Abstract Background The identification of neurosurgical causes of craniomegaly and early institution of therapy requires for better clinical and functional outcomes. Aims and Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the neurosurgical causes, managements, and outcomes of craniomegaly in neonate and infants. Materials and Methods The cases with a history of head enlargement from neonatal period were included in this study. Their causes, managements, and outcomes were recorded retrospectively during the period of January 2010 to February 2013, in neurosurgery department at SGPGIMS Lucknow, and June 2018 to June 2020, at UPUMS, Saifai, Etawah, UP, India. Results Out of 41 cases, there were 30 (73.14%) cases of hydrocephalus, 4 (9.76%) Dandy-Walker malformation, 2 (4.88%) subdural collection, 2 (4.88%) arachnoid cyst, 1 (2.44%) craniosynostosis, and 2 (4.88%) with tubercular meningitis. The age range of our cases was 18 to 178 days and the mean age was 102.54 ± 50.73. Preoperative head circumference range was 39 to 62 cm (mean: 55.27 ± 6.58cm). Majority of the cases (n = 32, 78.05%) were managed with ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgeries. Out of 41 cases, 33(80.49%) had improved outcomes, 7 (17.07%) stabilized, and mortality occurred in 1 (2.44%) case. Postoperatively, there was improvement in the head circumference (range: 39–60 cm and mean: 46.15 ± 5.83 cm) on 6 to 24 months (mean: 17.85 ± 5.18 months) of follow-up. Conclusion Hydrocephalus was the commonest neurosurgical cause of head enlargement in neonate and infants. Shunt surgery was the most common form of management of these cases. Early detection, institution of therapy, and periodic follow-up program for diagnosing and treating complications were the key to successful outcomes in these patients.


ABSTRACT Most academic health sciences centers offer faculty leadership development programs (LDPs); however, the outcomes of LDPs are largely unknown. This article describes perspectives from our 12-year experience cultivating a formal faculty LDP within an academic health center and longitudinal outcomes of our LDP. Responding to faculty concerns from University of California San Francisco's (UCSF) 2001 Faculty Climate Survey, UCSF established the UCSF-Coro Faculty Leadership Collaborative (FLC) in 2005. The FLC focused on building leadership skills using a cohort-based, experiential, interactive and collaborative learning approach. From 2005 to 2012, FLC has conducted training for 136 graduates over 7 cohorts with 97.6% completion rate. FLC faculty participants included 64% women and 13% underrepresented minority (URM). The proportions of graduates attaining leadership positions within UCSF such as deans or department chairs among all, URM, and women URM graduates were 9.6%, 33.3% and 45.5%, respectively. A 2013 online survey assessed 2005–2012 graduates' perceived impacts from 8 months to 8 years after program completion and showed 91.7% of survey respondents felt the program both increased their understanding of UCSF as an organization and demonstrated the University's commitment to foster faculty development. Qualitative results indicated that graduates perceived benefits at individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels. Though we did not directly assess impact on faculty recruitment and retention, the findings to date support cohort-based experiential learning in faculty leadership training development.


We investigate the economic consequences of mass shootings in the U.S. We find that mass shootings have negative effects on targeted counties' economies. Estimates using three different comparison groups yield similar results. Examining the mechanisms, we find that residents of targeted areas: (i) develop pessimistic views of financial and local business conditions; and (ii) are more likely to report poor mental health, which hinders usual activities such as work, suggesting that shootings lead to decreases in productivity. Further, we find that greater national media coverage of shootings exacerbates their local economic consequences. *Brodeur, University of Ottawa, email@example.com. Most of what follows is a reproduction of my joint work entitled "The Economics of Mass Shootings" with Hasin Yousaf, 2019. IZA Discussion Papers 12728, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).


The Mangle in Practice is a collection of 12 essays edited by Andrew Pickering and Keith Guzik that primarily revolves around Pickering's work on his idea of the ''mangle of practice.'' Yet, a straightforward survey of Pickering's ideas this book is decidedly not. Largely this is because ''the mangle'' is never explicitly defined by any of the volume's thirteen authors, including Pickering himself. What the term mangle means or why it is an apt metaphor are questions that go perplexingly unraised. Instead, only ideas such as the ''dance of agency'' that the mangle connotes—as set out by Pickering's 1995 monograph, The Mangle of Practice—are explored. However, in his contributions to this collection, Pickering does not concern himself with rigorously fleshing out those particular concepts as he has done elsewhere. That task is left to the other contributors to cobble together. What Pickering does successfully draw out in the preface and his opening chapter are the broader aims that his idea of the mangle is supposed to have advanced. On a grand level, this is the project of promoting an ''ontology of becoming'' in contrast to one that is primarily structured and unchanging. Here, Pickering makes specific reference to Martin Heidegger's idea of ''enframing'' as a counterpoint to his own social theoretical enterprise. Whereas ''enframing'' is a particular worldview that continually seeks to arrest the world in toto, Pickering's idea of the mangle is said to offer an alternative approach—one where the world is recognized for what it really is: ''a place of decentred human and nonhuman becoming'' (p. 13). This not only applies to ''painting, philosophy . . . and cybernetics'' (p. 13), which Pickering explicitly speaks to, but also to the entire world writ large. This latter point is also what largely informs the rest of the remaining chapters. Though Pickering originally developed his idea of the mangle in the field of science and technology studies and in dialogue with actor-network theory, the view held by the rest of the contributors is that Pickering's ideas can be fruitfully applied to a whole host of other topics. And indeed we find this to be the case with the nine chapters that make up the first and second sections, titled ''Studies'' and ''Theory,'' respectively. Here, Pickering's ideas are mapped onto a variety of different subjects, ranging from Adrian Franklin's study of Australians and eucalyptus trees to Volker Scheid's research into the practice of Chinese medicine and Brian Marick's treatise on ''Agile'' software development. If the goal of The Mangle in Practice is to call into question a number of commonplace assumptions within contemporary social thought, then by and large it succeeds admirably. As many of the chapters demonstrate, Pickering's work is most persuasive when it confronts two problematic tendencies within social research that offer a deceitfully centered view of social practice: (1) the sociological habit of accepting atemporal explanations of agency and (2) the humanist bias that exists in much of social research that mistakenly posits the nonhuman material world as being largely inert and passive. Those interested therefore in exposing the shortcomings of these two practices within social thought will find this collection useful. However, if the goal of The Mangle in Practice is to provide a groundbreaking paradigm for future social research, then by many counts it does not succeed. A major defect of this book is that it fails to engage with a number of key discussions within social thought that run roughly parallel to Pickering's enterprise. This is glaringly evident in the lack of engagement with poststructuralist and postmodernist thought of which no doubt the mangle is a part. At most, only a few cursory nods are made to authors associated with postmodernist and poststructuralist thinking such as Gilles Deleuze and Donna Haraway. Otherwise, little reference is made throughout this collection to these theoretical strands in any sustained fashion, although Maxim Reviews 193


It is widely accepted that individual Galactic globular clusters harbor two coeval generations of stars, the first one born with the "standard" α-enhanced metal mixture observed in field halo objects and the second one characterized by an anticorrelated CNONa abundance pattern overimposed on the first generation, α-enhanced metal mixture. We have investigated with appropriate stellar population synthesis models how this second generation of stars affects the integrated spectrum of a typical metal-rich Galactic globular cluster, like 47 Tuc, focusing our analysis on the widely used Lick-type indices. We find that the only indices appreciably affected by the abundance anticorrelations are Ca4227, G4300, CN1, CN2, and NaD. The age-sensitive Balmer line, Fe line, and the [MgFe] indices widely used to determine age, Fe, and total metallicity of extragalactic systems are largely insensitive to the second generation population. Enhanced He in second generation stars affects also the Balmer line indices of the integrated spectra, through the change of the turnoff temperature and—with the assumption that the mass-loss history of both stellar generations is the same—the horizontal branch morphology of the underlying isochrones.


Trenton Herriford, Elizabeth M. Johnson, Nicholas Sly, and A. Lee Smith find that an increase in ocean shipping costs leads to a modest boost in core inflation after one year.


A seal skeleton from Champlain Sea deposits near Hull, Quebec, formerly identified as probably belonging to a young harp or harbor seal, actually represents a seven year old ringed seal. The skelet...


Despite exaggerated claims to originality, this book deserves attention. It is hardly the pioneering attempt at a positive analysis of politics, but it is a useful addition to the rapidly expanding "public choice" bookshelf which political scientists find increasingly difficult to ignore. Bartlett notes that there are two distinct paradigms of governmental process in modern public choice theory. The first, which we may call Wicksellian or contractarian, views government as a means or device through which individuals act collectively rather than individually. Contrary to Bartlett's charges, this approach can be positive as well as normative. Hypotheses can be derived which can be tested against observations. Many economists who have worked within this approach have perhaps not been careful enough in separating efficiency norms from positive predictions about outcomes. But the normative element need not be, and has not been in all cases, characteristic of this model.


A numerical method for estimating the pressure distribution on arbitrary finite symmetrical wings with rounded leading edges at zero incidence in subsonic flow is presented. The subsonic flow equations are linearised so that the value of ∂ϕ/∂x at a point on the wing mean plane can be expressed as the generalised principal part of a singular double integral. This integral is modified so that it can be evaluated numerically. Finally C n is obtained from ∂ϕ/∂x by using the approximation C p = −2 ∂ϕ/∂x . Two numerical methods are described; one method to be used when the field point is close to the leading edge and the other for field points in other regions. Numerical results for two wings (Warren 12 and NPL 55° swept) are given and, wherever possible, the computed results are compared with results from other methods and with experiment.


Based on the analysis and discussion of the connotations and characteristics of enterprise collaborative knowledge innovation,the current situation and processes of enterprise collaborative knowledge innovation of Chinese enterprises were analyzed and carded.Then the solution of process optimization was proposed and the relevant case was analyzed.


