This paper looks at the activities of environmentally minded technology designers and provides an account of how these designers think, behave and differ. In contrast to traditional designers, green designers appear to: (1) Bias decisions (2) Design from a deep, personal ethos; (3) Accept 'not knowing' as a part of the design process; (4) Rely on alternative ways of knowing, and; (5) Shift roles as needed throughout the design process. While a superficial treatment of these differences might seem to disenfranchise green designers, we show that an analysis of green design as a discursive practice highlights how, through engagement with others, green design can enhance pro-environmental dialog and enact meaningful change.


212 Background: Despite established standards for prescribing and monitoring oral anti-cancer medications (OAC) and validated tools supporting OAC patient education, substantial quality gaps remain. Methods: To identify local gaps in care for patients receiving OAC, we used a patient survey in the GI and Endocrine medical oncology clinic. Providers were also interviewed. The survey consisted of 23 questions addressing three domains (treatment plan (T) education, self-management (S) education and health team communication (C) as well as a single question overall satisfaction score. A composite average score encompassing all 23 questions was generated. Questions were derived from ASCO chemotherapy standards and validated patient communication instruments and scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Subsequently, individualized drug-specific written care plans guiding patient education were developed and tested in iterative PDSA cycles. The aim was to improve the composite average patient survey score by 10%. The same patient survey was used to assess the impact of the change ideas. Results: We collected 32 patient surveys, 21 pre- and 11 post-intervention. Baseline surveys indicated lowest scores in the C domain. Providers reported variation in education content and communication techniques used. Care plans with standardized content for 8 OAC agents were tested in simulated and clinic settings in a stepwise fashion, with implementation beginning in Feb 2018. Providers received training on integrating the care plans into clinic workflow. The composite average score for all 23 items improved from 4.18 to 4.29. The single question overall satisfaction score improved from 4.17 to 4.45. Improvement was noted across all 3 domains (T: 4.31 → 4.41, S: 4.26 → 4.36, C: 4.00 → 4.15). For balancing measures, provider teaching time per patient initially rose following implementation before returning to baseline. Conclusions: The intervention led to improvement in the patient experience when starting OAC. Standardized content and a framework guiding provider communication were key elements of the change ideas. To meet the study aim, further PDSA cycles integrating teach back methodology and proactive phone follow up are ongoing.


This article aims to investigate the points of equilibrium and the associated convergence basins in a seventh-order generalized Hénon–Heiles potential. Using the well-known Newton–Raphson iterator, we numerically locate the positions of the points of equilibrium, while we also obtain their linear stability. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the two variable parameters, entering the generalized Hénon–Heiles potential, affect the convergence dynamics of the system as well as the fractal degree of the basin diagrams. The fractal degree is derived by computing the (boundary) basin entropy as well as the uncertainty dimension.


In this part of the paper on Ku-band VSAT networks, the issue of overall system design is considered. After discussing possible system architectures, primary attention is given to the star network configuration in which customer-premise VSATs communicate with a central hub station, co-located with, or terrestrially connected to a host computer. The component elements of a Ku-band star network for interactive data applications are discussed and the critical items from the point-of-view of performance, capacity and cost are identified. An analytical model for the network, which combines delay-throughput characterization of the multi-access inbound and TDM outbound channels with satellite link analysis is described. The analytical model is exercised over a range of typical system component, traffic model and performance objective scenarios to provide a set of general design guidelines. These guidelines are useful for evaluating the trade-offs between key system elements (channel access unit, modem, VSAT antenna and satellite), VSAT traffic message length parameters and the performance objectives (average and peak network response time and availability). The results are used to address the issue of multi-access protocol selection over a range of scenarios typical of 1.2 or 1.8m VSAT-based interactive networks using current commercial Ku-band satellites. The results show that interactive star networks are often limited by satellite power rather than bandwidth, so that the use of simple contention access for VSATs may not imply a significant system capacity penalty.


This paper investigates how different modes of social interactions influence the bootstrapping and evolution of lexicons. This is done by comparing three language game models that differ in the type of social interactions they use. The simulations show that the language games, which use either joint attention or corrective feedback as a source of contextual input are better capable of bootstrapping a lexicon than the game without such directed interactions. The simulation of the latter game, however, does show that it is possible to develop a lexicon without using directed input when the lexicon is transmitted from generation to generation.


Poor adherence to statin medications is common, and statin-associated muscle symptoms are often cited as the reason. Decreased or poor function of the


Burn-related injuries are a prevalent burden worldwide. Caregiver practices of first aid have been demonstrated to minimize the effects of burn-related injuries. This pilot study sought to identify practices on the first Aid of thermal burns in Ward 3 at a referral hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe. A quantitative cross-sectional hospital based survey was utilized with a convenient sample of 30 respondents. The respondents involved in the study were between the ages of 20 to 40 years and were caring for a child below 12 years with accidental burns of 10% and below of the TBSA. Structured interviews were conducted. Results showed that caregivers practiced de-blistering and applied a wide range of remedies. Caregivers had varied approaches to covering of the burn injury and different modes of cooling the burns. This calls for a need to close the gap in the practice of caregivers on the first aid of thermal burns.


Since echocardiographic parameters indicating increased left ventricular filling pressure were validated in patients with stable coronary artery disease and patients with acute coronary syndrome were excluded, the utility of these parameters in ACS patients is not clarified. Recent studies suggest that left atrial strain imaging is a reliable method for the assessment of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction.

 In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical utility of left atrial strain imaging for the detection of increased LVFP.

 We prospectively included patients diagnosed with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction who were treated with primary percutaneous intervention (pPCI). Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was measured following the procedure. Comprehensive echocardiographic evaluation was performed within 24 hours of pPCI. Patients with atrial fibrillation and severe valvular heart disease were excluded. Normal LV end-diastolic pressure was accepted as <18 mmHg.

 76 patients were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups according to LVEDP value. Group 1 patients included patients with normal LVEDP (42 patients) and the rest of the patients included into group 2 (27 patients). Comorbidities including hypertension (p: 0.408), diabetes (p: 0.696) and dyslipidaemia (p: 0.336) were similar between groups. Anterior myocardial infarction was more prevalent in group 2 patients (p: 0.012). Troponin and pro-BNP values were significantly higher in group 2 patients (p: 0.001 and p: 0.03 respectively). Left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular global strain values were significantly lower in group 2 patients (p: 0.048 and p: 0.025 respectively). Table 1 represents the comparison of strain values between groups. Left atrial reservoir strain rates were lower in group 2 patients (p: 0.09). Correlation analyses revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between left atrial strain values and LVEDP (p: 0.003 and r: 0.238).

 In conclusion, our study has demonstrated that left atrial strain imaging is a useful non-invasive method for the assessment of increased LVEDP in patients with STEMI.

 Type of funding sources: None. Echocardiographic variables


In April 2017, a foiling Optimist dingy designed entirely by students, was successfully tested under standard sailing conditions in the waters outside Gothenburg. In order to achieve take of wind speeds as low as 6 m/s, a stiff and lightweight design of the dinghy and its foiling components was necessary. There have been few successful attempts to make an Optimist foil in a stable manner, as such there were no standards or recommendations available for the design. Therefore, a simulation driven structural design methodology for hydrofoils, centreboards, centreboard-to-hull connections, and necessary hull reinforcements using sandwich structures was adopted. The proposed design was then manufactured, allowing for a significantly stiffer hull and a 20% decrease in weight over a conventional Optimist. Excluding the rig and sail, the final weight came to 27 kg.


Traditional flooded rice production utilizes a well or riser in the highest-elevation portion of the field and water
spills into lower paddies as the upper paddies are filled. In an alternative method known as multiple-inlet irrigation, rather
than discharging directly into the highest paddy, a pipe is connected and gates or holes water each paddy concurrently instead
of each receiving overflow from a higher paddy. The objective of this research was to investigate whether a multiple-inlet
approach would result in less water being pumped for rice production than conventional flooding, when applied on production-
scale fields by the regular farm employees. On-farm water use studies were conducted during the 1999 through 2002
growing seasons. The studies consisted of 14 paired fields located close together, with the same cultivar, soil type, planting
date, and management practices. One field was randomly assigned as a conventionally flooded field and the other was
assigned as multiple-inlet rice irrigation. Flowmeters were installed in the inlets to both fields and the farmers provided yield
data. The multiple-inlet method required 24% less irrigation water than conventional flooding and produced 3% more yield
and 36% higher irrigation water use efficiency than conventional flooding. These findings can lead to easing the groundwater
shortages being experienced in Arkansas and other rice-producing areas.


