When a rupture or blood clot reduces blood flow to an arm of the brain, killing brain cells and disrupting the abilities of functions they control, stroke is said to have occurred. The victims of stroke experience weakness and poor coordination.. These attributes impair their ability to walk and use their hands. Many adults and children are affected by neurological problems that affect their function. In adults these conditions include traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, post poliomyelitis syndrome and peripheral neuropathy. Children can be affected by cerebral palsy, spina bifida, traumatic brain or spinal cord injury. muscle dystrophy and many other specific congenital neuromuscular conditions. As medical treatment advances, many children can be expected to reach adulthood and continue to have functional needs throughout their life. Besides the obvious affects on movement and gait, other body systems that affect overall function may be involved. This research work will present an innovative concept for a new means to deliver therapy to patients with gait disabilities.


In this letter, we consider the construction of q-ary low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes by jointly optimizing the girth and number of shortest cycles in the frame of superposition. We begin with constructing binary quasi-cyclic LDPC codes by superposition. By replacing the nonzero entries of the parity-check matrices of the resulting binary codes with the nonzero elements of GF(q), a class of q-ary LDPC codes is obtained. Furthermore, we analyze the cycle structure of the constructed codes for a given degree distribution and code length, and present a search algorithm for finding q-ary LDPC codes with few cycles of length g, where g is the optimized girth value. Simulation results show that the proposed codes perform well under the iterative decoding algorithms.


&NA; The purpose of this article is to look at the business practices of physical therapy academic administrators in this millennium. The roles must encompass ever‐expanding market analyses, assessment of competition, marketing, financial management, fund raising, and determining ways to satisfy their consumers—their students. The business practices will include developing the description of the physical therapy education program, market analyses, marketing, competition, operations, management/faculty/staff financial management, contracts, servicing the customers/consumers, and resources. A yearly SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis and use of the SWOT matrixes will help the program to analyze fulfillment of its plan.


In teacher training curriculum changes that try to put it in line with what the school realiza.?Como achieve the necessary dialectical relationship between conception of the curriculum, interdisciplinary and professionalization process in the phase of initial teacher training occurred? A approach to the answers to these questions, you will find in this work.


The use of large visual displays in public spaces has become increasingly popular. Installation of these displays can be challenging, however, especially in already existing buildings because of the large, rigid hardware often required by such displays. In this paper, we discuss a digital public art display called "Constellation of Departure" which is deeply embedded in the ceiling of an airport departure lounge. The overhead art features a moving silhouette of an airplane taking off according to flight timetables and reminds travelers of other passengers' various trips. The pixel arrangement of the LED display is based on the positions of stars on the night when the terminal building first opened, and it is carefully designed and implemented to blend in well with the environment. We then explain the details involved in the production, strategy, and process of the project's implementation and discuss the findings drawn from the course of the three-month installation.


The paper presents the results of an investigation into the influence of the Poisson filter constant on the quality of estimation in continuous-time models of lumped linear dynamical systems, via Poisson moment functionals (PMF). A comparative study of the ordinary and normalised PMFs suggests some useful guidelines for the proper choice of the filter constant in the practical computational environment, although, in theory, any Poisson filter is known to give the desired results.


The rise of artificial intelligence (AI)-based image analysis has led to novel application possibilities in the field of solvent analytics. Using convolutional neural networks (CNNs), better and more automated analysis of optically visible phenomena becomes feasible, broadening the spectrum of non-invasive measurements. These so-called smart sensors have attracted increasing attention in pharmaceutical and chemical process engineering; their additional sensor data enables more precise process control as additional process parameters can be monitored. This contribution presents an approach to analyzing single rising droplets to determine their physical properties; for example, geometrical parameters such as diameter, projection area and volume. Additionally, the rising velocity is determined, as well as the density and interfacial tension of the rising liquid droplet, determined from the force balance. Thus, a method was developed for analyzing liquid–liquid properties suitable for real-time applications. Here, the size range of the investigated droplet diameters lies between 0.68 mm and 7 mm with an accuracy for AI detecting droplets of ±4 µm. The obtained densities lie between 0.822 kg·m−3 for rising n-butanol droplets and 0.894 kg·m−3 for toluene droplets. For the derived parameters, such as the interfacial tension estimation, all of the data points lie in a range from 12.75 mN·m−1 to 15.25 mN·m−1. The trueness of the investigated system thus is in a range from −1 to +0.4 mN·m−1, with a precision of ±0.3 to ±0.6 mN·m−1. For density estimation using our system, a standard deviation of 1.4 kg m−3 from the literature was determined. Using camera images in conjunction with image analysis improved by artificial intelligence algorithms, combined with using empirical mathematical formulas, this article contributes to the development of easily accessible, cheap sensors.


Perineural invasion (PNI) may be present in basal cell carcinomas (BCC) treated with Mohs micrographic surgery. This single‐centre, non‐randomised, prospective study demonstrates the potential for PNI to exist exclusively within the central tissue blocks of Mohs specimens.


We proposed and studied numerically efficient phenomenological model of ensemble of two FitzHugh-Nagumo neuron-like elements that are coupled by symmetric synaptic excitatory coupling. This coupling is defined by function that depends on phase of active element and that is smooth approximation of rectangular impulse function. Above-mentioned coupling depends on three parameters that define the beginning of element activation, the duration of the activation and the coupling strength. We show analytically that in the phase space of the model there exists stable in-phase limit cycle that corresponds to regular oscillations with equal phases and frequencies of elements. It is proved that this limit cycle is a result of supercritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation. The chart of activity regimes is depicted on the plane of parameters that define beginning and duration of activation. The boundaries of bifurcations that lead to birth of this cycle are found.


With experiment cultivated in pots and contrived simulation of drought stress,method to determine soil moisture by electronic balance(made in Shanghai) and W.E.T Sensor(ML2x type,made in USA),the effect of drought stress on panicle traits and yield components of different panicle type rice varieties(more or middle grains per panicle) was studied.The results showed that middle level drought stress of different stage from panicle initiation to grain filling had various degree of influence on rice panicle characteristics,yield and its components,and caused the reduction of grain yields(more than 20% of each variety).Water treatment from 15 to 30 days after panicle initiation had the greatest influence,followed by 0~15 d and 15~30 d after flowering,however,0~15 d after panicle initiation had the least influence.Compared with normal water supply,drought stress during panicle growth and development stage led to panicle length decrease obviously and numbers of the secondary branches and total spikelets per panicle reduce significantly,and drought stress during grain filling led to great reduction of filled grain numbers,fertility rate and 1000-grain weight, which caused the reduction of grain yields.The affecting degree of drought stress on panicle traits and yield components varied from these varieties because of different sensitivity to water stress,and the influence on super rice varieties was less compared with common hybrid rice variety(Shanyou 63) in general The rice varieties with more grains per panicle(eg.Guodao 6,Liangyoupeijiu and Ⅱyou 7) showed lower degree influence of drought stress on yield components and panicle traits than those with middle grains per panicle(eg.Tianyou 998,Ⅱyou 602 and Shanyou 63).


It provides a system for updating a request routing information associated with client location information, methods, and computer-readable media. Content delivery network service provider, receives a DNS query from a client computing device. The DNS system, corresponding to the resource identifier for the requested content from the client computing device. Content delivery network service provider acquires the query IP address corresponding to the client computing device. Based on the routing information associated with the query IP address, the content delivery network service provider routes the DNS query. Further, the process includes monitoring the performance data associated with transmission of the requested resource, for use in processing the subsequent request from the client computing device, associated with the query IP address Le - and updating on the basis of the Terungu information on performance data.


Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers have become a de-facto standard in all launch vehicles/re-entry vehicles globally for precise navigation applications. ISRO's launch vehicle Navigation, Guidance and Control (NGC) system also houses an indigenously developed GNSS receiver capable of acquiring GPS and NavIC satellite signals and generating position, velocity and timing (PVT) information. Launch Vehicle (LV) GNSS receivers are generally designed for high dynamic applications with high acceleration, velocity and jerk requirements. These are defined in terms of linear dynamic specifications. The challenge in designing a GNSS receiver for re-entry vehicles is to tackle high rotational body rates which can result in reduced satellite signal strength as well as loss of satellite visibility. This paper describes the challenges and software design improvements done in GNSS Receiver for tackling signal strength variations under High Rate Conditions for ISRO's re-entry vehicles.


Sport is a part of a universal culture and also an important vehicle that combines people whose language, race and religion is different from each other. Sport beside its physical benefits can be defined as a set of activities that are done to gain social and moral benefits and to affect people's spiritual health in a positive way. By looking at this common definition of sport, it can be said that whole people with disabilities or not are implied. This study examines the relationship between the self-esteem and agression levels of deaf footballers in disability group and those who are not with these disabilities and compares are participated in the study voluntarily. 309 footballers without any deaf disabilities who play in the 1. amateur club in the cities where deaf people settle take part in the study. Personal information form, Self-esteem Scale and Agression Scale are used to obtain the necessary data. The data obtained from the study is analyzed by SPSS program. The self esteem of the deaf footballers and the hearing footballers is in the middle level. When the footballers' general agression average score is evaluated according to the disability level, deaf (totally) footballers' general agression values are x=153,53 and hearing footballers general agression values are x=114,00. As a result, there is an important difference between hearing and deaf footballers' selfesteem and agression levels against deaf footballers statistically


An approach combining EPR spectroscopy and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry was employed to study the reactivity of two alkylthiols and of cysteine towards 2-methyl-2-nitrosopropane (MNP) in the presence of H2O2. Depending on the experimental conditions, various nitroxides could be EPR-detected, while their diamagnetic derivatives were structurally characterised after tandem mass spectrometry experiments. Sample dilution in methanol before electrospray ionisation was also found to generate methyl-hydroxylamine derivatives and could thus constitute a simple derivatisation process to stabilise hardly MS-detectable radical species. Upon white light irradiation, the three thiols tested led to alkoxynitroxides according to an inverted spin trapping process. On the other hand, only the reduced form of cysteine was found to react with MNP in the dark, yielding an alkylthionitroxide adduct via a Forrester–Hepburn mechanism. Besides a better understanding of the reactivity of thiols towards nitroso compounds, the results obtained underlined the particular behaviour of cysteine, suggesting that the use of a molecule as simple as MNP could allow a nitroxide moiety to be linked to a cysteinyl residue.


