The invention provides an image capture device and an image capture method. In an image processing apparatus employed at an image capture device (1), an image acquisition section (41) acquires data of an image. An input operation receiving section (43) receives an operation for selection of an image region of the image data acquired by the image acquisition section (41). An image quality processing choosing section (46) chooses image quality processing to be applied to the image data acquired by the image acquisition section (41) in accordance with the image region received by the input operation receiving section (43). An image quality processing information presentation section (47) presents information relating to the image quality processing chosen by the image quality processing decision section (46).


Ultrasonic drilling process of small diameter apertures of titanic alloys is investigated. Essential increase of tool stability and the decrease in the moment and axial force of cutting is established at the message to ultrasonic fluctuations drill. It is proved that the best effect is provided by the message to fluctuations drill along the cutting edges with chosen frequency depending upon the parameters of processable material microstructure


With advancement in technology and more interactive nature of the available technology, the use of applied technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) is increasing at exponential rates in both academic and applied settings (Düking et al., 2018; Faure et al., 2020). VR is defined as simulations of a real or imaginary environment, where a participant can both perceive and interact with the environment (Craig, 2013). This presents virtual simulations in different formats such as flat or curved large screen displays, Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) (where participants are in a room surrounded by a screen) and head mounted displays (HMD). Examples of VR include a baseball batting simulator (Gray, 2017) and virtual handball goalkeeper (Vignais et al., 2015) with the virtual simulation opponents designed using complex motion capture systems. Given the rise of this technology, Düking et al. (2018) recently assessed VR for use in athletes through a SWOT analysis (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) identifying VR as appropriate for certain sporting areas, but more development of technology is needed to be more realistic. A similar technology is 360◦VR (also known as immersive video; Panchuk et al., 2018). Where VR involves virtual characters sourced through motion capture systems, 360◦VR uses real-world footage filmed from a 360◦ camera. Both 360◦VR and VR present the stimulus through a HMD, which allows the participant to scan, increasing the level of "presence" where the participants feel they are immersed in the environment (Slater, 2018; Bird, 2020). 360◦VR has been labeled a suitable "middle ground" between VR and existing screen-based video occlusion technologies (Fadde and Zaichkowsky, 2018). This is because participants can scan in the 360◦ environment, but as they are watching real world video, cannot interact with the environment as in VR. Although VR and 360◦VR are similar technologies, this paper highlights the distinct differences between the two, given their contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Figure 1 briefly illustrates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of 360◦VR technology. In recent years, 360◦VR has been examined as a method to both assess (Kittel et al., 2019a) and train sport-specific decision-making skill (Panchuk et al., 2018; Pagé et al., 2019; Kittel et al., 2020). Efficacious training of decision-making skills is imperative, as research indicates that decision making skills distinguish between elite and novice performers (Mann et al., 2007; Kittel et al., 2019b).


Correspondence address: East-West Center, Research Program Population and Health Studies 1601 East-West Road Honolulu, HI 96848-1601, USA Telephone: (808) 944-7482 Fax: (808) 944-7490 E-mail: email@example.com Internet site: www.eastwestcenter.org The earliest cases of HIV in Asia were reported in 1984 and 1985. The potential for widespread epidemics was not appreciated until the early 1990s, however, with the more extensive spread of HIV in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and parts of India. Today, these four countries have the highest adult infection levels in the region (Table 1). By contrast, Bangladesh, Laos, and the Philippines have some of the lowest HIV rates in the world. China, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam have epidemics in transition, characterized by recent increases in infection levels after an extended period of low prevalence. Despite strong evidence that HIV is spreading, national responses in most countries remain weak. Surveillance systems are inadequate, and the coverage of prevention and care programs is extremely limited. This issue of Asia-Pacific Population & Policy addresses three questions: (1) What drives Asian epidemics, and why do we see major differences across the region; (2) Where are these epidemics likely to go unless prevention efforts are strengthened; and (3) What can be done to stop their growth?


Abstract : The development of an airborne current measurement system that can provide a near-synoptic view of near-bottom currents in extremely hostile wave and current environments is described. A helicopter is used as the support platform from which an electromagnetic current meter is suspended by cable to within one meter of the sea floor. The helicopter hovers overhead while data acquisition is accomplished at each spatial location. Maneuvering ease of the helicopter above the sea surface allows the system to be operated in almost any wave or current environment, around structures, or in dynamic bathymetry. The ability of the helicopter to move quickly from point to point allows nearshore bottom currents to be measured at several locations in a short period of time. Because the meter is not deployed at a stationary location, the use of only one current meter is required, and in situ deployment problems with scour or burying are alleviated. To demonstrate the capabilities of the system, data obtained under high-energy wave conditions at the structured entrance to the Siuslaw River, Florence, OR, are presented, and prototype current patterns are compared with results from sediment tracer tests performed in a previous physical model test. (MM)


Review(s) of: Franco-British academic partnerships: The next chapter, by Maurice Fraser and Philippe Lane (eds.), ISBN 9781846316647, Liverpool, UK, Liverpool University Press, 2011, 241 pp.


A method of experimental testing of the shear deformation properties of woven fabrics using the biaxial tensile tester devised by S. Kawabata, et al. for testing large deformation properties of elastomer is studied here.Much effort is made to find the optimum size of test specimens and to survey better method to clamp the specimens. And successful method is obtained for measuring the shear deformation properties of fabrics by this method under both conditions, forced tensile deformation and forced tensile load.Experimental results from many kinds of fabrics are compared with the theoretical shear deformation properties calculated by the theory.In most cases, experimental results agree very well with results calculated theoretically and it has been confirmed that the theory will become a very powerful tool for practical design of the fabrics.


A review of the collection of documents and materials Under the banner of Komuch published in 2018 in Samara by a team of employees of the Samara Regional Universal Scientific Library and the Central State Archives of the Samara Region is presented; its structure, content and the array of historical documents introduced into scientific circulation are evaluated. The study of the short but bright period of the summer-autumn of 1918, when the power of the Bolsheviks was overthrown on a large territory of the Volga region and the government of the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was created in Samara, claiming all-Russian status, was studied fragmentarily in Soviet times. For a hundred years after these events, in the 1920-ies, only a few collections of documents related to Komuch were published, when censorship was developing in Soviet Russia. The review emphasizes that a number of documentary publications from the funds of Russian and emigrant archives published in the post-Soviet period do not diminish the importance of the actual meaningfulness of new editions of collections of documents. It is the sources, and not their interpretations, even scientific ones, that are important to both researchers and readers seeking to independently comprehend the dramatic events of that time. It is noted that the collection Under the Banner of Komuch provides such an opportunity. The compilers pay special attention to the previously published collections of orders and decrees, many local materials that usually remain on the periphery, which contain historical information about the people of that time and their, including everyday needs: improvement, supply, law and order, and so on.


The flip-chip GaAs power f.e.t. delivering 10 W power output with 3 dB gain has been realized at 10 GHz by using a newly developed internal matching technique, in which the f.e.t. chips are directly connected to the lumped dielectric capacitors prepared for the matching networks.


Abstract Extract No record appears to have been made of oak poisoning in New Zealand, Connor (1951) considering that only extremely isolated cases are likely to occur.


HPLC was applied to the determination of citrus red 2 in fruit juices,fruits and vegetables.The sample was extracted with acetone-hexane(1+3) solution,and the extract was evaporated to dryness at 45 ℃.The residue obtained was dissolved in formic acid-acetonitrile(0.5+99.5) solution(saturated with n-hexane),and defatted with n-hexane.The Agilent TC C18 column was used as stationary phase,a mixture of acetonitrile and formic acid solution(0.1+99.9) mixed in the ratio of 92 to 8 by volume was used as mobile phase,and DAD at 508 nm was used in the determination.Linear relationship between values of peak area and mass concentration of citrus red 2 was obtained in the range of 0.25-10.0 mg·L-1,with lower limit of determination(10S/N) of 0.1 mg·kg-1.Test for recovery was made by addition of standard citrus red 2 at 3 different concentration levels to samples of fruit juice,orange and carrot as matrixes,values of recovery found were in the range from 96.3% to 104.0%.Values of RSD′s(n=6) found were in the range of 1.0%-3.6%.


Background: The recent trend being towards spleen preservation, it is necessary to critically analyse the indications for splenectomy and assess if the desired preoperative outcomes are achieved by splenectomy.Methods: This was a retrospective study and patients who underwent elective or emergency splenectomy for various indications in the surgical unit from September 2011 to July 2016 were included. The data was collected from patients records and hospital electronic database.Results: From September 2011 to July 2016, totally 68 patients underwent splenectomy.  The indications for therapeutic intervention were splenic abscess (2), splenic cyst (4), trauma (8), ITP (20) and anemia (12). The indications for diagnostic splenectomy were pyrexia of unknown origin in 7 patients and splenomegaly with anemia or pancytopenia in 15 patients. The objective of the operation was achieved in 43 patients (63%). The success rate for each indication: diagnosis (12 of 22 patients, 55%), thrombocytopenia (12 of 20 patients, 60%), anemia (5 of 12 patients, 42%) and as a primary treatment (12 of 14 patients, 86%). Postoperative morbidity within 30days of surgery was seen in 9 patients (13%) and 2 patients (3%) died within 30days of surgery.Conclusions: The indication for splenectomy should be individualized after exploring all other treatment options and based on outcome.


Academic writing is proved to be a practice of learning and thinking.This paper attempts to present firstly an overview of teacher quality in directing English majors' graduation thesis writing.Based on the findings,it proposes that the significance of teacher quality lies in more teacher engagement in practice,which are profiled in terms of teacher's professional ethics,scientific research competence,and teaching management,which influence learners' writing and their competences profoundly.Finally,the needs of teacher's professional development will be discussed.


