domestic Product. Expansions and progress that has been recently made in the global telecommunications has led to the establishment of a relatively new brand of services that is being termed as the Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES). Modernization has led to an increase in the demands for various products and services and these demands are increasing day by day, and consequently there is an huge opportunity for customers care executive jobs. Telecommunication service are helping the youth by providing them huge employment opportunities and there are many young people who are turning towards grabbing these jobs. Despite showing significant growth in the past and assuring brilliant prospects for the future, still the BPO industry is experiencing high attrition rates since its very beginning. The cost of hiring and then training new employee is very high and so employee retention is a challenge for the whole industry. The business performance also suffers badly as a result of huge employee attrition. High attrition rate means a high employee turnover in an organization, it not only reduces the quantity but also the quality of an organization's manpower. Employee attrition reveals an organization's internal power and the weaknesses in managing its employees. As a result of employee attrition new employee need to be constantly added, and incurring further costs in training them, getting them aligned to the organization's environment. Organizations that have a high rate of employee attrition does not enjoy the reputation of a good employer and so faces difficulties in retaining the employees as well as attracting potential employees. In this competitive business era, there are lot many problems that the HR people need to address in order to fight high attrition rates. All this has a significant impact on the working of an organization and so in managing their business in a competitive environment. There is a lot of research that has taken place to address the problem of attrition BPO's. The broad objective of this research is to identify the root cause of attrition and to know how to retain employees in BPOs, also analyzing the level of employee satisfaction and involvement, and come up with recommendations, which will eventually be valuable to the organizations to retain their employees for a long term.


I/Q imbalance and high mobility in OFDM systems result in performance-limiting intercarrier interference (ICI). However, the nature of ICI due to each of them is quite different. Unlike previous works which considered these two impairments separately, we develop a unified mathematical framework to characterize and mitigate ICI when both impairments are present. In addition, we exploit the special ICI structure to design efficient OFDM channel estimation and digital baseband compensation schemes for I/Q imbalance under high-mobility conditions.


Breast cancer is one of the 2 most deadly cancers for women worldwide. This type of cancer is attributed to killing 411 000 people each year. Research has shown that early detection can improve survival rate in patients with breast cancer (Kamanger, 2006), which is why it is important to improve mammography Reading techniques in order to accurately diagnose patients...


Objective To investigate the current condition of animal-related injury in Nanchang City,and to provide scientific basis for relevant departments.Method The unified questionnaire was used to investigate the randomly selected families in November,2005.Results Altogether 25,993 inhabitants were investigated in this study.Among them,the animal-related injury morbidity was 707.9/100,000.The animal-related injury morbidity of the males(906.1/100,000) was higher than that of the females(502.0/100,000)(χ2=15.098,P=0.001).The animal-related injury morbidity of countryside(893.3/100,000) was higher than that of the city(328.3/100,000)(χ2=26.024,P=0.001).The main animals that induced injury were dogs(127 cases) and cats(26 cases).The domestic animal accounted for 52.2%.The main hurt type was bite.Feeding animal was the main injury cause,which accounted for 39.1%.Conclusions Children are the main victims of animal-related injury in Nanchang City,dogs and cats are the main animals that induce injury.Countryside was the high risk region of animal-related injury,and the major cause of injury is feeding animals.Therefore,it is important to reinforce the self-safety consciousness,normalize the pet management,and provide a safe environment to cut down the animal-related injury morbidity.


To improve the binarization effects of camera-based document images, and reduce error rate of the optical character recognition(OCR) system, a binarization algorithm VFCM is proposed based on the combination of the global threshold and the local threshold.The global threshold is computed by maximal variance ratio algorithm and the local threshold is computed by Fuzzy C-Means(FCM) algorithm.The VFCM algorithm can well reserve character strokes and eliminate ghost artifacts.Experiments show that the proposed algorithm could yield better visual quality and OCR performance.


Microstructure evolution of a low hard segment ( 2) due to strain-induced crystallization. Phase II exhibits a conventional meridional 2-point pattern along the deformation direction with lamellar crystallites aligni...


Abstract : Pulsed streamer corona technology utilizes a non-thermal plasma high voltage discharge to break down various airborne and aqueous phase organic pollutants. Pulsed streamer corona discharge in a reactor using a point-to-plane electrode geometry has been studied with well-mixed aqueous solutions containing various salts (sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and calcium chloride) and particles in suspension (powdered activated carbon, porous silica gel, non-porous glass spheres, and elemental copper). The result that solution conductivity governs the electrode breakdown voltage is independent of both the salt composition and the particle properties (i.e., total surface area, particle size, conductivity, and dielectric constant). Powdered activated carbon in aqueous suspension also dramatically reduces the reactor electric power as a function of applied voltage. Elemental analysis using PIXE (proton-induced x-ray emission) of the activated carbon and the water leachate from washed activated carbon, coupled with pulsed corona treatment experiments using washed activated carbon, show that interactions of activated carbon with potassium salts are responsible for the lower reactor power. With the lower power consumption, greater amounts of contaminants can be removed at a lower power usage. The combination of pulsed corona and activated carbon enhances phenol removal through bulk reactions, adsorption, and corona-induced surface reactions. Primary oxidation products of phenol were also measured. A reaction and diffusion model was derived to analyze the phenol decomposition with combined bulk liquid and particle surface reactions.


Abstract : This AGARDograph is the 8th of the AGARD Flight Test Instrumentation Series and concentrates on the flight test instrumentation for determining the position of movable aircraft components such as rudder, elevator and aileron surfaces, wing flaps, trim tabs, speed brakes, spoilers, power-control levers, elements of nosewheel-steering systems and of landing gear mechanisms, etc. The sensitivity and frequency responses of the various systems used for making these measurements are discussed in the following groups with examples potentiometers, synchros, inductive systems, and digital systems.


Vegetable protein foods have become economically important to food processors in the past decade and are gaining wide consumer acceptance. Being a "manufactured" food product, they can be tailored organoleptically and nutritionally to satisfy a wide variety of tastes and needs. Most of the vegetable protein foods use soybeans as a protein source, but other plant proteins are also being incorporated into these foods. By-products resulting from the production of animal protein are being developed into sources of protein concentrates which may be used as protein supplements.


In practice, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pollution can exist when refueling due to the properties of the gasoline, low viscosity and high saturated-vapor pressure. A new gasoline vapor recovery system involving frequency conversion technology and machine learning is developed to cope with this problem. In the proposed system, firstly, the pumping capacity of the vacuum pump is evaluated, and test shows an almost linear relationship between suction volume and frequency. Then, the Multi-Layer Perception (MLP) neural network and the support vector regression (SVR) are employed to predict the gas-liquid ratio, and the numerical examples are presented to prove the high prediction accuracy of the MLP and SVR, respectively, where the MLP neural network has better generalization ability. Finally, compared with the two gasoline vapor recovery systems based on the 1: 1 fixed control model and the PID control model, respectively, the gasoline vapor recovery efficiency is improved significantly by the new gasoline vapor recovery system.


Because of the high whiteness of chlorine dioxide bleached pulp,the relationship between the property of chlorine dioxide with its bleaching performance and the preparation of bleaching liquid,as well as the effect of bleaching liquid were discussed.According to the main differences of typical chlorine dioxide preparation processes, the results of chlorine dioxide preparation using different reductant and the conditions of bleaching liquid preparation were validated by practical example.The application effect was concluded.After the research,the factors of chlorine dioxide bleaching liquid preparation were summarized.This provides a reference for feasible study.


