Objective A link between adverse childhood experience (ACE) in early life and subsequent asthma is suggested, but existing studies are often based on parent-reported data for both exposure and outcome. We aimed to examine the association of ACE in early life (bereavement, parental chronic somatic illness, or psychiatric illness/suicide attempt) with childhood asthma, using registry information of exposures and outcome. Methods We used registry data of 466 556 children born in Denmark, 1997–2004. ACE and asthma diagnosis or medication was obtained from the Danish National Patient or Prescription Registry. We used multinomial logistic regression to examine the association between ACE in early life and phenotypes of childhood asthma, which we empirically estimated using group-based trajectory modeling. We adjusted for year of birth, maternal age, smoking, place of living, parity, parental education and atopic status; we imputed missing data using multiple imputations with chained equations. Results We identified four asthma trajectories: early onset (before age 3) transient asthma, late onset (3 years or later) asthma, early onset persistent asthma, and never/infrequent asthma. Girls exposed to at least one ACE before the age of 2 years, compared to the non-exposed, had higher odds of being assigned to the early-onset transient asthma group (odds ratio (OR) 1.13 [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.04–1.24]), the late-onset asthma group (OR 1.28 [95% CI: 1.11–1.48]) or the early-onset persistent asthma group (OR 1.27 [95% CI: 1.08–1.48]) compared to the never/infrequent asthma group. Similar results were seen for boys, OR 1.16 [95% CI: 1.08–1.25], OR 1.11 [95% CI: 0.98–1.25], and OR 1.34 [95% CI: 1.20–1.51] respectively. The odds remained largely the same in imputed and unadjusted models. Conclusion In a Danish nationwide population four asthma trajectories were identified, in agreement with clinical studies. ACE in early life was associated with all asthma phenotypes for both boys and girls.


The author examines and describes how agrarian reform is realized during different government periods. To do that, policy, and legal documents, directly or indirectly related to agrarian reform, is analysed. This research reveals that attempt at agrarian reform up to present is focussed developing policies aiming to restructure land ownership and utilization (land reform).   Another finding is that the promulgation of Law No. 11 of 2020 (Law on Job Creation) tends to shift the focus more on granting easy access to land for development purposes. This change of policy priority will have dire consequence to access to land for the poor and most likely increase agrarian conflicts.


Topotecan (TPT), an anticancer drug has been evaluated for its spermatotoxicity. Four doses of TPT, viz., 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 mg/kg were administered i.p. to Swiss albino mice and 35-days' post-treatment sampling was performed for sperm abnormality, motility, count and gonadosomatic index (GSI).  TPT at 0.5 mg/kg  onwards induced reproductive toxicity as indicated by the dose-dependent significant increase in the frequency of abnormal sperm accompanied with the decrease in the motility and count. At higher doses of TPT (0.75 and 1.0 mg/kg), there was also a significant reduction  in the GSI compared with the solvent control (P<0.05). However, it was not a dose-dependent, indicating that there is no direct correlation between GSI and spermatotoxicity. Thus, TPT treatment needs to be taken care giving the priority to prevent/minimize reproductive toxicity, particularly in case of post-pubertal cancer patients. Various possible mechanisms of TPT-induced spermatotoxicity are discussed.


Altering the geotechnical properties by the addition of scrap rubber as a binding material in soil can be one of the method for soil stabilization. The production of scrap rubber tyres has been increased over the years in India. The scrap rubber material being left as a waste material can be later on used in soil so as to increase the properties of soil. Thus, it reduces the impact of rubber on environment. In current scenario the demand for infrastructures is increasing day by day. In some places the soil property is very loose and the foundation design is not suitable due to poor bearing capacity of soil. Hence we need to modify the property of soil. We are mixing the scrap rubber material in the powder form and chips form. These materials are mixed in different proportions and find the variation of these proportions in soil is identified. It is low cost method for altering the geotechnical properties of soil.


To evaluate the society system scientifically and make the assessment method accord with fact,it is necessary to ameliorate the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) method.Firstly,the experts don't need to evaluate the objects by identified values,that is,they can mark the objects in a range by 1~9 sign method.Secondly,an extension analytical value is identified for an evaluated object by the extension method to analyze association degree and make pattern recognition.Finally,based on the established fuzzy evaluation matrix,the final evaluation is done by AHP.And the extension fuzzy AHP model is established,which is used to synthetically assess the urban communication culture system of three cities in Liaoning China.


According to Study on Evaluating Standards of "P.E. Health"to Middle and Primary School Students Individual in China, this paper reveals the situation and features of middle school students'body shapes and physiological functions. This offers reference grounds for relevant departments to have P.E. health classes more practically.


Low-power and Lossy Networks (LLNs) comprise nodes characterised by constrained computational power, memory, and energy resources. The LLN nodes empower ubiquitous connections amongst numerous devices (e.g. temperature, humidity, and turbidity sensors, together with motors, valves and other actuators) to sense, control and store properties of their environments. They are often deployed in hostile, unattended, and unfavourable conditions. Securing them often becomes very challenging. The extent of interconnected LLN devices poses a series of routing threats (e.g. wormhole, grayhole, DIO suppression, and increase rank attacks). Consequently, an efficient and effective intrusion detection system (IDS) is of utmost importance in identifying anomalous activities in the IPv6 over Low-powered Wireless Personal Area Networks (6LoWPAN). This article proposes a robust Adversarial Reinforcement Learning (ARL) framework to generate efficient IDSs for evolving data environments. The integration of ARL and incremental machine-learning facilitates the generation of resource-efficient and robust IDS detectors. We demonstrate in particular how such an approach, leveraging notions of 'concept drift' detection and adaptation, can handle inevitable changes in the environment, giving the IDS best chances of detecting attacks in the current profile. The range of routing attacks considered is the most comprehensive to date. For the first time, Black-box and Grey-box ML-based adversaries aiming to destabilise the 6LoWPAN are distinguished and addressed.


SECCAO DE TECNOLOGIA AGRICOLA, INSTITUTO AGRONOMICO DE CAMPINAS. SUMMARY Determinations of colour, viscosity, and speed of sedimentation in samples of starch prepared from fresh cassava roots, and also from roots stored during 24, 48, and 72 hours at field condition and also at room temperature were undertaken using several cassava varieties. It has been noted that the stored roots gave progressively worse starch in relation to colour and type of sedimentation. Viscosity is also affected, but in a few cases starch quality did not became worse. Changes in starch quality preceded the occurrence of the characteristic blue veins of stored cassava roots. From the observations it is con-clued that storage of cassava roots longer than 24 hours is not advisable.


