Luis Longhi Traverso, professor at the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences (known as UPC) and international speaker, receives us one afternoon in September via video call. We are in front of one of the architects with more projection in Peru. In recent decades his figure has been widely recognized and his projects have won him important awards, most notably the 2010 Golden Hexagon, the highest distinction in Peruvian architecture. He earned his degree from Ricardo Palma University and has completed postgraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked in Balkrishna Doshi's studio in Amhedabad (India). In the United States he was employed in the offices of Adele Santos, David Slovic, Gruen Associates and Farrington Design Group, among others. In 1994 he returned to Peru to create the firm Longhi Architects, focused on creating architecture with a high degree of artistic sense. One example is the house where he currently resides and from which he virtually receives us: the Chullpas House (outside Lima), whose tubular structures are related to the Inca archaeological remains of the Chullpas of Sillustani, in Puno, his place of birth. The interior of the Chullpas house is full of sculptures, some of them own, the most abstract ones, and others of pre-Columbian nature. The cardboard and wood models remind us of his job as a professor, while the posters announcing theatrical performances speak of the time when he worked as a stage designer. Between stones and the gray concrete painted in magenta, yellow and blue tones, the Inca Longhi, as his friends call him, has spent this time of confinement.


Runs test is a mathematic method to study sequence distribution.Using the method to test contents of Guilaizhuang gold deposit and Tongshi complex, it is concluded that distribution of high Au grades in orebody in trench TC30 is not random, but aggregated. In Lijiachun-Shizipou magmatic section, it is known that the distribution of Au and SiO_2 is at random through runs test analysis. These show that there is no evolutionary relationship between diorite-porphyrite and monzonite. Au does not show affinity to any magmatic body. The distribution of Al_2O_3/TiO_2 is also at random by runs test, this means two magmatic bodies in Tongshi complex are homologous.


This article introduced the development history of monitor system of hospital infection in American Germen and China,compared the different characteristic of them:American's founded was earlier ,the monitor item was maturity,Germen's beginning was high and effective ,China's was between them;the article pointed out the drawback and aims of our country against aboard advanced management experience.


The invention of ball bearings is guided in the outer ring (1) Shoulder of these rings, and having an inner ring (2) and (1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2) are respectively a cage (3.2, 4.2) (3.1, 4.1) and the support, to a second row angular contact ball the diameter size different from the track ball bearing. According to the method according to the present invention, the two cage one of the cage from the (3.2, 4.2) is formed as a plastic window, the cage having a pocket for receiving the bearing balls (3.1, 4.1), the cage (3.2, 4.2) of there is provided a circumferential direction to each other a plurality of spacers are uniformly spaced apart from (3.5, 4.5) and in the circumferential direction mutually evenly spaced plurality of the holding nose (3.4, 4.4) on the end towards the inside along the axis, wherein the nose has an internal ring (2) or is inserted into the outside of the groove (2.3, 1.3) of the ring (1), the axial direction of the spacer (3.5, 4.5) are other cage (4.2, 3.2) of the one cage (3.2, 4.2) to stop the movement. Angular contact ball bearings, the outer ring, the inner ring, spacers, holding nose


I held the manila folder in my hand, nearly trembling with excitement. My first patient. In the first 2 years of medical school, buried in biochemistry and living in lecture halls, we craved patient contact. Eager to serve and solve with science, we longed for opportunities to put our diagnostic skills to use. I had the great fortune of getting my first patient exposure at a shelter devoted to the protection and empowerment of homeless teenagers. As well as providing food, shelter, and social support, this haven employed a doctor and nurse to run a clinic for youth struggling to survive under enormous psychosocial stressors. Although I had previously volunteered at evening discussion groups, this would be the day that I transformed into a student doctor. I took a deep breath and opened the door to the patient's room. A lanky young man with a tilted cap sat hunched over a corner table, intently focused on the piece of paper before him. Despite my entry, he remained motionless except for his left hand, scrawling his pen over the paper. I broke the silence. He abruptly straightened, folding and pocketing his work. I introduced myself and asked how I could help him. Sitting beside him, I completed as thorough a history and physical examination as I could. He spoke softly and sparingly, though answering respectfully. Having finished what I was taught to do, I considered exiting the room, but I had one more question. I noticed that you were drawing something. Can I ask what? He looked puzzled. I continued. I know that art can be a special way to express yourself. Will you show me? He nodded, withdrawing and unfolding his piece of paper. The drawing was a magnificent rendering of a faceless homeless man curled up on a Philadelphia street. I was speechless. He told me with hesitation of his times on the street and his aspiration to leave that life. His voice conveyed a surprising intensity, a profound resilience. I was deeply moved. Searching for my preceptor, my thoughts shifted and I formulated my plan of presentation. I scribbled a list of the key clinical points as I approached the supervising doctor. I began. Our patient is a 19-year-old man new to the shelter with a history of heroin use who presents with a small circular rash on his left forearm. He first noticed the ... Stop. Dr. G lifted his hand. You missed something. You may not have been taught this yet, but I encourage a slight change in the typical presentation. Apprehensively, I waited. Tell me why you love him. My mind raced, and Dr. G began to laugh. No, not romantic love ... instead, the deep respect, the caritas one might feel for all of humanity. Make that your second sentence. I paused, then tried it again. My patient is a 19-year-old man with a rash. I love his passionate, personal artistry, his depiction of his struggles with homelessness serving as his reminder not to return to drugs. It is both inspiring and beautiful. Dr. G smiled widely. Much better! Thank you. I finished my presentation and suggested an antifungal cream for the tinea corporis. Dr. G agreed. We returned to the examining room. Dr. G shook my patient's hand and said, Jon tells me you are a talented artist. Might I see some of your work? My patient looked at me, bowed his head bashfully, and smiled. Sure, I guess. Dr. G examined the sketch. You have a great gift. You need to keep doing this. Don't let anything derail you. We moved to the treatment plan, gave him some information about the shelter, and said our goodbyes. My patient rose to leave, standing taller, more confidently than when we first met. Since that day, I have been on many other rotations and worked with fine doctors in multiple specialties. Yet Dr. G and his slight modification most molded me into the doctor I had always intended to be. Finding that second sentence has become essential to every new patient encounter. What do I love most about this person? Everyone carries a masterpiece in their pocket, a unique passion that they yearn to reveal. Have I found it? Audio. Michael A. LaCombe, MD, AnnalsAssociate Editor, reads "The Second Sentence," by J. Kole.


Background The compilation of the R502 map series was completed for the entire area of Australia at the end of 1966. This series, comprising 541 map sheets, will be published at a scale of 1 : 250,000 and includes a small percentage of maps contoured at 250 feet intervals, the balance being planimetric maps with relief shown by hill-shading techniques.


The invention provides a substrate for a wireless fidelity system-level package chip and a method of forming the same. The substrate comprises a core layer; first to M-th metal layers formed on the core layer, wherein M is a positive integer; a top solder resist layer formed on the M-th metal layer; M+1-th to N-th metal layers under the core layer, where N is a positive integer greater than M; and a bottom solder resist layer formed under the N-th metal layer. The substrate provided in the embodiment of the invention can be applied to a wireless fidelity system-level package chip to improve the performance thereof.


The utility model belongs to the technical field of tools, and relates to a bolt fastening device for a live-line drainage parallel groove clamp. The device comprises a connecting piece, a wire clamp fastening bolt, a wire clamp fixing groove, a ratchet wrench fastener, and an insulating rod. The connecting piece is an annular clamp-type connecting piece, and is integrated with the wire clamp fastening bolt as a body. A side edge of the wire clamp fixing groove is provided with a threaded hole which is in screwing connection with the wire clamp fastening bolt. The beneficial effects of the utility model are that a wire clamp fixing apparatus is employed to fix parallel groove in an operating process; the ratchet wrench fastening apparatus is employed to fasten a bolt; the device is easy to operate; and the operation is high in proficiency. The advantages and effects of the device are that the device can quickly fasten a drainage parallel groove clamp bolt, shortens the operating time, and improves the work efficiency.


In the paper we test a homogenous agent version of the Montgomery's (1991) non-cooperative wage posting model. The inclusion of intrinsic costs, related to the uncertainty when changing the alternative agents are already using, alters the outcome of the model in two respects: firstly, it significantly prolongs the convergence-time to the equilibrium, and, more importantly, it may lead to the wage dispersion, irrespective of equally-productive-agent proposition, something not present in the model of Montgomery.


A Modify U-tube heat exchanger with the different type of tube is designed, fabricated and tested. The experimental investigation for the proposed model and the original single tube u-tube heat exchanger are conducted. The operation performances of the two heat exchangers are also compared. The results suggest that, under the same conditions, the overall performance of the new result is 20–30% more efficient than that of the single tube heat exchanger. U-tube heat exchanger is generally used in industry. In u-tube heat exchanger tube shape is u type and it is counter flow type heat exchanger. U-tube heat exchanger main part is shell, shell cover, u-tubes, tube bundle, baffles. In u-tube heat exchanger shell side fluid is cold water as cold fluid is used and tube side fluid is hot water as hot fluid is used. In this experiment we will measure different characteristic parameter like efficiency, effectiveness, pressure drop.