A concept of plasma-enabled tuning of radio frequency systems is introduced and experimentally verified in this paper. Specifically, a commercial gas discharge tube (GDT) is employed as a plasma cell integrated in an inductor-capacitor (LC) resonator. The principal factor affecting the characteristics of the LC circuit with the embedded GDT, studied for the first time in this paper, is the decrease in the cathode sheath thickness and thus increase in the capacitance of the plasma cell with increasing current in the abnormal glow discharge regime. The reduction of plasma cell resistance is an additional factor. The sample LC resonator demonstrates frequency tunability by 55% in the range of 240-372 MHz, while the discharge current increases up to 90 mA, at the expense of reduction in quality factor from 62 to 5 as a result of ohmic losses. Theoretical estimates based on the fundamental principles of glow discharges supplemented by circuit simulations show good agreement with measurements. The local minimum in frequency behavior of the resonator's quality factor is shown to be related to frequency-dependent plasma parameters. The results of this paper indicate that plasma tuning techniques could be a viable alternative for emerging applications.


Foliar nutrition is practiced by the fruit grower's worldwide. Nitrogen is a principle fertilizer nutrient routinely applied every year to both young and mature fruit trees. There is a positive relationship between N rate and Kinnow shoot growth. Application of N increased shoot growth, plant height, spread, and canopy volume in Kinnow. The growth, yield and quality of acid lime fruits were significantly influenced by the application of zinc and iron fertilizers (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75%). Maximum growth and good quality fruit and yield were observed with two sprays at one-month (Feb-march) intervals of 0.5% ZnSO4 and 0.5% FeSO4. The 2,4-D chemical could thus be used to increase fruit yield under conditions that favour fruit drop such as extreme temperatures as well as water deficits such as those that are prevalent in Botswana. The application of 2,4-D is more effective at the earlier stages of fruit development since navel oranges were shown to be more susceptible to fruit drop when small in size.


This paper reports on findings from a comparative research project which is examining how work-based learning (WBL) and work-related learning (WRL) are being incorporated into Higher National (HN) programmes in Scotland and Foundation Degrees (FDs) in England 1 . It draws on qualitative interviews with learners, employers and programme organisers. The particular focus of this paper is to explore the potentially changing roles of employers and college staff in supporting students' learning. and HN structures. We will explore just a few of the emerging themes from the research to illustrate this point.


Brazil has the largest mangrove areas in the American continent, constituting an important economic resource used by coastal populations in the tropics due to its great diversity, carbon richness and functionality.

Objective: To present the critical areas of mangroves and the degradation of the geo-economic mosaic.

Theoretical framework: the Pigou-Coase principle was focused in order to understand the restoration structure in mangrove areas, through the polluter-pays principle, focusing on the mangrove conditions in the estuary of the Itapessoca river, Goiana-PE, Brazil, which suffers a high process of environmental decharacterization.

Method: Case study based on the reference of R. Yin, with the employment of bibliometrics' tools (WoS) and mapping mosaic using QGis  and SIRGAS software.

Results and Conclusions: In the Itapessoca region it can be observed that there is no rigor of use of risk or preserved area, since the principles are the foundation of the rules the legislation is not comprehensive, and there is presence of predatory treatment.

Research Impact: Case studies constitute an important type of research as it anchors what is most impactful to local reality vis a vis theoretical platform.

Originality: The PPP model applied to the mangrove of Itapessoca-Pernambuco-Brazil.


The article raises the issue of the investigation of lawsuits claims for compensation for damage to health. The author presents evidence of the difficulties faced by the injured patient when proving damage caused in the process of treatment by doctors or medical institutions, at the same time introducing the complex subject of proving of reasons of compensatory liability in the light of current assumptions of civil law doctrine as well as the case law of the supreme court. The main assumptions of the jurisprudence are discussed regarding the use of simplifications within the called fresh evidence medical processes, such as prima facie or the presumption of fact or plausibility. In conclusion, assumptions de lege ferenda were presented aiming at improving efficiency of obtaining compensation for patients in the field of medical damages in lawsuits.


Criminology has long sought to illuminate the lived experience of those at the margins. More recently, there has been a turn towards the spatial in the discipline. This article sets out an analytical framework that synthesizes spatial theory with hauntology. We demonstrate how a given space's violent histories can become embedded in the texts that constitute it and the language that describes it. The art installation Die Familie Schneider is used as an example of how the incorporation of social trauma can lead to the formation of a spatial 'crypt'. Cracking open this 'crypt' allows us to draw out Derrida's notion of the spectre within the context of a 'haunted' city space.


This chamber (20) for the rotor in a generator including the rotor, rotor windings and a stator, includes a plurality of composite rings (22, 24) adjacent to each other along a length dimension the rotor to hold the rotor windings on the rotor, rings each comprising at least two layers (26, 28) selected from the group consisting essentially of metals, laminates based on glass fibers and laminates based on fibers graphite.


The ongoing «Migrants crisis», combined with the previous institutional and economic crises of the European Union, has had a very negative and deep impact on the cultural and social policies throughout the whole EU space. Following at least 12 years of a rewarding path, started in 1996 with the report «Our creative diversity» and culminated in 2007, the strong ambition to promote «cultural diversity» and «intercultural dialogue»has progressively vanished from the political agendas. It is therefore critical hic et nunc to rebuild this ambition and to restate the particular relevance of all the (legal and other) instruments already available (e.g. the 2001 UNESCO Declaration and 2005 UNESCO Convention). Moreover, it looks critical to focus on (and get inspiration from) some very promising experiences, as the outstanding Charter of Palermo (2015) and the Council of Cultures promoted by the City of Palermo, after years of a strongly innovative policy of cultural inclusion (under the leadership of Mayor Leoluca Orlando) dedicated to migrant populations massively arriving in Sicily.


The present invention provides a drinking water filter. The filter comprises a housing having an inlet and an outlet, a filter material disposed within the housing, and the filter material at least partially formed in the plurality of pores in the reduction of oxygen basic activated carbon filter particles.


Discloses a coupling system for compensating polygon reducing the polygon effect of the chain drive system for (28, 28 ', 28 "). Polygon compensation coupling system (28, 28', 28") may comprise a sprocket and a chain primary drive wheel engages, so that the compensation curve defining the engagement (42) to reduce the polygon effect.


This exploratory feminist research project presents how ten young women who are mothers narrate their identities and their experiences, as well as articulate the differing ways each woman navigates through hegemonic discourses that seek to restrict and define her into a reductive and singular identity as a 'teen mom'. The purpose of this thesis is to come away from the limiting and pervasive labels and stigmas that are attached to young women who are mothers. The ten participants (four women of colour, one woman of Jewish ethnicity, and five women who described themselves as white) were recruited and the research was carried out at a Vancouver-based program, which provides predominately low-income women who are mothers educational upgrading and employment skills. I adopted the pastiche (Ely, Vinz, Downing, Anzul, 2001) method of narrative — a multi-genre approach where each of the women created visual, written, and oral narratives. Within the narratives the themes of body/ appearance, exclusion, and stigmatization arose. Woven throughout each of the chapters is an articulation of how each of the women in various and unique ways actively negotiated themselves and their experiences, revealing themselves to be complex, dynamic, and multi-faceted young


Radical cations of 1,4-dialkoxybenzenes 1 and 2 and alkyl 1,4-dialkoxybenzenes 3–9 generated in oxidation of the parent donors by perfluorodi[1-(2-fluorosulfonyl)ethoxy]propionyl peroxide 10 at −40°C and pentafluorobenzoyl peroxide 11 at 15°C were observed by ESR. Radical cation 6+˙, generated in other oxidation systems, i.e., Ce(SO4)2/THF, NH4/OAc and (NH4)2S2O8/HOAc, has also been investigated. Based on ESR observation and products analysis, an electron-transfer mechanism of the oxidation reaction is proposed and the influencing factors on hyperfine splitting constants of the radical cations are discussed.


Received: 10 February 2019 Accepted: 26 April 2019 The diffusion of plastic materials had and still has a significant impact on the environment. Among these, PVC (polyvinylchloride) is certainly able to guarantee the best cost/performance ratio, high sustainability and absolute recyclability. In particular, this work refers to cement-based mortars with PVC compound used for electric cables sheathing. The aim was to verify the potential of a "new" mix-design in terms of energy efficiency and mechanical resistance of the finished products. Some mortar specimens were prepared using as basic components cement, water, sand and PVC as powder and granules. The plastic aggregate, in volumetric substitution of the sand, has been varied in proportions varying up to 50 % of the dry component. Different mixtures were prepared, all referred to a base one without PVC, to evaluate its influence on workability, thermal conductivity, compressive and flexural strength, capillary water absorption. Experimental results have shown that increasing the amount of PVC reduces density as well as compressive and flexural strength. However, PVC mortars show a greater resistance to capillary water absorption compared to the reference one, while the thermal conductivity values slightly decrease. This study is the basis for subsequent research based on further combinations of aggregates.


We describe the fabrication of free-standing wires of amorphous silicon nitride of approximate dimensions 125 × 0.15 × 0.1 ?m, which are important initial test structures for examining quantum deviations from Ohm's law and Joule's law predicted to occur in fine geometry samples.


ABSTRACT This article analyses the racialization of discourses about national identities, and explores the implications for populations racialized as white. Two extensive datasets have been brought together, spanning a decade and 560 interviews, to explore discursive interplay, the oppositional nature and relationality of majority and minority claims about national belonging. We demonstrate that national identity claims are constructed discursively from positions of relative advantage and disadvantage: here the English majority and Polish minority. Discourses of national identity involve positioning and using resources differentially available. Dominant majority groups, perceiving themselves as entitled through their conceptualization of the nation-state and indigeneity, interpret and police minority claims in ways that equate to a gate-keeping function. The analysis examines the contingent hierarchy of whiteness and the discursive implications for entitlement, deservingness and resentment. The framework of whiteness helps illuminate the construction and contested racialization of hierarchies around national identity and belonging.


