Even before the formal annexation of the West Bank in April 1950 to the Hashemite Kingdom, the leadership of Nablus was exerting pressure on the Jordanian government to assume the economic functions of the Mandatory administration. As the economic crisis which Nablus underwent from 1948 and in the early 1950s worsened, various circles in the town increased the pressure they brought to bear on the Hashemite government to act towards easing the adaptation of the city's economic system to the new conditions that had arisen at the end of the 1948 war with the presence of tens of thousands of refugees within and around the city. The large landowners were the first to demand government assistance. They required the government to aid them in the development of the farms they owned in the areas to the east of the city and in the Jordan Valley (Ghur Nablus, Ghur al-Far'ah, Ghur al-Badan and Ghur alJiftlik). During the summer of 1949 and the winter of 1950 several assemblies took place in the city at the initiative of this group which requested the government to complete the Jordan Valley irrigation scheme that the Mandatory govemment had begun so as to permit the enlargement of the irrigated and cultivated land there by at least 20,000 dunams. Wahid al-Masri, one of the largest landowners in the Ghur, and the driving spirit behind this activity, also demanded the improvement of the drainage system, the implementation of programmes for soil amelioration and pest control, and in particular the extension of aid towards the development of the field-crop and dairy-farm branches.' The arrangement of relatively low-interest bank loans for fellahin, as well as for large landowners, like those that had existed in the last years of the Mandatory government, was one step the new administration was called upon to take by these assemblies.2 A call of another sort was directed at Amman by city residents who owned property in areas that were now part of the territory of Israel by virtue of the Armistice agreements: when property owners became aware that access to their fields and orchards for the most part citrus groves was no longer possible, they asked the authorities to work for the renewal of movement of farmers between the West Bank and their lands within the Israeli boundaries. As late as the beginning of summer of 1949 these property owners believed that they would be able to harvest and cany out other agricultural work on their land in Israel, if the king and his government took up this issue.3 But when this belief proved unfounded, 'the property owners, the citrus growers, the farners, the bank managers and the notables of the city of Nablus'


'We read with considerable interest the comments made by Cianchetti et al. (1) on the 'ictal epileptic headache' (IEH) criteria (2) and we agree that this rare, intriguing phenomenon deserves to be discussed extensively by experts in the field. However, we do not agree with their proposed use of the term 'ictal headache' (IH), which was supported by Dainese et al. (discussed in Striano et al. (3))'


Abstract The discourse in child custody mediation sessions was investigated to discover the frequency, type, and sequence of accusations made within interactions as well as their effects on subsequent outcomes. Coded transcripts of 20 child custody mediation sessions provided the material for this descriptive study and revealed 288 instances in which one disputant accused another of some offense. Most of these alleged offenses involved perceptions of specific behaviors instead of non‐negotiable character flaws. Disputants frequently rebuked their former spouses, rather than simply asking for an explanation. In general, partners responded to these aggravating reproaches with aggravating account forms, and these were followed by rejection of the account or mediator intervention. However, couples were more likely to reach custody agreements when mediators intervened after reproaches, when discussion of behaviors was avoided, and when reproachers were allowed to use direct rebukes.


The essential oils was obtained from leaf,stem and fruit of Xanthium italicum Moretti by steam distillation method,and their chemical composition was identified by GC-MS. Total 25,23,and 27 compounds were identified from leaf,stem,and fruit oils,accounting for 90. 625%,93. 041% and 89. 866% of the total oil,respectively. The main components of leaf,stem and fruit oils were limonene( 25. 541%) and borneol( 12. 133%),limonene( 62. 85%),γ-elemene( 23. 38%),limonene( 14. 18%) and germacrene B( 16. 279%). Amaranthus retroflexus L.,a dicot plant,and Poa pratensis L.,a monocot plant,which can be found to grow in the habitats that are invaded by X. italicum,were used as tested species to evaluate the allelopathic effects of the plant's volatile oils.Different amounts( 20,40 and 80 g /1. 4 L) of fresh cut leaves,stems and fruits of X. italicum were placed in air tight containers to simulate its natural conditions to emit volatile oils into the environment,and petri dish bioassay method was used to evaluate the phytotoxic activity of its essential oils at different concentrations( 0. 2 μL / m L,0. 5 μL / m L,1 μL / m L,3 μL / m L and 5 μL / m L). Results showed that the volatile oils of different plant parts exhibited significant allelopathic effect both under simulated natural conditions and in the petri dish bioassay,and leaf oil has the potential to be utilized as a natual herbicide.


The better way for Web services discovery is to classify the Web services into different categories when they are published in a registry. The method of intelligent clustering based classification of the Web services is mainly studied. A hybrid solution is proposed for building and populating a taxonomy structure by combining human knowledge with the techniques of artificial intelligence. The Web service is converted into standard vector format through Web service description language (WSDL) document. The self-organizing neural network based learning algorithm and clustering algorithm are designed and implemented to classify the Web services automatically.


