Non-trivial deformations result in local contractions and expansions. These naturally capture object scalings but can have a negative side effect, namely making object features disappear or inflate. For this reason we want the deformation fields to have zero acceleration in the direction perpendicular to image features; this guarantees that the features are only 'transported'. This requirement can be phrased as follows: consider a deformation field h = (hx, hy) = (x + fx, y + fx); fx and fy are the deformation increments calculated from the linear basis synthesis. Along orientation nx, ny this deformation field has 'speed' fxnx + fyny; a constant speed means that the motion of features in this orientation does not distort them, i.e. it is purely translating them. We can thus enforce our constraint by requiring that the directional derivative of this speed function equals zero, i.e.


The sexually dimorphic genus Amsactoides Matsumura was described for the single species from Taiwan, A. solitaria (Wileman, 1910), to which all other specimens of the genus from the continent were attributed. Comparing male morphological characters, including the genitalia structure, of the type species from Taiwan and continental specimens show that latter belong to the a species, A. guangxica Dubatolov et Kishida, sp. nov. The sexually strongly dimorphic genus Amsactoides Matsumura, 1927 was described for the single species from Taiwan, Creatonotos formosae Strand, 1915, basing on a male specimen. Sixty years later, Inoue (1988) synonymised it with Diacrisia solitaria Wileman, 1910 that was known by very different females only, although Wileman knew males for his D. solitaria Wil. females but did not published this (Inoue, 1988). The valid generic status was accepted by following authors: Koda (1988), Fang (1985, 2000). Specimens of this genus were later found in different places of the continental South-Eastern Asia: Hongkong (Inoue, 1988), Fujian (Fang, 1982), Hunan, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi (Fang, 2000), but nobody tried to compare morphology of the nominotypical and continental specimens of Amsactoides. Our study of Amsactoides specimens from the collection by Yasunori Kishida, show that the continental specimens differ from the nominotypical ones on a specific level. This allowed us to prepare the following review.


The present study used intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) piglets as an animal model to determine the effect of Bacillus subtilis on intestinal integrity, antioxidant capacity, and microbiota in the jejunum of suckling piglets. In total, 8 normal birth weight (NBW) newborn piglets (1.62 ± 0.10 kg) and 16 newborn IUGR piglets (0.90 ± 0.08 kg) were selected and assigned to 3 groups. Piglets were orally gavaged with 10 mL sterile saline (NBW and IUGR groups), IUGR piglets were orally gavaged with 10 mL/d bacterial fluid (Bacillus subtilis diluted in sterile saline, gavage in the dose of 2 × 109 colony-forming units per kg of body weight) (IBS group) (n = 8). IUGR induced jejunal barrier dysfunction and redox status imbalance of piglets, and changed the abundances of bacteria in the jejunum. Treatment with Bacillus subtilis increased (P < 0.05) the ratio of villus height to crypt depth (VH/CD) in the jejunum, decreased (P < 0.05) the plasma diamine oxidase (DAO) activity, and enhanced (P < 0.05) the gene expressions of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), Occludin and Claudin-1 in the jejunum of IUGR piglets. Treatment with Bacillus subtilis decreased (P < 0.05) the concentration of protein carbonyl (PC), and increased (P < 0.05) the activities of catalase (CAT) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) in the jejunum of IUGR piglets. Treatment with Bacillus subtilis also increased (P < 0.05) gene expressions of superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), CAT, and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2), as well as the protein expressions of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), SOD1, and Nrf2 in the jejunum of IUGR piglets. Treatment with Bacillus subtilis also improved the abundances and the community structure of bacteria in the jejunum of IUGR piglets. These results suggested that IUGR damaged the jejunal barrier function and antioxidant capacity of suckling piglets, altered the abundances of bacteria in the jejunum. Treatment with Bacillus subtilis improved the intestinal integrity and antioxidant capacity, while also improved the abundances and structure of bacteria in the jejunum of suckling piglets.


Three cultivars of peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) were grown for 9 years at 3 different densities under 3 training systems. Those spaced at 1157 and 868 trees/ha were mechanically summer pruned annually to predetermined forms; trees spaced at 397 trees/ha were pruned conventionally. While yields during the first few years reflected tree density, the cumulative yield gap among treatments narrowed annually beginning in the 6th growing season. The usually lower production from mature trees spaced at 1157 and 868 trees/ha was attributed in part to non-selective, summer hedging. The effectiveness of various pest control chemicals did not differ among treatments.


In this work, we investigate the molecular gas and star-formation properties in the barred spiral galaxy NGC 6946 using multiple molecular lines and star-formation tracers. A high-resolution image (100 pc) of 13CO (1–0) is created for the inner 2 kpc disk by the single-dish Nobeyama Radio Observatory 45 m telescope and interferometer Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, including the central region (nuclear ring and bar) and the offset ridges of the primary bar. Single-dish HCN (1–0) observations were also made to constrain the amount of dense gas. The physical properties of molecular gas are inferred from (1) the large velocity gradient calculations using our observations and archival 12CO (1–0), 12CO(2–1) data, (2) the dense gas fraction suggested by the luminosity ratio of HCN to 12CO (1–0), and (3) the infrared color. The results show that the molecular gas in the central region is warmer and denser than that of the offset ridges. The dense gas fraction of the central region is similar to that of luminous infrared galaxies/ultraluminous infrared galaxies, whereas the offset ridges are close to the global average of normal galaxies. The coolest and least-dense region is found in a spiral-like structure, which was misunderstood to be part of the southern primary bar in previous low-resolution observations. The star-formation efficiency (SFE) changes by about five times in the inner disk. The variation of SFE agrees with the prediction in terms of star formation regulated by the galactic bar. We find a consistency between the star-forming region and the temperature inferred by the infrared color, suggesting that the distribution of subkiloparsec-scale temperature is driven by star formation.


Building high-speed transport networks facilitating business links and residential mobility for tourism, cultural and private purposes is essential for closing-up the East European region to the Western world. With the exception of the Visegrad and the Balkan countries there are no signs that an adequate system of high speed railways and motorways harmonising with demands will be built in Eastern Europe in medium-term perspective or even within the next 10–20 years. In the major part of Russia air transport will preserve its dominance but due to the territorial concentration of population in urban areas this service will be limited to fewer destinations. The presence of low-cost airlines is very low yet in CIS states. The present international airlines are very strongly oriented to the west but the role of Far Eastern countries (especially China) will significantly increase in the future.


In the context of COVID‐19, cancer survivors represent a particularly vulnerable population that may be "doubly hit" by both costs of cancer treatment and financial strain imposed by the pandemic.


The purpose of this research was to study the impact of price, quality and environmental concern on adopting decision of green packaging for Thai consumer. The 198 respondents were the Thai people who perceived about green package. Researcher used the questionnaire as the research tool and distributed the questionnaires to collect the date from such respondents. The Multiple Regression was employed for hypothesis testing at 0.05 level of statistically significance. The results were found that price and environment had impact on green package adopting decision for Thai consumer but quality and environmental concern did not have any effect.


A human monitoring system includes a plurality of cameras and a visual processor. The plurality of cameras are distributed around a work zone region around each camera is configured to capture a video input which contains a plurality of frames, and the plurality of individual images is time-synchronized among the respective cameras. The visual processor is configured to receive the plurality of frames of the plurality of vision-based image sensing devices and to detect the presence of a person to detect at least one of the plurality of frames using a pattern recognition is performed on an input image. The input image for pattern recognition is a sliding window portion of the frame that is aligned with a corrected coordinate system such that a vertical axis is aligned in the working zone area on a vertical axis of the input image.


In this paper, the design and the measured results of a compact active spherical phased array antenna (SPAA) are presented. Analysis is carried out including the effect of amplitude imbalances in the excitation in predicting the exact performance of the SPAA. The measured results are compared with the simulated results. Measured effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) shows close match with the simulated results.


Central Europe is not only a territorial and historical Reality, but in the Thinking of Germany during the first half of the 20th Century a concept, a cultural and a political project. Behind it is the desire for German hegemony. The meaning ranges from formal to informal imperialism. This served cultural and political purposes and did not exclude ethnic cleansing or extermination. Depending on the political constellation, the idea of Central Europe underwent frequent changes. The essay traces these changes by way of example. It examines three stages: the First World War, the interwar period, and the brief revival in the years around 1985, which came as a surprise to intellectuals in the Federal Republic of Germany.


Gender bias in autism preconceptions and diagnoses are resulting in the needs of many girls who have the condition going unmet. Sophie Walker reports


A test survey using the magnetic induced polarization (MIP) method was executed over the HYC sulfide deposit in the McArthur River area of the Northern Territory, Australia in September, 1992. The survey conducted by the Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ) using Scintrex equipment and personnel, was planned to define the MIP response over the huge stratified sulphide deposit and to compare the results with other geophysical data (including conventional IP) compiled since discovery in 1955. For current flow parallel to strike of the HYC deposit, a strong MIP anomaly was observed, providing accurate interpretation of depth and dip direction of the ore horizon and the upper pyritic shale-siltstone member. The MIP anomaly was in good agreement with the conventional electrical IP data collected with pole-dipole array. On the other hand, current flow perpendicular to strike produced no MIP anomaly. This result is consistent with the theory of MIP, indicating that the exploration programme must take account of regional geology and structures. Petrophysical study of drillcores showed the strongest IP source to be the ore horizon containing abundant sulphides. The upper pyritic shale-siltstone member also contains a considerable amount of sulphide and gives a significant IP effect. The MIP test survey verified the HYC orebody as a target for both electrical and magnetic IP methods, and MIP is suggested as a viable prospecting technique for similar base-metal targets in the region.


Atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare systemic life-threatening disorder with an unfavorable prognosis and progressive course and is based on chronic uncontrolled overactivation of the alternative complement pathway of hereditary (gene mutations with loss of function of complement regulators/activators) or acquired nature (antibodies to factor H), which leads to the development of a systemic complement-mediated form of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA). The pathomorphological essence of TMA is the development of endotheliosis, which in its turn triggers the activation of the coagulation cascade with the formation of platelet-fibrin thrombi, partially or completely occluding the lumen of the vessels of the microvasculature (small arteries and arterioles). The therapeutic approach to aHUS has been improved with the introduction of eculizumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody, into clinical practice. Eculizumab has a high affinity for the C5 component of complement and, by binding to it, completely blocks the splitting of C5 into C5a and C5b. As a result, the formation of pro-inflammatory cytokines is inhibited by blocking the formation of C5a and the membrane attack complex (MAC) by blocking the formation of C5b. This therapy improves the prognosis of the disease and reduces the risk for development of the life-threatening conditions, including end-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD). The Article represents the analysis of the Authors' own clinical experience with aHUS in the region of the Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia. The diagnosis of aHUS was based on a combination of microangiopathic non-immune hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute kidney injury, after excluding other forms of TMA. Most often, aHUS in the form of clinical manifestations of TMA was diagnosed in pediatric patients during the first 3 years of life (67%). Both pathogenic and possibly-pathogenic mutations associated with the development of aHUS were detected in 56% of cases. These included mutations in the CFH, CFI, C3 genes, heterozygous deletion of CFHR1/CFHR3. Eculizumab had demonstrated its high efficiency accompanied by the restoration of diuresis, a decrease in the severity of arterial hypertension, a rapid suppression of hemolysis activity and the signs of active TMA. Throughout the course of treatment, all patients maintained hematological remission coupled with the absence of necessity for continuing extracorporeal therapy. Conclusion: the onset of remission of aHUS against the background of complement blocking therapy with eculizumab confirmed the correctness of the established diagnosis and the chosen treatment tactics.


"De-creation" and attention are the framework of the relationship between God and the human being. With the notion of "de-creation", Simone Weil gives us her understanding of the existence of the human being which contains the prerequisite of transcendence in a twofold orientation. On one hand there is the self-knowledge and the self-surpassing for more meaning and on the other the quest for union with the Supreme Being who alone can guarantee him the fullness of being. The human being has received his existence as a gift which is also a sign of God's love for him. He is a creature to whom God has turned his attention. In fact he did not exist but the Creator gave him the opportunity of being. This attention to him is understood by Simone Weil as the God's self-will of renunciation to his power. The creation of other being is therefore a kind of renunciation to be everything. This renunciation reached the climax through the self-emptying of Christ in his death on the cross. "De-creation" is God's motion in favour of the human being that in turn measures how God loves him and appreciating its value cannot be indifferent to the elevated attention. The human being realizes therefore that he has to journey in the opposite direction and travel the same distance God did between himself and the human being. Simon Weil asked herself if this journey is possible and found that because the human being does not know to walk up vertically, he has to walk down, which means to do his own "de-creation". The "de-creation" of human being consists in overcoming in him all that keeps him from rising to God. In fact, there is in him the up and the down, the good and the evil: all that is heaviness in him which pulls him down. The great heaviness he must undo is his "ego", his autonomy. His « ego » constitutes all that opposes him to God. It is a power that he strongly exercises on the world and on the others beings, if he doesn't moderate his strength. When he undoes his ego, he allows the grace to raise him to God. However, this rising is not the end of the "de-creation's" process. As the prisoner of Plato's cavern who could have freed himself and went out to contemplate the sunlight and come back in the cavern, the human being who has had a contact with God has to come back into the world in order to transform it with the God's light he has had. The "de-created" human being doesn't flee from the world and from others in God. This coming back is to be understood as a concrete way of loving God. The authentic contact with God is to be lived in the world. The one who has had a contact with God must show the true value of the things into the world and in the same way show the value of the other human beings if he takes them like intermediaries which reveal the love of God. When the intermediaries are purely lived, they really turn the human being to God. One may talk for instance of the supernatural use of affliction, the beauty of the Universe and the compassion of the neighbour. The human being has to use affliction in a supernatural way, that means to love God through it, because the affliction suffered in spite of himself by the necessity teaches him what he is in relation to God, i.e. he is nothing. Accepting this affliction is to be in communion with Christ's Passion in which he has experienced the nothingness of the existence and also the compassion of his Father in the heaven. The accepted affliction helps the human being to be not a centre of resistance to God and open the way of the compassion of suffering neighbour. The beauty of the Universe puts the human being on God's path if it is taken as the manifestation of the beauty of his Creator. The Universe's order is a sight of the presence of God. When the human being contemplates the beauty of the Universe as a reality in which his is included, he is well disposed to awaken himself to the reality and to the eternity, and to turn his attention towards the others and God. The love or the compassion for the neighbour is the intermediary par excellence because there is identity between the love of God and the neighbour in the Gospel. The neighbour whom we must love is mainly the needy. The prototype of the needy is the one of the Gospel's parable of the Good Samaritan. The needy is an "absent humanity" deserted on roadside. However, the human being flees naturally the affliction. The face of the neighbour who is needy paralyses and put us to flight. The only one who has been in contact with God can have a pure compassion of the poor neighbour. But his action has to be a "non efficient action". It means that his action has to be accomplished, not with autonomous' mind, but with a mind of perfect obedience. A real action of compassion of the needy is the one we accomplish aware of being an instrument of God. The process of human being's "de-creation" has been sometimes understood as a pure and simple self-destruction. However, when we consider the writings of Simone Weil as a whole, we can realize that the annihilation she recommends is annihilation in God who will gift to the human being the fullness of being. This annihilation is the synonym of "going out of self" in order to be oneself with God. In connection with that, Simone Weil wrote: "De-creation as transcendent fulfilment of the creation, annihilation in God who gives to the annihilated creature the fullness of being that he is deprived of as long as he exists" (WEIL Simone, Œuvres completes, Vol. 3 (fevrier 1942 – juin 1942). La porte du Transcendant, Paris, Gallimard, 2002, p. 170.


Change is taking place in all fields in this society which can be developed by the advancement of science and technology. Disappointment is to be the sower of good. At the same time, new initiatives are being taken in the field of education. There is a lot of research being done on how to make education easier for students. Blind mindset is increasingly being manipulated in today's education system. You can also see the way many educational institutions bully students in order to get high marks. When such activities take place, students can be easily educated through arts such as music, painting and drama; Akkalas can simplify learning like way tutorial. Students will easily achieve the level of learning by eliminating the blind mindset.


The p-1 radiation model was applied to solve the temperature profiles inside the dome.The 3D numerical simulation was done based on the CFD technique for the dome in R55-region of CPR1000 nuclear power station.The effect of solar radiation,inlet velocity and ambient temperature on internal thermal environment of dome was analyzed.The results showed that the effect of ambient temperature on internal thermal environment was most obvious,the solar radiation was less obvious and the inlet velocity was the least obvious.The results obtained provide the basis for the research of improving the internal thermal environment of dome in nuclear power station.


(...) This study was conducted to develop DRIS norms for bahiagrass-pastures and to evaluate the accuracy of those norms. A database, from which the DRIS norms were determined, was assembled by collecting 857 bahiagrass-pasture samples from ongoing bahiagrass field fertility trials located in nine counties throughout central Florida and analyzing the samples for N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu. At the time of sampling, forage yields were also determined. When DRIS norms were applied to data from an independent study in which bahiagrass was grown in greenhouse solution culture, known nutrient deficiencies were accurately diagnosed (...)


The purpose of this article is to discuss the construction of legislations (in special the resolutionof SESA n° 004/2017 of Parana state), as a way of breaking down the barriers imposed to farmingfamilies by the health standards. Working from an inclusive perspective, the legislationsadapted to the realities serve as instruments of the farming families, allowing a higher insertionof their products on the market. For this, a revision of the legislation was used and how resolutionRDC no 49, October 31,2013 and the resolution SESA no 004/2017 were created, beingpossible to observe the participation of many society segments in their construction (includingagroecological producers, consonants with these agroindustries). Despite the advances, it isimportant to emphasize the importance to discuss questions about the despadronization ofartisanal products, stimulating the appropriation of this theme among the health surveillanceinspectors.


Uncontrollable nature of wind power causes using wind turbine induction generators. From the viewpoint of stability, induction generators consume reactive power similar to the induction motor, and it has a negative impact on short-term voltage stability and system voltage profile. This main issue of wind turbines that equipped with doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) becomes bold in the grid faults. In this thesis, a new solution for uninterrupted operation of wind turbine driving a DFIG has been proposed during fault condition in the grid. A fault current limiter (FCL) is placed in series with the rotor circuit. During fault condition FCL enters a huge solenoid in the rotor circuit to inhabit increasing of current in the rotor circuit. When the fault is cleared the FCL bypasses the solenoid. A static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and a static VAR compensator (SVC) have been applied for supplying required reactive power in faults and steady states. Capability and modeling accuracy of the proposed method confirmed with simulating a sample power system in MATLAB/Simulink software.


The object of this study is the geosystems of gas-saturated permafrost. Currently, the theoretical basis for examination of gas component in permafrost is practically not developed. At the same time, the theoretical and practical significance of this problem has rapidly increased in recent years. This is due to gas emissions during drilling of wells in frozen rocks, the identification of significant greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic, the detection of previously unknown processes in the permafrost zone – the formation of craters due to gas emissions.The main method applied in the article is the analysis of research materials. The synthesis of the results was carried out on the basis of the geosystem approach. The authors are first to demonstrate that gas-saturated zones in seasonally and permafrost rocks have all the attributes of geosystems: localization in space, boundaries, morphology, individual structure and properties, development history, life cycle, hierarchy. Five types of geosystem were determined: active layer; genetic type; confined to geological structures; secondary, associated with the decomposition of gas hydrates in vivo; technogenic (due to thermal or mechanical effects on hydrated and gas saturated frozen rocks). The artcile describes promising directions in studying gas-saturated geosystems of permafrost zone, as well as  the advanced research methods.


