In this paper I address the representation of the 1916 Irish Rising, running parallel— and in response—to the Great War, through comics. I will primarily refer to my own graphic novel, The Trial of Roger Casement, and the depiction of the protagonist's journey from a respected, knighted human-rights advocate at the outbreak of war in 1914 to his execution for treason in 1916, at the height of British patriotic fervour. His mission—to seek political and military assistance for the Irish independence movement from Germany, the primary rival to Britain for European dominance—was thrown into chaos by the outbreak of hostilities. The paper examines the challenges and opportunities of using the graphic novel form to depict the life of Casement, a man whose life and legacy has been fought over for a century. His private diaries, documenting his sex-life as a gay man in the pre-legalisation world, were seized by the British secret service and forwarded to Casement's former allies and friends in the emerging human-rights movement. These diaries have since been debated and contested, with some allies claiming forgery and defamation while others have accepted them in their entirety. The combination of word and image and disregard for taxonomical distinctions within the comic-book provides the ability to blur the lines between objective and subjective truths, and offers a multiplicity of meanings and interpretations to the reader. The graphic novel may provide a way for creators to engage with the 1916 Rising without becoming overwhelmed by the weight of history, offering the potential to deal with socio-political themes in a way that can combine history with poetry. I will also look at the approach of other creators to similar figures from the 1916 Easter Rising in a new breed of Irish-history graphic novels. This will include Sean Charleton's 'James Conolly: The Irish Rebel', the Nerve Centre, Derry's short comics focusing on Winifred Carney and Gerry Hunt's 'Blood Upon the Rose'.


This essay suggests that the long, somewhat tedious run-up to the proof in Moore's 'A proof of an external world' is designed to prepare the ground with common sense and experimentation (with after-images). Given that perspective, the proof, when it finally arrives, is necessarily trivial; the question is whether the skeptic can budge Moore from his home ground. Moore acknowledges that he can't 'prove' his premises, because he can't 'prove' he's not dreaming, but nevertheless insists that he has conclusive evidence that he's not dreaming and that asking for more is misguided. Precisely why it's misguided is explicit in his lectures of 1933–1934, where Moore reasons 'there are millions of stars' is an established conclusion of astronomy: if the philosopher asserts it, he's just repeating what the astronomers have already said; if he denies it, he's contradicting the astronomers. Moore is more naturalistic than is often appreciated.


An efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system for transferring Interleukin-2 gene (il-2) into tomato was developed by studying several factors that affect the frequency of shoot differentiation and the efficiency of Agrobacterium mediated transformation of explant tissues. Two Agrobacterium strains (EHA105 and C58C1), two types of explant (cotyledon and hypocotyls)and three vectors with different selectable markers (Kan~r, PPT~r and Hyg~r) were tested for their influences on transformation. Total 2018 cotyledon and hypocotyl explants from three tomato cultivars were transformed by co-cultivation with Agrobacterium, and 47 selective agent-resistant plants were obtained. 44 out of those were il-2 positive by PCR assay. PCR-Southern hybridization of the PCR-tested plants confirmed the PCR assay, indicating that the il-2 gene had been introduced into tomato.


This paper useing literature,observation recording method,statistics and logical analysis methods,makes comparative analysis of the relevant data of throw percentage,offensive rebounds,defensive rebounds,assists,fouls,steals,turnovers,blocked shots,fast-break dunk,invaded times,total score and so on of foreign players of Shandong and Beijing team in the 2012-2013 season CBA semifinals.Results: Shandong team beat Beijing team with 3:0(108:92,94:92,101:82).Conclusion: breakthrough,offensive rebounds,defensive rebounds,steals,free throw percentage one-third of the hit rate and other data of foreign players of Shandong team are on top of the foreign players of Beijing team.


Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is a zoonosis, which means a disease that contaminates from the animals to the humans. Since it is very highly epizootic, it has forced the public health experts to implement smartphone-based applications to trace its swift transmission trajectory as well as the affected individuals. For this, the individuals' personally identifiable information is utilized. Nonetheless, these information may hamper privacy and cyber security, especially the trust concerns, if not handled properly. If the issues are not resolved at this very moment, the consequences will induce the mass level population to use the health-related applications in their smartphones inadequately. Therefore, a catastrophe will be imminent for another COVID-19-like zoonosis to come. So, to mitigate, an extensive study was required to address this severe issue, namely, trust concern. This paper has studied the needed by discussing the recently designed and developed health-related applications region by region across the world. Moreover, it has analyzed the benefits and drawbacks. The trust defiance is recognized and inspected from the perspective of an end-user. Some recommendations are advised in the later part of this paper to leverage and collaborate the awareness campaign between the Government, the App Developers and the common individuals.


In the 1970s, researchers and engineers built the technical predecessor of today's global digital networks, but more importantly, they created an "Internet Imaginaire" (Flichy 2007) with the aim of building a global virtual society. In the 1990s, most supporters of the utopian digital community fell silent. The hackers, however, remained, and they still adhere to rules put down in the so-called "hacker ethic" (Levy 1984; Coleman 2015), such as decentralization and freedom of information, which contribute to a sociotechnical "Hacker Imaginaire." With the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) as a research programme, this paper investigates the genesis and perseverance of this imaginary by uncovering technoscientific promises in media documents and interviews, which were formulated in response to the continued development of Internet-based technologies and fuel this imaginary; and by describing its phenomenal structure.


A more effective and environmentally safe method of preventing biofouling in submarine seawater cooling systems is described. The portable chlorination system can be utilized shipboard on various submarine classes during periods of dockside chlorination of auxiliary seawater (ASW) system to chemically bind (reduction reaction) chlorine prior to ASW system discharge. The system utilizes liquid sodium-bisulphite injection (prepared from anhydrous sodium metabisulphite) into the discharge portion of the seawater system in sufficient concentration to render chlorine (as total residual oxidant concentration essentially zero and thus environmentally neutral upon discharge to receiving waters.


A study has been conducted with the aim to know and understand the complex interactions between various stakeholders and the lever factors in increasing beef cattle productivity in Kupang Regency. Sampling is done in stages. The first stage was to determine four sample districts purposively, the second stage was to determine 40 farmers and 10 traders by snow ball sampling and 6 government officials using the interview approach. The number of key informants depends on the saturation of the information obtained. The software used in this research is Ventana Simulation (Vensim) PLE. The software is used to make a causal diagram. The results showed thatinteraction in beef cattle business can be said that the interaction between actual beef cattle business actors in Kupang Regency is only limited to cattle procurement or sale and purchase of livestock between interests, in this case there are no other interactions that can grow or increase the productivity of beef cattle. An important factor is the production of beef cattle and government services and academic institutions, which means that if these two factors are intervened, the behavior of the system in beef cattle business can change significantly.


In this paper we use a rich population based register data set for Norway to identify effects on fertility by exploiting eight different reforms in paid and unpaid maternity leave. We use a non-parametric regression discontinuity design comparing mother's giving birth before and after the reforms. Unlike previous studies we can narrow down the treatment group to those who were eligible for the reform and to the compliers. We find that the multiple reforms in the maternity leave have a small positive effect on higher order fertility. The 1977 reform show that mothers have their next child about 1-2 months earlier and we see a slightly positive effect on completed family size. The other reforms (1987-1993) also show that mothers tend to have children earlier post-reform than pre-reform however unlike the 1977 reform we do not see any effect on completed family size. We link the results to the fact that mothers take more paid leave after the reforms and hence having a better experience with the first child might increase the likelihood of having more children. The introduction of more paid leave meant more time – less stress for mothers in the first months after giving birth.


Regulator of G‐protein Signaling (RGS) proteins are important regulatory molecules in the transduction of G‐Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) signaling. By increasing the rate of intrinsic GTPase activity of the Gα subunit, RGS proteins effectively shorten the duration and decrease the magnitude of signals from heterotrimeric G protein subunits. It has been proposed (Nat. Rev. Drug Disc. 1:, 2002) that small molecule inhibitors of RGS proteins may provide a novel mechanism for therapeutic intervention in diseases that stem from deficiencies in GPCR signaling. To this end, we developed a high throughput time‐resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR‐FRET) assay to quantify the interaction between RGS4 and Gαo. The assay utilizes a lanthanide‐chelate donor covalently attached to Gαo and an AlexaFluor‐488 acceptor attached to RGS4. The Kd for binding in the presence of GDP:AlF4‐ is 35±4 nM with much lower affinity with GDP alone. Z' values of 0.50–0.88 were obtained in 384‐well plate measurements. High throughput chemical screens using this approach are underway.


This study compares estimates of self-reported substance use and psychological well-being obtained in computer-assisted and paper-and-pencil self-administered surveys. The authors examine the extent to which mode effects on survey responses are moderated by respondent characteristics and respondent attitudes, including attitudes toward computers, attitudes about confidentiality and privacy, and their general mistrust of others. Respondents age 12-34 were selected through a multistage area probability sample of urban and suburban areas nationally and were randomly assigned to interview mode. There were few main effects of mode on self-reported substance use and well-being. Significant mode-by-age interaction terms revealed that adolescents were more sensitive to mode of administration than older respondents. Adolescents reported significantly higher levels of alcohol use, illicit drug use, and psychological distress in the computer mode than on paper self-administered questionnaires. Significant mode-by-mistrust interactions were also found. Respondents with higher levels of mistrust in others were less likely to report substance use in the computer mode than in the paper-and-pencil format.


