The decreasing number of roadside crashes (RC) and injured has become noticeable (from 1141 to 879 and 1335 to 1052, respectively) in Kabardino Balkaria. Driver error caused 76 percent of total RC and include: bad driving, high speed (19.3 percent),driving against traffic on both ways, wrong overtaking (19.2 percent), drunken driving (13.4 percent), wrong driving at crossways (8.3 percent). More than 48 percent of the total RC were observed from May to September, 47 percent occuring between 6 and llpm. RC occured most frequently on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturdays' (30.6 percent). Pedestrians drunken behaviour led to 29.71 percent of total RC. Drunken drivers caused 25 percent of RC, involving primarily private vehicle owners. On the whole, RC with drunken drivers have increased. For the last 5 years the local police have been reporting drunken driving 2 to 3 times as often. The same data is observed in medical statements: from 36.6 percent in 1991 to 70 percent for the first half of 1994. An educational programme has been worked out to help the drivers. Cooperative research with IAATM is being planned to study alcohol levels in drivers and work out adequate preventive measures. (a) For the record of the covering entry of this conference, please see IRRD abstract no 868581.


Rangelands play a vital role in livestock production in South Africa because of the extensive system of livestock production practiced. Recently, the woody component of many rangelands have posed a serious threat to the survival and productivity of their herbaceous components through bush encroachment. This study was therefore conducted to assess the impact of bush encroachment on species composition, biomass production and basal cover at Sheshegu communal rangeland. Four study sites were classified according to their woody plant densities which were Scattered, Moderate, Mixed and Dense bushland. The step-point method was used to estimate species composition and basal cover. Aboveground herbaceous biomass was harvested randomly using 0.25m 2 quadrats. Harvested samples were oven-dried to determine dry matter production. Measurements on woody components include the lowest browseable material (LBM), tree canopy diameter (TCD) and tree height (H), and these were used to estimate woody plant density, tree equivalents and browsing units. The nineteen herbaceous species identified in all sites comprised 68.4% Increaser II species, 5.3% Increaser I species and 26.3% Decreaser species. Out of these, 57.9% had low grazing value, and 42.1% had high grazing value. Among these, 15 were perennials (78.9%), one was an annual species (5.3%) and three were unknown species (15.8%). Digitaria  eriantha was significantly (p>0.05) higher in abundance than all other species, while biomass production increased from Scattered bushland (379-194 kgha -1 i.e summer and winter respectively) to Dense bushland (473; 277 kgha -1 i.e summer and winter respectively). Basal cover showed no significant differences (p>0.05) between moderate, dense, and mixed bushland (in summer) and dense, mixed bushland (in winter). Acacia karroo was the most dominant woody plant with mean abundance of 43.2% in all sites. Scattered bushland had low herbaceous biomass, poor basal cover but was dominated by Decreaser species. Moderate, mixed and dense bushlands had good soil cover, high biomass production but were dominated by Increaser grass species. Plant densities (Plants/ha) and tree equivalents (TE/ha) of dense and mixed bushlands exceeded 2400 plant/ha and 2500 TE/ha respectively, indicating that they were woody plant encroached. It was concluded that Sheshegu rangeland was gradually being encroached by woody plants, while Decreaser species were gradually being replaced by Increaser species. This situation requires immediate attention to forestall further deterioration of the herbaceous component of Sheshegu communal rangeland.


Objective To assess the risk factors for delayed diagnosis of uterine cervical lesions. Materials and Methods This is a case-control study that recruited 178 women at 2 Brazilian hospitals. The cases (n = 74) were composed of women with a late diagnosis of a lesion in the uterine cervix (invasive carcinoma in any stage). The controls (n = 104) were composed of women with cervical lesions diagnosed early on (low- or high-grade intraepithelial lesions). The analysis was performed by means of logistic regression model using a hierarchical model. The socioeconomic and demographic variables were included at level I (distal). Level II (intermediate) included the personal and family antecedents and knowledge about the Papanicolaou test and human papillomavirus. Level III (proximal) encompassed the variables relating to individuals' care for their own health, gynecologic symptoms, and variables relating to access to the health care system. Results The risk factors for late diagnosis of uterine cervical lesions were age older than 40 years (odds ratio [OR] = 10.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.3–48.4), not knowing the difference between the Papanicolaou test and gynecological pelvic examinations (OR, = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.3–4.9), not thinking that the Papanicolaou test was important (odds ratio [OR], 4.2; 95% CI, 1.3–13.4), and abnormal vaginal bleeding (OR, 15.0; 95% CI, 6.5–35.0). Previous treatment for sexually transmissible disease was a protective factor (OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1–0.8) for delayed diagnosis. Conclusions Deficiencies in cervical cancer prevention programs in developing countries are not simply a matter of better provision and coverage of Papanicolaou tests. The misconception about the Papanicolaou test is a serious educational problem, as demonstrated by the present study.


Femtosecond laser filament-generated plasma can generate electromagnetic pulses (EMPs). These pulses may reduce the instrument's precision, and, hence, influence the accuracy of the experimental results. They may even cause widespread disruption by disabling of the electronic control systems or distribution networks of power plants. This study investigated the characteristics of EMPs generated from the interaction of filament-generated plasmas with a solid target in air. In this study, ultrafast laser filamentation was used to produce plasma, which was focused on a 3 mm-thick aluminum (Al) alloy target for interaction, and the spatial distribution and main contributors of the EMPs were systematically and extensively studied. The results showed that the EMPs generated from ultrafast laser filament interaction with the Al alloy target had the following characteristics: the EMP energy generated from laser filament interaction with solid targets is tens of times higher than that generated only from the femtosecond laser filament; the maximum EMP signals appeared at a 20°–80°detection angle. The relationship between the energy of EMPs and the width and energy of the laser pulses is presented and discussed. These findings are beneficial for gaining insight into the EMP generation mechanism, spatial distribution, and transmission, and for providing more information for the design of EMPs' shielding.


This paper presents the results of investigation of properties of fine-grained concrete on expansive cement for fiber-reinforced shotcretes used for metro tunneling. Basic factors affecting material expansion after mixing with water are described. The influence of expansive components on the values of strength indices and volumetric deformations of shotcrete is studied. Improvement of process, physical and mechanical, and operational characteristics of obtained shotcrete is proven.


The treatment of regenerator flue gas containing CO from fluid catalytic cracking unit(FCCU) of refinery is described,and applications and the advantages and disadvantages of various treatment processes are discussed.Based upon the design work of CO combustor in Golmud Refinery,the combustion mechanism and burning temperature requirement of the regenerator flue gas are studied.The precautions in arrangement of burner,burning time control,combustion chamber pressure distribution,prevention of burner' s going out and co-ordination of CO combustor and waste heat boiler are presented based upon site experience,which provides good guidelines for the design of CO combustor of FCC unit.


Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. The risk is particularly high for certain demographic groups, including those making up lower socioeconomic status and minority groups. Few studies on unintended pregnancy have incorporated the fertility preferences of men, despite the knowledge that they do influence reproductive decisions. I explore how men who are at a relatively high risk for fathering an unintended pregnancy talk about their procreative identities in everyday life. I analyze the transcripts of focus groups conducted with young, socioeconomically disadvantaged African American and Puerto Rican men to examine how they talk about procreative consciousness, procreative responsibility, and pregnancy planning. Analyses demonstrate that men often have a very active sense of procreative consciousness and a lagging sense of procreative responsibility. However, men consider fatherhood to be an important role and look forward to parenting children. These factors may contribute to their relatively higher risk for fathering an unintended pregnancy.


The coal kaolin is a unique kaolin source in China.The mechanisms of surface modification of coal kaolin were studied by the infrared spectrum analysis techniques.The vibration at 2919,2852,1850,1641,1570cm~(-1) and 1457cm~(-1) are varied regularly with modification agent,indicating that the surface property is changed.


Abstract : The audit objective was to determine whether DCMC successfully implemented the IMC program. We assessed the adequacy of the IMC program and its reporting processes and reviewed the structure, framework, and procedures used in its implementation and the implementation of the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act from the DCMC inception date of February 6, 1990.


Compounds having an anti-proliferative effect is provided. Further, such EGFR, compounds capable of controlling the activity of a plurality of domains proteins including dimerization arm and domains within the tether is also provided, wherein the elongated non-tethered structure is active, it is tethered structure is an inactive state, the arrangement is self-suppression is provided. The methods and pharmacophore for identifying such compounds are also provided. Another aspect provides proliferative positive disease, disorder or condition, the method of therapeutically treating a example those associated with EGFR.


In order to investigate the turbulent transport processes in the marine boundary layer, the direct measurement of turbulent fluxes of momentum,sensible heat and water vapor by the eddy correlation method was carried out aboard the R.V.K6ifu−Maru over the East China Sea during the AMTEX field programs. It has been well known that the eddy correlation metho(I is the most reliable means for turbulent flux measurement,but is considered to be dif五cult of application to shipboard measurement. This d面culty has recently been overcome by the correction technique, which was developed and applied to the pre・AM↑EX test cruise by the present author and In the present study some improvement of the correction technique was achieved to make the wind velocity correction more precise.Fluctuations of wind velocity components, air temperature and speci丘c humidity,and motion of the ship were measured aboard the ship and turbulent fiuxes were obtained by the eddy correlation method throughout the AMTEX observational periods in1974and1975.


The analysis to the price fluctuation of "soybean No.1" in Dalian futures market by ARCH model shows that the futures market of agriculture products in our country also has characters of abroad mature futures market,i.e.: "volatility clustering","high peaks and fat tailed","leverage effect".etc.Separately analyzed how "volatility clustering" and "leverage effect" produce with the method of "Positive feedback effect" and "loss aversion" of the behavior finance theory.The result indicated that the investors pay too much attention to some information(for example,macroscopic policy etc),at the same time,suggested that our country futures market speculation is strong and have the big market risk,to which the department of supervisors and markets of all members need to pay more attention.Besides,the research of fluctuation,is always benefit for the government financial decision-making and macroscopic policy establishing,and is also benefit for the research of the agriculture products futures price-making.