Contemporary opinion consigns most of the art produced in the nineteen sixties to a critical limbo. While Pop is understood as a celebration of consumer culture, post painterly abstraction and Minimalism in particular are seen to represent pragmatic and corporate values expressive of dominant American ideologies. Kitaj's work fails to conform to these stereotypes. Significantly he blends an acute historical awareness with a contradictory technical achievement which parallels Post-Modernist pluralism while at the same time pursuing the emancipatory and utopian ideal inherent in Modernism. He carries out a quest for a lost universality which he is unable to resolve within the discourse of the European tradition. This is, perhaps beyond all else, a reflection of his own cultural insecurity. Indeed, it is not until the middle seventies and his discovery of Jewishness that he is finally able to find a resolution to his desire for some kind of authority that might satisfy the need for a redemptive narrative. But in Jewishness there is an exclusivity found in the diversity and plurality of the Post-Modern which shies away from the allembracing and grandiose projects of Modernity. Many of Kitaj's pictures from this period rely for their effect on the multiple discourses of Hollywood, book illustration, European history, criticism, literature and art history in a manner quite different, for example, from either Richard Hamilton's or Andy Warhol's own very individual investigations into contemporary mass media icons. Kitaj creates a bricolage of other discourses and integrates them within the privileged discourse of fine art, suggestive of an implicit awareness of what Frederic Jameson and others have termed the 'decentred subject' who is constructed wholly in the imaginary, without unmediated experience of the world.' In contrast to most Post-Modern cultural production, however, Kitaj makes no concession to the consumer nor does he emulate slick commercial surfaces, but maintains a rough patina more easily associated with High Modernist practice. In the collaboratively and mechanically produced screen prints Kitaj emphasises machine finish through attached photographs and printed 'hand made' marks.2 But none of this has the high gloss typical of so much of the work of such contemporaries as Allen Jones and Peter Phillips.3 Of the painting Trout for Factitious Bait (1965) (Fig. 1), clearly influenced by the abrupt, montage-style construction of the screen prints, Kitaj writes: A lot of old stories are malingering in Trout ... old formalist persuasion, old brief cases and houses, old colours and arrangements ... worn out conjunctions ... baiting a modernist legacy. It can't have much of a future that picture.4


The central focus of population genetics is the study of the distribution of the genetic variation within and among populations. This endeavour has often been accomplished by the use of genealogies upon which geographical information is incorporated in the search of association among genetic variation and geographical distribution (see Avise 1998). However, a particular population genetic structure can be the result of distinct processes acting in different points through time and space and may reflect historical rather than ongoing population level processes (Gerber & Templeton 1996). Templeton (1993) and Templeton et al . (1995) describe a methodology (cladistic nested analysis) in which population structure can be separated from population history when it is assessed through rigorous and objective statistical tests upon an estimated nested cladogram (see Templeton et al . 1992). GeoDis is a computer program that implements the cladistic nested analysis. The simplest test for geographical association is to treat sample locations as categorical variables. An exact permutational contingency test is performed for any clade at each nesting level. A chi-square statistic is calculated from the contingency tables in which rows are genetic clades and columns are geographical locations (see also software Chiperm, available at http://bioag.byu.edu/zoology/crandall_lab/ programs.htm). A more elaborate analysis can also be carried out by using information on geographical distances. Using the geographical coordinates of each population two main statistics are calculated, the clade distance ( D c ), which measures the geographical spread of a clade, and the nested clade distance ( D n ), which measures how a clade is geographically distributed relative to other clades in the same higher-level nesting category. In the case of riparian or coastal species, or in the case of species with constrained dispersal routes, a matrix of pairwise distances among the different locations better describes their geographical distribution. The analogue statistics ( D cl and D nl ) are calculated as the average pairwise distances between members of the same focal clade and the average pairwise distances between members of the focal clade with all members of the nesting clade (including the focal clade). An interior-tip statistic (I-T) is also estimated within each nested category as the average interior distance minus the average tip distance. For the calculation of these averages, each clade distance is weighted by the number of copies in that focal clade relative to the total number of copies in the nesting clade. This tip vs. interior contrast corresponds to a young vs. old contrast and, to a lesser extent, rare vs. common (Crandall & Templeton 1993). If the haplotype tree is rooted, say by an out-group, the user can also specify which haplotype is the oldest by designating it as the 'interior', and regarding the younger haplotypes all as 'tips'. When root probabilities or out-group weights for the cladogram are specified (Castelloe & Templeton 1994), the correlation of both distance measures with out-group weights within each nested category is also estimated. The significance of these statistics is estimated through a Monte Carlo procedure. Null distributions are constructed by randomizing the contingency data table for each clade and nesting level and estimating again the test statistics for each randomized data set. Matrix randomization is accomplished by using the algorithm of Roff & Bentzen (1989), which preserves the marginals of the table (clade frequencies and sample sizes), while permuting the individual cells. A minimum number of 1000 random permutations are recommended to make statistical inference at the 5% level of significance (Edgington 1986). The output of GeoDis consists of the calculated statistics and their associated permutational P -values. Templeton (1998) provides a key for the interpretation of these results in biological terms. GeoDis has been written both in C and Java and includes new features, as weighted I-T statistics, and the possibility of using user-defined distances. A previous version of the program written in VAX/VMS Basic exists (AR Templeton). The C program prompts the user for all the options needed to run the program. The Java program provides an interface where the user selects the input and output files, the number of permutations, the possibility of using out-group weights, decimal degrees, and/or user-defined distances. The input file consists of the population information plus the description of the nested cladogram. Details are given in the program documentation. The GeoDis package, containing executables for Macintosh, PC, and Unix machines, documentation, and source code in Java and C is available for free from http:// bioag.byu.edu/zoology/crandall_lab/programs.htm.


A comparative study on the crashworthiness characteristics of different cylindrical tubular structures under quasi-static three-point bending, such as thin-walled empty tube, foam-filled single tube structure and foam-filled double tube structure was carried out. The load–deformation characteristics, failure modes and energy absorption capacity of different structures were investigated. Typical characteristic parameters to measure crashworthiness of a structure, namely energy absorption, specific energy absorption (SEA) and energy-absorbing effectiveness factor were systematically studied and compared to identify a potential structural component for vehicle engineering applications. The experimental results confirmed that when subjected to bending, the total energy absorption, SEA and energy-absorbing effectiveness of foam-filled double structures were relatively higher than those of the empty and foam-filled single structures. Foam-filled double square and circular tube structures are recommended as crashworthy structures due to their high bending resistance and energy-absorbing effectiveness.


The last instar larva of Progomphus dorsopallidus is described and illustrated based on six exuviae of reared specimens. A key to larvae of six of the eight species of the genus found north of the Orinoco River is given.


In light of the tension between cosmological parameters from Planck cosmic microwave background and galaxy clusters, we revised the Planck analysis of the $Y_{SZ}$-mass calibration to allow evolution to be determined by the data instead of being imposed as an external constraint. Our analysis uses the very same data and Malmquist bias corrections as used by the Planck team in order to emphasize that differences in the results come from differences in the assumptions. The evolution derived from 71 calibrating clusters, with $0.05<z<0.45$, is proportional to $E^{2.5\pm0.4}(z)$, so inconsistent with the self-similar evolution ($E^{2/3}$) assumed by previous analyses. When allowing for evolution, the slope of $Y_{SZ}$-mass relation turns out to be $1.51\pm0.07$, which is shallower by $4.8\sigma$ than the value derived when assuming self-similar evolution, introducing a mass-dependent bias. The non-self-similar evolution of $Y_{SZ}$ has to be accounted for in analyses aimed to establish the biases of Planck masses.


Read more and get great! That's what the book enPDFd consuming the congo war and conflict minerals in the world s deadliest place will give for every reader to read this book. This is an on-line book provided in this website. Even this book becomes a choice of someone to read, many in the world also loves it so much. As what we talk, when you read more every page of this consuming the congo war and conflict minerals in the world s deadliest place, what you will obtain is something great.


Sediments that are brought by the rivers are deposited in the wetlands, particularly in the lagoons, and change gradually the characteristics of the wetland ecosystem. Therefore, the soil erosion through the rivers and the runoff has to be estimated to decide a management action plan. The goal of this research project is to develop a GIS based soil erosion potential model of the Point Calimere wetland at the apex of Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu. The basic method of the Universal Soil Loss equation is combined with the computer capabilities of a GIS, specifically the commercial software package ArcGIS 10. The USLE has proved to be very popular and it estimates long term average annual gross soil erosion. This equation multiplies six parameters: rainfall erosivity factor, soil erodibility factor, slope length factor, slope gradient factor, crop cover or crop management factor and conservation practices factor. The GIS is used to store the USLE factors as individual digital layers with interpolation of rainfall data, slope, soil type and land use. These layers has to be multiplied together to create a soil erosion potential map. For this study, rainfall data, soil maps, satellites images for indentify land use and a raster Digital Elevation Model from Landcover were used


Thyroidism is becoming one of the most prevalent diseases due to the malfunctioning of the thyroid gland. The objective of the present study is to observe the association of acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase with thyroid disorder. From the present work the concentration of acid phosphatase among the hypo and hyperthyroid patients is more than the controls, where as alkaline phosphatase levels are low in hypothyroid patients than the controls but in case of hyperthyroid condition more or less equal to normal in both the patients and controls Key Words: Thyroid disease, Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), Acid phosphatase (ACP), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Association


A new image asymmetric encryption technique using Radial Hilbert mask (RHM) based on Fast Walsh Hadamard Transform (FWHT) is proposed for security enhancement. In this technique, bits of the secret image to be transmitted is randomized by shuffling the bits randomly. The obtained scrambled image is then masked with RHM and random phase mask (RPM) using asymmetric encryption in FWHT domain to get final encrypted image. FWHT has been used in the cryptosystem as protects from the quantization error and image can be perfectly reconstructed. The proposed scheme also includes RHM which increases the key space and makes it robust to many attacks. The proposed cryptosystem's robustness has been analyzed on the basis of different parameters by simulating on MATLAB 8.1.0 (R2012b). The simulation result highlights the robustness, suitability and effectiveness of the proposed cryptosystem.