A printed MIMO antenna with an embedded metamaterial matching network to increase the bandwidth is proposed for a LTE mobile handset application. The proposed antenna has an isolation of 30 dB at 0.77 GHz (LTE band 13) and the -6dB bandwidth increased from 19MHz to 65MHz.


In this paper, we show the broadband antireflection property of radio frequency sputter-grown zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin films grown on ion-beam fabricated self-organized nanoscale rippled- (R-Si) and faceted-Si (F-Si) substrates. For the sake of comparison, ZTO film has been deposited simultaneously on pristine-Si (P-Si) substrate as well. X-ray diffraction studies show the amorphous nature of the films. Atomic force microscopic studies reveal the conformal growth of ZTO thin films (granular in nature) on both R- and F-Si substrates (up to 60 nm). Surface reflectance measurements show a large reduction in the average broadband (300–800 nm) surface reflectance (at 550 nm) from 43.9% for P-Si substrate to 42% and 32% for R-Si and F-Si substrate, respectively. In addition, we show a further reduction in the surface reflectance following the growth of ZTO overlayers (in the range of 15–60 nm) on P-Si, R-Si, and F-Si substrates. As a matter of fact, there is a continuous reduction in surface reflectance up to a thickness of 60 nm, beyond which the reflectance minimum starts increasing. The large reduction in the surface reflectance of ZTO coated P-, R-, and F-Si substrates are attributed to the graded refractive index of the heterostructures driven by the surface morphology of the substrates and the different average surface heights of the films. This study will be very useful for efficient ZTO-based optoelectronic devices and heterojunction solar cell applications.


HE characteristics of a nation, as well as those of a social class, are historically determined. The socioeconomic organization of Germany grew out of feudalism and serfdom, and the social implications of that system remained effective long after its economic aspects had disappeared. The middleclass revolutions of the first half of the nineteenth century did not break the power positions of the feudal nobility in Germany. It was considered satisfactory that the new exponents of industry and finance were admitted to the narrow circle of the social elite which


Sir, Lichen planus (LP) is an immunologically mediated inflammatory disorder involving skin, hair, nail, and mucous membrane. It affects all irrespective of age, sex, and geographic location. Although the oral mucosa is the most common mucosa involved in LP, genital mucosal erosions are also seen in elderly females, which is known as vulvovagino-gingival syndrome.[1] Here, we are sharing our experience of isolated genital erosive LP treated with metronidazole 500 mg twice daily for 3 months.


Thromboembolism continues to be a major complication occurring after prosthetic heart valve replacement. It is thought that thrombus formation on prosthetic surfaces may be primarily related to the adherence of platelets with subsequent platelet aggregates and the deposition of fibrin.Platelet adhesiveness was examined in 40 patients with Bjork-Shiley prosthetic heart valves; 28 of them were receiving 1500-2250mg of clofibrate, 5 receiving 300mg of dipyridamole, and the remaining 7 receiving warfarin alone. None of the patients had a history of thromboembolism. Platelet adhesiveness in a glass bead column was determined by a modified technique of Salzman. It is known that by this method not only platelet adhesiveness was detected but also platelet aggregation induced by ADP which was released from erythrocytes hemolysing on the glass surface owing to the blood flow. Student's t-test was used to compare the means for statistical significance.The mean platelet adhesiveness in patients with prostheses was decreased, and differed significantly (p<0.005) from the normal control value. It seemed likely that a platelet suppressant drug such as clofibrate or dipyridamole play a role in decreased adhesiveness. The mean platelet adhesiveness in 13 patients with an aortic prosthesis receiving clofibrate alone was not statistically different from that in 9 patients with a mitral prosthesis receiving clofibrate in combination with warfarin. Four of 7 patients receiving warfarin alone showed a relatively decreased platelet adhesiveness of below 15%, but there was no obvious correlation between platelet adhesiveness and Thrombotest value in these patients.The mean platelet count in patients with double prostheses was relatively low, and differed significantly from that in patients with an aortic or with a mitral prosthesis (p<0.0005 and p<0.01 respectively). The mean platelet adhesiveness in patients with an aortic prothesis was slightly decreased, and differed significantly (p<0.05) from that in patients with a mitral prothesis. The mean platelet count in patients with atrial fibrillation was signficantly (p<0.0005) different from the count in those with normal sinus rhythm, but no significant difference was found in platelet adhesiveness between the two groups.No correlation was found between platelet count and adhesiveness, and also between hematocrit (ranging 24 to 47%) and platelet adhesiveness in the patients with prostheses.The measurement of platelet adhesiveness by this method is easy to do and thought to be useful. However, further studies are expected on correlations between the platelet adhesivness and other platelet functions including platelet aggregation, platelet survival time and also the clinical incidence of thromboembolism.


The utility discloses a square lithium battery assembly comprising dry cell pack stacked by multiple dry cells, electrode extracted circuit board connecting with the dry cell pack characterized in that outer ring of dry cell pack is provided with binding structure comprising two pinch plates and at least a group of binding members; the pinch plates are parallel disposed at two sides of the dry cell and connected with each other by the binding members to constitute close fit of inner side wall of pinch plate and outer wall of dry cell. Locking force of the binging structure to the dry cell avoids reduced firmness of battery pack arising from expansion between pole piece, effectively promotes circulation ability of charging or discharging of battery pack, prolongs use life of lithium battery.


The temperature difference between the inside and outside of the concrete bridge causes the appearance of early cracks in the concrete bridge. The thermal cracks are appeared on surfaces or inside the bridge body. The sources of the thermal loads come from solar radiation, air temperature, wind speed, and the heat of hydration of cement after pouring concrete (at the early edge of concrete). Concrete T-section used to study the temperature distribution at the early edge, fourteen thermocouples used to measure the temperature during the day; these thermocouples were placed in the different location inside the concrete bridge as well as on its surface. The temperature-time curves were obtained for each thermocouple, from these curves it was found that the effect of cement hydration on the internal temperature was during the first 48 hours, while the effect of solar radiation was evident during daylight hours on the top surface of the model. The effect of solar radiation continues while the effect of cement hydration vanished after 48 hours.


ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the addition of sea cucumber flour on the organoleptic and proximate characteristics of wet noodles. This study consisted of four treatments, namely without the addition of sand sea cucumber flour (T0), the addition of 5% sea cucumber flour (T1), the addition of 10% sea cucumber flour (T2), and the addition of 15% sea cucumber flour (T3). The analyzed parameters were organoleptic and physicochemical values. This study used a completely randomized design (CRD). Data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and continued with Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at a 95% confidence level. The results show that the effect of adding sand sea cucumber flour had a very significant effect on organoleptic assessment in T1 treatment (95% wheat flour: 5% sea cucumber flour) with preference scores of color, aroma, taste, and texture reached 4.03 (like), 4.06 (like), 3.91 (like), and 4.06 (like). Proximate analysis of the best treatment shows that it contained 50.12% water, 1.18% ash, 0.20% fat, 7.23% protein, and 41.75% carbohydrate. The results show that the product met the standard of SNI 01-2987-1992 for ash, fat, and protein contents. Keywords: Sea Cucumber, Wet NoodlesABSTRAKTujuan penelitian ini untuk menentukan pengaruh penambahan tepung teripang pasir terhadap karakteristik organoleptik dan proksimat mie basah. Penelitian ini terdiri dari empat perlakuan yaitu tanpa penambahan tepung teripang pasir (T0), penambahan tepung teripang pasir 5% (T1), penambahan tepung teripang pasir 10% (T2), dan penambahan tepung teripang pasir 15% (T3), lalu dianalisis terhadap nilai organoleptik dan fisikokimia. Penelitian ini menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL). Data di analisis menggunakan Analysis of Varian (ANOVA) dan dilanjutkan dengan uji Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) pada taraf kepercayaan 95%. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengaruh penambahan tepung teripang pasir berpengaruh sangat nyata terhadap penilaian organoleptik pada perlakuan T1 (tepung terigu 95% : tepung teripang pasir 5%) sebesar warna 4.03 (suka), aroma 4.06 (suka), rasa 3.91 (suka), dan tekstur 4.06 (suka). Analisis proksimat perlakuan terbaik diperoleh nilai kadar air 50.12%, kadar abu 1.18%, kadar lemak 0.20%, kadar protein 7.23% dan kadar karbohidrat 41.75%. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian nilai kadar abu, kadar lemak, dan kadar protein telah memenuhi SNI 01-2987-1992.Kata kunci: Teripang Pasir, Mie Basah


Solo show featuring two related works 'IUNX' and a digital video '5000 years ritual VOLCANIC'.
The work embraces the physicality of a 95 year old woman who continues to enjoy sunbathing on a wild beach in Sardinia. It embraces her tenacity and relationship to the idea of a volcanically formed beach and her enjoyment of a selection of wild bikinis.


A total of 90 accessions of castor germplasm represented from north-eastern region of India were studied for seed morphological characteristics viz. seed length, seed breadth, caruncle size, mottling, seed surface texture, seed coat thickness and seed coat colour. Morphological variations were observed among different accessions for seed characters and significant correlation was recorded among seed morphological traits.


The mathematical model of steel strip EPC system was rebuilt to eliminate model error,which is the result of neglecting the time-lag caused by detector mounting position.Based on the new model,model reference neural network control method was developed.The result of simulation indicates that model reference neural network method can achieve good performance under small parameter changing of reference model,which shows good robustness of the method.