Manipulators resemble human beings in shape of an arm. They also have flexibilities in performance capacity and have been utilized for various kinds of work in place of human beings. Many researches seeking for the design and control of manipulators have been developed and valuable results for energy-efficient manipulators have been reported. However, the driving mechanism of manipulators is, in many cases, different from that of a human arm. Human arms provide not only uniarticular muscles but also biarticular muscles, while manipulators are only equipped with one motor for each joint. With regard to the biarticular muscles, it is reported that they play an important role in performing advanced dynamic functions of human arm movements. This study investigates the relationship between driving mechanisms and energy consumption, and the driving mechanism equipped with a driving motor acting on the shoulder and the elbow joints is proposed.


The communications link in a space program is a crucial point for upgrading its performance by handling data between spacecraft bus and payloads, because spacecraft`s missions are related to the data handling mechanism using communications ports such as a controlled area network bus (CAN Bus) and a universal asynchronous receiver and transmitter (UART). The NEXTSat-1 has a lot of communications ports for performing science and technology missions. However, the top level system requirements for the NEXTSat-1 are mass and volume limitations. Normally, the communications for units shall be conducted by using point to point link which require more mass and volume to interconnect. Thus, our approach for the novel communications link in the NEXTSat-1 program is to use CAN and serializer and deserializer low voltage differential signal (SerDesLVDS) to meet the system requirements of mass and volume. The CAN Bus and SerDesLVDS were confirmed by using already defined communications link for our missions in the NEXTSat-1 program and the analysis results were reported in this study in view of data flow and size analysis.


Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique is a vital element for improving the efficiency, stability and reliability of a photovoltaic system. Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Interference System (ANFIS) is used to design the MPPT due to its fast-tracking speed to reach the steady-state and low oscillation. However, it requires a precise data to develop an optimal ANFIS-MPPT controller. In this paper, the ANFIS-MPPT controller for a stand-alone PV system is designed using a large experimental training dataset. The dataset is recorded from a PV system which is installed at Brunel University London, United Kingdom. A MATLAB/Simulink model of a stand-alone PV system is developed to evaluate the proposed method. The results show that the proposed controller performs well under various climatic conditions.


Common design guides on smoke management in atria used will be reviewed in this paper. Different approaches adopted in those guides are outlined with the smoke physics behind explained. Engineering principles on smoke dynamics of these design guides are observed to be similar. Basically, methods are on imposing opposite strong airflow to prevent smoke spreading, applying pressure differentials against a physical barrier, dilution of smoke and extracting smoke. Smoke ventilation appears to be a common approach for smoke management in an atrium. An acceptable smoke layer interface height can be kept; or at least, reducing the descending rate of smoke layer. These guides give general principles for the design, but not cover all the atria, especially those in new construction projects of the Far East. Further, guidance on solving practical problems frequently encountered in these areas is discussed.


Mechanical product design is one of typical fields which strongly depend on past experience, and its domain knowledge constitution is complex. Oriented to industrial application and product design process, driving serial design of mechanical product by domain knowledge can make the designers release from the onerous repeated work. According to characteristics of mechanical product design and its knowledge constitution, the product model based on design unit and integrated knowledge model are constructed. On the foundation of above, the product design process model is built, by which intelligent design of series mechanical product and intelligent synchronous assembly with design is realized.


The present invention relates to a method for filling the filling means to fill the product containers, preferably for the filling product filled into the filling means (1) in a beverage container filling apparatus, comprising: a means of controlling element (4) operated filling valve (2) for the filling product to be filled into the dosing of the container; and a throttle valve (3), for changing to be delivered to a filling valve ( 2) filling product stream, wherein the control element is a throttle valve (3) by means of a filling valve (2) (4) operates.


The rational design of composite catalysts is critically essential for electrochemical water splitting. Here, we report on a novel hierarchical composite that comprises NiFeSe2 nanoparticles and NiCo2O4 nanoflakes supported on...


To precisely tune the performance of phosphors, a proper understanding of the luminescence center is necessary. However, precisely probing into the luminescence center is still challenging. In this study, the luminescence center and the evolution are revealed in Eu3+‐doped Li4Zn(PO4)2 (LZP:Eu) depending on the activator in as low as trace amounts: Eu3+ ions evolve from the LZP lattice to hardly measurable EuPO4 impurities. By utilizing the spectroscopic probe effect of Eu3+ ion with multiscale characterizations, pressure‐induced spectral behavior, and ab initio calculations, the luminescence origin, local environment, and nanostructure evolution are fully deciphered. The contribution of the two luminescence centers during the evolution process is deeply elucidated by steady spectra and decay kinetics analysis. This study provides a broader understanding of the luminescence center from micro‐ to macro‐length, which would be beneficial for the design and modulation of luminescent materials.


This paper introduced relative position,fixed position and how to float elements to position them in webpage layout via CSS.It also provided solutions to solve Double-Margin bug and fixed position in the IE6 environment.


Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are massively parallel, many-core processors with tremendous computational power and very high memory bandwidth. With the advent of general purpose programming models such as NVIDIA's CUDA and the new standard OpenCL, general purpose programming using GPUs (GPGPU) has become very popular. However, the GPU architecture and programming model have brought along with it many new challenges and opportunities for compiler optimizations. One such classical optimization is loop unrolling. Current GPU compilers perform limited loop unrolling. In this paper, we attempt to understand the impact of loop unrolling on GPGPU programs. We develop a semi-automatic, compile-time approach for identifying optimal unroll factors for suitable loops in GPGPU programs. In addition, we propose techniques for reducing the number of unroll factors evaluated, based on the characteristics of the program being compiled and the device being compiled to. We use these techniques to evaluate the effect of loop unrolling on a range of GPGPU programs and show that we correctly identify the optimal unroll factors. The optimized versions run up to 70% faster than the unoptimized versions.


Tower foundations have been used as grounding electrodes to reduce the area of the grounding devices. However, it is difficult to calculate the grounding resistance due to the complex structure of the reinforced concrete foundation. A method for calculating grounding resistance of reinforced concrete foundations is proposed in this paper. The method equates the complex foundation structure into a cylindrical conductor and then calculates the grounding resistance with the help of the method of moments, which simplifies establishment of the simulation model and reduces the extensive computation. In addition, the applicability of the equal cross-sectional area method and the equal cross-sectional perimeter method is analyzed. It shows that both methods are applicable only when the concrete resistivity is close to the soil resistivity. The equal cross-sectional area method is applicable when the concrete resistivity is within twice the soil resistivity, while the equal cross-sectional perimeter method is applicable when the concrete resistivity is approximately same or less than the resistivity of the soil.


The author describes a novel conception for a microwave sintering oven for industrial use; its function and construction are also explained. Further, it is noted in which way past experiences and problems with previous microwave laboratory ovens justify this new conception. A prototype for this was developed by Gero Hochtemperaturofen GmbH, Neuhausen, in cooperation with the Institut fur Plasmaforschung (Institute for Plasma Research), Stuttgart. This can especially be used for scientific experiments within the framework of material- and technological development of microwave sintering of high-performance ceramics.


Solid-phase microextraction(SPME) as a kind of sensitive,convenient,fast,solvent-free,liquid and gas samples analysis pretreatment is being proposed in the 1990s and has been rapidly developed.This technology is conducive to further chromatographic analysis for strong polar,difficult volatile compounds by derivatization.This article reviews the SPME historical development,the type of derivative reaction and SPME-GC applications.


Service failures seem to be inevitable given the heterogeneous nature of services. In many cases, it is the service recovery efforts performed by service providers after a service failure that affect customer satisfaction. A model is proposed that considers the impact of service failures and recovery efforts on customer satisfaction with the tourism industry. The findings indicate that service failures are related to recovery efforts, and that recovery efforts are related to customer satisfaction. In addition, an analysis of demographic factors suggests that age, employment status, and frequency of non-business trips taken each play a role in these relationships.


[T]here is at least one area which has not always promoted accord among practitioners or consistency on the part of the courts; and that is the status of law in pleadings. The primary function of the pleading process is to ensure, through the parties' respective allegations and counter-allegations of fact, that they are aware of, and can focus their preparation on, the issues in dispute. The pleading of law may also help in this respect if it clarifies the basis of the claim or defense in relation to the legal principles either party may need to establish at trial. However, as it is the material facts which form the mainstay of the pleading process, matters of law can only have a limited role, and only then, if appropriate. The difficulty lies in defining the extent and nature of that role, particularly in the context of Order 18, rule 11 and its relationship with rules 7 and 8 of that Order. . . .


The importance of sacrificial anode and cathodic protection are illustrated,by analyzing the corrosion of the buried steel pipelines.The method to calculate and install the sacrificial anode and cathodic protection is explained in detail.


Spring dead spot (SDS), caused by Ophiosphaerella spp., is among the most damaging diseases to hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon × transvaalensis) in areas where winter dormancy occurs. Management strategies that aid in turfgrass recovery from SDS damage have not been widely studied. An experiment was conducted in Blacksburg, VA, in 2019 and 2020, to determine the influence of various cultural practices on bermudagrass recovery from SDS damage. Fertility and cultivation were applied in the late spring/early summer, which is earlier than normal for cultivation practices for bermudagrass, to test their effectiveness in aiding bermudagrass recovery from SDS damage. The main effects of fertility and cultivation were arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial design with vertical mowing, solid-tine aerification, and no cultivation applied with urea (48.8 kg⋅ha−1 N) sprayed at trial initiation and 2 weeks later or without urea. Plots were assessed for the percent of SDS throughout the study. Data were analyzed as the percent change relative to the initial assessment to measure bermudagrass recovery. The main effect of fertility increased bermudagrass recovery from SDS damage in both 2019 and 2020. The main effects of vertical mowing and solid-tine aerification reduced bermudagrass recovery from SDS damage in 2020. These data suggest that two properly timed nitrogen fertilization applications at 48.8 kg⋅ha−1 optimized bermudagrass recovery from SDS damage, whereas late spring/early summer cultivation without fertility may inhibit bermudagrass recovery.