With the continued rapid development of integrated circuits and the evolution towards higher chip component densities brought about by down–scaling of device dimensions, it is useful to assess the limits of performance of presently known device structures using current fabrication technology. The silicon gate field effect transistor is of obvious importance, since at the present limit of decreasing dimensions these devices are expected to give comparable speed and lower powerdelay products than their bipolar counterparts. The rapid developments in fabrication methods such as increases in wafer dimensions coupled with the reduction in device dimensions has led to a reduction in maximum processing temperatures. In particular, this downward trend is incompatible with the necessity to lower contact resistance given appropriate device down–scaling. In this paper we present techniques using ion implantation and tailored impurity profiles that are compatible with low temperature ohmic contact formation. The application of these techniques to mono- and polycrystalline silicon are presented. Our results suggest that these techniques show considerable promise for semiconductor device applications. As a consequence, a production technology that optimizes the contact resistance to both gate-poly and drain and source regions is being investigated and current results will be presented.


The recent decline in many fish stocks has been accompanied by marked changes in the age at maturity and both phenotypic plasticity and size dependent genetic selection has been invoked to explain such changes. Whilst the probabilistic reaction norm approach has helped to identify the relative contribution of phenotypic plasticity and genetic variation on the size at maturation in several fish stocks, the importance of other factors influencing maturation, such as varying condition at size, have rarely been quantified. Further, there is little information on changes in other components of reproductive investment that would be expected from life-history theory such as changes in fecundity-size relationships. Moreover, given the spatial variation in both long-term fishing pressure and environment influences, it is possible that temporal responses may vary within a stock region. This study explored how reproductive investment in haddock has changed between a period of high and low spawning-stock size. Maturity reaction norms indicated that haddock in an inshore region of the North Sea matured at a smaller size and younger age in the 1990s than they did in the 1970s. Haddock from this region were also more fecund than 20 yr ago. The decline in maturity at size was less marked in the northern North Sea and there was no


The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device and a method for manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting device includes organic light emitting portions respectively formed in a red pixel, a green pixel, and a blue pixel. Each of the organic light emitting portions includes a hole injecting layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, and an electron transporting layer, which are sequentially formed in each of the red pixel, the green pixel, and the blue pixel. The electron transporting layer is formed of host materials constituting the light emitting layer of the blue pixel in each of the red pixel, the green pixel, and the blue pixel. According to the present invention, it is possible to form an electron transporting layer for each of the pixels by using a deposition chamber identical to a deposition chamber for forming the light emitting layer of the blue pixel after formation of the light emitting layer of the blue pixel, thereby reducing the number of deposition chambers and simplifying a manufacturing process, as compared with the prior art.


In article short results of VIII world soybean research conference, held in Beijing in August 10-15, 2009 are presented. The basic world results of modern scientific directions on soybean researches are briefly shown. Forecasts of soybean reaction in basic soybean producing countries on global climate change are resulted. Data on the basic directions of soybean breeding and some details of soybean production in China are presented.


ALTERED REFLEX RESPONSES to stretch, percussion of tendons, and skin irritations have become an integral part of the clinical examination over the years, because these reflexes are easily accessible for testing purposes without complicated instrumentations. In addition, these stimuli more nearly approach the quality and severity of afferent impulses constantly impinging upon the nervous system of the individual in his daily life. The disabling and painful spasms in patients with various neurologic diseases are triggered off, not only as a result of stretching the appropriate muscles by movement and sudden jarring, but also by cutaneous sensory stimuli which are often of only a minor nature. The alleviation of these abnormal reflex responses would result in clinical benefits to the individual. Differences in reflex activity in humans have become amenable to recording by electromyography. The present study employs this method for detecting differences in the electrical action potentials induced by standardized myotatic, nociceptive, and stretch stimulations. A reduction in the size of the electrically recorded reflex responses is used as an indicator of drug activity.


Summary. The Survey of Opinions about Education was administered to four groups of student teachers (N=240). In completing the questionnaire a second time subjects were asked to fake the responses in accordance with those of an 'ideal' student on the colleges' education courses. This resulted in increased mean Radicalism scores and decreased mean Tendermindedness Scores. A sex difference was evident in students' interpretation of faking the Naturalism scale. Otherwise sex and maturity of the student did not significantly affect the extent of the induced changes in responses.


Abstract The influence of observational purpose and the degree of articulation in raters′ judgment processes on attention, recognition, and rating was investigated in a sample of 120 student raters who read behavioral descriptions of college professor classroom performance. It was hypothesized that observation for purposes of either memorization or impression formation and classification of ratee behaviors into two, three, or five levels of performance would influence attention time, recognition accuracy, and rating accuracy measures. Results revealed no effects on attention time or recognition accuracy, but did indicate a significant observational purpose by articulation interaction. Complex articulation resulted in more accurate ratings than did a simple level of evaluative articulation, but only when subjects were in an impression formation, rather than memorization, mode of processing. The pattern of results is interpreted as indicating the importance of the schematic basis for processing that a rater brings to a rating situation. The possibility of cognitive structural characteristics being more important for performance ratings than processing characteristics is also raised by the pattern of results. Directions for future research and the practical implications of the results are also discussed.


The Ghana school feeding policy (GSFP) comes under the activity of the African Agricultural Development Pillar 3, aiming to enhance food security and decrease hunger following the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This study finds out the effect of the government school feeding policy in Ghana with specific attention to the Atwima Kwanwoma District. The study adopted aquantitative approach to examine 50 respondents from 50primaryschools within the Atwima Kwanwoma District in Ghana. We collected data from the headteachers of these selected schools. Findings of the study reveal that the significant impacts of the GSFP on the selected basic schools increased in pupil enrolment, increase in pupilretention, and increase in pupil-teacher ratio. The study recommends that due to the positive impacts of this policy, the Ministry of Education should


Palabras clave: Fascioliasis has become a re-emergent infectious disease in the Andean Region. Microscopic pathological findings have been mostly described in animals but not in humans. We describe histopathological findings of three liver and one cutaneous biopsy (neck) from human cases with Fasciola hepatica infection that were initially diagnosed as possible cancer, mass, metastases or tumour. The pathological patterns included liver fibrosis, eosinophilic necrosis with multiple hepatic abscesses, track-like lesions with eosinophils that corresponds to the migration of the juvenile parasite through the liver, and immature parasite in the peritoneum mimicking peritoneal carcinomatosis. The present study adds more information in the human histopathology in fascioliasis during the acute infection of F. hepatica.


Objective: To examine the role of a functional monocyte chemoattractant protein 1(MCP-1) polymorphism at position-2518 in systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) and lupus nephritis(LN) in the Han nationality in Shandong Province.Methods: MCP-1 genomic variants in 72 SLE patients and 59 controls were detected by polymerase chain reaction(PCR) followed by restriction enzyme-fragment analysis.Results: The frequency of the A/A genotype was significantly higher in controls compared with SLE patients(P=0.001),whereas both A/G(P=0.024) and G/G(P=0.020) polymorphism were found more frequently in SLE patients.Patients with LN had the A/G(P=0.024) and G/G(P=0.015) genotypes more commonly compared with those without LN.In contrast,65% of patients without LN were genotyped as A/A,whereas only 19% of patients with LN had this genotype(P=0.000).Conclusion: SLE patients with A/G or G/G genotypes of MCP-1 may be at higher risk of developing LN in the Han nationality in Shandong Province.


Taylor (1979) posits a permanent trade-off between the volatility of output gap and the volatility of inflation. This trade-off serves as an efficiency envelope for optimal monetary policy. Using data from 1960, we examine the efficiency of monetary policy in Greece by measuring the orthogonal distance between the observed volatilities of the output gap and inflation from their optimal levels. As expected in an optimal currency area, we find that the Maastricht convergence criteria greatly benefited Greece in improving macroeconomic stability but at the cost of monetary policy efficacy.


The motivation of the present paper lies in the lifetime assessment of DC link electrolytic capacitor of wind power converter considering operational condition. The electrothermal coupling finite element model (FEM) is developed in view of the actual operating condition of DC link electrolytic capacitor to obtain the thermal resistance of electrolytic capacitor at steady state. The power loss of capacitor is due to the ripple current largely. The DC link capacitor ripple current is determined passively by the output current of grid-side converter which is depends on the wind speed. The temperature of capacitor core which is reflection of capacitor lifetime is obtained indirectly according to the heat transfer theory. Finally, the lifetime assessment of DC link electrolytic capacitor is realized considering the wind speed and ambient temperature.


Abstract : The purpose of this thesis is to provide a general overview of construction estimating and an insight to computer-aided estimating. Increased knowledge about computerized estimating and confidence in the computer's potential use can result in providing more timely and accurate estimates. Although commputerized estimating is relatively new in the construction industry, its usage has been proven to be beneficial. The ability of the estimator to predict, as accurately as possible, the cost of construction today, correlates directly to the survival rate of a construction company. The thesis covers preliminary cost estimating and more detailed estimates, i.e. quantity surveys, lump sum and detailed unit cost estimates. The components of an estimate are reviewed and software are analyzed for the job of construction estimates.


ABSTRACT This study aims to determine how the Accounting Information System (AIS) security controls on state-owned enterprises in practice and determine whether different types of enterprises and different positions affect the implementation of AIS security controls on state-owned enterprises. This type of research was survey research. Questionnaire used as a method to collect data. There were 27 state-owned enterprises as object of the research, but only 20 state-owned enterprises that include the criteria. The primary data obtained from questionnaires distributed to AIS end-users on state-owned enterprises by 40 respondents. Kruskal-Wallis test was used to test hypotheses and reliability test was used to assess the accuracy of the questionnaire. The results of this study indicate that there were some AIS security controls still to be improved to increase protection against AIS on state-owned enterprises. Some recommendations were given for improving the AIS security controls on state-owned enterprises in the future. There are some differences in the implementation of AIS security controls in different business sectors. There were no significant differences in the application of security control procedures for AIS in different respondents' positions. Keywords: security threats, information system security, accounting information system, information technology, information system security controls, Indonesia state-owned enterprises.