On July 6th, 2020, a white-tailed deer in Chiapas was captured and rescued by residents from Canoas neighborhood in Motozintla de Mendoza. Chiapas, Mexico. According to local rumors, the specimen was chased by illegal hunters and feral dogs. A few hours after its capture, the white-tailed deer perished due to beats in its hind legs and from a myocardial stroke, caused by stress (capture myopathy). Later, the animal's body was used to measure the antlers set, the Method 17-T Entry Form for white-tailed deer with typical antlers from the Safari Club International (SCI) was used with a measuring tape in inches. The following measurements were taken to the antler set: a) Length of main beam, b) Length of typical tines, c) Circumference of main beam and d) Inside span of main beams. These measures gave a total score of 394/8 SCI points. This score is low, considering that the reported individual was a juvenile male with an age of approximately 2.5 years old, presenting a single point in the antler set. Finally, one of the important events found is that the white-tailed deer showed the detachment of the velvet that covers the antlers, even traces were found that the antlers were recently carved since they presented pieces of leaves adhered to the main branch of the left antler. The event occurred in July (rainy season), and may be due to the genetic characteristics of their parents, the type and quality of the habitat, the quality of forage and the variations of rain and droughts (seasonal), as well as the daylight hours.


Abstract Time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering has been used to study the phase transformation kinetics of a thermally quenched, asymmetric, diblock copolymer. The roles played by homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation in the microdomain ordering process are considered through comparison of results from pure samples and samples doped with impurities. This crystallization process is unique in that it involves constituent particles (microdomains) that are hundreds of angstroms in size ordering onto a lattice with spacings on a similar length scale. Models derived from classical nucleation and growth theories are used to analyze results from pure and doped samples. Clear experimental evidence of a heterogeneous nucleation process occurring in the doped samples suggests that impurity effects cannot be ignored in these materials. In addition, it is proposed that the late-time coexistence of crystalline and amorphous microdomain structures is due to strain energy effects induced by the volume constraints...


Different-sized bodies of water have been proposed to have occurred episodically in the lowlands of Mars throughout the planet's history, largely related to major stages of development of Tharsis and/or orbital obliquity. These water bodies range from large oceans in the Noachian-Early Hesperian, to a minor sea in the Late Hesperian, and dispersed lakes during the Amazonian. To evaluate the more recent discoveries regarding the oceanic possibility, here we perform a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of water on Mars, including: 1. Geological assessment of proposed shorelines; 2. A volumetric approximation to the plains-filing proposed oceans; 3. Geochemistry of the oceans and derived mineralogies; 4. Post-oceanic (i.e., Amazonian) evolution of the shorelines; and 5. Ultimate water evolution on Mars.


An Advanced Alarm System (AAS) is primarily a digital system employing advanced alarm process logics and a VDU (Visual Display Unit) based control and display for the alarms. Active Database Systems (ADSs) are able to monitor a special situation represented by an event and one or more conditions. When the event occurs and the conditions are evaluated as true, the corresponding actions are executed. Hence, ADSs can recognize specific situations and react to them without direct explicit user or application requests. ADSs are very useful for timely applications such as the advanced, alarm processing. This paper proposes a new approach to the advanced alarm processing by using Event-Condition- Action(ECA) rules that can be automatically triggered by an active database. And this paper describes the design considerations and solution plan for advanced alarm processing by using active database techniques. (authors)


Introduction: Phlegmasia cerulea dolens (PCD) is a rare pathology with a very high morbidity and mortality rate, which usually occurs in the lower limb. There is very little literature available to aid management. Case Report: We present a case of upper limb PCD in a 67-year-old female secondary to heparin-induced thrombocytopenia caused by warfarin bridging. She presented to the orthopedic team with upper limb compartment syndrome from a bleed around a peripherally inserted central catheter, for which she was urgently taken to the theater for fasciotomies. Postoperatively, the patient's platelets dropped and the upper limb pain and swelling continued; after conservative management and anticoagulation failed the patient had an upper limb amputation of her right arm. Conclusion: With limited guidelines and management options restricted by the large fasciotomy wounds, we believe amputation was the patients' best option.


A zonal dc electrical distribution system topology is presented for on-board applications. The system is based on using high speed permanent magnet synchronous generators driven by gas turbines as prime movers and DC distribution with local conversion at the load points. Proposed permanent magnet generator design and construction, system topology and evaluation are given. A scaled down experimental test set up is described in this paper.


The Italian landscape has seen numerous changes in the last twenty years connected with different 'driving forces' of a prevalently socio-economic nature, which are reflected in the general 'banalisation' of the landscape and a continuous expansion of urbanised areas. An analysis of data from the 'Inventory of Land Use in Italy' provides a precise picture of the dynamics of landscape change which allows us to assess the real capacity of national parks to safeguard the environment. It was found from a comparative analysis that although the figure for the urbanised surface area of parks (1%) is currently much lower than the national average (7.3%), it's rate of increase over the last 20 years compared to the 1990 figure is quite similar (20% in parks and 24% in the country as a whole).


Abstract For the first time, the square-well (SW) model is used as a reference system in the thermodynamic variational calculations for liquids. The SW system is taken within the random phase approximation. To apply this approach to simple metals, the local Animalu–Heine model pseudopotential, the Vashishta–Singwi exchange-correlation function, and the Nozieres–Pines exchange-correlation energy are used. Thermodynamics and structure of liquid Na at T = 373 K are studied. We found that there are several areas of the SW parameters where the solution is stable. We chose the best of such areas in which the calculated structure factor is in good agreement with the experimental one. Then the Helmholtz free energy is minimized in this area with respect to the hard-core diameter and the SW depth at the fixed SW width. It was found that the SW variational procedure gives an upper bound of the Helmholtz free energy which is lower than that in the hard-sphere variational procedure, and that the obtained thermodynamic properties are in reasonable agreement with the experiment.


Virtual reality is a creation of human exploration, which is used to know the principle of the nature, analogue the rule of nature, thus better adapt to and take advantage of natural science methods and techniques. The technology of spatial data acquisition is the key to the technology of 3D city virtual. 3D laser scanning technology based on extraction of 3D point cloud has the data-gathering platform of groundwork, space-based, vehicle-mounted, space-borne widely. In addition to the data-gathering platform widely, the data collection technique based on the extraction of image forms also has photogrammetry with polymorphous type, multi-spectrum and tech-system of data collection based on remote sensing. By development of involving in program and combination of physical geography prospect technology and general measurement, the extraction of information based on the underground space achieves data collection and modeling.


Background : Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are an alternative for patients with peripheral arterial disease. Costs and re-intervention rates are potentially reduced compared to other technologies. We assessed the economic impact of these endovascular therapies. Methods : An Italian National Healthcare Service-perspective budget impact model with a 5-year horizon was developed to compare relative costs of 4 index procedures (plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA), DCBs, and bare-metal and drug-eluting stents (BMSs, DESs)) based on 1-year repeat-procedure rates (target-lesion revascularization (TLR)). A published systematic review of TLR rates in patients with femoral-popliteal disease undergoing these treatments was used to measure effectiveness. Costs associated with each treatment were derived from diagnosis-related group tariffs. A decision analytic model was developed to estimate 1-year costs for index procedures and possible revascularizations. Results : Pooled TLR rates show clear patient benefits for DCBs (6.9%) compared with POBA (21.6%) and BMSs (14.2%) and non-inferiority vs. DESs (7.3%). One-year payments for index and repeat interventions (by TLR rate) showed that DCBs were the least costly strategy, saving ~€1,000/patient vs. POBA. The potential savings were €8.7M, assuming 5% annual increase in DCB adoption over 5 years. Conclusions : Despite initial higher investment, DCB represent a cost-saving alternative to other technologies.


Greenhouse gases have a significant impact on general global climate change. A self-calibrated multiharmonic measurement system based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) with wavelength modulation spectroscopy, using the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser, is developed and applied to measure the CO2 and H2O concentrations in the urban areas. The precision of the developed system is evaluated using the Allan variance method, and it is found that the multiharmonic can enhance the precision of the system and the first-to-third harmonics are sufficient to achieve the lowest Allan deviation. To validate its accuracy, comparison experiments with the commercial nondispersive infrared (NDIR) instrument (Li-Cor 840A) are performed and the results demonstrate the high accuracy of the TDLAS system and its consistency with the NDIR instrument. Measurements were carried out in autumn and winter of 2017 in the city center of Munich. The results indicate that the in situ measurement of the CO2 concentration in the downtown area correlates with both natural and anthropogenic activities. Due to its high precision and accuracy, the self-calibrated multiharmonic measurement system has a great potential to further study the emission and distribution of CO2 in the urban areas.