Over the years, the ILRS has established and refined standards for station performance. However, standardization of hardware, software, and procedures appropriate for ILRS stations and operations, analysis, and data centers has been spotty. Advantages and disadvantages of standardization are explored. Finally, a proposal is made to augment the current performance-based standards with a standard station reference design and additional software as a way to facilitate new station construction.


Increased Mortality In Elderly Patients with Dementia-Related Psychosis: Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk ol death compared to placebo. Analyses of seventeen placebo controlled trials (modal duration of1Dweeks|in these patients revealed a risk of death in the drag-treated patients of botween1.6to1.7times that seen In placebo-treated patients. Over the course of a typical 10 week controlled trial, the rate of death in drag-treated patients was about 4.5%, compared to a rate ol about 2.6% in the placebo group. Although the causes of death were varied, most ol the deaths appeared to be either cardiovascular (e.g., heart failure, sudden death) or infectious (e.g., pneumonia) in nature. GEODON (ziprasidone) is not approved forthe treatment of patients with Dementia-Related Psychosis.


This paper treats two cases of polymer melt solidification in rectangular geometry. The cases treated are the one of static solidification and that of solidification during flow in a narrow gap channel. Both cases are solved using the method of Dussinberre, which reduces the two-phase moving boundary case to a single phase problem, simplifying the mathematics considerably. The numerical solutions are based on a combination of the concept of flow analysis network (FAN), a finite element method developed for solving polymer flow problems, with a Crank-Nicolson implicit finite difference scheme. The methods may be used in computing the cooling down period and preventing "short" conditions in injection molding dies. Examples of solidification of high density polyethylene illustrate the applicability of the method.


Due to lateral coil misalignment in automotive wireless power transfer (WPT) systems, its eigen-frequencies are inherently distorted. This paper contributes to the fundamental analysis of resonant tank detuning in doubled-sided LCC-compensated stationary automotive WPT systems during the coil alignment prior to charging. Therefore, the system's input impedance is analyzed in the complex frequency domain in terms of its poles and zeros. A reference design from the latest SAE J2954 standard is simulated in a Finite-Element-Analysis to account for the positioning dependency of the coupled coils system. For a double-sided LCC-compensated WPT system, the impedance behavior at the input and output terminals of the circuit is then characterized by means of a First Harmonic Approximation (FHA). Through this, system characteristics useful for further investigations concerning VA positioning feedback are revealed.


Globalization is an evolving process, which in economic area has influences on all firm activities. In the logistic sector, these influences produce both good and bad consequences, which don't mean they are absolutely appreciated by all parties involved in activities. In this context, appears and is increasingly manifested the global procurement concept. It works on policy at the regional, country, firm level resulting management changes. It changes the criteria by which decisions are made in the procurement management, but their order of priority. It passes from the antagonistic relations to relations of cooperation with suppliers, leading to different characteristics. Invisible costs of procurement process are more and more involved in the purchasing decisions in detriment of the product purchase price. In terms of logistics, global procurement has an effect on different areas such as transportation, customs operations, warehousing, storage, etc. Increasing purchases from low procurement cost countries give rise to new distribution centres (with value added) in developed countries.


The molecular recognitions between monoclonal antibody 2C3 and calmodulin saturated with different metal ions(La 3+, Eu 3+, Yb 3+ and Ca 2+) were investigated by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and labeled fluorescence spectroscopy. The results indicate that after binding with different metal ions, the calmodulin undergoes different conformational changes, which have a significant effect on its recognition ability to a metal ion induced conformation-specific monoclonal antibody. The dissociation constants between the antibody and the calmodulin saturated with La 3+, Eu 3+, Yb 3+ are (26.8±2.5), (21.8±3.4) and (64.8±5.1) nmol/L, respectively, while the dissociation constants between the antibody and Ca 2+-CaM or apoCaM are (157±4.2) and (177.2±2.8) nmol/L, respectively. This result indicates lanthanide-induced conformational changes of calmodulin are not similar with that induced by calcium, which maybe account for the facts that lanthanide and calcium ions lead to different effects on the regulating function of calmodulin in biological systems.


Abstract Although experiencing some seismicity, the Auckland region is generally considered to be one of New Zealand's most tectonically stable areas. There is a distinct lack of mapped faults in the central Auckland area, yet regional trends indicated by several mapped faults surrounding it suggest that these faults should continue through Auckland. The overprint of Auckland Volcanic Field (AVF) deposits may mask any potential fault traces in the area. We carried out a detailed study of the topography of Auckland concealed beneath the AVF deposits, using borehole and geophysical data, and combined this with structural information gleaned from current topography and exposed geology to identify significant concealed fault offsets. The reliability of each potential fault displacement was determined using pre-defined attributes. The resulting block faulting model for Auckland supports the proposed connection between the position of the Junction Magnetic Anomaly and Auckland volcanism. The identification of several possible faults in the area covered by the AVF might indicate more structural control on volcanism than previously thought.


Physicians are often seen as experts (or authorities) in a medical diagnostic process. Medical researchers are interested in how authority works in medicine. Philosophers have argued that scientific , moral , or almost all knowledge depends for its acquisition on trust in the testimony of others. Trust enhances cooperation; because it removes the incentive to check up on other people, making cooperation with trust less complicated than cooperation without it . The argument for the need to trust what others say is that no person has the intellect, experience, and time necessary to learn, independently, every fact about the world . This and the continuing specialization of medical knowledge, calls in the need to base one's arguments on authority. Doing this reduces the notion of trust to a weaker form, i.e. blind trust, resulting in major implications for the way we think about medical decision making. Experimental research dealing with authority arguments in clinical practice will open up physicians' eyes on the actual role authority plays in decision-making. Thus, experimental philosophy can be a helpful tool for applied philosophy.


In the banking sector, it is very important to keep current customers, which matter requires their satisfaction. If so, they will continue their relationship with the bank, a first step in staying loyal. Loyal customers will always give positive comments and recommendations about the bank to others. With strong branding, banks can attract customers and create customers' trust and loyalty to the bank. The present study examines the effect of brand on customer loyalty among SBI banking customers. The primary data were collected by distributing questionnaires among 75 customers (53 Males and 22 Females) of the SBI. The study focused on brand name, perceived quality,customer satisfaction and loyalty. Analysis was made by using various tools like percentage analysis, mean, standard deviation, co-efficient of variation. The result showed that customers of SBI is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the functioning of SBI.Which means the effect of brand on customer loyalty among SBI customers is average.


The concept and application of "patterns" are as old as organized human endeavor. Recently, patterns have become the focus of much discussion within the objectoriented community. Papers, discussion groups, conferences, and books have focused on identifying, discussing and applying patterns. To establish a common base terminology for the panel [from Webster]: cult a group with great devotion to some person, idea, or thing, particularly when such devotion may be viewed as some sort of intellectual fad (in the sense of early adopters of a new technology, i.e. the leaders) culture a group that has achieved a state of advancement in civilization with distinctive beliefs, traditions, etc. (in the sense of the creation of a broad following, where the "new" technology is part of the established business practice) Using the above definitions, the journey from "cult" to "culture" requires increasing maturity in discipline, learning, and mechanisms for transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. This panel will focus on the evolution of the development/application of patterns from a cult to a culture. Our panelists represent a wide base of expertise that includes: design methodologies; education; management practices; patterns; process; programming languages and team organization. The objective of the panel is to share the experiences of the panelists and offer some practical advice on how the identification and application of patterns can evolve from a cult to a culture.


How and why do Labour governments lose office? This workshop analyses and compares the reasons why and the ways in which each Labour government in Britain from the 1920s up to 2010 fell from power.


According to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, queer exists when the constituent elements of anyone's gender or sexuality are not made (or cannot be made) to signify monolithically. By this definition Spike is the queerest character in the 'Buffyverse': both his gender and sexuality are fluid - neither is secure and both are based around excess. His gender switches from male to female and his sexuality from 'vanilla' to more varied and non-traditional forms of eroticism. The article argues that the character of Spike opens up opportunities for the resignification of what it means to be male or female, man or monster, dominant or submissive, 'vanilla' or an exponent of erotic variation - opportunities we need to seize if we are to challenge the all-pervasive binaries which govern our understanding of sex, gender and sexuality, and the interrelationship between these terms.


As the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing many fields and industries, there are concerns about AI systems making decisions and recommendations without adequately considering various ethical aspects, such as accountability, reliability, transparency, explainability, contestability, privacy, and fairness. While many sets of AI ethics principles have been recently proposed that acknowledge these concerns, such principles are high-level and do not provide tangible advice on how to develop ethical and responsible AI systems. To gain insight on the possible implementation of the principles, we conducted an empirical investigation involving semi-structured interviews with a cohort of AI practitioners. The salient findings cover four aspects of AI system design and development, adapting processes used in software engineering: (i) high-level view, (ii) requirements engineering, (iii) design and implementation, (iv) deployment and operation.