Among all carbon nanostructured materials, helical nanosprings or nanocoils have attracted particular interest as a result of their special mechanical behavior. Here, carbon nanosprings are used to adjust the viscoelasticity and reduce the resulting hysteresis loss (HL) of elastomeric polymer materials. Two types of nanospring‐filled elastomer composites are constructed as follows: system I is obtained by directly blending polymer chains with nanosprings; system II is composed of the self‐assembly of a tri‐block structure such as chain‐nanospring‐chain. Coarse‐grained molecular dynamics simulations show that the incorporation of nanosprings can improve the mechanical strength of the elastomer matrix through nanoreinforcement and considerably decrease the hysteresis loss. This finding is significant for reducing fuel consumption and improving fuel efficiency in the automobile tire industry. Furthermore, it is revealed that the spring constant of nanosprings and the interfacial chemical coupling between chains and nanosprings both play crucial roles in adjusting the viscoelasticity of elastomers. It is inferred that elastomer/carbon nanostructured materials with good flexibility and reversible mechanical response (carbon nanosprings, nanocoils, nanorings, and thin graphene sheets) have both excellent mechanical and low HL properties; this may open a new avenue for fabrication of high performance automobile tires and facilitate the large‐scale industrial application of these materials.


This paper has studied 392 theses of chinese core journals of sports durning 1996—2005,which revealed the main characteristic and analysed the academic research situation of athletics gymnastics by biblio-metrology,carried on statistical analysis such as publishing articles amount,the author and quoted passage situation to offer some reference for the developing of relevant scientific research.


Background/Aims: There is increasing evidence demonstrating the value of transfusions in sickle cell disease (SCD). However, resultant iron overload can be life threatening if untreated. Chelation therapy with deferoxamine requires parenteral infusions that can negatively impact quality of life and adherence to treatment. Methods: As part of a phase II trial, SCD patient-reported outcomes were evaluated. One hundred and ninety-five patients were randomized (2:1) to receive oral deferasirox (5–30 mg/kg/day) or deferoxamine (20–50 mg/kg, 5 days per week); 121 had previously received deferoxamine. Results: At each time point, significantly more patients who had previously received deferoxamine were 'satisfied/very satisfied' with deferasirox, or found treatment to be 'convenient/very convenient' compared with deferoxamine (p < 0.001). In these patients, fewer hours were lost from daily activities with deferasirox than deferoxamine treatment. Most patients (77%) preferred deferasirox, and more were willing to continue taking deferasirox than deferoxamine at end-of-study (84 vs. 11%, respectively). Conclusions: Patients with SCD are therefore more satisfied with deferasirox, which has a lower impact on daily activities than deferoxamine. Given the high levels of satisfaction, it is likely that quality of life will be improved. These results also suggest that treatment adherence with deferasirox may be better than with deferoxamine, which should lead to improved long-term outcomes.


This paper gives introduction to the principle that tri-polar leakage current protector controls 2-phase loads and discusses the application of such principle on our factory's telescopic cantilever belt conveyor.


Objective To explore the influencing factors for phase quality control in blood biochemical detection.Methods The levels of BUN,Cre,Glu,UA,TG and TC of control serum(batch 16395700) were examined with Roche MODULAR-P automatic biochemical analyzer in this hospital.Results The quality of examination of TG reached the quality level of 6 Sigma quality standards,the quality of detection of Cre was equal to 6 Sigma quality standards,the quality of examination of UA and Glu was basically same as 6 Sigma quality standards,and the quality of examination of BUN and TC was lower than 6 Sigma quality standards.Conclusion The blood biochemical examination is clinically important testing items,care should be taken to improve the quality control standard of pre-stage blood biochemical analysis in order to provide important reference value for clinical diagnosis,treatment and prognosis.


The solvability of some $ p $-Laplace boundary value problems with Caputo fractional derivative are discussed. By using the fixed-point theory and analysis techniques, some existence results of one or three non-negative solutions are obtained. Two examples showed that the conditions used in this paper are somewhat easy to check.


Jinsi ziziphus jujube is one of the most important jujube germplasm in our country. In this study, some methods of DNA extraction for jinsi ziziphus jujuba were analyzed, an effective protocol was found, and molecular checking index was put forward according to the special bands derived by RAPD analysis, all this provided an exact molecular criterion for distinguishing jinsi ziziphus jujube germplasm.


Abstract:  Little is known about how the surrounding modified matrix affects tree recruitment in fragmented forests. We contrasted effects of two different matrix types, Vismia‐ and Cecropia‐dominated regrowth, on recruitment of pioneer tree species in forest fragments in central Amazonia. Our analyses were based on 22, 1‐ha plots in seven experimental forest fragments ranging in size from 1 to 100 ha. By 13 to 17 years after fragmentation, the population density of pioneer trees was significantly higher in plots surrounded by Vismia regrowth than in plots surrounded by Cecropia regrowth, and the species composition and dominance of pioneers differed markedly between the two matrix types. Cecropia sciadophylla was the most abundant pioneer in fragments surrounded by Cecropia regrowth (constituting nearly 50% of all pioneer trees), whereas densities of species in Vismia‐surrounded fragments were distributed more evenly. Thus the surrounding matrix had a strong influence on patterns of tree recruitment in Amazonian forest fragments.


The sun light can be transformed into linear-polarized light with a pile of glass sheets(glass pile),and then transformed into circular polarized light by a 1/4 wave retarder(or 1/4 wave plate).When the circular polarized sun light passes through a tube made of fine metal wires,the high speed magnetic field spinning around the sun light propagation direction would be cut.There is a Lorentz force acting on the electrons in the metal wires,which is induced by the action of the spinning magnetic field on the electrons in the metal wires.The electrons directionally move under the action of the Lorentz force,producing electric potential between the two ends of the metal wires.Therefore,the key issuse is fabricatation of the fine metal wire and metal wires with nanotechnology.


Effect of annealing on defect structure of thin GaMnAs layers and on Si implanted with Mn+ (Si:Mn) has been investigated by X-ray methods, Atomic Force Microscopy and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy. Before and after the treatment the layers were fully strained in respect to the substrate. Decreased value of the GaMnAs lattice parameter is probably related to a decrease in concentration of As antisites and of Mn interstitials and created of MnAs clusters. Lattice parameter of annealed GaMnAs with 2% Mn content was smaller than that of GaAs substrate. Mn concentration remains unchanged after annealing. Defect structure of Si:Mn depends on treatment parameters.


In this article, the procedure to conduct the time-frequency analysis of data recieved from distant pulsars, such as the Vela pulsar is explored. Problems that are encountered and solutions to these problems are also mentioned.


The α1‐adrenoceptor family plays a critical role in regulating ocular perfusion by mediating responses to catecholamines. The purpose of the present study was to determine the contribution of individual α1‐adrenoceptor subtypes to adrenergic vasoconstriction of retinal arterioles using gene‐targeted mice deficient in one of the three adrenoceptor subtypes (α1A‐AR−/−, α1B‐AR−/− and α1D‐AR−/− respectively).


In this paper a gain scheduling methodology is proposed, which exploits a fuzzy modeling technology based on quasi-linear parameter varying (QLPV) description of a nonlinear model of a missile, to resolve two main deficiencies of classical gain scheduling approaches (restriction to near equilibrium operation and lack of a satisfactory interpolation mechanism). A new clustering approach (designated as fuzzy clustering based classification trees: FC2T) is employed in fuzzy modeling. It is shown that employment of FC2T in the development of fuzzy model for the system produces a lower estimation error than Gustafson-Kessel fuzzy clustering and a tree partitioning algorithm, while it does not confront by randomly initialization problem. Merits of the proposed fuzzy model-based gain scheduling technique are demonstrated in a demanding application. Simulation studies are reported to demonstrate the stability, the performance and the robustness of the designed fuzzy controller.