Determination of the optimal working regime is the ideal solution from the angle costs, and ensure essential rise of the steel production efficiency. Analysis of measuring the 50 tons EAF in the Steelwork II in Vitkovice was used for designing the regime for utilization of the reactor. This power regime shows time limits for introducing of the higher reactance of the reactor, with positive effect on stabilization and calming down the arc. The reactor must be put out of service when it only uselessly reduce efficiency of the furnace.


In robot visual servo control system,it is important means for using the first-order edge detection algorithm for edge detection method applied to image objects with other factors separated the target to achieve the recognition and positioning.Focusing on a number of important first-order characteristics of the edge detection algorithm,the principles are analysed.Through these algorithms on the test plate numbers to an analysis of their effect,Canny edge detection operator to detect the weak real edge is found,the edge of the line can make the connection degree well,the bandwidth can refine into only one pixel wide,and it has a good positioning performance.Canny edge detector applied to visual servo machine is a better method of edge detection.


In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Keywords: AUTO Larch budmoth Lambda–omega Landscape obstacle Numerical continuation Predator–prey Invasion Wave train a b s t r a c t Density-dependent dispersal occurs throughout the animal kingdom, and has been shown to occur in some taxa whose populations exhibit multi-year population cycles. However, the importance of density-dependent dispersal for the spatiotemporal dynamics of cyclic populations is unknown. We investigated the potential effects of density-dependent dispersal on the properties of periodic travelling waves predicted by two coupled reaction–diffusion models: a commonly used predator–prey model, and a general model of cyclic trophic interactions. We compared the effects of varying the gradient of both positive and negative density-dependent dispersal rates, to varying the ratio of the (constant) dispersal rates of the two interacting populations. Our comparison focussed on the possible range of wave properties, and on the waves generated by landscape obstacles and invasions. In all scenarios that we studied, varying the gradient of density-dependent dispersal has small quantitative effects on the travelling wave properties, relative to the effects of varying the ratio of the diffusion coefficients.


Objective Investigate the treatment of limbs with severe soft tissue avulsion injury the clinical efficacy of wound vacuum-assisted closure(VSD).Methods From January 2011 in our hospital using the VSD technology treatment of limbs with severe soft organization avulsion injury wound 17 cases(22 wounds),upper limb 4 cases(5 wounds),lower limb 13 cases(17 wounds).Results The postoperative follow-up to the wound healing in 2 weeks.Using the VSD to the wound and skin grafting an average of 14 days(5~30 days),during this period in patients with average use of VSD surgery 2.5 times(1~4 times).16 wounds stamp-like skin graft healed completely;6 wounds using free flap transfer skin graft survived completely.Conclusion VSD technology can significantly promote the growth of granulation tissue,help control the infection,wounds,severe soft tissue avulsion of the effective way.


This paper proposes a unique kind of jewelry, called stretch formed jewelry. The paper presents a parametric voxel oriented approach to produce stretch forming components that are dies and punches having different patterns of designs. Stretch formed jewelry is created on thin sheet metals (gold or silver) on top of which design patterns are embossed with die and punch tools by stretching the sheet metal beyond elastic limit. Voxels are predefined small structural elements for which the user defines the key parameters. Parametric voxels can be varied during the design process and are joined together to create the design model by the use of rules. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) in conjunction with Rapid Prototyping (RP) machine generates forming tool components.


This paper studies the influence of ACM/ICPC model for the program designing courses.Program designing courses are strong for practical requirement in all university computer science courses.However,in the traditional teaching model,these courses are more focused on theory lecturing than practical teaching.In recent years,with ACM/ICPC coming into China and becoming more and more influential in China,many universities have introduced the ACM/ICPC model into the program designing courses and obtained better results.This paper,by taking Huzhou Teachers College as an example,proves from practice that ACM/ICPC model can improve the Abstract thinking abilities,team collaboration ability and programming capability for the college students.


Several tidal disruption events such as ASASSN-14li and XMMSL1 J0740-85 have recently been observed in the radio. While the radio emission of some tidal disruption events are attributed to a relativistic jet, a few others are associated with a non-relativistic outflow. This outflow can either be due to a spherical wind or unbound tidal debris. We explore this latter hypothesis in this paper. We show that the maximum velocity of the unbound debris is a function of the impact parameter, such that smaller impact parameters (closer approaches) produces larger maximum velocities. We then model this outflow which expands and shocks the local interstellar medium and compute the peak radio flux and frequency as functions of the impact parameter. Moreover, multiple epochs of observations can put additional constraints on the profile of the local interstellar medium. We apply this analysis to four tidal disruption events whose radio emission is attributed to a non-relativistic outflow and show that the velocities of the unbound material are consistent with our simulated events. We also place constraints on the density profile of three of the four tidal disruption events with multiple epochs of observations.


The initial manner of development of an infinitesimal disturbance of a plane horizontal layer of a viscous, perfectly conducting, incompressible fluid of variable density in the presence of a horizontal magnetic field is discussed. It is found that when the coefficient of viscosity muo be such that d2 nu o/dz2 < 0, instability might arise in the form of oscillation with increasing amplitude i.e., overstability. This shows that contrary to the usual role of viscosity as a damping factor, it may sometimes act as a destabilizing agent. Furthermore, it is seen that a sufficiently strong magnetic field may stabilize a potentially unstable configuration.


The invention relates to a coal seam gas drainage method, specifically to a method for progressive gas drainage in high gas medium-hard coal seam, which solves the problem of areal gas extraction efficiency. When stopes in multiple roadways are excavated, a long borehole, the length of which is required to be capable of at least running through the distance of reserved roadway strips at two sides of the next stope, is constructed in advance for a next adjacent stope area inside a column outside the stope, drainage in the mining area of the next stope area is performed in advance during excavation of this stope, in order to guarantee that the next adjacent stope area has sufficient drainage time, roadway excavation of the next stope area is performed at the drained strip position, the adjacent stope area is then mined, and simultaneously, the long borehole is constructed for the next adjacent stope area to continue gas drainage in such a progressive, circulative advancing manner. Thus normal alternation of drainage, excavation and mining is ensured.


Assembly of a door or a window of a building, with - a pivot element, - a frame on which the pivot member is pivotally mounted about a pivot axis, and - a motor drive device which acts to pivot the pivot member relative to the frame between the pivot element and the frame and is formed along a longitudinal axis extending spindle and a stationary in threaded engagement with the spindle nut by a spindle drive with a, wherein the spindle drive along the longitudinal axis in a fixed position at the one of the pivot member and the frame is arranged, characterized, that the spindle drive (3) has a along the longitudinal axis (L) extending push rod (31), driven by a relative movement of the spindle (32) to the spindle nut (310) at one of the pivot element (1, 1 ') and frames (2, 2 ') along the longitudinal axis (L) and can via a hinged to the push rod (31) connected to the pivot rod (303) with the other of the pivot element (1, 1') and the frame (2, 2 ') is coupled to pivot by displacing the push rod (31) the pivot element (2, 2 ') relative to the frame (1, 1').


Water scarcity as a result of decreasing water availability and various other aspects related to insufficient/inadequate management practices represent a particular problem on Mediterranean islands. While the availability, demand and distribution of water on each island are determined by specific conditions, there are a number of attributes common to all Mediterranean islands. This calls for the formulation of generic solutions to the above mentioned problems. Such solutions are particularly pertinent in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive (EU-WFD) and its implementation. Addressing water management on Mediterranean islands requires a holistic, interdisciplinary approach. However, endurable solutions will only be found through recommendations and/or regulations that are based on mutually agreed principles between the stakeholders involved. This requires a stakeholder-based participatory process that builds on the results of scientific investigations on the one hand and on the consent of major stakeholders on the other. These requirements are also pertinent in addressing vulnerabilities to droughts and reduced water availability on these islands. Such vulnerabilities embrace at least three components/aspects/facets. The first component relates to the physical aspects of water supply, i.e., the already detectable decrease in precipitation rates throughout the Mediterranean Basin and increasing evaporation, which are likely to increase due to global climate change. This has led to reduced recharge rates for the aquifers, which have –at the same time- been increasingly exploited, primarily for irrigation. The second vulnerability component/facet relates to the economic dimensions of water use. Irrigation still accounts for the most extensive consumption of water on the islands, while the economic output from agriculture has decreased in importance. The third vulnerability component refers to societal/political issues that comprise on the one hand institutional/administrative procedures (or the lack thereof) and on the other problems related to the traditions/customs of water use and the stakeholders' perception of water availability and demand. The paper will discuss these three components of vulnerability and will present concrete examples. The paper will also explain the major research strategies employed in MEDIS, an EU-funded research project (EVK1-CT-2001-00092) aimed to address these aspects and will present some of the results after the first two years of the project.