The Extended Enterprise (EE) paradigm establishes new rules and constraints for effective business collaborations. Therefore, the evolution from the traditional forms of involvement of external partners in own business processes to the EE paradigm implies the necessity of developing adequate methodologies and tools to manage this new business context: tailored methods are requested in order to help EE partners manage common business strategies and activities in an efficient and effective manner; adequate ICT tools are needed to support day-to-day collaborative business processes. This paper presents the results achieved within the co-funded European project Prominence: a collaborative software tool (Pro-Mat) and an electronic handbook (Pro-eBook) suitably developed to be adopted in EE-based collaborations. Both solutions are expected to supplement each other in a complete tool set, with the overall aim of fostering the creation of value all along the extended supply chain, in a shortas well as long-term time horizon. Key-Words: Extended Enterprise, business collaboration, collaborative software tool, supporting methodologies, eBook.


There are two current ways to evaluate the adiabatic corrections to a potential energy hypersurface: firstly a rigorous way in which one starts with the separation of the centre-of-mass motion and where one gets rather complicated expressions in terms of relative coordinates in a molecule-fixed frame, and secondly a pragmatic way, recently advocated by Handy et al., where one starts from a one-term Born ansatz in the laboratory system and arrives at a rather simple expression in terms of nuclear coordinates. In this note it is shown that the latter simple expression can also be obtained rigorously, that is by separating the centre-of-mass motion first. Why the pragmatic approach leads to a correct result, and why the specification of a molecule-fixed frame is not necessary for the evaluation of the adiabatic corrections, are analysed.


The paper applies a deep recurrent neural network to the task of sentence boundary detection in Sanskrit, an important, yet underresourced ancient Indian language. The deep learning approach improves the F scores set by a metrical baseline and by a Conditional Random Field classifier by more than 10%.


Based on the chaos theory,the paper presented a new watermark scheme using Logistic chaos sequence.Firstly,two PN sequences were produced with an image-key,then the two sequences were processed with chaotic operation.Finally,two watermarking sequences generated by Logistic map and encryption were embedded into DCT coefficient of each image block according to the binary value of watermark image.Experiment shows that the proposed watermarking scheme is feasible and robust to common signal processing procedures.In addition,the scheme has stronger security and robustness than traditional methods.


Particulate matter (PM) is an air pollutant that seriously impacts human health. Epidemiological studies have shown associations between human exposure to urban air PM and lung cancer, respiratory ...


The form of the prole F0() of an emission line from a steady spherical wind of velocity prole v(r) is derived for the case when optical depths are small, when stellar occulta- tionofthewindisneglected,andwhenv(r)ishighlysupersonic. It is shown how the resulting integral equation for v(r), given F0(), can be inverted to yield v(r) if the line emissivity function j(r) is known. Solutions are demonstrated for simulated data in the case of a recombination line (j / n 2 ) for various trial forms of v(r). The solution is unique provided dv=dr does not change sign anywhereandisremarkablystableagainstnoiseintheF0() data. The analysis is idealised in the sense that the stellar mass loss rate _ M and distance D are assumed known, the solution being then carried out in scaled dimensionless variables. The absolute r-scale of the solution for given F0() scales as ( _ M=D) 2 . If this quantity is known the method also yields the stellar radius.


X.p.s. studies on the adsorption of oxygen on a barium-covered Pb surface have shown the presence of two distinct types of oxygen species: oxidic, O2–, and the peroxo-like O2–2(ads), and the surface has been identified as a composite of PbO and BaPbO3. On a barium pre-covered surface, the sticking probability of oxygen on Pb is increased. The O2–(ads) species preferentially reacts with HCl forming PbCl2(ads)via proton abstraction, whereas O2–2(ads) is not reactive with HCl vapour. On the Pb surface, the PbCl2 overlayer reacts with excess HCl, forming a volatile compound believed to be Pb(ClHCl)2, while in the presence of coadsorbed barium, the stability of PbCl2 is increased and the activation energy for the reaction: PbCl2(ads)+ 2HCl(g)→ Pb(ClHCl)2(g) is increased. Stronger intermetallic interaction is suggested to be the reason for higher PbCl2 stability.


This study is an attempt of rereading of Max Weber's model of bureaucracy. The scholarly literature of political science focuses on Weber's theory of sovereignty/authority and refers mainly to his typology of authority only. Scholars of administrative sciences examine Weber's bureaucracy as a type of organization only and therefore delink it from its historical context. This widespread methodological and theoretical preference results in a disregard of the link between Weber's theory of sovereignty and model of bureaucracy. In addition, this approach leads to neglecting Weber's own critiques of bureaucracy and to presenting Weber as a rigorous proponent of bureaucracy. Weber, however, examines bureaucracy as a type of governance and a type of organization. Weber not only emphasizes the productivity of an administration tool when it is organized in a bureaucratic way, but also raises concerns about the risks that bureaucratic authority might have: it might intervene to the political sphere due to the possibility of autonomisation tendency and diminish the space of liberty. Thus, according to Weber, bureaucracy ought to be kept under strict control. Methodologically, this is a qualitative study in political and administrative theory organized to offer the aforementioned argument by analyzing Weber's own original works in German.


In this work, we present a two‐dimensional multimaterial arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method for simulating compressible flows in which a novel coupled volume of fluid and level set interface reconstruction (VOSET) method is developed for interface capturing. The VOSET method combines the merits of both the volume of fluid method and the level set method by using a geometrical iterative operation. Compared to the original VOSET method, the novel VOSET method proposed in this work further improves the accuracy and fidelity in interface reconstruction procedure, especially in under‐resolved regions. Several typical two‐dimensional numerical experiments are presented to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed VOSET method and its performance when coupling with the multimaterial ALE solver. Numerical results demonstrate its good capability in capturing material interfaces during the simulation of compressible two‐material flows.


This article discusses the influence of library services to the satisfaction of the visitors at the Library of the State University of Padang. This study aims to determine the effect of library services to the satisfaction of the visitors at the Library of the State University Padang. Data collected through questionnaires and observation.  Based on analyzing the data, it was concluded the following matters: (1) services in the Library of the State University of Padang less satisfactory, because it appears that the existing services at the Library of the State University of Padang not provide optimal service; (2) State University of Padang library atmosphere is quite comfortable for the visitors; (3) State University of Padang less librarian guiding the visitors during a visit to the library; (4) Library, State University of Padang quite a positive impact on the visitors. Keywords: influence; service; satisfaction; user library


Early man was an inveterate traveler, and he often encountered situations in which natural landmarks and directional references failed him. The south-pointing chariot (or carriage) was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretched arm. The chariot was supposedly used as a compass for navigation and may also have had other purposes. This report describes the design and construction of a working model of a southpointing carriage based upon a reasonable conjecture as to the working principles of the original instrument. Clues derived from ancient texts were used where applicable. This report presents a systematic approach for the reconstruction of all possible topological structures of lost ancient Chinese mechanisms. This paper aims at presenting the approach that utilizes the idea of creative mechanism, design methodology to converge the divergent conceptions from the results of literature studies to a focused scope, and then applies the mechanical evolution and variation method to obtain feasible reconstruction design concepts that meet the scientific and technological standards of the subjects' time period.


APART FROM THE RECENT LAW of December 31, 1951, establishing a "guaranty" fund (fonds de garantie), to which reference will be made below, French law contains no special provisions ensuring compensation to the victims of motor vehicle accidents. The explanation probably is that, while such accidents have become frequent, there has been available a rule of liability distinctly favorable to the victims, a rule applicable to all accidents involving inanimate things, which the courts have applied to motor vehicles. This rule, predicated upon a presumption of fault as against the custodian (gardien) of the thing, in certain cases reaching liability without fault, was established by the Court of Cassation in order to provide compensation for workmen injured in industrial accidents, in the frequent cases where it was not possible to prove any fault of the employer or of any of his other employees and the Civil Code, as previously interpreted, did not allow judgment against the employer. Article 1384 of the Civil Code states, it is true, that an individual is liable not only for the damage which he causes by his own act (fait), but also for that caused by the act of things in his charge. But it is certain that, in the mind of those who drafted the Code, the word "things" denoted only animals and buildings, against the custodians of which Articles 1385 and 1386 create a presumption of fault. In case of damages caused by other things, Articles 1382 and 1383, which contain the fundamental rule in the matter of civril liability and assume proof of some fault as a basis of liability, remained applicable.


The foregoing articles have sought to examine, from a variety of perspectives, the extent to which the states and societies of Europe are constructed on a universal set of values. One of the common themes that has emerged is that, as Galina Bogutcaia, Giselle Bosse and Anke Schmidt-Felzmann put it, 'European values are what political actors make of them'. In other words, values are subjective and not fixed; they are constructed, not 'given'. Several contributions to this themed issue of Contemporary Politics have made similar observations. Derek Hutcheson's examination of the meanings attached to 'democracy' across the continent found that there is no clear consensus as to how an abstract 'rule of the people' translates into reality. With democratic values effectively being social constructs, it is entirely possible for post-Soviet leaders to use the language of democracy to justify actions that, in West European eyes, are considered undemocratic (a point that Bogutcia et al. also noted). Indeed, values are not just 'what political actors make of them'; they also differ among citizens. For Russians, for example, 'democracy' seems to be associated with a particular group of politicians, rather than seen as a form of governance. Elsewhere, Guido Müntel showed that, even when dealing with a 'common good' such as the environment, differences in normative ideals can create obstacles to co-operation. The contributions have shown that the common geographical space of 'Europe' is not yet, and has little immediate prospect of becoming, a unified political or social community based on shared values. There is also a subjectivity to people's self-identification with 'Europe'. As Julia Korosteleva and Stephen White found, it is lower overall in the peripheral 'outsider' nations than elsewhere in the continent, and there are differences in the way that people associate a European identity with particular values. The dividing lines of the past seem no longer to apply. Even during the Cold War, the apparent uniformity of 'socialist' regime type masked a substantial degree of diversity within the states and societies that had them. Since the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the modern extrapolation of historical and cultural differences has contributed to a further diversification of attitudes and institutions, such that the countries of 'Eastern' or 'East–Central' Europe are even less of a homogeneous


The present comprehensive study of the characteristics of accommodation insufficiency included 130 patients at the age varying from 6 to 18 (mean 11,26 ± 0,2) years. They were allocated to 3 groups depending on the reserve of relative accommodation. Patients with the markedly reduced reserves of relative and absolute accommodation showed the minimal values of its objective parameters, such as binocular and monocular accommodation responses. Impaired accommodation was associated with the higher values of habitual accommodation tone and the accelerated development of myopia. However, the resting tone of accommodation in the patients with its deterioration was lower than normal.