Carrier concentrations exceeding 1019/cm3 in GaAs implanted with Si (2×1014/cm2 at 140 keV) have been obtained by pulsed laser annealing with either a dye laser (λ=728 nm) or a XeCl excimer laser (λ=308 nm). Dye‐laser annealing through a ∼55‐nm‐thick Si3N4 cap consistently produced higher activations than excimer‐laser annealing with or without the cap. Carrier densities were measured by phonon‐Raman and plasmon‐Raman scattering.


It is well known that fuzzy inference system and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, as important member of computational intelligence, are consistent in the target layer. The paper analyzes the mapping relations of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, and also proves that nonlinear approximation ability of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is as good as fuzzy inference system's. In order to acquire better weight, The paper deduces to obtain least-squares weighting formula based on input-output data and recursive least-squares weighting formula. At last the paper study the application of FIS and FCE on storm surge disaster assessment, and give examples of two applications.


Marek's Disease is a viral disease that affects poultry, particularly chickens. It is caused by the Marek's Disease Virus (MDV), which belongs to the herpesvirus family. The disease is characterized by the formation of tumors in various organs, including the nerves, skin, and internal organs such as the liver, spleen, and kidneys. A layer poultry farm of one day old, vaccinated with Marek's disease virus vaccine. The flock was infected with a virulent Marek's disease virus with a mortality rate of up to 60%. Histopathological examination of affected tissues is an important tool for the diagnosis of the disease. The histopathological finding of tissue sections from chickens with MDV shows extensive proliferation of lymphocytes of various sizes. The confirmation was done by PCR and standardized targeting a 132 bp tandem repeat region specific for serotype-1 MD viruses Meq gene was carried out by PCR and nucleotide sequencing, The sequence analysis of Meq gene of different clinical cases from Iraq homology with very virulent strain and Phylogenetic analysis of oncogenes was carried out with other available sequences in the GenBank we conclude that MDV strains obtained in the present outbreaks in Iraq could be designated as very virulent pathotypes based on nucleotide and phylogenetic analysis of the viruses.


BACKGROUND: An audit of gynecological hysterectomieswas carried out in Gyne C department ofObstetrics & Gynecology Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar. Among the patients admitted formajor Gynecological operations, those undergoing hysterectomy were entered in to study programme.This study was carried out to assess the reasons and other related features of patients who underwenthysterectomies in Gyne-C Unit of Hayatabad Medical complex, Peshawar.METHODS: It was retrospective study of hysterectomies at Gyne C unit of Hayatabad MedicalComplex Peshawar, from January 2013 to December 2013. The indications for hysterectomy wereevaluated. Patients were studied and observed preoperatively, during surgery and postoperatively tilltheir stay in hospital. The follow up visit was also recorded with histopathology report after 6 weeksRESULTS: The incidence of hysterectomy among major operations was almost 22%. Ratio ofabdominal to vaginal route was almost 6:1. The complication rate and postoperative hospital stay wasseen more in the former group. Most of the operations were done electively. Majority of indicationswere benign in which surgery could have been avoided reflecting non availability of other effectivemedical treatments.CONCLUSION: There is a need to increase the number of vaginal hysterectomies for better outcomes.But still with all these limitations in our setup hysterectomy proved curative and acceptable form oftherapy to most of the patients.Key Words: Complications, Histopathology, Hysterectomy.


Ultrasound (US) imaging is the routine and safe diagnostic modality for detecting pediatric urology problems, such as hydronephrosis in the kidney. Hydronephrosis is the swelling of one or both kidneys because of the build-up of urine. Early detection of hydronephrosis can lead to a substantial improvement in kidney health outcomes. Generally, US imaging is a challenging modality for the evaluation of pediatric kidneys with different shape, size, and texture characteristics. The aim of this study is to present an automatic detection method to help kidney analysis in pediatric 3DUS images. The method localizes the kidney based on its minimum volume oriented bounding box) using deep neural networks. Separate deep neural networks are trained to estimate the kidney position, orientation, and scale, making the method computationally efficient by avoiding full parameter training. The performance of the method was evaluated using a dataset of 45 kidneys (18 normal and 27 diseased kidneys diagnosed with hydronephrosis) through the leave-one-out cross validation method. Quantitative results show the proposed detection method could extract the kidney position, orientation, and scale ratio with root mean square values of 1.3 ± 0.9 mm, 6.34 ± 4.32 degrees, and 1.73 ± 0.04, respectively. This method could be helpful in automating kidney segmentation for routine clinical evaluation.


To investigate whether altered expression of various inflammation‐, angiogenesis‐, and extracellular matrix‐related mediators in cervicovaginal fluid (CVF) could be independently associated with acute histological chorioamnionitis (HCA), microbial‐associated HCA, and funisitis in women with preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).


This paper sets out to explore the potential usage of the payment of care providers to influence quality, in particular whether one form of financial incentive structure, namely payment-for-performance, could be used in dentistry. The authors conclude that payment-for-performance may be eventually used but, for a number of reasons including the existing remuneration arrangements and the lack of evidence-based performance measures in part as a result of a lack of evidence-based guidelines, any proposals should adopted with caution.


The while-you-wait computing paradigm combines elements of digital and analog quantum computation with the aim of minimizing the need of external control. In this architecture the computer is split into logic units, each continuously implementing a single recurring multigate operation via the unmodulated Hamiltonian evolution of a quantum many-body system. Here we use evolutionary algorithms to engineer such many-body dynamics, and develop logic units capable of continuously implementing a quantum half-adder in a time-independent four-qubit network, where qubits are coupled with either Ising or Heisenberg interactions. Our results provide a step for the development of larger modules for full quantum arithmetics.


Objective To reveal the potential different longitudinal motion characteristics and differences of left and right muscular band (L-MB,R-MB)of interventricular septum (IVS) during systole and diastole in normal subjects.Methods Dual Doppler tissue imaging was applied for the longitudinal velocity curves of L-MB and R-MB of anterior and posterior interventricular septum(P-IVS,A-IVS) at basal,mid,and apical levels in eighty-two healthy subjects.Peak isovolumetric contraction (VIVC),systolic (Vs),early(Ve) and late (Va) diastolic velocities were measured,and myocardial velocity gradient(MVG)and Ve/Va ratio of each segment of L-MB and R-MB were calculated.Results ①Peak velocity of MB:the VrvC,Vs,Ve and Va of R-MB of both A-IVS and P-IVS were higher than those of L-MB; the VrvC,Vs,Ve and Va were gradually decreased from the base to apex of both A-IVS and P-IVS;the VIVC and Vs of A-IVS were higher than those of P-IVS; the Ve and Va of A-IVS were lower than those of P-IVS.②Correlation and MVG analyses of peak velocity of MB:the systolic and diastolic velocities between L-MB and R-MB of both A-IVS and P-IVS have shown a very strong positive correlation;the isovolumetric systolic MVG1 of L-MBof A-IVS,systolic MVG1 of R-MB of P-IVS and the diastolic MVG1 of both A-IVS and P-IVS were higher than those of MVG2.Conclusions The heterogeneity of longitudinal peak systolic and diastolic velocity and regional myocardial compliance,the consistency of moving direction and positive correlation of longitudinal peak systolic and diastolic velocity between L-MB and R-MB of both A-IVS and P-IVS have been demonstrated in normal subjects.

Key words:
Echocardiography;  Interventricular septum;  Myocardial band;  Dual Doppler tissue imaging


Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum, is one of the major diseases of cotton. Preventive methods to manage this disease should be adopted what includes the seed treatment with biocontrol agents as a good alternative. This work aimed to evaluate the efficiency of biological products based on Trichoderma spp. and Bacillus subtilis in the control of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum (Fov) applied in seeds and seedlings of cotton. The experiment was carried out at the Laboratório de Fitopatologia of the Centro de Ciências Agrárias, of the Universidade Federal de Paraíba (CCA-UFPB), located in the city of Areia, Paraíba - Brazil. The disease transmission of the seeds to the seedlings was evaluated. After the transmission test, cotton seeds of the variety Mocó (Gossypium hirsutum var. Marie-gallante (Watt) Hutch.), BRS 286 and Topázio cultivar (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were submitted to the treatments T1 - Control, T2 - Trichodel® (0,5 mL); T3-Trichodel® (1.0 mL); T4-Trichodel® (1.5 mL); T5-Trichodel® (2.0 mL); T6-Bactel® (2.0 mL); T7-Bactel® (2.5 mL); T8-Bactel® (3.0 mL); T9-Bactel® (3.5 mL) diluted in 100 mL SDW; T10 - Fungicide Captana (240 g / 100 kg of seeds) and inoculated with Fov. The pathogen incidence of the seeds was evaluated seven days after the inoculation (DAI). To evaluate the biological control of Fov in the seedlings, the treated seeds were submitted to the following inoculation methods: 1 - inoculation of the substrate with a pathogen conidia suspension; 2 - immersion of the seeds in the conidia suspension and 3 - direct contact of the seeds with the pathogen mycelium. Twenty-one DAI the disease severity and percentage of seedlings with vascular darkening were evaluated. It was observed a transmission rate of 64.0 to 89.0% of the seeds to the seedlings. Trichodel® reduced the incidence and severity of Fov in the cotton seedlings and was the most efficient product.