In this paper, we consider a two dimensional partial differential integral equation (PDIE) model for pricing American option. A nonlinear rationality parameter function for two asset problems is introduced to deal with the free boundary. The rationality parameter function is added in the PDIEs used for pricing American option problems under multi‐state regime switching with jumps. The resulting two dimensional nonlinear system of PDIE is then numerically solved. Based on real poles rational approximation, a strongly stable highly efficient and reliable method is developed to solve such complicated systems of PIDEs. The method is build in a predictor corrector style which makes it linearly implicit, therefore, avoids solving nonlinear systems of equations at each time step in all regimes. The method is seen to maintain the stability and convergence for large jump sizes and high volatility in each regime. The impact of regime switching on option prices corresponding to different values interest rate, volatility, and rationality parameter is computed, illustrated by graphs and given in the tables. Convergence results in each regime are presented and time evolution graphs are given to show the effectiveness and reliability of the method.


A new modification of the contact lens technique was employed to record simultaneously vertical and horizontal components of eye movements. These were trigonometrically transformed to yield information about retinal image motion parallel to eight retinal meridia. It was found that eye movements occur predominantly in a small range of directions, which differs from subject to subject. Correlational and other statistical analyses of drift and saccadic movements led to the following conclusions about the nature of visual fixation: (1) Saccades compensate for the displacement of the retinal image away from some optical locus, but their probability of occurrence may increase with time since the last saccade, rather than with displacement. (2) The error signal to which saccades respond is probably generated 0.10 sec prior to their occurrence. (3) Parallel to those meridia where saccade compensation is poor, compensation by drifts becomes appreciable.


1-Amino-4-bromo-anthraquinone-2-Sodium is an important dye intermediate industries.In this paper,the experimental method is based on o-dichlorobenzene as solvent using chlorosulfonic acid as sulfonating agent of the sulfonation process and organic low-temperature weakly acidic aqueous bromide process,after sulfonation,bromination,neutralization,filtration,salting-out,pressure filtration processes such as the system was finished.The process improvements to improve product yield and bromine utilization,reducing the amount of wastewater generated,thus reducing production costs and improve economic efficiency of enterprises.


PURPOSE: A control circuit of an LLC(Logical Link Control) resonant converter and an LLC resonant converter using the same are provided to obtain a desired input-output DC voltage gain according to an AC input voltage which is changeable without an active power factor correction circuit. CONSTITUTION: A minimum switching frequency changing circuit changes a minimum switching frequency according to an AC input voltage of an LLC resonant converter. A first pulse signal generation portion and a second pulse signal generation portion generate a first pulse signal and a second pulse signal based on a switching frequency limited by the minimum switching frequency changing circuit. The minimum switching frequency changing circuit includes a transistor for controlling the minimum switching frequency which operates according to the AC input voltage of the LLC resonant converter. A control circuit of the LLC resonant converter changes the time constant of the minimum switching frequency changing circuit along with a switching capacitor and switching resistance according to the operation of the transistor for controlling the minimum switching frequency.


The effect of static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) installed at transmission line on the performance of distance protection is investigated in this paper. The paper explores an apparent impedance calculation procedure for transmission line incorporating STATCOM based on the power frequency sequence circuits. A detailed model of 6 pulses STATCOM and its control and a mho relay model are proposed and integrated into the transmission system. The paper investigates distance protection operation of transmission lines with STATCOM connected at the midpoint during several operation conditions. Installation of STACTOM in the midpoint to control the reactive power flow affects the operation accuracy of distance relays. The simulation results of distance relays for the protection of transmission line incorporating STATCOM are presented. The analytical calculations show the impact of STATCOM on the distance protection relays during the different faults conditions. The study is carried-out using PSCAD/EMTC software.


Purpose – This article aims to develop a fast numerical method for solving the one-dimensional heat and mass transfer problem within a desiccant rotor. Design/methodology/approach – The collocation method is used for discretizing the axial dimension and reducing the number of dependent variables. The resulting system of equation is then solved through backward differentiation formulas. Findings – The numerical results obtained here focus on verifying the accuracy and the computation time of the proposed method with respect to the finite difference method. The proposed numerical solution method resulted faster than, and as much accurate as, the finite difference method, over a large range of operating conditions that are of interest in desiccant cooling applications. Research limitations/implications – For heat and mass transfer analysis, constant average transfer coefficients are used. The results are calculated for NTU between 2 and 15 and for Le number between 0.5 and 2. Practical implications – The res...


Our society is undergoing the social transformation of accelerating the modernization.With diversity and complexity of People's ideas,values and interaction of various social trends of thought,the authority of the mainstream ideology in the economic,political,cultural,social and many other fields face enormous challenge.Construction of the mainstream ideology authority must focus on innovation in the theory and practice of the mainstream ideology,the prosperity of socialist advanced culture,nurturing high-quality work force for the ideology,so that the lasting identification with the value of mainstream ideology in the hearts of the masses comes into being.


We describe Quararibea alversonii, a new species endemic to the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, which was found in the course of our review of Quararibea in Brazil. The new taxon is similar to Q. amazonica, mainly in calyx morphology, but it is distinguished by the presence of domatia, pedicel length, petal width, morphology of staminal columns and styles, as well as fruit shape. Here, we present a morphological description, taxonomic comments, photographs, distribution map, assessment of conservation status, and a comparative analysis between the new species and Q. amazonica, the only other member of the genus that also presents a costate calyx.


Ingestion of brown rice cereal has been found to improve skin conditions, while the effects of wheat bran cereal were limited (Ide et al., J. Integr. Study Diet. Habits, 2005, in press). The effects of these breakfast cereals on the composition of intestinal flora and the intestinal environment were investigated. Two different types of breakfast cereals, wheat bran cereal that is particularly rich in dietary fiber and brown rice cereal fortified with vitamins and minerals, were consumed twice a day by young female volunteers. The control group ingested their usual diet. Composition of fecal flora, fecal moisture, fecal pH, fecal enzymic activities and concentrations of intestinal putrefactive products and short chain fatty acids as well as skin conditions were analyzed. The populations of Enterobacteriaceae and Streptococcaceae significantly decreased after two weeks of wheat bran cereal consumption. Moisture of feces was significantly decreased and the properties of feces and defecation frequency were improved by wheat bran cereal. Activity of β-glucosidase increased significantly and the concentrations of putrefactive products decreased slightly. The effects of brown rice cereal on composition of intestinal flora and intestinal environment were not obvious. No direct correlation between the effects on the intestinal environment and skin conditions was found. The results suggest that the two different types of breakfast cereals used in the present study have different impacts on the intestinal environment and skin conditions.


of "Numerical Studies of Self-Assembled Colloidal Membranes" by Sheng Xie, Ph.D., Brown University, May 2015 We explore the geometrical and dynamic variations of self-assembled colloidal monomembrane systems composed of filamentous fd virus in the presence of a polymer depletant using computation and theory. These mono-membranes are of one virus length thickness. First, we study the interaction of a colloidal tube, which is also a virus, piercing a mono-membrane with a depletion model developed by Yang, Barry et at. (2012) of hard rods that experience attractions due to depletion interactions. This work is based on recent experiments in which a long virus is repelled and then attracted by a mono-membrane as it pierces the membrane. Our simulations demonstrate that excluded volume effects are sufficient to describe this process, which consists of three parts, repulsion when the tube just pierces the membrane, attraction when the tube pierces deeper into the membrane, and no interaction when the tube completely penetrates the membrane. Second, in consideration of computational efficiency and implementation of molecular chirality, we employ a pairwise attractive molecular potential model proposed by Savenko and Dijkstra (2006) to study membranes consisting of mixtures of viruses. The model qualitatively renders a similar phase diagram and interaction curves as the depletion mode used in the previous part for similar experimental parameters, but quantitatively exhibits much stronger molecular interactions. We also extend the model to implement the chirality of the viruses. Finally, we discuss chiral rafts of short virus in a background of a long virus mono-membrane using the de-Gennes free energy theory. We build a two-dimensional theoretical model for the rafts and numerically solve the Euler-Lagrange equations derived from the Frank free energy of the system. We demonstrate that the free energy related to the three-dimensional deformation in the director field alone can explain the repulsion between the rafts. The repulsive force characteristic length is determined by the background virus. Based on our model, the director field is very sensitive to the virus chirality profile near the rafts edges while the interaction strength is almost insensitive.