ABSTRACT A biodegradable film was developed using an ionic liquid as a plasticiser, and rice starch having medium amylose content. The physical, mechanical and electrical properties of the developed films were determined and analysed employing the principles of chemometrics. The water vapour transmission and elongation of the films increased with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BMIMCl) concentration. The highest melting temperature was 133.4°C when the concentration of BMIMCl was 4% (w/w). The crystallinity and extent of modification were characterised by XRD and FTIR. The highest conduction of film was 0.29 S/m while the lowest resistance observed was 3.42 Ωm. The chemometric analysis of parameters of the film was carried out in terms of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). This study demonstrated the possibility of using rice starch with BMIMCl as the plasticiser to design an electroconductive film having the desired heating characteristics. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


With the spread and use of Internet,more and more researchers pay attention to Internet anxiety.Internet anxiety,which is defined as the negative emotions emerging from users when using Internet,is a new concept in the field of cyber psychology.Through summarizing the existing literature,this paper first expounds the characteristics of Internet anxiety,then analyzes the problems existing in this field and discusses the future directions of the research,and finally several suggestions on prevention and intervention of Internet anxiety are made.


With the great changes in the ecological media environment, China's traditional newspaper groups are also facing urgent challenges. The print media face many difficulties, and many factors are compressing the living environment of the traditional print media. Through a detailed analysis of a typical case, Beijing Morning Post, this paper studies the causes of the print media's dilemma from the aspects of the current economic situation, commercial and social background, and the influence of relevant national strategies. Through observation, this paper studies many problems in the development of Beijing Morning Post and analyses the opportunities and challenges faced by the print media. Based on the experience gained from the failure of the Beijing Morning Post, this paper puts forward constructive strategies and suggestions for the transformation of China's traditional newspaper groups.


Radio frequency (RF) fingerprint has gained wide attention as it takes advantages of inherent characteristics in hardware for identification and verification. However, performance unreliability with long-ago training data and channel fading interference are two open problems that restrict the development of RF fingerprint identification. To address the former issue, we propose a long-term stacking of repetitive symbols algorithm to turn the measurement noise toward standard Gaussian distribution, which contributes to both classification accuracy and long-term stability. For the latter issue, we propose an artificial noise adding algorithm in training stage to enhance the identification robustness. At last, we implement a robust RF fingerprint generation and classification scheme for practical device identification. In the experiment, we used 50 CC2530 ZigBee devices to verify the performance of proposed RF identification scheme. Our scheme achieved an accuracy of 100% with both training and testing data measured in the same day, and enabled reliable node recognition with the accuracy over 99% for testing data collected 18 months later. Further exploration shows that the scheme is both robust in additive white Gaussian noise channel and slight non-line-of-sight channel scenarios. The performance in multipath scenarios has also demonstrated the reliability and feasibility of our scheme.


The first place Egyptian artist Rehab el Sadek wanted to visit when she arrived in London was the British Museum. She came to London in summer 1998 for a three-month residency atthe Gasworks Studios, as the first participant in a collaboration between Gasworks and UNESCOSarvath el Hassan Bursaries for Culture and Art. El Sadek was drawn to the museum by its reputation for housing some of the mostimportant works of art from ancient Egypt. Her expectations were raised by descriptions of the widely celebrated collection, but the reality shattered her excitement. "At first I couldn't believe it. I felt angry and sad. The artefacts had no spirit" she observed. The British Museum had robbed the objects of their meaning, leaving only what she describes as 'empty shapes'. El Sadek's response was to create Empty Shapes, an installation that represents her reaction to the cultural violence of imperialism as reflected in the objects at the museum. " I wanted people to know that what I saw atthe British Museum hurt me," she said. The narrative for her work is the ancient myth of Osiris, the King of the Earth. In the story, Seth seizes control of the kingdom by murdering his brother Osiris. After drowning him, Seth cuts the corpse into pieces which he scatters across the land to prevent Osiris's wife from retrieving his body so as to salvage his spirit, el Sadek uses the myth as a metaphor for the displays at the British Museum where artifacts acquired through colonial conquest are scattered like the limbs of a mutilated culture; material culture without spirit. Her installation is an attempt to reverse power relations by questioning the viewer's assumption about the nature of such displays. She transformed a room into a white cube by painting the walls and the floor and by wallpapering over the windows. Inside she builtstructures akin to conventional British dwellings, conscious of the evocative power of 'home' to a British audience. Empty and bare on their precarious frames E m p t y S h a p e s , 1998, mixed media instal lat ion.


This article reviews progress of utrasonic diagnosis in diseases of prostate as well as something about prostate in its size,appearance,blood supply,methods of ultrasonograph and characters of sonogram in ultrosonic diagnosis of about 16 prostatic diseases.


Major salivary gland cancer with metastasis in a single ipsilateral lymph node larger than 3 cm but not larger than 6 cm in greatest dimension and ENE(-); or metastases in multiple ipsilateral lymph nodes, none larger than 6 cm in greatest dimension and ENE(-), or in bilateral or contralateral lymph nodes, none larger than 6 cm in greatest dimension and ENE(-). (from AJCC 8th Ed.) Qeios · Definition, February 2, 2020


Part One: JUSTICE AND LAW -- Epistemology and the Theory of Law Interpretation and Description Alf Ross's Theory Rules and Principles Model and Analogy Pluralis Juris Judicial Discretion Natural Law and Justice Conclusions. Part 2: JUSTICE -- Concept and History Justice and Equality Equality or Arbitrariness Rule - Principle Morality and Justice Conditions of Validity or Function Pluralism and Legal Principles Anthropology and Politics Just War and Positive Law The Law of Reaction Justice in Literature Justice and Duty Symmetry and Justice Justice as Process Competence to Act The Merits of a Case: Law and Politics Reasonable and Just Justice and Natural Law Abuse of the Law Priority Conclusions. References Index.


An analytical study of the effect of changing the design parameters of a two mass, six-degree-of-freedom suspension system was made. Rail cars with coil and air springs were analyzed by analog and digital computer. Spring stiffness, spring spacing, damping rates, height of center of gravity, and total mass were varied. The effect on frequency and response were determined.


Herein has a limited resource is the client and server-to-server signaling and negotiation method in a multimedia streaming service in the packet data transmission is disclosed. In order to avoid the disposal of the client side packet due to maximum packet rate capability of the client side, the client will signal the server declares the maximum packet rate capability. This ability to either through the capability exchange mechanism or by using a multimedia streaming protocol can be signaled to the client. The client then insert the parameter indicating the maximum packet data rate capacity in the request sent to the server. Taking the action required is to perform a packet transmission rate adjustment is up to the server.


Multimedia teaching tools in dental education are still rare. This paper describes the development of an inexpensive yet powerful computer program for instruction in the principles of clinical epidemiology. The application was developed in the context of periodontal diagnostic methodologies at the third year D.D.S. level. Principles of probabilistic thinking are invoked as the student is guided from the application of raw research data to the derivation of likelihood ratios and how they affect clinical decision making. A questionnaire was used to evaluate student satisfaction with the program and the responses indicated good acceptance of the concepts presented in the program and an interest in further computer-aided instruction.


The characteristics of wireless sensor networks,the threats to wireless sensor networks and security goals were presented.This paper provides details of proposed and implemented security architectures optimal for use with wireless sensor networks.These architectures will be reviewed,contrasted and compared based on their individual characteristics.At last,the further direction of sensor network security architectures was summarized and discussed.


We consider solutions to a free boundary problem for the heat equation, describing the propagation of flames. Suppose there is a bounded domain O I QT = Rn x (0,T) for some T > 0 and a function u > 0 in O such that

ut = ?u, in O,
u = 0 and |Nu| = 1, on G := ?O n QT,
u(·,0) = u0, on O0,

where O0 is a given domain in Rn and u0 is a positive and continuous function in O0, vanishing on ?O0. If O0 is convex and u0 is concave in O0, then we show that (u,O) is unique and the time sections Ot are convex for every t I (0,T), provided the free boundary G is locally the graph of a Lipschitz function and the fixed gradient condition is understood in the classical sense.


Deltas deposited during the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene in the vicinity of the present Mississippi River delta illustrate a closed system for the generation and entrapment of hydrocarbons. The major processes that contributed to the closed system were (1) transportation gulfward and deposition as deltas of vast quantities of sediments, derived from erosion of a high continental interior composed of igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks; (2) rapid burial of stream-transported organic matter and related nutrients, with abundant marine organic matter concentrated in the delta areas; (3) prevalent reducing conditions, necessary for the generation and preservation of hydrocarbons; (4) formation of discontinuous lenticular bodies of sand and clay by the shifting of istributaries; (5) contemporaneous deformation that produced growth faults and folds which formed structural traps and modified existing stratigraphic traps; and (6) upward flowage of deeply buried Mesozoic salt beds, forming piercement salt domes and deep salt anticlines. In the closed system the hydrocarbons formed and accumulated almost in situ in structural and stratigraphic traps inherent to the delta mass. Orogenic movements were not needed to form structural traps, as these were produced by large-scale slippage, slumping, and salt movement within the delta complex. All the elements in this closed system worked together to form the present oil and gas fields. Cumulative production in some of the larger fields (giants) ranges from 550 to 1,122 billion cu ft of gas and from 84 to 704 million bbl of oil and natural gas liquids.