In this paper we present a natural and simple procedure to compute all feasible allocation points of a (non-convex) polygon within a (non-convex) polygonal bounded region. This procedure can be seen as a basis of more sophisticated and efficient algorithms for the same task, or for related problems such as finding a single placement point.


This chapter reviews psychological research on personal Web sites, on their owners and on the effects personal Web sites may have on visitors. Personal Web sites were conceptualized as media for self-presentation and identity construction. Converging evidence is reported with regard to the elements found on Web sites and to the demographics, personality characteristics, intentions and self-presentational goals of their owners. The popular and somewhat intuitive notion that Web sites are narcissistic media or platforms for vanity and exhibitionism does not apply to the average Web site owner. Empirical findings on personality expressions of Web site owners and personality impressions people form after a brief visit of the sites are presented. Initial results show that objective features of personal Web sites are associated with self and visitor-rated personality traits of the owners. It is concluded that more longitudinal research is needed to fully understand the dynamics of identity management on personal Web sites.


Abstract The paper introduces the mechanism and kinetics of the alkylation of benzene with ethylene to produce ethylbenzene. The alkylation reaction mechanism that takes place in the surface of the ZSM-5 catalyst and the [bmim]Cl/FeCl3 ionic liquid catalyst is described; at the same time the alkylation reaction kinetics is put forward based on the corresponding mechanism. The method obtained aids in the understanding of the microcosmic process of alkylation for adapting to the necessity of industrialization.


In order to make the use of non-tax revenue bill more effective and fully grasp the use of non-tax revenue bill as quickly as possible,Anhui Provincial Finance Department decided to promote the application of non-tax revenue bill electronic management system in the colleges.This paper firstly analyzed the requirement of non-tax revenue bill management,and then proposed the overall solution of the system.Finally implemented the system based on C/S structure,which used visual Studio 2005 development environment and vb.net technology and Microsoft SQL 2000 database.It achieved the business of charges,refund,bill management,Generate reports of the use of non-tax revenue bill and so on.Currently,the system has put into use in nearly 50 colleges and universities in Anhui Province,facts have proved that it has achieved its purpose.


"[A]part from Art. III's minimum requirements," wrote Justice Powell in Warth v. Seldin in 1975, the essence of the question of standing to sue "is whether the constitutional or statutory provision on which the claim rests properly can be understood as granting persons in the plaintiff's position a right to judicial relief."' This is the soundest sentence the Supreme Court has uttered on this troublesome subject within human memory. Unfortunately, the Court has generally ignored its own good counsel. The case-or-controversy requirement of Article III, the Court has made clear, forbids suit only by those who have suffered no "threatened or actual injury resulting from the putatively illegal action. .. ."2 Yet the Court has often refused to entertain challenges made by persons plainly alleging a constitutionally sufficient injury. The stated justifications for refusing to hear such claims have varied over the years. The TVA cases in the 1930s denied electric companies standing to attack allegedly unconstitutional competition on the ground that they had no "legal right" to be free from


Throughout the 1930s, Italian characters challenged American ideals while simultaneously being blamed for their failure. Filmmakers and audiences were thus allowed to ponder the subversive challenges such characters posed while distancing themselves from similar thought patterns. Today, understanding the rhetorical use of these characters is essential when evaluating contemporary Italian American visions.


The invention relates to a black start method considering substation unmanned watching and line remote control. The black start method comprises the following steps of according to the current conditions of substation unmanned watching and line remote control, considering the line remote control and the commissioning success probability, establishing a line commissioning time limit model, solving the time expectation of the line commissioning as a line weight, calculating a shortest path by a Marc Delcroix algorithm according to the limitation factors of unit start time limit, force output characteristics, leading-phase running capacity and the like, and defining comprehensive priority indexes of unit start. The black start method has the characteristics that the practicality is realized, the online decision can be instructed, and the black start method can be applied to the formulation and real-time adjusting of a black start plan.


References 1. Rehm J, Gmel G, Sempos CT, Trevisan M. Alcohol-related morbidity and mortality. Alcohol Res Health.? 2003;27:39-51. 2. Lawrence AJ, Luty J, Bogdan NA, Sahakian BJ, Clark L. Impulsivity and response inhibition in alcohol dependence and problem gambling. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009;207:163-172. Abstract 3. Rubio G, Jiménez M, Rodríguez-Jiménez R, et al. The role of behavioral impulsivity in the development of alcohol dependence: a 4-year follow-up study. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008;32:1681-1687. Abstract 4. Badre D. Cognitive control, hierarchy, and the rostro-caudal organization of the frontal lobes. Trends Cogn Sci. 2008;12:193-200. Abstract 5. Crews FT, Boettiger CA. Impulsivity, frontal lobes and risk for addiction. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2009;93:237-247. Abstract 6. Stuss DT, Murphy KJ, Binns MA, Alexander MP. Staying on the job: the frontal lobes control individual performance variability. Brain.?2003;126(Pt 11):2363-2380. 7. Banyas CA. Evolution and phylogenetic history of the frontal lobes. In: Miller BL, Cummings JL, eds. The Human Frontal Lobes: Functions and Disorders. New York: Guilford Press; 1999:83-106. 8. Konishi S. [Frontal lobes and inhibitory function]. Brain Nerve. 2011;63:1346-1351. Abstract 9. Trudeau LE. Glutamate co-transmission as an emerging concept in monoamine neuron function. J Psychiatry Neurosci.?2004:29:296-310. 10. Vergne DE, Anton RF. Aripiprazole: a drug with a novel mechanism of action and possible efficacy for alcohol dependence. CNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets. 2010;9:50-54. Abstract 11. Kumar R. Approved and investigational uses of modafinil: an evidence-based review. Drugs. 2008;68:1803-1839. Abstract 12. Minzenberg MJ, Carter CS. Modafinil: a review of neurochemical actions and effects on cognition. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2008;33:1477-1502. Abstract 13. Dackis CA, Kampman KM, Lynch KG, Pettinati HM, O'Brien CP. A double-blind, placebocontrolled trial of modafinil for cocaine dependence. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005;30:205-211. Abstract 14. Schmaal L, Goudriaan AE, Joos L, et al. Modafinil modulates resting-state functional network connectivity and cognitive control in alcohol-dependent patients. Biol Psychiatry. 2013;73:789795. Abstract 15. Zack M, Poulos CX. Effects of the atypical stimulant modafinil on a brief gambling episode in pathological gamblers with high vs. low impulsivity. J Psychopharmacol. 2009;23:660-671. Abstract Medscape Psychiatry © 2014 WebMD, LLC Cite this article: Derick E. Vergne. Modafinil for Alcohol Dependence: In Search of Solutions to an Epidemic. Medscape. Mar 25, 2014.


Novel condensed ring derivative with advanced optical and electrical properties has become extensive study area of liquid crystalline material for display in recent years. Synthesis of the condensed ring derivative liquid crystal in which lots of new methods and reagents are used to get higher yield has active value for reference. In the paper, synthesis and development of the compounds are summarized respectively from three main angles including synthesis of central bond, skeleton and substitute group.


Actual Soviet energy use for the years 1950 to 1975 was used as a basis for projecting energy use to 1990. Two projections were made, one based upon continuation of historical usage patterns and a second that incorporated possible changes in these patterns. These changes were based upon such factors as changing energy availability, costs, and the political/economic objectives of the Soviet government. In this latter case, the potential for considerably reduced energy consumption is strikingly clear.


Knowledge on time and rate of desiccant application in pre-harvest of common bean is important to prevent yield losses. The objective of this work was to evaluate the yield of the winter common bean after application of paraquat as desiccant at different times (30; 35; 40 and 45 days after the beginning of flowering - DAF) and rates (0; 200; 400 e 600 g ha-1) in pre-harvest. The experiment was conducted in the fall/winter growing season of 2010, in Selviria, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. The treatments were arranged in a randomized block design in a 4 x 4 factorial (application times x herbicide rates), with four replications. The increase in rates of paraquat up to 35 DAF increased linearly the percentage of defective seeds, whereas the seed mass was reduced linearly up to 40 DAF. The yield of the common bean was not affected by paraquat application from the 35 DAF, but the increase in the rate caused linear reduction in this parameter.


Digital filters play a key role in the field of digital signal processing. This paper presents a linear phase digital low pass finite impulse response (FIR) filter design using particle swarm optimization (PSO) and attractive and repulsive particle swarm optimization (ARPSO) and illustrate the superiority of the ARPSO method over PSO. ARPSO uses a diversity measure to control the swarm and trying to overcome the problem of premature convergence. The considered fitness is able to control the ripples in both bands separately. A comparison of simulation results demonstrates the performance of PSO and ARPSO in designing digital low pass FIR filters.


The function of the protein-coupled receptor 35 (GPR35) in the central nervous system (CNS) remains largely unknown. Due to its expression in the ventral striatum, a key area in the brain reward system, the function of GPR35 in reinforcing actions is questioning. To analyze if activation of GPR35 in the ventral striatum is related to reinforcing actions, male Wistar rats (250-300 g) received stereotaxic surgery from placing guide cannulae in the ventral striatum. Different doses of lodoxamide (a full rat-GPR35 agonist) or vehicle (DMSO 10%) were injected (intra-ventral-striatum) in the absence and during the pretreatment with ML-194 (a selective GPR35 antagonist). Lodoxamide (100 pmol) induced a significant increment in preference for the drug-conditioning chamber (p < 0.05), but not vehicle or ML-194 per se (p > 0.05). On the other hand, the pretreatment with ML-194 did not prevent lodoxamide's reinforcing effects. Thus, the reinforcing actions of lodoxamide (intra-ventral-striatum) involve mechanisms likely independent of GPR35.