bleachabilityhas notyetbeenestablished. In this study, we elected to determine how the extent of Efficient use of C102 during ECF chemical pulp bleaching is delignification and pulping process variables (conventional an important concern for mills employing such bleaching vs. EMCC ® kraft pulping) affect the bleachability of kraft technology. Efficient use requires a fundamental pulps during a D(EO) delignification sequence and to relate understanding about the reactions of C102 with residual observed bleachability differences to differences in residual lignin. The objective of this study was to define a lignin structure. Residual lignin structure was characterized relationship between unbleached residual lignin structure by applying advanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and pulp bleachability during a D(EO) sequence. This has methods. been accomplished by extensively characterizing the residual lignin structure in a series of unbleached EXPERIMENTAL conventional and EMCC ® kraft pulps and relating this structure to measures of bleachability. Additionally, Kraft Pulping functional group changes in residual lignins isolated from these chemical pulps and treated with chlorine dioxide have The kraft pulping experiments were performed at Kamyr's been related to the measures of bleachability, pilot facilities in Glens Falls, NY. Established procedures were used to simulate conventional and EMCC ® kraft Results from this study suggest that although free phenolic pulping 5(.5). The chip source used for all pulps was a Pinus structures are believed to be the main site of attack by C102 taeda tree cut in north Georgia, USA. This tree was their content in the unbleached residual lignin cannot simply debarked, chipped and carefully screened (cMp thickness be related to the observed bleaching response. Lower kappa was between 2' and 6 mm). Table 1 lists the pulping number pulps were found to contain a greater content of conditions used and properties of the pulps. free phenolic structures yet the bleaching experiments, in Table 1. Relevant pulping conditions and pulp properties general, found that as the kappa number is decreased there from the conventional and EMCC ®kraft pulps. is a slight increase in TAC consumption per unit kappa CookType ......... :I' Conventional _aft EMCC_ ............... . ............... number reduction in the D(EO) sequence. Reactivity studies PulpID :' C28 C18 C13 E29 Ei8 ........El4 of C10 2 with residual lignin suggest that residual lignin in InitialEA, %NaOH :i 19.7 19.7 22.0 12.0 12.0 12.0 higher kappa number pulp is more reactive towards C102, Co-Current which is consistent with the observed bleaching response. EAcharge, % 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Additional structural differences between these unbleached Max.Temp., °C 170.0 170.0 170.0 157.5 161.0 168.6 residual lignins include the content of aryl ether linkages H-Factor i 1715 2601 4238 1651 2229 4238 and the amount of condensed aromatic units. How these Kappa Number i 28.0 18.5 13.0 29.1 18.5 14.5 Viscosity, 33.6 17.5 10.9 51.8 35.4 18.1 . structural features may relate to the observed bleaching mPa.s ,i response is discussed. V/Kmilo _J 1.20 0.95 0.84 1.78 1.91 1.25 Screened :: , 45.9 42.8 41.0 i 45.6 43.8 40.9 Yield, % ! All cooks employed white liquor having a suifidity of 27.4%. Pulp ID'S are designated by the first letter of the cook type followed by the kappa number. Bleaching 2-chloro-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl1,3,2-dioxaphospholane and was added to the lignin solution just prior to being analyzed The D stage bleaching was performed in a Quantum (50 uL). The spectrometer (Bruker 400 MHz DMX) Technologies mixer at 45°C and 10% consistency for 30 recording conditions used were exactly as described in the minutes at a kappa factor of 0. t87_-_+0.05.The (EO) stage literature (45° pulse, 25 sec pulse delay, 10,000 Hz sweep was done in a peg mixer at 70°C and 10% consistency for 60 width, 200 transients, and using an inverse gated decoupling minutes with a charge of sodium hydroxide corresponding to pulse sequence). 50% of the D total active chlorine (TAC) charge. The 02 pressure was 60 psig initially and was decreased by 12 psi Quantitative laC-NMR every 5 minutes. Quantitative _3C-NMR experiments were performed Residu_ Lignin Isolation following literature procedures7(7_). Roughly 100 mg of the residual lignin sample was dissolved into -0.6mi of DMSOResidual lignin was isolated from the various pulps by d6 and filtered into a 5 mm nmr tube. All spectra were employing an improved version of an acid hydrolysis recorded at 50°C using a Bruker 400 MHz DMX instrument. procedure that has frequently been used in the literature to Typical recording conditions were employed (90 pulse, 10 isolate lignin from both wood and pulp _,9,1_.q). The pulp sec pulse delay, 25,000 Hz sweep width, 8000-16,000 was refluxed for one hour in a 9:1 mixture of dioxane:water transients, and using an inverse gated decoupling pulse with an HC1 concentration of 0.05N. The dissolved lignin sequence). was collected by removing the dioxane and recovering the precipitate after acidifying the aqueous solution to a pH of RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 2.5. The yield of lignin ranged from 30 to 45% based on the theoretical amount of lignin in pulp as determined by the BleaehabiUty of Kraft Pulps kappa number/klason lignin relationship (% Klason lignin=0.15*kappa number). Five pulps were delignified in a DOEO) sequence. These were conventional kraft (CK) pulps having unbleached Residual Lignin Reactivity Experiments with CIO: kappa numbers of 28.0 and 18.5 (designated C28 and C18) and simulated EMCC ®pulps having kappa numbers of 29.1, Dried residual lignin (80.0 mg)was accurately weighed and 18.5 and 14.5 (designated E29, El8, and El4). Duplicate placed in a small reaction flask. A purified dioxane:water samples of each pulp were independently bleached. The (9:1) solvent mixture was added to each of the residual averaged data are summarized in Table 2 and discussed lignins until dissolved (25.0 ml). A charge of aqueous GlO 2 below with reference to how bleachability is affected by was then added to the reaction flask. (The aqueous GlO 2 reducing the unbleached kappa number and differences in was made carefully so an insignificant amount of C12 was bleachability between conventional and EMCC ®pulps. present in the C102 solution). The reaction was allowed to proceed for 30 minutes at room temperature. After the Table 2. Bleachability parameters for conventional and reaction, a 1.0 ml aliquot of the solution was titrated for EMCC®pu!Ps: residual GlO2. The reaction was terminated by bubbling Parameter Conventional ........ ... EMCC'_ '......... nitrogen through the solution for 30 minutes under vacuum Unbleached Kappa No. 28.0 18.5 29.1 18.5 14.5 to remove unreacted C10 2. The solution was then freezei Kappa No. after D 11.0 9.6 11.0 7.5 6.0 dried and the recovered product analyzed by quantitative TAC/AKappa i 0.30 0.38 0.30 0.31 0.33 3_P-NMRspectroscopy. For the 0.05 kappa factor i i experiments,0.127 gramsof CIO2 was addedper gramof KappaNo.after(EO) i 3.8 3.8 3.3 3.0 2.3 TAC/AKappa i 0.21 0.23 0.21 0.22 0.23 residual lignin. _B n'ghmess after (EO) · 47,4 49.9 49.8 50.2 ........... 53.5 ....: Quantitative 3_P-NMR Quantitative 3_p-NMR spectroscopy was used to analyze the De_gnification in the D stage. residual lignins following literature protocol (_6). Briefly, 25 mg of lignin was accurately weighed and dissolved in 400 The C10 2 consumption per unit of kappa number reduction uL of a t.6:1 solvent mixture of pyridine:chloroform-d. An increased as the kappa number of the conventional kraft internal standard (0.60 mg cyclohexanol) and relaxation pulps was decreased. Expressed as TAC per unit of kappa reagent (0.53 mg Cr(acac)3) were added as 150 uL in the number reduction, it was 0.30 for the 28 kappa pulp, same solvent mixture. The phosphitylating reagent used was increasing to 0.38 at 18.5 kappa. In the case of the EMCC ® pulps, TAC consumption per unit of kappa number results of elemental analysis. Although limited structural reduction in the D stage was only increased from 0.30 to data can be inferred from these measurements it is 0.33 when the kappa number was decreased from 29 to 14. interesting to note the differences in H content for the When the unbleached kappa number was 18.5, significantly EMCC ® and conventional kraft pulps. The lower lignin more lignin was removed from the EMCC ®pulp than from conventional and EMCC ® kraft pulps exhibited increasing the CK pulp. This difference between CK and EMCC ®pulps amounts of sulfur for the lower kappa number pulps. The at low kappa numbers is of interest inasmuch as it suggests methoxyl contents for the EMCC ® pulps appear to decrease that there are important structural differences between the with kappa number, whereas the methoxyl content of the two types of residual lignin, even though the kappa numbers conventional kraft pulps was relatively insensitive to the are more similar after a subsequent oxidative extraction extent of delignification. stage, as discussed below. Table 3. Methoxyl and elemental analysis of isolated Delignification in the D(EO) partial sequence, residual lignin. ! LigninID,, C H O ..... S OC'H3" ' t For both pulp types, TAC consumption per unit of kappa ' c28 100 97.2 31.5....... 0.83 6.20 number reduction increased slightly as unbleached kappa els 100 92.3 30.6 1.07 6.26 C13 100 90.5 33.6 1.08 6.46 number decreased. Brightness increased slightly, and in the case of the EMCC ® pulps, the kappa number after the E29 100 92.7 30.7 0.95 7.17 extraction stage decreased significantly, from 3.3 at 29 El8 100 92.9 30.3 1.09 7.23 El4 100 92.8 30.9 1.62 6.50 kappa to 2.3 at 14.5 kappa. Lignin ID's are designated by the first letter of the cook type'"followed by the kappa number. Summary of observations on bleachability. Decreasing unbleached kappa number does not seriously _3C-NMR analysis of residual _gnins. impair


Objective: Describe physicians' burnout at hospital of Thu Duc district, 2019; Analysis some affecting factors toward physicians' burnout at hospital of Thu Duc district, 2019. Research methodology: cross sectional study is implemented at hospital of Thu Duc district from March to October, 2019. Research objects include physicians, hospital's managers, an available hospital's regulations and policies. Results: Prevalence of physicians' burnout is high in all three main areas of symptoms which are 29,7% (Exhaustion); 12,2% (increased mental distance from one's job) và 3% (reduced professional efficacy). Factors related services delivery, health workforce, finance, physical hospital environment, ledership and governance are contributing to increase burnout among physicians. Conclusion: Hospital's managers need to review and/or revise current hospital's human and financial regulations to minimise affeting factors toward burnout. Then, hospital environment needs to be renovated and upgraded friendly. Last, classes of coping stress in hospital are in need in order to prevent physicians' burnout. Keywords: Burnout, physician, district hospital.


Abstract This study was made to discover what aftereffect music had on pulse rates and work output of short duration. Pulse rates and bicycle ergometer riding times of 15 subjects were measured after three experimental conditions: fast music, slow music, and no music. Statistical procedures, using the analysis of variance, indicated no significant difference among the effects of the three experimental conditions on the measured variables.


A method is described for the extraction of arthropods from soil. Eleven soil samples from pastures in the neighbourhood of Moshi, Tanganyika, and at Kawanda, Uganda, yielded collections representing a population of 54,565 arthropods per sq. metre in the top 6 ins. of soil or, if three samples are adjusted in conformity with biological indications, of 38,417 per sq. metre. Nine soil samples from coffee and cassava plantations and from fallow ground gave collections representing a population of 24,423 arthropods per sq. metre in the top 12 ins. (in some cases 8 ins.) of soil. Twenty-five soil samples from a pasture near Cambridge, examined in a strictly comparable manner, gave collections representing a population of 90,238 arthropods per sq. metre in the top 6 ins. of soil. It appears that the arthropod population in the uppermost 6 ins. of East African pasture soil is much smaller than, and only about half as large as, that in an English pasture. The causes and consequences of the smaller arthropod population of tropical soil are briefly discussed, and a connection is suggested between the meagre arthropod (and earthworm) population and the large amount of ligneolis material found in the soil samples examined, This connection may also bear on the paucity of humus in some tropical soils.


Cell culture vessel having a base plate having at least one cell compartment with at least one sensor and at least one electronic module slot for receiving an electronic module, and at least one electronic module containing a measuring electronics, wherein the at least one electronic module as a whole to the electronics module slot is plugged, so that the electronic module is at least partially applied to the base plate, and wherein upon insertion of the electronic module to the electronic module slot, an electrical connection between the transmitter and the at least one sensor can be produced.


WITHDRAWAL by Lindsay N. Johnson (Under the Direction of Gary Lautenschlager) ABSTRACT This study explored applicant attribution-reaction theory (AART) to examine women's reactions to a selection system. Comparisons in reactions between men and women were evaluated based on intentions to reapply (withdrawal). Participants were given negative feedback about their performance in two conditions. The first condition, feedback was provided in a "threatening" or masculine domain while in the second condition feedback was provided in an "identity safe" or feminine domain. Results indicated little support for threat condition, and demonstrated mixed support for the role of gender on women's withdrawal. Marginal support was found for differences in attributions between men and women towards their performance. A partial mediator (self-perceptions) and moderators (gender centrality, discrimination beliefs, stereotype threat) were investigated. Gender centrality and stereotype threat were informing variables, and were most relevant for females compared to males. In sum, the salience of gender appeared impact women's impressions of a selection procedure.