Objective To evaluate the change in renal aquaporin-3 (AQP-3) after carcliopulmonary resuscitation ( CPR). Methods Twenty adult male Wistar rots weighing 220-280 g were randomly allocated into 2 groups ( n = 10 each) : control group (C) and CPR group. All animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal 10% chloral hydrate 300 mg/kg, tracheostomized and mechanically ventilated. PaCO2 was maintained at 35-45 nun Hg. Femoral artery and vein were cannulated for BP monitoring and drug administration. The animals were paralyzed with vecoronium 0.1 mg/kg. Cardiac arrest was induced by suffocation and confirmed by ECG or MAP < 10 mm Hg. Cardiac arrest was maintained for 8 min before CPR was started by closed chest cardiac massage. Recovery of spontaneous circulation was defined as spontaneous rhythmic heart contraction and MAP 60 mm Hg. Five animals were killed at 1 h (T1) and 3 h (T2) after successful resuscitation. Serum creatinine and urea nitrogen concentrations and renal AQP-3 expression were determined. Results There were no significant differences between T1 and m2 serum creatinine and urea nitrogen concentrations in CPR group. The renal AQP-3 expression at T1 was significantly lower in CPR group than in control group and was significantly lower at T2 than at T1 in CPR group. Conclusion Cardiac arrest and CPR can lead to down-regulation of renal AQP-3 expression.

Key words:
Heart arrest; Aquaporins; Cardiopulmonary resuscitation


Represented knowledge is subject to frequent changes. To meet these requirements for dynamics, SPARQL update, an update language for RDF graphs, was developed. Even though there is some research on semantics of SPARQL ABox update for RDFS ontologies and approaches addressing updates in interplay with rather restricted TBoxes languages, up till now there is no definition of semantics for SPARQL updates for OWL knowledge bases. In this paper, we define a SPARQL update semantics for OWL-DL ABoxes and show how existing methods like justification-based explanation can be used to conduct SPARQL updates in the presence of OWL-DL TBoxes. We argue that the interplay of the deletion and the insertion task of SPARQL update queries renders it not advisable to consider these tasks separately. This is why we introduce query-driven semantics aiming at optimizing the effect of the whole update operation.


Adenylate cyclase (ATP pyrophosphate-lyase (cy- clizing), EC126.96.36.199) wassolubilized from aratbrain homogenste withsodium deoxycholate. Thissolubilized preparation hadno detectable enzymic activity with either Mg-ATP orMn-ATPas substrate. Theactivity could berestored byaddition ofeither nonionic detergent orcertain specific phospholipids. Maximal res- toration ofenzyme activity wasobtained with Triton X-100, L-a- phosphatidylcholine, L-a-lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidyl- N-monomethylethanolamine, orsphingomyelin. Activity wasonly partially restored byphosphatidylethanolamine (40-60%) or phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine (10-20%). Other phos- pholipids tested, including phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylgly- cerol, phosphatidylinositol, andphosphatidic acid, could notre- store enzyme activity but, instead, could inhibit thestimulation ofenzyme activity byphosphatidylcholine. Therestoration ofac- tivity byL-a-phosphatidylcholine wasinhibited bycholesterol at concentrations above 33mol%,although this effect wasnotob- served withthree different esters ofcholesterol. These studies suggest apossible specific role ofphospholipids inmodulating adenylate cyclase activity. Adenylate cyclase (ATPpyrophosphate-lyase


The present invention relates to a non-contact excitation system for supplying power to a superconducting field coil. In the present invention, disclosed is a non-contact type superconducting field coil excitation system to supply power to a superconducting field coil, which includes a primary coil connected to a power supply device; a secondary coil magnetically connected to the primary coil to receive power; a first switch connecting the secondary coil and the superconducting field coil in series, and supplying power to the superconducting field coil; a second switch connected in parallel with the superconducting field coil, and controlling closed loop formation; and a control part for controlling the first switch and the second switch, and selecting an operation mode of a field coil. According to the present invention, physical connection between a fixed power supply device and the superconducting field coil of a rotating machine is eliminated, thereby reducing the maintenance cost required otherwise and increasing the efficiency of the excitation system construction.


Blessing in Light of the Trinity. Luther's Interpretation of the Aronitic Blessing Luther introduced the priestly or Aaronitic blessing (Num. 6, 24–26) as the conclusion to the Mass. This form of the blessing has got a key position in the liturgy of the Swedish and Finnish churches. What exactly is »a blessing »? What does it mean to bless and to be blessed? What does the blessing signify in Luther's theology and why did he emphasize the Aaronitic form? This article focuses on these questions. Luther interprets the text of Num. 6, 22–27 in his writing Der Segen (1532). Two structures of thought can be distinguished in this writing, which are also found in other important writings of Luther. The first is a distinction between physical and spiritual blessings. The physical blessing includes everything that is sustaining the body. The spiritual blessing is the gift of grace and salvation. Blessings of the first kind belong to the temporal life, the others to eternal life. Another thought, apparent in Der Segen , is that the triune God is the one who blesses. Luther interprets the three lines in the Aaronitic blessing on the basis of this thought pattern. The physical blessing is an expression of the continuously preserving work of the Creator. The spiritual blessing was brought by Christ, the Son, and this blessing will still be bestowed through the Gospel, and it will also be supported by the work of the Holy Spirit. So, in giving his gifts, in blessing men, God himself is present. To be blessed means on an existential level to feel safe and secure in the midst of a troubled world. The response of man is to praise God. There is no easy answer to the question of why Luther recommended the Aaronitic blessing. There were other alternative blessings available to him. Its biblical origin is not a sufficient explanation. The text in Numbers gives, however, a detailed description of what a blessing is. The metaphorical language also harmonizes with Luther's way of preaching. As a »piece of preaching» the text of the blessing can arouse confidence in God, and the receiver can put his or her faith in the promise of God's blessing.