Having looked at arguments for the existence of God, we now turn to look at arguments against God's existence. Novices in the philosophy of religion often initially think that there is something wrong-headed about the project of coming up with arguments for the non-existence of God. "How," it is often asked, "can one prove the non-existence of something?" This is a good question. How can we prove, or at least provide good reasons to believe in, the non-existence of anything, God included? There are at least three ways. One way we can show the non-existence of something is by showing that the thing described is impossible . If someone tells you that she has a round square in her pocket, you would know that she is wrong. You know there is no round square in her pocket (or anywhere else), because you know there cannot be round squares. Round things necessarily lack corners while squares necessarily have corners. One thing can't both have and lack corners. So there can be no such thing as a round square. Impossibility arguments for the non-existence of God are not uncommon. In fact, in chapters 1 and 2 we looked at a number of arguments that aim to show that the attributes of God are internally incoherent or inconsistent with other attributes. These might be seen as attempts to show that God does not exist because God is like a round square.


Low- and high-voltage Soliton waves were produced and used to demonstrate collision and compression using diode-based nonlinear transmission lines. Experiments demonstrate soliton addition and compression using homogeneous nonlinear lines. The nonlinear lines were built using commercially available diodes. These diodes are chosen after their capacitance versus voltage dependence is used in a model and the line design characteristics are calculated and simulated. Nonlinear ceramic capacitors are then used to demonstrate high-voltage pulse amplification and compression. The line is designed such that a simple capacitor discharge, input signal, develops soliton trains in as few as 12 stages. We demonstrated output voltages in excess of 40 kV using Y5V-based commercial capacitors. The results show some key features that determine efficient production of trains of solitons in the kilovolt range.


Capelin (Mallotus villosus) were incubated in oiled sediment (range of initial concentrations 0–400 ppm total hydrocarbons) from the blastula stage to emergence of larvae. Concentrations of individ...


Introduction: Time since death is an important topic that plays major role in forensic medicine. The accurate determination of time since death is found to be helpful in medico legal investigation. Advancements in the methods for estimating time since death have enabled us to determine post-mortem interval more precisely. Since the 1850s, scientists have been working on different methods to determine post-mortem interval. Hence, the aim of the present study was to assess the time since death using method of rigor mortis in the autopsies done at the mortuary of Osmania General Hospital. Materials and Methods: About 500 medico-legal autopsies were selected where the exact time of death was known and the body had been kept at prevailing room temperature. A good quality digital hygrometer was used to note the daily readings of temperature and humidity. Presence or absence of rigor mortis and its extent was noticed in both voluntary and involuntary muscles. Results: More unnatural deaths are in suspicious circumstances are occurring in males when compared to females. The average duration for onset of rigor mortis was 8 hours and 39 minutes. The minimum duration in which rigor mortis had begun to appear in the body was 1 hour and 35 minutes while the longest maximum by which rigor mortis had not completely appeared in the body was 24 hours. Conclusion: Rigor mortis has been used for assessment of time since death from long time. It is considered to be the most important and interesting method to estimate the time since death.


Gibberellins (GAs) constitute a large group of natural tetracyclic diterpenoids. Active Gibberellins function as hormones in plants, controlling many aspects of development, including stem extension, fruit set, and seed germination. Gibberellin-20 oxidase-2 enzyme catalyzes the sequential oxidation of GA53 to GA20. The semidwarfing gene in rice (sd-1) is one of the most important genes deployed in modern rice breeding. Its recessive character results in a shortened culm with improved lodging resistance and a greater harvest index. In an attempt to identify the homologs of GA20ox2 in other crop species sequence database scanning was performed. Several homologoues were obtained with varied degree of identity between them. The deduced amino acid sequences were aligned and phylogenetic trees were constructed to determine the consensus pattern of sequences and for establishing the relationship among the GA20ox2 of rice and other crops. On the basis of alignment, proteins were designated to their respective groups. In silico analysis has identified several homologues of GA20ox2 in various species and provided insight into their evolutionary relationships.


Vehicle routing problem is very important for the logistics company operation, and there are many researchers involving in such research these years. This paper first introduces the vehicle routing problem; and then, reviews the current research situation of the problem in algorithms and models; finally, summing up the lackness in the research, a research model is given combined with the logistics characteristics of China by the authors.


BBC Radio l's 90s Policy by Hugh Fielder BBC's Radio 1 has spelt out its plans to retain the biggest audience share in the UK and stand by its public service principles in a "bullish" policy document called Music Radio For The 90s. This is the first time the station has issued such a manifesto. It comes as the Radio Authority prepares to set up three national commercial networks, one of which is expected to be a pop station. Radio 1 head of programcommae on page 4 region just released by IFPI, says standards of local production have risen in recent years and "this has undoubtedly helped homegrown artists hold their own against UK and US competition. For a performer like Larsen to sell 400.000 albums in a country the size of Denmark is an amazing achievement!' Revenues hr all formats were up, compared to 1988, in Sweden (19.1% to Skr 893 million), Finland (20.8% to Skr 348 million) and Denmark (12.2% to Skr 431 million). Norway was the only territory to break the pattern, with a 5.8% decline to Skr 348.5 million, which Haeggqvist attributes as "part of the territory's general economic recession". The rise in turnover was aided by consumers switching from vinyl to the more expensive CD. In the major market, Swedish CD sales now account for 34% of


In this study,  discussed some issues that are arising in the development of Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Speech Recognition (SR) systems for the Sinhala language are discussed. There are numerous benefits of TTS and SR to Sinhala community. In the context of Sinhala language, the Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies are in the primary stage in comparison with other languages such as English, French, German, Japanese etc. Since current TTS and SR development environments are far from being language independent, the existing systems cannot be adopted directly to the Sinhala language. This contribution outlines problematic areas that come across in the development of TTS and SR systems for Sinhala language. While discussing those problems, some of the possible solution strategies for both TTS and SR development have been formulated. Keywords: Text-to-Speech; Speech Recognition; Sinhala Language; Natural Language Processing. DOI: 10.4038/josuk.v3i0.2739 J. Sci. Univ. Kelaniya 3 (2007) : 63-72


Acknowledgments 1. Introduction 2. The Situation of American Jewish Theology in 1945 3. The Call for Theology 4. A Decade of Controversy 5. The Revival of Theology 6. The New Jewish Theology in Outline 7. The Question of Jewish Theology in Heschel, Fackenheim, and Soloveichik 8. From Whence We Have Come Notes Sources Cited Index


The denoising of vibration signals is useful with regards to various applications such as equipment monitoring. This study proposes a double dictionary learning method with a moving ruler strategy. The moving ruler strategy is used to construct a multi-layer and multi-position dictionary to reduce the gap between adjacent columns. However, the drawbacks of this strategy are high dictionary redundancy and reduced computation efficiency. Considering this issue, a double dictionary model is proposed combining the fixed dictionaries with learning dictionaries. The sparse coding and dictionary updating are improved correspondingly. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed method can outperform the existing denoising approaches. Moreover, an application of gearbox is presented to further validate the proposed method.


A 35-year-old woman presented with breathlessness and palpitations for 1 year. She had an irregular pulse and a mid-diastolic rumbling murmur on auscultation. There were non-tender, small (2–4 mm in diameter) haemorrhagic macular lesions on her both soles ([figure 1][1]). A transthoracic


Aim: the purpose of this study is to compare deglutition patterns in children with cerebral palsy and children without neurological problems and to investigate the influence of oral motor dysfunction, quadriplegia and food texture, in the time spent for swallowing. Material and method: Seventy-six children aged 1-5 years participated in the study (57 with cerebral palsy and 19 without neurological problems). Three food textures were examined during children's snack time: liquid (juice), paste (yogurt) and solid (cracker). Result: The result demonstrates, for the cerebral palsy group, their feeding took up to 15 times longer than normal. The more severe the degree of oral motor dysfunction, the longer was the time spent for swallowing. From the textures studied, paste was the one in which children with cerebral palsy were closer in time to the group without neurological problems. It suggests that there were differences in the time spent for swallowing between the groups.


The probation officers' narratives tended to focus on risk management and person-centred relationships with personality disordered offenders, even after recent role changes left them with less time for social work. The offender narratives suggest their social problems link to their claim for normative identity. It is complex and problematic as they aspire for an idealised hegemonic masculine position as part of the mainstream masculinity in society, often using crime as a means of expressing their belonging to this. They could be seen to be trying to recover from spoiled identities.


A low-temperature pyrolysis, the target product of which is pyrocondensate, is one of the options for the recycling usedtires. The fractional composition and properties of pyrocondensate of rubber waste pyrolysis obtained at an industrial plant have been studied. The pyrocondensate was separated into gasoline, diesel fraction and residue. The composition and properties of obtained productswere determined using X-ray fluorescence analysis and IR spectroscopic studies.


The efficient use of water in the vineyard requires knowledge of the crop's response to irrigation in terms of production and quality and the interaction of the same with the environmental conditions. In this work, the behavior of a trellis system vineyard in cv. Tempranillo, located in the south-west of Spain, was analyzed for three years in relation to different irrigation strategies based on crop evapotranspiration (ETc), and with two levels of crop load established by early cluster thinning. The response of the vineyard to the same irrigation strategy varied depending on the characteristics of the year. The vineyard's biomass production increased in a linear trend as annual water status improved. However, during pre-veraison, the water status had a more significant impact on the harvest by affecting bud fertility. The increase in individual cluster weight only partially compensated the loss of yield caused by cluster thinning. The year's characteristics highly conditioned the response to the irrigation treatment and, together with cluster thinning, modified the characteristics of the musts, although the response was varied.