work. It skilfully embodies a vast amount of information derived from reliable sources, and gives an able exposition of the numerous subjects embraced in the author's very comprehensive, perhaps too comprehensive, programme. The great extent of the held of hygienics, the constant accumulation of new facts, and the frequent necessity imposed by advancing science of looking at old facts in new lights, must always expose a systematic treatise like that of Dr Proust to the criticisms and corrections of reviewers. To say, therefore, that the work before us is open to occasional corrective commentary is no disparagement of the author. The work consists of fourteen sections, of which we subjoin the titles and a summary of the sub-titles, as the best way of giving a clear and short account of its principal contents. I. ANTHROPOLOGY :?General anthropology ; ethnogeny of France. IT. Demography:?Statistics of population in relation to town and country, dwellings, religion, education, occupation, age, and


This letter devises a novel algorithm for cooperative spectrum sensing based on belief propagation (BP) for distributed wireless networks. The algorithm, called stochastic residual belief propagation (SR-BP), extends the use of residual belief propagation (R-BP) to distributed networks, improving the accuracy, convergence rate, and communication cost for cooperative spectrum sensing. We demonstrate that SR-BP converges to a unique fixed point under conditions similar to those ensuring convergence of asynchronous BP. Then, we develop a way to derive a probability distribution from the residual of each message. Finally, we provide numerical results to showcase the improvements in convergence speed, message overhead and detection accuracy of SR-BP.


Two unique models for caring for the uninsured and underinsured are operating in Maryland. The first is a group practice, primary care model with a unique ambulatory Medicare waiver that has had a positive impact on patients and physicians. The second is a financial model--an all-payer prospective rate-setting system for all critical care inpatient hospitals that, during a 13-year period from 1977 through 1989, has saved the citizens of the state approximately $5.361 billion, has allowed hospitals to provide $1.657 billion of charity care and bad debts, and has earned $517 million in net profits. The reasons for the success of each of the models are discussed and form the basis for a practical and politically feasible proposal: merge the best aspects of each model into an ambulatory primary care-based model financed through an all-payer prospective charge system.


Waste effluents from abattoirs have been documented to have harmful effects on the soil media. There is little information about the level of contamination by abattoir effluents on the soil media in Omu-Aran. This study therefore assessed soil samples for possible contamination of physicochemical parameters and heavy metals from different points and some meters away from the mini abattoir in Omu-Aran, Kwara State, Nigeria. Soil samples which are 18 in number were collected from the soil around wells which are owned by individuals and a well designated as Control situated at distances which vary and different elevations to the abattoir. The physicochemical parameters of the soil samples were obtained by applying the standard methods. The analysis of data was achieved using descriptive statistics and ANOVA. The mean values of parameters in the soil samples collected around the studied wells ranged from 31.00±2.00–110.03±8.72 mg/L and 7.21±0.02–7.83±0.02 for electrical conductivity and pH respectively. Chloride, nitrate and phosphate had values of 6.37±0.13–9.13±0.21 mg/L, 3.67±0.07–4.50±0.31 mg/L and 3.86±0.07–5.41±0.30 mg/L respectively. However, average values for heavy metals (Ni, Cr and Pb) though slightly higher than the control site, were above permissible limits. Activities within Omu-Aran Abattoir impacts negatively on the surrounding arable soils; therefore, pollution control procedures which are sustainable should be implemented for abattoirs situated in residential areas.


Innovation is the way organizations respond to each change appropriately so that the organization still exists and continues to develop to realize its vision. This study aims to describe educational innovations carried out at the Prima Unggul Foundation. The method used is a qualitative method with a case study approach. The research results are: 1) YPU organizes education in the form of homeschooling entrepreneurship-based. 2) The process of education implemented is an innovation because it has the characteristics of innovation which includes competitive advantage; high compatible, complexity, trialability and observability. 3) The innovation model implemented is an organization development model. Keywords—innovation; homeschooling; entrepreneurship


The main objective of the present work is to study the negative spectrum of (differential) Laplace operators on metric graphs as well as their resolvents and associated heat semigroups. We prove an upper bound on the number of negative eigenvalues and a lower bound on the spectrum of Laplace operators. Also we provide a sufficient condition for the associated heat semigroup to be positivity preservi ng.


Objective:To investigate the effect of pretreatment with nicorandil(NTC)-KATP channel opener on ischemiareperfusion(IR) rat in myocardium of rat.Methods:The snare for occlusion and reperfusion had been put into the anterior descending coronary artery in 60 rats,which were divided into four groups: ischemiareperfusion(IR) group,nicorandil(NIC) group,glibenclamide(GLI),KATP channel inhibitor+NIC group,GLI group.The activity of creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase in plasma and the infarct size were measured.The episode of arrhythmias was monitored.The ultrastructural changes of the myocardium were observed under electron microscope.Results:Compared with IR group,the plasma concentration of CK and LDH significantly reduced(P0.05 all),the infarct size significantly reduced [(52.9±14.2)% vs.(20.3±6.4)%,P0.005 ] but the incidence of myocardial arrhythmias not significantly reduced in nicorandil group,these change were no significantamong GLI+NIC group,GLI group and IR group.Conclusion:Nicorandil-nonspecial KATP channel opener may have part of myocardial protective effect of ischemic preconditioning.It is suspected that one of family of KATP channel plays a primary role in myocardial protective effect of ischemic preconditioning.


Social work students undertaking their field education placements are meant to further develop their skills; integrate social work practices and principles as well as cultivate an individual professional identity beyond the backdrop of social work theory and knowledge.
Four students from Cairns, Australia undertook their final field education placement in Vietnam, in which the complexities of difference between Western knowledge and understandings of social work and the realities of the cultural and contextual environment contrasted markedly.
This study suggests many benefits are gained by social work students undertaking culturally dissimilar field education placements; for example, developing, adapting and integrating linkages between cultural difference and social work practice and/or knowledge, integrating cultural nuances influencing and/or changing the student's own social work knowledge base and by implication their practice of social work, and contextualising student's own social work professional identity.


Upon the access to the WTO, China shall perform the commitment of telecommunication industry, however, there still exist many limitations in our legislations, and much contradiction in the policies. In the coming rule-making, we should ensure the stability and adaptability of the laws by way of coordinating the legislation and policy.


Objective To study the correlation between serum cystatin C(CysC) and liver function parameters in patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB).Methods Retrospective study was carried out on 221 cases of CHB.The correlations between serum CysC and ALT,AST,Alb,Glo,TBIL,Cr,and BUN were analyzed with multiple regression analysis.Results The mean CysC level was(1.05±0.40)mg/L.The CysC level in males was significantly higher than that in females(P0.05).The CysC was significantly positive correlated with age(r=0.069,P0.05).The CysC level was significantly lower in HBeAg(+) or HBeAb(-) patients(P0.05).The correlation coefficient between CysC and ALT,AST,ALB,Glo or TBIL was-0.171,-0.139,-0.286,0.320 or 0.181,respectively(P0.05).Multivariate analysis showed that Cr,Glo,Alb and age contributed to the regression equation(r=0.620,P0.05).Conclusion The CysC is influenced by liver function in CHB patients,though the main impact factors are still renal function.


Space systems and robots used at nuclear power plants require radiation-hardened image sensors that can function for long periods in an environment with intense radiation. This paper presents a radiation-hardened image sensor from which the on-chip control circuit has been removed. The image sensor can therefore be controlled entirely from outside of the environment. This paper clarifies the total-ionizing-dose tolerance of the radiation-hardened image sensor.