One of main causes of coral reef ecosystem damage is the result of local community exploitation. The failure to pay attention to dimensions of knowledge and local institutions will result in the increasing threat of sustainability of this ecosystem. Economic and political factors contributed to the conservation of coral reef ecosystems. In enforcing the law, there are three elements that must be considered, namely legal certainty (rechtssicherheit), usefulness (zweckmassigkeit), and justice (gerechtigkeit). These three elements are by Gustav Radbruch said as supporting legal ideals (idee des rechts). The ideals of this law will guide people in their life of punishment. Although these three basic values must exist equally, often these three basic values are not always in harmony relation, opposite, contradictory, tension (spannungsverhaltnis). In the event of such a conflict, what should be prioritized is justice. Local community development policy is typical of policies that can provide opportunities as possible for local communities to determine their own needs and to determine the proper method to meet the needs. The greatest benefit of the empowerment efforts should be enjoyed by the community and local communities, to evaluate and improve the performance of various activities in conserving coral reefs.


It is analyzed that the impacts of root weight on shear strength of unsaturated soil through direct shearing tests for unsaturated soil of different depth and various vegetation types which consist of bare soil and switch sorrel shrubbery under natural moisture contents and through the investigation of root system distributing along vertical profile.The results show that root system can increase shearing strength of unsaturated soil and that root weight is distributing according to exponential function.It is also shown that the relationship between root system and increasing value of friction angle and cohesion along vertical profile is positive relative.


Strategic management accounting is the important development to the traditional management accounting.It elaborates function to the enterprise`s strategic decision.Strategic management accounting provides information for the enterprises and makes strategy compeition ability to them.This article begins with the characteristics of the strategy management accounting and then discusses the necessity that apply in our country's enterprise which embody the superiority to the traditional management accounting.Finally the article brings up the viewpoint about the applied foreground of strategic management accounting in our country.


Why do we need a second edition of a popular 5-year-old textbook on wind and solar power technologies? The author justifies his latest effort with a series of impressive observations: "...the capital and energy costs of wind power have declined by 20%...wind energy will grow from less than 1% at present to as much as 10% of the U.S. electricity demand by 2020...PV installations grew at an annual rate of 25% to 30% during the period from 2000 to 2004." He then presents a thoughtfully organized and clearly presented summary of the technological advances, economic conditions, and policy developments that are moving these energy sources from alternatives to mainstream. After a brief summary of advances and benefits of modern wind-electric systems, the text delivers a short, simple, easily understood explanation of the interactions among wind speed, turbine rotor area, and electric power production. Perhaps more important, the author provides a useful discussion of the effects and importance of wind speed behavior: daily, seasonal, and long-term averages and the distribution patterns that lead to the averages. A brief but comprehensive discussion of power generation components and controls, and possible adverse consequences and effects, includes enough circuit and aerodynamic information to satisfy readers with engineering interests. The importance of coastlines to wind energy planners is emphasized by an entire chapter on off-shore wind farms. A similar tour-de-force through the technology and economics of photovoltaic power systems is then presented, but its brevity is either a testimonial to the simplicity of PV systems or a sign of the author's interest in wind systems. Topics common to both wind and photovoltaic systems such as energy storage, electronics, power conditioning, gridand off-grid installations, and bottom-line economics are discussed, with sufficient clarity and depth to provide useful insights into the benefits, problems, hype, and true potential of these technologies. The author even provides an interesting summary of manyof the energy generation schemes that are at presentmore science fiction than on-line fact: power towers, ocean wave and tide-driven turbines, jet-assisted wind turbines, and similar generators that will compete for funding and commercialization. Throughout the text it is abundantly clear the author is a knowledgeable engineer with considerable experience in the diverse sciences and technologies that provide the foundations of wind and photovoltaic power generation. It is also obvious that he is an experienced teacher, because the presentations are technically accurate, well organized, effectively paced, and appropriately targeted for the midto upper-level undergraduate student with reasonable technical exposure and interest. The comprehensive list of topic-related organizations provided in the appendix, along with the short list of reading recommendations, is a valuable resource for any student. I wish I could have had this book when I taught my own alternative energy classes to Mechanical Engineering undergraduates. Few texts approach perfection in only a second edition, and this one is no exception. There are a few problems with clarity and labeling of some of the graphics, several figures provide little benefit and serve only as filler, while in other places a graphic aid would be a welcome addition to embellish the text. But the only significant change I would have suggested is a down-sizing of the chapter on counter-rotating wind turbines. In a section of the text where 20 total pages are devoted to the discussion of solar-thermal, marine current, ocean wave, and several other promising technologies, the author devotes a full chapter of almost 30 pages to a system that has received considerable study and testing, but has failed to achieve success and adoption. But after an otherwise useful and enjoyable presentation, the author has perhaps earned the right to express his opinion that something worthwhile has been overlooked.


In this work we have studied the p-type cuprous oxide (Cu 2O) thin film fabricated with thermal oxidation and spray pyrolysis techniques. Cuprous oxide layer was prepared by thermal oxidation method inside a furnace in the temperature range of 930 °C - 1010 °C. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the formation of single phase cubic Cu 2O films. The best quality Cu 2O films were obtained at 970 °C. The electrical resistivity of the Cu 2O layer varies with the variation of temperature and found of the order ~10 3 �cm. Such films have also been prepared on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis technique. Optical study showed that the Cu 2O films were highly absorbing in the visible range of electromagnetic radiation. The absorption coefficient, dielectric susceptibility and optical conductivity are evaluated.


Legal positivism, once a dominant theory of law, is showing many signs of trouble. A burst of books and articles have come out on the subject in the past decade, but the discussion is increasingly obscure and narrow, and of little interest to people outside a small circle of adherents. Consumed by an internecine battle between Internal and External Positivists, each claiming to be more coherent and offering the superior response to Dworkin, little attention is paid to the contemporary relevance of legal positivism. Current adherents see legal positivism as an exercise in legal philosophy, and dismiss concerns about relevance. Focusing on the separation thesis, this article will present a third way to understand legal positivism, one more true to the aims of the legal positivist tradition than either of the two leading modern schools. It will explore the surprising implications of Islamic Law, the Shari'a, for legal postivist as well as natural law schools of thought. The result of this exploration will be to demonstrate how the separation thesis applies even to merged forms of law and morality. Dworkin's core critique of legal positivism - that law and morality are not separate - will thereby be absorbed, without challenging the primary insight that makes legal positivism worthy of preservation as a theory of law.


In this article, we discuss the existence and uniqueness of extremal solutions for nonlinear initial value problems of fractional differential equations involving the ψ -Caputo derivative. Moreover, some uniqueness results are obtained. Our results rely on the standard tools of functional analysis. More precisely we apply the monotone iterative technique combined with the method of upper and lower solutions to establish sufficient conditions for existence as well as the uniqueness of extremal solutions to the initial value problem. An illustrative example is presented to point out the applicability of our main results.


The physical basis for tumor detection with microwave imaging is the contrast in dielectric properties of normal and malignant tissues. Confocal microwave imaging involves illuminating the target with propagating electromagnetic waves using an antenna, and then synthetically focusing reflections from the target. The detection of malignant tumors is achieved by the coherent addition of returns from these strongly scattering objects. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of detecting and localizing small (<;1 cm) tumors or inhomogeneous cells using a radiating patch antenna.


The metal–insulator transition induced by sufficiently strong short range repulsive electron–electron interaction U is called Mott–Hubbard transition. In this work we study the effect of disorder on the critical value of the repulsion Uc. The Hubbard model with random site energies to describe the correlated and disordered system has been used. The Kotliar–Ruckenstein slave‐boson technique to treat correlations and coherent potential approximation (CPA) to deal with disorder have been applied. We have found that the low temperature conductivity is an increasing or decreasing function of U depending on the carrier concentration. The critical value Uc for metal–insulator transition is decreasing function of the disorder strength.


Accuracy and reliability are two important issues in computer assisted breast cancer diagnosis. In this paper, a new cascade Random Subspace ensembles scheme with reject options is proposed for automatic breast cancer diagnosis. The diagnosis system is built as a serial fusion of two different Random Subspace classifier ensembles with rejection options to enhance the classification reliability. The first ensemble consists of a set of Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers that converts the original K-class classification problem into a number of K 2-class problems. The second ensemble consists of a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) ensemble, that focuses on the rejected samples from the first ensemble. For both of the ensembles, the reject option is implemented by relating the consensus degree from majority voting to a confidence measure, and abstaining to classify ambiguous samples if the consensus degree is lower than some threshold. Using a microscopic breast biopsy image dataset from Israel Institute of Technology and benchmark datasets from UCI, promising results are obtained using the proposed system.


The invention discloses a cooperative vehicle overtaking collision warning system. The warning system comprises a DSRC signal receiving module, a DSRC signal transmitting module, a sensor module, a human-computer interface module and a controller, wherein the DSRC signal receiving module is used for receiving a DSRC signal transmitted by a vehicle ahead and converting the DSRC signal into traveling data for the vehicle ahead; the DSRC signal transmitting module is used for transmitting the traveling data of the vehicle of the driver to a back vehicle through the DSRC signal; the sensor module is used for sensing the travelling movement of vehicles; the human-computer interface module accepts a user to operate and set the system and provides the functions of displaying information and giving sound alarm; and the controller is used for processing the sensing result of the sensor and controlling system operation flow, informing the human-computer interface module to warn the driver of the vehicle through lamplight and sound according to the brake event of the vehicle ahead or the vehicle at the back, and informing the DSRC signal transmitting module to warn the driving of the back vehicle. The warning system adopts a specific short distance wireless communication technology with propagation directional property to transmit travelling information to rearward rapidly, eliminates the response delay time of the driver in the vehicle stream, and further avoids the overtaking collision accident.