Abstract Introduction: In modern civilization different kinds of animals live with us as pets. These pets have different diseases and are on medications. Close contact with animals can cause medication adverse reactions or may worsen pre-existing conditions in humans. Here we present an interesting case of hypothyroidism worsened by transdermal absorption of methimazole administered for feline hyperthyroidism. Case History: 66-year-old Caucasian female with past medical history of postoperative hypothyroidism s/p total thyroidectomy secondary to multinodular goiter due to Hashimoto's thyroiditis with a 0.2 cm papillofollicular microcarcinoma and 0.7 cm follicular adenoma presented for follow up. She complained of weight gain, lethargy and dry skin for the past 4 months. She was on a stable dose of levothyroxine 112 mcg daily for the past year. She took her pill correctly and did not miss any doses. Her other medical problems were impaired fasting glucose, osteopenia and B12 deficiency. Her repeat thyroid function tests showed TSH 11.2 mc IU/ l (0.4 -4) (TSH - 0.538 mc IU/ L 6 months back), T4 - 6.8 mcg/ dl (4.5 - 12) (T4 8.9 6 months back). She had a measurable serum thyroglobulin of 0.4 ng/ml with antithyroglobulin antibody 11 IU/ml (<115) consistent with some residual thyroid tissue despite her history of a "total thyroidectomy". Due to recent worsening of her symptoms with elevated TSH on background of previous stable levothyroxine requirement, further detailed history was taken. She reported that her cat was suffering from hyperthyroidism, treated with methimazole 10 mg daily. The patient used to cut the pill in half with bare hands and fed it to her pet. She also used to handle wet methimazole that her cat coughed up. Her levothyroxine dose was continued at 112 mcg daily. The patient was advised to use gloves before feeding and wash her hands after feeding her cat. Her symptoms resolved after she took precautions and TSH normalized to 1.170 mc IU/ l with T4 7.6 two months later. Conclusion: Absorption of methimazole by transdermal administration has been shown in cats1. A study by Kasraee et al showed safety of a 5% topical methimazole application for treatment of post inflammatory hyperpigmentation in humans with no change in thyroid function tests2. Our case contradicts this study and indicates that methimazole might be absorbed transdermally in humans. To conclude, more studies are needed to study the effect of transdermal administration of methimazole in humans. References: 1. Hill KE, Mills PC, Jones BR et.al. Percutaneous absorption of methimazole: an in vitro study of the absorption pharmacokinetics for two different vehicles. J Vet Pharmacol Ther. 2015;38(6):581-589. PMID: 25683868 2. Kasraee B et al. Safety of topical methimazole for the treatment of melasma. Transdermal absorption, the effect on thyroid function and cutaneous adverse effects. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2008;21(6):300-305. PMID: 18667842


Condensation of anhydrous hydrazine with a variety of benzocycloheptapyridinones led to N-aminobenzocycloheptapyridinimines. Regiospecific ring closures occurred in all the systems investigated.


This study made an extensive laboratory testing of effectiveness of cement treatment on geotechnical parameters of soils encountered in the southern coast line of Caspian Sea, including Gorgan Loess, Rasht Clay and Anzali Sand. Addition of cement caused significant improvement in unconfined compressive strength and modulus of elasticity. Triaxial test results indicated that while cement treatment improved shear strength remarkably, the type of failure varied greatly from ductile to brittle behavior. The large scale direct shear test results showed significant improvement in shear strength. Besides, brittle behavior of cement treated samples has been observed. Cement treatment increased the cohesion parameter in both triaxial and direct shear tests, considerably. Eventually, it was observed that failure envelope trend of cement treated samples is non-linear and some failure criteria such as modified Griffith theory (1962) and also the criterion suggested by Johnston (1985) can describe the soil cement behavior, satisfactorily.


We have extended OWL-Time to support the encoding of temporal position in a range of reference systems, in addition to the Gregorian calendar and conventional clock. Two alternative implementations are provided: as a pure extension or OWL- Time, or as a replacement, both of which preserve the same representation for the cases originally supported by OWL-Time. The combination of the generalized temporal position encoding and the temporal interval topology from OWL-Time support a range of applications in a variety of cultural and technical settings. These are illustrated with examples involving non-Gregorian calendars, Unix-time, and geologic time using both chronometric and stratigraphic timescales.


Back ground: Alcoholism is the biggest burden to the health and socioeconomic development of the world. The social welfare system and the criminal justice system, often the first to come into contact with alcohol-related problems, can be sensitized in identifying and assisting individuals and families at risk for heavy drinking and acting as early referral systems. Extensive opportunities exist to lessen alcohol problems through community education and the prevention of drunk driving, domestic violence, public disorder, unintentional injuries and criminal damage. To manage withdrawal symptoms, gait and balance, drugs have been used abundantly. Yoga is an easily available and cost effective tool to manage these symptoms. Materials and methods: A total of sixty alcoholic dependent individuals has been selected from two different de-addiction camps and were recruited for this study after satisfying the inclusion and exclusion criteria and by using an AUDIT questionnaire for the screening of the subjects. The first group comprised of a yoga intervention and the second remained to be the control. Subjects in both the groups were matched to their age group. Subjects in the yoga group practiced yoga for a period of 10 days. While the control group carried on its routine activities. Both the groups were assessed for balance, gait and withdrawal symptoms at baseline and following 10 days. Results: The yoga group showed significant improvement in the balance (p<0.006), gait (p<0.029) and vomiting (p<0.001).T test and non-parametric study (Wilkinson's test) was used to compare with the control group. Interpretation and conclusion: Ten days of yoga practice has shown to bring a positive influence in alcoholic dependent individuals as signified by reduced vomiting symptom and improved gait and balance. Further studies are warranted to observe the withdrawal symptoms by long term yogic intervention.


By designing teaching program with the stacking model of experiential teaching, teachers can make an interactive instructional circumstance, in which the participants can take part in the teaching process and demonstrate what they have learnt by employing specific researching method on the base of personal experiences. It is called a stacking model of experiential teaching, which emphasis on the dual-experience. Taking 'public crisis management' course as an example, the application of stacking model of experiential teaching can be shown.


The isotropic hyperfine interactions of radicals or ions have been discussed from the viewpoint of the self‐consistent field (SCF) molecular orbital theory. In these phenomena, the most important electron configurations concerned are those arising due to the one electron excitations from the double occupied orbital to the vacant orbital together with the lowest energy configuration. The proton hyperfine splitting of the methyl radical was calculated nonempirically by using the SCF‐LCAO‐MOs in adopting the first order perturbation. The agreement with the observed value is quite good when one uses MOs that include the 3s AO of carbon atom, while it is not so satisfactory in the case of the MOs without the 3s AO, because of the improvement of the form of the totally symmetric antibonding vacant orbital which gives the main contribution to the phenomena.


One of the main objectives of Natural Language Processing is the simulation of natural language understanding. Within the applications designed for this purpose today, ARTEMIS follows the paradigm of unification grammars (Sag, I., Wasow, T. & Bender, E. 2003), and unlike other trending computational resources, it is theoretically grounded in linguistic models like RRG (Van Valin & LaPolla 1997 and Van Valin 2005), whose linking algorithm lies at the basis of the parsing process of our interlingua-based system.
A fundamental component of ARTEMIS is the Grammar Development Environment (GDE), where feature-based production rules (syntactic, constructional and lexical) are stored and ready to allow the generation of the enhanced layered structure of the clause of natural language expressions (Periñán-Pascual 2013: 222). Syntactic rules for phrasal constituents and simple sentences have already been described (Cortés-Rodríguez 2016; Cortés-Rodríguez & Mairal-Usón 2016; Díaz-Galán & Fumero-Pérez 2015; Fumero-Pérez & Díaz-Galán 2017; Martín-Díaz 2017 and Martín-Díaz 2018), but it now turns to focus on complex sentences, and, to be more precise, on adverbial subordination.
Bearing in mind the validation of these syntactic rules and the common problems that may arise in such parsing applications, our research will concentrate on the analysis of these structures as found in a Controlled Natural Language: ASD-STE100.


The effects of bronchodilators (BD) are traditionally assessed using forced expiratory maneuvers. Real-life evaluation of BD is desirable. Structured light plethysmography (SLP) is a non-contact, non-invasive method of assessment of breathing pattern during tidal breathing. We used a Thora-3Di ™ (PneumaCare, UK) to evaluate the BD effects on breathing pattern during tidal breathing in COPD patients.

Measurements were taken during tidal breathing, pre and post administration of short-acting BD in 41 COPD patients (31M, 65±8yrs, mean post-BD FEV1=63±23%predicted). Breath Phase (BP, the phase difference between thorax and abdomen as measured using the Konno-Mead X-Y plot, a measure of thoraco-abdominal asynchrony), the inspiratory and expiratory phases (IP and EP respectively, two different measures of asynchrony between thorax and abdomen), time to peak tidal expiratory flow over expiratory time (TPTEF/TE, a measure of airways obstruction and flow-limitation), inspiratory capacity (IC) and dyspnoea (visual analog scale, VAS) were measured.

In the 29 patients who showed an increase in post-BD IC>130mL, the following variables changed significantly (p<0.05): BP=-3.5%, IP=-2, EP:=-1, TPTEF/TE=-0.03, VAS=2cm. In the remaining 12 patients no significant changes were observed.

SLP was able to detect a change in thoraco-abdominal asynchrony, tidal breathing pattern and flow-limitation in COPD patients who deflated their lungs (increased IC) and decreased their dyspnoea after BD. This novel approach and analysis of resting quiet breathing is a promising non-contact tool that is able to predict the perceptual (dyspnoea) and volume (IC) response to BD.