Life sciences are devoted to the research of all aspects of living organisms. As the basic unit of a living organism, biological cells are diverse and different. These differences are a direct reflection of their corresponding biological characteristics, so "seeing the cell more clearly" has been the goal of scientists at home and abroad. Based on the principle of coherent imaging, digital holographic quantitative phase microscopy imaging technology adopts digital recording and numerical reconstruction to realize phase retrieval and three-dimensional reconstruction. It has become one of the most promising methods in cellular research with better imaging efficiency, reconstruction accuracy, and stability. However, in the band-pass filtering process, tilt aberrations are often introduced due to manual frame selection of the +1 order spectrum, which is detrimental to the imaging quality of the system. To address this problem, this paper proposes a method to automatically determine the spectral center based on the surface fitting of a two-dimensional Hann window function, which improves the phase retrieval accuracy and imaging quality without reducing the computational speed. A more accurate spectral center can be obtained by conducting the sub-pixel spectral center of surface fitting. In addition, the accuracy is sub-pixel level and requires sub-pixel displacement correction of the tilted phase plane to obtain better quantitative phase retrieval results and imaging quality.


The rise of the international matchmaking industry has been particularly rapid and noticeable in the former Soviet Union, where the end of the Cold War has intersected with daily socioeconomic pressures to make cross-cultural romance and marriage newly possible and newly desirable for some women of Russia, Ukraine, and other post-Soviet states. Less acknowledged than the role of economics in women's decision making, however, is the fact that postsocialist financial strains are not experienced in social vacuums but are mediated by ideals of gender and marriage, such that the search for a foreign spouse is unlikely to be experienced as a simple desire for increased material comfort. Instead, discourses of gender "crisis" in the home country inform the desires for transnational kinship for both women from the former Soviet Union and men from the United States. When both women's and men's narratives of "crisis" (and how transnational marriage might alleviate it) are taken into account, they significantly complicate our understandings of east-west relations of "commodification" and power.


In this paper we study the effect of a fluctuating gap in mono- and bilayer graphene, created by a symmetry-breaking random potential. We identify a continuous symmetry for the two-particle Green's function which is spontaneously broken in the average two-particle Green's function and leads to a massless fermion mode. Within a loop expansion it is shown that the massless mode is dominated on large scales by small loops. This result indicates diffusion of electrons. Although the diffusion mechanism is the same in mono- and in bilayer graphene, the amount of scattering is much stronger in the latter. Physical quantities at the neutrality point, such as the density of states, the diffusion coefficient and the conductivity, are determined bythe one-particle scattering rate. All these quantities vanish at a critical value of the average symmetry-breaking potential, signaling a continuous transition to an insulating behavior.


Objective To study the absorption of quercetin and rutin in human intestinal epithelial.Methods By using Caco-2 cell line as an intestinal epithelial cell model,the transportatrions of quercetin and rutin were studied from apical side to basolateral side or from basolateral side to apical side.Results The apparent permeabilities(Papp) of quercetin and rutin from the apical side to basolateral side were(5.15±0.65)×10-6cm·s-1 and(0.05±0.01)×10-6cm·s-1,respectively.The Papp of quercetin and rutin from basolateral side to apical side were(10.54±1.35)×10-6cm·s-1 and(0.07±0.01)×10-6cm·s-1,respectively.Conclusion Quercetin and rutin can be absorbed across intestinal epithelial cells,moreover qercetin is easier to be absorbed than rutin.


In t he times of the fast development of science and technology,the intelligence la-bor,w hich create value efficiently,occupy the main position in the labors of creatin g value and become the main headspring in creation.The characteristic of intel ligence labor brings about a di-rect proportion of the labor contained in the products with the invest of intelligence,then with val-ue of the intelligence labor force.Therefore,a series of policies and measures should be taken to enc ourage intelligence labor and increase the proportion of the value of intelligen ce labor force in the distribution system,in order to show the spirit of gettin g pay according to one's ability and better fit in with the development of soci al productivity.By analyzing the formation of the value of intelligence labor force,this paper reaches a conclusion that the value of intelligence labor forc e plays a decisive role in distribution,then puts forward some related measure s and references to en-courage intelligence labor and push forward social refor m and development.


In today's scientific environment scientists can no longer work in isolated laboratories. The problems being studied require experts from several fields to combine their talents. The instruments used to gather scientific data are expensive and diff icult to build so there are only a few in the world. The Internet connectivity and the powerful desktop workstations available today provide the potential to create collaboration tools and allow scientists to collaborate across the miles and access instruments remotely. The DOE 2000 program sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) is developing new technologies and integrating existing technologies to create a software environment that allows collaboratories to become a reality. The DOE 2000 program is composed of two pilot programs putting collaboratories into practice and five research and development projects developing some of the tools required to complete the collaboratory environment that were not already available. These technologies include videoconferencing over the Internet, electronic notebooks, shared visualization, security infrastructure, floor control, and session management. Much of this work is in conjunction with other DOE and non-DOE development efforts. This paper describes the tools and technologies available today and some of the tools being developed to provide collaboration capabiliti es. Through collaboratories we are changing the way scientific experiments are carried out and the way scientists work together.