Background: The Sahiwal cattle, one of the best dairy breeds of Zebu cattle in India and Pakistan, originated from the Montgomery district of Pakistan. The performance of this breed in the tropical environment is also better than other cattle breeds. Now a day Sahiwal is choice of farmers in Maharashtra as it is a milch type breed mostly preferred for Deshi cow milk production and for organic farming. Blood profile of an individual is an important indicator of an individual's well-being. Normal blood levels of various biochemical components are essential for normal function of various systems in the body including reproductive system. Hence, the current study was aimed to evaluate of serum biochemical profile of Sahiwal cows reared in Pune district of Maharashtra. Pune district of Maharashtra comes under western Maharashtra plain zone with Grayish black soils. The annual rainfall ranges from 150 to 700 mm. Soils formed from trap rock are grayish black in colour and varying texture. The natural vegetation is of shrub. The area mostly grows paddy, sugarcane, pearl millet, sorghum and groundnut.
Methods: Serum biochemical profile of Sahiwal heifers and cows were evaluated at different stages i.e. below 1 year heifer, above 1 year heifer, early lactating cow, mid lactating cow, late lactating cow, dry pregnant cow and dry non pregnant cows. Total seventy (70) animals was selected i.e. ten (10) animals from each group stage. All animals were maintained under standard feeding and management conditions. The blood samples of selected cows were collected by puncturing in jugular vein in heparinized vacationer tubes. Analysis of serum profile of 70 blood samples were carried out by using automatic blood analyzer machine (Miura 200 I.S.E. group, Italy). Result: The concentrations of serum cholesterol, glucose, triglyceride, uric acid, calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, total protein, globulin, A: G ratio ALP, ALT and AST were significant in different stages of Sahiwal cows. The non-significant difference was observed in different stages of Sahiwal cows in regards to serum concentration of amylase, bilirubin direct, bilirubin total, creatinine, urea, albumin, magnesium, iron and GGT.


New critical edition (with two photographs), Translation, Commentary of Marcellus' epitaph on Regilla. The commentary shows in particular how the epitaph both preserves ancient attitudes (e.g. to death) and rhetorical devices of eulogy (e.g. the use of mythological exempla) but also innovative (e.g. by attaching new meanings to Greek words). The Historical Introduction sets the poem in its context and explains the background to the death of the woman who is the subject of the epitaph.


Over the recent past there has been a significant improvement in devising perceptual models for passively estimating the speech offered by telecommunication networks. Telephony networks, on the other hand, are being adapted to support voice over IP. To date, listening quality of voice over IP remains dominated by packet loss. In this paper we claim that passive signal-based speech quality estimation models are inherently incapable of capturing a packet loss event. We support our claim in the light of the underlying DSP-based techniques.


The purposes of the study were to review the policies for upbringing agricultural manpower, to examine the current status and tasks of agricultural high school education and agricultural extension services in Korea, and to explore the possible cooperative efforts among agricultural education and extension for more effective approaches to upbringing the manpower for agricultural and rural development in Korea. Examination of the current status of agricultural high schools and extension institutions revealed the serious budget and manpower cut in recent years, and lack of recognition from the public as well as central government. The following recommendations were offered to strengthen the cooperation and linkages among agricultural high schools and extension for upbringing the manpower for agricultural and rural development: It is crucial that the current status be improved, because of the critical importance of agricultural high schools and extension in diffusing innovations to agricultural manpower in order to ensure quality and steady food supply. Further research activities on agricultural education and extension should be encouraged for more effective institutional cooperation system in Korea to achieve a greater rural and national development. Restoring the morale of extension educators and agricultural teachers be implemented to continually achieve the national goals of food production, balanced national development and preservation of environment, at the same time to meet increasing needs of rural manpower. National support activities should be emphasized and encouraged to improve the cooperation and collaboration among agricultural schools and extension organizations to better upbringing the future farmers' educational and information needs.


Overview Understanding how trophic interactions are connected to climate change and loss of biodiversity may help us to sustain our ecosystems and food supply [2]. However, studying trophic interactions traditionally requires experimental data that is difficult and costly to obtain [3]. This proposal formulates a method to aggregate existing trophic datasets such as Semantic Prototypes in Research Ecoinformatics (SPIRE) [4], BioInfo [5], and Gulf of Mexico Species Interaction Database (GoMexSI) [6] into a single, normalized dataset. Also, three methods are proposed to give easy access to this rich aggregation of trophic data for scientific and educational purposes using the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) [7].


The recent allocation by the 1987 World Administrative Radio Conference of frequency bands for radio position determination (RPD) satellite service is taken as an indication that such systems will soon become widespread. The many parameters involved (type of ranging, type of multiple access, number of active satellites through which ranging signals are passed, etc.), are expected to result in tradeoffs producing systems differing in complexity and in the positioning accuracy. The author deals with the formulation of positioning fixes and the calculation of the associated positioning errors in the case of two- and three-satellite RPD systems using turnaround ranging. The results are expressed in normalized longitudinal, latitudinal, and circular horizontal positioning errors. They can be applied to the design of the RPD system geometry and used to establish ranging accuracy requirements for postulated positioning accuracy.<<ETX>>


CDK4/6 inhibitors such as palbociclib in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) have remarkablyimproved the outcome of patients with ER+/HER2- metastatic breast cancer (MBC). However, manypatients are intrinsically resistant to CDK4/6i therapy, and those who respond eventually acquireresistance. Although high baseline CCNE1 expression and rare alterations in RB1 and FAT1 geneshave been shown to be associated with CDK4/6i resistance, the molecular mechanisms of CDK4/6iresistance are complex and remain poorly understood. To better understand and overcome CDK4/6iresistance, we performed multi-omics profiling of paired tumor biopsies from ER+/HER2- MBCpatients treated with palbociclib combined with ET. Tumor biopsies taken at pre-treatment, on-treatment, and progressive disease (PD) from 71 patients were profiled using whole-exomesequencing (WES), whole-transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) and IHC analysis. Ourcomprehensive analysis identified several tumor intrinsic molecular markers associated with worsePFS, including the Luminal B subtype (p=0.012, HR=2.593), BRCA1/2 pathogenic mutation (p=0.012,HR=2.67) and mutation signatures linked to APOBEC enzymatic activity (p=0.002, HR=3.19).Conversely, the estrogen response signature (p=0.006, HR=0.43) was associated with favorableprognosis. Unsupervised analysis revealed a cluster of tumors enriched in homologousrecombination deficiency (HRD) linked genomic scars that was associated with poor prognosis(p=0.005, HR=2.49). Of note, these HRD-high tumors responded even more poorly to treatment whenco-occurring with TP53 somatic mutations. Integrative analysis further identified three poorprognosis clusters (IC2-4) enriched in Luminal B, proliferative and HRD features when compared tothe favorable prognosis cluster (IC1).Comparing baseline vs. PD samples, we observed a pattern of post-treatment enrichment for the poorprognosis markers. In addition, breast cancer-associated genes such as BRCA1/2, TP53 and PTENharbored a higher prevalence of genomic alterations including somatic mutation, amplification,. deletion and gene fusion at PD. Cell cycle gene expression and signatures also markedly increased atPD compared to baseline whereas estrogen response signatures decreased. Upon diseaseprogression, tumors had frequently switched to molecular subtypes with aggressive and estrogenindependent characteristics, demonstrating high plasticity in response to CDK4/6i and ET treatment.These patterns of acquired resistance were validated by IHC analysis of cyclins E1 and E2, Ki67 andpRb. To investigate the genomic alterations responsible for acquired resistance, we compared 21paired baseline and PD samples. We observed that PD-specific RB1 loss-of-function events occurredwith higher prevalence than previously reported, underscoring a major role of cell cycle de-regulation in conferring resistance to CDK4/6 inhibition. In this prospective longitudinal multi-omicsstudy, we identified novel candidate biomarkers that can be used to improve prediction of responseto CDK4/6i. In addition, we derived new insights into the molecular mechanisms of drug resistanceto palbociclib plus ET that will help guide therapeutic strategies and drug development inHR+/HER2− MBC.
 Citation Format: Zhengyan Kan, Seock-Ah Im, Kyunghee Park, Ji Wen, Kyung-Hun Lee, Yoon-La Choi, Won-Chul Lee, Ahrum Min, Vinicius Bonato, Seri Park, Sripad Ram, Dae-Won Lee, Ji-Yeon Kim, Su Kyeong Lee, Won-Woo Lee, Jisook Lee, Miso Kim, Scott L. Weinrich, Han Suk Ryu, Tae Yong Kim, Stephen Dann, Diane Fernandez, Jiwon Koh, Song Yi Park, Shibing Deng, Eric Powell, Rupesh Kanchi Ravi, Jadwiga Bienkowska, Paul A. Rejto, Woong-Yang Park, Yeon Hee Park. Serial genomic profiling reveals molecular mechanisms of breast cancer resistance to palbociclib [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr PD2-08.