This article narrates work requirement of the frequency conversion velometer used in mineral railway maintenance vehicle,proposes design mentality to this kind of frequency conversion velometer,and separately introduces the system from two aspects:the hardware architecture and the software flow that constituted frequency conversion velometer,as well as the application in entire vehicle electrical system.


Hipertermia represent circumstance where individual somebody experience of or berisiko to experience of
increase temperature of continuous body higher the than 37,8°C ( 100°F) peroral or 38,8°C ( 101°F)
perektal. This circumstance will generate trouble fullfiling of elementary requirement human being. To
overcome this matter need immediately the self-supporting action treatment in the form of happened
expected warm compress change of body temperature. In this research hence method of pre eksprerimen
with device of one group pre test and post test data obtained to be analysed hence test t test, result got
terjdi of change which signifikan that is with average of temperature of body 0,97°C by SD 0,35°C, value P =
0,001 which burden that P < 0,05. There influence of warm compress terhdap of change of temperature of
body child of hipertermia space take care of to lodge RSUD Dr. Moewardi Surakarta


Reinforcement learning (RL) has been extensively researched for enhancing human-environment interactions in various human-centric tasks, including e-learning and healthcare. Since deploying and evaluating policies online are high-stakes in such tasks, off-policy evaluation (OPE) is crucial for inducing effective policies. In human-centric environments, however, OPE is challenging because the underlying state is often unobservable, while only aggregate rewards can be observed (students' test scores or whether a patient is released from the hospital eventually). In this work, we propose a human-centric OPE (HOPE) to handle partial observability and aggregated rewards in such environments. Specifically, we reconstruct immediate rewards from the aggregated rewards considering partial observability to estimate expected total returns. We provide a theoretical bound for the proposed method, and we have conducted extensive experiments in real-world human-centric tasks, including sepsis treatments and an intelligent tutoring system. Our approach reliably predicts the returns of different policies and outperforms state-of-the-art benchmarks using both standard validation methods and human-centric significance tests.


While several studies have indicated the critical role played by a country's ability to exploit knowledge as an economic resource, very few studies can be traced to understanding the practices of County Government in exploiting knowledge especially in Africa. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current knowledge management practices and technological solutions employed by County Governments in Kenya to support knowledge management. Based on interviews with senior and junior County officials and qualitative data analysis, the study findings revealed that there were no systematic knowledge management practices in existence within the surveyed County Governments. The few knowledge management practices identified were isolated, informal and uncoordinated; they were neither documented nor communicated. Furthermore, the existing policy frameworks to support knowledge management practices were inadequate. The study also revealed scarcity of relevant technological solutions tailored to support knowledge management practices. This research provides an advancing understanding of the prevailing local challenges hindering effective utilization of knowledge management practices and systems.


A thesis submitted to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology,
College of Science, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of Master of Philosophy in Biochemistry, 2016


The short Message Service(SMS) platform is the expansion of mobile phone short message service,has the advantages of conve nient,efficient and quickness.The application of SMS platform and integrated usage with the existed systems in the universities,can signifi cantly improve the office efficiency and promote the construction of Digital Campus,thus it can enhance the level of information manage ment of colleges and universities.


In visual communication design, the basic design elements include four types of text, graphics, colour, and layout. While the first three can be called visual elements, layout design is the functional arrangement of visual elements. Layout design is as much about making the viewer receive visual information as it is about making them feel attractive. The combination of artificial intelligence and layout design has now become a popular direction in the field of visual communication design. However, the automatic layout design process achieved through an a priori design framework still requires human involvement and is a semi-intelligent application. To solve the above problems, this study proposes a poster layout design method based on artificial intelligence. The layout composition method consists of a learner and a generator. Firstly, the learner uses the spatial transformation network to learn the classification of layout composition elements and form the initial layout design templates for different composition cases. Secondly, the generator optimises the initial template based on the LeNet architecture using the golden ratio and trilateration parameters to produce multiple optimised templates. The templates are then stored in a library of corresponding templates according to their composition and framing style. The experimental results show that the proposed poster layout composition method achieves a higher accuracy rate than existing methods.


Active nitrogen loss mainly includes ammonia (NH3) volatilization, nitrous oxide (N2O) emission, NO3−-N and NH4+-N deep leakage (N leaching), and NO3−-N and NH4+-N surface runoff (N runoff), resulting in serious environmental problems. To analyze the characteristics of active nitrogen loss in the four pathways on sloped farmland under conventional fertilization, six lysimeters with a slope of 8° were used. Losses due to NH3 volatilization, N2O emission, N leaching, and N runoff were investigated after urea application on a peanut field with red soil in China during the growing season from 2017–2018. Results reveal that at conventional nitrogen levels of 150 and 172 kg hm−2, the total active nitrogen loss caused by fertilization accounting for the total nitrogen applied was 5.57% and 14.21%, respectively, with the N2O emission coefficients of 0.18% and 0.10%, respectively; the NH3 volatilization coefficients of 2.24% and 0.31%, respectively; the N leakage loss rates of 3.07% and 10.50%, respectively; and the N runoff loss rates of 0.08% and 3.30%, respectively. The dry year was dominated by leaching and NH3 volatilization, while the wet year was dominated by leaching and runoff; the base fertilizer period was dominated by leakage, while the topdressing period was dominated by leakage and runoff, which suggests that the loss of active nitrogen in the soil-peanut system on a sloped red soil was mainly affected by rainfall and fertilization methods. Taken together, reasonable fertilization management and soil and water conservation measures appear to be effective in minimizing the loss of active nitrogen from nitrogen fertilizer.


The Lan-Xin Railway II from Lanzhou to Xinjiang is the first high-speed railway which passes through the strong wind zones in the world, and it passes through the famous "Yan Dun", "Hundred Miles", "Thirty Miles" and "Dabancheng" wind zones. The total length of the railway is more than 462.4 kilometers, accounting for 65.1${\%}$ of the total length of railway in Xinjiang. Strong winds can do great harm to the operation, maintenance and transportation of railways. In order to resist the damage of strong wind to train, a large number of wind-break walls were built along the Lan-Xin Railway II. The wind-break wall reduces the strong wind damage, but brings a new disaster caused by sand sedimentation. To solve the problem of this engineering practice, this paper puts forward the idea of setting up the second retaining wall at different positions on the leeward side of existing wind-break wall to reduce sand particles sedimentation. The wind tunnel experiment was employed to simulate the wind-sand flow environment. Three typical configurations are considered: 1) single wind-break wall; 2) two walls and the second one locates at the top of the leeward slope of subgrade; 3) two walls and the second one locates at the foot of the leeward slope of subgrade. The decrease rates of the horizontal velocity, number density, horizontal transport flux and deposition rate of sand particles at the height of 0.1 m after the second wall are respectively 8${\%}$$\sim $12${\%}$, 51${\%}$$\sim $69${\%}$, 20${\%}$$\sim $73${\%}$ and 26${\%}$$\sim $38${\%}$, by comparing to the case without the second wall. It is found that the second retaining wall at the foot of the leeward slope of subgrade is optimal. The research result of this paper is helpful to optimize the preventing sand sedimentation measures of existing railway lines and towns in the strong wind zone.


Abstract In Australia, many regions and communities are becoming socio-economically marginalised and the prospects for their future viability less assured. Suggestions that Western civilization is heading toward a "New Feudalism" are surprisingly prevalent in contemporary social theory. Focused on small towns in northwest New South Wales, this article examines how changes in government service provision and styles of local governance signify a shift from the welfare to the contract state as the basis for political economy. While such a shift can be criticised in its own terms, it is suggested that the basis for a revitalised debate can be achieved if what is happening to local governance and communities is conceptualized as signifying the emergence of new types of feudal relations, based on a shift from rights to privileges, opportunities to obligations, and inclusion to exclusion. Whether or not the Enlightenment project was doomed from the start to plunge us into the Kafkaesque world, whether or not it was bound to lead to Auschwitz or Hiroshima, and whether it has any power left to inform and inspire contemporary thought and action, are crucial questions. D. Harvey 1990: 13


The relationship among precipitation, vegetation and erosion is an important, unsolved issue in the field of earth surface processes. Based on data from the Loess Plateau of China, some nonlinear relationships between forest cover (Cf), rainfall erosivity (Ir) and annual precipitation (Pm) has been found. A threshold has been identified at Pm = 450 mm, that is, when Pm is smaller than 450 mm, Cf is low and basically does not vary with Pm; when Pm exceeds 450 mm, Cf increases rapidly. Furthermore, two thresholds are identified in the relationship between rainfall erosivity and annual precipitation. When Pm is smaller than 300 mm, Ir is low and basically does not vary with Pm. When Pm exceeds 300 mm, Ir increases rapidly; when Pm becomes larger than 530 mm, the rate at which Ir increases with Pm becomes higher. Based on these nonlinear relationships, the nonlinear picture of variation between erosion intensity and annual precipitation, i.e., the erosion intensity increases with annual precipitation to a peak and then declines, is explained. The implication of these thresholds for erosion control on the Loess Plateau is discussed.


Classical root locus compensator design methods are streamlined with the objective of simplifying the computational procedures. The proposed methods place less emphasis on compensator synthesis and allow for more emphasis on compensator selection. The design procedures for four standard compensators are developed from a design procedure for the PD compensator. A numerical example is included.