Deep generative models have become useful for synthetic data generation, particularly population synthesis. The models implicitly learn the probability distribution of a dataset and can draw samples from a distribution. Several models have been proposed, but their performance is only tested on a single cross-sectional sample. The implementation of population synthesis on single datasets is seen as a drawback that needs further studies to explore the robustness of the models on multiple datasets. While comparing with the real data can increase trust and interpretability of the models, techniques to evaluate deep generative models' robustness for population synthesis remain underexplored. In this study, we present bootstrap confidence interval for the deep generative models, an approach that computes efficient confidence intervals for mean errors predictions to evaluate the robustness of the models to multiple datasets. Specifically, we adopt the tabular-based Composite Travel Generative Adversarial Network (CTGAN) and Variational Autoencoder (VAE), to estimate the distribution of the population, by generating agents that have tabular data using several samples over time from the same study area. The models are implemented on multiple travel diaries of Montre´al Origin-Destination Survey of 2008, 2013, and 2018 and compare the predictive performance under varying sample sizes from multiple surveys. Results show that the predictive errors of CTGAN have narrower confidence intervals indicating its robustness to multiple datasets of the varying sample sizes when compared to VAE. Again, the evaluation of model robustness against varying sample size shows a minimal decrease in model performance with decrease in sample size. This study directly supports agent-based modelling by enabling finer synthetic generation of populations in a reliable environment. analyse the robustness of deep generative models to changes in varying populations. In this study, we adopt the tabular-based Composite Travel GAN (CTGAN) that outputs selected tabular attributes and the Tabular Variational Autoencoder. We compare similarity in statistical information of the synthesized results of the tabular-based CTGAN and the VAE based on activity diaries of three different surveys. Thus, the model is trained on varying sample population from Montreal origin-destination survey in 2008, 2013, and 2018. The CTGAN outperforms the VAE in all the observations with minimum error rates. We evaluate the robustness of the deep generative models based on variation in sample population. Even though an incremental change in sample population slightly decreases the error rate, it cannot be the basis for performance of the model. Subsequently, we use bootstrapping method to estimate the confidence intervals of the models by determining the mean of the error metrics from more populations. We demonstrate that our model can generate synthesized data on different datasets at varying sample sizes while maintaining minimal error.


The aim of this research was to identify the
effectiveness of cost-optimizing a photovoltaic-powered
electrodialysis reversal (PV-EDR) system for village-scale
applications in rural India based on current component costs and
performance. Currently available village-scale off-grid
desalination systems have high capital costs - $11,250 USD compared
to $4,500 USD for equivalent grid-connected systems - rendering
them prohibitively expensive for cost-constrained communities.
Compared to current state-of- the-art PV-powered reverse osmosis
desalination systems, electrodialysis has the potential to reduce
capital cost due to the lower energy requirement of the ED process
at brackish feed water salinities. The parametric relationships
that govern the characteristics of the electrodialysis process and
photovoltaic power systems were investigated and a model was
created to predict a PV-EDR system's cost and performance. Through
optimization, it was found that the optimal design was composed of
a GE Water electrodialysis stack with 62 cell pairs, an applied
stack voltage of 45 V, a batch size of 0.42 in 3 , and a power
system with 57.5 m2 of photovoltaic solar panels and 22 kWh of
batteries. The system is predicted to run 17.7 hours per day on
average and cost $23,420. This was a 42% reduction from the $40,138
cost of a PV-EDR system designed using the conventional engineering
practice of sequentially designing the load and then the power
system. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to evaluate the
effects of different parameter changes on optimal system cost and
design. The analysis revealed that relaxing the reliability
requirement from 100% to 98% would reduce the optimal cost by 5.7%.
An ED membrane cost reduction of 87% would cause the previous
optimal system design to have a system cost of $15,360. The
analysis revealed that optimizing the system with the lower
membrane cost results in a system with a different configuration
and a system cost of $11,717, a 24% additional cost reduction that
was enabled by a flexible operation schedule since the lower
membrane cost optimized system would operate on average for 8.6
hours per day instead of 17.7. A pilot PV-EDR system was built and
installed in the village of Chelluru in India, where a week-long
trial was conducted to collect initial data and results. With the
exception of a few practicalities not considered in the model, the
experimental results closely matched the PV-EDR system performance
model on the basis of solar irradiance, batch power and battery
energy levels. To fully validate the model and make it more
accurate, long-term field testing must be conducted over the course
of a full annual irradiance cycle.


Objective: The structure of the Israeli healthcare system is such that it is frequently more convenient for the patient to present to an ophthalmologic emergency department (OED) at night instead of waiting for a scheduled appointment in an outpatient setting. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the diagnoses of patients who attended an OED of a tertiary referral center at night during a one-year period.
Methods: A prospective study. All patients who presented to our medical center's OED between 22:00-06:00 were enrolled. On presentation, all patients filled in a demographic and medical questionnaire, and the attending ophthalmologists filled in another questionnaire on the diagnosis and the treatment that had been provided. Data from electronic/paper medical records were collected and analyzed, and cases were categorized post-factum as urgent or non-urgent.
Results: A total of 1,290 patients (50% females, mean age 38 years) comprised the study group. Of them, 364 (29.7%) were self - referred, 208 (17%) were referred by a general practitioner or an ophthalmologist, and 404 (32.9%) were referred for consultation from within the general ED. Trauma was the most frequent diagnosis (47%), followed by infectious/inflammatory conditions (16%), and 365 (29.3%) cases were categorized as "non-urgent".
Conclusion: Patients who pay nighttime OED visits require ophthalmic care in a range of urgency. We believe it is justified to have in-house on call ophthalmologist during night shift in the ED. However, a significant proportion of the nighttime visits constitute non-urgent cases that could have been treated in ophthalmic primary care facilities. Implying flaws in the structure of the country's healthcare system by overloading the tertiary care facilities where costs are considerably higher than in the community. Allocation of appropriate resources to such facilities may lead to improved patient management and alleviation of the heavy burden on the public healthcare system.


Professor David Southall must have been investigated more than any other doctor.1 He has appeared before the General Medical Council on five separate charges, and has been investigated by the police, his trust, and his strategic health authority. He has been cleared at every stage. He has been compared to Dr Mengele in parliament and vilified by the media, …


Summary The enhancement of the blood fibrinolytic potential by physical exercise is generally attributed to the release of tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) from the vessel wall. In this study we have investigated the possible contribution of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA). Six healthy male volunteers (age 21–25 years) were screened for their ability to perform maximal exercise for their age-group for 12 min on a bicycle ergometer. Subsequently, on one occasion they were required to remain supine for 2 h (from 8.30 a. m. onwards) and on another they performed maximal exercise (from 9.00 a.m. onwards). During exercise an increase in u-PA antigen and plasmin-activatable pro-urokinase (proUK) activity, concurrent with t-PA antigen and euglobulin t-PA activity, was observed in all six volunteers, while at rest these parameters remained unaffected. Mean u-PA- and t-PA antigen increased, respectively, from 4.2 ± 1.0 ng/ml and 5.8 ± 2.1 ng/ml before exercise to 9.8 ± 3.0 ng/ml and 18.3 ± 3.8 ng/ml (peak). Mean plasminactivatable proUK activity and t-PA activity increased, respectively, from 2.1 ± 0.4 ng/ml and 0.3 ± 0.2 ng/ml before exercise to 4.3 ± 1.7 ng/ml and 7.2 ± 4.0 ng/ml (peak). The increases were statistically significant throughout (paired t-test, pre vs post, antigen P <0.005 and activity P <0.02). After cessation of exercise u-PA and t-PA declined concurrently to normal values with a 50"/" decay in about 5 min. In conclusion, we found that both u-PA antigen and plasmin-activatable proUK activity are, concurrently with t-PA, enhanced upon exercise and, therefore, we consider that u-PA also contributes to – and co-operates in – the enhancement of the blood fibrinolytic potential and activity under these conditions.


The use of the 29,000 miles of navigable rivers in the US for transporting steam coal is discussed. The coal hauling waterways of the US are described along with the barge towing industry. The problems facing the unregulated US barge industry are described along with some possible solutions to these problems.


The authors study the prob1em for so1ving a c1ass nonlinear integral equation in the reproducing kernel space W_2~1[a, b]. By using the method of reproducing kernel and transformed nonlinear integral equation K_1uK_2u =f to two - dimension Iinear integral equation Ku =f, they give the expression of the exact solution of this nonlinear integral equation.


The body weight and daily gain reached to 46.22kg and 243g at 10 months old Oula lamb in autumn grazing added with concentrated pelleted feed,feed intake freely and short time fattening,which increased 5.94kg and 110.64g compared with(P0.01)contrast group;the height at withers,body length,heart girth and chest width increased 2.29mm,3.42mm,2.77mm and 1mm individually;the dressed weight reached 21.40kg,improved 5.28kg(P0.01),dressing percentage 47.45%,increased 16.36%(P0.05)with a benefit of 27.66 yuan RMB per lamb.


—The Internet of Things (IoT) enable the IoT to sense and respond using the power of computing to autonomously come up with the best solutions for any industry today. However, Internet of Things have vulnerabilities since it can be hacked by cybercriminals. The cybercriminals know where the IoT vulnerabilities are, such as unsecured update mechanisms and malware (Malicious Software) to attack the IoT devices. The recently posted IoT-23 dataset based on several IoT devices such as Philips Hue, Amazon Echo devices and Somfy door lock were used for machine learning classification algorithms and data mining techniques with training and testing for predictive modelling of a variety of malware attacks like Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Command and Control (C&C) and various IoT botnets like Mirai and Okiru. This paper aims to develop predictive modeling that will predict malicious software to protect IoT and reduce vulnerabilities by using machine learning and data mining techniques. We collected, analyzed and processed benign and several of malicious software in IoT network traffic. Malware prediction is crucial in maintaining IoT devices' safety and security from cybercriminals' activities. Furthermore, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method was applied to determine the important features of IoT-23. In addition, this study compared with previous studies that used the IoT-23 dataset in terms of accuracy rate and other metrics. Experiments show that Random Forest (RF) classifier achieved the predictive model produced classification accuracy 0.9714% as well as predict 8754 samples with various types of malware and obtained 0.9644% of Area Under Curve (AUC) which outperforms several bassline machine learning classification models.


The many faces of Franciscans: highlights and essential sources in the Duns Scotus Library Franciscana room. Resources for your own spiritual journey with Francis and Clare


Gating system design is an essential element in casting process which affects significantly the molten metal flow behavior, heat transfer and solidification of the melt. Optimum gating design will lead to a good quality of casting product. One of the major components in gating system is runner. This study was conducted to determine the effect of vortex runner diameter gating system on the mechanical strength of Al-12Si alloy casting. Simulation was conducted to study the behavior of the fluid flow and the results obtained showed close agreement with the results obtained from the experiment. Experimental results showed that the casting product with bigger vortex runner diameter gating system led to the improvement of average bending strength.