Growth in technology has led to unprecedented demand for high speed architectures for complex signal processing applications. In 4G wireless communication systems, bandwidth is a precious commodity, and service providers continuously met with the challenge of accommodating more users with in a limited allocated bandwidth. To increase data rate of wireless medium with higher performance, OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) is used. OFDM is multicarrier modulation (MCM) technique which provides an efficient means to handle high speed data streams on a multipath fading environment that causes ISI. Normally OFDM is implemented using FFT and IFFT's. To decrease the bandwidth waste brought by adding cyclic prefix, Wavelet based OFDM is employed. Due to use of wavelet transform the transmission power is reduced. In this paper we review the replacement of Fourier transform by Wavelet transform and its effects on the overall system. Index Terms – BER, DFT, FFT, OFDM


Abstract Li and Gong have recently demonstrated noncanonical Fermi liquid behaviour in doped two-dimensional antiferromagnets described by the t-J model. Here we stress the experimentally established correlation in underdoped YBa2Cu4O8 that RT 1 ∝ Tover a substantial temperature range, R being the electrical resistivity and T 1 the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time. While this linearity is consistent with Fermi liquid theory, a test of the validity of the t-J model to describe the normal state of high Tc materials will be to study whether such behaviour can also result from its noncanonical Fermi liquid characteristics.


Density measurements were carried out at 25°C for aqueous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solutions of various borax concentrations. The partial specific volume v2° of PVA increased slightly with increasing borax concentration, from 0.754 ml g−1 in water to 0.777 ml g−1 in 5×10−2 moll−1 aqueous borax. From the density increments in the dialysed systems, the apparent volume φ′ was found to decrease from 0.725 ml g−1 at 4.6×10−3 moll−1 borax to 0.635 ml g−1 at 5.7×10−2 moll−1 borax. The preferential interaction parameter ξ3° (grams of borax bound per gram of PVA) was positive and became larger with increasing borax concentration. The net hydration ξ1° (grams of water bound per gram of PVA) was negative and became less negative with an increase in borax concentration. The relationships between ξ3° and ξ1° and physical binding and exclusion of low-molecular-weight components are discussed in terms of a simple model proposed by Reisler et al. It was found that at a limit of infinite concentration of borax, about 0.085 g of borax is bound and 7.0 g of water is excluded per gram of PVA.


OBJECTIVE:To survey and evaluate the present situation and trends of antidiabetic drugs used in18hospitals of Chongqing during the period2000~2002.METHODS:Data of antidiabetic agents used in18hospitals of Chongqing were collected and analysed concerning the consumptive sum and main kinds.RESULTS:The consumption sums of antidiabetic aˉgents in the years2000,2001and2002were498,643and649tenthousand yuans(RMB),respectively,with an annual increase rate of15.03%.The cost for insulin injections accounted for38.56%of the total consumption sum of antidiabetic agents,and that for mixed insulin took59.02%of the consumption sum for insulin.CONCLUSION:Antidiabetic agent was an important kind of drug with developing potential.The consumption of mixed insulin injection and new kind of oral antidiabetic agents is increasing fast year by year.


The objectives of this research are 1) To study the homelessness situation in Finland and Ireland 2) To describe what methods Finland and Ireland take into action to reduce homelessness 3) To compare the performance of Finland and Ireland, by collecting data from the documents, government's reports, annual reports, and related research—focusing on public policies, strategies and implementations of both Finland and Ireland from 2018 to 2021, by using thematic analysis method to analyze the date. The results of the research can divide into three topics. First, the number of homelessness in Finland and Ireland reduced satisfactorily, especially in Ireland from 2020 onwards. Second, both Ireland and Finland applied the "providing, delivering and controlling the prices of housing" concept as primary methods to end homelessness. The third, albeit both countries applied the same concept of plans and strategies, however in terms of ideas and policies are different. Since Finland's state welfare regime is Social Democratic Welfare Regime and adopted housing first as their principle to end homelessness. Meanwhile, Ireland's state welfare regime is the Liberal Welfare Regime, which is less intense in terms of "citizens insurance", albeit Ireland also adopted housing. However, Ireland created their strategy called "Rebuilding Ireland" and applied it as the main principle.


Sea urchins are voracious herbivores that influence the ecological structure and function of nearshore ecosystems throughout the world. Like many species that produce planktonic larvae, their recruitment is thought to be particularly sensitive to climatic fluctuations in temperature that directly or indirectly affect adult reproduction and larval transport and survival. Yet how climate alters sea urchin populations in space and time by modifying larval recruitment and year-class strength on the time-scales that regulate populations remains understudied. Using a, spatially replicated weekly-biweekly dataset spanning 27 years and 1100 km of coastline, we characterized seasonal, interannual, and spatial patterns of larval settlement of the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus). We show that large spatial differences in temporal patterns of larval settlement were associated with different responses to fluctuations in ocean temperature and climate. Importantly, we found a strong correlation between larval settlement and regional year class strength suggesting that such temporal and spatial variation in settlement plays an important role in controlling population dynamics. These results provide strong evidence over extensive temporal and spatial domains that climatic fluctuations shape broad-scale patterns of larval settlement and subsequent population structure of an important marine herbivore known to control the productivity, community state and provisioning services of marine ecosystems. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Introduction Large scale climate oscillations (e.g., El Niño/Southern Oscillation, North Atlantic Oscillation) lead to changes in ocean temperature, biogeochemistry and the severity and frequency of disruptive events that affect ocean circulation, upwelling and primary productivity (2014; Mantua et al., 1997). Such shifts impose wide-reaching ecological impacts, in part by altering animal recruitment and food web structure in space and time (Sydeman et al., 2015). Hence, understanding how climate variability alters the recruitment of marine species is particularly important for effective conservation and management of the ocean's resources. Climatic fluctuations give rise to shifts in numerous factors that shape both adult reproduction and larval supply, including primary productivity, temperature, and advection and transport. Given these multiple direct and indirect effects of climate on recruitment, significant challenges remain in achieving such understanding for benthic species with planktonic larvae due to the substantial effort needed to characterize spatial and temporal variation in larval settlement and the numerous sensitive vital rates that contribute to it. For benthic species like sea urchins, understanding causes and consequences of recruitment variability has both ecological and economic implications. Sea urchin grazing can alter the structure of some of the world's most diverse and productive marine ecosystems, including coral reefs (Edmunds & Carpenter, 2001), seagrass meadows (reviewed by Valentine & Heck Jr, 1999) and kelp forests (reviewed by Filbee-Dexter & Scheibling, 2014). In addition, sea urchins form the basis of important nearshore fisheries in many regions of the world (e.g. Andrew et al., 2003; Kato & Schroeter, 1985). As a result, climate-driven changes in sea urchin populations have the potential to profoundly affect the ecological structure and functioning of marine ecosystems and the economic value of the fisheries that they support. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Much of the research on controls of sea urchin population dynamics has focused on the roles of predation and disease in controlling adult abundance and their cascading influence on community structure (e.g. Burt et al., 2018; Estes & Duggins, 1995; Filbee-Dexter & Scheibling, 2014; Lafferty, 2004). Yet shortterm empirical studies (months to a few years) suggest that environmentally regulated larval supply is likely an important driver of adult urchin dynamics (Hernández et al., 2010; Ling et al., 2009). Despite the widespread recognition of the importance of recruitment variation in controlling population fluctuations in many marine species (Shelton & Mangel, 2011), relatively few studies have examined the biotic and abiotic processes controlling the supply of sea urchin larvae in nature (but see Hernández et al., 2010; Ling et al., 2009), and the degree to which they affect the abundance and dynamics of older life stages over time scales that impact population dynamics. Fluctuations in climate can affect spatial and temporal patterns of larval supply by influencing the production of larvae by benthic adults, transport of larvae to adjacent habitats, and the survival of larvae in the plankton. Increases in ocean temperature can impact larval production by: (1) increasing adult mortality via the spread of water-borne pathogens (reviewed by Feehan & Scheibling, 2014), and (2) reducing adult fecundity and inhibiting gametogenesis by altering food quantity and quality (Basch & Tegner, 2007; Cochran & Engelmann, 1975; Foster et al., 2015; Okamoto, 2014). Because sea urchins produce feeding larvae that spend weeks to months in the plankton, increases in ocean temperature can also affect larval development, growth and survival, either directly, or indirectly by altering the availability of their phytoplankton food source (Bertram & Strathmann, 1998; Byrne et al., 2009; HoeghGuldberg & Pearse, 1995; Strathmann, 1987). Finally, climate related changes in patterns of ocean circulation can affect the transport of larvae from source to destination (but see Morgan, 2014; Siegel et This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. al., 2008). Thus, the effects of climatic change on sea urchin recruitment represent cumulative impacts on adult abundance and reproduction, complex current patterns that transport larvae, behavioral responses of larvae, and larval development and survival. Because patterns of ocean temperature, circulation and upwelling can vary dramatically in space, the effects of climate oscillations on sea urchin recruitment potentially vary over large spatial scales. A dearth of long-term, high frequency, spatially extensive data has prevented characterizing temporal and spatial variability in larval settlement in sea urchins, the degree to which it is explained by different sources of environmental variation, and the relative importance of these drivers in accounting for fluctuations in population size. Here we analyzed a 27-year weekly to biweekly time series of the recruitment of newly metamorphosed larvae (hereafter referred to as larval settlement) at sites distributed across 1100 km of coast in California to investigate sources of spatial and temporal variability in larval settlement of the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Our objectives were to: (1) quantify variation in larval settlement across different temporal and spatial scales; (2) evaluate whether larval settlement on artificial substrates predicts year-class strength in natural populations; and (3) determine the relative importance of adult abundance, larval and adult food supply, sea surface temperature and broad-scale fluctuations in ocean climate in contributing to the observed variation in larval settlement Study system Populations of the purple sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus) occupy shallow subtidal and intertidal rocky substrata from at least 27°N on the western coast of the Baja Peninsula (OlivaresBañuelos et al., 2008) to at least 59°N on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska (Field & Walker, 2003). Purple This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. urchins are broadcast spawners and the seasonality of their spawning is generally thought to be driven by spring photoperiod and temperature (Cochran & Engelmann, 1975; Gonor, 1973; Pearse et al., 1986). Energy available for gonad production is largely determined by macroalgal food availability; specifically, sea urchins in barrens devoid of abundant macroalgae can show dramatic reductions in fecundity (>99%), and resumption of feeding in emaciated urchins can lead to gonadal recovery within 2-3 months (Okamoto, 2014). Results from the field and laboratory indicate that the thermal upper limit to completion of gametogenesis is about 17°C (Basch & Tegner, 2007; Cochran & Engelmann, 1975). Fertilized zygotes develop into planktonic echinoplutei larvae that feed exclusively on phytoplankton (Strathmann, 1987). After spending several weeks to months in the plankton, individuals begin final metamorphosis and settle to the benthos (Strathmann, 1978) at a size of ~500 μμm in diameter (Okamoto unpublished data). Larval settlement varies dramatically among locations at both small and large spatial scales (Ebert, 2010). Once settled, fully competent individuals occupy cobble and other complex substrata and between 12-24 months become visible in benthic surveys at 1-2 cm diameter. For a full review see Rogers-Bennet & Okamoto (Rogers-Bennett & Okamoto, 2020). Collection of newly settled urchins along the coast of California, USA (1990-2016) Settlement of newly metamorphosed purple sea urchins was sampled in three major regions along the California coast from 1990 through 2016, with a total of 54,588 replicate observations. Sampling regions (from south to north) included two sites in San Diego County (Scripps Pier and Ocean Beach Pier), four sites in the Santa Barbara Channel (Anacapa Island, Stearns Wharf, Ellwood Pier and Gaviota Pier) and one site at Point Cabrillo in Fort Bragg (Figure 1). San Diego and the Santa Barbara Channel lie within the Southern California Bight and Fort Bragg is in northern California. At each site, newly This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. settled urchins were collected using nylon-bristled scrub brushes (2.5 cm long bristles a