[1] M. Aigner, G. Ziegler. Proofs from the book. Third ed. Springer-Verlag, 2004. [2] N. Casás Ferreño. Yet another proof of the irrationality of √ 2. Amer. Math. Monthly 116 (2009), no. 1, pp. 68–69. [3] D. Klain. Some classical inequalities. http://faculty.uml.edu/dklain/ineq.pdf [4] A.N. Kolmogorov and S.V. Fomin, Introductory Real Analysis (R.A. Silverman, ed.) Dover, 1975, New York. [5] J. Lebl. Basic Analysis (Introduction to Real Analysis with University of Pittsburgh supplements). Available at http://calculus.math.pitt.edu/books/pittanal.pdf [6] E. Lehman, F. Thomson Leighton, A. Meyer. Mathematics for Computer Science (rev. Jan. 10, 2013), http://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.042/spring12/mcs.pdf [7] http://math.stackexchange.com/a/145195.


The serious games sector has shown a significant increase in the last years while relating to the overall released video games. Available serious games that provide Natural Language Processing (NLP) facilities only cover very specific tasks and, in most cases, are outdated in terms of User Interface (UI) and user experience. Thus, despite their educational purpose, this makes them less attractive and less engaging. The game introduced in this paper is a novel serious game that is based on ReaderBench, a powerful NLP framework, and a ranking system derived from the True Skill algorithm. Our aim consists of creating an easily extensible and highly accessible game that can accommodate multiple comprehension-centered minigames. The UI is represented as a simple map conquest game in which learners play different mini-games that asses their reading skills. A preliminary validation was conducted on a group of 5 users that were particularly impressed by the concept of the game and the ease of adding new mini-games in the learning cycle. Author


A transitional shell finite element which is useful for the analysis of shells of revolution with local deviations is developed. For the analysis of such a structure, rotational shell elements may be used in the axisymmetric portion of the shell, while general shell elements are needed in the region where deviations create a local non-axisymmetry. The transitional shell element connects these two different types of elements. To facilitate the transition, a line node, which can accommodate any type of shape function, is developed. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the new element.


Glass has become a preferred waste form worldwide for radioactive wastes: however, there are limitations. Halogen-containing wastes can not be converted to glass because halogens form poor-quality waste glasses. Furthermore, halides in glass melters often form second phases that create operating problems. A new waste vitrification process, the Glass Material Oxidation and dissolution System (GMODS), removes these limitations by converting halogen-containing wastes into borosilicate glass and a secondary, clean, sodium-halide stream.


Issues regarding environment sustainability and energy saving have been receiving concerns in worldwide railway society though railway system have been recognized as a transport mode of less environmental impact. Energy saving via train operation and regulation would be a cost-effective way and becomes a requirement while performing train operation and regulation. Automatic Train Regulation (ATR) plays an important role of maintaining the service quality of metro. However, designing ATR is a large scale optimization problem with high nonlinearity, heavy constraints, and stochastic characteristics. Considering issues regarding energy saving in the ATR design further complicates the problem. A metro traffic model which accounts for energy consumption is investigated in this paper. Thereby, Dual Heuristic dynamic Programming (DHP) technique is employed to design an optimal ATR with energy saving for metro line. Simulation tests of the ATR design were carried out with field data. Results show that better traffic regulation with less energy consumption is attainable through coasting and dwell time control.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Objectives To analyse a medical protection organisation's database to identify hazards related to general practice systems for ordering laboratory tests, managing test results and communicating test result outcomes to patients. To integrate these data with other published evidence sources to inform design of a systems-based conceptual model of related hazards. Design A retrospective database analysis. Setting General practices in the UK and Ireland. Participants 778 UK and Ireland general practices participating in a medical protection organisation's clinical risk self-assessment (CRSA) programme from January 2008 to December 2014. Main outcome measures Proportion of practices with system risks; categorisation of identified hazards; most frequently occurring hazards; development of a conceptual model of hazards; and potential impacts on health, well-being and organisational performance. Results CRSA visits were undertaken to 778 UK and Ireland general practices of which a range of systems hazards were recorded across the laboratory test ordering and results management systems in 647 practices (83.2%). A total of 45 discrete hazard categories were identified with a mean of 3.6 per practice (SD=1.94). The most frequently occurring hazard was the inadequate process for matching test requests and results received (n=350, 54.1%). Of the 1604 instances where hazards were recorded, the most frequent was at the 'postanalytical test stage' (n=702, 43.8%), followed closely by 'communication outcomes issues' (n=628, 39.1%). Conclusions Based on arguably the largest data set currently available on the subject matter, our study findings shed new light on the scale and nature of hazards related to test results handling systems, which can inform future efforts to research and improve the design and reliability of these systems.


We present an approach for mobile robots to recognize scenes in object arrangements distributed across cluttered environments. Recognition is enabled by intertwining the robot's search for objects and the assignment of found objects to scenes. Our scene model called"Implicit Shape Model (ISM) trees"allows these two tasks to be solved jointly. This article presents novel algorithms for ISM trees to recognize scenes and predict poses of searched objects. We define scenes as object sets in which some objects are connected via 3-D spatial relations. In previous work, we recognized scenes with single ISMs. However, single ISMs are prone to false positives. As a remedy, we have developed ISM trees, a hierarchical model consisting of multiple ISMs. This article contributes a recognition algorithm that now enables the use of ISM trees for scene recognition. ISM trees should be ideally generated from human demonstrations of object arrangements. As a suitable algorithm was not available, we introduce such a generation algorithm. In line with the active vision paradigm, we combined scene recognition and object search in previous work. However, an efficient algorithm was lacking to make this combination effective. Physical experiments show that this is now overcome with a new algorithm achieving efficient combination through predicted object poses.


Primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1) is the most common form of primary hyperoxalurias. It results in increased synthesis and subsequent urinary excretion of the metabolic end product oxalate and the deposition of insoluble calcium oxalate in the kidney and urinary tract. Individuals with PH1 are at high risk for recurrent nephrolithiasis, nephrocalcinosis, and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We report the case of a13 years-old female who presented with fatigue, headache, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, renal colic. Initial clinical and laboratory investigations revealed ESRD and the patient was initiated on hemodialysis. Family history of PH1 and a history of recurrent kidney stones for 4 years was elicited. Subsequently, PH1 was confirmed by, physical examination, medical history, family history, laboratory tests, ultrasound imaging, X- ray, CT scanning and renal biopsy. As these disease processes are no longer rare in Jenin District of Palestine where this patient was seen, delayed diagnosis can not be justified. We conclude that early diagnosis and effective treatment of PH1 in areas with high prevalence, such as the Jenin District of Palestine, is warranted as it may delay the progression towards ESRD or systemic oxalosis. Key words: Primary hyperoxaluria type 1, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), Nephrocalcinosis, Nephrolithiasis.


Recent findings on the nature of magnetic field fluctuations in the high‐latitude ionospheric regions have suggested the existence of scaling features, which are the signature of the occurrence of turbulence. These features mainly characterize the magnetic field fluctuations in those regions where the field‐aligned currents flow. Here, we investigate the nature of the Earth's magnetic field fluctuations using the high‐resolution (50 Hz) magnetic measurements from the European Space Agency Earth's observation mission Swarm. Our study indicates that spatiotemporal anomalous scaling features characterize low‐frequency magnetic field fluctuations in the high‐latitude ionospheric regions of field‐aligned currents at spatial scales in the range 0.8–80 km (timescales in the range 0.1–10 s). The signature of a multifractal nature of these fluctuations suggests a highly complex structure of the field‐aligned currents. Our results support the view of inhomogeneous (filamentary) field‐aligned currents, which can have relevant implications in the comprehension of the physical processes responsible for the magnetospheric‐ionospheric coupling and ionospheric heating.


A brief linguistic discussion is made on the extensive use and prevalence of the term «moho» (English «mould») with the meaning of «musgo» (English «moss») in ancient Castilian. This synonymy was maintained at least until the 18 th century, but it has been completely lost at the present time.