We read with interest Bonetti et al's article "Intraforaminal O2–O3 Versus Periradicular Steroidal Infiltrations in Lower Back Pain: Randomized Controlled Study," which appeared in the May issue of the AJNR .[1][1] We came across this paper as we were searching for the possible beneficial


Objective— Human insulin enhances the vasodilatory effect of acetylcholine (ACh), an endothelium-dependent vasodilator, in normal subjects. Structural changes in a long-acting insulin analog, insulin glargine, may change its binding properties to insulin receptor and structurally homologous receptors, such as the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor, and thereby alter its vascular effects. In the present study, we compared effects of glargine and regular human insulin on blood flow responses to endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasoactive agents in vivo in normal subjects. Methods and Results— Ten healthy men (age: 33±9 years [mean±SD]; BMI: 23±2 kg/m2) were studied on two separate occasions in a double-blind, randomized, crossover fashion. In each study, blood flow responses to intrabrachial artery infusions of ACh and SNP were determined during infusion of saline and intravenously maintained normoglycemic hyperinsulinemia. Hyperinsulinemia (120 minutes; infusion rate: 1 mU/kg per minute...


Th e retrospective analysis of histories of deliveries is presented in the paper. Th e children, who required resuscitation measures, have been examined. A research objective was to reveal ante and intranatal reasons, which caused severe condition of children aft er birth. Result a principal cause the human factor: complications of labor process in the absence of a dynamic estimation of perinatal risk.


For network scientists, it has always been an interesting problem to identify the influential nodes in a given network. The k-shell decomposition method is a widely used method which assigns a shell-index value to each node based on its influential power. The k-shell method requires the global information of the network to compute the shell-index of a node that is infeasible for large-scale real-world dynamic networks. In this work, we propose a method to estimate the shell-index of a node using its local information. We also propose hill-climbing based approach to hit the top-ranked nodes in a small number of steps. We further discuss a method to estimate the rank of a node based on the proposed estimator.


Purpose: This paper aims at generating resourceful information for stakeholders, that is, the department of livestock and Non- Governmental Organizations to implement policies which will promote quail farming as a viable source of protein and income.
Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps.
Findings: there is a need to promote development of quail farming and to factor in the special needs of women when government policies on social activities are being crafted in order to realize the full potential of women contribution in the quail farming. The development of quail farming can be affected by poor market accessibility of quail and its products. The existence of unreliable quail market, lack of market information and lack of organized marketing associations is also a great hindrance to the development quail farming.
Recommendations: The study recommended that more government policies on poultry farming should be developed in order to overcome the numerous challenges faced by women such as poor access to services and information and lack of collateral security and that, the government should promote the formation of marketing associations in order to assist quail farmers to get market for their products.


This article describes different views and social needs expressed by the Chinese younger generation who are familiar with online or offline board games. The study targets werewolf killing, which is favoured by Chinese largest game publishers, as the main board game. It contains multiple dimensions to show the social goals and sense of achievement from the relatively young players. The main research methods are parallel designed semi-structured interviews. The main content comes from the interviewees' actual activities and behavioural habits, which talks about the experience or the imagined experiences of their games. It is argued that the online board game, like Werewolf Killing, plays an important role in defining the social identity of the younger Chinese generation.


In the studies of the induced cholesteric mesophases, the twisting powers of cisoid- and transoidbridged 2,2′-diaminobiphenyl derivatives having R-configuration were found to be negative and positive respectively. In the cases where CD spectroscopy is inadequate, the liquid crystal method is sensitive to the helicity of the biphenyl moiety. The conformation of 2,2′-diamino-6,6′-dimethylbiphenyl is discussed.


Very low-pedestal, 310-fs FWHM pulses at 10-GHz repetition rate are obtained by nonlinear fiber propagation of parabolic-like pulses synthesized by linear re-shaping of 1.5-ps soliton-like pulses with an energetic efficiency reaching 70%.


Extraction process of andrographolide is studied by the orthogoanal experimental design.As the evaluate target about the content of andrographolide's extraction,we study the effective factors about rate of material and solvent,alcohol concentration,temperature and time.The results showed that alcohol concentration the most effective factor,temperature the second,rate of material and solvent the third,the last was time.The optimal condition is got as follows:the extraction amount is 622 mg when we immerse the 100 g Andrographis Paniculta into 75% alcohol for 2 hours at 60 ℃.


SNOBOL3 is a programming language designed for the manipulation of strings. Features of the language include symbolic naming of strings and pattern matching. In addition to a basic set of primitive string-valued functions, the system includes the facility for defining functions. These defined functions facilitate the programming of recursive procedures. This paper presents an intuitive description of SNOBOL3 and at the same time incorporates complete reference material for the programmer. The implementation of SNOBOL3 for the IBM 7094 computer operating under BE-SYS-7 is the basis for this description, but most of the material is common to all implementations.


Through the analysis of the differences between school culture and enterprise culture,the paper explains the significance of integration and joint between the two cultures.It puts forward that integration between school and enterprise cultures should be enhanced in the spiritual,systematic,role,practical and management aspects.Students should receive enterprise culture management during their order training period,so as to shorten adaptable period of employment,increase stability of employment and achieve tripartite win-win among schools,enterprises and students.


Hepatitis C virus is the main causative agent of post-transfusion hepatitis and can cause chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Sequential comparisons between genomes of HCV indicate that HCV can be calssified into genotypes which show significant geographical and epidemiological distributions. We used specific primers for genotyping of HCV in 65 specimens of chronic hepatitis and blood donors. Forty specimens (70.18%) were infected with HCV genotype V/3a, 7 specimens (12.28%) with genotype IV/1b, 5 specimens (8.77%) with genotype II/1b and V/3a, and 5 specimens (8.77%) with unclassified type in a distribution comparable with the chronic hepatitis and blood donors. We also detected the level of HCV-RNA titers by branch DNA probe assay. Our data showed that 30 cases (73.17%) of blood donors had high HCV-RNA titers in contrast to 8 of the 24 (33.33%) patients with chronic hepatitis. The bDNA assay for HCV-RNA titers was less sensitive than the PCR method for HCV-RNA detection. HCV-RNA levels more than 0.35 Meq/ml were found in 66.7% (4/6) of genotype II/1b, 65% (26/40) in type V/3a and 80% (4/5) in type II/ 1b + V/3a. There were no statistical differences among genotypes. The assay of HCV-RNA genotypes and quantification of HCV-RNA level provide more accurate assessment and therapeutic monitoring and facilitate in deciding the optimum dose and duration of interferon treatment.


A hydrodynamic performance orientated CRP numerical design/analysis procedure is presented with a coupling approach. The proposed method couples a LiftingSurface Method (LSM) applied to the CRP, with a steady RANS solver applied to the global flow-field, in order to account for the interactions between the two blade rows and the vehicle body. The LSM designs the CRP, and predicts the pressures, forces and moments of the CRP. The impact of the CRP on wake field is modelled by converting the pressure forces on blades to radial distributed body force inside the flow domain. And the steady RANS solver determines the total velocity and pressure. Then the effective wake is evaluated and provided to the LSM for next round of design and analysis. The iterative process between the LSM and the steady RANS solver is repeated until a converged result is achieved. Finally, an unsteady RANS solver is applied to compute the accurate CRP performance after making CRP geometry which matches to the converged effective wake. Numerical design and analysis are carried out for a set of CRP utilized for a high-speed underwater vehicle. Validations of results from the current numerical method with those measured in model tests are presented. The design example and its numerical validation results indicate that the numerical design/analysis procedure is capable of producing smooth CRP's blade geometries and predicting CRP's self-propulsion performance accurately.


This document extends the Resource ReSerVation Protocol-Traffic
Engineering (RSVP-TE) eXclude Route Object (XRO) and Explicit
eXclusion Route Subobject (EXRS) within Explicit Route Object (ERO) to
support specifying route exclusion requirement using Path Key
Subobject (PKS).


Brunner gland adenoma are rare tumor and etiology remains obscure. Bleeding is the most common symptom, Gastric outlet or duodenal obstruction may also occur. The incidence is less than 5%. This case is presented here for rarity of clinical presentation. A 69 years female came with history of melena . Gastroduodenoscopy diagnosed with duodenal polyp.


Kenyas fertility decline is heralded in the assessment by Allen Kelley and Charles Nobbe as at a "demographic turning point" due to modernization and access to modern contraception. The analysis of 1993 Demographic and Health Surveys lends support to the trend of fertility decline occurring within "mainstream" Kenyan society but more research is needed on differences by social and economic class. Important social changes can be identified. 1) Men and women do indeed discuss openly the number of children desired. The government is encouraging education. 2) There is broad public knowledge of modern contraception. 3) There is increasing empowerment of women and educational advancement. Women have been forced to provide for their children. Womens groups have proliferated under conditions of subordination and lack of control over economic resources. 4) Womens control over fertility and increased use of spacing for all births has become a social movement. The obstacles to fertility decline include mens reduced participation in household life reduced economic security poverty lack of belief in the ability to change things the struggle for survival and environmental degradation. The Kelley and Nobbes analysis attributed fertility decline to an increased value of education for children. Current lack of employment opportunities for girls has already begun to affect the numbers of females going on to higher education. Policies should be directed to a redistribution of resources for strengthening female education and employment and investing in nonagricultural activities. Expansion of prenatal and delivery services is needed; regular availability of contraceptive supplies and availability for adolescents is not yet a reality. The threat of AIDS adds pressure to the trends toward premarital relations and unwanted pregnancies. School health and sex education needs to be improved. Welfare development would be the natural progression from the political emphasis on universal education and expanded health systems. There are undercurrents of political instability and ethnic rivalry. Continued movement toward democratization is a basic condition for a more permanent demographic transition.