We study the impact of misalignments between a laser beam and an electron bunch on the energy distribution function of the electron bunch and on the gain of a microbunching instability in the laser heater. Transverse position and angular misalignment as well as different spot sizes of the laser and electron beam are considered. We find that the transverse misalignment makes the energy distribution function narrower compared to the case of ideal adjustment and a distinct peak in the distribution around the initial mean value of the energy appears. We demonstrate that despite these misalignments a uniform heating in terms of the energy spread can be achieved by appropriately adapting the transverse size and power of the laser beam such that the energy distribution function of the electron bunch at the end of the laser heater can be made similar to a Gaussian, thus providing more effective Landau damping against the microbunching instability. The laser power mainly determines the correlated energy spread while the laser spot size governs the shape of the energy distribution function. The transverse oscillations of electrons induced by the magnetic field in the laser heater are found to be non-essential for typical operation parameters.


Starting from a multiconfiguration self‐consistent‐field ground state, correlations are included by means of a coupled‐electron‐pair approximation (CEPA). Different sets of equations are derived with the help of a projection method, which correspond to CEPA‐0, CEPA‐1, and CEPA‐2 schemes, respectively.


The reel includes a drive pulley (14) on which the wire is wound (2) and driven by a motor (15). The pulley (14) is provided with a tachometer (112) delivering a signal (e1) and the motor (15) is controlled by an inverter (113). A strain gauge (16 to 19) delivers a signal (e5, e4) indicative of the tension (t) of the wire (2) which is compared with a reference value (t0). The signal (e3, e2) resulting superimposed (AV2) to the tachometer signal (e1) to give a signal (eV) of the drive control (113). The voltage variation (t) of the wire affects the signal (eV) and the engine speed (15) is corrected to suppress this variation in voltage. The constancy of the yarn tension scroll is important for the quality of the produced coils.


Bootstrapped switches are widely applied in a variety of applications requiring high-speed and high-linearity sampling. However, the parasitic effects of switches causing distortions have not been thoroughly analysed before. In this paper three fundamental non-ideal factors have been explored, which are source-drain exchange, parasitic capacitive division and charge redistribution, and their impact has been mathematically derived respectively. It is found that both on-resistance and the bootstrapped capacitor have a quadratic (40 dB/dec) impact on the third harmonic distortion of sampled signals. Afterward, a design guideline is proposed and verified by a 2-MSPS-&-90dB-THD design case. Comprehensive simulation with various design parameters shows that our design flow could feasibly optimise the design cost without sacrificing performance and hence being constructive for designers of bootstrapped switches.


Sir, The recent paper by Storaas et al. entitled 'Occupational rhinitis: diagnostic criteria, relation to lower airway symptoms and IgE sensitization in bakery workers' [1] opens up an opportunity to stress the current lack of an accurate and standardized definition of occupational rhinitis. We agree with Storaas et al. on the need for a consensus on diagnostic criteria for occupational rhinitis. However, we prefer to think in terms of a consensus definition of occupational rhinitis rather than on consensus diagnostic criteria that may vary with different types of occupational rhinitis. In our opinion, the current definitions of occupational rhinitis as they exist in the literature do not reflect the complete dimension of the disease. Occupational rhinitis is the type of rhinitis that originates from exposures in the workplace; consequently, its definition should rely on a current accepted definition of rhinitis in general. However, the definition of rhinitis in the general population lacks accuracy as well. The most commonly cited and accepted definition of rhinitis is that formulated by the International Consensus Report (ICR) of 1994 stating that 'rhinitis is defined as inflammation of the lining of the nose, characterized by one or more of the following symptoms: nasal congestion, rhinorrhea, sneezing and itching' [2]. This definition is based on the description of symptoms secondary to an inflammatory reaction of the nasal mucosa. Therefore, any of the above nasal symptoms have the same weight in defining rhinitis. For example, a patient complaining of only itching will have a rhinitis. There is no scientific evidence to support such an example. Moreover, it is well established that nasal symptoms such as nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, sneezing and itching alone or in combination may accompany nasal disorders that are not rhinitis. As discussed by Storaas et al. the ICR formulates another definition of rhinitis in an algorithm that they propose for the management of rhinitis [2]. This alternative definition, which in fact conflicts somewhat with the one mentioned above, states that rhinitis may be defined as the presence of 'two or more symptoms for more than 1 hour on most days'. This definition also has limitations because it does not state if it refers to any combination of nasal symptoms or if there are some symptoms in particular that should be taken into account at the time of defining rhinitis. In addition, the definition itself is not supported by published research studies. These conflicting statements on the definition of rhinitis have important consequences for clinical practice and epidemiological research. In clinical practice it may create confusion in the diagnosis and management of rhinitis. In epidemiological research such a definition leads to problems when assessing and comparing measures of disease frequency such as the prevalence of rhinitis between studies. The paper by Wang et al. [3] cited by Storaas et al. addresses in particular the problem of assessing the prevalence of rhinitis with different diagnostic criteria based on symptoms. This epidemiological cross-sectional study investigated the prevalence of rhinitis in Singapore using the self-reported presence of one, two, three or four symptoms on most days during the past year as criteria to define rhinitis. The study showed that prevalence rates of rhinitis go from 25.5% to 13.1% to 6.5% and to 3.0%,


Given a single scene image, this paper proposes a method of Category-level 6D Object Pose and Size Estimation (COPSE) from the point cloud of the target object, without external real pose-annotated training data. Specifically, beyond the visual cues in RGB images, we rely on the shape information predominately from the depth (D) channel. The key idea is to explore the shape alignment of each instance against its corresponding category-level template shape, and the symmetric correspondence of each object category for estimating a coarse 3D object shape. Our framework deforms the point cloud of the category-level template shape to align the observed instance point cloud for implicitly representing its 3D rotation. Then we model the symmetric correspondence by predicting symmetric point cloud from the partially observed point cloud. The concatenation of the observed point cloud and symmetric one reconstructs a coarse object shape, thus facilitating object center (3D translation) and 3D size estimation. Extensive experiments on the category-level NOCS benchmark demonstrate that our lightweight model still competes with state-of-the-art approaches that require labeled real-world images. We also deploy our approach to a physical Baxter robot to perform grasping tasks on unseen but category-known instances, and the results further validate the efficacy of our proposed model. Code and pre-trained models are available on the project webpage 11Project webpage. https://hetolin.github.io/SAR-Net.


Creating music in an automatic way has been studied since the beginning of artificial
intelligence. One of the biggest obstacles of music generation is the vagueness and subjectivity
of the mood or emotion transmitted by a music piece. In this work, we experiment
with the generation of piano music using template pieces, represented in MIDI format,
as a mood directive. We generated a population of random pieces for templates of two
opposing moods - happy and sad - and evolved them with a genetic algorithm until their
intended mood was close enough to their respective templates. The fitness function that
we implemented uses MIDI statistical features to calculate the distance between the given
piece and the template. A questionnaire applied to human listeners showed that the generated
pieces could overall meet the objective, which was to express the same mood as
the template. However, they still sounded computer-generated, probably due to the lack
of rhythm regularity and synchronicity. We believe that the weights in the fitness function
still need to be balanced, and that new rhythm features could make the pieces sound more
natural.


Harmonic voltages are important voltage quality parameters defined in EN 50160. For harmonic voltage studies in electricity networks, harmonic emission of loads is often modelled as harmonic current source. In this paper harmonic current sources were parameterised on the basis of measure-ments of total harmonic current emission of several different low voltage networks. Measurements from low voltage net-works with different typical customer configurations were used: residential, offices and PV. A real medium voltage electricity distribution network of an Austrian distribution system operator, with significant consumption of residential and office customers, was chosen for this analysis. In order to automate the harmonic load flow calculations in DIgSILENT PowerFactory for every 10-minute interval of one week, a script in DIgSILENT Programming Language - DPL was developed. Harmonic voltage results from the harmonic load flow simulation are compared with the results of harmonic voltage measurements from power quality monitoring system installed in this network. The goal of this paper is to assess the suitability of the approach, where only background harmonics and key harmonic current sources are modelled. Since the approach provided good results, it can be used in future work as a basis for optimising the number and locations of power quality monitors in electricity distribution networks.