Servo control state has a close relationship with cut speed and machining quality in the wire electrical discharge machining process. To study servo control state of the process, a new monitor system was developed to online identify gap states. Experiments were carried out under the different servo control states. The discharge sequences composed of the time ratios of normal discharge were studied by time series analysis method. The results show that the normal discharge sequence can be defined by a low order auto regression model. When the gap size becomes small, the model order increases and the model parameters become large. Further study shows that it is a fast and effective method to compute the AR model residual to online judge the servo control state.


This paper will examine the work of two World War II-era psychoanalysts, Victor Frankl and Hans Loewald, both of whom attributed great significance to the experience of meaning, and who both showed an appreciation for religious meaning. These theorists drew on the horrors and revelations of WWII to better understand meaning, religion, and human life. Although neither presented a definitive concept of meaning that is generally accepted, their work demonstrates interesting attempts to combine scientific psychoanalytic views with an appreciation of meaning as a human phenomenon. Frankl described meaning as understanding one's life to be oriented by purposes or goals, which enable conscious behaviour towards ultimate fulfillment. Loewald, on the other hand, believed that meaning was a subtle but ever present state of mind, which invested day-to-day life with significance and wonder. The present paper will contrast these viewpoints and discuss them, focusing on how they differ, how they complement one another and, finally, how each has strengths and weaknesses in seeking to illuminate the difficult notions of meaning and fulfillment in human experience.


DIANE GAIL CARNATHAN: Dendritic cell regulation of B cells (Under the direction of Barbara Vilen) The innate and adaptive immune responses protect from autoimmunity during infection through B cell tolerance mechanisms. We previously showed that during innate immune responses dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages (MΦs) repress autoantibody secretion in part through their secretion of soluble factors (IL-6 and CD40L). Herein I describe that DCs from lupus-prone mice are deficient in repressing autoreactive B cell coincident with their inability to secrete IL-6. This defect results from defective Toll-Like Receptor signal transduction. We further describe that DCs repress innate and adaptive immune responses independent of DC/MΦ-derived soluble factors. We show that DCs display endogenous nuclear self antigens and affect B cells responses as evidenced by upregulation of CD69 expression, induction of IκB phosphorylation and destabilization of the BCR. Despite evidence of stimulation, DCs inhibit BCR-derived signals and LPS-induced Ig secretion in autoreactive and naïve B cells suggesting that DCs regulate B cell responses independent of self-antigen.


Moganite-form of AlPO4 has recently discovered as one of high-pressure phases (Kanzaki and Xue, 2012). Moganite is one of rare polymorphs of SiO2, and its structure is closely related to twinned quartz. For SiO2 -moganite, temperature-induced displasive transition has been reported (Heaney et al., 2007). However, pure phase sample is difficult to obtain, and accordingly quality of data by Raman or diffraction is not good. Although AlPO4-moganite is easy to get pure phase, it is metastable at ambient pressure (moganite-SiO2 is not stable phase ether). In this study, phase transition in AlPO4-moganite was explored using in-situ high-temperature Raman spectroscopy up to 800 C at ambient pressure. This transition was briefly mentioned in our 2011 this session talk, but completely new dataset, and additional low frequency data were obtained, and will be presented. Used sample was same as that reported in our previous study (Kanzaki and Xue, 2012), and was synthesized at 5 GPa and 1500 C. For heating, a wire heater was used (Kanzaki et al., 2012). Temperature was calibrated using 5~6 substances with known melting points. For Raman measurement, a home-built confocal micro-Raman system was used (488 nm laser, ~80 mW, 500 mm polychrometor, liquid N2 cooled CCD detector). Initially, frequency region higher than 100 cm -1 was observed to 800 C. Recently, our system is able to measure low frequency region, and two new peaks were identified at about 60 and 73 cm at room temperature (see my talk last year). In order to check these peaks are soft mode or not, additional high-temperature study was conducted for < 100 cm region. For the measurement, anti-Stokes and Stokes regions were observed simultaneously to identify true Raman peaks from the peaks originated from instrumental artifacts. The temperature is increased by 25 C step, and increased up to 800 C. For the spectra measured above 100 cm, several hard Raman modes displayed small shift to lower frequency with temperature. Above 425 C, this trend was reversed or became nearly constant, and no discontinuity was observed. These results sugget that there is a displacive (higher order) phase transition at about 425 C. For the region below 100 cm, the 73 cm peak showed significant temperature shift to lower frequency acompanyed with significant broadning on the peak width. The peak disappeared at 475 C. From these results, this peak is considered as soft mode. The 60 cm peak shifted just like the hard mode noted above, and still remained above 475 C. At around 800 C, berlinite (stable phase) was observed. Our study confirmed that AlPO4-moganite indeed has the displacive transition, and identified soft mode. For SiO2-moganite, only hard mode Raman was observed, and the transition temperature was determined as ~ 570 K (Heaney et al., 2007). No soft mode was reported to date. Our study suggests that soft mode for SiO2-moganite may exist at lower frequency region not studied yet. There is some differences in the transition temperature between obtained from hard mode and from soft mode. This is likely due to thermal non-equlibrium in the sample as heating rate was faster for latter (low frequency run). Further study including remeasurement and measuremet at cooling process is in progress. Heaney, P.J. et al. (2007) Am. Mineral., 92, 631 Kanzaki, M. and Xue, X. (2012) Inorg. Chem., 51, 6164 Kanzaki, M. et al. (2012) J. Min. Petrol. Sci., 107, 114 SMP44-08 JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2017


Twenty-six cultivated benchmark sites established in the mid-1960s were resampled in the early 1980s. Most of the sites were coarse textured and field observations indicated that these were subject to wind erosion. The original samples and the samples collected in the 1980s were analyzed for 137Cs and organic C. From these data soil erosion or deposition and organic C losses from the 0 to 0.15-m layer were calculated. Soil losses up to 10 kg m−2 yr−1 were calculated, but some sites showed deposition. Changes in organic C in the 0 to 0.15-m layer could be explained largely by erosion and deposition, indicating that at these sites (mainly on upper or middle slopes that had been cultivated since before the mid-1940s) erosion was the major factor responsible for the observed organic C loss. Key words: Organic carbon loss, erosion, mineralization


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seal structure of a fuel pump unit capable of downsizing the attachment part of a unit case, and thereby attaining downsizing and wight saving of a fuel tank.SOLUTION: At a portion opposite to the outer peripheral edge part of a unit attachment port 55, among flange parts 53L-c, a locking projection part 60 is provided. A seal member 51 has a fitting hole 61 fitted to the locking projection part 60, an annular fuel seal part 62 preventing leakage of fuel from the unit attachment port 55 on the radial inside of the fitting hole 61, and an annular dust seal part 63 inhibiting enter of dust from the outside on the radial outside of the fitting hole 61. The formation portion of the fitting hole 61, the fuel seal part 62 and the dust seal part 63 are integrally formed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5


Data Selection Sources: Medical literature published in any language since 1966 on anastrozole, identified using AdisBase (a proprietary database of Adis International, Auckland, New Zealand), Medline and EMBASE. Additional references were identified from the reference lists of published articles. Bibliographical information, including contributory unpublished data, was also requested from the company developing the drug. Search strategy: AdisBase search terms were 'anastrozole', 'arimidex', 'ici-d-1033', 'zd-1033', 'breast cancer' and 'aromatase inhibitors'. Medline and EMBASE search terms were 'anastrozole', 'arimidex', 'ici-d-1033', 'zd-1033' and '120511-73-1'. Searches were last updated 1 September 1998. Selection: Studies in patients with breast cancer who received anastrozole. Inclusion of studies was based mainly on the methods section of the trials. When available, large, well controlled trials with appropriate statistical methodology were preferred. Relevant pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic data are also included. Index terms: Anastrozole, breast cancer, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, tolerability, dosage and administration.


Reports of the rate and ways lives are lost and the events surrounding these ugly situations connote and attribute to the way our environment retaliates to its ill-treatment. The dehumanization seen everywhere and in every country has done so much damage to the development of the environment and the world at large which indicate the numerous and uncontrolled lost of lives globally. This has also brought the world to a relatively standstill. That notwithstanding, the challenges associated with the techno-social events in our day to day activities has but compounded the situation a whole lot. This paper ascertained these challenges and how it contributes to the environmental degradation. It also investigated the reasons why and how the environment revolts and reacts as a result of its ill-treatment which calls for a sustainable development, as viewed in the narrative of Bob Marley's musical lyrical track "natural mystic". This paper explored historical and descriptive methods using content analytical tools for collecting and analysing data with emphasis to how this lyrical illustration provide answers and possible solutions to the problem under study. It also provides requisite information for a clearer understanding of how our environment reacts to its degradation and the effect of dehumanization that is geared as a result of the techno-social events and innovations. This is for a possible and healthy sustainable development.


In erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), an inherited disease of porphyrin‐biosynthesis, the accumulation of protoporphyrin in the skin causes severely painful phototoxic reactions. Symptom prevention was impossible until recently when afamelanotide became available. Afamelanotide‐induced skin pigmentation has statistically significantly improved light‐tolerance, although the clinical significance of the statistical effect was unknown.


In this Research Paper, We have evaluated the performance of IPv4 and IPv6 using Windows XP and Windows 7. In this study TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) Throughput and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) Throughput have been compared for protocol IPv4 and IPv6. Experimental results showed that Windows XP provides better results for UDP Throughput than Windows7 & Windows7 can provide better results for TCP Throughput than Windows XP. Results indicated that IPv4 have superior results in terms of TCP throughput and UDP throughput as compared to IPv6.