The basic characteristics of petroleum exploration in Jiyang depression are summarized through analyzing the historical variations of the status level and benefits of exploration and the resource-reserve sequence. Good exploration effect has been kept for a long time in Jiyang depression and it is still in the period of high exploration level and benefits. Attentions paid to resource replacement and the rational resource-reserves sequence lead to the continuous development of petroleum exploration in Jiyang depression.


Orofacial granulomatosis (OFG) is a rare chronic granulomatous condition, presenting most commonly as recurrent or permanent swelling of one or both of the lips. It was relatively recently described by Wiesenfield et al. in 1985, as the specific histology finding of granulomatous lesions in mucosal or skin biopsies taken from the mouth or face without intestinal or systemic involvement. The cause of most cases of OFG is unknown. However, the diagnosis of OFG should prompt a thorough investigation for potential causes including a range of systemic granulomatous disorders such as Crohn's disease, sarcoidosis, mycobacterial and fungal infection. OFG poses a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to clinicians with treatment options of limited efficacy.


Very recently, a new two-dimensional graphene-like topological insulator, Bi14Rh3I9, has been synthesized. The Bi-Rh sheets with a strong spin-orbit interaction are graphene analogues with a honeycomb net composed of RhBi8 cubes. Here we derive the low-energy effective Hamiltonian involving spin-orbit coupling for Bi14Rh3I9. In the absence of spin-orbit coupling, the Bi-Rh sheets show two inequivalent Dirac cones at the corners of the hexagonal Brillouin zone. The spin-orbit interaction opens a 2400 K bandgap at the Dirac points and establishes the quantum spin Hall effect in the Bi-Rh sheets. Our result indicates that the Bi14Rh3I9 may combine many unique electronic properties of graphene and topological insulators, and it should host a combination of quantum valley and spin Hall effects.


[Objective] To comprehend the physique growth of the Tu people and the Miao people's children from 3 to 6 years. [Method] The data of physique growth and body configuration exponent of the Tu people and the Miao peoples were collected in 3 385 children from 3 to 6 years, as well as compared with the Han people's children at the same age in the same area. [Results] The physique growth of the Tu people and the Miao people' s children from 3 to 6 years were coincidence with the regularity of general children's growth and development. There was no significant difference in the three people's physique growth among the 3 years children. After 4 years, the Tu people children's growth and development was later than that of the Han people children's and that of the Miao people children' s was the slowest of the three people. [Conclusion] Natural geography environment has important influence on the children's physique growth as well as the living custom, diet nutrien and the people's inheritance peculiarity. Among them, the last is the most significant influence agent.


A new approach that is useful in identifying and eliminating performance degradation occurring in aging software is proposed. A customer-affecting metric is used to initiate the restoration of such a system to full capacity. A case study is described in which, by simulating an industrial software system, we are able to show that by monitoring a customer-affecting metric and frequently comparing its degradation to the performance objective, we can ensure system stability at a very low cost.


Abstract Substituted benzoxazoles have been synthesized in very good yields starting from o-acylphenol oximes via Beckmann rearrangement using zeolite catalysts.


This article examines the importance of anti-corruption institutions, their main activities and an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of anti-corruption institutions in Kazakhstan. Within the confines of the study, an analysis was carried out by types of anti-corruption institutions and marking of their strengths and weaknesses. The work also highlights the importance of the role of the introduction of the latest digital technologies in the selection of personnel for government agencies and systems of objective and transparent incentives. Noted the indisputable value of the role of anti-corruption institutions in the financial sphere of public procurement, the effectiveness of state finances, as well as in the formation of legislative consciousness of society. The purpose of this study is to analyze the weaknesses and strengths of Kazakhstan's anti-corruption institutions, which would allow them to form a typology based on various criteria. The methodology of the research is based on the discussion and identification of the main issues arising in this area. SWOT analysis of the activities of anti-corruption institutions in Kazakhstan allows us to identify the structure and cause-and-effect problems of anti-corruption activities in Kazakhstan. Considered the methods and mechanisms of systematic and comprehensive fight against corruption, which is one of the priorities of the current government of Kazakhstan, as well as forms of implementation of anti-corruption work through public organizations, tracking the dynamics of the fight against corruption. Also considered the work on the protection of human rights through a democratic society and spiritual, moral and patriotic education among students and youth of our country.


Part 1 General principles of pharmacology and subjects relevant to the practice of day-case anaesthesia: History Pharmacological principles Pharmacological principles in paediatrics Drug reactions Resuscitation Methods for assessment of recovery Endoscopy Diabetes Pain therapy MIT and day-case anaesthesia. Part II Anaesthesia, Analgesia, Sedation: Adult Anaesthesia - Adult day-case anaesthesia Complications of laparoscopy Ophthalmic day-case anaesthesia Dental anaesthesia Local anaesthesia Sedation and sedoanalgesia Anaesthetic circuits and ventilation techniques Paediatric anaesthesia - General principles General anaesthesia Local analgesia. Part III Procedural safety: Safe practice Nursing. Part IV Legal issues: Fundamentals of legal responsibility The practitioner and the law.


It is shown in the framework of a harmonic system that the thermodynamical time arrow is induced by the environmental initial conditions in a manner similar to spontaneous symmetry breaking. The Closed Time Path formalism is introduced in classical mechanics to handle Green functions for initial condition problems by the action principle, in a systematic manner. The application of this scheme for quantum systems shows the common dynamical origin of the thermodynamical and the quantum time arrows. It is furthermore conjectured that the quantum-classical transition is strongly coupled.


Twitter has significantly amplified celebrity presence on civic affairs. Although celebrities hold little expertise on policy affairs, they can be quite influential since their popularity allows them to reach large audiences. There is an ongoing debate concerning the democratic implications of increasing celebrity influence in policy affairs. In the current study, taking Oisoo Lee as a test case, we investigate the political implications of celebrity following on Twitter. We first compare Lee's followers with those of ten news outlets, based on the co-following pattern among 1,442,317 Twitter users. We also had access to supplementary survey data on 11,725 members of an online survey panel who had provided their Twitter screen names. For these survey participants, we are able to match their following behavior with individual level attributes. Our results reveal that Lee's followers are not ideologically skewed in either direction. Indeed, our survey findings confirmed that a vast majority of Lee's followers identified themselves as independent. On the other hand, survey results show that Oisoo Lee is more likely to attract those lacking the ability to process one-sided information in a balanced manner. This raises a concern that they could be easily misinformed or misled.


MBR process has stable operation effect and high efficiency in treatment of landfill leachate with high concentration of pollutants.The engineering practice shows that the influent COD should meet nitrification and denitrification requirement.The temperature,mixed liquor suspended solid concentration,sludge age and excess sludge yield rate should be above 25 ℃,12 to 20 g/L,15 to 25 d and 0.15 to 0.30 kgVSS/kgCOD respectively.


Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) are widely used in military aviation. Performance of an NVG in terms of high resolution and target acquisition is considered a critical requirement. Gen III NVGs have been considered superior to Gen II and Gen II++ NVGs. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance characteristics of ANVIS MK-III NVG and compare them to those of other available NVGs.

ANVIS MK-III Gen III NVG was studied for its performance in terms of visual acuity (VA), contrast sensitivity, and field of view (FOV). Six subjects familiar with use of NVG participated in the study. VA was measured using USAF 1951 Tri-bar chart, while contrast sensitivity was measured using PelliRobson chart under full-moon (FM), half-moon (HF), quarter-moon (QM), and starlight (SL) conditions. The FOV was measured using Cross Bar chart. Comparisons were made with the data of other NVGs available with the Institute.

The mean VA of ANVIS MK-III NVG was found to be 20/29, 20/31, 20/34, and 20/39 under of FM, HF, QM, and SL illumination conditions, respectively. The mean contrast sensitivity was 0.9, 0.75, 0.6, and 0.53 log CS units, respectively, with mean FOV of 39.5°. The results were compared with performance characteristics of NL 93, GEO1, and F4949 NVGs.

The ANVIS MK-III NVG was found to have higher VA function as compared to other NVGs and better contrast sensitivity function as compared to NL-93 and GEO1 NVG. All the NVGs had comparable FOV. The ANVIS Mk-III NVG in the current configuration with Helmet Display and Tracking System was found to be heavier and needs further ergonomic evaluation.