The use of machine learning (ML) technologies to predict server workloads and proactively adjust the amount of computational resource to maximize the quality of services is an enormous challenge. In this study, we introduce an ITU-T Y.3177 compliant framework for autonomous resource control and management of virtualized network infrastructures. Based on this framework, we propose (1) an architecture for a data analytics system consisting of learning and prediction components, and (2) a two-stage intelligent model pipelining mechanism for the learning component that cascades two ML models, namely nonlinear regression and multiple regression, to understand the trends of the fluctuations in CPU usage of a network node and predict the peak CPU usage of the node in the time granularity of seconds. We evaluated the proposed mechanism in an experimental network that installed in-network caching nodes as network functions. We prove that our ML models are capable of performing agile data analytics in the time granularity of seconds and can reduce the prediction errors of peak CPU usage.


Dengue fever is a disease which is transmitted and caused by Aedes Aegypti mosquitos. Dengue has become a serious health issue in all over the world especially in those countries who are situated in tropical or subtropical regions because rain is an important factor for growth and increase in the population of dengue transmitting mosquitos. For a long time, data mining algorithms have been used by the scientists for the diagnosis and prognosis of different diseases which includes dengue as well. This was a study to analyses the attack of dengue fever in different areas of district Jhelum, Pakistan in 2011. As per our knowledge, we are unaware of any kind of research study in the area of district Jhelum for diagnosis or analysis of dengue fever. According to our information, we are the first one researching and analyzing dengue fever in this specific area. Dataset was obtained from the office of Executive District Officer EDO (health) District Jhelum. We applied DBSCAN algorithm for the clustering of dengue fever. First we showed overall behavior of dengue in the district Jhelum. Then we explained dengue fever at tehsil level with the help of geographical pictures. After that we have elaborated comparison of different clustering algorithms with the help of graphs based on our dataset. Those algorithms include k-means, K-mediods, DBSCAN and OPTICS.


The promise of active nanophotonics technology relies on the confinement and control of light at the nanoscale. Confinement via plasmonics, dielectric resonators, and waveguides can be complemented with materials whose optical properties can be controlled using nonlinear effects. Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) exhibit strong optical nonlinearities in their near zero permittivity spectral region, on the femtosecond time-scale. Harnessing full control over the nonlinear response requires a deeper understanding of the process. To achieve this, we develop a self-consistent time-domain model for the nonlinear optical response of TCOs and implement it into a three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain code. We compare and tune our simulation tools against recently published experimental results for intense laser irradiation of thin indium tin oxide (ITO) films. Finally, by simulating intense laser irradiation of ITO-based plasmonic metasurfaces, we demonstrate the full power of our approach. As expected, we find validating the significant enhancement of the nonlinear response of an ITO-based metasurface over bare ITO thin films. Our work thus enables quantitative nanophotonics design with epsilon-near-zero materials.


For successful reconstruction of osteochondral lesions of the talus, the anatomic configuration of the talar edge must be respected. This study evaluated the radiographic configuration of the talar edge in the anterior‐posterior (AP) view by analyzing medial and lateral talar edge angles and radii in 81 patients with a true AP view and without ankle pathology. The mean lateral talar edge angle was 91.8°, and the mean medial talar edge angle was 110.0°. The medial frontal talar edge radius was 4.8 mm and the lateral 3.5 mm, respectively. No correlation between angle and radius was found. These results revealed a significant difference between the medial and the lateral talar edge configuration. This may be due to the three‐dimensional function of the human ankle joint. No study so far has addressed these differences radiologically. These differences should be addressed in the reconstruction of osteochondral lesions and be included in the preoperative planning. Clin. Anat. 22:261–266, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The authors report on x-ray absorption measurements performed on Zn1−xMnxO (x=0.05,0.25) at the Mn K edge (6539eV) under high pressure. Mn is found to substitute for Zn both in the low pressure wurtzite phase and in the high pressure rocksalt phase. The Mn–O bond length is determined to be 2.02±0.01A at ambient conditions, with a compressibility similar to that of Zn–O in pure ZnO, being dictated by the ZnO crystalline environment. The phase transition is reversible in Zn0.95Mn0.05O, but not in Zn0.75Mn0.25O. The authors demonstrate that fluorescence detected x-ray absorption under high pressure can be used to characterize structural changes around minority elements.


Introduction Narrow band ultra violet-B (NBUVB) phototherapy is an effective and safe mode of therapy for chronic plaque psoriasis. However the degree of action has been shown to vary with various factors such as age, extent of the lesions, tolerance of NBUVB and duration of the illness Objective This study aimed at describing factors influencing the response to NBUVB among patients with chronic plaque psoriasis treated at the District General Hospital (DGH), Matara. Method A descriptive study carried out at the Dermatology Unit, DGH, Matara, among a convenient sample of patients with chronic plaque psoriasis who received NBUVB during a period of one and half years. The response to NBUVB was calculated as the difference between the initial and the post treatment psoriasis area severity index (PASI) scores as a percentage of the initial score. Age, initial PASI score, cumulative dose, erythema response and disease duration were assessed for their influence on the response to NBUVB using multiple regression analysis. Results A total of 63 patients were included and 46% were between 41-60 years of age. The study results showed that 36(57%) patients had 75-89% (PASI-75) reduction in the post treatment PASI, indicating that they had 75-89% clearance of skin lesions following the NBUVB treatment. Age, initial PASI score, cumulative dose and maximum erythema response dose did not show a significant correlation with the response rate. Only the duration of the illness had a significant moderate correlation with response rate (standardized coefficient (beta) = -0 .476, p = 0.01). Conclusion Efficacy of the NBUVB therapy is high if the duration of the illness is shorter. Therefore, NBUVB needs to be considered as a treatment option early in the disease.


We analyze the electron-hole (exciton) ground state associated with the first peak in the optical absorption spectra of semiconductor quantum dots. We assume the effective mass approximation and a dot radius R on the order of the exciton Bohr radius aB. A Hamiltonian diagonalization method which accounts for the exciton's kinetic, direct Coulomb, and surface polarization energies is used. We obtain a representation of the exciton ground-state wavefunction and a value for its energy using a basis set consisting of only three composite infinite spherical well wavefunctions. We discuss the precision obtained by this basis set by comparing with results from a much more extended basis set. Our results are used to predict the radius-dependent energy of the first peak in visible-light absorption spectra for CdSe quantum dots. Our analysis accurately describes the experimental data for dots with radii in the range aB


Many blackouts occur with time scales that would permit emergency control by the operators. However, in order to perform this control the operators need to quickly know the state of system and implement timely, corrective control actions. This paper describes several visualization techniques that can be used to provide this information. Techniques discussed include the use of dynamically sized pie charts on transmission lines, the use of transmission line flow animation, and the use of contouring.


Research on Internet of Things (IoT) application systems, which store data collected by various sensor devices to a cloud and utilize the data through statistical analysis and machine learning, has been conducted extensively. Several platforms have been proposed to support the development of IoT application systems, which enable system administrators to easily manage edge hardware and group sensors. However, conventional development support platforms do not provide functions for secure data management, such as encryption processing when handling confidential information and flexible access control among members of a research group. In this paper, we propose a mechanism for securely and easily encrypting data and sharing data using a Secure Configuration Server. We have been developing "SINETStream," an IoT application development support tool provided by National Institute of Informatics, Japan. The secure configuration server can co-work with the SINETStream-based IoT systems. This mechanism enables easy sharing of confidential information by securely managing data encryption keys within the system, which has been complicated with conventional methods. In addition, our mechanism provides users with confidential information in an encrypted form, so that only authorized users can view the data.


Point mutations within the BCR-ABL kinase domain represent the most common mechanism of resistance to imatinib in patients with CML. Preclinical studies have shown that dasatinib (BMS-354825) is effective at inhibiting the kinase activity of imatinib-resistant BCR-ABL mutants with the notable exception of the T315I mutation, which remains highly resistant to imatinib, dasatinib, and AMN107 (Gorre et al, Science 2001; Shah et al, Science 2004; Weisberg et al, Cancer Cell, 2005). Clinical data from Phase I and II studies of dasatinib in CML confirms the in vitro findings. Each of three imatinib-resistant patients bearing the T315I mutation (CP=1; AP=2) did not achieve objective hematologic or cytogenetic responses during treatment with dasatanib on a Phase I study. Additionally, each of two phase II patients with the T315I mutation (CP=1; LBC=1) treated at UCLA showed no evidence of objective response. We have also detected the T315I mutation in each of two cases of acquired resistance in a phase II (LBC =2) study, and in seven of nine patients with acquired resistance to dasatinib in phase I and II studies (CP=1; MBC=3; LBC=2; Ph+ ALL=1). Notably, we detected a novel BCR-ABL mutation, T315A, in one of the two patients who relapsed without a detectable T315I mutation. The patient is a 53 year-old female whose chronic phase CML had progressed to myeloid blast phase while being treated with imatinib. The imatinib-resistant mutation M244V was identified prior to dasatinib treatment. The patient achieved a major hematologic response (


It is found that the multistage decision algorithm is similar to ant colony optimization (ACO) for image segmentation with active contour models (ACM). A new algorithm based on ACM is proposed in the paper, which converts the problem of image segment to a problem of searching for the best path in a constrained region and thus provides a new approach to obtain precise contour, The algorithm is then proved to be convergent with probability one, and will reach the best feasible boundary with minimum energy function value. Moreover, this algorithm can also be used to solve other mutational ACM problems. The simulation results show that the proposed approach is more effective than the genetic algorithm in literature.