There is a direct need in industry to improve the in-production vehicle inspection process and to support mobility for inspection stations. In this paper we present a novel interface design implemented on three multi-modal prototype systems, in which design was based on results from an initial field study we conducted. The design of these systems incorporate two main objectives: 1) enforce a systematic check on each of the items on the list to reduce missed items and 2) facilitate mobility in that the tools used to assist in inspection can be installed at one area and then later easily moved to another area. Our novel graphical software interface aims to enforce systematic checks through incorporation of a system-directed delivery of the checklist items with options for error correction and support of dynamic inspection, where items identified for inspection may differ among checkpoints. We have designed three hardware configurations that support our interface, with aims to achieve mobility from one inspection area to another, leave both hands free for inspection, and incorporate a more convenient way to refer to the list while conducting an inspection. This paper additionally presents preliminary feedback and suggestions for improvement from a pilot study conducted on our interface implemented on three hardware configurations. In the future we plan to incorporate the suggestions from the pilot study and to conduct a more formal evaluation on our multi-modal systems.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The moisture content of both mature and immature kernels was measured and recorded from harvest through 3 to 5 months' storage. Also, the moisture content of mature and immature kernels was determined during short-term aerated
storage in which the humidity was controlled, The moisture content of the immature peanuts was approximately twice the
moisture content of the mature peanuts at harvest, However, this difference in moisture content decreased substantially during drying. Drying tests showed that for all tests conducted, immature kernels lost moisture more rapidly than
mature kernels. Of the types tested, Runner-type peanuts had the greatest moisture difference between mature and immature kernels at harvest; Virginia type peanuts, the smalleet, The immature kernels were at a higher moisture content than the mature kernels from harvest through 5 months of storage, However, with the drying procedure used, this difference in moisture content was probably not of
sufficient duration during drying, nor magnitude during storage, to render immature kernels more susceptible to contamination by mold growth and aflatoxin production than mature kernels


Background This study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of pramipexole combined with ganglioside for PD treatment and pramipexole monotherapy, so as to provide reference for clinical practice. Methods 61 PD patients selected from June 2019 to December 2020 at our hospital were divided into two groups. The control group (n=31) was given dopasizide oral treatment, and the treatment group (n=30) was given ganglioside combined with pramipexole. The clinical efficacy, adverse reactions, motor function scores, UPDRS scores, PDQ-39 scale scores, TNF-a levels, and related serum factor levels were measured in this study.


--Recent advances in Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) have led to many new techniques specifically designed for MANET where energy awareness is an essential consideration. In MANET, clustering is a key routing technique used to reduce energy consumption. The feasibility of a clustering method can be primarily determined by the complexity of the cluster head selection. Optimizing the cluster head selection allows the network to be more efficient by minimizing the signaling overhead and ensuring that the network connectivity is maintained despite topology changes. In this paper, energy efficient cluster head selection for fault-tolerant routing is proposed and evaluated. Main objective of this type of cluster head selection is to maximize the CHs energy and also reduce single link failure in MANET. Simulation results show that our proposed model could better implement fault tolerance and prolong the lifetime of the network. Keywords----MANET, Fault Tolerance, Clusters, Cluster Head, Life Time


This article presents a cross-cultural study about the relationship between story understanding, memory, and attitude towards the contents of a story. An American and a Hungarian short story dealing with the social class versus repression dimension were used. Thirty-four American freshmen (average age 18.5) and forty-eight Hungarian secondary school students (average 17.5) took part in the study. Half of each population read one, the second half the other story, in three-three segments. Following the reading of a segment, the subjects reported their understanding, answering some questions. They were asked to recognize some sentences in a set of original and false, aggressive, cooperative, evasive versions on 7 seven-point scales; and judged the content of the sentences from the points of view of refusal, activity, aggressivity, security, oppression, strength, and anxiety on 5-point scales. There were significant cross-cultural differences between the two populations in the frequency of the response-items of understanding and the recognition of sentences and in the content of the response-categories of understanding and the sensitivity towards aggressivity, oppression and anxiety. The results are discussed in terms of different issues of the social role of literature and literary competence on the one hand, and as those of some culture-dependent themes that influence literary understanding on the other hand.


Recent research on computational cameras has shown that it is possible to make motion blur nearly invariant to object speed and 2D (i.e., in-plane) motion direction, with a method called focus sweep that moves the plane of focus through a range of scene depth during exposure. Nevertheless, the focus sweep point-spread function (PSF) slightly changes its shape for different object speeds, deviating from perfect 2D motion invariance. In this paper we perform a time-varying light field analysis of the focus sweep PSF to derive a uniform frequency power assignment for varying motions, leading to a finding that perfect 2D motion invariance is possible in theory, in the limit of infinite exposure time, by designing a custom lens bokeh used for focus sweep. With simulation experiments, we verify that the use of the custom lens bokeh improves motion invariance also in practice, and show that it produces better worst-case performance than the conventional focus sweep method.


The benefits of lighting in hospitality applications have focused on the quantity of light, color quality, perceptions of multi-cultural guests , and the relationship between emotional state and lighting color quality. In turn, lighting in hospitality design involves employing different light levels that work together to highlight unique features and address specific illumination requirements. A good hospitality lighting design should also provide more efficient light sources so that it can translate into savings in terms of money and energy. The purpose of this report is to address the basics of lighting and hospitality design through studying how lighting can assist in designing hospitality applications, and its effect on guests' behavior, needs and perception. This report involves literature review of lighting, hospitality and sustainability in interior design and their impact on guests' perception. Design project has been used to create a pleasant atmosphere and provide high-quality lighting design in...


Abstract This article analyses the effects of microcredit on household welfare in terms of household expenditure per capita in Cambodia, with data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey carried out in 2014. The analysis describes the effects via formal and informal lending sectors, accounting for endogenous selection bias arising from unobserved factors and for structural differences between borrowers and non-borrowers in terms of expenditure functions. The findings suggest that microcredit in both sectors reduces household expenditure.


The paper by Talamo and his associates, elsewhere in this issue, admirably serves to clear confusion about how to interpret the trypsin inhibitory capacity of serum. The point is a simple one and directly illustrated in their data. Antitrypsin phenotypes cannot be determined from measurements of serum trypsin inhibitory capacity (STIC), or from specific immunodiffusion, or any other, measurements of serum alpha1-antitrypsin concentration. The single exception to this rule is the same now as it was 10 years ago — the classic severe deficiency of antitrypsin. The reasons for the confusion become obvious when one looks at how it developed. . . .


Regression models in survival analysis: a captivity Micrurus corallinus lifetime application modeling Survival data hold special attention-needed peculiarities the moment you intend to realize an analysis on. These data own censorships and their variable responses are defined as lifetime to interestevent occurrence. There are distributions that harbor these data, such as exponential distribution, Weibull, gamma, generalized gamma, among others, just as their respective event-adapted regression models. Exponential regression and Weibull models are the most literature recurrent, in view of their easy application and appropriate data modeling. The generalized gamma regression model usually is a better fit to the data, due to its three-parameter comprise, just as the log-logistic regression model, which is seen as an alternative to Weibull distribution and is heavily utilized for it's explicit shapes to survivability and fail functions. Nonetheless, these models still retain restrictions and, on account of that, new regression model families are being developed, as in the log logistic generalized distribution family, which intends to offer better settings due to its different real data modeling ability. The purpose of this dissertation was to apply survival analysis techniques in Micrurus corallinus lifetime modeling, adjusting already existing models and the proposed Weibull generalized odd log logistic model (OLLG-W). We came to the conclusion that the adequate regression model to Micrurus corallinus data was the log-logistic model. The OLLG-W model didn't offer any benefits when compared to literature-recurrent ones.