In recent years, natural fibers have become more widely used as reinforcement in polymer composites to generate low-cost products. Fibrous reinforcements in polymer matrices lead to good mechanical and electrical properties for composite materials. Depending on the grade and orientation, composites can be one-fifth the weight of steel while offering similar or better stiffness and strength. In addition, unlike steel or aluminum, composites do not rust or corrode. Composite materials reinforcing phase gives durability, strength, and stiffness. Composite materials have traditionally been employed as structural materials. Composite materials are increasingly being used in electrical applications such as bushings, circuit breakers, coupling capacitors, and so on, thanks to the growing growth of the electrical sector. The design parameters for structural and electrical composites differ dramatically due to the enormous differences in property requirements. Depending on the application, structural composites. Structural composites prioritize sufficient strength and modulus, while electrical composites prioritize superior dielectric constant, thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion, and shielding effectiveness. In the electrical industry, low density is desired because it allows for weight reduction. It is also desirable to have a high strength-weight ratio and dielectric properties. This paper provides a brief review of the properties of polymer composite materials and their application in the high voltage industry.


Polyurethane elastomer(PUE)/Al(OH)3 composites were synthesized with high active polyether triol, liquefied MDI, ethylene glycol as main raw materials, micron-size Al(OH)3 as additive, dibutyltin dilaurate and triethylenediamine as catalysts by one- step. The influence of Al(OH)3 content on the forming process, property and micro-structure of composites was investigated. The results show that Al(OH)3 has delay action on the polymerization reaction, and can be used as a reinforcement material for PUE. The oxygen index shows that flame retardancy increase with the increasing of Al(OH)3 content in the composites, and can reached the fire resistance level. XRD and SEM show that micron-size Al(OH)3 can be dispersed very well in PUE matrix.


This paper proposes three new quantification measures of information diffusion characteristics in blogspace. These measures are calculated from the number of three basic structures, which are directed 2-edge connected subgraphs, in information diffusion networks. Each basic structure is related to information scattering, information gathering or information transmission. We analyze and visualize information diffusion networks extracted from six blog datasets. In the result, we show that the difference of information diffusion characteristics can be discriminated by the combination of three measures and human activity in blogspace can be explained by them.


Context:

On February 18th 2021, the NASA Perseverance rover landed at Jezero crater, Mars, a 50 km  Noachian-aged open-basin lake system located on the western side of the Isidis impact structure. The bottom of the crater indicates the presence of a fluvial delta with associated inlet and outlet valleys and infrared observations from orbit have detected the presence of carbonate, mafic and hydrated minerals [1] Since its arrival at the Octavia E. Butler landing site, the rover explored about 100 meters around it initial landing position and analyzed the local bedrocks surrounding it.

Located on the top of the mast of the Perseverance rover is SuperCam, a multipurpose remote sensing instrument able to acquire high resolution color images, infrared, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and Raman spectra, and including also a microphone [2, 3]. The LIBS technique is similar to the one used by ChemCam onboard the Curiosity rover, which has been exploring Gale crater since 2012: a powerful laser pulsed at 1064 nm ablates targets at a distance, inducing a plasma spark, the light of which is analyzed by spectroscopy to determine its elemental composition (e.g. [4]). During such an analysis, spectra obtained from the first several laser shots at each location are contaminated by dust deposited on the surface of the rock targets and these spectra are usually removed from further analysis [5]. These spectra present a very homogeneous composition that is different from those of the underlying targets, and are interpreted to represent the analysis of eolian dust deposited over time on the surface of Mars [6].

In this study, we compare the spectral results obtained with the SuperCam first shots on the targets analyzed at the Octavia E. Butler landing site with the average first shot spectra obtained by ChemCam on the rock targets at Gale Crater to confirm whether the signal corresponds to a global microns-thick eolian dust cover of Mars.

Method:

We have used all the LIBS first shot spectra acquired since the landing of Perseverance. This corresponds to ~106 different spectra processed by denoising, background removal, wavelength calibration, and correction for instrument response. The average spectrum obtained from these data can then be appropriately compared with the average first shot spectrum obtained by ChemCam at Gale crater, which was built over 1500 sols (~ 8500 spectra). There is a 2 orders of magnitude difference between the number of first shots acquired by SuperCam and ChemCam at this time, so we can expect the SuperCam results to be less representative than the ChemCam ones.

Results:

The comparison of the LIBS spectra (Figure 1.) indicate strong similarities in major element compositions The only disparity comes from apparent elevated Mg and Ca lines in the SuperCam signal, which are possibly due to a local contribution. The minor elements, such as H, Li, Mn, Cr, also present peaks with intensities similar to the ones detected on the ChemCam spectrum, indicating a similar level of hydration and minor elements contents of the dust fraction at Jezero and at Gale. While the rocks analyzed by SuperCam at Jezero crater appear visually to be less covered by dust than the ones seen at Gale crater, our analysis indicates that the rocks studied at Jezero remain covered by a thin layer of homogeneous material similar in composition to the eolian deposited dust. This result is consistent with a global mixing of the eolian dust cover on Mars at the micron scale, or possibly a single origin for the eolian dust on Mars as described in previous studies (e.g. [7, 8]).

Conclusion:

The average of the first LIBS shot spectra acquired by SuperCam at Jezero crater compare very well with the average spectrum of ChemCam’s first shots at Gale crater. The intensity of the emission lines in the two spectra are very similar indicating the probable global mixing of the dust deposited all over the surface of Mars.

Figure 1: Comparison of average first shots LIBS spectra of ChemCam at Gale Crater ([6] in red) and average first shots LIBS spectra of SuperCam at Jezero Crater (in blue). A) UV range, B) blue-violet range, C) green range D) orange range E) red range.

Acknowledgements:

The Perseverance rover and the SuperCam instrument were funded by NASA, CNES and LANL.

References:

[1] Stack, K. M., et al. (2020) Space Science Reviews, 216(8), 1-47. [2] Maurice, S., et al. (2021) Space Science Reviews, 217(3), 1-108. [3] Wiens, R. C., et al. (2021) Space Science Reviews, 217(1), 1-87. [4] Maurice, S., et al. (2016) Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 31(4), 863-889. [5] Clegg, S. M., et al. (2017) Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 129, 64-85. [6] Lasue, J., et al. (2018) Geophysical Research Letters, 45(20), 10-968. [7] Berger, J. A., et al. (2016). Geophysical Research Letters, 43(1), 67-75. [8] Ojha, L., et al. (2018) Nature communications, 9(1), 1-7.


How does cooperative behavior evolve from selfish individuals? In order to explore the mechanism of cooperative behavior, we simulate the prisoner􀆳s dilemma, snowdrift game, kinselection, direct reciprocity and indirect reciprocity on complex networks.


George's main roles in the Wallace100 project were: to ensure the factual accuracy of all information about Wallace disseminated by the Museum; to be the primary Museum public spokesperson for the project; and to promote the project via a variety of public engagement activities. George also played an important role in helping to devise and plan NHM events and he led the campaign to produce a bronze statue of Wallace for the Museum.


THE TASK of assessing pupil achievement in music has received considerably less attention and research than has testing for talent. This situation is probably due to the widely disparate musical goals and standards to be found in various parts of the country, which would seem to render standardized tests of achievement meaningless for the general population. That this same situation was at one time also true of the other subjects in the school curriculum did not deter earlier testmakers from constructing tests of achievement in arithmetic, spelling, reading, and the other subjects. As these tests became progressively more refined and pertinent, ciarifying data concerning them became available, they attained wide usage and respectability, and to a considerable extent, they have exerted a salutary influence on the body of the subject matter taught. A comprehensive, carefully constructed test of achievement in music might in a similar manner help standardize the content of the music curriculum in the schools of today. Achievement tests in music currently available for use in the intermediate grades are unsatisfactory in many respects: (a) they are insufEciently comprehensive in scope; (b) the size of the item samples is generally inadF quate for purposes of comprehensiveness or reliability; (c) many of the <'appreciation" alld "achievement" tests make use of a simple paper-and-pencil format, neglecting aural presentation of the test items; and (d) few of the tests have been shown to possess acceptable levels of validity. The main purpose of the study reported herein was to construct, validate, and standardize a test of achievement in music for use in the intermediate grades. The test was designed to be sufficiently comprehensive in scope to sample adequately the various activities normally included in the music program at this level, and to be sensitive enough to discriminate between pupils of high or low achievement in music at each of the three grade levels


Molecular lines observed toward protoplanetary disks carry information about physical and chemical processes associated with planet formation. We present ALMA Band 6 observations of C2H, HCN, and C18O in a sample of 14 disks spanning a range of ages, stellar luminosities, and stellar masses. Using C2H and HCN hyperfine structure fitting and HCN/H13CN isotopologue analysis, we extract optical depth, excitation temperature, and column density radial profiles for a subset of disks. C2H is marginally optically thick (τ ∼ 1–5) and HCN is quite optically thick (τ ∼ 5–10) in the inner 200 au. The extracted temperatures of both molecules are low (10–30 K), indicative of either subthermal emission from the warm disk atmosphere or substantial beam dilution due to chemical substructure. We explore the origins of C2H morphological diversity in our sample using a series of toy disk models and find that disk-dependent overlap between regions with high UV fluxes and high atomic carbon abundances can explain a wide range of C2H emission features (e.g., compact versus extended and ringed versus ringless emission). We explore the chemical relationship between C2H, HCN, and C18O and find a positive correlation between C2H and HCN fluxes but no relationship between C2H or HCN with C18O fluxes. We also see no evidence that C2H and HCN are enhanced with disk age. C2H and HCN seem to share a common driver; however, more work remains to elucidate the chemical relationship between these molecules and the underlying evolution of C, N, and O chemistries in disks.