ABSTRACT Key Words: Monitoring of Polyethylene Glycol-diacrylate-based Hydrogel Formation byReal Time NMR Spectroscopy Mohammad Imani *1 , Shahriar Sharifi 2 , Hamid Mirzadeh 1,2 , and Farshid Ziaee 1 (1) Department of Novel Drug Delivery Systems, Iran Polymer and PetrochemicalInstitute, P.O. Box: 14965/115, Tehran, Iran(2) Biomedical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O. Box: 15875/4413, Tehran, IranReceived 8 April 2006; accepted 23 January 2007 H ydrogels produced by in situ polymerization have been extensively studied asbiomaterials in applications such as scaffolds for tissue engineering and drugdelivery systems. In situ polymerization process allows the hydrogel to be gen-erated in vitro or in vivo from a low viscosity solution of monomer or low molecularweight polymer by free radical pathway. In this study, polyethylene glycol-diacrylate(PEG-DA) macromer has been synthesized by esterification of PEG with acryloyl chlo-ride and characterized by NMR and FTIR spectroscopies and swelling study. Cross-linking was initiated by a pair of redox initiator, i.e. ammonium persulphate and


Abstract A practical protocol for efficient synthesis of both PAMPO enantiomers as well as related functionalised P-stereogenic phosphine oxides in 1–3 steps from effectively resolved (S P)-l-menthyl o-anisyl-(phenyl)phosphinylacetate has been developed. Examples of non-stereoselective quaternisation of a tertiary phosphine by alkyl halides have been revealed.


Rare earth-iron-boron magnets were successfully integrated in a surface micromachined electromagnetic actuator. The magnets are 2000 by 1000 /spl mu/m with thickness varying from 100 to 200 /spl mu/m and were screen printed on electroplated cantilever beams fabricated above 40 turn planer coils on a silicon wafer. The magnetic paste used to form the magnets was made from 40 /spl mu/m diameter spherical powder with a polyimide binder. The residual induction (B/sub r/) was 3000 Gauss (0.3 T) and the intrinsic coercivity (H/sub ci/) was 8050 Oe (644 kA/ m). Displacements of more than 1000 /spl mu/m with 200 mA of current and repulsive and attractive forces on the order of 1 /spl mu/N/mA at were demonstrated. The magnets produced forces on the order of 3 mN when in contact with ferromagnetic metals (Fe) or similar magnets.


Our previous work has shown that the cytoplasmic tail (ct) of RAGE is essential for RAGE ligand‐mediated signal transduction and consequent modulation of gene expression and cellular properties. RAGE signaling requires interaction of ctRAGE with the intracellular effector, mammalian diaphanous 1, or DIAPH1. Given the complex, multi‐ligand nature of ligands binding to the extracellular domains of RAGE, we sought to discover small molecule inhibitors of the interaction of ctRAGE with DIAPH1. Prompted by our identification of 13 small molecules that block the interaction of ctRAGE‐DIAPH1, we pursued structure‐activity relationship experiments to identify analogues potentially able to delay or prevent the progression of RAGE‐related chronic diseases, such as diabetes.


In the traditional immersed boundary methods for solving compressible fluid-structure interaction problems, conservation is one of the problems that must be considered. When the coupling boundary moves on the fixed grid, the structure coverage will change, resulting in many dead elements and emerging elements on the fluid grid. In the ghost-cell immersed boundary method, the reconstructed grid can not maintain the strict mass conservation when the dead elements and emerging elements appear. In order to overcome the shortcomings of traditional methods, a strong coupling prediction-correction immersed boundary method for compressible fluid-structure interaction problems was proposed. Firstly, the matrix representation of a general fluid-structure coupling system was described, and a strong coupling Gauss-Seidel iterative scheme of fluid-structure coupling system was derived. Furthermore, a prediction-correction scheme was derived, and a prediction-correction immersed boundary method was proposed. The fluid-structure coupling boundary was regarded as a free surface, and the space originally occupied by the solid was initialized as zero mass elements, allowing the fluid to pass through the coupling boundary freely. For the calculation of fluid, the second-order MUSCL finite volume scheme with the minmod limiter and the AUSM+-up flux based on Zha-Bilgen splitting were used to advance the time step with the third-order Runge-Kutta scheme. In the correction step, the transport process was realized by a set of mass conservation transport rules. The transport algorithm could be summarized as marking the fluid inside the boundary, dividing and moving the fluid in a uniform way according to the marking order, generating a flow pointing to the outside of the boundary, and finally applying a velocity correction near the boundary to ensure the no-slip condition. The marking and transport algorithm avoided the tedious geometric treatment of the cut-cells, and ensured the easy implementation of the algorithm. For the calculation of solids, the first-order difference scheme and the implicit dynamic finite element scheme were used to solve the rigid body and linear elastic body respectively, and the Gauss quadrature was used to obtain the coupling force on the solid surface. The one-dimensional and two-dimensional problems were calculated by the prediction-correction immersed boundary method. In the one-dimensional piston problem, the accuracy, conservation and convergence of the method were investigated by comparing the results with those in the literature. In the two-dimensional shock wave impact problem, the experimental optical schlieren images were compared with those obtained by the numerical simulation, and the deflection history of the plate structure was investigated. The study shows that this method can accurately maintain the mass conservation of the flow field and has the advantage of easy implementation, which is different from the traditional ghost-cell method and the cut-cell method. This method has the first-order convergence accuracy, and can accurately predict the flow field after shock diffraction and the deflection of plate under shock waves. It provides a new idea for the development of fluid-structure coupling algorithms.


Legislation often prescribes the broad parameters of social development, particularly in the creation of socio-economic entitlements and rights. In some cases such prescriptions may even be quite detailed. However, it is through the courts that these parameters are defined, narrowed, broadened, given substance and, ultimately, applied. It is thus the courts that create the body of jurisprudence that helps us to understand, and thus to analyse, such legislation. This article adopts as its starting point legislation that has been enacted to address the issues of the pervasive inequalities inherent in South African society, goes on to analyse the approaches adopted to solve similar problems in other jurisdictions, and then analyses the approaches adopted by South African courts in interpreting the legislation and giving content to the will of the legislature; ultimately addressing the question of whether affirmative action can now be described as a right. Regular readers of Transformation will note that the article by Morris Montalti and Adrian Bellengere is not presented in the usual Transformation style. The original article we received was written for a legal audience. The editors and our referees felt that the submission was important but needed to be made more accessible to a broader audience. We have, therefore, asked the authors for 'parallel texts', with a narrative that runs along the top, and a further narrative, in the endnotes, that delves deeper into the legal issues for those who may be interested in this.


This paper proposed a decomposition method,in which the sequence is divided into two parts:the low and the high frequency sequence.Then the two parts were predicted by LMS adaptive ARIMA and LMS adaptive AR model respectively,and the final result was obtained by composing the two predictors.Meanwhile,in order to capture the sequence partial mutation well,reduce the prediction delay,and improve the prediction precision,the modified EaLMS algorithm was applied in the decomposition prediction.The experimental result shows that,compared with direct LMS prediction,the modified decomposition method has better prediction performance.


The circuitry mechanism associated with anesthesia‐induced unconsciousness is still largely unknown. It has been reported that orexinergic neurons of the lateral hypothalamus (LHA) facilitate the emergence from anesthesia through their neuronal projections to the arousal‐promoting brain areas. However, the lateral habenula (LHb), as one of the orexin downstream targets, is known for its anesthesia‐promoting effect. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore whether and how the orexinergic projections from the LHA to the LHb have a regulatory effect on unconsciousness induced by general anesthesia.


Observations by Ulysses showed a relatively homogeneous, slowly evolving population of magnetic fluctuations over the heliocentric distance range of 1.5 to 4 AU, associated with the high speed solar wind originating in the southern solar polar coronal hole. While similar to populations previously identified near the ecliptic plane, these fluctuations, when taken as a whole, are both quantitatively and qualitatively different, due to the relative absence of stream-stream interaction effects at high heliolatitudes.There are several ways that these fluctuations can be described. Here we present results which discuss the high latitude fluctuations in terms of the radial dependence of the variances of the components of the magnetic field on different timescales; the nonlinear radial evolution of fluctuations is described using structure functions; finally, the anisotropy of small-scale fluctuations is discussed.


The article elaborates the present situation and the problems of the traveling developments and environmental protection of tourism,then the author proposes cycle of motion pattern of the traveling sustainable development and environmental protection as well as the traveling environment quality's total management and the plans of protection tentative,and analyzes countermeasures of the tourism sustainable development and the environmental protection in order to make the tourism develop continuously.


The era when Emperor Yuan and Emperor Cheng were on power saw the turning point of the declining situation of West Han dynasty,which was related with the new high tide of annexation of land as well as the deterioration of class contradictions, but above everything else, it was mainly due to the fact that on the surface Emperor Yuan LIU Shi seemed to be ″gentle,benevolent and scholarly″, in reality, he tolerated the eunuches′ persecution on loyal ministers, the result of which was politically dark and corrupt.Emperor Cheng addicted to wine and concubines and trusted his exterior relatives, the combination of which caused the mal administration and doom of the West Han Dynasty. However, during that period. the foreign relations with other state and the comprehensive management of farmland economy boomed, which shows that a phenomenon could be very complex and a stable development could crop up even at the time of decline.


Until now,there is no paper,book or text of grammar discussing the structure of AAB in Chinese.This paper confirms the fact that there are not only many samples of AAB,but also many types of AAB.And we carefully analyse the types,properties,and sources of AAB structure in detail.


We examine the role of commercial banks in monetary transmission in a factor-augmented vector autoregression (FAVAR). A FAVAR exploits a large number of macroeconomic indicators to identify monetary policy shocks, and we add commonly used lending aggregates and lending data at the bank level. While our results suggest that the bank lending channel (BLC) is stronger than previously thought, this feature is not robust. In addition, our results indicate a diffuse response to monetary innovations when individual banks are grouped according to asset sizes and loan components. This suggests that other bank characteristics could improve the identification of the BLC.


The testing and assessment platform for railway block signaling is a system to test and assess the security and reliability of automatic block signaling. As one part of the system, the interactive 3D virtual scene subsystem provides a virtual scene environment for the platform. The subsystem is composed of three parts: fundamental part, 3D model library, railway block simulation part. A hierarchic method is applied in the design of the fundamental part to make a more reasonable system structure. DLL based on OpenGL provides all kinds of conditions needed to display graphs, reads the data from the 3D model library and redisplays the model in OpenGL. In the design of the subsystem, the dynamic hierarchic link and data structure of an entity are described and the modeling of the virtual scene and the railway automatic block simulation are realized.