The influence of Si, B contents and magnetic field annealing on magnetic properties of ultrafine crystalline (Fe-Cu1-Nb3)-Si-B quasi-ternary alloys have been studied. The alloy containing 13.5 at%Si and 9 at%B shows the most excellent soft magnetic properties. In this alloy, the relative permeability at 1 kHz is about 1×105. On the other hand, the alloys containing about 2 at%Si and 13 at%B show a high flux density of about 1.55 T and those containing about 17 at%Si and 5 at%B show nearly zero magnetostriction. Magnetic field annealing is very effective to improve hysteresis curves of these alloys for many applications.


1 Since 2009, the UK witnessed marked increases in the rate of sanctions applied to 2 unemployment insurance claimants, as part of wider agenda of austerity and welfare 3 reform. In 2013, over 1 million sanctions were applied, stopping benefit payments for 4 a minimum of four weeks and potentially leaving people facing economic hardship 5 and driving them to use food banks. Here we explore whether sanctioning is 6 associated with food bank use by linking data from The Trussell Trust Foodbank 7 Network with records on sanctioning rates across 259 local authorities in the UK. 8 After accounting for local authority differences and time trends, the rate of adults fed 9 by food banks rose by an additional 3.36 adults per 100,000 (95% CI: 1.71 to 5.01) as 10 the rate of sanctioning increased by 10 per 100,000 adults. The availability of food 11 distribution sites affected how tightly sanctioning and food bank usage were 12 associated (p<0.001); in areas with few distribution sites, rising sanctions led to 13 smaller increases in food bank usage. In conclusion, sanctioning is closely linked with 14 rising food bank usage, but the impact of sanctioning on household food insecurity is 15 not fully reflected in available data. 16


The subject of this analysis is the legal basis for cooperation between police services and informers. This form of operational and reconnaissance activities plays a key role in the system of activities aimed at combating crime. The issues raised herein have an important theoretical and practical significance because all police services cooperate with informers, and the collected information often cause seemingly imperceptible but far-reaching legal effects. In the Polish legal system, this cooperation has been unregulated for many years, which results in a constant decrease in its effectiveness and is a serious threat to the legal security of officers who conduct this kind of activities. Thus it is necessary to regulate many important problems related to this cooperation in the competence acts of the police services.


Chantelle Rizan , Frances Mortimer, Rachel Stancliffe and Mahmood F Bhutta Department of ENT, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Oxford OX2 7JQ, UK Royal College of Surgeons of England, London WC2A 3PE, UK BMA Medical Fair and Ethical Trade Group, British Medical Association, London WC1H 9JP, UK Corresponding author: Chantelle Rizan. Email: email@example.com


Carbon nanomaterials are at the verge of becoming an important material for various industrial applications. The main hurdle in the production of Carbon Nanomaterial (CNM) is the cost of the raw material. There are two components in producing the CNM, the precursors and the technique of the synthesis. It is almost certain that Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technique would be most suitable for the production of large quantity of CNM. As a result CVD technique is being explored by many research groups for the synthesis of CNM. The availability of precursor is another factor which controls the cost of production of carbon nanomaterials. Precursors obtained from fossil fuel and petroleum products have been mostly used for this purpose. But there is always a fear of their being depleted. Hence there is a need to search for new sources of precursors which are not fossil‐fuel based. In this review efforts are made to highlight the application of precursors which are derived from plant derived materials and efforts are made to suggest that plant derived precursors can yield CNM of similar and some time even better quality than one would normally get by using fossil fuel material and products derived from petroleum product. The advantage of using plant‐derived precursors is that unlike fossil fuel they can be cultivated in required quantity as and when needed and there is no fear of their being depleted.


In an ongoing research effort by the American Bureau of Shipping, Lamar University, and vessel operators, more than 18,000 reports of maritime near misses have been collected. The focus of this paper is on near-miss reports that included a recommended design change on or to the vessel and any related quality or safety management system. Limited consistency was found in the definition of a near miss and the type of near-miss data being collected. Most of the near-miss reports for this study contained some form of recommendation or corrective action. This review also found apparent differences in vessel operator safety program maturity among the companies providing near-miss data. As a result, this investigation focused on the recommended corrective actions and associated hazard-control processes. Additionally, based on the findings of limited consistency, this paper discusses core components for near-miss reporting and for an effective near-miss management system.


Today I want to introduce the subject of laser materials in China. I will discuss the general background of lasers and laser materials in China. Second, I want to show you some recent rapid development of lasers and laser materials in China. Third, I want to give you an overview of key R&D centers and manufacturers of lasers and laser materials. Fourth, I want to analyze some important export trends from China. Finally, I want to say something about the active international cooperation in the field of lasers and laser materials.


Turnip (Brassica rapa L.) root tissue was exposed to freeze-thaw stresses of −7, −9, -−11 and −19 °C. The post-thawed tissues were either subjected to leaching in deionized water for 2 h or left at 100% humidity. Tissue survival was then assayed by vital staining using modified 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining in 0.2 M phosphate buffer. Tissue survival was significantly lower for leached samples than for non-leached samples. It is concluded that freeze-thaw injury in plant tissues is enhanced by post-thaw leaching in water. The 0.05 M phosphate buffer commonly used for TTC staining also damaged freeze-thaw injured tissue. Key words:Brassica rapa L., 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC), freeze-thaw injury, leaching


This study investigated differences between Chinese and Western supervisors regarding the fundamental Chinese construct of guanxi, or "personal connection". We explored differences in behavior and values regarding guanxi through certain of its elements: ganqing (emotional attachment), renqing (reciprocal favors), face (outward appearance), and orientation to task vs. relationships. Applied to responses from an online survey of 134 Chinese employees, discriminant analysis revealed that Chinese supervisors attached greater importance than Westerners working in China to ganqing and renqing – that is, aspects of guanxi expressed outside of the workplace. However, Chinese managers did not appear more oriented to group harmony than task completion, nor did they show more appreciation of subordinates' opinions than their Western counterparts. These findings suggest some convergence between Chinese and Western management styles, but only in terms of in-office behavior. Findings also suggest that guanxi differences are more driven by the behavior of individual supervisors than the culture of an organization's home nation.


On account of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of educational institutes have been forced to execute online distributed education We have been providing an introductory software engineering course that conducts the practice of web application development in addition to lectures Our goal was to provide students with a face-to-face lecture-like experience in a fully online distributed environment We have redesigned the course to achieve this goal, with less preparation time (about two weeks) We have been holding an introductory software engineering education that conducts practice of web application development in addition to lectures In traditional subjects, conducting lectures as well as practices, the instructor and teaching assistants walk around the class, check how the students are doing, identify and guide the students who have trouble with their practices In distributed education, it is difficult to do accomplish these tasks;therefore, some measures are required For this reason, we have developed tools to automate the building of a software development environment on students' PCs and to support questions and answers during web application development tasks In this paper, we report on the practice of web application development in this course and the students' evaluations thereof © 2020 Copyright for this paper by its authors Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4 0 International (CC BY 4 0)


................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................. vi List of Figures..................................................................................................... viii List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................... xii 1.
   Introduction.................................................................................................... 1 1.1
   Group III-Antimonide Compound Semiconductors ........................................ 2 1.2
   Si(001) Surface..................................................................................................... 3 1.3
   Structural Defects in Epitaxial Growth............................................................. 4 1.3.1
   Threading and Misfit Dislocations................................................................. 5 1.3.2
   Stacking Faults and Microtwins..................................................................... 5 1.3.3
   Anti-Phase Disorder....................................................................................... 7 1.4
   Research Objective and Thesis Overview ......................................................... 9 2.
   Literature Review ........................................................................................ 11 2.1
   Heteroepitaxial Growth of III-Sb on Si(001) .................................................. 11 2.1.1
   AlSb as Buffer Layer ................................................................................... 11 2.2
   TEM Characterization of GaSb Heterostructures......................................... 13 2.3
   Detecting Anti-Phase Domains with Superlattice Reflections....................... 15 2.3.1
   Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction for Crystal Polarity ....................... 18 2.4
   The (211)-oriented Si Substrate Proposition................................................... 21 2.5
   Summary ............................................................................................................ 23 3.
   Experimental Methods ................................................................................ 25 3.1
   Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth .................................................................... 25 3.2
   Transmission Electron Microscopy ................................................................. 26 3.2.1
   Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction ....................................................... 28 3.3
   Two-Dimensional X-ray Diffraction................................................................ 29


Abstract : The U.S. military preponderance of power in Northeast Asia, based on the Cold War systems of collective defense, is no longer adequate to cope with the complex threats to peace that have reemerged since 1990. It may be preferable to move beyond the old Cold War division of the Soviet Union, China and North Korea on the one side and the U.S., Japan and South Korea on the other, toward a system of multilateral cooperative security. The nations of Northeast Asia are searching for new modes of ensuring their security in the era of uncertainty marking the post-Cold War period. There is a need for cooperative security in Northeast Asia that is aimed at engaging all of the nations in dialogue and cooperation. A cooperative system would focus on reducing tensions, preventing war and diffusing the potential threats to regional stability. Although there are no clear and immediate dangers in Northeast Asia, there are many unresolved problems of security that warrant multilateral cooperation. Due to the importance of the seas and growing concern about maritime issues, maritime security could be a catalyst for establishing multilateral cooperative security. The United States is in a unique position to cooperate with Northeast Asian nations in maritime cooperative security. Finally, multilateral cooperative security will allow all of the nations involved to spend less on defense and concentrate more on the goal of creating an environment conducive to modernization and prosperity.