"Those who lift the spear shall perish by the spear" becomes an opportunity for Monsman to cite the appropriate parallel biblical passages. later, the dances of Asika in The Yellow God are suggested to be an anticipation of the sensuous stage performances of Josephine Baker in Paris in the 1920s. This is heady stuff indeed and the rich comparisons reinforce the notion that to read haggard is to recognize the source material for hundreds of action-adventure films, especially the climactic scene in the treasure cave in King Solomon's Mines. The extensive discussions and quotations are tantalizing enough to send most readers back to the primary source to test the author's thesis. The notes and index are good, but one misses a straightforward bibliography. There is one appendix, curiously labeled "Appendix A" when there is no "Appendix B" (which I'm told is the fault of the book's editor, Robert langenfeld). nevertheless this appendix offers a first-rate article on Bertram Mitford that provides more information on that writer than could be easily worked into the body of this study.


For many anthropologists, utilization of their store of knowledge and skills by others has been an accepted part of their functions. For me, this has included participation in a variety of institutions with action missions, that is, they were designed to accomplish some task, to change or cause to be changed some behavior or physical form. These included appointments by three governors in a state health department, a people of Indian ancestry project in Manitoba, a resettlement project in the Mackenzie Delta of Canada, a research and training organization, a mental health center, a university college of education, joint venture development in China and a college of democracy special training in a University.


The advantages of wireless power transmission because of its safety,reliability and material savings as a result it becomes a hot research direction of power transmission. In this paper,the optimal cost model established a radio charging station for locating and sizing. The model is based on residential electricity load to simulate the number of electric vehicles,weights given by the candidate station site AHP,at a distance of a candidate site and the substations,radio charging stations cost of installation,the number of electric cars and other conditions constraint,the objective function is also added to the running costs of the wireless power charging station,and a radio network loss and the cost of the wireless power charging station apparatus investments.


It is not uncommon for sedentary individuals to cite leg fatigue as the primary factor for test termination during a cardiouplomonary exercise test (CPET) on a cycle ergometer. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of two-weeks of lower body resistance training (RT) on cardiopulmonary capacity in sedentary middle-aged females. Additionally, the impact of RT on muscle strength was evaluated. Following familiarization, 28 women (18 exercise, 10 control) completed a maximal CPET on a cycle ergometer to determine peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) and leg extensor strength assessed using isokinetic dynamometry. Participants in the exercise group performed two weeks (6 sessions) of lower body RT consisting of leg press, leg curl, and leg extension exercises. Paired samples and independent samples t-tests were used to evaluate the difference in changes of VO2peak and peak torque (PT). VO2peak significantly improved from 22.2 + 4.5 ml·kg-1·min-1 to 24.3 + 4.4 ml·kg-1·min-1 (10.8%, p < 0.05) as well as PT from 83.1 + 25.4 Nm to 89.0 + 29.7 Nm (6.1%, p < 0.05) in the exercise group with no change in the controls. These findings provide initial evidence that two-weeks of lower body RT prior to a CPET may be a helpful preconditioning strategy to achieve a more accurate VO2peak during testing, enhancing tolerability to a CPET by improving lower body strength.


We claim that the paper by Zhong-Ying Fan and Xiaobao Wang on nonlinear electrodynamics coupled to general relativity [Phys. Rev. D 94,124027 (2016)], although correct in general, in some respects repeats previously obtained results without giving proper references. There is also an important point missing in this paper, which is necessary for understanding the physics of the system: in solutions with an electric charge, a regular center requires a non-Maxwell behavior of Lagrangian function $L(f)$, $(f={F}_{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}}{F}^{\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\nu}})$ at small $f$. Therefore, in all electric regular black hole solutions with a Reissner-Nordstr\"om asymptotic, the Lagrangian $L(f)$ is different in different parts of space, and the electromagnetic field behaves in a singular way at surfaces where $L(f)$ suffers branching.


According to the available industrial standards,based on no related stipulation status from the evaluation on the positioning accuracy of the mine underground personnel measures with the signal TOA technology,the evaluation method for the positioning accuracy of the mine underground personnel was provided based on the TOA technology. The time resolution evaluation conditions of the positioning system,the frequency evaluation conditions of the processor and the evaluation conditions of the positioning error were applied to the evaluation on the static positioning accuracy. The limit conditions of the positioning patrol checking period and the limit conditions of the maximum displacement speed were applied to the evaluation on the dynamic positioning accuracy. The combination with the evaluation results of the static and dynamic positioning accuracies was applied to evaluate the positioning accuracy of the mine underground personnel based on TOA technology. The design on the positioning system of the mine underground personnel could be guided based on TOA technology. The paper provided that the method could be applied to the positioning accuracy evaluation of the mine underground personnel based on the TOA technology and the paper provided the guide cases of the positioning key equipment index design for the mine underground personnel.


The fourth paleosol (S4) which had changed into a residuum of the Brunhes Epoch (780,000 yr BP) at Shuangzhu in Chang'an, Koujiapo in Xi'an, Tianjiapo in Lantian and Hejiacun in Baoji developed over about 40 ka years. It consists of 4 horizons, the 1st one (uppermost) is a well developed reddish brown clay horizon (Bts), the 2nd is a dark yellowish brown weathering-cracked loess horizon (Cs) with red ferruginous clay films, the 3rd is yellowish brown weathering-cracked loess horizon (Cl) without the red ferruginous clay films, and the 4th is CaCO3 nodules horizon (Ck). In the Bts horizon, CaCO3 was leached away, Sr being trace element moved obviously and reached Ck horizon located at the bottom of the weathered profile, which indicates depth affected by weathering-leaching surpassed that of the Bts horizon and reached the lower boundary of the Cl horizon. In the Bts horizon, Fe2O3 and Al2O3 removed intensely also and into Cs horizon. In the weathered profile consisting of Bts, Cs and Cl, pH values are low, clay content is high, and Fe2O3 and Al2O3 were formed, which shows intense chemical weathering took place. The development of the fourth paleosol as a residuum suggests that a moist subtropical climate prevailed 420,000-350,000 yr BP in the southern part of the Loess Plateau in China. Its profile is Bts-Cs-Cl-Ck-C. When the paleosol developed, mean annual temperature and rainfall were about 16oC and 1000 mm respectively, about 3oC higher and 400 mm more than those at present in the Guanzhong Plain.


Higher than average thermobaric ratios (temperature/pressure) of metamorphic rocks and abundant 'dry' ferroan magmatism including massif anorthosite suites are two enigmatic features of the mid-Proterozoic (1.85–0.85 Ga) that have unclear origins. It has been proposed that elevated mantle temperatures due to insulation under the Columbia supercontinent, and/or to plate slowdown, combined with thin lithosphere, led to high continental geothermal gradients, high-temperature metamorphism, and an increase in dry, ferroan magmatism. Geodynamic modelling predicts that continental subduction zones at mid-Proterozoic mantle potential temperatures (80–150 °C hotter than at present) would exhibit key differences to the Phanerozoic, critically, extensive slab rollback combined with greater volumes of decompression melting of the asthenosphere would lead to wide regions of back-arc magmatism. We posit that these hot, wide continental back-arcs can effectively explain the abundance of ferroan magmatism, anorthosite suites, and high T/P metamorphism. Our model negates the need for extra mantle heating from supercontinental insulation or plate slowdown and shows that the tectonic regime of the mid-Proterozoic was a transitional phase between those of the Archean (likely comprising peel-back tectonics and episodic subduction) and the Phanerozoic (comprising deep continental subduction), and which could have resulted solely from secular cooling of the mantle.


Ongoing work on the architecture-driven development of high-integrity realtime systems, and its relationship to the MDA initiative, is outlined. It is posited that separation between platform-independent and platform-specific models is not useful in this domain, due to certification needs, and suggestions as to how to reconcile MDA with the concerns of high-integrity real-time systems are outlined.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Pulmonary arteries from smokers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients show abnormal endothelium‐dependent vascular reactivity. We studied the effect of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on endothelin receptor B (ETB) expression in human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAECs) and its role in endothelial dysfunction.


Water damage of asphalt pavement means the structural damage caused by continuously degrading adhesive ability of asphalt and aggregate under hydrodynamic pressure.The article studies the causes and countermeasures of water damage in terms of each step involved in asphalt pavement engineering quality control.


In this note we discuss how a cost–benefit analysis could be formulated in a second-best world where lump-sum taxation is not available. The question is how the government's budget is balanced. Different options are available. A value added tax or an income tax or a profit tax could be adjusted so as to balance the budget. Alternatively, expenditures on public or private goods are displaced. A variation occurs if the government has a policy target. For example, a certain number of hectares of valuable forest areas should be preserved. Then, the central part of a cost–benefit analysis is to compare the costeffectiveness of different policy instruments that can be used to achieve the target. However, there are also deadweight losses provided there are distortionary taxes. Such considerations also opens up for a broader formulation of the valuation question in willingness-to-pay experiments than one based on lump-sum taxation.


One efficient algorithm, using the accurate sub-entire-domain (ASED) basis functions with the matrix interpolation technique, is proposed to analyze wideband electromagnetic scattering by the planar finite periodic structures. Comparing with the conventional method of moments, the ASED basis function method with less unknowns is suitable for computing the large-scale finite periodic arrays. The interpolation technique can speed up the frequency sweep. Several numerical examples are carried out to validate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method. Simulation results validate the accuracy and efficiency.