Aid, in the form of financial aid and investment, has become increasingly prevalent in both bilateral and multilateral partnerships in the BRICS. In Africa, the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation provides the official framings for forms of development assistance to the continent, with financial forms of aid available through the New Development Bank and the China–Africa Development Bank (CADFund). This article explores how Chinese international development assistance has influenced South Africa's economic growth and development strategies and is reshaping South Africa as "gateway" to Africa and continental leader. Special economic zones (SEZs) have become a prioritised form of BRICS development collaboration particularly in terms of Chinese trade and investment expansionism into Africa through South Africa. Chinese international development assistance and foreign direct investment in South Africa in particular are very notable and have been strengthened during the Chinese official state visit prior to the Johannesburg BRICS Summit in 2018. The article critically analyses the development policy discourse on BRICS spearheading an alternative model of South–South international cooperation by examining the Coega SEZ in South Africa, hailed as the most SEZ in Africa. The article critically examines the development alternative potential of the Coega SEZ.


We present preliminary results on the variability properti es of AGN above 20 keV in order to show the potential of the INTEGRALIBIS/ISGRI andSwift/BAT instruments for hard X-ray timing analysis of AGN. The 15–50 keV light curves of 36 AGN obser ved by BAT during 5 years show significantly larger variations when the blazar popula tion is considered (average normalized excess variance 〈σ2 NXS〉 = 0.25) with respect to the Seyfert one ( 〈σ2 NXS〉 = 0.09). The hard X-ray luminosity is found to be anti-correlated to the varia bility amplitude in Seyfert galaxies and correlated to the black hole mass, confirming previous fin dings obtained with different AGN hard X-ray samples. We also present results on the Seyfert 1 g alaxy IC 4329A, as an example of spectral variability study withINTEGRAL/ISGRI data. The position of the high-energy cut-off of this source is found to have varied during the INTEGRALobservations, pointing to a change of temperature of the Comptonising medium. For several brig ht Seyfert galaxies, a considerable amount ofINTEGRALdata have already been accumulated and are publicly availab le, llowing detailed spectral variability studies at hard X-rays.


The sequence of polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 14(GALNT14) was analyzed using bioinformatics.A peptide sequence was selected according to hydrophilicity,antigenicity,flexibility and accessibility.The cDNA of interest was subcloned into a eukaryotic expression vector pET-DsbA to construct pET-DsbA-GALNT14.The expression of recombinant fusion protein was induced by IPTG,then purified by Ni-IDA Resin.Polyclonal antibody against GALNT14 was prepared from immuned New Zealand white rabbit.The titer and specificity of the prepared antibody were analyzed by immunodiffusion and Western blot.The result showed that the fusion protein was expressed successfully,and the interest protein with high purity was obtained.The generated antibody was specific.Both of MCF-7 and 786-O cell expressed GALNT14.A good foundation for further study on the function of GALNT14 and its role of tumorigenesis and development was laid.


The wireless ad hoc networks allow portable devices to exchange information by exploiting their locality as well as mobility. However, the information exchange in delay tolerant networks (DTNs) is more challenging due to (unpredictably) long disconnect among the devices. The information exchange complicates further due to human interactions. Nevertheless, we propose that it can be exploited to make routing efficient in DTNs. We classify the devices into two classes based on their social behaviour: (i) Socials that represent the devices that visit each other often, (ii) Vagabonds are devices that seldom visit each other. We observe that, predominantly, the populations consist of Vagabonds that have been ignored in most experimental studies unfortunately. In the present work, we examine the impact of both of the above mentioned groups on message forwarding. We found that the effectiveness of message forwarding, under the circumstances that are common in real life situations, depends upon the density of users rather than their autonomous social behaviour. Our findings have been conformed with simulation experiments.


Purpose – Short Message Service (SMS) is an application which is widely used in mobile telephony. SMS messaging through mobile phones is very popular among young and old. This study aims to look at how SMS technology can be very effectively used in library and information services with a glimpse into a pilot project conducted by University of Swaziland and Emerald Group Publishing Limited and the subsequent need for creating a prototype for the SMS‐based library alert services and marketing of library services.Design/methodology/approach – Following the pilot project conducted by the University of Swaziland and Emerald Group Publishing Limited for a period of two months (March‐April 2009), the findings and the methodology used for the project prompted further research. Data and experience gained during the pilot project is predominantly used in the paper.Findings – This study finds that the library users can be successfully motivated and engaged to use the resources through SMS messaging and have the pote...


A new anthocyanin recovery system from grape wastes based on tartaric acid-methanol extraction followed by controlled precipitation of excess tartaric acid as potassium hydrogen tartrate is described. An artificial gape drink colored with the anthocyanin extract thus prepared was found to be acceptable.