The processes of transformations, which take place during the period of transition in Bulgaria, are a priority research problem, tackled by professionally heterogene-ous experts. The analysis of the available publications indicates that the attention is focused on the way the processes are going on at a national rather than at a regional level. This is partly due to the insufficient information, which would have shown the differentiation of the transformation processes by separate territorial units. The lack of adequate information can be attributed to the changes in the statistical ac-countancy, caused by the attempts to unify the Bulgarian statistics with the EU statistics, by the new administrative-territorial division of the country, etc. Since the beginning of the 1990s Bulgaria has been experiencing a deep economic and social restructuring. The transition to market economy in Bulgaria and in the remaining countries from Central and Eastern Europe follows one and the same pattern. The system's transformation is concurrent with the structural transformation. The system's transformation is defined as a process of turning the so-cialist planned system into a capitalist, market one. The structural transformation proceeds as changes in the structure of ownership, production and technologies, in the organisational forms, etc. The Bulgarian model of transition to market economy has its characteristic features, resulting from the specific conditions in the country. Compared to the other Central and East European states, the process of restructuring in Bulgaria is more distinct. The more profound changes in Bulgaria are due to the much lower share of private ownership and to the predominant share of the state ownership in the economic sector, having been observed for several decades (1950s-1980s), to the deeper social and economic crisis towards the end of the 1980s and in the first half of the 1990s, to the unfavourable political situation in the Balkans during the first five years of the 1990s, to the larger scope and slower rate of the reform, to the inadequate capitals, to the smaller amount of direct foreign investments, to the more serious obstacles in the formation and functioning of la-bour market, etc.


Conventional diffused light polariscope was utlized to capture images by a digital camera, which were transferred online to a personal computer. Further, a software was developed to identify Isochromatic and Isoclinic fringes in the beam to study stress distribution. The algorithm was written in Turbo C++.


Taking pakchoi as materials,the greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of spraying different trace-element foliar fertilizers on the chlorophyll content,leaves number,yield,VC content,reducing sugar content and nitrate content.The results showed that,spraying trace-element fertilizers not only increased the number of leaves,chlorophyll content and yield,but also improved the quality including Vitamin C content,reducing sugar and nitrate content.The conclusion suggested that spraying trace-element foliar fertilizer B(200times)was more conducive to improving the agronomic and quality of pakchoi.


In this paper, we study generators of the entire Hilbert spaces E2 (γ) which are determined by admissible comparison functions. The main result is that if α,β∈(?),|α| τ =limn→∞nγn/γn-1 , then eαz+β is a generator of E2(γ).


A double gate MOSFET model is developed with surface potential based charge model and quasi-ballistic transport based velocity model with only one extracted parameter. Compared to the traditional drift-diffusion model, the quasi-ballistic transport velocity model can describe the I-V characteristics better for sub-30nm MOSFET. Besides, a completely surface potential based charge model with both dope and inversion charge is more accurate at smaller feature size. This model is verified by numerical simulations at the end of this paper.


Abstract An empirical linear Bayes estimator is asymptotically optimal in the usual sense if its average risk converges to the risk of the corresponding linear Bayes estimator. The present paper demonstrates that the following result holds for the most commonly used models: If the unknown (structural) parameters are estimated in such a way that their mean square error converges at a certain rate, then the corresponding empirical linear Bayes estimator is asymptotically optimal with the same rate of risk convergence. In particular, this is the case for the random coefficient regression model, and for hierarchical models in the univariate case.


1 The sensitivity of GABAA receptors (GABARs) to Zn2+ inhibition depends on subunit composition. The predominant neuronal forms of mammalian GABARs, αβγ and αβδ, are differentially sensitive to Zn2+ inhibition; αβγ receptors are substantially less sensitive than αβδ receptors. Recently, functional domains involved in Zn2+ sensitivity have been identified in α and β subunits. Our aim in the present study was to localize functional domains of low Zn2+ sensitivity within γ2L subunits. 2 Chimeric subunits were constructed by progressively replacing the rat γ2L subunit sequence with that of the rat δ subunit sequence. Whole‐cell currents were recorded from mouse L929 fibroblasts coexpressing wild‐type rat α1 and β3 subunits with a chimeric δ‐γ2L subunit. 3 Unlike α and β subunits, the γ2L subunit was found to contain a determinant of low Zn2+ sensitivity in the N‐terminal extracellular region. In addition, we identified determinants in the M2 segment and the M2‐M3 loop of the γ2L subunit that are homologous to those found in β and α subunits. 4 We postulate that the interface between the latter two domains, which may form the outer vestibule of the channel, represents a single functional domain modulating Zn2+ sensitivity. Thus, the Zn2+ sensitivity of ternary GABARs appears to be determined by two functional domains, one in the N‐terminal extracellular region and one near the outer mouth of the channel.


ABSTRACTLearning media was very important in learning process. Learning media functioned to enhance thestudent's attention; to give direct experience to the students; to present learning clearly; learning process tobe more interesting; to solve the sense limitedness, space, distance and time. It was hoped that by the rightusage of learning media it could enhance the result of learning science of autism children to the material ofplantation growing. The learning media used was three dimensions media i.e. Horta Doll media(Horticulture). The research purpose was to prove the influence of Horta Doll media (Horticulture) towardthe result of learning science of autism children.This research used quantitative approach with one group pre test-post test design. The technique ofdata analysis used statistic non parametric, Wilcoxon Match Pairs Test.The research result indicated that the pre test data obtained was 43,3 and after giving treatment thepost test data obtained was 75 so that the value of T counted = 21,0 > T table (n=6) = 0 that Ha was acceptedand Ho was refused it meant "there was influence of Horta Doll media (Horticulture) toward the result oflearning science of autism children".Keywords: Autism children, Horta Doll Media, Learning Science Result


In anticipation of regulation involving numeric turbidity limit at highway construction sites, research was done into the most appropriate, affordable methods for surface water monitoring. Measuring sediment concentration in streams may be conducted a number of ways. As part of a project funded by the Iowa Department of Transportation, several testing methods were explored to determine the most affordable, appropriate methods for data collection both in the field and in the lab. The primary purpose of the research was to determine the exchangeability of the acrylic transparency tube for water clarity analysis as compared to the turbidimeter.


ABSTRACT
The objective of the research was to determine the availability and accessibility of essential medicines according to price and the payment capacity of the population, in pharmaceutical establishments in the public and private sectors in the District of Nuevo Chimbote in the province of the Santa of the Department of Ancash in 2014.
Data were obtained through surveys of availability and prices, usingas a source the methodology proposed by the World Health Organization (who). Direct interviews, income online to the Observatory of prices of the General direction of drugs - DIGEMID, drug price data and simulated prescription was used in some cases.
It was concluded that the availability of essential medicines at DCI in private establishments was higher than in the MINSA, however their prices averages were 317 times more and prices averages for innovative and generic drug brand or brand chains of drugstores were 4721 times and 2399,8 times more respectively than the prices of the MINSA in private establishments what constitutes a barrier to accessibility. With respect to capacity to pay of the population according to the minimum living wage, for treatment of a respiratory infection, requires 8, 4.5 and 1 working days if treatment is made with innovative, generic brand or brand chains of pharmacies drugs or generics in DCI respectively.


The mehod of determining zinc in milk powder by is studied . The characteristic concentration is 0.007 μg /mL/1%,the detection limit is 0.005 μg/mL,the relative standard deviation(RSD) is 2%,the recovery rate is 96%~101% and the linear range of zinc is 0~1.4 μg/mL. The sample analysis results meet the requirements.


The author discusses organizations of the essential functional parts of an electroluminescent diode display system, capable of displaying one or more lines of alphanumeric characters. Four different basic organizations are compared from the standpoint of relative cost and operational flexibility.


There is docum ented evidence that infection in laboratory animals can often influence the outcome of experiments. All infections, apparent or inapparent, are likely to increase biological variability. As a research project concerning the diversity and distribution of parasites of rabbit and guinea pig in a conventional laboratory animal house, about 87 rabbits (from 700 ) and 105 guinea pigs (from 1500 ) were selected randomly from a Research, Production & Breeding of Laboratory Animals Department. Samples were collected between 19.02.2010 and 20.05.2011. The samples and animals were examined by dissection and flotation methods. In this study only one species of nematodes (Passalorus ambiguus: 6.9%); one species of protozoa (Eimeria spp.: 21.8%) in rabbits and one species of nematodes (Paraspidodera Uncinata: 24.7%); one species of protozoa (Balantidium coli: 11.4%) in guinea pigs were identified. However, there was not any cestodes or trematodes identified from this group of laboratory animals.


This article shows that the poet's poetry took place among the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, and it had a special development among the Kyrgyz and Kazakhs. They were usually performed in oral poetic form to the accompaniment of a stringed musical instrument (komuz in Kyrgyz, dombra in Kazakh). It is noted that they were perceived as folk singers, reflecting the feelings of ordinary people and exposing the social vices of their time.


Craig et al. [Acta Cryst. (2022), C78, 470–480] report on the synthesis of the quaternary sulfide Li4CdGe2S7, which is remarkable in several respects.