Several mono- and binuclear copper(II) complexes of general formula [CuL](ClO4) and [Cu2L(ClO4)](ClO4) have been synthesized from macrobicyclic ligands having different compartments originating from their corresponding precursor compound (PC: 3,4:9,10-dibenzo-1,12[N,N′-bis{(3-formyl-2-hydroxy-5-methyl)benzyl}diaza]-5,8-dioxacyclohexadecane). Electrochemical studies show that one quasi-reversible reduction wave (E pc=-0.75 to -0.83 V) for the mononuclear complexes and two quasi-reversible one-electron transfer reduction waves (=-0.78 to -0.86 V, =-1.01 to -1.28 V) for the binuclear complexes are obtained in the cathodic region. Room temperature magnetic moment studies indicate the presence of antiferromagnetic coupling in the binuclear complexes (μ eff=1.44–1.56 BM), which is confirmed by the broad ESR spectra with g=2.10–2.11, whereas the mononuclear complexes show hyperfine splitting in the ESR spectra and have magnetic moment values close to the spin-only value (μ eff=1.69–1.72 BM). Variable temperature magnetic susceptibility study of the complex finds that the observed -2J values for the binuclear complexes [Cu2L1(ClO4)](ClO4) and [Cu2L4(ClO4)]-(ClO4) are 216 cm-1 and 236 cm-1, respectively. The observed initial rate constant values for catechol oxidation using the complexes as catalysts range from 6.57×10-3 to 4.93×10-2 min-1 and the values are found to be higher for the binuclear complexes than the corresponding mononuclear complexes. It is proposed that a distortion of the copper ion geometry arises as the macrocyclic ring size increases. This is supported by spectral, electrochemical and catalytic studies.


Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a key effector function for the clinical efficacy of monoclonal antibodies (Cartron et al., 2002; Weng and Levy, 2003), and is mediated primarily through a set of closely related Fc receptors (FcRs) with both activating and inhibitory activities. Using computational design algorithms and high-throughput screening, we have engineered a series of IgG1 Fc variants with optimized FcR affinity and specificity. These variant Fc domains are readily combined with the variable domains of any antibody and consist of from 1–5 changes in the amino acid sequence. With rituximab as a model system, we have generated variants with greater affinity for the activating receptor FcgammaRIIIa and weaker affinity for the inhibitory receptor FcgammaRIIb. These variants show a marked increase (over 2 logs) in ADCC using purified natural killer cells or PMBCs from healthy human donors against WIL2-S cells, a CD20-bearing tumor cell line. Moreover, PBMC genotyping indicates that this effect occurs irrespective of whether the donor is a high responder (FcgammaRIIIa dimorphism 158V homozygous) or low responder (FcgammaRIIIa dimorphism 158F homozygous or heterozygous) to rituximab therapy. In vivo studies show that our variants deplete circulating B-cells more effectively than rituximab in cynomolgus monkeys with an improvement in half-maximal potency of over 10-fold as measured by flow cytometry. The macaques showed no unusual clinical signs or depletion of other cells types. These agents hold promise as more potent and more efficacious treatments for NHL. Because these Fc mutations display a comparable effector function enhancement in other antibodies such as anti-CD52, anti-EGFR1 and anti-Her2, our technology provides a broadly applicable means for improving the efficacy of the next generation of therapeutic antibodies.


This review discusses how high-throughput experimentation and data-driven strategies, such as the use of machine learning models, are being used to enable rapid advances in colloidal quantum dot technologies.


The ability to engage children in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields early in their scholastic years is critical to ensure the success of the next generation of scientists and engineers. Given that 97% of American teens play video games, there is a tremendous opportunity to engage students in STEM concepts within the framework of a multi-player game. Research has shown that eliciting emotional and affective responses in players can actively increase engagement, learning, and creativity, yet surprisingly little attention has been paid to the role of emotion within a collaborative multi-player gaming environment. We propose the design and development of an automatic game master that responds to the emotional states of players based on their in-game dialogue and actions. This research offers insights into affective interfaces that can improve the collaborative engagement of students and has implications for other collaborative learning environments.


Rainfall during the monsoon in northwest Australia has increased since the 1950s. Previous studies have explored possible causes of the rainfall increase; however, the trend has not been fully explained. Understanding the cause of this trend is important for interpreting climate projections and local water‐sensitive services. We explore the role of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) in explaining the rainfall increase. The MJO, since 1974, has had a longer duration in phases associated with enhanced rainfall in northwest Australia (Phases 5 and 6) during the monsoon. We show that the rainfall trend in northwest Australia is identified only during MJO phases associated with enhanced rainfall, with a large change in daily rainfall distribution in these phases. The increasing occurrence of these MJO phases explains most of the rainfall increase, as opposed to an increase in daily rainfall independent of MJO phase, albeit with some sensitivity to MJO definition.


SummarySexual behaviour is probably extremely stable. What changes from time to time is the degree of social pressure to conform to a particular public image. It is therefore impossible to judge the actual range of private behaviour in the past from written sources. Our generation is possibly the first able to assess this range by surveys. It is important for medicine to be aware of the prevailing diversity both for epidemiological reasons and to avoid nonsensical prescriptions such as those which attributed mental disorder to masturbation. Our growing awareness of the natural history of human sexual behaviour is an important therapeutic and prophylactic asset.


In Switzerland, WEEE management systems aiming at an optimised, environmentally sound disposal of hazardous components and recovery of economically valuable materials are implemented for more than 15 years. Still, today recovery rates of many critical metals are low. In order to evaluate strategies to increase critical metal recovery rates within existing Swiss end of life (EoL) product collection and recovery systems (including EoL vehicles), the following guiding questions were, are or will be addressed in a number of projects: What is the state of the art of the "criticality" discourse? What do we know about concentrations of critical metals in consumer products? Which overall critical metal stocks and flows result from forward and reverse diffusion of these products? What would a sustainable recovery strategy for critical metals look like? Based on the first results of the projects tentative answers can be given, however, for critical metals such as rare earth elements significant knowledge gaps still remain.


Abstract Microwave investigations of ferroelectric materials pose special problems because of their dielectric parameters. Special techniques are therefore required. A few techniques suitable for ferroelectric materials have been described. Typical results obtained from them are presented and discussed.


Exchange through markets is one way of allocating water. In many settings this method possesses a number of desirable attributes to a greater degree than alternative allocative mechanisms: flexibility, security, predictability, fairness …. Markets have shortcomings, too, especially related to quantity and quality return flow effects, but these can be mitigated through changes in the administrative framework of the water rights system. It is shown that an economically efficient water allocation system must integrate quantity and quality management and would be neither a priority nor a proportional rights system. However, the nature of the water rights system may not be very important if short-term rental markets are operative. The potential for intrastate and interstate water markets is discussed.


The molecular structure of the polyethylene oxide (PEO) molecular complexes with resorcinol (RES) and 2-methylresorcinol (two allotropic forms α-2MR and β-2MR) have been solved and refined by an X-ray diffraction technique (the "whole-pattern method"). The space group is Pna21 for RES (a = 10.54 A, b = 10.18 A, c = 9.89 A), Pbca for β-2MR (a = 11.07 A, b = 18.60 A, c = 10.74 A), and P21/a, unique axis c, for α-2MR (a = 16.24 A, b = 10.57 A, c = 18.79 A, γ = 89.2°). Although for RES no direct chain-to-chain interactions are established in the molecular packing, for 2MR, the layered organization of chains and small molecules is present with chain-to-chain contact. Moreover, although hydrogen bonds are clearly established in the case of RES and β-2MR, α-2MR should be regarded as a simple intercalated complex, in agreement with a previous solid state NMR and IR investigation.


Caring for newborn babies' skin is a subject about which parents frequently seek advice from health visitors. An increase in incidences of eczema and other dry skin conditions (Simpson et al, 2009) means it is vital that the advice given is based on current evidence that will promote skin integrity from the beginning of extrauterine life. This article reviews the current evidence available to support bathing practices and the advice regarding applying oils to an infant's skin. It also considers advice on using moisturisers and emollients and the importance of being able to demonstrate correct application of these products to maximise benefits and reduce symptoms when dry skin conditions develop.


Many longitudinal studies generate a dataset having two or more longitudinal repeated biomarkers measurement, which often depend on each other. In Gestational hypertension study the two important markers are gestational systolic blood pressure (GSBP) and diastolic blood pressure (GDBP) are collected simultaneously from a pregnant woman every visit. In such studies, evolution of the biomarkers over time and the association between them are commonly of interest. The aim of the analysis was to determine joint evolution and association of pregnancy induced systolic and diastolic blood pressure over time and determining their associated risk factors. The association among the two sequences is captured by correlated normal random effects included to account correlation between two outcomes In this study, we propose a joint random-effects model which enables two or more longitudinal repeated biomarker measurements to be modeled together while taking account of association between them. We apply these methods to a pregnancy induced hypertension among antenatal care follow up pregnant woman in Jimma University specialized hospital. Under joint analysis, two aspects of the relation were investigated: the association between the evolutions and the evolution of association. Results of the joint model suggested a very strong association between the evolutions of GSBP & GDBP and a slowly decreasing evolution of the association over gestational age. Sex of fetus, family history of pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational age, age of mother and number of Gravida are identified as associated risk factors. Joint model is able to address the same questions as separate model with more accuracy by addressing additional questions that may be of great interest to the researcher, such as the association of evolution and the evolution of association of the responses. Keyword: pregnancy induced hypertension; gestational hypertension; joint modeling; joint evolution; mixed model; systolic blood pressure; diastolic blood pressure -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 07-01-2019 Date of acceptance: 22-01-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Reaction of dilithiated ethyl thioglycolate with bis(imidoyl chloride)s of oxalic acid afforded the first 2,3-diiminothietanes, which underwent ring expansion reactions upon treatment with ethyl thioglycolate or dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate.