Decadal variations (2000–2013) in the macrobenthic community of the southern Yellow Sea were investigated based on the analysis of the community at two stations located basically along the 70 m depth contour. Significant decadal variations in community structure were found through cluster analysis, nMDS ordination and one-way ANOSIM. SIMPER analysis showed that the decadal community variations could be roughly attributed to the decrease of two species of Mollusks (Thyasira tokunagai and Nucula tenuis) and the increase of one echinoderm (Ophiura sarsii vadicola), one polychaete (Notomastus latericeus) and one bivalve (Portlandia japonica) at both stations. Redundancy analysis showed that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Southern Oscillation Index were significant climate indices influencing the macrobenthic community structure in the southern Yellow Sea. Most of the species collected in 2000s showed a positive correlation with Pacific Decadal Oscillation at both stations, especially for cold water species Thyasira tokunagai, while most species in 2010s were positively correlated to Southern Oscillation Index, e.g. Portlandia japonica and Notomastus latericeus at station 1 and Sigambra bassi and Aricidea fragilis at station 2.


This paper presents a novel framework for content based image retrieval (CBIR). Local tetra patterns (LTrP) followed by bag of visual words (BoW) is used for the feature extraction and artificial neural network (ANN) is used for index matching and image retrieval task. Existing LTrP encodes the relationship between the sample pixel and its neighbours and BoW computes the frequency of visual words present in the image. In this paper, we have integrated the advantages of both LTrP and BoW. Initially, we have detected interest points using speed up robust feature (SURF) and further local features (using LTrP) are extracted from local patch around each interest point. After feature extraction, we used BoW to obtain global representation of an image. Further, artificial neural network (ANN) is used for index matching and image retrieval task. Performance evaluation of proposed system has been carried out using average retrieval precision (ARP), average retrieval recall (APR) and F-score on two state-of-the-art databases viz. Caltech256 and GHIM10K. Performance of proposed system is compared with existing feature descriptor and CBIR systems. Performance analysis shows that proposed system outperforms the existing methods and traditional CBIR framework i.e use of similarity measurement.


Albusmninzuria nzot associated withl what is com;nonly zunderstood by Brighet's Diucase.-I. Passive Congestion of the Kidney withz AlbuminuzTcria, the Result ofImpeded Venotus Circulation.-II. Albuminutria auid Zicenatluria fl-on; Embolism in the Mfinzte BloodVessels of the kAidney. iii. Puer/eral Albuminuria-Four Classes of Cases.-iv. Alt ophly and SuIpuic;ative Inflammationz ofthe Kidneyfrom Retention of Uri'ne-S)ympltoms antd Diagnosis.-V. Acute Cystitis resembling Acutte bi',,ht's Disease-Symnptoms, Diagnosis, and Tr-eatmnent.


Objective To study the possibility and effect of the targeting therapy in sheep applied with artificial magnetic bioceramic vertebral body replacement and intravenous injection of the dextran magnetic nanoparticles. Methods Magnetic guidance of 99 M Tc - 4 labeled dextran nanoparticles was evaluated in sheep with the replacement of artificial magnetic bioceramic vertebral body in L 4. The dextran magnetic nanoparticle was administrated by intravenous injection. An outside magnetic field was applied in the back of L 4. The localization of the dextran nanoparticles was determined in vivo by ECT,and the distribution of dextran nanoparticles in liver, lung, spleen, and kidney were also investigated. Results It was shown that the dextran nanoparticles was highly reactive to magnetic field, and concentrated at the predetermined site. The radioactivity accumulation in other organs, especially in liver, was significantly reduced due to the presence of the outside magnetic field. When the magnetic field was removed, the radioactivity accumulation in the back disappeared. Conclusion The magnetic bioceromic has good paramagnetism and its intensity of magnetization could be raised when the extra corporeal magnetic field is applied. As a result, the local magnetic field is reinforced, and its direction is coincident with the extra corporeal magnetic field. Therefore the local reinforced targeting therapy could be formed around the area of the artificial magnetic bioceramic vertebral body when the dextran magnetic nanoparticles were attracted by the double magnetic field and concentrated in the target field.


orders which divide 4 in view of Sylow's theorem. For the same reason the number of its operators whose orders do not divide 4 is either 8 or 4. Hence a group of order 12 has either 4 or 8 operators whose orders are divisible by 3. If it contains 8 such operators it must involve four subgroups of order 3 and hence it must be the alternating group of order 12 since it transforms these subgroups transitively. If it has only 4 such operators it must involve the cyclic group of order 6 as an invariant subgroup and hence if it is abelian it is either cyclic or the direct product of the cyclic group of order 6 and the group of order 2. If it is non-abelian it is either dihedral or dicyclic. The determination of the five possible groups of order 12 results therefore very easily from the given theorem. This is also true of the fifteen possible groups of order 24.


Food authenticity is a subject that is important not only for consumer protection, but also for maintaining fair competition. This term defines whether a food carries its own characteristics or not. These characteristics can be associated with the origin of the food (region, varieties etc.), production method or composition of the food (adulteration, fraudulent etc.). In order to ensure the food authenticity, identification of control criteria and validated analytical methods are required primarily. Moreover new applications in the field of food authenticity must be developed depending on the improvements in the technique of adulteration. This review focuses on the basic analytical methods used for food authenticity control (spectrophotometric, electrophoretic, electronic, DNA-based, immunological) and its application areas.


The principle and algorithm of reactance-type distance relay can be classified into two categories: the measuring fault reactance type and phasor comparing type.The capability of resisting the stable overreach and underreach caused by load and "in phase problem" is analyzed for the two types of reactance relay.At the same time,a new algorithm of reactance-type distance relay is proposed.The EMTP simulation tests show that the new algorithm has the property of directionality as well as does not lead to overreach and underreach caused by the former factors.


This study aims to provide an explanation of the effect of output value and number of business units on employment in large and medium industries in 8 cities in North Sumatra Province. This research is a quantitative research with descriptive method with data collection techniques in documentation. The use of data in this study uses cross section and time series data taken from 8 cities in North Sumatra Province in 2010-2019. Regression analysis used in this study is panel data regression analysis with E-Views 10 analysis tool. The results of the study show that partially (t test) the output value and the number of business units have a positive and significant effect on employment in large and large industries. currently. Simultaneously (f test) the output value and the number of business units have a significant effect on employment in large and medium industries.


Numerous researchers have hypothesized or found that women correctional officers experience greater job-related stress than their male counterparts (Cullen, Link, Wolfe, & Frank, 1985; Slate, 1993; Wright and Saylor, 1991; Zupan, 1986). The con-temporary literature has presented little data testing the relationship between gender and burnout in a maximum security prison setting. In the present study, 277 correctional officers were administered the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Item analysis of the MBI confirms earlier studies demonstrating scale reliability. Contrary to earlier stress studies conducted in the 1980s, women correctional officers demonstrated a greater sense of job-related personal achievement and accomplishment (F= 5.38, p = .02) than their men counterparts. Men and women correctional officers were found to be homogeneous groups on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.


PURPOSE: To enlarge and recover sensational perception of surgeon for carrying out a surgical procedure by combining an ultrasonic detection system into a surgical device and monitoring a fixed surgical site by a terminal end of the device. CONSTITUTION: A combination 108 of illuminating and observing tools is inserted by using a first cannula 102. An endoscopic surgical device represented by an endoscopic ligating clip applicator 110 through the use of a second cannula 104 is inserted, which is used for carrying out a required surgical step. An ultrasonic transducer means 122 relates to a terminal end 112 of the clip applicator 110 or a projecting end of a fastener. A means for directing ultrasonic wave consists of one fixed mounting means which has a mounting bracket form 128 of a jaw 118. The former means supports a transmitter 124 and a receiver 126 to direct them to an operational site 120. Passages of ultrasonic energy are expressed by passages 124 and 126a indicated by the arrows.