Data prefetchers are common hardware structures that improve processor performance by hiding the long latency of DRAM memory accesses. In particular, data prefetchers predict the memory addresses of data that the program will access in the near future. From a machine learning perspective, the challenge is to accurately predict memory accesses that span across a huge address space. To address this challenge, this paper introduces a neural hierarchical sequence model that can accommodate the vast input space and that makes pure data addresses a viable feature for neural networks.


The purpose of this study is to evaluate the ultimate strength and ductility capacity of stiffened steel box columns failed by local and overall interaction instability under a constant compressive axial force and cyclic lateral loading. In a companion paper, a finite element formulation accounting for both geometrical and material non-linearity was developed to obtain cyclic hysteretic behaviour of such columns. In this paper, the effect of loading patterns on the cyclic inelastic behaviour is first studied; then, a parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of flange plate width–thickness ratio parameter, column slenderness ratio parameter, stiffener's equivalent slenderness ratio parameter, magnitude of axial load, and material type of stiffeners on the strength and ductility of the columns. Last but not least, empirical formulae of both the ultimate strength and ductility capacities are proposed for stiffened steel box columns, and the limit values of various parameters for the required ductility demand are also discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


With the improved accuracy of neutron star observational data, it is necessary to derive new equation of state where the crust and the core are consistently calcu-lated within a unified approach. For this purpose we describe non-uniform matter in the crust of neutron stars employing a compressible liquid-drop model, where the bulk and the neutron fluid terms are given from the same model as the one describing uniform matter present in the core. We then generate a set of fifteen unified equations of state for cold catalyzed neutron stars built on realistic modelings of the nuclear interaction, which belongs to two main groups: the first one derives from the phenomenological Skyrme interaction and the second one from χ EFT Hamiltonians. The confrontation of these model predictions allows us to investigate the model dependence for the crust properties, and in particular the effect of neutron matter at low density. The new set of unified equations of state is available at the CompOSE repository.


Bradford University Library was the first academic library in the United Kingdom to offer a self‐issue facility to its users. This article updates VINE 92 (September 1993) by tracing the development of the self‐issue facility at Bradford University Library during the last three years. It considers the possible implications for libraries and trends for future development.


A robust and efficient method for the synthesis of trisubstituted (Z)-chloroalkenes is described. A one-pot reaction of γ,γ-dichloro-α,β-enoyl sultams involving organocuprate-mediated reduction/asymmetric alkylation affords α-chiral (Z)-chloroalkene derivatives in moderate to high yields with excellent diastereoselectivity, and allylic alkylation of internal allylic gem-dichlorides is also demonstrated. This study provides the first examples of the use of allylic gem-dichlorides adjacent to the chiral center for novel 1,4-asymmetric induction.


The invention relates to a method for joining hollow profiled sections made of high-strength steel, in particular to form a motor vehicle frame, wherein the hollow profiled sections are non-positively and positively connected to each other in a connecting zone by means of crimping so as to prevent same from being pulled out, wherein one end of at least one of the hollow profiled sections comprises at least one connecting zone for the crimping process, the zone being soft during forming. Said soft connecting zone can be hardened during crimping if at least one of the profiled sections to be joined is made of hardenable steel and heated to an austenitizing temperature prior to crimping.


The Mauritian cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is widely used in biomedical research. Determining reference intervals for biochemical and haematological analytes provides an important tool for clinical diagnosis and pre‐clinical research.


The basic steps for creating a numerical tool to simulate the deformation and failure processes of complex technical objects (CTO) are presented. Calculations of shock loading of CTO both at low and high speeds, showing the efficiency of the numerical tools created are carried out.


Objective To study the relationship between MPO and NAT2 polymophisms and the susceptibility of the adult acute leukemia in Chinese Han population.Methods A 1∶1 paired case-control study of 139 patients of adult acute leukemia and 139 cancer-free hospital subjects as a control group(matched for age±5years and sex)was conducted to detect myeloperoxidase(MPO) and N-terminal acetyltransferase(NAT2) polymorphisms by PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP)techniques.Results A significant difference of genotpe frequency was observed between acute leukemia cases and controls(χ~2=7.026,P0.05,OR=0.505,95%CI=0.325~0.847)for MPO,and the mutant MPO genotype was associated with a decreased risk of acute leukemia.No difference of phenotype frequency between cases and controls for NAT2 was found,but the frequencies of NAT2*5 481T and NAT2*6 590A alleles in cases were higher than those in controls(P0.05).Conclusion The genetic polymorphism of MPO genotype might be cortributed to the susceptibility of adult acute leukemia in Chinese Han population.No association was observed between the NAT2 phenotype and the susceptibility of adult acute leukemia,but the relationship between the single nucleotide polymorphisms in the NAT2*5(C481T)and NAT2*6(G590A)alleles and the susceptibility to leukemia should be further studied.


Oral rush desensitization to egg: efficacy and safety. Clin Exp Allergy 2011: 41: 1289–96. 3. Nadeau KC, Schneider LC, Hoyte L, Borras I, Umetsu DT. Rapid oral desensitization in combination with omalizumab therapy in patients with cow's milk allergy. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2011: 127: 1622–4. 4. Schneider LC, Rachid R, LeBovidge J, Blood E, Mittal M, Umetsu DT. A pilot study of omalizumab to facilitate rapid oral desensitization in high-risk peanut-allergic patients. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2013: 132: 1367–74. 5. Bedoret D, Singh AK, Shaw V, et al. Changes in antigen-specific T cell number and function during oral desensitization in cow's milk allergy enabled with omalizumab. Mucosal Immunol 2012: 5: 267–76. 6. B egin P, Dominguez T, Wilson SP, et al. Phase 1 results of safety and tolerability in a rush oral immunotherapy protocol to multiple foods using Omalizumab. Allergy Asthma Clin Immunol 2014: 10: 7. 7. Buchanan AD, Green TD, Jones SM, et al. Egg oral immunotherapy in nonanaphylactic children with egg allergy. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2007: 119: 199–205. 8. Lowe PJ, Renard D. Omalizumab decreases IgE production in patients with allergic (IgE-mediated) asthma; PKPD analysis of a biomarker, total IgE. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2011: 72: 306–20. 9. Djukanovic R, Wilson SJ, Kraft M, et al. Effects of treatment with antiimmunoglobulin E antibody omalizumab on airway inflammation in allergic asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2004: 170: 583–93. 10. Morisset M, Moneret-Vautrin DA, Guenard L, et al. Oral desensitization in children with milk and egg allergies obtains recovery in a significant proportion of cases. A randomized study in 60 children with cow's milk allergy and 90 children with egg allergy. Eur Ann Allergy Clin Immunol 2007: 39: 9–12.


Objective To explore the effects of aminoguanidine on the advanced glycosylation end products and apoptosis in the kidney of diebetic rat.Methods The model was established by long term fat enriched and high energy diet ,lower dose of streptozotocin treated rats.Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups:induced diabetic rats(DM group),aminoguanidine treated diabetic rats(AG group) ,established the control group rats(CON group) at the same time.Aminoguanidine was administered to diabetic rats for 16 weeks.Contents of AGEs in cortex of kidney were measured and analysed.Examined morphological changes of the kidney of diabetic rats treated with aminoguanidine.Investigated the signal protein expression relating apoptosis of Bcl-2 and Bax.Results Under transmission electronic microscope,typical morphological changes of apoptosis were observed among renal tubular epithelial cells in DM groups.Immuno-histochemistry showed:in DM groups,the expression of Bcl-2、Bax increased significantly.By AG group treatment,the number of apoptotic cell and the level of expression of Bax decreased,the expression of Bcl-2 in increased.Compared with CON group,contents of AGEs in cortex of kidney of DM group significantly increased.By AG group treatment contents of AGEs decreased.Conclusion Aminoguanidine can reduce contents of AGEs in cortex of kidney of diabetic rat and regulate the apoptosis by promoting the expression of Bcl-2 and decreasing the expression of Bax.


Background: Chronic otitis media is a condition commonly presenting with tympanic membrane perforation and resulting in conductive hearing loss. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between the site and size of tympanic membrane perforation with the degree of hearing impairment in patients with inactive chronic otitis media of mucosal type. Methods: Hospital based cross sectional study of 174 patients with tympanic membrane perforation at government medical college, Alappuzha from November 2017 to March 2019. Patients were enrolled based on history and clinical examination findings. Images obtained by otoendoscopy were analyzed by measuring the percentage area of membrane perforation in relation to total area of the tympanic membrane using adobe acrobat area tool. Degree of hearing loss was calculated by pure tone audiometry test and calculating the average hearing thresholds at frequencies of 500Hz, 1000Hz, 2000Hz and 4000Hz. Results: The age distribution of patients ranged from 14 to 72 years with a mean age of 41.78years. Male to female ratio was 1.59:1. The degree of hearing loss increased as the size of the perforation increased which was statistically significant (p <0.001). Posterior quadrant perforations resulted in more hearing impairment than anterior quadrant perforations. Conclusion: The size of the tympanic membrane perforation is closely related to the degree of hearing loss and posterior quadrant perforations have more degree of hearing impairment than anterior quadrant perforations which signifies improvement in hearing in patients with chronic otitis media by reconstructive surgeries, especially for perforations involving the posterior quadrant.