NEWS OF the recent summit talks between US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, provoked perhaps unrealistic optimism that the growing issue of cyber espionage - widely considered to be high on the agenda - would reach some conclusion.


We review the basic works in the area of network coding and present a detailed survey of applications of network coding in network problems. It is shown that both in wired and wireless networks, multicast and broadcast protocols perform better with network coding. Even in unicast applications, network coding based protocols perform as well as the protocols without network coding. We also survey the applications of network coding in the domains of Peer-to-Peer Networks, Delay Tolerant Networks and Wireless Sensor Networks. It is apparent from the results that innovative use of network coding can improve the performance of a variety of applications in these domains. Finally, we also suggest a number of interesting open problems in these domains where network coding can be used.


auditory system follows until it stimulates the central auditory pathway and finally the cortex. For a proper perception of speech sounds, there is a need of hearing integrity, so that the stimuli can reach the central nervous system. It is believed that hearing disorder involves two aspects, one is hearing loss, which impairs the ability to detect sound energy, and the other is the auditory processing disorder, which refers to a hearing disorder in which there is impairment in the ability to analyze and/or interpret sound patterns. An auditory processing disorder is a deficiency in one or more of the mechanisms and processes of the auditory system that are responsible for the behav-ioral phenomena of localization and lateralization of sound; auditory discrimination; auditory pattern recognition; auditory temporal aspects, including resolution, masking, integration and temporal peripheral ABSTRACT Purpose: to evaluate the temporal ordering ability in adults with mild to moderate sensoryneural hearing loss, through the Duration Pattern Test, in order to determine whether these losses affect the performance of the aforesaid test. Method: 57 adults from 20 to 59 years of age were evaluated, being 30 male and 27 female. All of them underwent a screening test consisting of medical history, ENT examination, basic audiological testing and hearing process screening with the Dichotic Digit Test. After this process, the participants were allocated into three groups, namely: G1 (normal hearing for the averages of 0.5 / 1 / 2 and 3/4/6 KHz), G2 (mild hearing loss in at least one of the averages) and G3 (moderate loss in at least one of the averages). The results were analyzed through comparison between normal hearing and the presence of hearing loss (G2 + G3) and among the three groups described. The normality index used was 70% of successes. For statistical analysis, the tests used were Nonparametric Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, "One-way" Analysis of Variance, student's t and chi-square. The determining criterion of significance adopted was level 5%. Results: there was a significant presence of men with hearing loss in the group. The percentage of correct answers in the overall sample was 62.3%, revealing no statistically significant difference among groups. Conclusion: the temporal ordering ability evaluated by the Duration Pattern Test is not influenced by mild to moderate sensoryneural hearing loss.


The contamination of subsurface terrestrial environments by organic contaminants is a global phenomenon. The remediation of such environments requires innovative assessment techniques and strategies for successful cleanups. Using innovative approaches, the central Shops Diesel Storage Facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS) was characterized to determine the extent of subsurface diesel fuel contamination. Effective bioremediation techniques for cleaning up of the contaminant plume were established.


The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-derived measurements of forests, riparian vegetation, open water, and combined agricultural and urban land use were added to an available matrix of map-derived basin characteristics. The matrix of basin characteristics was correlated with 40 stream flow characteristics by multiple regression techniques. Fifteen out of the 40 equations were improved. If the technique can be transferred to other physiographic regions in the nation, the opportunity exists for a potential annual savings in operations of about $250,000.


The production of chromium-based coatings in vacuum by magnetron sputtering refers to environmentally friendly technologies. The technological capabilities of a magnetron sputtering vacuum system are considered. It was proposed to pre-treat the surface of the substrate with argon ions before applying the chrome plating. For this purpose, a designed ion source and a magnetron sputtering device for the chromium cathode are located in the chamber. Chromium-based nanostructured coatings formed by magnetron sputtering with preliminary treatment of the surface with an ion source are investigated. The thickness, adhesion strength and corrosion resistance of chromium coatings were determined. It was shown that the chemical resistance of samples with chromium-based coatings in solutions of nitric and hydrofluoric acid showed their high corrosion resistance. The effect of the thickness of the chromium-based nanostructured coating on the corrosion resistance is investigated. With an increase in coating thickness, the corrosion resistance of chromium coatings changes several times. For coatings less than 1 micron thick, the number of corrosion points (pores in the coating) was 5-10 times larger than for coatings 2.3-2.5 microns thick. Using electron microscopy, the surface morphology and the size of nanoparticles in the structure of chromium coatings were investigated. It was revealed that, depending on the formation modes, the coatings consist of crystallites with sizes from 45 nm to 200 nm.


Biology chip is wildly used in every field of biology as a tool of molecular biology research,with advantages of accuracy,fast and high-throughput.However,as for the detecting instruments are large and expensive,few laboratories can undertake,so the development of biology chip is limited to some extent.Visual biology chip based of normal biology chip technology containes visual protein chips and visual gene chips.Instead of the traditional fluorescent,the visual biology chip can be observed directly by naked eye with a new label and coloration method.Recent years,the visual biology chip has been widely used in pathogen detection,differential expression and the function of enzyme.Therefore,the new visual biology chip has potential application prospects with fast,visualization,low requirement and so on.