This work was funded by EU-FP6 Marie Curie Actions - Marie Curie Research Training Networks.
Contract Number: MRTN-CT-2006-033489
Project: CITYNET – Development of an integrated urban management tool


Approximate Differentiators have been extensively used in the estimation of joint velocity measurements of industrial manipulators. In this letter, we exploit key differences between the continuous-time model of the first-order Approximate Differentiator, commonly known as the Dirty-derivatives Filter (DF), and its discrete-time model. We show that the discrete-time filter shares the characteristics of an exponentially weighted moving average; in particular, the filter smooths the derivative of its input. We numerically and experimentally demonstrate how the filter estimation performance follows a convex trend in function of the filter bandwidth. We further demonstrate how the bandwidth at which the filter achieves "optimal" performance varies with the frequency of the filter's input. Inspired by the latter, we propose an Approximate Differentiator with Varying Bandwidth (ADVB) where the filter bandwidth varies based on the magnitude of the position tracking error. We illustrate the superiority of the proposed ADVB over various differentiation schemes both numerically and experimentally.


1 Preliminary and quite incomplete. Please do not cite without permission. helpful comments. INTRODUCTION It has long been hypothesized that the quality of the economic institutions of a society has a fundamental impact on its prospects for economic growth and development. In particular, it is apparent that investment incentives depend upon expectations of rights over the returns to that investment and hence on the nature of property rights. In recent years, economists have paid increasing attention to this hypothesis (and brought the argument into the broader public sphere, e.g. De Soto 2000). Economic historians have provided a great deal of the Engerman and Sokoloff 2003). Recently, economists drawing on crosscountry regressions of economic growth on a variety of measures of institutional quality have also contributed and Jones 1999). This paper joins a rather smaller microeconomic literature that explores the pathways though which particiluar institutions influence investment or productivity Our aim is to examine one particular mechanism through which the nature of the system of property rights in a society can shape its pattern of economic activity. We examine the connection from a set of complex and explicitly negotiable property rights over land to agricultural investment and in turn to agricultural productivity. There are several obvious mechanisms through which property rights over land might influence investment in agriculture: fears of expropriation or loss of control over land on which investments have been made might deter investment; access to credit might be hindered if property rights are not sufficiently well-defined for land to serve as collateral for loans; and an inability to capture potential gains from trade in improved land might reduce investment incentives. Each of these mechanisms has received a good deal of attention in what has become a large literature (Besley 1995). In much of Africa, explicit land transactions — sales, cash rentals, sharecropping — have become more common over recent decades. However, the consensus of the literature is that " the commercialisation of land transactions has not led to the consolidation of land rights 1 into forms of exclusive individual or corporate control comparable to Western notions of private property " (Berry, NCP, 104). Instead, in much of West Africa, land " is subject to multiple, overlapping claims and ongoing debate over these claims' legitimacy and their implications for land use and the distribution of revenue " (Berry, CNTB, xxi). Individuals' investments in a particular plot might in turn …


With the increasing number of electric vehicles (EVs), the randomness of the charging load will have an increasing impact on the distribution network (DN) and road network. Different guidance strategies lead to different network-related capabilities of fast charging stations (FCSs). In this paper, a hierarchical and comprehensive evaluation method is proposed for the network-related capability of FCSs. Based on the comprehensive evaluation method, a charging guidance strategy is proposed to improve the network-related capability of FCSs. Finally, the network connection capability of FCSs under four strategies is comprehensively evaluated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The development of 3D dynamic simulation based on OpenGL was described.On the base of the research of the non-resin winding cylinder preforming technique,particular arithmetic used to develop the computer software was indicated.Through the computer programming,3D dynamic simulation of the non-resin winding cylinder preforming based on OpenGL was achieved.


Different impurities influence the radiation damage of barium fluoride (BaF 2 )crystal in different ways. Stable metal elements, such as alkali elements and alkali earth elements, have no effect on the radiation resistance. Most transtion metal elements areharmful to the radiation resistance. There are three kinds of effects of rare earth elements. Stable trivalence elements, such as Y, La and Lu, have no effect on the radiation resistance, while the elements which changes its valence from +3 to +4 under irradiation, such as Ce and Pr, are harmful. The elements which changes its valence from +3 to +2 underirradiation, such as Sm,Eu,Dy and Yb, are useful in eliminating color centers in visible range. Oxygen and hydroxyl ions which were introduced into the crystal from the raw material of BaF 2 or a low vacuum during crystal growing are very harmful to the radiation resistance. The formation of "Complex Color Centers" is considered as the cause of the radiation damage of BaF 2 crystal in this paper.


Abstract The effects of 60Co γ radiation on aqueous solutions of poly(vinyl pyr-rolidone), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(ethylene oxide), and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide were investigated. Concentrations below and above the critical concentration for macrogel formation were studied at radiation doses below and above the dose for incipient gelation. The changes in viscosity of solutions were followed to characterize the effect of radiation below the critical concentration. It was observed that, at a given fraction of the respective critical concentrations, the polymers behaved similarly upon irradiation despite differences in atomic composition and molecular architecture. The dependence of reduced viscosity on absorbed dose showed three distinct regions which were associated with intramolecular cross-linking and chain scission (decrease in viscosity), intermolecular cross-linking (increase in viscosity), and intramolecular cross-linking via ring formation (a second decrease in viscosity). The postgelat...


Silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element (Clarke number ~26%) on Earth and exists mainly in the oxidized silicate (SiO2) form. Si sources are neither localized in very specific regions nor are they noble. However, crystalline (c-Si) and amorphous (a-Si) silicons remain the most fundamental, purely inorganic materials used for microelectronics, optoelectronics, and photonics because the lithographic and p-n doping processes are already wellestablished in industry. To produce these materials, vacuum and vapor-phase deposition processes and mechanical slicing/polishing techniques of Si-wafers are invariably utilized. However, these techniques require the use of an expensive XeCl excimer laser for annealing of a-Si; this step is followed by a crystallization process to prepare a poly-Si thin film transistor (TFT) from a a-Si thin film, which is deposited using a highly dangerous SiH4– Si2H6 chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.


The alignment behaviour of triphenylene‐based compounds possessing fluoroalkylated and alkyl side chains was investigated for the hexagonal columnar (Colh) mesophase on polyimide‐, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)‐, and indium tin oxide‐coated glass substrates by polarizing optical microscopy. It was found that 2,6,10‐trinonyloxy‐3,7,11‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorononyloxy)triphenylene and 2,6,11‐trinonyloxy‐3,7,10‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorononyloxy)triphenylene exhibit spontaneous homeotropic alignment on these substrates. On the other hand, it was found that 2,6,10‐triheptyloxy‐3,7,11‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluoroheptyloxy)triphenylene, 2,6,11‐triheptyloxy‐3,7,10‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluoroheptyloxy)triphenylene, 2,6,10‐trihexyloxy‐3,7,11‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorohexyloxy)triphenylene, 2,6,11‐trihexyloxy‐3,7,10‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorohexyloxy)triphenylene, 2,6,10‐tributyloxy‐3,7,11‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorobutyloxy)triphenylene and 2,6,11‐tributyloxy‐3,7,10‐tris(1H,1H,2H,2H,3H,3H‐perfluorobutyloxy)triphenylene do not show such spontaneous homeotropic alignment on these substrates. These results indicate that the spontaneous homeotropic alignment of the Colh phase could be easily attained by the introduction of an appropriate length of the fluoromethylene chains in the peripheral parts of discogens. Therefore, it is suggested that the balance between the hydrocarbon part including the triphenylene core and the fluoroalkyl part determines the alignment control behaviour. Furthermore, it was found that alignment behaviour is independent of the rotation symmetry of the chemical structure but is dependent on the number of fluoromethylene chains in the chemical structure.


INTRODUCTION The choice of drugs for use in rhinologic practice has occupied much of the literature of rhinology, but the question of the most desirable method of administration has been the source of only limited investigation. The purpose of any method of administration is to apply the therapeutic agent to as large an area of the nasal mucosa as possible with a minimum of trauma or damage. Ease of administration and adaptation to self medication are important secondary considerations. In any comparison of different methods of application of drugs to the nasal mucosa some drug must be sought that will lend itself to all methods of administration being studied. Thus an investigation of the use of nasal drops, nasal sprays and volatile inhalers requires an agent that can be used either in solution or in volatile form. Certain of the synthetic vasoconstrictor amines lend themselves admirably to this requirement. The


The iterated Crank-Nicholson method has become a popular algorithm in numerical relativity. We show that one should carry out exactly two iterations and no more. While the limit of an infinite number of iterations is the standard Crank-Nicholson method, it can in fact be worse to do more than two iterations, and it never helps. We explain how this paradoxical result arises.


Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging is a useful method for characterizing the local mechanical properties of tissue. Relevant issues in creating a real-time ARFI imaging system include patient exposure, observation time per image location, field-of-view, and data porting and processing. We propose two methods to increase ARFI frame rates without compromising patient safety. We have implemented ARFI imaging with parallel tracking and alternating receive foci in tissue mimicking phantoms. Parallel receive beamforming is used to simultaneously track multiple locations from a single pushing pulse. Alternating the lateral positions of receive foci on each tracking pulse can be used to observe the response of tissue over a larger region. These parallel techniques are demonstrated in a tissue mimicking phantoms using ratios of 4:1, 8:1, and 12:1. Displacement images using parallel tracking were compared to images created with conventional tracking. Images using the parallel tracking showed little difference to the images produced by conventional tracking after a short wait time


Page 35, Section 2.17 "A step-change in this area was made with the paper "Estimating 929 ground-level PM2.5 using aerosol optical depth determined from satellite remote sensing" by van Donkelaar et al. (2006) which was the first description of the derivation of surface PM2.5 from satellite AOD, and which has been extensively used to estimate the global impact of particulate matter (both PM2.5 and PM10) on health"


Despite all the advances in the application of nanoparticle (NP) catalysts, they have received little attention in relation to the hydroformylation reaction. Herein, we present the preparation of a hydroformylation catalyst through the immobilization of air‐stable rhodium NPs onto a magnetic support functionalized with chelating phosphine ligands, which serves as an alternative to air‐sensitive precursors. The catalyst was active in hydroformylation and could be used in successive reactions with negligible metal leaching. The interaction between the rhodium NPs and the diphenylphosphine ligand was evidenced by an enhancement in the Raman spectrum of the ligand. Changes occurred in the Raman spectrum of the catalyst recovered after the reaction, which suggests that the rhodium NPs are precursors of active molecular species that are formed in situ. The supported catalyst was active for successive reactions even after it was exposed to air during the recycling runs and was easily recovered through magnetic separation.


Objective To evaluate the rescue of severe epistaxis after radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.Methods Fourteen patients with severe epistaxis after radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal cacinoma were analyzed retrospectively.Results The bleeding was cured in 12 patients and 2 patients died.Conclusion The key factors in rescue of epistaxis after radiotherapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma associated with the choice of first-line treatment and chance of prophylactic treatment.


The fluidic element used in hydraulic oscillators can meet the pressure oscillation amplitude and frequency requirements for oil well plugging.This paper mainly introduces the principle of wall-attached bistable fluidic element,elaborates on the design methods of the fluidic element,including the size and position of nozzles,control road,potential difference,flare angle,and so on.At last,the paper explains the concept of each parameter and its impact on the fluidic element performance in brief.


Bis-(π-cyclopentadienyl)hafnium bis-tetrahydroborate, (π-C5H5)2Hf(BH4)2, has been prepared and characterised. The bonding between the metal and the tetrahydroborate group is compared in the series of compounds involving titanium, zirconium, and hafnium, (π-C5H5)2TiBH4, (π-C5H5)2Zr(BH4)2, and (π-C5H5)2Hf(BH4)2, by a study of their i.r. spectra and those of the corresponding tetradeuterioborates.


[59648-89-4] C4H7LiO2 (MW 94.04)

InChI = 1S/C4H7O2.Li/c1-5-3-4-6-2;/h3H,1-2H3;

InChIKey = GUKLTQHAKQWMCU-UHFFFAOYSA-N

(reacts with aldehydes and ketones to form allylic alcohols;1 the functionally equivalent reagent, 2-lithio-1,4-dioxene, reacts with aldehydes, ketones, and methyl halides2, 3 to form allylic alcohols and methylated alkenes)

Form Supplied in: prepared in situ and used directly.

Preparative Method: prepared in situ under nitrogen by the reaction of 1,2-dimethoxyvinyl bromide in anhydrous ether at −70 °C with n-Butyllithium in hexane. 1,2-Dimethoxyvinyl bromide is obtained from the reaction at 0 °C of aqueous Glyoxal in methanol (2 equiv)/dichloromethane with Hydrogen Bromide gas, followed by dehydrohalogenation with sodium t-butoxide (1 equiv).1

Handling, Storage, and Precautions: must be prepared and transferred under inert gas (N2 or Ar) to exclude oxygen and moisture.


This paper describes how roundabouts have a historic role in improving safety, reducing congestion and delays at junctions. They are safer because of slower speeds and a reduced number of conflict points – spots where vehicles may collide with each other or with pedestrians. Although these roundabouts must have been initially designed to offer the best level of service, the increase of traffic can generate unexpected congestion at the approaches or within the roundabout. Under these circumstances current layouts and control plan settings need to be adjusted in order to accommodate the new traffic demand. Such adjustment might also be required as society now wants more green modes of transport for urban journeys and roundabouts are no exception. Pedestrians and cyclist have to be considered. The efficiency of the roundabout now depends on how these different modes of transport can be integrated in the most safely and reliable way. Plans to these roundabouts can also accommodate and adapt at slower mode. In urban area these roundabouts are also the public place where local life is expressed and developed: businesses, education, culture, social activities, etc. Furthermore, 3 examples in Paris are presented in this paper: (1) Improvement of the Place du Marechal Juin, an existing roundabout of a popular square in Paris. The objective was to reduce congestion and to protect the pedestrians in the roundabout. (2) Place Leon Blum , diagnostic of the roundabouts (3) Insertion Tramway extension Marechaux Est These three projects were undertaken for la Mairie de Paris. Microsimulation models were conducted to test and adjust such changes. It was shown that significant improvements were achieved by simply adjusting control plan and coordinate traffic lights between each other.


Commission for Business Competition Supervision ( Komisi Pengawas Persaingan Usaha or KPPU) is an institution established to deal with issues related to business competition and monopoly practices. This article wants to describe the approaches to be taken by KPPU in dealing with the business competition cases. This research employed a normative research method with conceptual and case approaches. The result of research showed that there are two approaches to dealing with business competition case: rule of reason and per sel illegal . These two approaches can be selected alternatively, but they can also be used concomitantly. Rule of reason approach trials the substance of business action and its effect on community economy, while the per se illegal approach uses juridical positivistic approach. Keywords : Business Competition, Per se Illegal,  Rule of Reason


Background and Aims: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer that affects Jordanian women. Several studies highlighted the independent effect of various diet and lifestyle factors on the risk of BC. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the association between lifestyle factors and BC in a selected group of Jordanian woman. Methods: A case control study was conducted from October 2016 to September 2017. A total of 400 Jordanian women 20–65 years of age were recruited. 200 of recently diagnosed BC patients were compared to 200 apparently healthy controls. BC patients were matched with controls in age, income and marital status. A package consisted of three structured questionnaires: Personal Information and Seven-Day Physical Activity Recall (PAR) questionnaires were administered to all participants in this study. Results: Increasing in BMI was associated significantly and positively with BC risk (OR 1.80 (95%CI: 1.01–3.27), P-trend = 0.037). A significant inverse association has been found between BC and physical activity (OR 0.32 (95%CI: 0.13–0.80), P-trend = 0.021). A significant positive association was detected between BC and smoking (OR 4.38 (95%CI: 2.08–9.22), P-trend = 0.001), a significant negative effect of lactation in the risk of BC was found (OR 3.71(95%CI: 2.20–6.26), P-trend = 0.0001). Conclusion: A significant increase in BC risk was detected with Increasing in BMI and smoking, on the other hand a significant negative effect of lactation and physical activity in the risk of BC was found.


The Year of the Priest declared for 2009-2010 by Benedict XVI, as well as the 160th anniversary of the death of Venerable Vito Michele Di Netta (1787-1849), have provided the occasion for this study of Di Netta's life. The purpose in mind is to bring greater recognition to the figure of this Redemptorist missionary. He was a priest formed in the school of Redemptorists who personally knew St. Alphonsus and who inherited from Alphonsus his missionary zeal. Venerable Michele lived for thirty-seven years in the «toe» of Italy, the Region known as Calabria, proclaiming Plentiful Redemption to a people who were regar-ded as abandoned ever since the time of Alphonsus. The biographical profile of Di Netta, along with the historical, social, and religious setting of his time, can help us better appreciate and save from oblivion this gigantic soul (as he was called by Pope Pius XI) who spent his life in faithfulness to the Redemptorist missionary charism. His tomb in the Redemptorist church of Tropea, Italy, is always adorned with a light and a flower, signs of the hope which is still alive for seeing him declared a Blessed, and even a Saint.


"External beam radiotherapy for cervical cancer using 3D conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) is a standard procedure in Romania. A dosimetric planning comparison between 3D-CRT and intensity modulated techniques evaluating both target parameters and organs at risk could justify the implementation of the latter techniques in clinical settings. 50 cervical cancer patients were treated with 3D-CRT, and equivalent plans simulated with IMRT and VMAT for a comparative dosimetric assessment. In addition to providing better compliance and homogeneity, intensity modulated techniques provide superior protection for organs at risk, especially for bowel bag, influencing patients' quality of life. "


To diagnose series arc faults occurred in low-voltage side at power utilization system accurately,according to three features of low-voltage series arc fault signals,namely the singularity,the uncertainty and the energy features,in AC power system and based on simulation experiment results of series arc faults under different loads carried out by the self-constructed experimental platform,a multi-feature fusion based series arc fault diagnosis method is proposed. According to the three features of signal and combining with wavelet transform theory,the proposed method performs principal component analysis(PCA) for sampled signals,whose noise is preprocessed and extracts contribution rates of different frequency bands to signal,then taking the spatial relations among frequency bands where the maximum contribution rates of the three features of the signal locate as the characteristic vectors,a 1×3 order signal features distribution matrix is constituted; taking this matrix as the input vector of improved multi-level BP neural network,using this neural network the mapping relation between characteristic vector and series arc fault is established. Test results show that using the proposed method the impact of burning arc on diagnosis result can be reduced and the diagnosis classification of series arc faults can be realized.


To verify the reliability of electromagnetic scattering characteristics of radar target calculated by FEKO,threemodes of comparing theoretical calculation with simulation results,comparing compact field measurement with simulation re-sults,and comparing FEKO simulation results with HFSS simulation results are adopted for the verification. It′s found that theRCS data obtained from theoretical calculation,compact field measurement and HFSS simulation is be identical to FEKO simula-tion results. The reliability of FEKO simulation results is proved,and this method can be used to calculate and simulate the elec-tromagnetic scattering characteristics of non-cooperative target.