The positive outcome of a trauma intervention depends on an intraoperative evaluation of inserted metallic implants. Due to occurring metal artifacts, the quality of this evaluation heavily depends on the performance of so-called Metal Artifact Reduction methods (MAR). The majority of these MAR methods require prior segmentation of the inserted metal objects. Therefore, typically a rather simple thresholding-based segmentation method in the reconstructed 3D volume is applied, despite some major disadvantages. With this publication, the potential of shifting the segmentation task to a learning-based, view-consistent 2D projection-based method on the downstream MAR's outcome is investigated. For segmenting the present metal, a rather simple learning-based 2D projection-wise segmentation network that is trained using real data acquired during cadaver studies, is examined. To overcome the disadvantages that come along with a 2D projection-wise segmentation, a Consistency Filter is proposed. The influence of the shifted segmentation domain is investigated by comparing the results of the standard fsMAR with a modified fsMAR version using the new segmentation masks. With a quantitative and qualitative evaluation on real cadaver data, the investigated approach showed an increased MAR performance and a high insensitivity against metal artifacts. For cases with metal outside the reconstruction's FoV or cases with vanishing metal, a significant reduction in artifacts could be shown. Thus, increases of up to roughly 3 dB w.r.t. the mean PSNR metric over all slices and up to 9 dB for single slices were achieved. The shown results reveal a beneficial influence of the shift to a 2D-based segmentation method on real data for downstream use with a MAR method, like the fsMAR. The nature of the method further suggests the same beneficial behavior for all (also recent data-driven) MAR methods, that for now comprise a 3D-volume-based segmentation step for subsequent inpainting.


The nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells 1 (NF-κB1) is a master regulator of immune and inflammatory responses.[1][1],[2][2] NF-κB1 belongs to the NF-κB/Rel family of transcription factors that consists of five members in humans: NF-κB1 (p105/p50), NF-κB2 (p100/p52


A device for limiting the intrusion of a shower curtain into a shower enclosure includes a clamp portion for releasably engaging the shower curtain rod, and an tail portion depending from the clamp portion for impinging on the shower curtain and urging it outwardly. The clamp includes an inverted U configuration adapted to extend about the curtain rod. The U-configuration includes one leg that is joined integrally to the tail portion, and the other leg is provided with a detent tip. A detent lever extends from the tail portion proximate to the detent tip, and includes an array of closely spaced detent teeth adapted to engage the detent tip. The detent lever is resiliently biased toward the detent tip, so that the tip remains engaged with the teeth unless otherwise disturbed. The two legs of the clamp may be squeezed together to engage the curtain rod frictionally to immobilize the device on the curtain rod, and the device will remain in this disposition until released. The tail portion may comprise an inverted T configuration to engage a wide portion of shower curtain and spread the force of impingement thereabout.


The importance of remote sensing in solving challenges in rural and undeveloped areas where there is a lack of in situ data or financial resources is undeniable [...]


During the depletion history of abnormally pressured reservoir, pressure is initially maintained by a decrease in the pore volume. The P/Z vs cumulative gas produced graph in such reservoirs shows two distinct slopes and the initial gas in place can be estimated by extrapolation of P/Z straight line after the reservoir gradient has been reduced to normal. This decrease in pore volume also results in a reduction in the effective permeability of the rock thus affecting the formation in-flow performance. In the gas-condensate reservoirs, hydrocarbon liquids drop out of the gas phase below the dewpoint pressures increasing the total liquids saturation. An increase in the liquid saturation decreases the relative permeability to gas. The paper develops a high pressure gas-condensate reservoir deliverability calculation incorporating the effect of gas permeability reduction due to a decrease in pore volume and increase in oil saturation.


A class of Boolean functions arising naturally from a consideration of the periodicities of multithreshold functions is defined and the basic properties of these functions, the completely periodic functions, are determined. The observation that this class is invariant under the group of affine transformations allows for a tabulation of the completely periodic functions of up to four variables. Finally, bounds on the number of completely periodic functions of n variables are determined.


On studying the interactions of hydroxyquinoline and its watersoluble salts with substances commonly used to ointment preparation, the authors stated a large agreement between the decreases in release rate and the quotients of binding determined by equilibrium dialysis. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, zinc oxide, and talc react with these drugs to form bindings of some strength the impair the release of the drugs, whereas hydroxyethylcellulose and Aerosil behave indifferently.


Psychopathy may be one of the best known behaviour disorders both at clinical level and in the general population but, given the many definitions it has had in its long history, it has often been used loosely to diagnose different types of behaviour that have very little in common except a display of coldness and cruelty. It may therefore be deduced that, despite its popularity, there are also many misconceptions surrounding psychopathology. The aim of this work is to examine the concept of psychopathy and its most important characteristics. In so doing, it attempts to clearly demarcate the concept of psychopathy from other similar conditions with which it is sometimes confused, such as antisocial personality disorder.


Domestic violence can no longer be considered by businesses as a "secret" issue with little or no effect on the workplace. In addition to suffering lost productivity and other economic repercussions when an employee is a victim of domestic violence, employers may be placing themselves at risk for lawsuits if they do not understand the employment rights of domestic violence victims and the potential for litigation. Employers can face legal liability when managers intentionally or unintentionally make discriminatory employment decisions that adversely affect employees or job applicants who are domestic violence victims, and can also be legally liable for injuries and deaths when acts of domestic violence occur in the workplace. This article examines legal issues related to domestic violence in the workplace, including the employment rights of victims and the potential for illegal discrimination against domestic victims. In addition, the article examines the employer's liability in the event that an act of domestic violence occurs in the workplace. The article concludes with strategies for managers to enhance legal compliance and ensure the rights of domestic violence victims, and suggestions for further research.


The properties derived from materials to be used in the repair and restoration of glass are given together with a list of materials in use. Methods for preparing glass for joining and formaking joins are outlined. Methods for making molds using dental wax, silicone rubber, clay and plaster of paris are described in detail together with the use of these moulds to prepare cast resin pieces to replace missing fragments of glass vessels.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a sociological analysis of everyday interaction on the physical front line of the Norwegian welfare state. Design/methodology/approach – The data are from a short-term ethnographic study in the reception/waiting rooms of three local welfare offices. These are important sites for access to benefits and services. The focus is on the situational and interactional aspects: how do people behave and interact with fellow visitors as well as with front line staff in this institutional context? For the analysis, Goffman's conceptual framework on behaviour in public places is combined with concepts from a theory of access to welfare benefits. Findings – The analysis shows how people fill these spaces with different activities, and how they are characterized by a particular type of welfare "officialdom", boundary work and the handling of welfare stigma. Everyday interaction on the front line gives insights into the tensions in an all-in-one welfare bureaucracy and in...


The title compound, C19H20N4OSCl2, crystallizes in the monoclinic system, space group P21/c, with cell constants a = 15.470(3)A, b = 9.577(2)A, c = 14.615(3)A and Z = 4. The piperazine ring adopts a chair conformation. A weak conjugation effect of the lone pair of the tertiary N atom with the π-electron system of the phenyl ring is observed. The molecular packing is influenced by the C-H…O and C-H…N intermolecular hydrogen bonds.


Tax evasion is a matter of huge concern for all countries as it undermines the public finance and can lead to a very inefficient resource allocation. Therefore it is of great interest to develop models that can help targeting the units (firms or individuals) at risk of noncompliance. Our focus is on a particular facet of tax evasion: undeclared work. We use an ad hoc data set by linking information on the inspections carried out in Italy in 2005
by the National Institute of Social Security on building and construction companies and a vast set of firms characteristics. In the analysis there are two methodological issues: the non-randomness of the inspections and the very low fraction of inspected firms in the population (around 5%). We propose a method that combine the Heckman-type model with sample selection and the response-based sampling. We find that the likelihood function is a
weighted version of the Heckman model, where the weights take into account the sampling scheme.


An experiment was conducted to evaluate and correlate the radicle emergence test with other vigor parameters to predict the vigor and field emergence potential in ten seed lots of okra with varying vigor. The results showed that the significant differences were observed between seed lots in terms of physiological parameters viz., speed of germination, germination percentage (GER), root length, shoot length, dry matter production, vigor index, mean just germination time (MJGT), mean germination time (MGT), radicle emergence (RE) and field emergence (FE) and biochemical parameters viz., electrical conductivity of seed leachate (EC) and dehydrogenase activity (DA). The radicle emergence test with 2mm radicle length had highly significant negative correlation with MGT(-0.829**) followed by EC (-0.812**) and MJGT (-0.807**), and it had significant positive correlation with field emergence (0.904**) followed by germination (0.892**) and dehydrogenase activity (0.757*). Relationship between seed vigor parameters and radicle emergence per cent with 1mm and 2mm radicle length was also evaluated. The highest R values were observed in 2mm radicle emergence per cent (R Values: MJGT = 0.8839, MGT = 0.9223, EC = 0.8924, DA = 0.6335, GER = 0.9542 and FE = 0.9673) compared with 1mm length of radicle emergence per cent (R Values: MJGT = 0.8812, MGT = 0.9156, EC = 0.8330, DA = 0.6204, GER = 0.9525 and FE = 0.9504) for most of the seed vigour parameters in ten different seed lots. The study concluded that counting 2mm radicle emergence at 24 hours could be used for a quick evaluation to assess the seed vigour in terms of field emergence in okra seed lots.


We calculate the distribution function of the end-to-end distance of a semiflexible polymer with large bending rigidity. This quantity is directly observable in experiments on single semiflexible polymers (e.g., DNA, actin) and relevant to their interpretation. It is also an important starting point for analyzing the behavior of more complex systems such as networks and solutions of semiflexible polymers. To estimate the validity of the obtained analytical expressions, we also determine the distribution function numerically using Monte Carlo simulation and find good quantitative agreement.


This study analyzed the original texts of the manuscripts of Jeongchangwon in borrowed-character expression (1st grade) and made a comparison investigation on the borrowed-special-character expression in ancient times づかい (Gab and Eul grade), honorific expression and auxiliary verb expression throughout the whole ancient literature from the viewpoint of borrowed-character expression focusing on the vocabulary of such original texts. In Chapter 2 'Analysis of Original Text', only a general analysis was possible because, due to the characteristic of the manuscript, there were some parts that had missing characters or seemed to be in plain-borrow-character expression or even showed no meaning. As for the honorific expression and auxiliary verb expression (Gab and Eul) in Chapter 3 and 4, focusing on the borrowed-special-character expression in ancient times づかい related to the conjugation form, the borrowed-character expression in ancient manuscripts such as the relevant grammatical utilization and conjunction were analyzed and compared with various literary materials in ancient times.