Keppel and Walter's (1999) classification system for serial sexual homicide is commonly used as the basis for generating offender profiles of unknown offenders despite the fact that it has yet to be empirically validated. Keppel and Walter's model assumes that serial sexual homicides and serial sexual homicide offenders can be classified into four categories power-assertive, power-reassurance, anger-retaliation, and anger-excitation according to the degree of anger and power exhibited in the criminal and non-criminal context. As a first step in assessing the validity of this model, the crimes of 53 serial sexual murderers were examined to determine if the categories proposed by Keppel and Walter could be identified. Although no support was found for this classification system, support was found for an alternative model the FBI's organized/disorganized dichotomy. The second phase of the study tested the organized/disorganized classification system to determine if evidence could be found for the three basic assumptions underlying the profiling process, namely, the temporal stability of criminal behaviour across crimes, the cross-situational consistency of behaviours between an offender's criminal and non-criminal life, and the homology of background characteristics for offenders who display similar behaviours (compared to one another) in their criminal life. Consistent with previous literature, moderate support was found for temporal stability, whereas lower levels of support were found for cross-situational consistency and homology. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.


The author is a writer, publisher, anti-militarist and vegetarian. His book is the usual attack on meat-eating, but a new argument is now added: the ecological and economic necessities for giving up breeding, slaughtering and eating animals, and for turning to an exclusively plant-based diet. The old ones are trotted out: man was not made to eat meat as evidenced by our biochemistry and teeth, a humane diet is commensurate with a more responsible way of life and is a means of preventing the seemingly terrible suffering we inflict on animals and of atoning for the enormity of crimes against animals. It is interesting that laymen are willing to enter a highly complex field like nutrition and digestion, and it is equally curious that medical men rarely write about vegetarian-ism. Necessary or not, the cult is of considerable interest from the historical point of view and especially from the general cultural and societal standpoint. Only the last chapter deals with this, but very briefly. Clearly a deep analysis of this topic would be of the greatest interest, and one of the revelations would probably be that, like phrenologists in the nineteenth century, vegetarians in this belong to other fringe activities, thus providing society with useful and necessary gad-flies. paperback). The author is an American, a writer, a publisher, a woman's libber, and a vegetarian. She claims there is no comprehensive or modem history of vegetarianism, and may well be correct. However, there is Joseph Ritson's An essay on abstinence from animal food, as a moral duty (London, R. Phillips, 1802), which contains a good deal of historical material as well as many of the arguments put forward by both Wynne-Tyson and Ms. Barkas. No doubt there are others. Ms. Barkas presents a chatty account mainly of famous vegetarians, and scampers from prehistory to the twentieth century with jarring phraseology, occasional errors, an inadequate grasp of historical principles and deep issues, and with little reference to the vitally important dietary aspects of therapy in early medicine. Nevertheless she has read widely and records her lengthy bibliography and in addition ".. . quotes from age-old tracts extolling the joys and virtues of the vegetarian life.. .". She also gives a formidable list of experts she has consulted, although presenting most of them with little or no comment is ofdebatable value, and approximates to name-dropping. A history ofvegetarianism, preferably by a non-devotee, is …


Can your EHR increase your risk? Yes, when used incorrectly. Here are potential technology pitfalls that can expose your practice to new malpractice risks.


Biomechanics is a continuously growing field, and has been fundamental in understanding the mechanical behaviour of living systems, gaining a wide acceptance within the biomedical engineering community. Due to the inherent complexity of biological systems, where a multiscale and multiphysics paradigm must be embraced to obtain predictive models, computational methods specifically tailored to solve biomechanical models are an open and promising avenue of research, as well as a challenging and exciting opportunity for the computational mechanics community. This mini-symposium aims at bringing together researchers in the broad field of computational biomechanics. Contributions are invited on topics including, but not limited to ∞ Constitutive modelling of biological tissue ∞ Multiscale and multiphysics modelling and simulation in biomechanics ∞ Novel numerical methods for biomechanical applications ∞ Computational modelling of cardiac electrophysiology and electro-mechanics ∞ Growth and remodelling of living matter ∞ Fluid-structure interaction in cardiovascular flows ∞ Patient-specific computational modeling and parameter characterization ∞ High-performance computing in biomechanics ∞ Experimental validation of computational biomechanical models


This paper adopts the running mode of Browser/Web network application software,uses SQL Server database system,ASP component and XML technology to establish network course design system of machinery drawing.This system includes teaching system,answer system and examination system etc.This design method applys to variety designment based on network course,and it has very big actual meaning.


To compare the safety and efficacy of 5 units versus 10 units of insulin for the treatment of hyperkalemia in patients with renal insufficiency.


The purpose of this study was to confirm the effectiveness of breast ultrasonography (US) for breast cancer screening in Korean women by comparing the...