A stochastic model has been developed to simulate the formation of thermal sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia coatings. Porosity in the ceramic coating was assumed to be due to incomplete filling of cavities on the rough surface of the coating. Values of thermal spray particle size, velocity, temperature and trajectories were generated assuming they followed known distributions, with means and standard deviations measured experimentally. Predictions from the model of porosity and roughness of zirconia coatings agreed with experimental results, accurately predicting a reduction in porosity with particle size. The model also predicted that porosity, thickness and roughness would decrease with increasing particle velocity. Increasing spray-gun standoff distance had little effect on porosity (keeping particle velocity constant), while it decreased coating thickness and roughness.


Tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) has wide applications in semiconductor industry, including photoresist development, silica etching (especially Sigma etching), and wafer cleaning, etc. One of the critical areas of the photolithography process is the development of unexposed (negative) or exposed (positive) photoresists without pattern distortion. As a metal free, basic aqueous solution, TMAH is the most common positive photoresist developer providing no metal contaminations. The bath composition, especially the concentration of TMAH, is strictly controlled within the process specifications (~2.2 to 2.4 % (w/w)), since it greatly affects the developing rate and contrast [1]. Traditional monitoring of TMAH concentration does not suffice for the modern needs of a sub-20 nm IC fabrication process. Additional critical parameters include dissolved carbonate and proprietary surfactants.


Objective of the research: conduct a Doppler ultrasound (DUS) assessment of utero-placentalfetal blood flow and the condition of newborns in the early neonatal period from women of the late reproductive period (LRP), depending on the parity of delivery, using the example of women in the Chechen Republic. Material and methods: retrospective multicenter study. DUS assessment of the state of utero-placental-fetal blood flow and the state of newborns in the early neonatal period was performed in 95 pregnant women, including: group 1–35 primiparous of LRP and their 35 newborns, group 2 – 35 multi-pregnant (MP) of LRP and their 35 newborns. The 3 control group included 25 healthy pregnant women aged 18 to 25 years and their 25 newborns. DUS was performed on Aloka SD SSD 3500 device (Japan), and a transvaginal sensor was used if necessary. Newborns were assessed on the APGAR score at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. Of the instrumental methods for examining newborns, brain ultrasound examination (neurosonography) was used. Results: analyzing the DUS results of LRP pregnant, depending on the labor parity, it was found that in the 1st group there was an increase in resistance in both uterine arteries (61%), an increase in the resistance index and pulsation index, a decrease in diastolic blood flow, characteristic of arteries with high resistance. Hemodynamic parameters in the mid-brain artery (MBA) of the fetus remained normal in all pregnant women. LRP women often born children in a state of asphyxia, with neurological disorders, and these children often has more complex postnatal adaptation and concomitant pathology. Among LRP women, primiparous has significantly more severe disorders. Conclusion: the data of uteroplacental fetal blood flow of the 1st group correspond to blood flow disorders of the IA degree, which indirectly indicates a compensatory reaction of the vascular system of uteroplacental fetal blood flow, as well as the absence of a tendency to an increase in the severity of fetoplacental insufficiency. It is possible that high incidence of neurological disorders in children born to LRP women is associated with age-related changes in their germ cells, use of assisted reproductive technologies, intake of hormonal drugs at an early stage of pregnancy and environmental factors associated with iodine deficiency in the region which includes the North Caucasus.


Posted by Dr Gabriel Ahlfeldt, SERC and LSE What's heritage worth? Valuing such intangible cultural goods is challenging. It is similarly challenging to evaluate policies like Conservation Areas, which aim to preserve historic or architectural local character in England.


In the development of a company, reasonable and moderate liability can not only make up capital insufficiency, but also make better use of the financial leverage and improve the income ratio of rights capital. The petrochemical industry is one of the national economy pillars. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the relationship between liability and profitability of the listed companies so as to improve their capability to collect capital, make the best of financial leverage and optimize the capital structure. According to 157 petrochemical listed companies' annul report data from 2002 to 2004, this paper analyzes the liability condition of those listed companies and the relationship between liability and profitability by empirical investigation. The result shows: the financial performance of the petrochemical listed companies which in different liability range is obviously different; most of the companies whose liability/asset ratio below 40% generally had better financial performance, and the performance was also significantly higher than average; performance of the companies whose liability/asset ratio in 40%-60% is a little lower than the ones whose liability/asset ratio below 40%; and most of the companies in this industry generally choose the capital structure from 40% to 60%; performance of the companies whose liability/asset ratio over 60% declines significantly; the companies whose liability/asset ratio over 80% are almost suffering loss


The purpose of this article is to draw attention towards possibility of drug reaction while starting a combination of sodium valproate and olanzapine for the treatment of acute mania. We describe four cases (three with bipolar disorder, current episode manic, one schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type), who developed stomatitis and pharyngitis within first week while on sodium valproate and olanzapine combination. In three out of four cases the symptoms resolved after withdrawing olanzapine and instituting symptomatic treatment (German J Psychiatry 2005; 8, 27–28).


The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides labor turnover and vacancy data for four broad census regions and the entire nation as part of its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). According to these data, which begin in December 2000, there is significant variation in the way labor turnover behaves in the different regions. In the Northeast, for instance, employers hired an average of 745,000 workers a month, while in the South it was more than 1.7 million. Similarly, the South has accounted for most of the job openings and separations over the past eight years, whereas the Northeast lagged behind other regions.


PURPOSE: An arc synthetic aperture radar system capable of acquiring high resolution mages is provided to acquire an image of high resolution by performing a driving operation at a spot mode continuously pointing to a specific target. CONSTITUTION: A transmission antenna(121) and a receiving antenna(122) move on a circular rail(104). The transmission antenna transmits a microwave toward a target. The receiving antenna receives a reflection wave reflected from the target. The transmission antenna and the receiving antenna are rotated on the circular rail. Plural reflected waves are acquired from the target through the rotation of the transmission antenna and the receiving antenna. A synthetic tuning apparatus acquires image information of the target by receiving the reflection wave. The transmission antenna and the receiving antenna are fixed to arms(151,152). The arm is rotated in the center of the circular rail.


A fundamental limit for the instantaneous dynamic range of acoustooptic signal processors is due to the intermodulation products (IMPs) generated in the Bragg cell when multiple signals are simultaneously present. The most important contributions to IMPs arise from multiple acoustooptic diffraction. A theoretical analysis of the multifrequency acoustooptic diffraction in phased array Bragg cells is presented. An analytical expression for the dominant IMPs is derived for two signals with finite frequency differences. The analysis explains the measured result of lower IMPs when the frequency separation is increased. By increasing the total transducer length, the minimum frequency separation for IMPs suppression is decreased. It is shown that further suppression of IMPs can be obtained by the use of apodized transducers.<<ETX>>


Multi-component elastic seismic data collected at large offsets have the potential to be used in micro seismic imaging and monitoring. However, types of receiver surface deployments used for micro-seismic monitoring are generally very sparse, and thus the data used for imaging from these receivers cause receiver-migration-operator artifacts that severely contaminate the shallow part of the image. In this study, we present a data-driven method that alleviates these imaging artifacts. The method is based on converted-phase elastic seismic migration and de-migration. We show that despite the spatial aliasing of the recorded data, we are able to suppress the receiver migration-operator artifacts and reconstruct the shallow part of the image. The merit of this approach is that it is elastic, fully data-driven (i.e, independent of source parameters), and does not suffer from migration operator source aliasing, when a small number of shots or micro-seismic events are used. We present a derivation of the method and test it with a synthetic model and a field data set from a geothermal reservoir with abundant natural and induced seismicity.


A water tank is provided, which includes a body which has one open side and accommodates water therein, a cover which finishes the body and has a temperature control member that heats or cools the water accommodated in the body, and a sealing portion for making the body and the cover mutually engaged with each other to seal up the interior of the body.