The present invention relates to an aircraft capable of hovering passive stabilization of the rotor. The rotor has a generally fixed geometry, tiltably coupled at its rotor shaft. The outer portion of the rotor blade with respect to the plane of rotation with a fixed slope, while the inner portion of the rotor blade with respect to the reference plane having a fixed inclination, the reference plane perpendicular to the rotor shaft.


Objective: This study aimed to determine the association between redundant nerve root and clinical outcome after fusion for lumbar spinal stenosis by comparing outcomes in patients with or without redundant nerve root.Methods: A total of 163 patients who underwent spinal fusion surgery between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2018, were enrolled. Patients were divided into two groups: with a redundant nerve root (R group) and without a redundant nerve root (N group). The clinical outcome of the two groups was compared using VAS and claudication distance.Results: A total of 46 patients had a redundant nerve root, while the remaining 117 did not. Symptom duration was significantly different between the two groups (R=41.0±25.0, N=24.1±12.2, p<0.001). Changes in the VAS score for lower extremity pain between the two groups at 1 year after surgery showed that patients without a redundant nerve root had significantly better outcomes than those with a redundant nerve root (R: 4.2±1.3 vs. N: 5.5±1.4; p<0.001). Conclusion: Redundant nerve root on MRI is associated with clinical outcome after fusion for lumbar spinal stenosis. Patients with a redundant nerve root had poor outcomes after fusion surgery for lumbar spinal stenosis than those without a redundant nerve root.


prohibitions against consulting the archives in the countries of the former communist block. Numerous research projects have allowed scholars to advance their knowledge of the active avant-garde circles in Central Europe in the 1920s and 1930s—a taboo subject during the postwar period. Some remarkable fi ndings have already brought to light a wealth of artistic creations. This impulse of rediscovery has offered new views of the theory of centers and peripheries: one removes Paris from its throne as the capital of arts, one pits the cosmopolitan Berlin against the infl uential Moscow, and between these east-west poles, one revalorizes Warsaw, Prague, Zagreb and Bucharest. However, within this revised historic-artistic geography, there are some areas of relative obscurity. There is considerable disparity between the amount of research into (and presentation of ) art and literature of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland on the one hand compared to that of Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia on the other. 1


The contact laser applications for the removal of the enlarged prostate are distinctly different than the majority of non-contact Nd:YAG lasers that rely on coagulation necrosis and delayed sloughing. Contact Nd:YAG laser allows cutting, coagulation and vaporization of tissue with minimal penetration beyond the contact surface. Using the contact laser prostatectomy technique, the contact laser probe directly touches and immediately vaporizes the prostatic tissue under the probe. The net result is the immediate removal of the obstructing tissue, in a manner similar to the standard electrosurgical TURP. This immediate removal of tissue offers the patient treated with the contact laser the potential for decreased catheter time and a more rapid resolution of symptoms. Our initial experience suggests that the contact technique may be better suited for the smaller prostate gland (i.e. less than 30 gm). The contact laser may also be used for a procedure termed the `laser assisted TURP': a standard electrosurgical TURP is performed and the contact laser is used for hemostasis. Several investigators have reported non-randomized results of the contact technique with good outcomes. A prospective randomized trial of the contact laser prostatectomy vrs the electrosurgical TURP is underway. The contact laser vaporization of the prostate holds great promise for the treatment of symptomatic benign prostatic hypertrophy: it is virtually bloodless and allows immediate visualization of the TUR defect.


Financial accounting principles and cost systems, interpretation and use of accounting reports and supplemental information for engineering economic analyses, consideration of cost-volume-profit analyses, use of discounted cash flow techniques, flexible budgeting, transfer pricing, and capital budgeting. Requisites: MATH 217, 221, or 275 or concurrent registration Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Fall 2017


Low oscillator phase noise is crucial for the performance of nearly all communication systems. There are very good, mathematically rigorous theories describing the noise processes in oscillating circuits and the resulting output signal corrupted by phase noise and orbital noise. Although these theories describe the oscillator circuit in a correct manner, the results were not yet applied to a common receiver. In this paper, a simple mathematical oscillator is used to show that the theory describing noise in oscillators has to be adapted for the sake of describing the phase noise correctly which finally corrupts the demodulation results of the receiver.


A novel modeling method based on the parametric domain decomposition is proposed for the B-spline surfaces. This method combines the advantages of conventional B-spline and Bezier surfaces. Moreover, a fast algorithm based on the new modeling method is presented to locate the stationary points, including inner and boundary stationary points, of physical optics (PO) integrals from targets modeled with double-quadratic B-spline surfaces. In this algorithm, the locating problem is reduced to a numerical or analytical solution. No approximation is involved in the proposed modeling method and locating algorithm. The stationary phase method by means of the fast locating algorithm is employed to evaluate PO integrals. The CPU time is independent of the incident frequency and physical dimension of scattered surfaces. The accuracy and performance of the presented methods are validated by comparing them with those of the brute force method.


In this study, the efficiency of halogen bonding strategies to control over the supramolecular assemblies of boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) (B-1, B-2, and B-3) derivatives was explored.


Based on Von Mises yield condition, the plastic collapse load equations for the pipe elbows under the loads of internal pressure and torsion, and the loads of internal pressure, bending and torsion are derived. By simplified, several different plastic collapse loads such as plastic limit bending can be got. Some experiments have verified the theories. The theoretical bases have been provided to fully utilize its plastic limit capability, and a fundamental method of plastic collapse load for defected elbows is also made.


Now the public lighting in the city has become a major power consumer, how to reduce power consumption in the basis of guarantee the basic lighting becomes a main point. Based on the characteristics of lighting energy-consuming equipment, the energy-saving light energy control device was designed and developed by using the Automatic buck technology. This system uses FPGA chips as its control center, combined DDS technology this system directly forms SPWM modulated waves to drive contradictorily changed device of IGBT, by changing the range of sine wave to adjust the output voltage to achieve energy saving effect. This system possesses advantages of good frequency spetrum, high accuracy, small volume, easily controlled and Intelligent etc. In addition, the mixed simulation environment which is compounded of Quartus II and ModelSim makes the design avoid limited by the hardware and raise the successful probability of implementation on hardware.


Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common problem worldwide. Mainstream surgical procedures include tension‐free vaginal tape (TVT), transobturator tape (TOT), tension‐free vaginal tape‐obturator (TVT‐O), tension‐free vaginal tape SECUR (TVT‐S), and adjustable single‐incision sling (Ajust). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of these surgical procedures and assess which surgery is most optimal for SUI by adopting a network meta‐analysis (NMA).


New or emerging museography (Hernandez & Santacana, 2009) leaves no room for the harmonious coexistence of ICTs resources and traditional museography. Rather than taking priority on a convergent narrative in which technology is made invisible, thus allowing different customizable information and participation levels to augment knowledge and to facilitate accessibility by all citizens, priority is given to ephemeral technological dazzle. Regarding accessibility, we must be aware of the fact that all of us have certain limitations. However, only very pronounced disabilities are usually taken into account, and the ICTs can help to reduce them. The present research is the result of an R&D&I project funded by the Spanish National Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness, also supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. It is focused on the appropriate adaptation of ICTs to museum discourse. To measure the results from this basic research, applied models were implemented in the Madrid Museum of the Americas. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of these interactive systems allow their improvement, as well as devising new basic research lines.


We used RELEARNN to train neural networks on two different tasks. The first task was to link visual contours and the second task was curve tracing. Parameters in both experiments have been set to α = β = ζ = 1, γ = 4, a = 0.001 (c.f. eqn. (1)) and the reward was set to % = 0 and % = 0.4 in case of error and success, respectively. We performed simulations with the one step Euler-method with ∆t = 0.04 iterating until convergence (ε = 0.0001). Weights were bounded by θ = 4 by adapting the weights according to W 7→ W + ∆W · (θ − W ) to accomodate the fact that neural connectivity cannot be arbitrarily large. However, in practice the maximal value of any weight in the networks was ≈ 2. Excitatory and inhibitory connections to the linking layer were initialized with values randomly chosen from the interval [0.98, 1.02]. Connections to (excitatory) and from (modulatory) the association layer were initialized with small weights randomly chosen from the interval [0.001, 0.02]. To speed up learning in the tracing task each motor unit was "paired" with an association unit from which it received strong excitation randomly initialized with values uniformly drawn from [0.95, 1.05]. Training simulations conducted without this high initialization weights were also successful but took longer. The lateral modulatory connections were initialized with values randomly drawn from [0.001, 0.05] (to speed up learning in the tracing task, we initialized them with [1.45, 1.55]). The learning rate η was set to 0.65 and the parameter τ of the softmax rule was set to 0.004.


Introduction: The mechanism of genetic susceptibility to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in exposed individuals is still unclear. The aim of the present study is to investigate the associat...


When a child is hospitalized with a serious illness like cancer, their families must process emotional stress, complicated medical information, and take on new caregiving tasks. Additionally, they must collaborate with each other while maintaining their existing employment and household chores. Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) technologies have the ability to enhance family care coordination. However, the challenges to family caregiving coordination in the hospital, particularly during prolonged hospitalizations, are not well studied. In this paper, I describe my proposal and research plan to study the role that collaborative technology can play in augmenting family care collaboration and family resilience during the extended hospitalization period.