Introduction. Most manufacturers provide collagenase and noncollagenolytic enzyme in separate vials, as opposed to previous products containing both collagenase and non-collagenolytic enzyme at a predetermined ratio in a vial. These new products allow users to digest the pancreas in a more flexible way. We have reported improvement of islet isolation outcome using a new digestion protocol; the pancreas is perfused only with collagenase and subsequently neutral protease (NP) is supplemented during the digestion phase. Since the inception of this protocol, we have encountered some cases where administration of NP was not required at all. Methods. Between July, 2007 and December, 2009, our modified digestion protocol for Serva GMP enzymes was utilized in 94 clinical islet isolations. The timing of adding NP to a circulating system was dependent on the progression of pancreas dissociation. In 10 cases, however, the progression was considerably rapid and the majority of islets in the assessment samples during digestion were free from exocrine tissue. As a result NP, although prepared for addition, was not administered at all. Outcomes of these 10 isolations (the no-NP group) were compared with those of the remaining 84 isolations in which NP was administered during digestion phase (the control group). Results. Pancreata in the each group were digested with a similar collagenase dose (27.9±2.2 in the no-NP group vs 29.4±0.8 PZ-U/g of pancreas in the control group). NP dose used for the control group was 1.0±0.03 DMC-U/g pancreas. Digestion time was shorter in the no-NP group (15.0±1.8 vs 19.5±0.6 min, P=0.004). At post-digestion, the no-NP had less percent trapped islets (10.9±2.8 vs 28.1±2.4%, P=0.009). Postpurification outcomes were similar between the groups in terms of islet mass (355±45 x103 vs 318±17 x103 IEQ), packed tissue volume, islet purity, and viability. Five preparations in the no-NP group were used for transplant, leading to a 64.3±15.2% reduction in insulin usage in recipients. Retrospective analysis of donor factors revealed that cold ischemia time was longer in the no-NP group (10.3±0.9 vs 7.9±0.4 h, P=0.03). Among 7 collagenase lots used for 94 isolations, one particular lot exhibited considerably higher amount of NP contamination (23.5 DMC-U/vial). We found that this lot was used in 7 isolations (70%) in the no-NP group and that use of this particular lot resulted in no requirement of NP for the desired digestion in 7 of 16 cases Conclusion. Finding from our experience does not preclude an important role for NP for effective islet isolation, but does call into question the usefulness of routine supplementation of collagenase with NP. Cold ischemia time and pre-existing NP contamination have to be taken into consideration for dose adjustment in enzyme blends for clinical islet isolation.


The distribution of phosphatases was examined in the epididymis of swamp buffaloes aged 1.5‐2 years, where spermatogenic activity in the testis had reached the early primary spermatocyte stage. A granular distribution of acid phosphatase was present in the luminal region of the epithelium of the efferent ductules. In the ductus epididymidis, four zones were identified and all zones showed varying degrees of acid‐phosphatase activity in the epithelium, with the most pronounced activity in the apical region and stereocilia of zone II. Alkaline‐phosphatase activity occurred along the basal region of the epithelium in zones I. III and IV of the ductus and in the stereocilia of zones I and II. An intense apical reaction was seen in zone II. The efferent ducts were free of this enzyme. Thus, zone II is considered the most active region, having the function of absorption and possibly steroid metabolism.


Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a biological stimulation technique born in the middle of 1980's, which can affect and change brain function. Compared with the conventional electrical stimulation, it has so many advantages that it seems very likely to become an important tool in doing research into brain function; moreover, with the development of this technique, its applications of in clinical medicine is more and more appreciated. This paper emphasizes the basic principle and applications of tanscranial magnetic stimulation.


ABSTRACT The brittle behavior of amorphous soda-lime glasses has been a major setback for the widespread use of this material in many industrial applications. Due to the low energy barrier of the matrix, the arrest of propagating cracks in such amorphous material is poor and often results in low energy toughness and strength. Glass is more susceptible to heat treatment and its hardness is slightly affected by use reinforcement. In the present work, the effects of reinforcing soda-lime glass with CuO and ZrO2 particles were investigated. Fracture toughness was measured using the indentation technique. It was found that the fracture toughness increased by 17.4% and 29.5% for glass samples reinforced with CuO and ZrO2, respectively. The distribution of the reinforcement particles was strongly affected by their average size and degree of wetting. In particular, ZrO2 particles having sizes in the nano-range are more uniformly distributed when compared to micron-range particles, which have the tendency to form isolated clusters in the glass matrix. AFM analysis performed on some samples showed evidence of particle distribution in the surroundings of indentations.


The effect of protons exposure on the diffuse reflectance spectra of the zinc oxide with different shape particles has been investigated. Particles were micro-, nanocrystals, star and flower shape particles. The synthesis of the particles was carried out by the hydrothermal method using zinc acetate chemicals. The surface morphology, surface area and crystal structure of the particles have been investigated. Evaluating the changes in spectral reflectance it was found that the radiation stability of the micro particles is higher than the radiation stability of the other nanostructured particles. The high stability of the micro particles optical properties is due to the effect of low accumulation of radiation-induced defects.


An image display medium driver includes a voltage applying unit that applies a voltage between a pair of substrates of an image display medium that displays an image, the image display medium including plural groups of colored particles colored in a color which is different for every group, at least one of the substrates having transparent properties, each group of colored particles moved when the voltage equal to or higher than a threshold voltage in terms of absolute value, that is different for every group, and a controller that determines a substrate on which the colored particles are present for each group of colored particles based on the last image information used for displaying an image, and when the colored particles are present on both of the pair of substrates, controls the voltage applying unit so as to apply a voltage having a smaller absolute value than any threshold voltage of colored particles present on one substrate, and the smaller voltage applied in a direction from the one substrate toward the other substrate side.


Deep impurity levels due to ion‐implanted tellurium in n–silicon are studied. Two donor levels at Ec−0.13 and Ec−0.56 eV are obtained using deep level transient spectroscopy. Thermal electron capture cross sections for both levels are too large to be measured. Electron photoionization cross section spectrum confirms the Ec−0.56 level and also reveals an excited state 0.45 eV above the ground state.


The paper offers a variant of implementing a competence approach within a credit-modular system of training in accordance with the Federal State Educational Standards (FSES). As an example, it presents a logical consequence of forming general cultural and professional competences in the major 270800 "Construction" through a set of academic, calendar and discipline modules. A variant of evaluating competences is offered, as well as the curriculum modular structure.


The control of micro grid,which is composed of multiple micro sources,on the one hand,should make full use of micro-sources themselves;on the other hand,should improve the power quality of micro grid.To ensure the utilization of wind energy and solar energy and to reduce the application of power grid as little as possible,the Maximum Power Point Tracking(MPPT) method is used to control wind power and photovoltaic(PV) power generation.Meanwhile,to improve the grid-connected operation stability of wind farm and photovoltaic power system and to reduce the impact of power fluctuations on the grid,a battery energy storage system is added to regulate the grid-connected power effectively at the exit of the wind farms and the array of photovoltaic,respectively.In islanded operation,the energy storage system can provide the necessary voltage and frequency reference,and complement the excess or shortage of wind and photovoltaic power to ensure the supply reliability of important load.In this paper,micro grid consists of direct-drive permanent magnet wind power generation system,dual-stage PV generation system and battery energy storage system,and the simulation results of transferring micro grid operation modes and cutting or increasing load in islanded mode show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed control strategies.


Increasingly there are calls for climate services to be "co-produced" with users, taking into account not only the basic information needs of users but also their value systems and decision contexts. What does this mean in practice? One way that user values can be incorporated into climate services is in the management of inductive risk. This involves understanding which errors in climate service products would have particularly negative consequences from the users' perspective (e.g., underestimating rather than overestimating the change in an impact variable) and then prioritizing the avoidance of those errors. This essay shows how inductive risk could be managed in climate services in ways that serve user values and argues that there are both ethical and practical reasons in favor of doing so.


Update summarization is an emerging summarization task of creating a short summary of a set of news articles, under the assumption that the user has already read a given set of earlier articles. In this paper, we propose a new co-ranking method to address the update summarization task. The proposed method integrates two co-ranking processes by adding strict constraints. In comparison with the original co-ranking method, the proposed method can compute more accurate scores of sentences for the purpose of update summarization. Evaluation results on the most recent TAC2011 dataset demonstrate that our proposed method can outperform the original co-ranking method and other baselines.


Paper, once known and used only as a medium for printing or handicrafts, is now being used in new fields including artistic clothing, and an environment-friendly material for fashion, while the functionality of its formative characteristics and esthetics have been newly highlighted. On this basis, this study performed a content analysis of paper couture and categorization of types of paper modeling techniques based on 904 paper couture submitted to paper fashion shows, exhibitions and contest exhibits from 2001 to 2013. Analysis results showed that paper textile types were most common at 86.64%, while techniques using laminating, bonding, overlapping or paper as-is represented 62.17%. Expressive techniques in which paper was cut or torn and attached to paper clothing was 11.62%, paper folding was 5.75%, drawing and coloring 4.65%, and finally, paper cutting was 2.65%. Meanwhile, among paper modeling techniques using paper yarn textiles, a paper weaving technique was 6.75%. Moreover, other techniques in which paper modeling techniques or subsidiary clothing was blended were 3.65%, and Dak peeling textiles were 1.33%. Paper paste moulding textiles types represented 1.44%, above all papier mâche techniques of 0.55% and creasing and holding techniques were 0.88%. Paper is sufficient to express the artists' creativity as well as having qualities as an artistic medium, such as variability through combined use with other materials, variation in form, suitability for reuse of waste paper, and environmental friendliness. Also, various paper modeling techniques can be blended with textiles for a generalized technology that overcomes the limits of paper and textiles.


Summary Both the laboratory adapted Auburn strain and a recently isolated wild-type strain of channel catfish herpesvirus (CCV) were found to be inhibited by phosphonoacetic acid (PAA) when replicated in catfish cell cultures. The inhibition of virus cytopathic effect by PAA exhibited a direct relationship between the multiplicity of infection and amount of drug required. However, in this poikilothermic system up to 20 times the amount of PAA required for inhibition of homeothermic herpesvirus systems was found necessary to inhibit CCV cytopathology.


The cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of important factors for predicting the outcome. However, relative risks for the adverse outcomes according to the specific causes of CKD is unknown.