Ultrasound and computed tomography revealed mild peritoneal fluid, an enlarged left hepatic lobe, and multiple large hydatid cysts, one located in the liver and the others disseminated in the abdominal and pelvic cavities. The larger hydatid cyst, measuring 20 × 15 cm, had a right subphrenic location and was occupying the right hepatic lobe. The other hydatid cysts, also with inactive features, were located in the epigastrium, left hypochondrium, and peritoneum with a periumbilical location, and there was one multiloculate hydatid cyst in the pelvic cavity (Fig. 2). The inferior vena cava (IVC) was compressed by the upper abdominal cysts at the level of the suprahepatic veins and had signs of chronic thrombosis from this level until the emergence of the renal veins, forming venous collaterals to the anterior abdominal wall (Fig. 3). Immunoglobulin (Ig) G anti-Echinococcus granulosus antibodies were positive and IgM was negative. Upper gastric endoscopy revealed small esophageal varices and congestive gastric mucosa suggestive of portal hypertensive gastropathy, and there was evident extrinsic compression in the duodenal bulb (Fig. 4). The patient declined invasive treatment and initiated medical therapy. Hydatid disease is a zoonosis caused by infection with the larval stage of the E. granulosus tapeworm. This is a considerable health problem in endemic areas, namely, in Mediterranean and African countries. Human infection with E. granulosus causes the development of one or more


Objective: Microglial activation can cause the loss of neuronal cells after brain ischemia and trauma. Dehydrocostus lactone (DDL), a natural sesquiterpene lactone, has anti-inflammatory properties and can cross the blood-brain barrier. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of DDL on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglial cells, thus confirming the use of DDL to treat brain inflammation. Methods: We used LPS to induce inflammation in mouse BV2 microglial cells and treated the LPS-activated microglial cells with DDL. The proinflammatory cytokine levels in the culture media were tested with ELISAs. The transcriptome of the cells was analyzed with a Clariom S microarray. Results: The inhibition of IL1β, IL6, and TNFα released by DDL was significant in the BV2 microglial cells. DDL downregulated the LPS-induced inflammation-related gene expression. DDL regulated the immune process and the production of the key proinflammatory cytokines in the inflammation-related signaling pathways. Conclusion: DDL can inhibit the immune process and microglial cell activation and may be a candidate drug for the treatment of brain inflammation-related diseases.


Eighty elite lines including ten standard varieties of chickpea were evaluated for various seedling parameters. Positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations were found for different parameters like seedling length, root length, root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area while root length was positively and significantly correlated with other parameters. Root/shoot ratio was positively and significantly correlated with all parameters. Seedling biomass had positive and significant genotypic and phenotypic correlations with all the parameters. Leaf length, leaf width and leaf area also had positive and significant correlation among each other and with other parameters. The estimates of the heritability were high for seedling length, root length, moderate for the root/shoot ratio, seedling biomass and primary leaf area and slightly low for the primary leaf length and leaf width. Higher estimates of heritability and positive correlation coefficients for seedling length, root length, seedling biomass, leaf length, leaf width and leaf area suggest that selection of elite genotypes at seedling level might be effective for further breeding programme.


The concept of closed fuzzy set is introduced in topological linear space.It is obtained that a necessary and sufficient condition for a closed fuzzy set to be a convex fuzzy set .


Free practice tests and other testing resources. Exams for grad school, careers (such as the NCLEX and Praxis), college prep, and international students.


General Observations on Anthropometry.1 Under the title "Ge'ne'ralites sur l'Anthropometrie," Professor Mlanouvrier has recently published a paper which ought to be carefully read itn extenso by every prospective as well as actual student, and by every instructor, in that branch of anthropology. Manouvrier, one of Broca's scholars and for many years a professor and a practical teacher of anthropometry in the Paris School of Anthropology, is, it scarcely needs to be mentioned, eminently qualified to express himself on the subject chosen. The aims of the paper are, in brief, the imparting of a better understanding of the whole subject of measuring; showing an urgent necessity for all disciples and workers in anthropometry of an ample preliminary biological training, and of practical apprenticeship in the technique of measuring, with a competent teacher and a warning against any laxity in or needless modifications of the methods of measuring, the use of imperfect instruments, and faults in the conception of, or conclusions from, the work undertaken. Accurate data are precious aids in the study of man; inaccurate data, gathered by incompetent observers, through the means of imperfect instruments, a lax or faulty technique, serve only to encumber the science with harmful material and retard its progress, and to discredit the whole procedure of measuring. This is not only applicable to the *study of man's physical, but also to that of his physiological and psychical characters. The system of measuring man or any part of the human system appears simple only to those of shallow understanding or superficial instruction. "Anthropometry is a procedure of anatomical research as much as dissection," and correct measuring does not require less instruction in anatomy or less technical experience than correct dissection. But the operations of anthropometry furnish a greater variety of conditions in which a proper judgment has to be exercised,


Two tables of variables measured on the same individuals can be analyzed simultaneously using the canonical analysis or the analysis of Co-inertia. If the two units are partitioned to study their common structure, one can apply CONCORG or CONCORGM to them. But, these methods proceed in a successive way to determine the solution. A simultaneous procedure was proposed recently in CONCORGMS. Moreover, in the same dynamics, a simultaneous approach of CONCORG was also proposed not very long ago. The object of this article is to propose another simultaneous solution of CONCORG which we name here CONCORGS2.


RETIREMENT PLANNING FOR PROFESSIONAL CORPORATIONS. By Marshall I. Wolper. Pension fd Welfare News, December 1971. The professional practitioner should obtain through the corporation as many benefits as possible in the areas of life insurance, retirement, and health costs, recommends this president of a pension fund administrators company and director of the American Society of Pension Actuaries. He analyzes distinguishing characteristics of professional organizations, noting their growing need for retirement planning, and suggests that insured plans are the most intelligent for these small corporations. The article also discusses the pros and cons of the four major types of plans available.


State-of-the-art tracking tools were recently developed at CERN to study the cleaning efficiency of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) collimation system [1]. These tools are fully transportable, meaning that any accelerator lattice that includes a collimation system can be simulated. Each of the two Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) [2] beam lines features a multi-stage collimation system, therefore dedicated datasets from RHIC operations with proton beams can be used to benchmark the tracking codes and assess the accuracy of the predicted hot spots along the LHC.


With repetitive electrical stimulation of the dorsal root (20 Hz for 1 s at C‐fibre strength), intrinsic optical signals (IOSs), measured as changes in light transmittance, were recorded in the superficial dorsal horn of rat spinal cord slices using a photodiode array imaging device. The mechanism underlying the induction of IOSs was investigated. IOSs elicited by brief repetitive stimulation persisted for 1–2 min and were decreased by reducing external Cl– concentration or by cation–chloride cotransport inhibitors. Furosemide was most effective whilst bumetanide was least effective among the inhibitors tested. A 1‐min elevation of external K+ concentration evoked IOSs in the dorsal horn in the absence of stimulation, and K+‐induced IOSs were inhibited by furosemide. These results suggest that the uptake of excess K+ via the furosemide‐sensitive, cation–chloride cotransporters underlies the induction of the IOSs. One‐minute exposure to hypotonic solutions, which would cause cell swelling, induced IOSs in the superficial dorsal horn. Whilst osmotic‐induced IOSs were not affected by furosemide, they were inhibited by HgCl2 in a 2‐mercaptoethanol‐sensitive manner. The stimulation‐induced IOSs were similarly depressed by HgCl2. In contrast, voltage‐sensitive dye signals and field potentials, evoked by single electrical stimuli, were significantly less affected by HgCl2. These results suggest that there is a specialized water transport pathway in the superficial dorsal horn, and that IOSs elicited by brief repetitive activation of C‐fibres are attributable to cell swelling caused by water influx through this pathway, as an osmotic gradient is established by the uptake of K+ via the furosemide‐sensitive cotransporters.


University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics, EH8 9AB, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom ; firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract. This paper discusses the problem of multidimensional databases, with the purpose of demonstrating the efficient support offered by them for the management of OLAP processing and motivation of decisions, especially the ones related to environmental risks. The OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) systems that implement or use multidimensional databases are oriented towards decision makers and allow them to an easily process, sectioning and grouping of data, as well as the visualization of data from different perspectives, for the discovery of the factors that would influence a certain behavior. OLAP systems offer advanced statistical analysis facilities, such as the one based on time series or forecasts, which are based on predefined models. The calculation of the environmental risk offers an image of the degree of air pollution due to specific polluting factors, obtained especially as result of the industrial processes that have taken place in the Targoviste, in Dambovita area. An OLAP system, consisting of decision support components, was implemented as part of the PN2 three years research project: "Sustainable Management System of Resources Used for Monitoring and Evaluating the Environmental Risks in Order to Prevent the Negative Effects and to Manage Crises Situations - MEMDUR", code D11-037/18.09.2007. Keywords: environmental risks, multidimensional databases, OLAP systems, SOLAP architecture, MEMDUR project.


I. INTRODUCTION In the preparation of a dermatologic, therapeutic material for topical application, it is not uncommon for the vehicle to be given too little consideration. Custom too often determines the selection of the vehicle. Its choice may depend more on pleasing physical properties than on therapeutic efficacy. Such properties of a vehicle as odor, color, stability and compatibility with various drugs are emphasized. It is our belief that sufficient thought is rarely givento the functions which the vehicle performs or to such physicochemical characteristics of the vehicle as its ability to dissolve drugs, to cool the skin and to wet the skin. In the literature, there are relatively few papers which correlate the various functions of vehicles with their physical and physico-chemical properties or which discuss the physicochemical action of the vehicles on the skin. There is one German monograph on this subject by Czetsch-Lindenwald and Schmidt-LaBaume,1but no similar text in English has come to our attention. There has been considerable investigation of the action of specific drugs in various vehicles, such as the recent series of papers by Strakosch,2each of which contains a complete bibliography.


Known as the four most famous novels produced in ancient China, The Three Kingdoms, All Men Are Brothers ,Journey to the West and A Dream of the Red Mansion can claim to be "encyclopedia" for military and political ethics, daily life ethics, comparative ethics, and fudal family ethics .And the main characters in these novels help to embody the typical features of the traditional Chinese ethics. The comments in this paper shall provide us with new constructive insights into the modern ethics.