There are some problems in the model of negative material circulation operation of electronic products,and the reasons are the technical problems in electronic reclamation and externality of negative material circulation operation of electronic products.The authors also put forward some suggestions on the problems which would be effective in regulating the negative material circulation operation of electronic products.


Empathy has been defined as, "An observer reacting emotionally because he perceives that another is experiencing or about to experience an emotion" (Stotland, Mathews, Sherman, Hannson, & Richardson, 1978). Synthetic characters (computer generated semi-autonomous agents corporeally embodied using multimedia and/or robotics, see Figure 1) are becoming increasingly widespread as a way to establish empathic interaction between users and computers. For example, Feelix, a simple humanoid LEGO robot, is able to display different emotions through facial expressions in response to physical contact. Similarly, Kismet was designed to be a sociable robot able to engage and interact with humans using different emotions and facial expressions. Carmen's Bright Ideas is an interactive multimedia computer program to teach a problem-solving methodology and uses the notion of empathic interactions. Research suggests that synthetic characters have particular relevance to domains with flexible and emergent tasks where empathy is crucial to the goals of the system (Marsella, Johnson, & LaBore, 2003). Using empathic interaction maintains and builds user emotional involvement to create a coherent cognitive and emotional experience. This results in the development of empathic relations between the user and the synthetic character, meaning that the user perceives and models the emotion of the agent experiencing an appropriate emotion as a consequence.


The present invention provides an organic-based ultraviolet image detector of the p-n junction element and the use of the ultraviolet detector device, the p-n junction based organic UV detector member (40) comprising: a glass substrate provided opposite the active ( 42) and the sealing glass substrate (44), provided on the glass substrate a plurality of active organic p-n junction (43) between (42) and the sealing glass substrate (44), and provided on the active glass a substrate (42) and the sealing glass substrate (44) of packaging material (48) in the edge region around the plurality of organic p-n junction (43) as a matrix distribution on the active glass substrate (42). The present invention is based on the organic p-n junction UV detector and an ultraviolet image probe member of the device, simple manufacturing process, low production cost, expensive raw materials, many kinds of wide variety of sources and may be prepared by chemical synthesis, and the UV detector member simple structure, small size, light weight, can be produced on a flexible substrate, a wider angle can be increased.


This paper uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine how job displacement influences intragenerational earnings and income mobility. Job displacement increases the probability of downward labor earnings mobility for several years after separation occurs. Furthermore, the probability of being in the bottom half of the earnings distribution increases significantly, not only in the year of displacement, but also for several years afterwards. However, after considering additional measures of financial well‐being (income from other family members and government transfer payments), the short‐ and long‐term impact of displacement on movements throughout the distribution is reduced.


In order to sufficiently seal an underground facility in fractured rock, it is essential to obtain adequate grout spread into the surrounding fractures. The grout spread itself depends on parameter ...


Introduction: Congenital NasoLacrimal Duct Obstruction (CNLDO) is a frequent entity in the paediatric age. CNLDO has a 20% to 30% incidence rate out of which only 1% to 6% become symptomatic. 1 The 4% of premature infants are affected with CNLDO. 2 The management of failed Crigler's Sac massage is probing, secondary probing, external DCR and with or without intubation is well known to all. To avoid the sequelae of CNLDO, cure of CNLDO is mandatory. Hence the aim of the study is primary cure for CNLDO by using specific treatment of Crigler's Sac massage with Oil is emphasised. Method: This study was about 140 eyes and in each group, 70 eyes were enrolled with lost to follow up considerations. Patients had been selected and randomised alternatively when visited ophthalmology OPD. The CNLDO patients were selected from the age group ranged 1 to 9 months. Follow up of all patients was taken every month up to 15 months of age. Each and every patient from both the groups had to complete the formality of clinical consultation, doctors counselling to parents specially mothers explaining the procedure of sac massage and taking a live demonstration by mother/ parent hence confirming the proper technique to be followed at home. Results: In group A, Standard Crigler's Method was used only on 54 eyes out of enrolment of 70 eyes. In group B, Standard Method with add on therapy of oil massage had been given to 66 eyes out of 70. In group B, cure rate was found in 60(91%) which was significantly differing from the cure rate of group A 30(56%) by Standard Crigler's Method at P0.05. Conclusion: The primary need of Crigler's Sac Massage using Oil has given the importance towards good compliance and success of curing CNLDO.


Carbon nitride thin films are candidates for various technological applications. Special kind of a-Cnx film, as (beta) -C3N4, is supposed to be material exhibiting extreme hardness--higher than diamond. Many groups are trying to synthesize a-CNx films (with goal of creation (beta) -C3N4 phase), but concentration of nitrogen in films is still low. We have created series of nitrogenated amorphous carbon films in nitrogen atmosphere from graphite target by pulsed laser deposition. Additional DC and RF discharges were ignited in order to increase the reactivity of the nitrogen. Film properties were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The effects of the discharges on the C-N stoichiometry and on chemical bonding were studied. The N/C ratio increased with higher RF and DC plasma densities up to value of 0.25. Maximum values were reached at the nitrogen pressure twice lower for rf discharge than dc discharge assisted deposition. C-N stoichiometry and chemical bonding were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X- ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Only films deposited at higher rf plasma power density showed the presence of triple bonded C equalsV N stretching mode.


Background As adults with intellectual disabilities rarely take part in health promotion activities Gesundsein has been developed for this target group. It takes place in assisted accommodation, day centres and at the Vienna Centre of Self-Advocates. Gesundsein is a model of good practice. and self-determination paticipants' Gesundsein interactive each for The how programme in factors contribute to a successful learning process and what targets are most important for the participants.


Purpose: The study was done to influence of family function and degree of depression on impulsive behavior in adolescents. Method: Using convenience sampling 780 adolescents were recruited from October 29 and November 9, 2011. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires which included items on general characteristics, family function, depression, and impulsive behavior. Data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test, Pearson Correlation Coefficient, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results: The major findings of this study were as follow; 1) There was a significant negative relationship between family function and impulsive behavior (r


Snake-like robots that behaves biological snakes' characteristics have possibility to make them supremely adapted for environment. In this paper, we firstly design a snake-like robot controller with cyclic inhibitory CPG model, and then analyze the stability of single neuron, CPG model and the neuron oscillator network (NON). By implementing this control architecture to a simulator with consideration of mechanical dynamics of a real snake-like robot named "Perambulator-I", we present preliminary policies about parameter setting of the CPG controller for serpentine locomotion. Moreover, we show that "Perambulator-I" can successfully exhibit serpentine locomotion by using controller output of the proposed architecture. This paper provides a realistic approach to design an artificial CPG controller


The development of reading and writing skills are among the fundamental objectives of all educational systems, as these skills are the logical continuation of the linguistic skills the child acquires, naturally and socially, prior to entering this system. From a dialectic constructivist perspective, the development of new writing and reading skills in school is contingent upon the oral speech and its internalization (verbal thought) that develop in earlier years. Hence, the instructional language policies of countries where a duality of language between home and school exists need to be reconsidered and adjusted accordingly. One such country is Iran that has a diverse linguistic population and yet a single official language. Naturally the first language of many Iranians is not Farsi, yet it is the official language of instruction throughout the educational system. In the past, PIRLS data have been used to show the disadvantage experienced by some of the non-Farsi speaking students. Although the absence of linguistic continuity between home and school among Azari-Turkish speaking Iranians necessitates a different overall curriculum, but as a minimal intervention, the methods used in the Farsi-dominated curriculum need to be adjusted for non-Farsi speaking students. To assess any such adjustments, an evaluation of teaching methods in reading and writing from a constructivist point of view was undertaken in both Farsi and Turkish speaking schools. The reading and writing skills of the two groups were also assessed in order to see if the previously recorded disadvantage persists over the years of schooling. The findings show that the one language- one method policy does not lead to one level of achievement among Farsi- and non-Farsi speaking students. However, those teachers who use constructivist methods help their students to have better reading and writing skills.


The invention discloses a piston type rubber air suspension assembly for vibration reduction of a vehicle cab. The assembly comprises a bag type body, an end cover, a piston, a vibration reducer and a support rod, wherein the end cover and the piston are respectively connected to the two ends of the bag type body; the vibration reducer coats the internal part of the piston; the support rod coats the internal part of the vibration reducer to slide, and extends to the top position of the end cover; a connecting head is arranged at the outer side, in the top position of the end cover, of the support rod; the piston comprises an insertion end and a free end; the insertion end is inserted in the bag type body; and a connecting head is arranged at the tail end of the free end. The assembly is simple in structure, convenient for manufacturing and easy to realize a process, and improves the phenomenon of shorter service life and local heating of a rubber airbag caused by excessive deformation and strain due to frequent use of a rubber air spring in the use process, so that the service life of the rubber air spring is prolonged, and the quality of the rubber air spring is enhanced.


Abstract People vary in the extent to which they expect to be stereotyped, and these differences in "stigma consciousness" have cognitive and behavioral consequences that contribute to people's experience of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination ( 20 ). Here it is argued that high levels of stigma consciousness also have significant interpersonal consequences. Consistent with this claim, female participants who were high in stigma consciousness acted critically toward male participants whom they believed to be sexist. Moreover, these critical behaviors elicited unfavorable responses from the male participants, responses which then provided fodder for the women's belief that they would not like the men. The results are discussed in light of previous work on the target's perspective on stereotyping and call into question the wisdom of adopting a vigilant stance when interacting with out-group members.