 Using the longitudinal data of prospective cohort of Korean predialysis CKD, KNOW-CKD cohort, the relative risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), composite of ESRD development or creatinine doubling, and composite of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and all-cause mortality according to the cause of CKD were compared. The patients were subgrouped in to four categories at the study entry according to the cause of CKD: glomerulonephritis (GN), diabetic nephropathy (DN), hypertensive nephropathy (HTN), and polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Since the baseline characteristics differed according to the causes of CKD, the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) methods was used to exclude the effects of other variables on the outcomes. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) slope during follow-up was calculated for each cause of CKD using linear mixed model

 During the median follow-up of 4.1 years (interquartile range 1.12-7.12 years) total 441 (21.5%) of ESRD, 556 (27.1%) of composite of ESRD or creatinine doubling and 190 (9.3%) composite of CVD and all cause death occurred. In the IPTW adjusted cohorts, DN and PKD showed significantly increased hazard ratios of 1.85 and 5.57 for ESRD development and 1.74 and 4.57 for composite of ESRD developement or creatinine doubling, respectively, compared to GN in the fully adjusted model. Regarding compsite of CVD and all-cause death, also DN and PKD showed significantly increased hazard ratios of 1.93 and 2.16 compared to GN. The adjusted eGFR slope for DN, HTN and PKD was -2.32, -0.90, and -2.41 mL/min/1.73m2 per year, respectively, and all differ statistically significantly compared to GN (eGFR slope of -1.49 mL/min/1.73m2 per year). During the follow-up, GN and DN showed linear declining pattern however, HTN and PKD showed convex linear pattern.

 The DN and PKD showed relatively higher risks for renal progression and composite of CVD and death compared to GN.


Posing speculative questions about a software system is an important yet often unsupported activity. Current impact analysis techniques tend to focus upon the functionality of the system, whilst the effects of change upon performance requirements are largely ignored until after implementation. This tendency can lead to costly and time-consuming mistakes. Event-based traceability provides a robust method for handling both long-term evolutionary change as well as the short-term speculative change needed to support performance related impact analysis. By establishing dynamic links, capable of propagating data values and commands between requirements and performance models, it becomes possible to automate a wide range of speculative queries and to enhance the overall ability to predict the impact of change upon the performance of the system.


Honeypot is a recent developed computer security concept which uses active offense to against attacks from blackhats (people with evil or illegal intents like hackers and virus-producers). It lures hackers to attack a seemly vulnerable but well observed computer system in order to learn about the tactics and tools used by the attackers so that we may improve the system security accordingly. However, a system developed with noble intentions may sometimes be used in evil applications. We discuss the consequences and implications of honeypots being used with evil intents. A honeypot system may be set up by blackhats to lure common Internet users to use a fake system in order to gain valuable information, like credit card numbers, from these users. Implications of such possible usages may damage the credibility of services provided in the Internet, especially those involving payment transactions and sensitive information exchanges. Unless we find ways to avoid such misusages, the consumer trust of e-commerce, e-health and e-government depending on the use of Internet services may be severely hampered.


Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy can be used to probe the lowenergy modes of molecules and longer-range intramolecular modes, and thus yield a set of molecular fingerprints for detection of explosives.1, 2 A promising attribute of THz spectroscopy is the capability of penetrating and detecting non-metallic items, which is useful for detecting hidden or concealed objects. Terahertz time-domain (THz-TDS) spectroscopy is a common technique that involves a pump–probe method.3 This technique provides linear spectral signatures of explosives and related materials. However, the use of THz-TDS for standoff detection (where the operator is physically separated from the sample) has so far been investigated with little success. There are several challenges associated with the use of THz spectroscopy for explosives detection. These challenges include the widths of the resonances, the sensitivity of the resonance frequencies and widths to matrix and mixture materials, interference from barrier or concealment materials (e.g., envelopes and clothing), the surface roughness of the samples, as well as water vapor or humidity in the air.2 As an alternative signature-generation method, we have investigated nonlinear THz spectroscopy, for standoff detection in particular. We have also investigated this approach to try and solve some of the challenges associated with THz-TDS.4 Applied electromagnetic waves of moderate intensity can induce nonlinear effects. For example, frequency conversion in light scattered from energetic materials can be achieved without triggering chemical decomposition. This offers a mechanism for non-ionizing identification of explosives. In our technique, we obtain the frequency spectrum of the farfield scattered light. We calculate this from the Fourier transform of the energetic sample's total dipole moment second time derivative. We have used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to compute the THz frequency conversion tensor as a function of the input and emitted frequencies. Diagonal components of the Figure 1. Representative orthoscopic views of the (A) and (C) [100], and (B) and (D) [010], crystallographic directions of (top) pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and (bottom) of ammonium nitrate (AN) exemplify the unique molecular arrangements of these materials. (E) Perspective view of the simulation domain that shows how the free surface is created in molecular dynamics (MD). This MD simulation setup enables realistic absorption and emission polarizations. Atom colors correspond to carbon (gray), hydrogen (white), oxygen (red), and nitrogen (blue). Ein(x, t): Input energy at point x, and at time t.


The present invention, molecular sieve SSZ-25, and its use in the reduction of nitrogen oxides in the gas stream such as the exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine, generally relates to.


The research is proposed to analyze how the effort to defend time reflected in In Time movie 2011 by Individual Psychological Approach. There are two objective: the first is to analyze the movie in term of structural elements, and the second is to analyze the movie based on the individual Psychological Perspective. This study is a qualitative study, using Andrew Niccol's In Time movie 2011 as of structural elements, and the secondary data. The primary data source is In Time movie which is directed by Andrew Niccol, and the secondary data are some articles, book of literary and internet related to the subject. The method of
collecting data in this research is library research by watching the movie, reading some related books and articles, accessing internet, taking notes of important part, arranging, and drawing conclusion the data. In analyzing the data, the writer employs descriptive analysis.
The outcome of the study shows that the movie illustrates the effort to defend time. The time here is used as money. The people work to get time, buy and pay everything use time. And it shows that the rich people will be immortal, the poor people will die.


Convergence of the classical Newton's method and its DSM version for solving operator equations $F(u)=h$ is proved without any smoothness assumptions on $F'(u)$. It is proved that every solvable equation $F(u)=f$ can be solved by Newton's method if the initial approximation is sufficiently close to the solution and $||[F'(y)]^{-1}||\leq m$, where $m>0$ is a constant.


The Pan American Health Organization, in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Center on Disaster Mitigation at the University of Chile, and with the support of the World Bank and the ProVention Consortium, has published comprehensive Guidelines for Vulnerability Reduction in the Design of New Health Facilities to help administrators, professionals and technical advisors of the health sector whose responsibilities include the management, design, construction and inspection of new health facilities projects.


The 175th 'birthday' of South Australia during 2011 had been the impetus for the OHAA (SA) to create a web gateway containing the oral histories of a diverse group of twenty South Australians and Northern Territorians. The website is a first for the Oral History Associations within Australia. It will showcase the significance of oral histories and their contributions to the historical record. A call for participants for the project led me to revisit, and ultimately to contribute my very first oral history to the website. During 2006, I recorded the recollections and migration experiences of Swedish woman, Anna-Karin Fredin-Bladh (Karin), who had made the journey to Australia, not because of political or economic circumstance, but because of love and adventure. The purpose of my interview was to obtain an appreciation of the differences and the similarities in what is essentially the same process - leaving one's homeland, family and familiarity and starting life over again in a new country. The completed project however, revealed silences in the literature regarding the lot of those whose migrations were not intended. Karin's journey was never actually intended to be a migration; her stay in Australia was meant to be short term. Circumstances changed, and her life changed, and she accepted these changes without question. The addition of Karin's personal story to the OHAA (SA) web site has ultimately provided an additional, significant layer to the vibrant mosaic of history, events and people that comprise the history of South Australia.


The utility model relates to a homogenizing system for a plastics-modified end product, which can fully and uniformly on-line mix materials in proportion. The homogenizing system comprises plastics storage bins, wherein a first vacuum feeding mechanism and a second vacuum feeding mechanism are respectively located above a first storage bin and a second storage bin and are respectively communicated with the first storage bin and the second storage bin; a discharging port of the second storage bin and a first feedback pipe on the first storage bin are both communicated with a feeding port of a second receiving hopper; a discharging port of the second receiving hopper is communicated with the second vacuum feeding mechanism through an air pipe; a second feedback pipe on the second storage bin is communicated with a discharging port of a first receiving hopper; and the first receiving hopper is communicated with the first vacuum feeding mechanism through an air pipe. The utility model has the advantages that the on-line continuous mixing is realized, intermediate processes (carrying and feeding) are reduced, the mixing homogenizing efficiency is high, and the mixing effect is good.


Shows how the large Finnish industrial conglomerate, Wartsila is progressing with its own tailor made action learning programmes. Discusses the integration of strategic development and management development, and the principle that managers should train managers. Discusses how training is actually carried out using the principles of action learning.


This paper discusses Schopenhauer's concepts on suffering and the human will and appropriate them to the struggles of the Ati of Malay, Aklan. The current and protracted efforts of the Ati for their ancestral domain and their pleas for cultural recognition in the midst of pressing ethnic oppression prompted this study. First, to descriptively present the concepts, this paper utilized document analysis to present specific tenets from Schopenhauer and employed content analysis on publications and online contents in indigenous studies. Second, to extract primary perception, the study gathered first-hand responses from the Ati under warrant from both the government and the tribal leaders' approval. To triangulate the appropriation of Schopenhauer's concept to the lives of the Ati, critical analysis and parallelism were used; from these, the study found that the Ati's suffering from ethnic bigotry and oppressions motivating their struggle for their rights, cultural recognition and emancipation concurrently aligns with Schopenhauer's tenets that the person's pursuit for happiness is triggered by inevitable sufferings that are inseparable from existence. Lastly, to concretize the paradigm, the paper recommends that the government reevaluates and ascertains full and scrupulous implementation of RA 8371 as well as provide equity in providing social, educational and health services to the Ati community.