Nowadays external magnetic fields are capable of setting the thermal and physical properties of magnetic-nanofluids and regulate the flow and heat transfer characteristics. The strength of the applied magnetic field affects the thermal conductivity of magnetic nanofluids and makes it aeolotropic. With this incentive, we investigate the flow and heat transfer of electrically conducting liquid film flow of Carreau nanofluid over a stretching sheet by considering the aligned magnetic field in the presence of space and temperature dependent heat source/sink and viscous dissipation. For this study, we considered kerosene as the base fluid embedded with the silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles. Numerical results are determined by employing Runge-Kutta and Newton's methods. Graphs are exhibited and explained for various parameters of interest. The influence of pertinent parameters on reduced Nusselt number, flow and heat transfer is discussed with the assistance of graphs and tables. It is found that thermal boundary layer of Ag-kerosene nanofluid is highly effective when compared with the Cu-kerosene nanofluid. It is also found that the thermal and momentum boundary layers of Cu-kerosene and Ag-kerosene nanofluids are not uniform.


Currently, positive surgical margins in head and neck cancer are considered to be an indicator for postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) over radiotherapy (RT) alone. However, there are less data regarding the impact of margin status on human papillomavirus (HPV)‐related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).


A motor-driven vehicle includes at least an engine, control devices arranged to control a transmission driven by the engine, a first sensor that is arranged to communicate with the control devices, and a second sensor that is arranged to communicate with the control devices, with the control devices being arranged to receive a first signal sent from the first sensor that includes information about the gradient of the surface on which the vehicle is being driven, and with the control devices being arranged to receive a second signal sent from the second sensor that includes information about torque. The control devices are arranged to correct the first signal in response to the second signal, and to control the transmission in response to the corrected first signal, and thereby compensate for the effect of the torque on the first sensor.


IEC 60079-0 2004 Electrical apparatus for explosive gas atmospheres— Part 1: General Requirements (abbr. New version), compared with IEC60079-0 1998 (abbr. Old version), has added and revised a lot in technical content. The author, as the staff of IECTC31 (China) office, presents the main differences and the added content between the two versions in this article.


Aboriginal Health Organisation (AHO) carried out a research project, which was funded through the Community Employment Project with the goal of the establishment of a comprehensive information base on Aboriginal health needs. The study recorded three main areas, births, deaths, and attendance at hospitals, the information on which is very useful, as it reflects the state of health and well being of a community.


Nurses' readiness in research utilization: Moving toward evidence-based practice Mehrdad, N. 1 * (PhD); Salsali, M. 2 (PhD); Kazemnejad, A. 3 (PhD) 1. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. *(Corresponding Author) e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 2. Professor, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3. Professor, Dept. of Biostatistics, Tarbiat Modarress University, Tehran, Iran. Abstract Background and aim Research utilization is a mechanism for transferring the results of research into practice and improving the quality of care in nursing. The aim of this study was to determine nurses' readiness to utilize research needed for applying evidence-based practice. Materials and methods In this descriptive study, 375 nurses in all teaching hospitals affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected by stratified random sampling method. A 4-part questionnaire with open and close-ended questions including professional profile, research activities, research skills and access to research resources was used foe data collection. Content as well as face validities and Cronbach's α for reliability (0.82) were identified. Findings 85.9% of nurses had weak readiness in research utilization. Both research activities and skills were also low (71.4% and 82.7% respectively). 44% of nurses had insufficient access to research resources. A significant relationship was found between nurses' educational level, participation in research activities as well as English language skills and their readiness in research utilization. Conclusion Lack of skills and inaccessibility to research findings lead to weak readiness for research utilization. With respect to the importance of utilizing research findings, organizational and administrative support, continuing education programs, well-defined processes and pathways to facilitate research utilization need to be provided for nurses. Keywords: Research utilization, Evidence-based practice, Nurses. * Corresponding Author: Neda Mehrdad. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Effects of bladder irrigation with chlo


4 2 containing FeSO and Na EDTA. EDTA could be replaced by citric acid. In this in vitro system 4hydroxybenzoic acid is hydroxylated to 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (protocatechuic acid) and decarboxylated to hydroquinone. In an analogous reaction 2-hydroxybenzoic acid (salicylic acid) is hydroxylated to 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (gentisic acid) and decarboxylated to catechol. Surprisingly the reactions showed Micahelis-Menten saturation kinetics for the products, and this paper is the first description of these reactions. From these data it is also cautioned to use hydroxylation of hydroxybenzoic acids as an indicator of oxidative stress and hydroxyl radicals in biological systems without proper controls.


As end devices have become ubiquitous in daily life, the use of natural human-machine interfaces has become an important topic. Many researchers have proposed the frameworks to improve the performance of dynamic hand gesture recognition. Some CNN models are widely used to increase the accuracy of dynamic hand gesture recognition. However, most CNN models are not suitable for end devices. This is because image frames are captured continuously and result in lower hand gesture recognition accuracy. In addition, the trained models need to be efficiently deployed on end devices. To solve the problems, the study proposes a dynamic hand gesture recognition framework on end devices. The authors provide a method (i.e., ModelOps) to deploy the trained model on end devices, by building an edge computing architecture using Kubernetes. The research provides developers with a real-time gesture recognition component. The experimental results show that the framework is suitable on end devices.


Background The diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension requires right heart catheterization (RHC) which is typically performed via proximal venous access (PVA). Antecubital venous access (AVA) is an alternative approach for RHC that can minimize complications, decrease procedural duration and allow for immediate patient recovery. A direct comparison between the two procedures in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) is lacking. Objectives To determine the feasibility, safety, and adoption rates of AVA-RHC as compared with ultrasound-guided PVA in a subpopulation of patients with PH. Methods All patients who underwent RHC for evaluation of PH between December 2014 and March 2017 at a single large academic medical center were included in this study. Demographic, procedural and outcomes data were retrieved from the medical records. Results In total, 159 RHC were included (124 AVA, 35 PVA). The duration of RHC was significantly shorter in the AVA compared with PVA group (53 (IQR 38–70) vs. 80 (IQR 56–95) min, respectively, p < 0.001). 19% of AVA (24/124) procedures were switched to PVA. Failed attempts at AVA were more common in scleroderma (50% failure rate). Success rate of AVA increased from 81.2% to 93.3% from the first to last quartile. Fluoroscopy time was similar in both groups, the difference between the groups in the radiation dose are not statistically significant (54.5 (IQR 25–110) vs. 84.5 (IQR 30–134)). Conclusion AVA-RHC is a feasible and safe alternative to PVA in patients with PH who are evaluated for pulmonary arterial hypertension diagnosis. Our experience and rapid adoption rate support the use of AVA as the preferred access site for RHC in uncomplicated PH patients.


Total parenteral nutrition can be complicated by the marrow sea‐blue histiocytes as well as copper deficiency‐related bone marrow changes. Cytoplasmic vacuoles in the erythroid and myeloid precursors raise the possibility of copper deficiency anemia. If the diagnosis is delayed, the clinical course can be complicated by neurologic deficits.


The Internet is an integral part of human society and everyday life of most people, and it may be used for satisfying various human needs. The Internet has changed the way we process information, learn, talk, behave, etc. However, when something is used too much, it always brings some consequences with it, one being Problematic Internet Use, which is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of repetitive disabling behaviours, such as Internet video gaming, gambling, cyberpornography addiction, compulsive online shopping, social networking problematic use, and so on. In this paper, different views on Internet use in modern society will be considered, from ideas (over)emphasising its harmful effects on users' health, to ideas ignoring these warnings. We will be discussing the advantages of ICT use, as well as characteristics of the Internet, which may ease a compulsive use or preoccupation with online content and activities. We will particularly focus on classification criteria for specific online behaviours into the category of problematic use or Internet addiction, and finally we will point to some of the negative effects of PIU, as well as types of such Internet-related problems.