A method for the separation and determination of huperzine A in its tablets by capillary electrophoresis was proposed.An acetate buffer solution of pH 4.6 was used as background electrolyte,and a moving voltage of 13 kV was applied.UV-detection at the wavelength of 310 nm was adopted.Linear relationship between values of peak area and mass concentration of huperzine A was kept in the range of 5.0-60 mg·L-1.The proposed method was applied to the determination of huperzine A in its tablets,giving values of recovery obtained by standard addition method in the range of 97.8%-98.7%,and RSD′s(n=5) in the range of 0.53%-0.85%.


Dislocation, playing a crucial role in the plastic deformation of metals, can be significantly affected by introducing solute elements. Hydrogen (H) embrittlement is one such example, while the underlying mechanism for H affected dislocation structural stability and mobility remains unclear and the role of H has been controversial. Here, using first-principles calculations, we demonstrate that the effect of H on screw dislocation in bcc metals is H concentration-dependent, signified by a H-induced transition of SD core structure. At low concentrations of H segregation, dislocation maintains the intrinsic easy-core structure, and H atoms are attached to the "periphery" of dislocation to enhance dislocation motion. In contrast, at high H concentrations, dislocation transforms into a hard-core, metal hydride-like structure, as H atoms become the "body" of dislocation to significantly reduce the dislocation mobility. Further, such local easy-to-hard transition is found to be induced by just one solute of other elements, including helium, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, independent of solute concentration. Our work sheds new light on the H-dislocation interactions in bcc metals, having broad implications in the interstitial solute-related phenomena.


The study is done of morphological traits and physical-chemical properties of the sod slightly podzolic soils, which have developed during the last century under forest vegetation and under different agricultural land uses. The parameters of the anthropogenic transformation are defined. Key words: anthropogenic transformation, cultural soils, degradation, agricultural productivity, crop rotation.


A four-terminal-pair bridge with automated permuting capacitors device (APCD) for calibrations of two-stage inductive voltage dividers (IVDs) is described. The APCD is well symmetrical, compact and fully coaxial design. By using coaxial microwave switches, the APCD can be permuted automatically with four-terminal-pair definition during calibrating of IVDs, this makes the stability can be improved.


This chapter explores Power's work within the genre of the war film, which began around the time that Britain entered World War II. Even in war-themed films, elements that had made Power a recognisable star image were present, only now positioned within a wartime setting. His familiar witty dialogue, wide grins and charm with the ladies from earlier comedies and musicals are overtly displayed in A Yank in the RAF (Henry King, 1941) and Crash Dive (Archie Mayo, 1943), despite much of the latter taking place onboard a submarine with a crew made up exclusively of men. This chapter examines Power's four war films in chronological order to help illustrate the development of a newfound masculinity and maturity in Power's screen image, which advances from his cocky self-assuredness and incessant womanising in his first war film, A Yank in the RAF, through his psychological issues in This Above All (Anatole Litvak, 1942), to his more stable and understanding relationship in his last war film: American Guerrilla in the Philippines (Fritz Lang, 1950).


Background: In India, there are 6149 dental post-graduation seats across 254 dental colleges. The admission to these postgraduation seats is done through a common online NEET-MDS examination. The aim of the present study was to assess the quality of NEET-MDS examination among dental graduates in South India. Materials and Methods: Around 423 participants from five randomly selected entrance coaching centers in the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka participated in the survey. The level of significance was set P < 0.05. Statistical analysis was done using Fisher's exact test. Results: The survey demonstrated that 174 (41.1%) of the participants were males and 249 (58.9%) were females. Majority (60.2%) of the participants had one attempt for the examination and only (4.9%) of the participants had three or more attempts for the examination. 58% of the respondents considered the NEET examination as a good assessment of dental graduates. Conclusion: The present survey reveals that most of the students preferred the computer-based NEET- MDS examination. Both male and female students should almost similar responses to the questions in the survey.


Mobilizing for Democracy is the last in the series on Claiming Citizenship, published by Zed Books in collaboration with the Citizenship Development Research Centre (CDRC) between 2005 and 2010. Edited by Coelho and von Lieres, the work introduces eleven empirical case studies from the Southern context on how different forms of citizen mobilization have resulted in democratic outcomes. Covering cases such as Angola, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, it is an impressive volume that has a broad focus, both in terms of its geographical coverage and the diversity of issues discussed.


Small scale distributed compressed air energy storage (D-CAES) has been recognized as promising technology which can play major role in enhancing the use of renewable energy. Due to the transient behavior of the compressed air during the discharging phase, there are significant variations in air pressure, temperature and mass flow rate resulting in low turbine efficiency. This research aims to improve the expansion process of the small scale D-CAES system through optimization of a small scale axial turbine. A small scale axial air turbine has been developed using 1D Meanline approach and CFD simulation using ANSYS CFX 16.2. For improving the turbine efficiency, different optimization approaches like single and multi-operating point optimization have been performed.
The turbine blade profiles for both stator and rotor have been optimized for minimum losses and maximum power output based on 3D CFD modelling and Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) optimization for single and multi-operating points. Using multi-operating point optimization, the maximum turbine efficiency of 82.767 % was achieved at the design point and this approach improved the overall efficiency of D-CAES system by 8.07% for a range of inlet mass flow rate indicating the potential of this optimization approach in turbine design development.


There is provided a method for incorporating a soundtrack into an edited video-with-audio recording using a video recording apparatus. The method includes recording the video-with-audio for subsequent playback. Subsequently, at least one soundtrack is incorporated as an audio tag, the at least one soundtrack being selected from a plurality of soundtracks generated from a soundtrack creator dependent on conditions such as, for example, parameters of content of the recorded video-with-audio, user-defined characteristics for the at least one soundtrack, or a combination of both of the aforementioned conditions. Content of the video-with-audio incorporated with the selected soundtrack is reviewed. The user may edit the content of video-with-audio incorporated with the selected soundtrack by removing image frames of the video-with-audio; and rectify the selected soundtrack using the soundtrack creator such that the edited video-with-audio has a fluent soundtrack similar to the selected soundtrack. The edited video-with-audio is thus enhanced in relation to aural effects in a desired manner by the user. In another aspect, there is provided an audio tag used to generate a soundtrack in avideo-with-audio using a soundtrack creator.


Just 40 years ago, George Westinghouse started his career in the field of electricity. On May 20, 1884 he signed a contract with William Stanley, whose great gift to the industry while connected with Westinghouse was the development of the transformer, which has made possible the long distance transmission of alternating current at relatively high voltages, reducing it to low, usable voltages at the necessary points. Beforethis time direct current only was used.


This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of General and Family Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japan Primary Care Association. An 80yearold man with essential hypertension abruptly developed sensory disturbance in the region of the neck, shoulder, upper trunk, and brachium on the left side. Regarding subjective sensory disturbance of the hemicapelike distribution, combined sensation (topognosis, twopoint discrimination, graphesthesia, stereognosis, and quality extinction test) was impaired, despite spared superficial sensation (touch sensation, pain sensation, and temperature sensation) as well as deep sensation (joint sensation and vibratory sense). There were no other neurologic abnormalities. Consequently, the patient was diagnosed as having isolated hemicapelike sensory disturbance on the left side. Complete blood cell count, blood chemistry, and blood coagulation test were within normal ranges. Chest roentgenogram, electrocardiogram, transthoracic echocardiography, carotid ultrasonography and cranial magnetic resonance angiography findings were all normal. Diffusionweighted magnetic resonance imaging of the brain demonstrated a localized infarction in the postcentral gyrus on the right side which was superior medial to the precentral knob and other cortical area (Figure 1). Because embolic stroke of undetermined source1 or arterytoartery embolism was the most possible diagnoses, antiplatelet agent was initiated. Thereafter, the patient became asymptomatic within 14 days.


[Rationale] Maternal smoking has been recognized as a risk factor of childhood asthma. We investigated the effects of cigarette smoking of pregnant mice for the allergic state of neonate.


Cat-scratch disease or felinosis is an infection caused by Bartonella henselae which is characterized by chronic inflammation of the lymph nodes. It is one of the causes of regional, unilateral adenitis in children and adolescents. Axillary lymph nodes followed by cervical, pre-auricular and submandibular lymph nodes are the most common sites of involvement. We report a 14 year old male patient with cat scratch disease in whom the initial clinical manifestations were indistinguishable from those of acute bacterial suppurative lymphadenitis.


University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. October 2016. Major: Natural Resources Science and Management. Advisors: Joseph Magner, Diomides Zamora. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 336 pages.


The popular protests in Algeria are, once again, a powerful reminder that the EU's quiet endorsement of authoritarian regimes, for the sake of regional stability, will not prevent the people in the Southern Neighbourhood from voicing legitimate demands for social justice and democratic representation. Finding new, non-paternalistic ways to support and engage with grassroots movements and local civil society, rather than with the oppressive elites in power, is the only approach that can meet local calls for dignity while securing the EU's long-term interests in stability in its neighbourhood.


This paper reports the use of single chip microcomputer in electric signal detecting.A detecting equipment for electric signals controlled by a single chip microcomputer is introduced.The function,hardware structure and softwart design of the system are described.It not only can be used for experiment education but also as a measuring instrument.The freguency of signal measured attains to 2.6MHz,the minimum of time measured attains to 1 μs.


The new frontiers of New Public Management (NPM) identified in the processes of e- government the new tools to provide efficiency, effectiveness and economy to the Public Sector. In this scenario Public Institutions have shown a continuing and growing need to develop systems of multidimensional measurement of their performances. The research - with reference the Italian context - lies in the complex area of the performance measurement applied to the Public Institutions and aim and scope of the paper is to demonstrate how the quality of websites (analysed under the aspects concerning the technological level and the administrative transparency) can also be considered a valid support to improve the quality of service provided online by the Public Sector.


Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) fulfils an important function in patient health in both the public and private healthcare systems. TDM is based on pharmacokinetic principles within the clinical laboratory and several health professionals, from different disciplines, take part in the management and implementation of the whole TDM process. Communication and collaboration between these professionals are extremely important to ensure beneficial TDM and patient care, however, human error plays a major role in the compromising of the TDM process. In this article, we discuss the most common human errors during the TDM process and give guidelines to prevent them. These guidelines must be implemented during all the TDM phases to ensure the patient receives optimal and reliable healthcare.