The aim of this study was to examine how organisations present their arguments regarding international homosexual adoption. The material of this study consisted of texts and the analysis have been based on the arguments from referral responses regarding the bill SOU 2001:10 (Children in homosexual families). Four themes were identified that seemed to pay a significant role in discussion of the issue. The identified themes were the child's perspective, otherness, acceptance of society and parental ability. The result was based on two different analyzes, where we first identified the arguments and secondly analyzed the arguments in relation to Judith Butler's theory about the heterosexual matrix. One of the results that we found was that the adoption organizations had a negative attitude towards homosexual adoption. Two of their reasons why the organizations were negative was that they claimed there was a non acceptance from the society and that it was not in the best interest of the child to have homosexual parents. Other results that we found important was that the arguments from the adoption organizations was based on the assumption of heteronormativity. Many results revealed that both pro and con arguments showed the same reasons why homosexual adoption should or should not be legal. In conclusion we found that the organisations preserved the traditional gender roles and was not trying to make an effort to change the norms about heterosexual parenting being the preferable. (Less)


The paper presents the methodology to determine changes in the geometric structure containing the conducted measurements and feasible variants of calculations. The object of detailed studies, whose results are presented in this work, is the suspended roof of the open-air theatre in Koszalin. In the research conducted since 2006, a database that contains the results of more than 40 periodic measurements of the structure carried out in different (registered during measurements) external conditions (including different temperature, snow and ice load) was used. The previous research conducted at this facility, among others, (Deska 2013, Kaczmarek and Śpiewak 2014b), as well as for other structures (Odziemczyk 2014) draws attention to the important influence of the temperature load of steel structures and hence the need for its consideration when assessing the geometric state. Electronic total station and the polar method with freestationing were used in periodic measurements. The calculations used a comparative method (differences of coordinates) and tools of a statistical analysis as well as developed calculation models based on them. The results obtained using both approaches were compared and assessed by indicating both their possibilities and significant limitations. The application of the suggested methodology provides the correct determination of changes in the geometric state of a construction and the use of the variants in calculations enables a reliable control.


Speckle contrast imaging has been shown to be useful in measuring blood flow in vivo. Recently spatial frequency domain imaging has been combined with speckle contrast to provide information about the depth of the blood vessels. Here we develop a Monte-Carlo model for speckle contrast imaging using a pattern of binary illumination bars. Our model is constructed in such a way that we can simulate different time steps in the imaging process from a single Monte-Carlo run. We show that the technique can measure flow using either spatial or temporal contrast, and that differences in depth can be seen in the pattern of speckle contrast. With this tool, we can investigate different processing algorithms to optimize the imaging process and extract useful depth information. Further work will exploit the harmonic frequencies in the Fourier transform of the binary bar chart.


Since Davies et al. have demonstrated in 1982 that physical exercise is generating free radicals, their role and effects on the organism have become of increasing interest. Free radicals are molecules that have an unpaired electron in their outer orbit, which increases their reactivity with other molecules. Reactive oxidant species (ROS) can be defined as oxygencontaining molecules that are more reactive than the triplet oxygen molecule present in air (Noguchi and Niki, 1999). At present, ROS are considered to be important messengers acting in living organisms, which are constantly produced by numerous metabolic reactions. The generation of ROS is increased by phagocytes during inflammatory processes as well as by physical exercise via the upregulation of the mitochondrial metabolism. Some enzymes, such as oxidases, are also able to generate ROS (Cheeseman and Slater, 1993; Ji, 1995). The most important role of ROS is the defence against invading microorganisms and the so-called "redox-regulation" of gene expression (MacPherson et al., 2001; Stamler & Meisner, 2001). The generation of ROS is significantly increased in inflammatory conditions during the "oxidative burst" of neutrophils and macrophages (Rahman et al., 1996). The activation of pro-oxidative enzymes, such as the NADPH-oxidase (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase) and the myeloperoxidase (MPO) in presence of transition metals such as copper or iron, allows the generation of important amounts of ROS that are released by inflammatory cells. These oxidants play an important role in the inactivation and destruction of microorganisms by inducing peroxidation and destabilization of their lipid membranes, oxidation and inactivation of their proteins acting as receptors or enzymes and oxidation of their nuclear material (Kowaltowski and Vercesi, 1999; Kobayashi et al., 2001). Beside this important role for immunity, the ROS are also cellular messengers. The redox-regulation of intracellular signal transduction is based on the oxidation and reduction of messenger proteins, thereby activating or inactivating intracellular pathways. Especially the expression of inflammatory genes is depending on oxidation-reduction reactions, which confers to the ROS the role of pro-inflammatory stimuli (Hensley et al., 2000). Nathalie Kirschvink und P. Lekeux


OBJECTIVES
We sought to compare 3-year outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) according to recently published appropriateness criteria for PCI.

BACKGROUND
The choice of revascularization between PCI and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains uncertain in many patients despite numerous randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses.

METHODS
Consecutive patients undergoing a first PCI at a single, large-volume institution were included if they did not have prior CABG and did not need emergency PCI. Patients were classified according to PCI indication into the following groups: Appropriate (A) - 1- or 2-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD), Uncertain (U) - 3-vessel CAD and Inappropriate (I) - left main coronary artery stenosis. Survival was assessed with the Social Security Death Index.

RESULTS
A total of 2,134 patients fulfilled the study criteria: 1,706 (80%) with "appropriate" PCI, 414 (19.4%) with "uncertain" PCI and only 14 (0.6%) with "inappropriate" PCI. In-hospital outcomes were very favorable, with 99.3%, 98.6% and 100% of the three groups, respectively, experiencing no complications (p = 0.31). The estimated survival in the three categories at 900 days was 92.6% (95% confidence interval 91-94%) for Group A, 91.3% (88-4%) for Group U and 66.9% (33-87%) for Group I; p = 0.014. The only predictors of mortality were advanced age and comorbidities, but not "appropriateness level" (p = 0.26).

CONCLUSION
The majority of PCIs performed would were classified as "appropriate." The patients classified as "uncertain" had similarly favorable outcomes, as those considered "appropriate" both during initial hospitalization and during the 3-year follow up. If confirmed, these data suggest that anatomically-based appropriateness criteria are not sufficient to inform choice of revascularization method.


Using the conceptual design method, a Five-axis C.N.C. machine has been developed using the already available C.N.C. setup (R.P. setup). The C.N.C. machine setup has got mechatronic controls and a computer interface through CAMSOFT for various C.N.C. operations. The present work highlights the importance of conceptual design and innovation's role in developing C.N.C. machines. The work initially begins with studying an existing partially developed 3-axis C.N.C. setup with certain significant flaws. Conceptual design is applied to correct the existing problems and fabricate new components for the Five-axis C.N.C. milling machine. After getting feasible designs, the work moves into the fabrication stage, where all the corrective measures are taken, and specific new components are developed/ fabricated and added to the C.N.C. setup accordingly. The New milling attachments is developed successfully and installed on the C.N.C. machine setup. The working of the developed five-axis C.N.C. milling is tested by making 2D & 3D contoured products (three cases). It is found to be satisfactory based on various experiments (visual and dimensional inspection).


1. Grant JE, Odlaug BL, Chamberlain SR. Gambling disorder, DSM-5 criteria and symptom severity. Compr Psychiatry. 2017;75:1–5. 2. Black DW, Shaw MC, Allen J. Extended release carbamazepine in the treatment of pathological gambling: an open-label study. Prog neuro-psychopharmacology Biol Psychiatry. 2008;32:1191–1194. 3. Dannon PN, Lowengrub K, Gonopolski Y, et al. Topiramate versus fluvoxamine in the treatment of pathological gambling: a randomized, blind-rater comparison study. Clin Neuropharmacology. 2005;28:6–10. 4. Dannon PN, Lowengrub K, Musin E, et al. 12-month follow-up study of drug treatment in pathological gamblers: a primary outcome study. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2007;27:620–624. 5. Pallanti S, Quercioli L, Sood E, et al. Lithium and valproate treatment of pathological gambling: a randomized single-blind study. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63:559– 564. 6. Chen P, Lin JJ, Lu CS, et al. Carbamazepine-induced toxic effects and HLA-B*1502 screening in Taiwan. New Engl J Med. 2011;364:1126–1133. 7. Di Stefano G, La Cesa S, Truini A, et al. Natural history and outcome of 200 outpatients with classical trigeminal neuralgia treated with carbamazepine or oxcarbazepine in a tertiary centre for neuropathic pain. J Headache Pain. 2014;15:34. 8. Mathar D, Wiehler A, Chakroun K, et al. A potential link between gambling addiction severity and central dopamine levels: evidence from spontaneous eye blink rates. Scientific Rep. 2018;8:13371. 9. Joca SR, Skalisz LL, Beijamini V, et al. The antidepressive-like effect of oxcarbazepine: possible role of dopaminergic neurotransmission. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2000;10:223–228. 10. Guerreiro CAM, Guerreirol MM. Carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine. In: Wyllie E, ed. Wyllie's Treatment of Epilepsy, Principles and Practice 5th ed Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2011: 614–621. 11. Tremblay M, Winstanley CA. Anticonvulsant medications attenuate amphetamine-induced deficits in behavioral inhibition but not decision making under risk on a rat gambling task. Behav Brain Res. 2016;314:143–151. 12. Hodgins DC, Holub A. Components of impulsivity in gambling disorder. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2015;13: 699–711.