Approximately 3–5% of pregnant women have hypothyroidism. Despite the potential impact of untreated hypothyroidism on infant neurodevelopment, few studies have investigated the risk factors associated with discontinuation of thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT) in pregnancy. We aimed to identify such factors in a population of women using THRT prior to pregnancy.


In this review uses of Polymer electrets as an important class of organic materials finding its use in variety of electronic and electrical engineering industry ranging from photovoltaic cells, transducers, dosimeters and other applications are discussed.


According to World Health Organization, mortality of maternal was still high, around 500.000 mortality each year, 99% of it happened in developing countries. Hence, safe motherhood programme was proclaimed and pregnancy care services were upgraded. Pregnancy examination is very important in monitoring pregnancy and in early detection of high risk pregnancy. This study was conducted to apprehend the knowledge among pregnant woman in Pirngadi Hospital towards antenatal care. Descriptive study was chosen in this study. A total of 97 samples were included with 0,1 as the precisions (d). Consecutive random sampling was used. Data were collected by utilizing questionaires and analyzed by using descriptive statistic. The result of pregnant women's knowledge in Pirngadi Hospital towards antenatal care is 47,4% categorized as sufficient with most of the pregnant woman (57,7%) was a high school graduation. The pregnant women's knowledge according to their ages are both categorized as sufficient. Employee and highly educated pregnant women have better knowledge. In conclusion, i suggest that health providers can be actively involved in increasing pregnant women's knowledge through giving information related to pregnancy in the form of education and socialization about antenatal care for all pregnant women.


of the century, persons died quickly from trauma and infectious diseases. Now, persons often die years after the onset of chronic illnesses such as dementia, congestive heart failure, and many cancers. Second, care at the end of life is becoming more complicated and challenging because many persons are more frail and vulnerable as a result of both increasing comorbidity and disability and changing social support systems such as increased family mobility and increased isolation. Third, the public and professional debate over physician-assisted suicide has focused concerns for quality care at life's end. One view of the increasing public demand for physician assistance in dying is the need for improving and enhancing the care of the dying. Interest in quality of care at the end of life is also fueled by those who pay for this care, especially as health care evolves into managed care and becomes less fragmented. All of this is coming at a time when financial incentives in medicine are changing to provide less rather than more care. live Q onger, the dying process is often prolonged. At the turn


In the marketing theory, service disparity model is a simple effective tool, capable of figuring out the five clusters of reasons leading to service failure. This article applies it in the community health service domain. Through the efforts of healing the five gaps in service delivery, including Consumer expectation-management perception gap, Management perception-service quality specification, Service quality specifications-service delivery gap Consumer expectation-management perception gap and Service delivery-external communications gap, we hope to improve the community health service quality radically.

Key words:
Community health services;  Total quality management


This work presents the evolution of a patient with a diagnosis of common variable immunodeficiency. This patient presented recurrent lower respiratory tract infections, infections due to unusual pathogens and chronic gastrointestinal infections...


* Willis, Jim (2010). The Mind of a Journalist: How Reporters View Themselves, Their World, and Their Craft. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, pp. 264. * Telling Our Stories: The Days of the Baltimore Sun, May 2010, http:// wbng.org/stories/ (accessed July 22. 2010). Two recent works, a book and a Web site, may be useful supplementary texts for educators looking to explore the values, worldview, and socialization of journalists. The Mind of a Journalist is a slim textbook that features interviews with a dozen journalists on the attraction of journalism and the values that shape the craft, along with topical issues such as anonymous sources, the journalist as a celebrity, and the influence of religious faith on reporting. Telling Our Stories is a Web site created by thirty-two employees of the Baltimore Sun laid off during 2009. The essays, poems, photos, and video featured on the site capture the bittersweet spirit of a newspaper staff, from a remembrance of newsroom humor and to the frustrations of working with clueless editors and the pain of being fired. Throughout Mind of a Journalist, author and professor Jim Willis sets out to explain what entices people to become reporters in spite of low salaries and a troubled industry. "Despite what some critics say, journalists don't get turned on by developing biased and sensational stories that vent their personal views and sell as many newspapers as possible" (p. 165). "What keeps journalists inspired is the chance - indeed the privilege - of being able to commit pure journalism: to seek answers to legitimate questions that caring people in a democracy need and have a right to know, to help us once again understand and feel for our fellow travelers on earth, and to enjoy the creative art of accurate reporting in the process" (p. 165). The first half of the book is composed of eight chapters with titles such as "The Lure of Journalism," "The Priesthood of Journalism," and "The Journalist's View of the World." The book's second half includes 100 pages of interviews and profiles with leading reporters nationwide. The interviews are quoted extensively throughout the book's eight chapters, and separate profiles of each are included in an appendix. The testimony of these journalists provides a basic guide to a reporter's internal thinking, such as the New York Times reporter Barry Bearak's view of the detachment a journalist should have while reporting: "It's jDretty obvious you shouldn't be writing about your friends, but it's just as dangerous to be writing about people you'd like to recruit as your friend. ...I simply drew the line: sources over here, friends over there" (p. 35). The book is perhaps best suited for college-level survey classes in media studies and mass communication, or for high school students investigating career possibilities in journalism. Several chapters contain material that would intersect with curricula of these classes, such as the overview of media theory (pp. 45-47) and references to the work of sociologist Herbert J. Gans in chapters three and five. The book also provides practical discussion material. For example, the influence of consultants on local television news (p. 126) would tie in well with discussions of corporate media ownership and concentration. However, these references and the subsequent discussions at times are broad and brief. Willis spends just one paragraph on the concept of ethnocentrism in media (pp. 31-32), just over a page each on diversity of journalists (p. 37) and how it benefits newsrooms (pp. 55-56). The book is best suited to explaining and interpreting the practical theory behind the craft of journalism to non-journalists and correcting misconceptions students often have about reporters. The discussion, "News as a Reflection of a World" (pp. 30-31), is useful in addressing the classic question asked by many first-year media students, "Why not print more good news? …


The optical system of a satellite based telescope was designed. The resulting module has a variable output parallel beam angle and a near diffraction limited performance in the range of motion.


PURPOSE
An increasing number of studies have aimed to compare diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-related parameters [e.g., mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD)] to complementary new indexes [e.g., mean kurtosis (MK)/radial kurtosis (RK)/axial kurtosis (AK)] derived through diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) in terms of their discriminative potential about tissue disease-related microstructural alterations. Given that the DTI and DKI models provide conceptually and quantitatively different estimates of the diffusion tensor, which can also depend on fitting routine, the aim of this study was to investigate model- and algorithm-dependent differences in MD/FA/RD/AD and anisotropy mode (MO) estimates in diffusion-weighted imaging of human brain white matter.

METHODS
The authors employed (a) data collected from 33 healthy subjects (20-59 yr, F: 15, M: 18) within the Human Connectome Project (HCP) on a customized 3 T scanner, and (b) data from 34 healthy subjects (26-61 yr, F: 5, M: 29) acquired on a clinical 3 T scanner. The DTI model was fitted to b-value =0 and b-value =1000 s/mm(2) data while the DKI model was fitted to data comprising b-value =0, 1000 and 3000/2500 s/mm(2) [for dataset (a)/(b), respectively] through nonlinear and weighted linear least squares algorithms. In addition to MK/RK/AK maps, MD/FA/MO/RD/AD maps were estimated from both models and both algorithms. Using tract-based spatial statistics, the authors tested the null hypothesis of zero difference between the two MD/FA/MO/RD/AD estimates in brain white matter for both datasets and both algorithms.

RESULTS
DKI-derived MD/FA/RD/AD and MO estimates were significantly higher and lower, respectively, than corresponding DTI-derived estimates. All voxelwise differences extended over most of the white matter skeleton. Fractional differences between the two estimates [(DKI - DTI)/DTI] of most invariants were seen to vary with the invariant value itself as well as with MK/RK/AK values, indicating substantial anatomical variability of these discrepancies. In the HCP dataset, the median voxelwise percentage differences across the whole white matter skeleton were (nonlinear least squares algorithm) 14.5% (8.2%-23.1%) for MD, 4.3% (1.4%-17.3%) for FA, -5.2% (-48.7% to -0.8%) for MO, 12.5% (6.4%-21.2%) for RD, and 16.1% (9.9%-25.6%) for AD (all ranges computed as 0.01 and 0.99 quantiles). All differences/trends were consistent between the discovery (HCP) and replication (local) datasets and between estimation algorithms. However, the relationships between such trends, estimated diffusion tensor invariants, and kurtosis estimates were impacted by the choice of fitting routine.

CONCLUSIONS
Model-dependent differences in the estimation of conventional indexes of MD/FA/MO/RD/AD can be well beyond commonly seen disease-related alterations. While estimating diffusion tensor-derived indexes using the DKI model may be advantageous in terms of mitigating b-value dependence of diffusivity estimates, such estimates should not be referred to as conventional DTI-derived indexes in order to avoid confusion in interpretation as well as multicenter comparisons. In order to assess the potential and advantages of DKI with respect to DTI as well as to standardize diffusion-weighted imaging methods between centers, both conventional DTI-derived indexes and diffusion tensor invariants derived by fitting the non-Gaussian DKI model should be separately estimated and analyzed using the same combination of fitting routines.


Financial account liberalizations since the second half of the 1980s paved the way for the burgeoning literature that investigates foreign exchange market efficiency in emerging markets (EMs) via testing for the uncovered interest parity (UIP) condition. This paper is the first to provide a broad and critical survey on this recent literature. Specifically, we attempt to answer the following questions. First, are the EMs different from the developed economies in the context of the UIP condition? Second, to what extent can these differences contribute to the debate on the UIP literature? Third, what are the empirical challenges specific to the EMs in testing for the UIP condition?