It has been clinically suspected that patients with autoimmune thyroid disease are at an increased risk of developing other autoimmune diseases later in life. To determine the presence and potential importance of a more generalized deregulation of immune response in patients with Grave's disease and Hashimoto's disease, sera from 33 patients with Graves' disease and 16 patients with Hashimoto's disease were screened for the presence of anti-insulin antibodies and anti-insulin-receptor antibodies. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to identify the presence of IgG against human insulin. The optical density indicating the presence of IgG against insulin in sera from patients with Graves' disease averaged .172 ± .024 (mean ± SE; range .010–.802), compared to the mean normal value of .098 ± .0009 (range .012–.238) in 33 control subjects. Ten of 33 patients with Graves' disease had values > .200, whereas control sera values were < .200 in all but one case (P < .005, Graves' sera vs. controls). The sera from patients with Hashimoto's disease had a mean optical density of .110 ± .016, with 15 of 16 values between .010 and .200. These values were not significantly different from controls with an insulin-binding inhibition assay. Anti-insulin-receptor antibodies were not detected in any of 33 patients with Graves' disease, and cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies were not detected in sera from seven patients with Graves' disease who had insulin-binding antibodies. These data support the hypothesis that the immunologic response in autoimmune thyroid disease may be more heterogeneous and polyclonal than previously believed.


We present a preliminary search for the flavor-changing neutral current decay B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +} {nu}{bar {nu}} using 56 million {Upsilon}(4S) decays recorded with the BABAR detector at the SLAC B factory. Identification of the B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}{nu}{bar {nu}} final state, with two neutrinos, requires the reconstruction of the companion B in the event. The companion B is reconstructed in the decay mode B{sup -} {yields} D{sup 0} {ell}{sup -} {bar {nu}} X, which provides both high efficiency and good purity. The particles not used in the reconstruction of the companion B are compared with the signature expected for B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +} {nu}{bar {nu}} decays. Two candidates are found in the data with an expected background of 2.2 events. Under the assumption that all candidates are signal events, an upper limit on the branching fraction for B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +} {nu}{bar {nu}} of 9.4 x 10{sup -5} at 90% confidence level is determined.


Aim  New protected areas should consider safeguarding high conservation value sites based on multiple criteria and not just the presence of a single endangered or charismatic species. However, the extent to which complementary criteria coincide is usually unknown. We use the case of Guaiacum sanctum (Zygopyllaceae), an endangered timber tree species, to explore whether the protection of forests where this species is most abundant would meet other complementary conservation goals, such as capturing regional plant biodiversity, protecting other threatened/endemic species or safeguarding ecosystem services.


T S. ELIOT launched The Criterion as a quarterly in 1922, almost 1 lost it for want of funds in the fall of 1925, resumed it as a quarterly over the Faber imprint in 1926, made it a monthly in 1927, cut it back to quarterly appearance in June 1928, and then issued it steadily until New Year 1939. In his twenties he had seen the N.R.F. assume leadership in French intellectual life, seen Pound energize The Egoist and Poetry, assisted The Egoist, and watched Murry's brief, brilliant, erratic run as editor of The Athenaeum.. All that he observed, and the tantalizing insufficiency of his participation as subordinate or contributor, had made him eager to direct a periodical himself in his own way. Every young poet is likely to think he would wield the editorial power better than the men he serves, but I doubt whether anyone has been so resolved as Eliot to have his own periodical and control it purposefully. Some flecks of mere ambition may be detected in the resolve. Ambition drove Eliot in successive mutations as it drove his Becket, but not ambition for the mere regalia of editorship-rather the honorable, desperate, and irremediable ambition to pursue and cry a conviction, to be a preacher, a Savonarola (his mother's hero), and to change the world. He wanted to do what Arnold had credited Newman and the Oxford Movement with doing: "swell the tide of secret dissatisfaction which has mined the ground under the self-confident liberalism of the last thirty years ..." He hoped to encourage a more ascetic and disciplined orientation, and, as the cultural setting for that severer life, to fortify


Fluorescent color-tunable Fe3O4−CdSe hybrid nanocrystals were synthesized by a facile hot-injection method. Heterogeneous nucleation was found directly happening on starting Fe3O4 seeds, leading to the controllable emission peaks by changing reaction time, temperature, and dose of oleic acid. In comparison with pure CdSe quantum dots, it was found that the emission peaks of hybrid nanocrystals were obviously blue-shifted and responsible for the amount of seed nanocrystals. By evaluating the concentration of CdSe nuclei, the blue-shift was ascribed to the lowering of activation energy in heterogeneous nucleation and explained why CdSe quantum dots would directly deposit on seed nanocrystals.


Background: Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is an immune mediated lung disease caused due to hypersensitivity reaction of antigen Aspergillus fumigates. ABPA is more prevalent in patients with asthma and cystic fibrosis. Thus, the current investigation was done to estimate the prevalence and association of ABPA with resistant asthma, to identify the clinical and laboratory pointers of ABPA and to identify the effect of ABPA and its treatment on the course of resistant asthma.Methods: Current investigation was a prospective and non-blinded study conducted on patients of Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital, Chennai with bronchial asthma, having frequent exacerbation related problems. Demographic, clinical (hematological) and radiological investigations were performed for staging and treatment of all the enrolled patients. Follow up of patients was done periodically to investigate re-admission of respiratory events or other illnesses. All the collected data was statistically analyzed.Results: Prevalence of ABPA in treatment resistant bronchial asthma patients was 19%. Positive family history, history of atopy and recurrent exacerbations were identified as significant risk factors among ABPA patients. Whereas duration and severity of asthma had no significant association with ABPA patients, bronchiectasis and parenchymal damage were significantly observed in patients of ABPA. Skin prick test serum eosinophils and IgE antibody levels were observed as good screening test parameters to identify ABPA. Prednisolone and itraconazole are considered as highly reliable and effective treatment strategies in ABPA.Conclusions: Current investigation revealed that ABPA must be considered as a possible prevailing disease in treatment refractory cases of asthma on conventional steroids.


A avertisement belongs to a special ideology,which directs the view of consumers and society,indicates the value of orientation,and contributes social relationship.Advertisement is the impetus of economic development and a sylmbol of economic development.Effective advertisement can be used as the agent of information intercourse,and then the trade cost of the enterprises can be reduced.As a cultural phenomenon,advertisement fabricates the reality of the society through its cultural hegemony.And to some extent,it can also mislead the modern public and weaken the social responsibility.


CD++ is a modeling and simulation tool that was created to study complex systems by using a discreteevent cell-based approach. It was successfully employed to define a variety of models for complex applications using a cell-based approach. In order to improve model validation and analysis, we introduced a 3D visualization engine, which is based on the Maya 3D visualization tool and its scripting language. The application allows virtual worlds to be developed using the Maya visualization environment, and permits interaction with DEVS models built in CD++. The result is an enhanced simulation environment, which permits improved experimentation. We discuss how these two applications interact, and how models defined earlier in CD++ can interoperate with advanced visualizations built based on Maya 3D models.


1. Current concepts of the lymphocyte proliferation test. These investigators employ methodology quite different from that commonly used in assessing sensitivity to beryllium (authors' ref. 10). They employ a high concentration of serum, 25%, that is partially inhibitory with regard to lymphocyte division. They utilize autologous rather than pooled complement inactivated human serum, known to support thymidine incorporation (by testing prior to use). Using autologous plasma introduces the potential for individual variation in cytokine levels, proliferation inhibitors, hormones, etc., which might markedly influence the results in either direction. Their procedures use triplicates instead of octuplicates; they sample at only one time point instead of two, and use concentrations of beryllium cation that have not been shown to be (but may be) reflective of sensitization as validated by chronic beryllium disease determined by lung biopsy. Thus, the authors may have missed the optimal assay time or beryllium concentration for demonstrating sensitization. Furthermore, the established stimulation index for sensitization is 3.0, not 2.0 as was used in this study. While the data are most interesting, it is very difficult to compare them to other studies.


1 This article focuses on the negotiation of borders in Anna Seghers' novel Transit (1944) and Christian Petzold's film of the same name (2018). Seghers' Exilroman , set in the 1940s, describes the torment of a nameless refugee from Germany waiting to escape Marseille, one of the last open ports in a Europe ravaged by National Socialism. Seventy years later, Petzold's film delves into the history of displacement and nationalism in Europe by setting the fascist persecution in the 1940s amongst the refugee "crisis" in the present day. Drawing on a trans-period approach which is already present in Seghers' book, the Berlin School director presents expulsion and migration as timeless phenomena, grounding his film in the historical movement of populations across borders. Both authors construe the crossing of borders as a loss of identity and alienation, but offer different solutions, if any, to what they perceive as an existential as well as a political predicament. After providing some background to each work and author, I will analyse Petzold's diachronic adaptation of Seghers' novel before demonstrating that he deploys an understanding of migration inherent in the earlier text. Considering both authors' representation of displacement as the loss, not only of the home, but also of the self, I will then examine how their coping strategies involve creating and sharing narratives, yet diverge in fundamental ways: Seghers' self-reliance and international solidarity is juxtaposed with Petzold's submitting to the absurdity of the transit space. Finally, I will argue that the state of crisis experienced by Seghers' and Petzold's protagonists is tied to the enforcement of borders both within and around Europe, making this an enduring humanitarian as well as artistic issue which needs to be addressed in order to protect the rich yet contested multicultural community which has historically shaped, and continues to shape, this continent. décrit le tourment d'un réfugié allemand sans nom attendant de s'échapper du Marseille des années 1940, l'une des dernières frontières ouvertes dans une Europe ravagée par le national-socialisme. 70 ans plus tard, le film multilingue du réalisateur de l'école de Berlin se penche sur l'histoire des déplacements et du nationalisme en Europe en situant la persécution fasciste des années 1940 dans le contexte de la crise des migrants dans la France d'aujourd'hui. L'approche trans-périodique distinctive de Petzold donne la parole aux marginalisés et aux déplacés sur deux siècles et deux continents, rendant impossible de séparer la "vieille" de la "nouvelle" Europe. Présentant l'expulsion et la migration comme des phénomènes intemporels, Petzold parle de la fluctuation historique des frontières et des mouvements de populations. Les deux auteurs interprètent le franchissement des frontières comme une perte d'identité et une aliénation, mais proposent des solutions différentes, si tant est qu'il y en ait, à ce qu'ils perçoivent comme une situation existentielle et politique délicate.