Background. The use of an inactivated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine (CoronaVac) against SARS-CoV-2 is implemented worldwide. However, waning immunity and breakthrough infections have been observed. Therefore, we hypothesized that the heterologous booster might improve the protection against the delta and omicron variants. Methods. A total of 224 individuals who completed the two-dose CoronaVac for six months were included. We studied reactogenicity and immunogenicity following a heterologous booster with the inactivated vaccine (BBIBP), the viral vector vaccine (AZD1222), and the mRNA vaccine (both BNT162B2 and mRNA-1273). We also determined immunogenicity at 3- and 6-months boosting intervals. Results. The solicited adverse events (AEs) were mild to moderate and well-tolerated. Total RBD immunoglobulin (Ig), anti-RBD IgG, focus reduction neutralization test (FRNT50) against delta and omicron variants, and T cell response were highest in the mRNA-1273 group followed by the BNT162b2, AZD1222 and BBIBP groups, respectively. We also witnessed a higher total Ig anti-RBD in the long-interval than in the short-interval groups. Conclusions. All four booster vaccines significantly increased binding and NAbs in individuals immunized with two doses of CoronaVac. The present evidence may benefit vaccine strategies development to thwart variants of concern, including the omicron variant. Keywords. COVID-19; Third dose; heterologous booster; omicron; mRNA-1273; BNT162b2; AZD1222; NAbs; T cells.


Large size bicrystalline samples of NiO corresponding to tilt configurations around a axis have been grown by the flame fusion technique, the misorientation angles varying from 0 to 180°. The variation of the relative energy of the grain boundary with misorientation has been studied and has indicated a very different behaviour from that previously observed by the authors on tilt boundaries. High relative energy values and deep cusps on the energy curve at high coincidence angles are observed. The results are discussed in terms of interface energy.


The transition state for the transfer of oxygen from N-sulfonyl oxaziridines to alkenes has been investigated experimentally using the endocyclic restriction test. Molecules containing oxaziridines and alkenes were prepared and the ability of each system to intramolecularly transfer oxygen was evaluated. The results are consistent with a transition state in which N−O bond cleavage is more advanced than C−O bond cleavage.


The figure of the vampire in Hispanic literature is a constant. His stay through the centuries within the letters of the American continent invited to wonder about the place of this gothic archetype in the imaginary of contemporary Latin American writers. This paper aims to study the figure of the vampire tales "Reunion con un circulo rojo" (Julio Cortazar, 1977) "Vlad" (Carlos Fuentes, 2004) and "La mascara del dios vampiro" (Mauricio Molina, 2006). Through analysis of these accounts is carried out an analysis of the representation of the figure of the vampire in contemporary Hispanic literature. Also, the textual strategies used are discussed for each of these authors to translate their vision of the vampire and the significance that the vampire myth has for each of them. Ultimately, postulate possible keys that explain its prominence in contemporary culture.


The flue gas desulfurization involved 3 type sorbent s: pure water, the slaked lime and slurry of magnesium hydroxide was studied in a rotating-packed-bed absorber.Several operation variables were investigated respectively, including the flow rate of sorbent, the rotating speed, the SO 2 concentration in the inlet of the absorber and the slaked lime concentration.Th e results showed that the alkaline slurries enhanced the mass transfer rate of S O 2 up to 3~4 times higher than that of pure water.The mass transfer rate of SO 2 was greatly dependent on the flow rate of sorbent and the rotating speed.


Coherence plays a central role when readers construct meaning from a text. Previous research has shown how coherence marking affects text processing and representation. However, this effect seems to depend on reader's prior knowledge of the text content: Low knowledge readers benefit from coherence marking, whereas high knowledge readers benefit from a more implicit text (McNamara & Kintsch, 1996). Because this interaction was not consistently found in previous research, this article takes a closer look at the operationalization of the experimental variables: coherence marking, prior knowledge, and text comprehension. Also, this article compares the effect on both informative and persuasive texts. Results indicate that linguistic marking of coherence indeed interacts with prior knowledge in the informative genre, but not in the persuasive genre.


The instruments used for the oceanographic measurement should be designed in consideration of the stability for the change of the parameters such as ambient temperature, pressure and any other environmental conditions. Furthermore, it is difficult to keep the voltage of power source and the characteristics of the components on circuit boards stable during the long time in marine environment. Then, the stable method is necessary. "Dual slope integration analog to digital converter" has a function of division, so that the fluctuation occurring in two integrands in the same ratio by the above causes can not appear in final result. Therefore, to take advantage of the effect, we set the reference output in each sensor circuit which has the fluctuation in the same ratio as the measurement output. If these two outputs of sensors are treated as the inputs of the "Dual slope integration analog to digital converter", it is possible to improve the accuracy of the measurement system. Regarding the sensors designed and fabricated on the basis of that principle, the experiment proved that the principle is available to improve the accuracy of measurement for many kinds of fluctuation. Further, we confirmed that these sensors functioned continuously with good stability in marine environment.


An electrocardiogram (ECG) is a commonly used clinical tool to diagnose cardiac diseases. In most clinical practice, to improve ECG diagnosis accuracy, cardiologists not only determine the abnormal conditions of the current ECG, but also examine the serial changes in reference to the previous ECGs. Expert cardiologists strongly believe that ECG diagnosis is incomplete without a comparison to previous ECGs (Ariet et al., 2005). Obviously, a prerequisite for the clinical practice using serial ECG comparison is the availability of previous ECGs. For the reason above, it has been a growing interest in medical informatics to improve ease of access to ECG data using information technology. Initially, the computer systems, now referred to as ECG management systems (EMSs), were invented to serve a valuable function for ECG data management (Crevasse & Ariet, 1987). They consisted of a central minicomputer that collected the ECG signals from peripheral electrocardiographs over serial cables, telephone lines or local area network, and provided the power to store and retrieve the collected ECG data. Storage and retrieval of ECG data were organized in the perspective of their future use, particularly for serial comparison, but also for different managerial and research purposes, such as over-reading by physicians, re-analysis by different ECG programs, and statistics for management (Fayn & Rubel, 1991). The EMS solution allows a patient's ECG data accessible throughout the hospital and anywhere outside the hospital through a Web interface. A major issue in the employment of EMS is the interoperability between electrocardiographs and EMSs, and the interoperability among EMSs. In a major hospital, there are usually a number of electrocardiographs that are from different vendors. These electrocardiographs may use different vendor-proprietary standards for ECG data storage and transmission, but an EMS is developed conformably to only a few vendor-proprietary standards. In order to facilitate the use of electrocardiographs from different vendor, several EMSs that are conformable to different vendor-proprietary standards may coexist in a hospital. As for the issue of the interoperability among the EMSs, some possible solutions have been reported.


Muscle synergies describe common patterns of co-or reciprocal activation that occur during movement. After stroke, these synergies change, often in stereotypical ways. The mechanism underlying this change reflects damage to key motor pathways as a result of the stroke lesion, and the subsequent reorganization along the neuroaxis, which may be further detrimental or restorative to motor function. The time course of abnormal synergy formation seems to lag spontaneous recovery that occurs in the initial weeks after stroke. In healthy individuals, motor cortical activity, descending via the corticospinal tract (CST) is the predominant driver of voluntary behavior. When the CST is damaged after stroke, other descending pathways may be up-regulated to compensate.The contribution of these pathways may emerge as new synergies take shape at the chronic stage after stroke, as a result of plasticity along the neuroaxis. The location of the stroke lesion and properties of the secondary descending pathways and their regulation are then critical for shaping the synergies in the remaining motor behavior. A consideration of the integrity of remaining descending motor pathways may aid in the design of new rehabilitation therapies. DEFINITIONS " Muscle synergy " can mean subtly different things, creating the opportunity for confusion. As a biological phenomenon, a commonly accepted general definition of muscle synergy is simply a stable spatiotemporal pattern of activity across muscles simultaneously involved in the performance of a movement. Descending neural activity may result in a net excitation or inhibition of the alpha motor neurons innervating each muscle. If motor neurons of two muscles are excited simultaneously, the muscles are coactivated. Conversely, activity in one muscle may coincide with quiescence in another due to reciprocal inhibition. Natural motor behaviors may result from the additive effect of several synergies. In recent experiments, the term " muscle synergy " has been used to label estimates of synergies derived from quantitative matrix factorization methods applied to simultaneous elec-tromyographic (EMG) measurements (Tresch et al., 2006). The details of the mathematical operation determine specific properties of the synergy estimates extracted. For example, non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF) does not capture inhibitory relationships , which may be a limitation of the method. Another usage of synergy arises in clinical settings, where the term " abnormal muscle synergies " may refer only to the pathological patterns of muscle co-activation that emerge after disruption of the motor system, such as stroke (Brunnström, 1970). This phrasing stems from the fact that …


High-resolution measurements of rainfalls,water level,pH,conductivity and temperature in Landiantang epikarst spring at Nongla,Mashan county in Guangxi Province,China were recorded by using the data logger with time interval of fifteen minutes all the year round.And,the waters from the spring represent the exit for the aquifer's conduit flow.During the rainfalls,it was found that the pH and temperature of Landiantang spring increased and the conductivity reduced.As HCO~-_3,Ca~(2+) and Mg~(2+) were the dominant ions,we developed linear relationship between conductivity and those ions.According to the liner relationships,the calcite index(SI_C),the dolomite index(SI_D) and CO_2 partial pressure(LogPCO_2) of the spring were calculated.Results indicated that the LogPCO_2 of spring during rainfalls was lower than that without rain,and its SI_c and SI_D was also lower.By studying epikarst zone,it was known that above result was caused by the dilution of precipitation because rainfall with high pH and low conductivity forming slope stream and traveling through conduit rapidly affected the hydrochemical variations of epikarst spring.


The performance of acoustic emission/microseismic (AE/MS) monitoring systems in mines is greatly impacted by background noise interference. Mine trucks/vehicles, fans, blasting and electrical spikes generate noise which negatively affect AE/MS signal quality. Using such datasets without filtering may lead to inaccurate determination of first arrivals and hence wrong source location. Also, data contaminated with noise makes manual identification and picking of the first arrivals impossible or difficult to achieve. This paper explored the use of stationary discrete wavelet transform as a filter to augment noise reduction on mine AE/MS data. The output of a test run on both noisy synthetic and field data showed cleaner AE/MS signal quality and clear emergence of first arrivals. As a result, manual picking of the first arrivals were much easier and faster. The use of the technique in this study presents an opportunity for picking accurately the first arrivals manually or automatically. Reliable first arrival picks lead to accurate computation of event source location and therefore, better safety monitoring and emergency responses in the event of an underground failure.