The geometries and electronic properties of a series of π-conjugated oligomers, as possible precursors of n-type materials, have been studied with the help of density functional theory. The selected compounds are based on phenylethynylene moieties alternated with thieno-acene units containing up to four fused thiophene rings, PhEtTx=1−4. The optoelectronic properties and conducting capability were investigated through the HOMO→LUMO excitation energies, LUMO energy levels, electron affinities, intramolecular reorganization energies, and electronic coupling. All studied properties agree that oligomers based on PhEtTx=1−4 show adequate values concerning electron affinities, LUMO levels, and intramolecular reorganization energy to be considered n-type semiconductor candidates. Besides, the optical bandgaps are close to 2 eV, which is the threshold for a material to be considered as potentially suitable in the field of solar cells.


3054 Background: While checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy has demonstrated recent success in patients with advanced melanoma, a significant fraction of these patients continue to fail therapy. The ...


iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Hollinger for his financial support, academic knowledge, and enthusiasm for this project. Without his help, none of this thesis would exist. I `would also like to thank my committee—Dr. Dr. Lance Davidson—for all their expert advice and tireless patience. It requires a sincere devotion to education to teach a biochemist like myself to setup and analyze a model of this complexity. Every instance of the correct technique or method of analysis is a sign of their help. I also wish to thank my family for all their support and kindness. This project is a reflection of all the Sutton's, Peatman's, and Schutte's love for learning and knowledge. I would not still be in school, nor would I have wandered so far into the medically unknown without your influence and support. Life might have been easier sticking to what I already knew or doing what we knew could be done, but what kind of an adventure would that be? A giant thanks goes out to all my friends and labmates. This would not have been nearly as fun without you. Amy Donovan in particular—I think you've edited everything I've had to write (which is fantastic since you are the best scientific editor I've ever met); thank you. Ivan Jager—thank you for being marvelous, for putting up with the thesis sucking away all our free time, for setting up the linux cluster (seriously, that would have taken me days), and for lovingly teasing me into writing scripts for all the data manipulations. I would have been here till 2013 with those eight thousand spreadsheets. Lastly, I'd like to thank my God for challenging me to think deeper, for being such a solid center, and for making me into a better person than I am. iv v Abstract In this thesis I present a mechanistic computational model of the cells and processes involved in bone remodeling. Despite decades of progress uncovering the mysteries of bone biology and developing a wide base of information on the cells and processes involved in bone maintenance, the most popular hypotheses for how bone cells interact and orchestrate controlled remodeling remain controversial and unverified. In order to leverage the primary literature towards testing the feasibility of two particular hypotheses, I created an agent-based model (ABM) structured on the known locations, properties, and behaviors of osteoclasts, osteocytes, and osteoblasts. Bone's ability …


© Acrespo Definition Embedded real-time systems An embedded real-time system is composed by a computer system embedded in a larger engineering system and performing real-time functions in all or part of this environment Embedded control systems An embedded control system is an embedded system performing control operations which imply real-time operations Examples Aerospace systems, trains, cars, robotic systems, communication systems, ......


[Objective]To understand the oral health knowledge and behaviors of freshmen in vocational colleges,and provide evidence for exploring the oral health promotion strategies and measures to improve their oral health.[Methods]The freshmen of year2012 in Chengdu Textile College were recruited as study subjects,1 000 students among them were randomly selected for the questionnaire survey( The effective rate was 95. 8%). The results were statistically analyzed and tested via the approach ofχ2.[Results]The awareness rate of oral health knowledge among freshmen was 58. 6%,and that of male and female was 57. 9% and58. 9%,respectively,without significant difference(χ2= 0. 08,P 0. 05). The awareness rate of urban and rural students was62. 3% and 56. 7%,respectively,without significant difference(χ2= 2. 69,P 0. 05). The adoption rate of healthy behaviors was56. 2%,that of male and female students 56. 6% and 56. 0%,without significant difference(χ2= 0. 02,P 0. 05),and that of urban and rural students was 61. 3% and 53. 6%,respectively,with significant difference(χ2= 5. 15,P 0. 05). [Conclusion]The college freshmen are lack of oral health knowledge,as well as healthy behaviors. It is necessary to adopt oral health education,to popularize and improve their oral health knowledge and behavior skills,so as to prevent and lower the oral diseases and to improve the quality of oral health.


[Objective] To observe and treat sperm non-liquefaction caused by stagnation of qi and blood stasis.[Methods] Based on the principle of soothing the liver,regulating the circulation of qi,promoting blood flow,removing blood stasis and liquefying sperms,Jinghua capsules were administered on 89 cases of sperm non-liquefaction,5 capsules each time(1.8 g per capsule),three times each day;44 cases were taken as the control.[Results] The curative rate of the treatment group was 65.17%,the total effective rate was 94.38%;the curative rate and total effective rate of the control were 4.55% and 70.48% respectively,the difference was significant(P0.01).[Conclusion] Jinghua capsules is proved to have satisfactory effect on treating sperm non-liquefaction and is worthy of spreading.


In this article I will present a discussion about interactive locative documentaries that demand the geographical displacement of the players to be experienced in their totality and the consequent use of mobile devices in their interaction. This study aims to analyze different formats within this sub-genre and discuss its educational importance. Keywords: locative narratives; interactivity; interactive documentaries; webdoc, immersive education.


A new calibration method using orientation constraint is presented to improve the accuracy of parallel robots.With the use of a commercial biaxial inclinometer,two attitude angles of the end-effecter are kept constant at different measurement configurations.The corresponding calibration algorithm is built through the orientation constraint.Instead of positioning accuracy,repeatability and resolution of the inclinometer are used to construct the orientation constraint,and the measurement range of the inclinometer has no effect on the calibration method.Moreover,the actuators of the parallel robots do not need to operate in passive mod because the orientation constraint is not constructed by the mechanical locking device.Simulation results show that the position accuracy and the orientation accuracy reach 0.1 mm and 0.01°,respectively,with measurement precision on leg lengths of 2 μm and repeatability on inclinometer of 0.001°.


Mathematical modeling of dynamical systems plays a central roll in science and engineering. This thesis is concerned with the process of finding a mathematical model, and it is divided into two par ...


This paper demonstrates concepts, collectively termed interpretive structural modeling, which can aid in the development of decision-support systems through: 1 creating a structure which helps identify the presence or absence of information necessary for decision-making; 2 providing a convenient framework for evaluating control subsystems; 3 defining levels in the system hierarchy; 4 specifying subsystems at each level, and 5 facilitating user participation in the design process.

The procedures described operate without the requirement of an a priori knowledge of system structure. This feature and the programmability of the approach ISMS help analysts and users think and communicate effectively about complex design issues.


Log-level comparisons of the small deviation probabilities are studied in three different but related settings: Gaussian processes under the L2 norm, multiple sums motivated by tensor product of Gaussian processes, and various integrated fractional Brownian motions under the sup-norm. ∗Department of Mathematics, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1103, email@example.com. Research partially supported by NSF grant EPS-0132626. †Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delaware, firstname.lastname@example.com


A
comparison
of
several
media,
i.e.,
potato
dextrose
agar
with
olive
oil
(OilPDA),
modified Dixon
agar
(mDIX)
and
variations
of
Leeming
and
Notman
agar
(LNA)
for
the
isolation
and growth
of
Malassezia
and
Candida
species
was
examined.
Since
LNA
supported
the
highest growth
of
Malassezia
species
its
key
components,
i.e.,
ox
bile,
glycerol
monostearate,
glycerol and
Tween
60,
were
added
to
CHROMagar
Candida.
All
7
species
of
Malassezia
grew
well
on this
modified
medium
(LNCHROM)
after
incubation
for
4
days
at
30
degrees
C
and development
was
equal
to
that
observed
on
LNA.
Colonies
on
LNCHROM
were
smooth
and from
pink
to
dark
purple
in
color.
Furthermore,
the
use
of
LNCHROM
did
not
alter
the
colony characteristics
of
Candida
species
as
compared
to
that
found
on
CHROMagar
Candida.
The results
of
the
present
investigation
indicate
that
the
use
of
LNCHROM
would
make
possible the
simultaneous
isolation
and
identification
of
Malassezia
and
Candida
species. PMID:
16422299
[PubMed

indexed
for
MEDLINE] Display
Settings: Abstract MeSH
Terms,
Substances LinkOut

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resources PubMed


This work aimed to determine the thermal demands in degree-day for the phenological stadium of arabic cultivars and indicate them to use in the technology of crop stagger. This study was carried out in the Center of Production and Experimentation of Londrina of the Agronomic Institute of Parana. Each plant was evaluated to each 15 to 20 days during the period of August 2004 to August 2005 (harvest 2004/05) and August 2005 to August 2006 (harvest 2005/06), according to the phenological scale. For each cultivar it was obtained of number of days and degree-day for each phenological stadium. It was possible to separate the arabic coffee cultivars in at least 3 classes and it makes possible the use of the crop stagger with the cultivars disponible in the market. Another varied climatic besides the temperature and agronomic variables should be considered in the characterization of the phenological stadium of coffee cultivars.


FklB is a member of the FK506-binding proteins (FKBPs), a family that consists of five genes in Escherichia coli. Little is known about the physiological and functional role of FklB in bacterial movement. In the present study, FklB knock-out mutant ΔfklB presented an increased swarming and swimming motility and biofilm formation phenotype, suggesting that FklB is a negative regulator of these cellular processes. Complementation with Peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase)-deficient fklB gene (Y181A) revealed that the defects in biofilm formation were not restored by Y181A, indicating that PPIase activity of FklB is modulating biofilm formation in E. coli. The mean cell length of ΔfklB swarming cells was significantly smaller as compared to the wild-type BW25113. Furthermore, the mean cell length of swarming and swimming wild-type and ΔfklB cells overexpressing fklB or Y181A was considerably larger, suggesting that PPIase activity of FklB plays a role in cell elongation and/or cell division. A multi-copy suppression assay demonstrated that defects in motility and biofilm phenotype were compensated by overexpressing sets of PPIase-encoding genes. Taken together, our data represent the first report demonstrating the involvement of FklB in cellular functions of E. coli.