Research aims: This study examines the determinants of fraudulent financial reporting with financial distress as an intervening agent.Design/Methodology/Approach: The banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) between 2017 and 2020 comprised the study's population. One hundred-four companies comprised the entire sample, which was chosen using purposive sampling. The approach employed in this study was partial least squares (PLS)-SEM.Research findings: The results of this study found that financial targets and audit quality significantly affected financial distress. Financial distress had a significant effect on fraudulent financial reporting. Financial targets and audit quality had no significant effect on fraudulent financial reporting. Furthermore, audit quality significantly affected fraudulent financial reporting through financial distress. Financial targets did not significantly influence fraudulent financial reporting through financial distress.Theoretical contribution/Originality: This study provides literature on the role of financial conditions and good corporate governance in preventing fraudulent financial reporting in banking companies. This study can be an insight for practitioners and academics in Indonesia and internationally. Apart from that, this study contributes to the literature on the occurrence of fraudulent financial statements mediated by financial distress, which is not widely discussed, specifically in the context of the banking industry in developing countries.Practitioner/Policy implication: The practical implication in this research is the importance for investors and creditors to be more vigilant and pay attention to corporate governance and financial conditions to reduce errors in decisions based on financial reports. In addition, the strength of good corporate governance indicates that the supervision carried out by management will take the information conveyed to stakeholders free from material misstatement so that the implementation of good corporate governance can prevent fraud. Research limitation/Implication: This study exclusively includes companies in the banking sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) between 2017 and 2020. Out of 46 companies, only 26 may be used as research objects according to the purposive sampling method.


Three metalworking fluids (MWFs) from a copper wire drawing industry were monitored for a 2-year period by studying changes in their functional properties: two semisynthetic oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions used in smoothing and wire drawing processes and one synthetic fluid used in the casting process. The parameters measured included zeta potential, droplet size distribution, surface tension, contact angle, foaming power, and optical characterization of the creaming stability. Experimental results showed that zeta potential, droplet size distribution, and creaming stability are the key parameters for monitoring the life span of MWFs and extending its life cycle. Surface tension, contact angle, and foaming power showed large variations with time and did not adequately reflect the changes in functional properties of the MWFs. Furthermore, the influence of several parameters on the properties of MWFs with the purpose of reducing the foaming power was studied. Commercial concentrates and several types of water (decalcified, tap, and distilled) were utilized to formulate the fluids and their properties were compared to those of the plant MWFs.


Salts of the [1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-c][1,2,5]thiadiazolidyl radical anion (1) and the early alkali metals, [Li(12-crown-4)2][1] (3), [Na(15-crown-5)][1] (4), and [K(18-crown-6)][1] (5) as well as the salt [(Me2N)3S][1] (6) can be prepared by reduction of [1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (2) with PhS– anion followed by XRD and ESR characterization. These salts are thermally stable and soluble in MeCN. Low-temperature crystallization of salt 5 from MeCN or storage of 5 under MeCN for a few days at ambient temperature gives the solvate 5·MeCN (7). The radical anion 1 acts as bridging ligand in salts 4 and 5 and as chelating ligand in salt 7. In salt 3, the radical anion 1 is not coordinated to the cation and can be considered as "naked" anion. In salt 6, one of the two crystallographically independent 1 acts as bridging ligand, whilst the other is not coordinated to the cation. Magnetic susceptibility data obtained for salts 4 and 5 in the temperature range of 2–300 K revealed antiferromagnetic exchange interactions between paramagnetic centers: 4, J = –3.42, αJ = –1.12 cm–1; 5, J = –1.22 cm–1. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)


The study was aimed to evaluate the efficacy of poultry feather keratin, as an accelerator of wound healing in clinical case of seven cats having non-healing chronic wound. The pattern of wound healing was evaluated both clinically and by planimetery. All cases showed very good progress in healing after application of the keratin-gelatin film. The results of the study suggested that keratin of poultry feather acts as a stimulant for wound healing in chronic non healing wounds.


T. R. Richmond and Sami R. H. Radwan L^CK of agreement among cotton breeders on the meaning of the term earliness of crop or boll maturity and on methods of measuring or estimating earliness in cotton is due in great part to the fact that the genus Gossypium is characterized by an indeterminate flowering and fruiting habit. The practical interest of cotton growers, as well as breeders, is in the relative time required to set and mature a crop of bolls. The analysis of methods of measuring earliness of maturity in experimental stocks of American Upland cotton, G. hirsutum L., given here was part of a more comprehensive experiment designed to determine the inheritance of earliness as well as to study the relation of earliness to certain agronomic characters and to identify genetically some of thechromosomes on which genes for earliness might be located. REVIEW OF LITERATURE


Abstract In 1994, Lorna Simpson began serigraphing photographic images onto felt. Simpson is known for overtly engaging issues of race and gender in her work, often juxtaposing images of black female bodies with provocative text. Her felt photographs, however, remove the figure and explore the atmospheric, sculptural, and narrative qualities available in its absence. Many critics viewed this as a shift from political content to formal experimentation. This article will argue, however, that the temporal and tactile dimensions of Simpson's felt pieces relate her early and recent photography, developing conceptual and formal concerns that her work consistently engages. It focuses on the role of hair in Simpson's images, from early depictions of the back of African American women's heads, to images of braids and wigs, to photographs printed on matted hair. Recalling historical and theoretical connections between hair and photography, it explores how Simpson's engagement of race and gender is structured by a broader investigation of how the surface of the body and the photograph relate, how identity becomes embodied and represented as visible. Rather than asking how an image indexes the identity of whatever it pictures, the felt photographs explore how appearance emerges within dynamic and material relationships of embodied visibility.


This study aimed to investigate the acute effect of static stretching (SS) and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) in the performance of repetition maximum (RM) during a training session of force (TSF) for upper and lower limbs. Six sessions were conducted during the experiment period. At the first three sessions, a stretching protocol familiarization was adopted followed by 12 maximal repetitions test and retest. From the fourth session on, the following experimental protocols were applied: a) Static stretching + TSF; b) PNF stretching + TSF; c) specific warm-up with 20 repetitions (30% of 12 RM load) + TSF. The sessions included three sets of 12 RM for each exercise (leg press 45o, leg extension, leg curl and plantar flexion). It was observed significant differences ( p < .05) between the stretching methods to the sum of (RM) of the three sets in leg press 45o, leg extension and leg curl. It was observed significant difference ( p < .05) in the SRM on the three of four exercises at the EP vs. SS and PNF vs. SS situations. Both stretching methods decrease the subsequent strength performance, reducing its levels. Therefore, PNF and SS methods should not be recommended before a training session of force.


Recently, the tourism industry has developed remarkably. Marketing for revitalizing the tourism market has attracted intense attention. To perform effective marketing, analyzing attributes such as gender, age, and residential areas of visitors is a fundamentally important approach because it is possible to present an appropriate advertisement to each user considering user attributes. As described in this paper, we propose a method to estimate user attributes based on geographical information annotated to contents posted by users in social media posts. Attributes of people visiting a specific area might be biased, such as "men visit Shimbashi frequently" and "women often visit Harajuku." Our approach assumes that "people with a certain attribute often visit a certain area" and that "such areas differ depending on attributes." Based on those assumptions, we create feature vectors based on geographical information related to social media sites. Furthermore, we propose a method to estimate user attributes with feature vectors using machine learning. As described in this paper, we specifically examine estimation of user gender. Our experiments demonstrated evaluation of the efficiency of gender estimation using the proposed method from a dataset obtained from Twitter and Flickr.


To examine metabolic changes (lipids, liver enzymes, blood pressure, and weight) potentially associated with conversion to diabetes, we analyzed serial glucose and other metabolic measures obtained every 6 months within the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study trial. Changes in parameters for 86 men who converted to new-onset diabetes ("converters": two consecutive glucose levels ≥7 mmol/l) were compared with 860 "nonconverters" matched for age and treatment allocation. Eighteen months before the diagnosis, converters to diabetes had elevated (P < 0.01) fasting glucose, weight, triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood pressure, and white cell count and lower HDL cholesterol compared with nonconverters. The mean (SD) increase in fasting glucose over 18 months in converters was 1.80 (1.52) mmol/l, compared with 0.10 (0.57) in nonconverters. Of parameters measured, only ALT (P = 0.0005) and triglyceride (P = 0.030) increased significantly more over the 18 months in converters compared with nonconverters, but neither parameter increased significantly in nonconverters with high baseline glucose concentrations (>6.1 mmol/l). Finally, only sustained increases in ALT predicted a higher risk for diabetes. We conclude that a relatively rapid rise in fasting glucose levels is frequent in converters to diabetes and that associated increases over time in ALT and potentially triglyceride suggest hepatic fat accumulation as a contributing factor for conversion to diabetes in men at risk.