As an emerging orbital system with flexibility and brand application prospects, the highly elliptical orbit synthetic aperture radar (HEO SAR) can achieve both a low orbit detailed survey and continuous earth surface observation in high orbit, which could be applied to marine reconnaissance and surveillance. However, due to its large eccentricity, two challenges have been faced in the signal processing of HEO SAR at present. The first challenge is that the traditional equivalent squint range model (ESRM) fails to accurately describe the entire range for the whole orbit period including the perigee, the apogee, and the squint subduction section. The second one is to exploit an efficient HEO SAR imaging algorithm in the squinted case which solves the problem that traditional imaging algorithm fails to achieve the focused imaging processing of HEO SAR during the entire orbit period. In this paper, a novel imaging algorithm for HEO SAR is presented. Firstly, the signal model based on the geometric configuration of the large elliptical orbit is established and the Doppler parameter characteristics of SAR are analyzed. Secondly, due to the particularity of Doppler parameters variation in the whole period of HEO, the equivalent velocity and equivalent squint angle used in MESRM can no longer be applied, a refined fourth-order equivalent squint range model(R4-ESRM) that is suitable for HEO SAR is developed by introducing fourth-order Doppler parameter into Modified ESRM (MESRM), which accurately reconstructs the range history of HEO SAR. Finally, a novel imaging algorithm combining azimuth resampling and time-frequency domain hybrid correlation based on R4-ESRM is derived. Simulation is performed to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the presented algorithm and range model, showing that it achieves the precise phase compensation and well focusing.


Background  Gases produced by intestinal flora may modulate intestinal motor function in healthy individuals as well as those with functional bowel disease. Methane, produced by enteric bacteria in the human gut, is associated with slowed intestinal transit and constipation. The effects of hydrogen, another main gas produced by bacterial fermentation in the gut, on small bowel and colonic motor function remains unrecognized. Therefore, we set out to investigate whether intestinal gases including methane and hydrogen could influence the small bowel motility and colonic transit.


In this research, the ground temperature was calculated within a part of the province of Sulaymaniyah - northern Iraq, using the thermal bands(low acquisition, and high acquisition thermal bands) of the ETM+ sensor mounted in the LANDSAT 7 satellite. Practically, a linear profile within Dukan Lake (province of Sulaymaniyah) , has been indicated, and the temperature degree for its pixel has been calculated from both low acquisition and high acquisition thermal bands, this process has been implemented utilizing ERDAS Imagine 9.2 software package; the obtained results indicate that there is a significant convergence between the values of temperature calculated from both thermal bands indicating the accuracy of the adopted Mathematical Model in the calculation . In the second part of the work, the distribution of temperature degree over the study region has been extracted as a raster map. By averaging both low gain and high gain thermal bands. Keyword: Thermal Satellite, Satellite Images, Surface Temperature.


This paper summarizes the ChaLearn Looking at People 2020 Challenge on Identity-preserved Human Detection (IPHD). For the purpose, we released a large novel dataset containing more than 112K pairs of spatiotemporally aligned depth and thermal frames (and 175K instances of humans) sampled from 780 sequences. The sequences contain hundreds of non-identifiable people appearing in a mix of in-the-wild and scripted scenarios recorded in public and private places. The competition was divided into three tracks depending on the modalities exploited for the detection: (1) depth, (2) thermal, and (3) depth-thermal fusion. Color was also captured but only used to facilitate the groundtruth annotation. Still the temporal synchronization of three sensory devices is challenging, so bad temporal matches across modalities can occur. Hence, the labels provided should considered "weak", although test frames were carefully selected to minimize this effect and ensure the fairest comparison of the participants' results. Despite this added difficulty, the results got by the participants demonstrate current fully-supervised methods can deal with that and achieve outstanding detection performance when measured in terms of email@example.com.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common liver disease in developed countries and is closely linked to the obesity epidemic. In the United States, NAFLD affects an estimated 100 million individuals, or up to 30% of the population. About 5% to 20% of patients with NAFLD are at risk for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a progressive form of liver disease consisting of hepatic steatosis, hepatocellular ballooning, inflammation, and fibrosis. About 10% to 20% of persons with NASH experience development of cirrhosis, and NASH-related cirrhosis is rapidly becoming the leading indication for liver transplantation.


This paper proposes several alternative regulatory instruments for the allocation of flowing water and evaluates these instruments with respect to economic efficiency for a hypothetical stream basin in Illinois.


The Personal Software Engineering Project Management Process (PPMP) and its course are a proven, practical way to expose software engineering practitioners and students to the so&are engineering project management issues of estimating, planning and tracking in the Personal Software Process (PSP) spirit. Like PSP, PPMP uses the "A Discipline for Software Engineering" (DSE) [I] as a textbook. There are many other similarities to PSP, but there are also differences that give PPMP its unique quality of applicability to larger numbers of professionals involved in software engineering. Its use as a basis for completing a till-function PSP course is being demonstrated.


Prices set by fee-for-service Medicare have a direct effect on prices paid by private insurers throughout the health care system. While this link is widely recognized, there is disagreement about whether higher Medicare prices lead to lower or higher prices for private health insurance. We review the evidence that informs this debate. Next, we define the "optimal" prices as the prices corresponding to demand in a competitive market with insurance policies that pay lump-sum transfers tied to illness. Real-world Medicare prices do not correspond to these optimal prices. We identify a number of problems with the approach that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use to set Medicare prices. But even if these problems could be solved, a pricing system based on administrative data that attempts to create the semblance of marketprices will always be problematic. The paper closes with suggestions that might move real-world Medicare prices closer to the optimal prices.


The government procurement only limits to the law,the financial domain is insufficient,but also lies in aspect and so on system,mechanism and managed capacity system constructions and the enhancement.One kind of new pattern which with the State Council new session of governments is faces the central committee based on the project pattern's under government procurement operational guidance innovation to propose the service government which constructs.Based on the function and the project are the different working,the function movement pattern suit the dead-beat the regular work,the project movement way suit in finish what one starts disposable or the periodicity working pattern.The discrimination function and the project working pattern,may help us to raise the government procurement operating efficiency,the quality,the control cost,the coordinated aspects' benefit,causes the work to put under the standard mode,is advantageous implements under the sunlight in the government procurement the purchase and the surveillance,simultaneously,is also advantageous the staff who involves the government procurement movement in the protection.This article explores the project management pattern and the method,completely or the part applies it during the government procurement concrete service execution,solves in the government procurement process to affect the purchase quality,the cost,the efficiency and so on many factors,the promotion sunlight purchase movement effect with expands its society exemplary role.


Mass spectrometry is frequently used to analyze complex oligosaccharides and glycopeptides. The spectra of glycans can be complicated and difficult to interpret without reference data. Unfortunately, no libraries of suitably pure and homogeneous standards have so far been compiled. The web‐based tool GLYCO‐FRAGMENT allows the generation of all theoretically possible MS relevant fragments of oligosaccharides as defined using the extended IUPAC nomenclature. The main focus of GLYCO‐FRAGMENT is to support the manual assignment of all peaks contained in mass spectra of complex carbohydrates. The service is available at http://www.dkfz.de/spec/projekte/fragments/.


Metagenomics is the study of environmental microbial communities and has various applications and implications in biological research. This paper aims to study the role of microbial communities in cattle rumen and their relation to probiotic diet supplement usage as part of the EU H2020 MetaPIat project l1MetaPlat, http://www.metaplat.eu. In this research, we proposed and evaluated a computational framework to classify 16S rRNA samples from Bos taurus (cattle) rumen microbiome into a diet phenotype. We performed analysis by benchmarking various phylogeny-driven methods based on integration of biological domain knowledge of relationships and non-phylogenetic methods based on the raw abundances. The integrative approach incorporating phylogenetic tree structure into machine learning (ML) modelling achieved a high predictive performance with Accuracy of 0.925 and Kappa of 0.900 for classifying cattle microbiomes into diets supplemented with oil, nitrate, a combination and controls.


Trace formulas have been one of the most powerfull tools in spectral geometry. This article is an invitation to spectral geometry via trace formulas paradigm. The main goal of the present survey is to give some classical results concerning trace formulas in Riemannian geometry and to present some nice applications in conformal geometry and in dynamical systems. More precisely, we explain very recent results concerning the study of the geodesic flows on manifolds with negative variable curvature via the semi-classical zeta functions for contact Anosov flows.


Different methods of inducing recovery after brain damage and different mechanisms that might mediate the induced recovery have been proposed. One possible mechanism involves the ability of one part of the brain to take over the function of another. We show here in rats that (1) bar‐pressing behaviour to eliminate an aversive stimulus, which becomes dramatically impaired after bilateral lesion of the frontal primary motor ‐ sensory cortex, is recovered when the animals receive an electrical intracranial stimulation in the ventral tegmental nucleus of the brain contingent on an adequate response during performance in the behavioural task, (2) in recovered animals an area in the posterior primary motor – sensory cortex, the hindlimb motor ‐ sensory cortex, shows a 35% increase in the number of fos‐like immunoreactive cells compared to non‐recovered animals, and (3) a bilateral lesion of this area in recovered animals reinstates the impairment in the performance of the behavioural task. These results indicate that an area of the cerebral cortex is able to assume the role of another area after induced recovery from brain damage.