The experiment studies the synthetic method and conditions of the YG-Z, and evaluates the synthetic product from three aspects: the rate of anti-swelling and permeability damage degree and deduce the crude oil/ water interface tension ability. The result indicate (1)the rate of anti-swelling is above 86%, permeability damage degree is below 18% ,(~)YG-Z can reduce interface tension of crude oil/water to the super low(10~(-3)mN/m) level under the concentration is very lower.


An comparative experiment of 12 accessions with 2 released accessions for high yielding and anthracnose resistance was arranged after germ plasm evaluation stage during 1998-2000 a, the preliminary results showed that Stylosanthes guianensis cv. Mineirao and S. guianensis cv.GC1581 have the highest forage dry matter (DM) yield and their DM yield were 11 420.0 kg/hm~2·a. and 11 650.0 kg/hm~2·a. respectively and its were higher than that of S. guianensis cv. Reyan 5 16.16% and 18.50% respectively(nearly the same with S. guianensis cv. Reyan 2), their DM yield during low temperature and dry season accounted for 29.15% and 29.25% of whole year. They have higher anthracnose resistance, drought tolerance and cold tolerance, survival rate were 30.83% and 41.68% respectively, ratio of stems to leaves were 1.74 and 1.67 respectively. The results of Synthetic evaluation showed that S. guianensis cv. Mineirao and S. guianensis cv. GC1581 have better characteristics of higher DM yield, anthracnose resistance, drought and cold tolerance and nutrient than that of S. guianensis cv. Reyan 5 and Reyan 2.


In order to study the influence of cross-channel effects on dual-channel supply chain pricing, the paper constructs a dual-channel supply chain system, which composed of a manufacturer and a retailer, the optimal pricing strategy and profits of the manufacturer and the retailer are solved through the stackelberg game model. Research shows that when the online-to-offline cross-channel effect is larger, the retailer will reduce the online channel price and increase the offline channel price compared with not considering cross-channel effects. On the contrary, the retailer will increase the selling price of online channel and reduce the selling price of offline channel compared with not considering the cross-channel effects; and the cross effects will increase the profits of the retailer and the manufacturer; when the offline-to-online cross-channel effect is larger, the price of the online channel is higher than the unified price than the offline channel price.


history of the people and the cultural traditions of its citizens. Power always moves within the borders of its symbolic mediation. In people's minds, power is always imagined, shaped as it is by the ever-changing configuration of their affective life and their reasonableness. The truth of the (social) ontology of power is that society is a self-organizing system that is able to construct itself by depending on the way people imagine and understand the role they play in it. Spinoza belongs among the first thinkers who formulated a non-normative liberal policy, based on the recognition of the self-organizing possibilities of the multitude. This principle, as Saar's clear and profound book convincingly shows, is still a productive contribution to contemporary discussions of politics, power, and democracy.


ABSTRACT For many years, induction machines operating in the balanced steady state have been represented for analysis by the conventional "T" form of equivalent circuit. Simplification of this circuit to expedite analysis has normally involved approximation This paper presents a number oE simplified equivalent circuits which preserve the accuracy of the "T" circuit and to some extent improve on it by more appropriate representation of saturation and core loss. Experimental confirmation of this improvement is included. The new circuits are denoted as "T" and "inverse-T" because of their inductance configuration.


CMMI has been well accepted by the world as a standard for project development process control, quality improvement, and capacity evaluation. More and more companies are involved in the CMMI certifications rush. However, to most of them, CMMI is a very challenging goal. CMMI becomes critical to seek a suitable way to promote the competence of the small- and mid-sized companies in worldwide competition. This research suggests that small and mid sized companies can adopt Agile Development Methodologies (ADM) while following the CMMI standard if obtain a new additional values, thus they can get a new competence value in their environments.


The potential energy surface of the HO+O⇔HO2⇔H+O2 reaction system is characterized by ab initio calculations. The complex-forming bimolecular reaction is then treated by statistical rate theory, using statistical adiabatic channel and classical trajectory calculations for the HO+O⇔HO2 and HO2⇔H+O2 association/dissociation processes. Specific rate constants k(E,J) of both reactions as well as thermal rate constants are calculated over wide ranges of conditions. Open shell quantum effects are important up to room temperature. The good agreement with experimental results suggests that the ab initio potential is of sufficient accuracy. There is no evidence for non-statistical effects or for a significant contribution from electronically excited states. The comparison with rate data for the H+O2→HO+O reaction, because of the remaining uncertainty in the heat of formation of HO, is somewhat inconclusive. Apart from this problem, the calculated rate constants appear reliable between 0 and 5000 K.


The Sugarcane Biorefinery Economic Analysis Toolbox (S-BEAT) was developed to allow for quick, easy, and consistent comparisons between potential sugarcane-based products and processes, on a typical South African sugar mill scale. It was designed to provide preliminary cost estimates and economic insights, and can be utilised to help fast-track the industries' progression towards sustainability and economic growth.


The glass system xBi2O3-(30 – x)CdO-10B2O3-20Fe2O3-40P2O5 (0 ≤ x ≤ 30 weight %), has been prepared by the melt quenching technique. The thermal stability of the glasses, their hardness as well as their chemical durability have been investigated before and after subjecting to different gamma ray doses to insure the validity of this glass system for application to the problem of the permanent disposal for nuclear wastes. The results indicated that the glasses have well to excellent chemical durability, thermal stability and hardness with increasing Bi2O3 content on the expense of CdO, and that the effect of irradiation with gamma doses is very small.


The issues of composition and style are central to his argument against authenticity and are repeatedly alluded to in the commentary. Liapis examines the author's lack of skill in dealing with various elements of the play, namely dramaturgy, stagecraft, character portrayal, language, style and metre, and, of course, the authenticity question itself, analysed in section five of the 'Introduction'. Liapis comes up with a plausible scheme on how the entrances and exits could be used by the different characters (which he then applies in his analysis of the play) and then embarks on an examination of well-known issues and difficulties in staging and plot construction – the empty scene in line 565, the sensationalism (a common feature in fourth-century theatre), the notorious shortcomings of the Alexander scene in lines 642–74, the Dolon scene which he deems a relic of the epic tradition with no real dramatic function, the many contradictory, superfluous and inconsistent characters, the number of actors (which he accepts to be four) – as he is, convincingly, pushing the date of the play after the fifth century and thus supporting the argument against the play's authenticity. The section on language and metre offers a summary of the major linguistic and stylistic problems identified later throughout the entire commentary in great detail, and reveals that both the author's taste for the recherché and the amount of repetition and 'plagiarism' throughout the play, as well as the mixture of early and late Euripidean features in metre, language and style indicate (as seen in section five of the 'Introduction') that (a) this is the work of an imitator and (b) it points to the pastiche techniques popular in the fourth century. Liapis' assertion that, although the evidence is not conclusive, is certainly pointing heavily to a fourthcentury date and to an author familiar with fifthcentury drama, is both reasonable and plausible. He even offers that the author might have been a professional actor, possibly Neoptolemos, writing and performing in the Macedonian court. However, although the hypothesis of an actor-author is logical, the evidence is not enough for this to be deemed certain. The text used is the James Diggle edition, published in the Oxford Classical Texts series and reproduced in the present edition (1–53). Liapis offers a list of all available manuscripts, papyri and testimonia and points to the necessary bibliography. The commentary itself is meticulous, offering a very close investigation of linguistic and metrical points which Liapis uses in order to prove 173


Hydrodynamics accompanied with chemical wave propagation is studied extensively. In an oscillatory BZ‐solution layer having very long oscillation period, a spatio‐temporal phase field is realized after traveling a circular wave which is triggered from on edge of the Petri dish. An explosive hydrodynamic flow is induced by a phase diffusion wave which is excited spontaneously by memory effects of the solution layer.


Summary Introduction. Despite advantages in interventional cardiology during last decade, chronic total occlusions (CTO) still remains one of the biggest problem in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) (10,14). CTO prevalence is high, but only less than 10% of percutaneous revascularizations are CTO interventions (17). There are no prospective randomized trials, properly powered for hard clinical endpoints, comparing modern optimal medical therapy with contemporary state of the art CTO recanalization (6). Aim of the study. The aim of our study was to compare CTO PCI procedural parameters and treatment results using anterograde and/or retrograde approach. Materials and methods. The study included all patients undergoing PCI for CTO at single tertiary PCI center between January 2007 and December 2012. 5568 PCI procedures were done in this period in our institution. 486 (8,64%) of them were CTO PCI. Retrograde approach was used in 138 (28,7% of all CTO PCI) cases. Patients were grouped according PCI year performing, approach (anterograde or retrograde) and PCI results (successful or unsuccessful). Demographic and procedural data were collected at the time of intervention. Results. A total of 405 patients undergoing CTO PCI were included. The median age was 64yrs(38-88) and 79,2% was male. Retrograde approach (RA) was used in 138(28,7%) cases. RA usage has increase from 15.9% in 2007 till 46,8% of cases in 2012(p=0,0000218). The overall patient and procedure success rates were 77,8% (315/90) and 69,9%(340/146) respectively. Overall success rate has increase from 61,4% in 2007 till 87,1% in 2012 (p<0,001). Overall survival was found better in patients group after successful procedure (Long-rank test p=0,019). Conclusions. Retrograde approach usage significantly increase CTO PCI success rate, but doesn't increase risk of complications. Long-term outcome and survival after CTO PCI is not depending on approach (anterograde or retrograde), but on procedural success.