In Reply .—It is an honor to have one's work noted by others active in the field and comforting to see that questions thereby raised have been addressed. In our study, endogenous peroxidase activity was blocked with hydrogen peroxide in methanol, and nonspecific endogenous antigen/antibody activity was countered with a blocking antigoat serum. Extraneous alkaline phosphatase reactions were precluded by choosing avidin-biotin complexed with horseradish peroxidase instead of alkaline phosphatase, and by incubating hybridization slides at temperatures sufficient to denature alkaline phosphatase. Most importantly, if background antigenicity were responsible, it would also have been seen in the negative controls that were concurrently run with each sample; they were universally negative. Dr Nuovo's suggestion that polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analysis might more specifically characterize HPV's presence is correct, and we are currently using those techniques to clarify which virotype is responsible. However, use of such techniques for screening is


This paper presents a fast block type decision algorithm for 4/spl times/4, 8/spl times/8 and 16/spl times/16 intra prediction in H.264/AVC FRExt (fidelity range extension). With additional 8/spl times/8 intra prediction size, the complexity of intra prediction is increased by almost 50%. Thus, the proposed algorithm uses the smoothness of the macroblock to select the intra prediction block size and save computational cost. When further combining with our previously proposed three-step fast intra prediction algorithm, the proposed algorithm can save up to 32.1% and 63.4% of computation time of all I frames and intra prediction coding respectively, and achieves average 1.05% bit rate decrease and 0.046 dB quality degradation when comparing with the reference software.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of combine chemotherapy with radiotherapy in nasal-nasopharyngeal NK/T-cell lymphomas(NHL).Methods We have retrospectively analysed the efficacy of combine chemotherapy with radiotherapy in 12 previously untreated patients with nasal-nasopharyngeal NK/T-cell lymphomas between January 2008 and December 2008.Results There were four patients CR(33.33%),Seven PR(58.33%) and one PD(8.33%).One year survival rate is 91.67% and two years survival rate is 58.33%.Conclusion Combine chemo-therapy with radiotherapy was effective in previously untreated patients with nasal-nasopharyngeal NK/T-cell lymphomas.


This work evaluates high-fidelity vibrational-translational (VT) energy relaxation and dissociation models for pure O2 normal shockwave simulations with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. The O2–O collisions are described using ab initio state-specific relaxation and dissociation models. The Macheret-Fridman (MF) dissociation model is adapted to the DSMC framework by modifying the standard implementation of the total collision energy (TCE) model. The O2–O2 dissociation is modeled with this TCE+MF approach, which is calibrated with O2–O ab initio data and experimental equilibrium dissociation rates. The O2–O2 vibrational relaxation is modeled via the Larsen-Borgnakke model, calibrated to experimental VT rates. All the present results are compared to experimental data and previous calculations available in the literature. It is found that, in general, the ab initio dissociation model is better than the TCE model at matching the shock experiments. Therefore, when available, efficient ab initio ...


In the construction of Ying Kou Ba Yu Quan Hai Bin Lu build GPS control network, analyse the date processing and the result of precise from theory and excises; and research the necessary of GPS in low hill area. In result, it could reach forth survey accuracy with the GPS in low hill area. At the end, with the GPS in water construction、pipe line、electric line、train way and highway in line control survey, it could mention some statements.


Introduction: An optimal level of health-related physical fitness is essential in rhythmic gymnastics, since this sport involves significant physical and technical demands and it requires early specialisation and high training volumes. Aim: The aim of the study was to analyse the level of health-related physical fitness in girls and adolescents who practise rhythmic gymnastics by means of the ALPHA-Fitness test battery. Method: 116 competitive gymnasts between 7 and 18 years old (49.2% girls and 50.8% adolescents) participated in this descriptive, comparative, cross-sectional study. The ALPHA-Fitness test battery (cardiorespiratory fitness test, agility test, standing broad jump test and handgrip strength test) was applied in order to assess physical fitness. Body mass, height, waist circumference and subscapular and triceps skinfolds were measured to determine body composition. Body mass and height were used to calculate the body mass index (BMI) and the skinfolds were used to determine the body fat percentage. Height and waist circumference were used to calculate the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Results: All gymnasts presented good physical fitness, the best results being obtained in the agility test and the standing broad jump. They all showed low values of BMI, waist circumference and body fat percentage. Correlations were found in the complete sample between the BMI, body fat percentage and waist circumference measures and the different physical fitness tests. The Mann-Whitney U test yielded significant differences (p < 0.005) between girls and adolescents in all physical fitness tests, the adolescent gymnasts showing a higher physical fitness level than the younger ones. All gymnasts had a WHtR below 0.55, related with a better cardiovascular profile. Conclusions: In general, the gymnasts presented good physical fitness. Adolescents showed a higher physical fitness level than girls. They all presented lower BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentage and WHtR than the reference values.


Nano-indentation is a versatile technique used for studying the mechanical properties of thin films on substrate. Depth-sensing Nano indentation technique provides a continuous record of variation of indentation load with penetration depth into the specimen and this technique has high resolution even at low load scale. Currently, the Nano indentation technique is being applied to determine hardness and Young's modulus. This paper characterize the mechanical properties of ultrathin polymer films and its application.


Elastic scattering formation and decay of unstable particle gases, discussing density and corrections to chemical and nuclear statistical equilibrium equations


The invention belongs to the embedded information security technical field, and especially relates to a trusted boot design method applicable to a DSP environment. The method comprises following steps: step 1, analyzing the valid binary code data in a DSP download file; step 2, generating an HMAC authentication code for the generated binary code, wherein SHA2 is a one-way hash algorithm and is used for generating the HMAC authentication code; step 3, encrypting the generated binary code; step 4, placing a file comprising ciphertext data, the code length tlen of the binary code and an integrity verifying reference value to an integrated development environment; and step 5, finishing a data decryption operation in the integrated development environment, and generating an HMAC authentication code, thus finishing the secure boot of software. The method of the invention has the advantage that a user software security problem is solved in the DSP environment without increasing hardware; and the software security is effectively improved.


Due to the increase in prices of cow feed and the long-term low purchasing price of raw cow milk,there has been a rapid increase in the prices of dairy products,which is mainly attributed to the unsound model of "company + farmer" and excessive competition among dairy enterprises.This paper attempts to make an analysis of the issue and to propose feasible solutions to deal with the issue.


This study used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to determine if parents' decisions to vaccinate children against seasonal influenza conform to predictions made by some theories of preventive health behavior. Specifically, theories that postulate increased preventive action with increased risk (e.g., health belief model) would predict that parents of children with active asthma would be more likely to vaccinate children when compared with children with no history of asthma. Also, diminished risk should be associated with decreased preventive behavior, and parents of children with asthma in remission should be less likely to vaccinate their children. Results of this study supported both hypotheses. Parents of children with active asthma were more likely to report influenza vaccination than parents of children who never had asthma (odds ratio [OR] = 3.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.4–5.1). There was no difference in vaccination frequency reported by parents of children without asthma and children whose asthma is in remission (OR = .8, 95% CI .4-1.4). The findings controlled for the potential confounding effects of age and sex of child, race/ethnic identity, income, and education level of the adult respondent, and the number of children in the household. Parents of children whose asthma is in remission will require additional education and prompting to encourage needed influenza vaccination. jabr_ 56..72


The classical methods dealing with the calculation of bearing capacity such as limit equilibrium and slip line method satisfy the theoretical requirements partially leading to different solutions depending on the adopted method. However, the problem with such methods of analysis is that they disregard the real variation of constitutive parameters by adopting a homogeneous analysis. It has now been appreciated that geomaterials exhibit considerable heterogeneity consisting of lithological and inherent variation. This leads to a deviation from an ideal homogeneous assumption. The current study highlights the importance of spatial variation in bearing capacity analyses by using random field theory. For this aim, random field theory in connection with Monte-Carlo simulations is adopted to evaluate the bearing capacity of a spatially variable soil layer. In the present study, the undrained shear strength is considered as the stochastic parameter and assumed to be log-normally distributed and spatially correlated throughout the domain. Finally, the results will be compared with those of classic methods in which, only, the deterministic variation is considered.


A study of citations in four prominent journals indicates how deeply Hofstede's conceptualization dominates the understanding of culture in international business research. The implications of this intellectual hegemony for the development of the field are examined After considering some critiques of Hofstede's approach, three diverse alternatives to the value-based approach are discussed.


The rare diseases that prevent immunoglobulin molecules from forming properly can present with symptoms typical of rheumatic disease: rashes, joint swelling, and stiffness.


This paper discusses the design of a virtual memory mechanism for use as the first level of an operating system. The virtual memory mechanism provides a virtual machine which retains many of the properties of the host computer system. An implementation on the PDP-11/45 is briefly described.