A preliminary study was conducted on heat resistance and its measurements of ryegrass (L.spp.).It was indicated in results that lethal temperature of leaf tissue tested with conductivity method seusitively distinguished heat resistance among the ryegrass varieties and there was a significantly negative correlation with r=-0.7996 between the lethal temperature of ryegrass varieties and their high temperature injury percentage in the fields.The heat resi- stance of perennial ryegrass(L.perenne L.)was generally higher than that of Italian rye- grass(L.multiflorum Lam.).During the oversummering process,the temperature decreasing even blow 25 C for three or four days would make ryegrass dehardened.the dehardened rye- grass was difficult to rehardening especially following a high temperature tide once again,and severely injuriod.Hence it was the dehardening occured in plants because of a short cool wea- ther in hot seasons that could be the Primary potential to high temperature injury.The death rate of perennial ryegrass was stated to be lower on the fertilizering level of low nitrogen (75 Kg·N/ha)or moderate phosphorus(23.8 Kg·p/ha)than that of high nitrogen(225Kg· N/ha)or high phosphorus(47.6Kg·p/ha)


The title compound, [Fe(C5H4Br)(C17H14PS)], crystallizes with two practically undistiguishable molecules in the asymmetric unit, which are related by a non-space-group inversion. The ferrocene-1,1′-diyl units exhibit a regular geometry with negligible tilting and balanced Fe–ring centroid distances, and with the attached substituents assuming conformations close to ideal synclinal eclipsed.


Meat is highly nutritious food eaten by human beings since time immemorial. Poultry meat is highly digestible and very well recognized nutritious food due to abundant high quality protein, B-complex vitamins and important minerals especially iron but low in fat and calories than meat from other species, and for this, it has ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 3 Number 1 (2014) pp. 355-361 http://www.ijcmas.com


VANET is designed for the wireless environment. Nodes are connected and exchange their information via wireless. Therefore some security measure must be considered in communication. Time Critical: The information in VANET must be delivered to the nodes with in time limit so that a decision can be made by the node and perform action accordingly.In this paper the main issue of road density is due to high load on road message communication get overhead due to less amount of network bandwidth to overcome this issue cognitive radio bandwidth can be utilize for data transmission by channel sensing and message can be transmit through cognitive radio channels.


A theory for waves of finite height, presented in this paper, is an exact theory, to any order for which it is extended. The theory is represented by a summation liarmdnic series, each term of which is in an unexpanded form. The terms of the series when expanded result in an approximation of the exact theory, and this approximation is identical to Stokes' wave theory extended to the same order. The theory represents irrotational - divergenceless flow. The procedure is to select the form of equations for the coordinates of the particles in anticipation of later operations to be performed in the evaluation of the coefficients of the series. The horizontal and vertical components of these coordinates are given respectively by the following; (equations given).
From the above equations it is possible to deduce the expressions for velocity potential and stream function. The horizontal and vertical components of particle velocity are obtained by differentiating £ and ^with respect to time. Along the free surface z -1?!a 0 and z = Vs and all expressions reduce to simple forms, which in turn saves considerable work in the evaluation of the coefficients. The coefficients are evaluated by use of Bernoulli's equation. The final form of the solution is given by two sets of equations. One set of equations (same as above) is used to compute the particle position and the second set (the first time derivatives of the above) is used to compute the components of particle velocity at the particle position. That is, the particles and velocities are referenced to the lines of the stream function and the velocity potential. Expanding the two sets of equations, by approximation methods, results in one set of equation for computing particle velocity and no equations are required for the particle position.The unexpanded form requiring two sets of equations, being an exact solution, is more accurate theoretically, than the Stokes or the expanded form to the same order. Coefficients have been formulated for all terms of the order one to five for both the unexpanded and the expanded form of the theory, and are presented in tabular form as functions of d/L, as consecutive equations.


This paper presents results from the application of dimensionality reduction algorithms to sensory-data time-series that were recorded from Robonaut – NASA's humanoid robot – while it was being teleoperated through four tool manipulation tasks. The algorithms tested were Principal Component Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling, and Spatio-Temporal Isomap. Structures were shown to exist in some cases, but their detection required careful analysis and a correct choice of parameters.


Using modeling software such as COMSOL Multiphysics during the early design phase, an approach called "simulation-led design", allows ideas to be both inspired and validated by the use of simulations. Later, using simulations after the product is designed can shorten the prototype-testing portion of the development process and reduce its cost. This paper provides specifics on the nature of the design innovation process, showing a sample model of a pipeline gasket using the Nonisothermal Laminar Fluid Flow interface in the CFD module, some of the variations possible, and plots that were useful for communicating the design performance data. Using the modeling tools and graphics options provided by COMSOL Multiphysics was shown to be effective for the development of design ideas and for communicating these designs.


The concept of greenhouse is to create a controllable environment suitable for vegetation growth. By stabilizing environmental parameters including lighting, temperature, humidity, and soil moisture, the yield of vegetable and fruit can be effectively increased. Commonly, greenhouse is a non-open space and lighted with solar-like sources. The light source will emit infrared ray that can heat the room and cause loss water in soil. Automatically monitoring the parameters can not only save man power but also facilitate growing environment control. ZigBee with low cost, low power and long communication distance is an efficient wireless communication device widely used in home-network. In this paper, a simple ZigBee-based sensor network is proposed for the campus greenhouse monitoring with mobile device. The system consists of three modules, a mesh structure network, data processing center, and mobile application program (APP). The network involves three functional nodes and is responsible for sensed data delivering. These nodes are modularly designed. Considering self-healing, a simple network operation system that applies 'token', data flow, and, hand shaking techniques.is also built. There are three functions for the data processing center. The first is filtering received data and saving correct data in a database, the second is data analysis and control action, and the third serves the requests of mobile device. APP installed in mobile device is a simple function that enables remote monitoring for sensor status and environment parameters. The framework has been implemented for performance evaluation. The experimental results validate the feasibility of the new ZigBee-based transducer structure.


Purpose
While the dynamic capabilities perspective is the most cited strategic theory in the information systems field of research, little effort has been made to review and integrate the associate literature of this perspective in the field. Accordingly, this paper aims to systematically analyze the information systems literature on dynamic capabilities and provide a holistic understanding of the topical composition and trend of dynamic capabilities studies in information systems research.

Design/methodology/approach
Using latent Dirichlet allocation as the text analysis algorithm, the author conducted a topic modeling of the dynamic capabilities corpus in the information systems field of research to quantitatively review, summarize and classify the prior literature. The review covered 191 articles published on dynamic capabilities between 1998 and 2018 in pioneering information systems journals and conference proceedings.

Findings
In accordance with the topic modeling results, the topical composition of the dynamic capabilities corpus in information systems research dominantly includes seven themes titled T1. Information systems value, T2. Information systems change, T3. Digitalization, T4. Information systems agility, T5. Big data, T6. Information systems innovation and T7. Information systems alignment. Also, the overall and topical trend of dynamic capabilities studies in the information systems field of research were revealed. The trends indicated that the investigated domain and its prominent sub-domains have generally had positive productivity over the past years.

Originality/value
The current study contributes to the domain by developing knowledge and improving literature on dynamic capabilities in information systems research, discovering the main topics of interest for information systems researchers to deploying the dynamic capabilities perspective in their studies, and prioritizing the future information systems research on dynamic capabilities based on the identified trends of topics.


A series of in-depth interviews was used to document how 18 kindergarten through 3rd grade teachers who were also mothers of young children (teacher/mothers) perceived the effects of their dual role During Phase I, informants described aspects of the teacher/mother role. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data and identify recurring themes. In Phase II, a structured 4-part interview schedule was used to investigate in more detail how expectations, the most prevalent theme, affected the participants. Responses to limited-choice questions in Phase II were assigned a rank order on the basis of averages of ratings for individual items. Three major conclusions were reached. First, the informants believed that the roles complemented each other and that the role interactions were mainly beneficial Five specific advantages of the dual role were identified. Second, expectations involving both roles were seen as ambiguous, and in certain circumstances, unrealistically high. Ten specific problem areas were listed in order of importance to the informants. Third, the teacher/mothers believed that they had gained insights and learned strategies for coping with and benefiting from their dual role. Six specific strategies were described. The results were discussed in terms of their support for previous studies, as an impetus for further research and their practical application in the professional development of teachers.


This study aims to analyse the perception of prisoners in their network of social and emotional support in the preparation process for freedom, by mapping mi...


We used daily results of measurement of carbon oxide concentrations. Wood fires and fires in dumps influence on concentration of carbon oxide in atmosphere. Also the source of carbon oxide is motor transport.


Abstract Linear Wave Coupling to a Plasma of Enhanced Electron Temperature at the Lower Hybrid Resonance Radio frequency waves in the range of the lower hybrid resonance are coupled to a plasma of enhanced electron temperature (≈ 106 K) and reduced collision frequency (≈ 7 · 105 s-1). The experiment demonstrates the persistance of resonance behavior even under this conditions. Radial eigenmodes are dominant, but exhibit - as compared to linear theoretical models - additional damping with an effective collision frequency in the order of 3 · 107s-1. For the conditions considered this effect is attributable to Landau damping.


The north-eastern region of India has witnessed a significant growth in the number of management institutes. The quality of management education affects not only the performance of the students, but also the economy and the society at large. The purpose of this paper is to determine the satisfaction level of the management students, both at the undergraduate and post graduate level. The study also aims to highlight the service dimensions of management education which, are considered important by the students.