Abstract:Uspanteko is an endangered Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. Unstressed vowels in Uspanteko often delete, though deletion is variable within and across speakers. Deletion appears to be phonological: it is sensitive to foot structure, morphology, and certain phonotactics, and it occurs in slow, careful speech. But deletion also has characteristics more typical of a phonetic process: it is intertwined with a pattern of gradient vowel reduction and is insensitive to most phonotactics. Electroglottography data shows that even 'deleted' vowels may contribute voicing to intervals when flanked by voiceless consonants. This suggests that 'deleted' vowels are represented in the input to speech production, even when they are acoustically masked by articulatory overlap with adjacent segments. We conclude that vowel deletion is grammatically controlled gestural overlap, consistent with the claim that phonological representations encode information about the relative timing and coordination of articulatory gestures (e.g. Browman & Goldstein 1986, Gafos 2002). At a minimum, language-specific phonetic processes must have access to more fine-grained, abstract grammatical information than is usually assumed.


Let us consider a game with n players where the set of possible strategies depend on the decision of the other player. In this case, if the players behave rationally the solution is a point of generalized Nash equilibrium (GNE). These points can be obtained as solutions of a special class of bilevel programs. In this work, the bilevel problem is substituted by a simpler model which can be solved by the so called smoothing approach for mathematical programs with complementarity constraints. We discuss if the hypothesis for the convergence of this method are


This article introduces thinking from science and technology studies (STS) and in particular the work of Callon to study the topic of genetic testing and private insurance markets. To explore the fruitfulness of this STS approach, I will reconstruct the conventional framing of genetics and insurance as a way of understanding the underlying mechanisms that have led to the solutions of enacting Genetic Non-Discrimination Acts (GNDAs) in private insurance markets. I argue how this conventional framing has been underpinned by a shared paradigm of genetic exceptionalism and I indicate the role of genes as operators of solidarity in aligning a hybrid coalition of concerned groups and people, captured by the trope of genetic discrimination. Using this STS approach, I will point to the unanticipated effects of GNDAs in insurance markets, in the sense that new issues may arise – for example new struggles for solidarity – issues that cannot be identified by the conventional framing of genetics and insurance. This m...


Abstract. Dicranella schreberiana var. robusta, Barbula indica, and Tortella inclinata are newly reported for the bryoflora of Pennsylvania. The occurrences of Andreaea crassinervia and Seligeria pusilla in the Commonwealth are confirmed.


Spanish cooperation introduced in the recent past new policies linking migration and development under the name of «co-development». One of the novel elements of co-development was the promotion of the role of immigrants as agents of development, as well as the strengthening of relations between NGODs and immigrant associations, constituted the latter in a new actor of Spanish civil society. The objective of this article is to make a balance of the results of this policy —particularly in the autonomous sphere—, showing how, despite the broad expectation that it generated in terms of a novel structure of political opportunity, the co-development would have had some rather limited results. For this, we rely on the evidence of two research projects at national level, and the analysis of the plans and calls of the Spanish autonomous communities in development cooperation.


Introduction: This is a descriptive study which has been carried out to investigate the experiences of the elderly patients in the intensive care unit. Materials and Method: This research was carried out between February and May 2010. The study sample consisted of 116 patients, over the age of 65, who were admitted to the surgery intensive care unit of a university hospital, and who were transferred to the clinic after staying at least 24 hours in the intensive care unit. In collecting the data, an information form about the socio-demographic characteristics and the Intensive Care Experience Scale were used. Results: The mean age of the patients was 71.99±6.42, and 61.2% of them were men. It was determined that 45.7% of the patients were ventilated and their mean duration of stay was 1.49±0.65 days in the intensive care unit. The mean total scale score was found to be 62.77±7.40 showing that elderly patients in the intensive care unit had a partially negative experience, there was a weak negative correlation (p <0.05) between the total score of the scale and the length of stay in the intensive care unit, and the type of intensive care unit significantly affected the experiences of intensive care patients (p <0.001) and recalling of the experience (p <0.001). Conclusion: It was determined that the elderly patients in the intensive care units had a partially negative experience. Most of the negative experiences were about feeling unsafe and the duration of stay in the intensive care unit and the type of intensive care unit affected their experiences.


The first papillomavirus (PV) nucleotide sequences were published fifteen years ago [7,10]. Since then, more than one million bases of papillomavirus sequence have been deposited in GenBank [Dennis Benson, personal communication]. With the number of novel papillomavirus isolates and genomic sequences starting to plateau [29], this is an ideal time for the papillomavirus community to carefully examine problematic clones and redact lingering sequencing errors, thus giving future clinicians and researchers the chance to throw themselves into the challenges of papillomavirus typing or vaccine development without having to worry about the strength of the underlying sequence data.


Atrial fibrillation and outcomes in heart failure with preserved versus reduced left ventricular ejection fraction" (2013). The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the for more information. Background-—Atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF) are 2 of the most common cardiovascular conditions nationally and AF frequently complicates HF. We examined how AF has impacts on adverse outcomes in HF-PEF versus HF-REF within a large, contemporary cohort.


A new method for frequency tracking is presented. It combines high resolution time-frequency analysis with the discriminative power of a multiple signal classification (MUSIC, see Schmidt, 1981) technique. The proposed time-varying frequency estimator employs a signal adaptive time-frequency distribution (TFD) with suppressed interference terms. The adaptive TFD is able to resolve components that are closely spaced in time and frequency. The achieved resolution is superior to the one achieved by sliding window techniques which are hampered in joint time-frequency resolution by the uncertainty principle. Simulations show that the presented approach operates reliably in low signal-to-noise ratio environments. The proposed method improves and generalizes the method proposed by Amin and Williams (see IEEE Trans. Signal Proc., vol.46, no.10, pp.2796-2804, Oct. 1998).