Health disparities between majority and racial ethnic minority populations have long been documented in the literature. In 1986, the landmark Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health (Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 1986) was released, spotlighting the disparities in health status and health outcomes among minority populations. In an effort to improve the health and well-being of minority populations, the report called for more research on risk factor identification and prevalence, sociocultural health-seeking factors, preventive services, health education and interventions, treatment of services, and health outcomes. Since this original report, other major initiatives have followed. Healthy People 2000 (DHHS, 1993) and, most recently, Healthy People 2010 (DHHS, 2001) address specific health conditions disproportionately affecting racial and ethnic minority communities, such as infant mortality, health disease, stroke, and oral health. In response to these, numerous agencies, foundations, and most of the institutes within the National Institutes of Health have outlined strategic plans to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities. Each plan usually addresses the concept of culture, such as developing strategies to improve cultural competency among health care providers, developing culturally specific interventions, or creating culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Although a beginning, these strategies alone will not resolve the issue. Health disparities will not be truly eliminated until we demonstrate and understand social and economic inequalities, whether by race or ethnicity. Although the concepts of race and ethnicity have been controversial in the academic literature that serves political, public policy, health planning, and other purposes, both have a role to play depending on the context and purpose. The emphasis is to have a wider understanding and shared vocabulary of the concepts of race and ethnicity in nursing, health care, and research. To exemplify the point, in a study question on the genetic causes of diseases, or the impact of racism based on skin color or facial features, the concept of race may be most useful. If the study question is on the consequences of health care delivery issues, encapsulating culture, the broader concept of ethnicity may be more of value. A study of Jamaicans that does not differentiate between Jamaicans of Indian descent and Jamaicans of African descent is likely to mislead. Within broadly defined racial or ethnic groups, the heterogeneity in health patterns and risk is immense. Those who analyze data categorized by inappropriate racial/ethnic labels, most often capture data of convenience, have too readily ignored such heterogeneity. Moreover, at the heart of perpetuating inequalities lurk social and economic factors that are inextricably entwined with ethnicity and race. Nursing has led the way in addressing disparities in health and health care. However, our leadership efforts will have to move beyond the beginning to reduce health disparities. A better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the concepts of race and ethnicity is a priority for nursing. Too often we ignore or abandon these conversations because they are perceived as too risky. If we are to continue to remain champion leaders in addressing health disparities, it will require us to regularly engage in such discussions and questions.


To find an effective method for the rapid detection of natamycin and an accurate analysis of biological potency during solid-phase fermentation, three methods including high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), ultraviolet spectroscopy, and the cylinder-plate method were used to determine the natamycin content in the product of a batch of Streptomyces glvosporue during solid-state fermentation. The natamycin content in the solid fermentation product determined by HPLC and ultraviolet spectroscopy was 2351.52 mg/L and 2280.16 mg/L, respectively. The former showed good accuracy and reproducibility, while the accuracy of latter was 96.97% of the former(assigning the accuracy of HPLC method as 100%) and proved to be applicable for the rapid determination of natamycin content during solid fermentation. The average potency of natamycin determined by the cylinder-plate method was 1979.87 mg/L, and using an improved cylinder-plate method was 1990.29 mg/L when n-hexane was used in combination with methanol as the solvent. The accuracy of HPLC determined result increased from 84.20% to 84.64% using the cylinder-plate method(assigning the accuracy of HPLC method as 100%). The results indicated that n-hexane could effectively control the volatility of methanol, and improved the accuracy and concentration range for measurements using the cylinder-plate method, without having an antimicrobial effect.


Abstract : The economic problems of recovery in Alaska following the severe Good Friday earthquake of March 27, 1964 are investigated. The immediate recuperation period is characterized by a great deal of uncertainty as to the status of the disaster region. The problems which this created in terms of obtaining and communicating accurate information and its effect on emergency needs such as food and housing are studied. The long-term economic recovery process is also examined. Using the concept of the capital/labor ratio the type of destruction to physical and human resources as well as the speed of recovery through outside aid (capital) and migration behavior (labor) are analyzed. Finally, the role of the Federal government in the private sector (via the SBA) is discussed, and a policy recommendation is made for developing a system of private disaster insurance supplemented by Federal funds to repair damage to public facilities. Recovery under this program should be more equitable and efficient than it is today. Wherever possible the study of the Alaskan experience is supplemented with observations from other disaster studies. Although many of the actions taken in the area were rather special, they do not appear to differ in kind from the response following other disasters. A study of the Alaskan quake and other natural calamities may provide some clues as to the expected problems in recovering from a limited nuclear war.


Old age has always evoked diametrically opposed opinions. On the one hand, the elderly are respected, regarded as benevolent repositories of wisdom and comfort; on the other, they are considered as decrepit vestiges of life, who pointlessly linger on, wasting the world for the vibrant and useful. These views were particularly topical in the last decades of the nineteenth/first decade of the twentieth centuries, when there was increasing concern in many countries about the aged and their vulnerability. In England and Wales this resulted in the 1908 provision by the government of an old age pension. In the United States, however, provision of support from the state was introduced significantly later, in the 1930s. How, if at all, was this variation in view reflected in the painting of the elderly in the two countries? This study addresses this question by firstly considering how the elderly are portrayed in genre painting in each country. It then moves on to the world of portraits, looking in more detail at the work of individual artists, both American and English, including Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent and Hubert Herkomer. In England it emerged that the elderly were often shown as happy if shabby, with a more submissive attitude to fate; there was also a significant segment of painting which recorded the poverty and difficulties which may face the old. In contrast, in the United States the elderly were shown as vibrant, assertive and materially better off, with few indications of the troubles they may undergo. In both countries, however, it became clear that the elderly were regarded in a positive way by artists, who delighted in the excellent practice of artistic skills provided by the time-ravaged faces and features of the old.


With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, FQ columnist Caetlin Benson-Allott rejects streaming recommendations aimed at edification and instead embarks on her personal quest to find and understand the distinctive and therapeutic pleasures of cinematic escapism. Noting that escapism has been neglected by film theorists and critics—dismissed as an undignified, unsophisticated form of spectatorship—she suggests that this oversight explains her difficulty in identifying films that grant that particular kind of pleasure. An overview of her past and present cinematic guilty pleasures, from the B-grade horror movie Leprechaun (Mark Jones, 1993) to romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle (Nora Ephron, 1993), helps answer the question she poses: If I don't know how to articulate the value of escapism, how can I find it when I need it?


The iron based mesoporous silica (Fe2O3/SBA-15) was studied for the first time for adsorption of phenol as a model adsorbate compound. The structural and textural properties of the synthesized samples were characterized by means of X-Ray Diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, FTIR and element analysis techniques by Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX). The result of XRD analysis showed that mesoporous SBA-15 silica molecular sieves which modified with Fe2O3has a hexagonal structure with a pore size is 4.90 nm and iron contents (25.27%) were found on the surface of the Fe2O3/mesoporous silica SBA-15. While the FTIR analysis showed that Fe2O3/SBA-15 had functional group of assymetric Si-O-Si and Fe-O-Si which was found at 1085 cm-1 and 678 cm-1, respectively. Adsorption performance of Fe2O3/SBA-15 material investigated by phenol compounds as adsorbate model. The optimum contact time is 60 minutes and the Kinetics model of the mesoporous SBA-15 silica molecular sieves modified Fe2O3 can adsorb phenol compounds following the Kinetics Model Ho and McKay. The result optimum adsorption capacity occuring in the adsorption of phenol compounds by of the mesoporous SBA-15 silica molecular sieves modified Fe2O3 is 114.000 mg/g.


In the present study, the dislocation densities of the cold worked type 316 stainless steel were calculated on the basis of the crystallite size and strain present in the samples using Williamson–Smallman approach. The samples annealed at 1323 K, 30 minutes and then furnace cooled were cold rolled to various percentages in the range 5–40percent;. Dislocation density has been found to increase with increasing percentage of cold work. The dislocation density values were correlated with hardness values of the cold worked samples.


It is well know that calcium increase the storage capacity of many fruits. This study investigated the effect of foliar calcium application, as well as postharvest application on the storage behaviour of kiwifruits cv. ́Hayward'. Three applications of 0.03% CaCl2 or CaO were made in June, July and September. After harvest half of the fruits from the sprayed vines were dipped in a solution of 2% CaCl2; the other half did not have any treatment. All fruit were then stored at 0oC and relative humidity of about 90-95%. Foliar application of CaCl2 appeared to be more effective in keeping fruit quality through storage than CaO. Kiwifruit dipped in 2% CaCl2 postharvest maintained higher firmness through storage than undipped fruit mainly in large sized fruits, but soluble solids content was not affected.


We present an automatic power plane generation method to accelerate the design of printed circuit boards (PCB). In PCB design, while automatic solvers have been developed to predict important indicators such as the IR-drop, power integrity, and signal integrity, the generation of the power plane itself still largely relies on laborious manual methods. Our automatic power plane generation approach is based on genetic optimization combined with a multilayer perceptron and is able to automatically generate power planes across a diverse set of problems with varying levels of difficulty. Our method consists of an outer loop genetic optimizer (GO) and an inner loop multi-layer perceptron (MLP) that generate power planes automatically. The critical elements of our approach include contour detection, feature expansion, and a distance measure to enable island-minimizing complex power plane generation. We compare our approach to a baseline solution based on A*. The A* method consisting of a sequential island generation and merging process which can produce less than ideal solutions. Our experimental results show that our method outperforms A* in 71% of the design problems with varying levels board layout difficulty. We also present ablation studies demonstrating the influence of various algorithmic choices. Finally, we provide insights into how the power planes evolve with our model parameters to form feasible and desirable space partitions.


. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a multi-carrier modulation technology that uses many subcarriers inside a single channel to broaden the notion of single subcarrier modulation. Because of its high-power transmission, the above approach produces out-of-band radiation. Therefore, a novel model named MIMO based enhanced OFDM communication system is introduced. In which random data bits are generated by a random data source, which is mapped using QPSK. Furthermore, to alleviate the carrier interference in MIMO-OFDM a novel Multi carrier interference mitigation method is presented. In which the Fourier, ICI estimation is done to separate the signal to time and frequency variant. Therefore, a novel Deep Frequency Time Offset estimation approach is created with two successive layers, and a Deep Neural Network (DNN) is used to estimate the residual carrier frequency offset and symbol timing offset. This reduces the time and frequency offset inaccuracy. Additionally, to alleviate out-of-band problems, a novel Low Complex Equalised demodulating approach is introduced. In which an extension windowing procedure is performed after adding CP, significantly reducing side lobe power and simplifying the process. Thus, the proposed OFDM carriers all the signal and transmits and receives with low out-of-band, carrier frequency offset in an efficient and equalised manner without any error and losses.