Objective:To explore the changes of serum leptin in chronic congestive heart failure(CHF).Methods:The serum levels of leptin in 46 patients with NYHA cardiac function class Ⅰ and in 39 patients with CHF(14 in class Ⅱ,21 in class Ⅲ and 4 in class Ⅳ)were assessed by radioimmunoassay.Results:The serum contents of leptin were 11.674±6.911μg/l in NYHA class Ⅰ group,11.492±5.649 μg/l in classⅡ group,7.763±3.321 μg/l in class Ⅲ group,6.100± 2.657 μg/l in class Ⅳ group and 9.018±4.519 μg/l in CHF group.The serum levels of leptin were significantly lower in class Ⅲ group,class Ⅳ group and CHF group,compared with class Ⅰ group,respectively( t =2.185~2.786, P 0.05).Compared with class Ⅱ group,the levels of leptin were also significantly lower in class Ⅲ group and class Ⅳ group,respectively( t =2.605~2.174, P 0.05).The decrease of serum leptin level was significantly correlated with the decreased serum total cholesterol level,triglyceride,body mass index and left ventricular ejection fraction in all groups,respectively( r =0.564~0.999, P 0.05).Conclusion:The role of the decreased serum leptin in CHF remains to be studied.


The fatigue behavior of asphalt concrete is very complicated that a comprehensive fundamental theoretical model is not available. Therefore, a reliable empirical method for predicting fatigue life based on experimental data remains a desirable approach. However, the complexity of the fatigue process and the noise associated with the fatigue test results make even the traditional empirical methods, such as regression analysis, handicapped in producing a sufficiently accurate model. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have the ability to derive considerable complex relationships and associations from experimental data while filtering out the effect of noisy data. In this study, the potential use of ANNs for fatigue life prediction was explored and the comparisons between ANN-based model predictions and predictions via multi-linear as well as other published models showed that ANN-based models provide much more accurate predictions.


Topic modeling is an unsupervised learning task that discovers the hidden topics in a collection of documents. In turn, the discovered topics can be used for summarizing, organizing, and understanding the documents in the collection. Most of the existing techniques for topic modeling are derivatives of the Latent Dirichlet Allocation which uses a bag-of-word assumption for the documents. However, bag-of-words models completely dismiss the relationships between the words. For this reason, this article presents a two-stage algorithm for topic modelling that leverages word embeddings and word co-occurrence. In the first stage, we determine the topic-word distributions by soft-clustering a random set of embedded n-grams from the documents. In the second stage, we determine the document-topic distributions by sampling the topics of each document from the topic-word distributions. This approach leverages the distributional properties of word embeddings instead of using the bag-of-words assumption. Experimental results on various data sets from an Australian compensation organization show the remarkable comparative effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in a task of document classification.


Nowadays,Kazak marriage situation in nomadic areas of Xinjiang are changing with the developing and progressing of the society. In marriage system,polygamy has been replaced by monogamy; free marriage has taken the place of levirate,purchasing marriage and exchanging marriage; In marriage idea,early marriage is changing into late marriage,the percentage of escaped marriage has reduced; self-determination rights on marriage has got better; in marriage folklore,marriage procedure is getting simpler not more complicated; the marriage ceremony is also changing. The new modern contents are added into the marriage songs,as well as the extravagant unhealthy phenomena are appearing in presents giving.


The synthesis of DppztBuSalH2 (7), a rigid conjugated ditopic ligand containing a Dppz (dipyrido[3,2-a:2′,3′-c]phenazine) skeleton and a salophen-type chelate, is reported. The complexes DppztBuSalNi (10), [Ru(bpy)2(DppztBuSalH2)]2+ (11), and [Ru(bpy)2(DppztBuSalNi)]2+ (12) have been prepared and characterised using common spectroscopic methods. Electrochemical, UV/Vis spectroelectrochemical and EPR studies were conducted on compounds 7, 10, 11, and 12. The singly reduced radical forms of 7 and 10 can be generated electrochemically, with the lone electron located on the low-lying phenazine π*-molecular orbital. Complexes 11 and 12 show several reduction waves and electronic and EPR data obtained for the electrogenerated singly reduced species show them to be closely related to the radical species 7·− and 10·−, respectively. The presence of nickel(II) in compound 12 renders the addition of the second electron on the phenazine group reversible. Both 11 and 12 show common features on the cathodic side of their cyclic voltammograms, with reversible one-electron ruthenium-centred oxidation. An additional low-potential reversible-oxidation wave is observed for 12, and this is ascribed to oxidation of the nickel(II) ion. The combined spectroscopic data best describe the ruthenium-containing complexes as weakly coupled bichromophoric systems. Photophysical studies attest to the formation of a charge-separated state for 11, whereas a strong quenching is detected for 12. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)


Leveraging on the powerful impact of films, we at EduMedia India Pvt. Ltd. have introduced School Cinema - a well researched film-based learning module supported by a fun and exciting workbook/worksheets designed to introduce and reaffirm life-skills and values to children, thereby having a positive influence on their attitudes. The modules closely adhere to the recommendations given by the Indian Educational boards for the holistic development of children. The workshop will take the participants through a journey of entertainment and learning involving film screening and interactive film worksheets thereby giving them a firsthand experience of School Cinema. The workshop will also highlight the research findings that led to the creation of films for students and teachers. The author will lead a discussion on the impact and effectiveness of film based learning modules in instilling values and attitudes in children, developing skills, and empowering teachers on the areas of self development, understanding children and innovative teaching methodologies. The equipment required for the tutorial, includes an AV Set up (projector, speakers and a laptop with a DVD drive) and a white board with marker pens.


Freshwater molluscs are important components of the fauna of Singapore. However, a perusal of local literature has shown a paucity of information on these animals. A survey was conducted to investigate the occurrence and distribution of the primary (non-brackish) freshwater molluscs of Singapore. Six different types of habitats were sampled from around the island. Four localities were chosen to represent each habitat type, giving a total of 24 localities. A total of 21 species of primary freshwater molluscs were collected, of which 12 were new records for Singapore. The information on the distribution and ecology of each species were provided in this paper. The means for molluscan species richness, abundance, diversity indices, pH and hardness of each habitat type were also calculated and compared. The results of this study showed significant differences in molluscan species richness and abundance among the six habitats. Molluscan species richness was only slightly correlated with pH, but was significantly correlated with hardness across the habitats. Molluscan abundance was significantly correlated with pH and hardness across the habitats.


Abstract A sample of 63 spousal dementia caregivers was obtained through the Orange and Los Angeles Caregivers Resource Centers (CRC). Subjects completed the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Coping Strategy Indicator. Results indicated significant gender differences in regard to both depression and coping strategies. Women were significantly more depressed than men. Female caregivers sought more social support and employed more avoidance strategies than did males. Additionally, there was a significant negative correlation found between social support and depression, and a significant positive correlation between avoidance strategies and depression. Implications include increasing the level of social support and reducing the level of avoidance strategies used among caregivers in an effort to improve their quality of life.


Background: Rheumatoid cachexia (RC) is a condition characterized by adverse changes in body composition, specifically in muscle mass and fat mass components [1]. RA patients have life quality and expectative impacted by RC [2], but there are very few prospective data analyzing the evolution of this condition. Objectives: To assess body composition, RC, clinical features and functional capacity in RA patients followed for 12 months. Methods: 81 patients with RA, aged between 40 and 70 years, were recruited. Body composition was assessed by total body dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for measurement of fat mass index (FMI;Kg/m2) and fat free mass index (FFMI;Kg/m2).The patients were categorized as rheumatoid cachectic if FFMI was below the 10th percentile and FMI above the 25th percentile[1],and if FFMI was below the 25th percentile and FMI above the 50th percentile[2].Disease features assessed were disease activity score 28 (DAS28). Functional capacity was assessed by muscle strength (hand grip test;Kg) and gait speed (Time up and Go (TUG;m/s)). Frequency analysis, McNemar test and GEE analyses were used and statistical significance was considered as p<0.05. Results: Of the 81 patients analyzed, most were women (88.9%;72/81), with mean age of 56.8±7.3, mean disease duration time of 11.9±9.6 years. At baseline, the prevalences of RC using both diagnostic criteria were similar to the prevalences described in literature (table 1), and they did not change during the 12 month follow-up(p>0.05).FMI increased after 12 months and patients with moderate disease activity showed higher FMI when compared with other DAS28 categories(p<0.05).Thus, over 12 months, DAS28 affected FMI, and had no impact on FFMI(p>0.05).Muscle strength decreased significantly after 12 months, and patients with high disease activity showed less muscle strength when compared with other DAS28 categories(p<0.05).Gait speed increased after 12 months(p<0.05). Table 1 Baseline 12 months FMI(kg/m2) 10.8±4.3 11.1±4.2* FFMI(kg/m2) 16.3±1.9 16.4±1.8 RC [1] 12(13.3%) 12(13.3%) RC [2] 27(30.0%) 22(24.4%) DAS28 3.7±1.3 4,0±1.3* Muscle strength(kg) 16.6±10.4 9.7±8.7* Gait speed (m/s) 0.5±0.1 0.6±0.1* *p<0.05 between baseline and 12 months. Conclusions: In this study, RC prevalence was similar to the prevalence described in literature. DAS28 score of our patients increased over 12 months, and it affected FMI, muscle strength and gait speed of RA patients. However, no effect was observed on FFMI. Our results show that the patients that are not in remission by DAS28 have decreased muscle strength and increased fat mass, possibly due the inflammatory process and the reduced physical activity level, creating a vicious circle.This vicious circle may negatively impact on life quality of RA patients. References [1] Engvall IL, et al. Scand J Rheumatol2008. [2] Elkan AC, et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2009. Disclosure of Interest: None declared


Light therapy conducting always connected with need to set optimal intensity of irradiating signal, modulation frequency and exposure. The better option is determination of dose absorbed by patient skin surface and frequency of the maximal absorption. At the same time the dose of falling signal energy is measured to protect patient from harmful effects (e.g. burns) of laser radiation. The authors developed a structural scheme of the device for light therapy and proposed an algorithm for converting and measuring signals by high-sensitive optical modulation radiometer. The scheme provides patient irradiation, measuring the dose of the absorbed energy in the irradiated areas of human body, for example, biologic active point, and determination of the maximal absorption frequencies. It increases the efficacy of the therapeutic procedure and allows to predict the result of treatment.