Human rights — Admissibility of authors' communication to Human Rights Committee — Consideration of merits — Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion — Assessment of claim of conscientious objection to military service — Whether within ambit of Article 18 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 — Whether restriction on authors permitted under Article 18(3) of Covenant — Whether necessary — Whether State Party violating its obligations under Article 18(1) of Covenant — Effective remedy


S01-336,S01-85 and S01-295,three new potato lines with high yield were tested in field and indoor analysis to study the absorption regulation of N,P and K.The results showed that the absorption variation trend of N,P and K of three new potato lines is the same.The variation trend of N accumulation is a M type,the variation trend of P accumulation is a ∧ type and the K accumulation is curve variation of single peak in potato plants during the whole growth period.


Introduction As described in Chs. 7 and 8, MRI provides two alternative approaches to measure perfusion: using a bolus of an exogenous paramagnetic contrast agent (dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI [DSC-MRI]; see Ch. 7 for details) or by means of magnetically labeled blood as an endogenous tracer (arterial spin labeling [ASL]; see Ch. 8 for details). Both techniques have been extensively used since the early 1990s, and important improvements have made them more accurate and robust. However, some significant issues must be considered whenever implementing, using, and (especially) interpreting the images generated by either technique. This is because both methods rely on certain assumptions that cannot always be satisfied, and they can be prone to artifacts. This chapter discusses the most important caveats relating to absolute quantification of perfusion MRI, with particular emphasis on the potential implications for absolute cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements in clinical use. Artifacts and limitations Dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI Although DSC-MRI can provide, in principle, absolute measurements of CBF, cerebral blood volume (CBV), and mean transit time (MTT), there are a number of issues that can affect the accuracy of these measurements. The most common potential sources of error are described below.


Low-carbonization has become a vital goal of the economic development of many countries. As the by-product of economic development, carbon emission is highly correlated to industrial structure, which deeply influences the consumption structure, environment protection, and energy structure. Viewed from the history of developed countries, the fundamental way to develop a low-carbon economy is low-carbonization of industrial structure. This paper conducts a system with five different dimensions that includes economic, industrial structure, environment, energy, and social indicators to evaluate the low-carbonization of industrial structure. Furthermore, the paper does an empirical analysis on the industrial structure's low-carbonization of China and five of its provinces.


FIELD: medicine, pharmaceutics. SUBSTANCE: invention refers to medicine and pharmaceutical industry concerns a dry powder preparation containing formoterol fumarate dihydrate in the microionised form enabling bronchial and pulmonary alveolar penetration and additives, namely mixed lactose and sodium benzoate prepared in a particular way and enabling dosing and disaggregating the active ingredient effectively. EFFECT: developing the preparation enabling dosing and disaggregating the active ingredient effectively. 4 cl, 8 ex


Structural investigations of the materials obtained by surface alloying with titanium-containing powder compositions using industrial electron acceleration were carried out. It was revealed that hardened particles of titanium carbides and borides were formed as a result of high-energy treatment. The highest value of materials studied microhardness was about 8.4 GPa. Friction testing against fixed abrasive particles showed that electron-beam cladding of the titanium and graphite mixture conduced to increasing material wear resistance by a factor of three.


The integration of production,teaching and research education model has experienced 100 years from beginning to now.Reviewing the history of the model,and summing the scale of school,the mode of training,the training type and the rules of running a school,should has important practical significance to deeply study and spread the model.


Objective:The aim of this study was to compare peri-operative morbidity and safety of patients treated by laparoscopicallyassisted radical vaginal hysterectomy (LARVH) with laparoscopic pelvic lymphadenectomy (LPL) and radical abdominal hysterectomy (RAH) with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) in early stage of cervical cancer. Methods:Since September 2004, all patients with FIGO stage Ia-IIa cervical cancer undergoing radical surgery by members of our division have been entered into a prospective database. Two surgeons at our center have performed LARVH by Schneider method on all surgically appropriate patients. Results:Between September 2004 and May 2005, 26 patients were performed LARVH with LPL, 30 patients were performed RAH with PLND. There were no differences in estimated blood loss, the number of lymph nodes, duration of hospital stay and postoperative complications. But operative time was significantly prolonged in LARVH group. Intraoperative complications in the LARVH with LPL group included: bladder injuries (2), shift to laparotomy due to ureter injury (1). There was one case of vesicovaginal fistula in the RAH group. Conclusion:LARVH with LPL in early stage of cervical cancer is a safe and technically effective alternative to RAH. Despite the inherent limitations of LARVH with LPL and its associated learning curve, the procedure conveys many advantages over the open laparotomy technics in terms of postoperative wound pain and recovery. However further study is needed to evaluate long-term recurrence rate and survival rate.


The availability of coarse-resolution cost-effective optical spectrum analyzers (OSAs) allows their widespread deployment in operators' networks. In this paper, we explore several machine learning approaches for soft-failure detection, identification, and localization that take advantage of OSAs. In particular, we present three different solutions for the two most common filter-related soft-failures: filter shift and tight filtering, which noticeably deform the expected shape of the optical spectrum. However, filter cascading is a key challenge as it affects the shape of the optical spectrum similarly to the tight filtering; the approaches are specifically designed to avoid the misclassification of properly operating signals when normal filter cascading effects are present. The proposed solutions are as follows: First, the multi-classifier approach, which uses features extracted directly from the optical spectrum; second, the single-classifier approach, which uses preprocessed features to compensate for filter cascading; and third, the residual-based approach, which uses a residual signal computed from subtracting the signal acquired by OSAs from an expected signal synthetically generated. Extensive numerical results are ultimately presented to compare the performance of the proposed approaches in terms of accuracy and robustness.


A process for preparing a thermoplastic composition, comprising: melt blending to form a first intimate blend comprising a poly (arylene ether); a poly (alkenyl aromatic); one hydrogenated block copolymer of an alkenyl aromatic compound and a conjugated diene; and unhydrogenated block copolymer of an alkenyl aromatic compound and a conjugated diene; and melt blending to form a second intimate blend comprising the first intimate blend; and a polyolefin.


PuF3 was synthetized by hydro-fluorination of PuO2 and subsequent reduction of the product by hydrogenation. The obtained PuF3 was analysed by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and found phase-pure. High purity was also confirmed by the melting point analysis using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). PuF3 was then used for thermodynamic assessment of the PuF3-LiF system. Phase equilibrium points and enthalpy of fusion of the eutectic composition were measured by DSC. XRD analyses of selected samples after DSC measurement confirm that after solidification from the liquid, the system returns to a mixture of LiF and PuF3. © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.


The author has been for many years a member of the Board of Editors of this JOURNAL. He is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Sociology in the University of Pennsylvania, and Editor (since 1929) of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. During the last thirty years he has from time to time published articles of interest in this JOURNAL. His latest contribution ("Adult Probation and the Conditional Sentence") is published in our last number.-EDITOR.


By hook or by crook, sometimes by both at the same time, great landowners, and many of the not so great, have survived into the final decade of the twentieth century. Some of the survivors are, no doubt, clinging on by their fingernails, huddled over a single-bar electric fire in a damp and draughty room of a family mansion that is slowly crumbling over their heads, living on baked beans and memories in the manner of an A. S. Byatt novel. Many, however, are extremely wealthy. Old-established landed families provide between a fifth and a quarter of the 200 wealthiest people in Britain in the early 1990s, a proportion which has changed very little since the 1880s. But what are they for? A hundred years ago it was unnecessary to ask such a question. Meredith Townsend, who with J. L. Sanford produced two volumes on The Great Governing Families of England, writing in 1865 had little need of argument or evidence to support his statement that the great landowners were the governing class. He was more defensive in justifying his selection of just thirty-one families as the core of that class, but in 1865 it was not unreasonable to prophesy that 'in another hundred years these thirty one families will be the marked and ticketed families among two hundred millions of English-speaking men', and to argue that: 'The redivision of property may ultimately shatter their power, but short of that their dignity and consideration will probably for a century steadily increase.'


In our experience, we document 2 cases of a rare and non‐tumoral lesion of the liver misinterpreted as necrotic tumor: necrotic solitary nodule. In the first clinical case, ultrasound (US) showed a polylobated lesion (35 × 35 × 38 mm) at segment 8. Color‐doppler identified a compression of celiac axis (Dunbar syndrome). Arteriography revealed a subtotal stenosis of celiac tripod soon after the emergence of the left gastric artery. FNAB‐CT showed a highly cellulated tissue with a necrotic core surrounded by a fibersclerotic tissue. The patient underwent surgery: cholecystectomy and correction of Dunbar syndrome. US follow‐up showed a progressive reduction in diameter of the lesion (24 × 25 × 25 mm at 24 months), suggesting in this case the role of ischemic injury in the pathogenesis of the lesion.


A functional calculus on the space of (generalized) connections was recently introduced without any reference to a background metric. It is used to continue the exploration of the quantum Rie-mannian geometry. Operators corresponding to volume of three-dimensional regions are introduced rigorously. It is shown that there are two natural regularization schemes, each of which leads to a well-deened operator. Both operators can be completely speciied by giving their action on states labelled by graphs. The two nal results are closely related but diier from one another in that one of the operators is sensitive to the diierential structure of graphs at their vertices while the second is sensitive only to the topological characteristics. (The second operator was rst introduced by Rov-elli and Smolin and De Pietri and Rovelli using a somewhat diierent framework.) The diierence between the two operators can be attributed directly to the standard quantization ambiguity. Underlying assumptions and subtleties of regularization procedures are discussed in detail in both cases because volume operators play an important role in the current discussions of quantum dynamics.