The paper is a study on the peristaltic transport of a magnetohydro dynamic fluid in an asymmetric tapered channel with porous medium. The study is the prominent motivated for the phenomenon of peristalsis in the flow of some physiological fluids in the human body devices. The viscosity of the fluid is dependent on temperature. The basic problems associated with heat and mass transfer during the fluids flow. The study has been carried out for long wavelength of the peristaltic motion. By using perturbation technique, series solutions have been obtained for stream function, velocity, pressure gradient, shear stress and pressure rise per wavelength with low Reynolds number. It is seen that the results of the study reveals that the pressure gradient is decrease with increasing of Hartmann number and the thermal radiation parameter and mean flow rate, but increases with increasing the slip velocity. The average rise in pressure increases with the increase of Grashof number while it decreases by increasing of Hartmann number. The velocity is increasing with increase of Hartmann number and the thermal radiation parameter at the core part of the channel. The study reveals also that the volume of the trapping bolus increases with increases of Reynolds model viscosity, while decreasing with increase of Hartmann number. In order to illustrate the validity of the theoretical study, numerical results have been computed by using MATHEMATICA software.


Extended Reality (XR) is a disruptive technology that will play an essential role in future society by creating an immersive human–machine interface. For their mass adoption, XR head–mounted devices have to be made light and sleek in design, which may require distributed computing capabilities, where high-end devices wirelessly offload computational tasks to the accompanying processing units. To satisfy demanding wireless connectivity requirements of the emerging XR applications, the devices are expected to rely on radio technologies that operate in millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency range and require directional transmission. In this paper, we evaluate a dynamic system of distributed 3D wearable networks operating in the mmWave band. We provide closed-form expressions for the session drop probability, the mean number of sessions that can run simultaneously, and its lower bound, which aid in understanding the impact of different parameters on the coexistence of dense directional wearable networks in the 3D space.


Nicaragua is better known for its dictators and revolutions than for its experience with constitutional government. Yet Nicaragua has employed presidential term limits just over half of the time since becoming independent in 1821. Unfortunately, all these efforts were rolled back and the right to unlimited re-election restored. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the change was by coup or revolution, in the twenty-first by constitutional amendment. This chapter examines the four longest-lived examples of Nicaraguan presidential term limits to determine why they were adopted, how they worked, why they were abandoned, and what consequences the rollbacks brought. Although distinct factors were at work in each case, there is one underlying factor common to all: a preference for personal rule among large parts of both the political elite and the citizenry as a whole.


In this article,one new genus and two new species were described.All of them were collected from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia in China and deposited in the Capital Normal University.The origin and evolution of Nannochoristidae are discussed briefly.Protochoristella gen.nov.Type species.Protochoristella polyneura sp.nov.Diagnosis.Small insect,rostrum short and slender.The forewing pterostigma clearly present.Sc long,2-branched,reaching the pterostigmal region.R_1 not branched,Rs 4-branched,forking earlier than M.M 4-branched,CuA and M fused for a long distance,cubito-median Y-vein existent.2 cross-veins between CuA and CuP present.The hindwing Sc a little shorter.CuA coalesced with M basally for a short distance.Comparison.At present,two extant and six extinct genera have been reported(Novkoshonov,1997).In the general venation scheme the Protochoristella gen.nov.somewhat resembles Itaphlebia(Sukatcheva,1985),but the new genus differs from the latter by R_1 not branched,both Rs and M forking early,the cross-vein between 1A and CuP absent.The new genus also may be distinguished from other seven known genera by Rs 4-banched.Etymology.The genus name is a combination of proto-(Greek,meaning original)and choristella(one recent genus of this family).Protochoristella polyneura sp.nov.Etymology.Polyneura from Latin,means complex veins in the wing.Holotype.A well preserved female insect.Registration No:CNU-M-NN-2006049.Locality and horizon.Daohugou Village,Ningcheng County,Inner Mongolia,China;Jiulongshan Formation,Middle Jurassic.Description.Small insect, 6.5?mm long.Wings almost symmetrically arranged,with a pair on each side.Both the fore and hind wings are clear.The rostrum short and slender,maxillary palp 4-segmented.Antennae filiform,incomplete,visible more than 30 segments. Pro-and metathorax small,mesothorax well developed.Legs slender,covered with dense and tiny setae,irregular arrangement.Tarsi longer than others,5-segmented,basitarsus longer than the sum of others,the pretarsus with 2 terminal claws.Abdomen with 10 visible segments,basitergum fused to metathorax,shorted.At the apex of the abdomen is a pair of 2-segmented cerci.Forewing slender, 7.5?mm long, 2?mm wide,the base much narrower,apical margin rounded.Pterostigma clearly present.Sc long,2-branched,reaching the pterostigmal region.R_1 simple,not branched,reaching the wing margin,curving posteriorly near its termination.Rs arising from the base,4-branched,dividing into its two main branches nearly midwing,R_ 4+5 forking early,R_ 2+3 simple.M 4-branched,M_ 3+4 forking before M_ 1+2 ,which forks after the forking of R_ 4+5 .CuA coalesced with M for a long distance basally,M+CuA fused to R for a short distance before the forking.CuP simple,2 cross-veins between CuA and CuP exist.1A and 2A simple,but 2 cross-veins between them present.The hindwing smaller than forewing,but slightly broader and Sc a little shorter.CuA coalesced with M basally for a short distance.The cross-veins between CuA and M_ 3+4 ,CuP and CuA absent.2A not preserved.Other veins are similar to the forewing.Protochoristella formosa sp.nov.Etymology.Formosa from Latin,means beautiful.Holotype.A well preserved female insect,part and counterpart.Registration No:CNU-M-NN-2006006.Locality and horizon.Daohugou Village,Ningcheng County,Inner Mongolia,China,Jiulongshan Formation.Middle Jurassic.Description.Small insect, 7?mm long.Wings almost symmetrically arranged,with a pair on each side slightly overlapped,the veins of fore wings are clear,but hindwings not discernible.Vertex of the head not raised,the rostrum incomplete,maxillary palp 4-segmented,eyes distinct.Antennae filiform,incomplete,visible about 30 segments.Pro-and metathorax small,mesothorax well developed.Legs slender,covered with dense and tiny setae,irregular arrangement.Tibiae long,visible 1 terminal calcar.Tarsi 5-segmented,basitarsus longest,the pretarsus with 2 terminal claws.Abdomen with 10 visible segments,basitergum fused to metathorax,shorted,9 and 10 segments abruptly more slender than 2-8,at the apex of the abdomen is a pair of 2-segmented cerci.Fore wing 8?mm long, 3?mm wide,basal space shrinked slightly,apical margin rounded.Pterostigma clearly present.Sc long,2-branched,reaching pterostigmal region.R_1 reaching the wing margin,curving posteriorly near its termination.Rs arising from the base,4-branched,forking before midwing,R_ 4+5 forking early,R_ 2+3 simple.M arising close to the base,4-branched,M_ 3+4 forking before M_ 1+2 ,which forks after the forking of R_ 4+5 .CuA coalesced with M for a long distance basally,with a slight bend after the cross-vein to M_ 3+4 .CuP clearly,separated from CuA,but joined to it by 2 short cross-veins.1A and 2A simple,cross-veins between them absent.The hindwing smaller than forewing,but slightly broader,veins not discernible.Comparison.The new species different from Protochoristella polyneura sp.nov.in the following features on the forewing:M+CuA not fused to R basally for a short distance,the cross-veins between 1A and 2A absent.


Objective
To evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture(EA)preconditioning on bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity in rats.

Methods
Sixteen SPF adult male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 180-240 g, aged 2 months, were randomly assigned into either bupivacaine group(group B, n=8)or EA preconditioning group(group EP, n=8). Bilateral Neiguan(PC6), Zusanli(ST36)and Fenglong(ST40)acupoints were stimulated with an electric stimulator(dense-sparse waves, frequency 2 Hz, voltage 1 mA, wave length 0.2-0.6 ms)for 30 min, followed by another 30 min stimulation after a 1 h interval.At 3 h after the end of electric stimulation, 0.5% bupivacaine 10 mg/kg was injected intravenously, and the rats suffering heart arrest received cardiopulmonary resuscitation.The duration of QRS and QT interval increased by 20% of baseline value, the time for apnea and cardiac arrest and resuscitation time were recorded.The left ventricular myocardial tissues were harvested at 25 min after bupivacaine administration in successfully resuscitated rats and immediately after death in unsuccessfully resuscitated rats for measurement of carnitine content in the myocardial cytoplasm and mitochondria by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

Results
In B and EP groups, the incidence of cardiac arrest was 8/8 and 4/8, respectively, and the rate of successful resuscitation was 3/8 and 4/4, respectively.Compared with group B, the incidence of cardiac arrest was significantly decreased, the rate of successful resuscitation was increased, the duration of QRS and QT interval increased by 20% of baseline value and time for apnea were prolonged, the resuscitation time was shortened, carnitine content in the myocardial cytoplasm was decreased, and carnitine content in the myocardial mitochondria was increased in group EP(P<0.05).

Conclusion
EA preconditioning can increase the tolerance to bupivacaine-induced cardiotoxicity, and the mechanism is related to elevated level of mitochondrial carnitine in rats.

Key words:
Electric stimulation therapy; Ischemic preconditioning; Bupivacaine; Drug toxicity; Myocardium