Discourse analysts have for a long time focused on the study of gender differences in language. Recent approaches, however, eschew that concern in favor of studying the performative aspects of gender. In line with this, Membership Categorization analysis offers the additional advantage of studying societal members' gender categorization in conversation, the way it shapes the course of conversation, and its import, and consequences, for the conduct of participants in interaction. Membership Categorization Analysis is used here to spot some practical uses of gender by interactants in mundane talk among friends. More specifically, the article analyses two conversational instances where interactants deploy the categories 'men' and 'manly practices' to realize particular actions in conversation (suggestion and blame attribution). One finding is that gender categorization does pragmatic actions in interaction. In addition, the article argues that the relevance of gender, as one textual given among many, must be analytically demonstrated empirically in the conduct of interactants rather than invoked for the theoretical concerns of the discourse analyst.


Lipases are natural catalysts widely employed to structure various lipids, fats and oils in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries. Despite their high potential in lipid biotechnology, current application of microbial lipases has been limited owing to high costs and limited availability. During the last two decades, research efforts have been directed towards the identification of low cost and GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) lipases sources. Plant lipases from species with oil seeds have been widely studied, though their application has turned out to be disappointing, due to low activity and transient expression during seed germination. In the early nineties, research into in non seed tissues showed high lipolytic activity in the latex of some species of Caricaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Asclepiadaceae. At the moment, crude dried latex from Carica papaya is the most studied biocatalyst in lipid synthesis and modification, but little is known about the physiological role of C. papaya lipase or the applications of other latex lipases. In this paper we report more than ten years of research into the characterisation of plant-latex lipases roles and applications.


PURPOSE
To determine the normal anatomy of the anal sphincter complex on magnetic resonance (MR) images.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ten healthy volunteers (four men, six women; age range, 21-26 years) underwent MR imaging with an endoanal coil.

RESULTS
The lower part of the anal canal contained the internal sphincter, the longitudinal muscle layer, and the external sphincter; the upper part comprised the internal sphincter, the longitudinal layer, and the puborectal muscle. At the upper end, the puborectal muscle was attached to the levator ani muscle. Anteriorly, the external sphincter was connected to the urogenital diaphragm; posteriorly, it was attached to the coccyx with the anococcygeal ligament. All perianal spaces were visible. The morphology of the anterior part of the external sphincter, different in men and women, was well displayed.

CONCLUSION
Depiction of the anal sphincter complex on MR images is excellent.


There is a widespread need for techniques that can learn interpretable models from data. Recent work by Duvenaud et al. (2013) and Lloyd et al. (2014) showed that it is possible to use Gaussian Processes (GPs) to discover symbolic structure in univariate time series. This abstract shows how to reimplement the approach from Duvenaud et al. (2013) using under 100 lines of probabilistic code in Venture (Mansinghka et al., 2014; Lu, 2016), improving on a previous implementation from Schaechtle et al. (2015). The key idea is to formulate structure learning as a kind of probabilistic inverse compilation, where the kernel structure is represented as source code and the resulting GP model is represented as an executable probabilistic program produced by compiling that source code. Figures 1 and 2 give an overview of the inverse compilation framework. Figure 3 shows example kernel structures, including program source, an English summary, and typical data corresponding to the given structure. Figure 4 shows the complete Venture source code for reimplementing the approach from Duvenaud et al. (2013), and Figure 5 shows an application to real-world time series data describing air travel volume.


Authority is not a psychoanalytical concept but it is a primordial notion clinically, insofar as it is directly attached to the make-up of the bonding triangle. Situations of ill-treatment, educational shortcomings, negligence, quite often include a certain number of ingredients for basic violence to erupt. When bonding flexibility, well-tempered connections and disconnections, is   missing, any attempt at distancing, differentiation, is immediately seen as a threat. This is why the intervention of a third person is so difficult to accept, insofar as he can be seen as a threat. This article makes clear the clinical specificity of situations of educational negligence as well as the problems of authority arising from them. Then some sequences of a therapeutic group working on a story are evoked, in which the game "spinning a yarn" enables the space hitherto in meltdown to be reengaged. Drawing on mediation can be envisaged in its double dimension, both metaphorical and concrete, enabling the child to experience this restoration based on active mobilisation.


INCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE FLUORINATED S pyrimidine base, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU),lB numerous studies have delineated its mode of action on normal and neoplastic tissue. The importance of 5-FU is that it blocks the synthesis of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), thus preventing mitotic activity in dividing tissues.4 The incorporation of 5-FU into "fraudulent" ribonucleic acid (RNA) and the inhibition of RNA synthesis are felt to be of lesser importances, l5 (Fig. 1). An investigation of the hematologic effects of 5-FU is reported here. Studies were carried out with light and electron microscopes to define further the quantitative and qualitative changes in human marrow cells exposed in vivo to 5-FU.


THE USE OF SOLVENT-DETERGENT (SD) technology is not new to transfusion medicine. In the early 1980s, the transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) frequently occurred in hemophiliacs receiving untreated factor VIII concentrates.1,2 In 1985, SDtreated antihemophilic factor was introduced to reduce viral transmission.3-7 Currently, two thirds of antihemophilic factor in the United States is produced using SD technology.8 Since 1985, nearly 6 million units of SD-treated antihemophilic factor have been used in hemophiliacs without transmission of HIV, HBV, or hepatitis C virus (HCV).9-11 In an attempt to reduce viral transmission, the same SD technology has been applied to the manufacture of fresh frozen plasma (FFP). As SD-FFP becomes available through blood banks everywhere, the goal of this article is to explain to anesthesiologists what SD-FFP is and how it differs from standard FFP. This review describes SD technology, including the benefits, safety, risks, indications, limitations, and cost-effectiveness of this newly available blood product.


This article studies the recognition of the temporal relation between an event and a time expression and the temporal relation between two events where one event syntactically dominates the other event in one sentence.It analyzes some effective linguistic features such as dependency parsing information,relative positions,signal words,position of signal words and so on.A method based on maximum entropy model is proposed.In addition,how linguistic features could affect temporal relation recognition is analyzed.Experimental results show the accuracies of the two tasks are respectively 87.83% and 80.79%.


The Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach remains a backbone for turbulence modeling due to its high cost-effectiveness. Its accuracy is largely based on a reliable Reynolds stress anisotropy tensor closure model. There has been an amount of work aiming at improving traditional closure models, while they are still not satisfactory to some complex flow configurations. In recent years, advances in computing power have opened up a new way to address this problem: the machine-learning-assisted turbulence modeling. In this paper, we employ neural networks to fully predict the Reynolds stress anisotropy tensor of turbulent channel flows at different friction Reynolds numbers, for both interpolation and extrapolation scenarios. Several generic neural networks of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) type are trained with different input feature combinations to acquire a complete grasp of the role of each parameter. The best performance is yielded by the model with the dimensionless mean streamwise velocity gradient $\alpha$, the dimensionless wall distance $y^+$ and the friction Reynolds number $\mathrm{Re}_\tau$ as inputs. A deeper theoretical insight into the Tensor Basis Neural Network (TBNN) clarifies some remaining ambiguities found in the literature concerning its application of Pope's general eddy viscosity model. We emphasize the sensitivity of the TBNN on the constant tensor $\textbf{T}^{*(0)}$ upon the turbulent channel flow data set, and newly propose a generalized $\textbf{T}^{*(0)}$, which considerably enhances its performance. Through comparison between the MLP and the augmented TBNN model with both $\{\alpha, y^+, \mathrm{Re}_\tau\}$ as input set, it is concluded that the former outperforms the latter and provides excellent interpolation and extrapolation predictions of the Reynolds stress anisotropy tensor in the specific case of turbulent channel flow.


Objective To screen the optimal surface treatment of the interconnected porous titanium (IPT). Methods After 24 h of pretreatment with 5 mol/L NaOH solution, the IPT was divided into 3 groups (A, B, and C) and immersed into three different concentrations of simulated body fluid (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 SBF) respectively. Every group was divided into 3 subgroups according to the immerdsing time (10-, 14-, and 18-day subgroup). In group D, IPT was immersed directly into 1.5 SBF, which was also divided into 3 subgroups according to immersing time (10-, 14-, and 18-day subgroup). After the immersion, All these IPT materisl were washed out with deionized water in an ultrasonic washer and dried at 50 ℃. Under the light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, the surface of the IPT material was observed. Results Very few bonelike apatite was deposited on the surface of the IPT in groups A, C and D. In group B, a thin layer of bonelike apatite on the surface of the IPT was observed in 7-day subgroup, and entire layer of bonelike apatite observed in 14-day subgroup. But in 18-day subgroup, there were many cavities and cracks in developed bonelike apatite layer. Conclusion The optimum bioactive treatment of the IPT material was as follows: immersion of the IPT into 1.5 SBF after 24 h of pretreatment with 5 mol/L NaOH solution for 14 days.


In this study,the flow of gas and leachate to vertical wells in landfills was investigated. Neglecting the flow of landfill gas and leachate in the vertical direction,and based on the degradation of organic matter,gasleachate constitutive relationship,and gas-leachate continuous conditions,the flow equation under the condition of a plane axisymmetric gas-leachate coupling effect was established with gas pumping and leachate recirculation. The analytical solution in the unsteady state of the simplified equation is presented under conditions of passive and active extraction wells. The results show that the pore water pressure and gas pressure increased with the distance from the extraction well. The pore water pressure dispersed as time went on,and the gas pressure increased to its peak value initially,and then dispersed. The gas pressure that considered the gas-leachate coupling effect was relatively higher. The coupling effect on gas pressure was reduced with the increase of gaseous permeability,and become more significant with the increase of liquid permeability.