The utility model provides a testing device for the hydraulic pitch system of a wind generating set, which relates to the technical field of wind power generation and aims to solve the problem of testing the hydraulic pitch system of the wind generating set. The device comprises a workbench, a rotating disc, a rotary encoder and two groups of simulation components; a rotating main shaft is arranged in the position of the axle center of the rotating disc; the rotating disc is rotationally arranged on the table-board of the workbench through the rotating main shaft; the rotating shaft of the rotary encoder is in coupling connection with the rotating main shaft of the rotating disc; each group of simulation components comprise a support saddle, a hydraulic cylinder driven by a single piston rod, a guide plate and a flange; the two guide plates in the two groups of simulation components are axisymmetrically fixed on the disc surface of the rotating disc respectively; the hydraulic cylinder is rotationally mounted on the workbench through the support saddle; the rotating axes of the hydraulic cylinder is perpendicular to the table-board of the workbench, and the hydraulic oil port thereof is provided with a control valve block; a piston rod is in rotational connection to the top of the flange; and the bottom of the flange is mounted on the plate surface of the guide plate in a sliding manner. The device provided by the utility model can simulate practical working conditions in laboratory environment.


The Qinting artificial lake is a multipurpose project for flood control detention and urban landscape.After analysis and calculation on water source and loss,the water from Wenshanli diversion works was determined as the makeup water source.The comprehensive approach of external pollution source control,water diversion and circulation project was adopted to keep the lake water quality.The design experience in water quantity and quality preservation has reference value to construct similar projects.


This paper proposes a novel fuzzy power quality indicator for representing the level of power quality status. In this work, we develop the fuzzy rules, degree membership function and inference rules for identifying the power quality level on six encountered types of power quality events. The traditional power quality indices are not performed well for assessing the status of the power quality because of their hard limits. Hence, this study develops the soft (human thinking like) indices for presenting the serious degree of power quality. Simulation results show the proposed fuzzy power quality indicator is suitable for representing the level of power quality events.


Introduction: Making writing relational 1 Socializing writing 2 Becoming a writer 3 Becoming rhetorical 4 Skill 5 Structure 6 Productivity 7 Disengagement 8 Containment 9 Leadership 10 A framework for social writing Conclusion: Concept + experience


This research is qualitative research that aims to determine the implementation of curriculum components at (Primary School) SDN Ketawanggede Malang, along with obstacles and problem solving. Research focuses on curriculum components related to implementation, constraints, and problem solving. Researchers try to enter naturally and give a message as a key instrument and select informants who know very well about the focus of the study. The informants of this research are the teacher, the deputy head of the curriculum section school, and the head of the SDN Ketawanggede Malang. The data source of this research is the data of interviews and observations (primary data) and documentation (secondary data). Data in this study were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. Data were analyzed through three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The results showed that the curriculum components which included the objectives, content, methods, and evaluation have been implemented well by SDN Ketawanggede Malang. This is proven by the achievement of the objectives of the curriculum and programs launched by schools. In its implementation, things still felt that needed to be changed or improved in order to achieve the national goals of education and improvement in accordance with existing field conditions. The results of this study are expected to be used as an evaluation or consideration for related parties as an effort to improve the implementation of curriculum components at SDN Ketawanggede Malang.


Objective To investigate the relationship between serum humoral immunity in women with severe pre-eclampsia and the levels of fetal nucleated red blood cells(FNRBC) in their peripheral blood. Methods Thirty-three pregnant women with severe preeclampsia and 20 normal pregnant women were included in this study.Serum levels of immunoglobulins(IgG,IgM,and IgA),and complements(C3,C4) were detected by immunoturbidimetry and Greiss reaction;FNRBCs were calculated by single density gradient centrifugation. Results In the study group,the quantity of FNRBCs was significantly greater than that in the control group(t=10.78,P0.05);The levels of IgG,IgM,and C3 were significantly lower(t=5.36-9.10,P0.05);The amount of FNRBCs was negatively correlated with the levels of IgG,IgM,and C3(r=-0.89——0.44,P0.05). Conclusion The increased number of FNRBC in the peripheral blood of pregnant women with severe preeclampsia is closely related to humoral immunity status.The increased leakage of fetal material into maternal blood and immunoregulation imbalance of the organism are likely to be the important factors contributing the occurrence and development of the condition.


New insight into the potential of practical solar cells can be given through alternative modeling approaches like Monte Carlo simulations. In the present work, the performance of three stacks of cells connected in series was examined at different levels of internal quantum efficiency. Incident photons, generated by employing the ASTM G173-03 and E490-00a data sets, are accounted for individually as they interact with the stack of cells. The values of the different bandgaps were chosen from a paper by K. Tanabe (2009), and the performance was studied based on photon dynamics.


Objective To develop a set of clinical intelligent guideline information system on medical order for medical insurance patients.Methods The embedded technology was applied for the monitoring of the behavior on medical order.The medical insurance policies and regulations were implemented using intelligent knowledge base.Results The static and passive subsequent punishment was changed into the dynamic and real-time preliminary guidance on monitoring of medical order to inform timely the clinical front line of order-makers of the latest change of policies and regulations.Conclusion The Information system enables the hospital to provide better service to patients with the medical insurance policy.


Gesture recognition is the most intuitive form of human-computer interface. Hand gestures provide a natural way for humans to interact with computers to perform a variety of different applications. However, factors such as complexity of hand gesture structures, differences in hand size, hand posture, and environmental illumination can influence the performance of hand gesture recognition algorithms. Considering the above factors, this paper aims to present a real time system for hand gesture recognition on the basis of detection of some meaningful shape-based features like orientation, center of mass, status of fingers, thumb in terms of raised or folded fingers of hand and their respective location in image. The internet is growing at a very fast pace. The use of web browser is also growing. Everyone has at least two or three most frequently visited website. Thus, in this paper, effectiveness of the gesture recognition and its ability to control the browser via the recognized hand gestures are experimented and the results are analyzed.


One of the main goals of periodontal treatment is to regenerate tissue from the periodontal ligament (PDL). Ideal periodontal healing is achieved by the promotion of PDL cells 1-4) . PDL cells have a potential to promote tissue regeneration through their various activities, such as migration, proliferation, osteoblast-like differentiation, cementoblast-like differentiation, and periodontal ligament fibroblasts. The main purpose in periodontal regeneration therapy is to regenerate periodontal tissue with human periodontal ligament fibroblast (hPDLF) being essential in this process.1) Melcher et al 5) . reported that the phenotypes of cells re-collected from the root surface (such as gingival epithelium, gingival lamina propria, periodontal ligament, cementum, and alveoloar bone) determine the characteristics and quality of regeneration. This theory forms the biological basis of guided tissue regeneration (GTR). For periodontal regeneration, the ability of hPDLF cells to divide into various cells is important. Comparing the expression of hPDLF in the presence of a periodontal infection is essential for determining if the functions and roles of hPDLF cells can be used in periodontal regeneration therapy. The most abundant cell in periodontal connective tissues is the gingival fibroblast. Periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLF) and gingival fibroblasts (GF) have distinct functional activities in the regeneration and repair of periodontal tissues as well as in inflammatory periodontal diseases 6-10) . Generally, the teeth extracted from severe periodontitis patients have no PDL. It should be noted that hGF can be


Nairobi - A Swiss landmine-clearance organisation, Fondation Suisse de Deminage
(FSD),
said on Wednesday that a survey was urgently needed of areas strewn with
unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Ituri District, northeastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC).


Abstract Circular dichroism and optical activity are well known manifestations of optical activity. In recent years several novel types of optical activity have been observed. An achiral system bathed in an intense beam of circularly polarized light shows chiral behaviour which can be detected as circular dichroism or optical rotation. In another type of induced circular dichroism, a chiral solvent is used to induce chirality. Theories of natural and induced optical activity are reviewed within a unified framework using quantum electrodynamics. Chiral discrimination refers to the dependence of the interaction energy of two chiral molecules upon the relative handedness of the two species. The inter-molecular interaction can be modified by the presence of an intense radiation field. Theories of discriminatory interactions are discussed within a quantum-electrodynamical viewpoint.


A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method is developed and validated for the determination of Montelukast Sodium (Montelukast) in bulk drug and pharmaceutical dosage form. The chromatographic determination was performed on Agilent 1220 Infinity LC with EZ chrome elite software with variable wavelength detector. The separation was conducted by using Zobrax Eclipse XDB-C18 column (4.6×150×5µm) with mobile phase consisting Methanol:Acetonitrile:Water (60:30:10). The mobile phase was delivered at the flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The eluent was monitored at wavelength 344 nm and found a sharp and symmetrical peak with retention time 3.582. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, system suitability, and stability. The method was found to be linear over the concentration range 5-30µg/ml with coefficient R 2 - 0.999. The developed HPLC technique is precise, specific, accurate and stable. Statistical analysis proves that the method is reproducible, selective and suitable to be applied for analysis of montelukast sodium in commercial pharmaceutical dosage form for routine quality control application.


Bacterial pathogens associated with epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) in fishes in Assam were studied. A Widespread outbreak of EUS was recorded in the Barak Valley region af Assam. Puntius conchornius, Mystus vittatus, Macrognathus aculeatus and Chama punctata were widely affected with the condition. Aeromonas hydrophila was found to be the chief etiological agent followed by Pseudomonas, Klebstella and Staphylococcus spp. The isolates were highly sensitive to chloramphenicol, norfloxacin, nalidixic acid and tetracycline.


Procurement can be seen as a key element in any organisational corporate strategy. The development of a procurement strategy is examined, discussing insights gained in the application of such a policy within an international drinks and leisure organisation.