This thesis investigated the problem of understanding human activities, at different levels of granularity and taking into account both the variability in activities and annotator disagreement. To be able to capture the large variations within each of the action classes, we propose a model that uses a sequence of latent variables which can be implicitly learned without human annotation. We also propose a model that incorporates the uncertainty of labeling, and introduce learning methods that can use the noisy labels for finding the optimal model parameters. The above two models both focus on recognizing actions, not activities. Therefore, thirdly, we propose to use a hierarchical model that can encode the activity labels with different complexity. In this model, the activity and action nodes are interconnected. The results show that by using joint modeling of actions and activities, the F-score is increased by 3 percentage points compared with the state-of-the-art. Fourthly, we propose a novel algorithm that can predict upcoming actions. This is particularly important when the robot needs to give pro-active assistance before an actual action is complete. We incorporate a human kinematic model for estimating the cost of reaching objects, and these costs are used as features for predicting future actions. The results show an improvement of 3 percentage points in F-score compared with the state-of-the-art. Finally, we propose to use overhead cameras for detecting and tracking persons in the room, which can be used to efficiently approach the person for tasks such as person identification, activity recognition, and intent prediction.


Abstract The black immigrant population in New York City has grown exponentially since 1990, such that West Indians now compose the majority of the black population in several neighbourhoods. This article examines how this ethnic density manifests among youth in high school, and how it has influenced ethnic identity formation among second-generation West Indians. My findings are based on twenty-four interviews and eight months of participant observation in two Brooklyn high schools from 2003 to 2004. The results show that in both schools, Caribbean island identities have become a 'cool' commodity within peer groups. Further, although it was important to express pride in one's island identity, these young people often blurred their national origin boundaries by drawing on Jamaican popular culture as way of projecting a unified 'West Indian identity'. The research also uncovers evidence of a de-stigmatization of Haitianness as a way to incorporate them as cultural insiders into the larger Caribbean collective.


It is a particular honour to give this lecture because Martin Wight was a man of great distinction who has left a legacy of enduring achievement, whether it was at Chatham House, here at the LSE, or at the University of Sussex where he was Dean of the first School of European Studies in a British university. I do not know which particular writings he will be most remembered for, but I think his Power Politics will be perhaps most familiar to the general student of international affairs. His own writing and thinking did evolve over time, and I do not think there is anything to be ashamed of in that. Many people were surprised that somebody who could write so realistically and hard-headedly about international affairs could have been a conscientious objector during the war years. But it may be that strange combination which constitutes his distinctive contribution to the study of international affairs. When Power Politics first appeared as a Chatham House booklet in 1946, it was quite easy to categorize Wight's thinking and writing with the realist or the conflict interpretation of international politics, but as the years passed, his writing was much more inclined to show an understanding and awareness and a sensitivity to the internationalist cooperative interpretation and the revolutionist solidarity interpretation. He was, however, a pessimist, I think it is fair to say, about international affairs. You could say, looking around in international affairs there are continuing good grounds for pessimism.


Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) are often considered a threat of the past because today's equipment allows to perform post-fermentation processes under greatly reduced level of oxygen. This paper deals with the current importance of AAB in brewing. The risk of contamination as well as functional role in spontaneously fermented sour beers is reviewed. The main harmful effect of AAB lies in the direct spoilage of draft beer and formation of biofilms, most often in dispensing systems. On contrary AAB seems to be indispensable in the case of sour beer production. A key issue of AAB in brewing environment is their (early) detection and identification. Therefore, part of this study is devoted to both the latest sophisticated methods and also those of traditional cultivation. which are still prevalent in operating laboratories due to their cost and easy implementation. Finally, the experimental and pictorial material is added as a guide for operations that have less experience with AAB.


Hypoglycemic drugs in the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor class are used as a second-line treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus. With DPP-4 inhibitors, there have been a few reports of cutaneous side effects such as bullous response, fixed drug eruption, and photosensitivity. There is no definitive pathophysiology for the above mentioned allergic reactions. Sitagliptin phosphate belongs to the DPP-4 inhibitor class. This is a case report of a sitagliptin-induced bullous drug reaction manifesting three weeks after starting therapy. He had bullous pemphigoid-like eruptions all over the body. The patient showed improvement once sitagliptin was discontinued alon with oral and topical steroid treatment.


MEMS actuators are currently widely used in the industry. Micro-heaters, being a prime example, attracted much attention in recent years due to their good operating parameters and low cost fabrication process. This paper focuses on a design and development of a micro-heater to be used as an actuator in a multiparametric capillary sensor. The micro-heater is an evolution of a previous design and uses a 200nm-thick thin film of 80/20 NiCr alloy as a heating layer. The paper presents results of fabrication and testing of the micro-heater, including temperature distribution and resistance changes during the heating cycle. Additionally, is presented a PWM based control system providing the stability of power and temperature distribution.


The present study was designed to study the direct influence of supplementing of layers diet at late phase of egg production and housed in cages with high levels of vitamin K3 on productive performance, eggshell parameters, tibia bone composition and histological observation, hatching traits and some blood parameters. One hundred and fifty Mandarah chicken females with thirty males were individually housed in cages from 55 up to 67 weeks of age. The birds were randomly divided into 5 groups representing the dietary supplementation. The birds of the first group was served as control (T1) without any supplementation and fed diet contains 3 mg menadion (K3) / kg diet . The rest 4 groups were supplemented with menadion as additional doses of vitamin K3 source to be 7, 11,15 and 19mg menadion / kg diet for T2, T3, T4 and T5 groups respectively. Obtained results revealed that hens of T3, T4 and T5 groups represented significantly (P≤ 0.05) produced larger eggs , besides all supplemented groups represented highest (P≤ 0.05) egg mass and egg production% compared to those for control group (T1).Also, highest values of shell thickness (mm) and Ca% in eggshell were detected for eggs of T3 and T4 groups compared to the rest groups. Moreover, the best improvement of tibia measurements (length , width and breaking strength) and composition (weight, ash%,Ca% and P%) were recorded for hens T3 and T4 groups. Eggs produced from all supplemented groups represented significant increase of fertility and hatchability of fertile egg percentages compared to those for control one. Birds of the T3 groups recorded the highest values of the serum osteocalcin and plasma Ca, ICa, P and alkaline phosphatase. Histological observations of tibia bone for birds of T3, T4 and T5 groups illustrate the increase of medullary bone, thick outer cortical layer and osteoblasts cell activity. In conclusion, supplementing the layer diet at late phase of production and housed in cages with either 11 or 15 mg vitamin K3 / kg diet could be a promising tool for realizing the best improvement of egg production, shell and bone quality and hatchability%.


Introduction Background/Introduction: In the article study of hyperthermia impact on appearance and course of seizures in childhood is presented. Objective/Hypothesis: The object of the current article is desire to bring attention of medical scientific community to such a way of hyperthermic process influence as febrile remissions within the frames of epileptic process, and also to announce several hypotheses of existence of this phenomena. Materials and Methods: The material for the current studies was statistical analysis of proper clinical observations of 16 patients with hyperthermic remissions. Results: The results of our statistical processing study of individual patient's history are presented in the current article as the table with the description in the text. Conclusion: The existing data on mechanisms of hyperthermia impact on paroxysmal activity of brain cells which are described in literature and the data received from proper observations make it possible to draw a conclusion about the same pathogenetic substrate of febrile seizures and febrile remissions in epileptic processes with different types of their realization.


The influence of the component of the gel polymer electrolyte containing imidazolium ionic liquid on its cathodic stability and mobility of lithium ion has been investigated. The selection of the mixed ionic liquid based on 1-ethyl-3-methyl (EMI) imidazolium and 1-cyanomethyl-3-methyl imidazolium (CmMI) cations exhibits higher cathodic stability for the gel electrolyte than the one containing EMI ionic liquid alone. The addition of alumina filler increases the mobility of lithium ion in the gel, and promotes the reversible lithium deposition-dissolution.


The kinetics of the flocculation of iron oxide sol by polyacrylamide has been studied by turbidity measurements. Various kinetics parameters such as per cent flocculation, flocculation rate and rate constants for the flocculation and deflocculation have been evaluated. Both the qualitative and quantitative effects of various parameters such as polymer dosage, pH of the suspension, salt concentration and molecular weight of the polymeric flocculant on the kinetics of flocculation have also been investigated.


Tidal datums are important for calculating spatial coordinates especially the elevation relative to mean sea level and also crucial for defining the state sovereignty boundaries over maritime areas. Normally, sea level was measured by tide gauges along the coastal for tidal datums computation. However, knowledge of tides is still restricted in coastal areas. Furthermore, tidal range at offshore was simply assumed to be similar as coastal due to the difficulties installing offshore tide gauges. The launching of satellite altimeter technologies with precise orbit determination since 1993 had provided significant accuracy of sea surface height (SSH) measurements. The observed SSH from satellite altimetry can be offered as tide gauge measurements at each location globally. This study aims to derive offshore tidal datums using satellite altimetry around Malaysian seas. SSH time series from TOPEX, Jason-1, Jason-2 and Geosat Follow On (GFO) were analysed using harmonic analysis approach to estimate harmonic constants. A minimum of 19 years tidal predictions were then performed using UTide software to determine Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) and Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT). These tidal datums were interpolated into regular 0.125° grids and were assessed with ten selected coastal tide gauges. The findings showed the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of spline interpolation yielded better accuracy, 25.5 cm (LATMSL) and 17.4 cm (HATMSL) as compared to the RMSE of Kriging interpolation, 31.8 cm (LATMSL) and 33.8 cm (HATMSL). In conclusion, deriving offshore tidal datums can serve as input data to unify marine database with coastal areas and also can support many marine applications.


Wavelet multi-scale decomposition is an effective method to eliminate the noises for unstable signals.In virtue of the multi-resolution wavelet threshold de-noising method presented by D.L.Donoho,the wavelet threshold de-nosing method with the use of Lipschitz exponent was proposed.Simulation results indicate that this method can effectively suppress the Pseudo-Gibbs phenomena in the vicinities of the singular points of the signal due to the discontinuity of the hard threshold function.It also reserves the edge information of the signals under the condition of thorough elimination of noises.Numerical results also show that this method gives better MSE performance and SNR gains than both the traditional hard threshold and soft threshold methods.