Equilibrium water absorption behavior of epoxy/carbon fiber composites was investigated under hygrothermal conditions. The temperature dependence of the equilibrium water uptake was quantitatively determined by assuming two distinctly different physical states of bound water and free water. The bound water was viewed as a reversible thermodynamic quantity and thus its temperature dependence was described by a negative value of the exothermic heat of sorption in Henry's law. Ascribed to the Langmuir nonequilibrium kinetic process, the free water was assumed to be immobilized by irreversible microcavitational damage or crazing in hygrothermal environmental conditions. Accordingly, the amount of free water increased with hygrothermal temperature in an irreversible way and its temperature dependence was expressed by the polymer-diluent affinity parameter in Langmuir equation. For various hygrothermal conditions, the total amount of equilibrium water uptake was successfully predicted by the sum of the bound water at the last hygrothermal temperature and the free water at the highest hygrothermal temperature.


s presented at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Dermatopathology October 20–23, 2011 Seattle, Washington USA Abstracts presented in the 12th Annual Duel in Dermatopathology Resident Competition, Oral Sessions 1, 2 and 3, the Fellows' Case Presentations, and in Poster Sessions 1 and 2 are listed on the following pages in the order they were presented.s presented in the 12th Annual Duel in Dermatopathology Resident Competition, Oral Sessions 1, 2 and 3, the Fellows' Case Presentations, and in Poster Sessions 1 and 2 are listed on the following pages in the order they were presented.


Twenty years ago Gearóid Ó Tuathail called for an approach within Political Geography that made geopolitical culture and the formulation of foreign policy the object of analysis. He specified the task of what subsequently became critical geopolitics as the need to expose the complicity of geopolitics with domination and imperialism. After the cold war there was a decade when military matters declined in importance and globalisation confused the geographical designations of danger. In the aftermath of 9/11 the utility of force has been reasserted by a neo-Reaganite American foreign policy using military force in the global war on terror and the invasion of Iraq. Now the geopolitical culture is a matter of debates about empire and the appropriate geopolitical designation of danger, whether in Thomas Barnett's non integrated gap on "the Pentagon's New Map" or in the complex geographies of Alain Joxe's "Empire of Disorder". This re-militarisation of global politics clearly suggests the continued relevance of Ó Tuathail's specification of the need for critical geopolitics to grapple with the culture that produces imperial attempts at domination in distant places.


Microbiological studies of samples from the separate horizons and from different depths of soils of the Appalachian upland podsol group show that the activity of the micro-organisms is dependent upon the organic-matter relations in the horizons. The organic-matter horizon is biologically the most active, as shown by analyses for carbon dioxide, nitrate nitrogen, numbers of bacteria, and production of ammonia from urea. Evidence is submitted that the reduced activity of the leached layer and the horizons of accumulation is not due to toxic compounds produced by leaching of the organic matter.


Because many factors account for concrete damage,the interpretative structural model(ISM)was used for concrete damage identification.It could determine the degree of the concrete damage and the basic factors of concrete damage scientifically.ISM of damage determination was formed based on two elements' relationship.According to the transmission relationship of the elements',the skeleton matrix system with hierarchical structure was got.By comparing and feedback,adjusting and learning,the main reasons of the structural damage were analyzed.The results show that the relation between two elements is the basis in damage identification for concrete structure.With the integral consideration of all the damage factors and the principle of association matrix in graph theory,the analysis results are direct and effective.The main concrete damage factors from the ISM agree with the basic items from structure inspection rules.


investigation of the sensitivity of these measurements to clasCalcuiation of landscape metrics from land-cover data is be- sification error (Hess, 1994). he objectives of this paper are coming increasingly common. Some studies have shown that two-fold: (1) to determine the sensitivity of landscape these measurements are sensitive to differences in land-cover metrics to land-cover misclassification, and (2) to determine composition, but none are known to have tested also their the sensitivity of landscape metrics to differences in landto land-cover misc~ass~ficat~o n~ error sirnula- scape condition. These objectives are necessarily connected. tion model was written to test the sensitivity of selected land- Ideally, landscape pattern metrics would be insensitive to scape pattern metrics to misclassification, and regression misclassification but sensitive to differences in land cover. analysis was used to determine if these metrics were signifi- Land-cover data, mapped from Landsat TM for the Chescantly related to differences in land-cover composition. Corn- apeake Bay Regional Watershed, were used for this study. parison of sensitivity and regression results suggests that The data were divided into 57 eight-digit U.S. Geological differences in land-cover composition need to be about 5 Survey (us~s) hydrologic units or watersheds. Sensitivity to percent greater than the misclassification rate to be confident misclassification is tested using a simulation model based on that differences in landscape metrjcs are not due to mjsclas- a published land-cover error matrix (Green et a]., 1993). Sensification. sitivity to differences in landscape condition is tested by comparison to the amount of human land use in the watershed. Landscape condition is measured as the ratio of an


In the article the researcher identifies the peculiarity of a sincere conversation in different mass media genres; a definition of a TV-interview in the sincere conversation style is offered, its genre features are specified; such strategies and tactics are reviewed that TV journalists employ to bring out the interlocutor's personality to the utmost degree.


Since the very first detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of two black holes in 2015, Bayesian statistical methods have been routinely applied by LIGO and Virgo to extract the signal out of noisy interferometric measurements, obtain point estimates of the physical parameters responsible for producing the signal, and rigorously quantify their uncertainties. Different computational techniques have been devised depending on the source of the gravitational radiation and the gravitational waveform model used. Prominent sources of gravitational waves are binary black hole or neutron star mergers, the only objects that have been observed by detectors to date. But also gravitational waves from core‐collapse supernovae, rapidly rotating neutron stars, and the stochastic gravitational‐wave background are in the sensitivity band of the ground‐based interferometers and expected to be observable in future observation runs. As nonlinearities of the complex waveforms and the high‐dimensional parameter spaces preclude analytic evaluation of the posterior distribution, posterior inference for all these sources relies on computer‐intensive simulation techniques such as Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. A review of state‐of‐the‐art Bayesian statistical parameter estimation methods will be given for researchers in this cross‐disciplinary area of gravitational wave data analysis.


the view that the factors which affect the quality of newly produced liquor can be classified as primary and secondary,or critical and non critical was proposed from the points of theory and practice.Correctly handling the moisture and temperature when the material was put into the cylinder is the prerequisite;properly controlling the product acidity is the primary assurance,distillation in the retort is the key step.


Migration has been a transformative experience for many Kurdish migrants who have fled Turkey and attempted to shake off their imposed Turkish identity and/or alter their pattern of identification ...


Metal-on-metal (MoM) hip resurfacings (HRs) and large head total hip replacements (LHTHRs) were perceived by many as a surgical revolution, with clear advantages over the traditional metal-on-polyethylene total hip replacement (THR). This is especially the case for younger, active individuals in whom conventional THR has been associated with higher rates of aseptic loosening. In addition to less bearing surface wear, frequently cited advantages for HR include the preservation of femoral bone stock, lower dislocation rates, and superior function and activity scores.


This study draws from the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Survey to compare patterns of wage mobility among the late boomer and millennial cohorts of young men. Estimating group-based trajectory models, the authors find that fewer men enjoyed rapid wage growth and more men fell into the steady and stagnant wage-trajectory groups. Furthermore, employment patterns in the new economy (e.g., changing employers, more part-time employment, and employment in low-end service occupations) increasingly determine the mobility rates of millennials compared with boomers and are stronger predictors of mobility chances in the millennial cohort than are family background and cognitive skills.


Through a quantitative survey, this paper will examine the translation of poetry in Brazil in the last forty years, comparing poetry translated from English with poetry translated from other languages, showing the considerable growth in this area, and demonstrating that translated poetry can be considered a new genre in Brazilian literature. In order to do this, I attempted to discover translations of poetry published between 1965 and 2004, including reeditions of previously published works.


Modulation transfer function (MTF) is a comprehensive index for the objective reflection of the quality of the imaging systems. In the field of image processing, the slanted-edge method is usually adopted to compute MTF for images. However, the sub-images with slanted edges are extracted from original image by subjective judgment and manually operation, which is bound to lead to inefficiency of calculation, low accuracy and instability of results with the participation of humans. Aiming at the above problem, this paper presents an automatic MTF calculation method for blurred images and applies it to the process of image restoration by developing a two-dimensional MTF filter and utilizing it into conventional restoration methods such as the Wiener filtering, least squares filtering and Lucy-Richardson algorithm. Experiment results indicate the proposed method achieved an automatic, fast and accurate MTF computation for blurred images, and MTF-based restoration methods were superior to traditional ones in restoration effects.


The traditional multi-kernel filtering algorithms are proposed by combining multiple kernel with the second similarity measure. Nevertheless, these multi-kernel filters suffer from both heavy computation burden and divergence for impulsive noise environments. To deal with these challenges for online applications, the multi-kernel generalized maximum correntropy (MKGMC) algorithm is developed for improving both precision and stability under the generalized maximum correntropy criterion. To alleviate the complex network structure of MKGMC, using the vector quantization strategy in MKGMC develops quantized MKGMC (QMKGMC) to reduce the computational and spatial complexity. From the viewpoints of precision and stability, the proposed algorithms outperform other typical compared algorithms on time series prediction.


To characterize the glycaemic efficacy and safety of initiation of the dipeptidyl peptidase‐4 inhibitor sitagliptin during metformin dose escalation in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) not at glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) goal on a sub‐maximal dose of metformin.


SpoofaxFunction In, Out, Fail «FailableFunction» +apply(input: In): FailOrSuccessResult +compose(other): FailableFunction CommandBuilder + function(FailableFunction) + compose(FailableFunction) + description(String) + build(): IReplCommand «IReplCommand» execute(...): IResult returns ► ◄ builds composes ► Figure 4.4: UML of the CommandBuilder and function composition interfaces. 1Monads are a more abstract concept than just this specific case. In fact, the Either data type is just one type of monad. 4.4 Returning Results to the Frontend 25 org.metaborg.spoofax.shell.output «IResultVisitor» +visitException(t: Throwable) +visitFailure(f: FailResult) +visitMessage(s: StyledText) +visitResult(s: ISpoofaxResult) +visitTermResult(s: ISpoofaxTermResult) EvaluateResult ExceptionResult FailResult FailOrSuccessResult «IResult» +accept(visitor) AnalyzeResult ParseResult InputResult «ISpoofaxResult» +styled() +unit(): T TransformResult ISpoofaxTermResult +ast(): IStrategoTerm ◄ visits Figure 4.5: UML of the concrete results and the result visitor. The Either data type has been adopted in the design of the REPL as a class named FailOrSuccessResult. The class is more specific to the domain of the execution model of the REPL. It implements the IResult interface just like any other result class, thereby allowing it to be treated in the same way generically. The functions representing the execution steps bear the name FailableFunction, and contain a method for composing it with another FailableFunction. 4.4 Returning Results to the Frontend As mentioned in section 4.1, every command implementing the IReplCommand interface returns an instance of a class implementing the IResult interface. It is up to the frontend to determine how to handle the result. Since commands can result in a failure or an exception (see section 4.3), it is not always clear what kind of IResult the command returns. To illustrate this, it is possible that a user tries to evaluate an input that passes the parsing step but fails with an exception at the analyze step (see figure 4.3). The expected result is an EvaluateResult, but because an exception was thrown the corresponding wrapped AnalyzeUnit cannot be created. The command that did the evaluation then returns a FailOrSuccessResult containing the corresponding ExceptionResult that caused the failure. However, the caller of the command has no way of telling that the returned IResult is in fact a FailOrSuccessResult. The visitor pattern has been adopted to solve this problem. As can be seen in figure 4.5, every IResult can be "visited" by classes implementing the IResultVisitor interface. Each subclass of IResult decides what visitor method is called, and the IResultVisitor gets a concrete subclass of IResult as argument by means of double-dispatch. Furthermore, the FailOrSuccessResult delegates the visitor to its wrapped IResult. Implementations of the IResultVisitor can then decide per result type how to handle the returned information. Since all commands can always return a result with the original exception or the failed ISpoofaxResult by returning a FailOrSuccessResult, the frontend is always provided with error messages or the results of earlier processing steps.


Aimed at the feature of wireless sensor networks(WSNs)nodes,such as energy-constrained,limited communications capability and lower computing power and so on.Ant colony algorithm is applied to WSNs.A novel routing algorithm of WSNs which is based on ant colony algorithm is presented.The energy of nodes,distance,radius of communication and transmission direction and other parameters is taken into account.Research results show that this routing algorithm can reduce energy consumption,the dead number of nodes,routing hops and the length of data transmission path.As a result of prolonging the life of wireless sensor networks and making the WSNs fast and energy-efficient in the communication process.


Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a cancer of one of the two main types of white blood cells, the neutrophiles. The Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome is the most prominent cytogenic abnormality in CML. The existence of this chromosome is due to a translocation, involving the bcr-gene on chromosome 22 and the abl-gene on chromosomes 9. The expression of the tyrosine kinase p210bcr-abl, a 210kDa fusion protein, is the result of this translocation. Tyrphostins (1, 2) are inhibitors of this enzyme and have been synthesised as potential drugs. The tyrphostin AG957 is of particular interest because of its small size, which enables the molecule to permeate cells (3), and because of its selectivity for p210bcr-abl over the normally expressed p140c-abl.

In this study, we have radiolabelled AG957 (1) with the radioisotope C-11 in order to be evaluated as a potential agent for clinical PET studies of chronic myeloid leukemia.


Abstract : The performance of network management tools for SONET/SDH networks subject to the load conditions is studied and discussed in this thesis. Specifically, a SONET network which consists of four CISCO ONS 15454s, managed by a CISCO Transport Manager, is set up in the Advanced Network Laboratory of the Naval Postgraduate School. To simulate a realistic data transfer environment for the analysis, Smartbits Avalanche software is deployed to simulate multiple client-server scenarios in the SONET network. Traffic from the management channel is then captured using a packet sniffer. Queuing analysis on the captured data is performed with particular emphasis on properties of self-similarity. In particular, the Hurst parameter which determines the captured traffic's degree of self-similarity is estimated using the Variance-Index plot technique. Link utilization is also derived from the computation of first-order statistics of the captured traffic distribution. The study shows that less management data was exchanged when the SONET network was fully loaded. In addition, it is recommended that CTM 4.6 be used to manage not more than 1552 NEs for safe operation. The results presented in this thesis will aid network planners to optimize the management of their SONET/SDH networks.


Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers are widely used in engineering applications where weight saving and high mechanical performance are a key factors. However, an inheren tweakness of laminated CFRP:s ...


Background: The no-reflow phenomenon is critical and, if not reversed, causes a high rate of morbidity and mortality. It was demonstrated that the no-reflow phenomenon after Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) is a strong predictor of mortality after the acute event in patients with STEMI. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of visible thrombus aspiration (VTA) material on no reflow and its relation to hospital mortality and early outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI).
Methods: This prospective observational study conducted on 100 patients admitted with acute STEMI and treated with primary PCI within 24 hours of presentation. Patients were divided into two groups: Group VTA (n=58):  who had visible thrombus aspiration material (VTA) (defined as collected visible aspiration material, including atherothrombotic debris or thrombus) & Group non VTA (n=42):  who had non-VTA (defined as no visible aspiration material and only blood).
Results: There was significant statistical difference between group VTA & Group non VTA as regard No reflow after aspiration(15.5%vs 45.5%, P =0.001), In hospital mortality (0% vs 9.5% ,P = 0.016), LVEF at hospital (47.90 ± 5.38 vs 42.36 ± 5.95, P =0.001) and LVEF after 1 month (51.90 ± 4.36 vs 48.83 ± 4.53, P =0.001). However, there was no significant statistical difference between both groups as regard baseline TIMI flow, syntax score, in-hospital MACE, length of hospital stays.
Conclusions: Our study resulted in aspiration of macro visible thrombus materials led to lower rates of no reflow after aspiration and better short-term clinical outcomes and prognosis than those patients with non-visible thrombus aspiration materials with ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with pPCI.


In this paper we illustrate the application of a business model ontology with particular application to the Internet, IT, and telecommunication industry. It allows to subdivide a business model into a set of standard building blocks, which allows to identify and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a particular model. The framework further enables the systematic comparison of different models to each other. The successful application of this framework to the specific area of delivery platforms is demonstrated.


Examination of the literature in the field of reading shows that there has been an immense number of investigations of the reading ability of elementary school children. Considerable study has also been made of the reading ability of high school pupils. More recently, investigations in the field of college reading have received increased attention. For the most part, studies dealing with reading at the college level reflect the rapid interest in corrective reading and remedial teaching. Many of the investigations listed by Gray are based on data other than those revealed by reading tests. In fact, according to Gray, "only a limited number of studies relating to reading tests was reported between July 1, 1952 and June 20, 1953." It thus appears that there is need for more careful analysis of the reading abilities and problems of college students, particularly as revealed by reliable test data. Even more limited than general studies dealing with reading at the college level is the number of investigations reported on the reading abilities and problems of Negro college students. There is need, therefore, for more adequate data on the reading performance of students enrolled in colleges for Negroes if valid attempts are to be made to institute programs designed to improve instruction and eliminate student failures through the organization of remedial reading classes and clinics. The present study was initiated to contribute toward the realization of these and other objectives. More specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:


The main objective of this work was to present the problem of the effect of interference in a LTE (Long-term Evolution) network and propose a solution using Beamforming, mitigating the effects of interference, increasing the quality of network coverage and thus improving the fairness of service to users. Various scenarios are proposed in order to obtain a comparison between a system with and without Beamforming. The results show that in the presence of strong interference, the quality of the coverage of a LTE cell is greatly affected. The use of beamforming allows for an increase of Signal to noise plus interference ratio (SINR) power in cell-edge of around +11 dB and this is reflected with an increase of up to +54 Mbps of downlink throughput for the cell-edge user. Spectral efficiency is also greatly improved with results showing a significant increase of up to +3 bits/Hz. These results lead to the conclusion that the use of beamforming applied to LTE technology has enormous potential, especially in scenarios where there is a lot of inter-cell interference and therefore these techniques can be considered as a valid alternetive for Inter-cell Interference Coordination (ICIC).


This research report provides insight into Indigenous women's homelessness from the perspective of homelessness service providers, and the lived experiences of Indigenous homeless women presenting to services in Cairns and Mount Isa.

The report also provides an overview of the literature related to Indigenous women's homelessness and offers recommendations to further assist policymakers, service providers and others to effectively and safely re-house Indigenous homeless women (many of whom may be relocating from their homeland communities).

To explore the perspectives of homelessness service providers and their experiences of assisting Indigenous homeless women, an online survey was made available to services officers from participating agencies (see Appendix B). The respondents to those surveys answered questions relating to:

- the reasons why Indigenous women were accessing homelessness services;

- from where had they come;

- where they would likely be rehoused;

- if there were peak periods; and

- if the presenting Indigenous women had any special or unmet service needs.

Statistical data was also made available from selected homeless services to help bring perspective to: the presenting numbers of Indigenous women compared to men; and the ethnic breakdown of clients utilising homelessness services. The results of the homeless services providers' survey indicated that primarily the key reason for Indigenous women becoming homeless was domestic and family violence, but it was not the only reason. The 'road' to homelessness often involves a multitude of life experiences that can culminate in homelessness, and the service providers' perspectives reflected that complexity. The full range of key reasons for Indigenous women presenting to homeless services were: domestic and family violence (25%); alcohol and drugs (18%); financial hardship (18%); racist/age discriminatory real estate agents (9%); avoiding alcohol and family issues (6%); overcrowding (6%); literacy and numeracy challenges (6%); can't get home after visiting family (6%); not enough public housing (6%).

Other reasons identified were: limited family support; crises; involvement in child safety; exclusion from community; family breakdown; financial literacy; jail; rainy season (not being able to sleep in a river bed); and health problems.

The service providers also noted that women travelled into their regional service centres from their home communities of Far North Queensland; Torres Strait; Northwest Queensland and the Northern Territory. They also noted that women presenting to their service centres would often have 2 to3 children in their care at that time.

To further understand the lived experiences of Indigenous homeless women, face-to-face interviews were conducted with women from Mount Isa and Cairns. Their responses to interview questions were transcribed and thematically analysed. The face-to-face interviews with Indigenous women brought yet another perspective to the issue of homelessness. Homelessness is a personal experience and the stories the women told reflected their varied and often painful life journeys into homelessness. The themes in their stories revealed that reasons for homelessness for the women interviewed circle around relationship breakdowns, patterns of repeated homelessness, lack of access to services in remote areas, and lack of affordable housing. The recurrent theme in both surveys is the need for affordable housing, suitable to accommodate a variety of family groups, from single women to large families.

Based on service providers' perspectives and the lived experiences of Indigenous homeless women, as outlined in the full report, the researchers make the following recommendations:

• Women in remote locations require specialist services to stay in their home communities if it is safe to do so. They are particularly vulnerable when exposed to some of the risk factors for homelessness.

• Effort should be directed to prevent perpetuating factors of repeated homelessness. Many of these factors are interconnected and cyclical, perpetuating the issue of homelessness.

• Cultural traditions and dynamics must be considered in preventing and resolving issues related to the homelessness of Indigenous women.

• Affordable housing, suitable to accommodate a variety of family groups, from single women to large families is urgently required.


Laser microprocessing has been extensively studies with applications in microelectronics and magnetic data storage. In addition to the fundamental aspects of laser materials interactions, we have investigated various possible applications of laser microprocessing in different areas. Laser cleaning has been studies systematically both theoretically and experimentally for dry surface cleaning and steam surface cleaning. This technology has been applied for cleaning magnetic head, magnetic sliders, suspension, laser mold cleaning and laser deflash for IC packages. Laser texturing and related processes such as laser bumping, laser tagging have been studied for magnetic recording applications. The future prospects of using laser microprocessing for applications in formation of ultrashallow (less than 50 nm) pn junction for next- generation MOS devices, laser generation of Si nanoparticles for quantum-dot flash memory, light emission devices and low cost and smart photonics devices will be addressed.Laser microprocessing has been extensively studies with applications in microelectronics and magnetic data storage. In addition to the fundamental aspects of laser materials interactions, we have investigated various possible applications of laser microprocessing in different areas. Laser cleaning has been studies systematically both theoretically and experimentally for dry surface cleaning and steam surface cleaning. This technology has been applied for cleaning magnetic head, magnetic sliders, suspension, laser mold cleaning and laser deflash for IC packages. Laser texturing and related processes such as laser bumping, laser tagging have been studied for magnetic recording applications. The future prospects of using laser microprocessing for applications in formation of ultrashallow (less than 50 nm) pn junction for next- generation MOS devices, laser generation of Si nanoparticles for quantum-dot flash m...


Much recent interest has been focused upon third-generation cellular systems, particularly wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA). Deployments must consider scarce available spectrum, so researchers have been investigating spectral overlay, as a means of increasing capacity. Spectral overlay may also be a method used during transition from current to future systems. Based upon a method developed in Matolak (2000), we estimate capacities of WCDMA when overlaid upon the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). This method is an improvement upon the standard technique for approximating multiuser interference (MUI), and is more general than previous work in that it allows for different values of data rate within each system, an arbitrary number of overlaid CDMA systems, inclusion of outside-cell as well as outside-system interferences, and narrowband interferers. We apply the method to GSM and WCDMA, and explore via several examples the capacities achievable as a function of several system parameters, including the number of GSM frequency allocations, relative power levels, and a number of different data rates.


Based on the analysis of chaotic time sequence and the characterization to the system chaotic property from it's characteristic index, we established finite element model about ASCE Benchmark. Then we got 4 acceleration time sequence of Benchmark model by simulation of instantaneous excitation. At last, we made a experimental analysis on the maximum Lyapunov exponent. As the result shows, all maximum Lyapunov exponents are above zero. It means that chaotic phenomenon appears in the structure system. At the same time, maximum Lyapunov exponent shows it's sensitivity along with the evolution of structural condition. That is to say, the statement of structure could be reflected by the chaotic index of chaotic time sequence. Then we get new ideas on the study of safety assessment relied on the structural health monitoring.


The phenomenon of anomalous polarization is described, previous work is summarized, and some further observations reported. The double exponential form of discharge current with time observed by Northrip is confirmed for (Sr0.76Ca0.24) (Ti0.76Sn0.24)O3 and Ba0.97Pb0.03TiO3. The association of crystal structure with the phenomenon and equivalent circuits to account for the form of discharge are discussed.


Background: One of the important problem during endoscopic sinus surgery is bleeding. Bleeding causes disruption of the surgical field and damages the base of the skull and the eye cavity and consequently increases the duration of surgery vasopressor drugs may cause instability of hemodynamic, specially, in hypertension patients or patients with ischemic heart. Hypotension induction with various drugs causes to use a greater amount of anesthetic drugs and its side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to find a treatment for this complication. We decided to do a study on two modes of ventilation to reduce bleeding and increasing surgery satisfaction. Methods: This investigation was performed on 134 patients. They were candidates of endoscopic sinus surgery 67 in volume mechanical ventilation group and 67 in pressure mechanical ventilation group. Patients were divided randomly in two groups and were recorded vital signs, complications, and bleeding. We used ANOVA and Chi-square tests to compare the data. Results: The findings indicated that there is not significant difference between VCV and PCV in duration of surgery, intraoperative bleeding, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure and surgeon satisfaction (P>0.05). Conclusion: Various methods of ventilation did not show significant difference in bleeding and due to inconsistencies in the results of the current study and some studies and due to the limitations of the studies, further studies with higher numbers of specimens are recommended.


ABSTRACT The Information Systems Security Policy reflects the Management's expectations and requirements concerning the Information System. It shall take account, at a minimum, of the needs relating to the availability, confidentiality, and privacy of the software and data used and exchanged on networks and systems and shall consolidate a collection of scientific, operational, legal and human security rules and standards to ensure an efficient and homogeneous level of security. The paper aims to examine what controls are widely used and how they are implemented in the Middle East and North Africa MENA area to apply a realistic information management strategy in large public organizations. The finding will assist in adopting an efficient information security policy.


This paper presents a Fast Genetic Algorithm (FGA) approach for solving Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) problem. GAs perform powerful global searches, but their long computation times limit them when solving large scale optimization problems. The present paper describes a method to overcome this limitation by starting with random solutions within the search space and narrowing down the search space by considering the minimum and maximum errors of the population members. Since the search space is restricted to a small region within the available search space, the algorithm works very fast. This feature of the algorithm is attractive when applied to ELD of large systems. The convergence of the algorithm can be expected with in one or two generations independent of size of the system. The results have been demonstrated for ELD of standard 3 generator, 6 generator, 20 generator and 38 generator systems with and without consideration of transmission system losses. In all the cases the Fast GA shows reliable convergence. The final results obtained using Fast GA are compared with conventional GA and found to be encouraging.


Small instruments for self-monitoring of blood glucose (BG) are now available to the patients, and a continuous quality control of these instruments is necessary. This study compared different small BG monitoring instruments with the Hemo-Cue instrument, which in turn was compared with the Kodak Ektachem 700 XR-C, the routine method at our laboratory. We also studied whether venous or capillary blood specimens made any difference, and the influence on the results of the time delay between sampling and analysis.

Venous and capillary blood samples were obtained from 191 diabetic patients attending an out-patient diabetes clinic, and glucose tests were performed in three small instruments (Glucometer Elite [n=112], Accutrend [n=56] or One Touch ll[n=23]) in parallel with HemoCue (n=191) and Kodak Ektachem 700 XR-C(n=191).

Blood glucose analysed with the small instruments often used by patients for self-monitoring, showed a close relationship with HemoCue. However, one instrument (Accutrend) gave constantly lower values (0.7±1.0 mmol/l: p < 0.001). HemoCue was shown to be in good agreement with the routine method used at the hospital laboratory. The difference between venous and capillary samples was significant (0.12±0.57 mmol/l p < 0.001) but of no practical importance. However, the time between sampling and analysis was important, since blood glucose decreased 1.6±0.8 mmol/l after an average delay of 3.8hr. The glycolysis occurs despite correct sampling in tubes containing heparin-fluoride.