This article refers to four cases of process unit combinations with different throughputs of aromatics unit for production of 450 kt/a paraxylene at a certain petrochemical complex in order to against a representative case (provided with an 800-kt/a CCR unit and a 600-kt/a disproportionation unit) and the feasibility and advantage of using prolysis gasoline as aromatic feedstock is studied.


Dr. PARKES WEBER said that the skiagram of the skull showed a change in the sella turcica, which had been claimed as characteristic of this rare disease in children,1 namely, a very tall posterior clinoid process. R. G. Karshner (Amer. Journ. of Rdntgenology, 1926), who called this disease " osteopetrosis," also laid great stress on the transverse metaphysial striation of long bones, which, however, was better known in connection with cceliac rickets and other irregularities of the growth of bones in children.


The vapor pressures of Si(g) and Si2(g) over Si(l) were measured with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer equipped with a boron-nitride Knudsen cell. The equations for the vapor pressure of Si(g) and Si2(g) obtained by the least squares treatment were given as follows:log(PSi/Pa)=(-2.08±0.10)×104K/T+(10.84±0.53)log(PSi2/Pa)=(-2.46±0.09)×104K/T+(10.93±0.47)The vaporization enthalpy of Si(g) at the standard state (409.2±2.3 kJ mol-1) calculated based on the third law was in good agreement with the second law one (407.4±19.1 kJ mol-1). The third law value of the vaporization enthalpy of Si2(g) at the standard state (493.7±1.9 kJ mol-1) was also in good agreement with the second law one (491.5±15.7 kJ mol-1). The dissociation energies of Si2(g) calculated from the vaporization enthalpy of Si(g) and Si2(g) at the standard state were 323.3±31.2 kJ mol-1 (the second law value) and 324.7±3.8 kJ mol-1 (the third law value).


In this study, the vibration characteristics of offshore wind turbine tower with caisson foundation are numerically analyzed under wave excitation. To achieve the objective, the following approaches are conducted. Firstly, the frequency domain decomposition and the stochastic subspace identification methods are selected to extract modal parameters from the structural vibration responses. Secondly, a numerical example of the target structure including a wind turbine tower, a caisson foundation and a foundation bed is simulated using a FEM software, Midas FEA. For wave-induced vibration analysis, a wave field is modelled in the Flow-3D program to extract wave pressures acting on the caisson foundation. Finally, the modal parameters extracted from wave-induced vibration analysis are compared to those from the eigenvalue analysis. Several wave conditions are introduced for the vibration analysis to investigate the change of modal parameters.


Abstract The reaction of the organometallic diarsene complex [Cp2Mo2(CO)4(μ,η2‐As2)] (B) (Cp = C5H5) with Ag[FAl{OC6F10(C6F5)}3] (Ag[FAl]) and Ag[Al{OC(CF3)3}4] (Ag[TEF]), respectively, yields three unprecedented supramolecular assemblies [(η2‐B)4Ag2][FAl]2 (4), [(μ,η1:η2‐B)3(η2‐B)2Ag3][TEF]3 (5) and [(μ,η1:η2‐B)4Ag3][TEF]3 (6). These products are only composed of the complexes B and AgI. Moreover, compounds 5 and 6 are the only supramolecular assemblies featuring B as a linking unit, and the first examples of [AgI]3 units stabilized by organometallic bichelating ligands. According to DFT calculations, complex B coordinates to metal centers through both the As lone pair and the As−As σ‐bond thus showing this unique feature of this diarsene ligand.


Objective:Conditions for producing flavonoids were studied by the cell suspension culture of ginkgo.Methods: In cell suspension cultures,the suspension was placed in 80 mL of liquid medium in a 250 ml-flask and kept on reciprocal shaker(100 r/min) at 25 ℃.The conditions of suspension cultures detected were as follows: light/darkness,culture time,size of cell aggregates and content of precursors.Results: The production of flavonoid reached a maximum by culture for 14 days under light.The cell aggregates with 3~4 mm of diameter were suitable for flavonoids synthesis.L-phenylalanine and sodium acetate as precursors had no significant promotion on flavonoids synthesis,however the cell growth was inhibited.Conclusion: Conditions for producing flavonoids were obtained by the cell suspension culture of ginkgo,which will further optimize the culture conditions required for the industrial production of flavonoids by the cell suspension culture of ginkgo.


The disclosed apparatus and methods for performing protected administrator mode. In one embodiment, the processor comprises an interface for accessing the memory, and performs hardware control logic. Region of the user memory is a memory. The execution hardware for executing instructions. The control logic for preventing the execution of the hardware instruction execution when the instructions stored in the user memory and the processor is in supervisor mode.


Introduction: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is not a single condition. It is the term for a group of disorders that cause prolonged inflammation of the digestive tract. The most common types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Aim: The study was designed to compare the efficacy, safety, incidence of ADR'S in patients of inflammatory bowel disease with regard to the use of mesalamine, sulfasalazine and using combination of mesalamine and steroids. Materials and methods: This observational, non interventional study conducted in General Medicine Department and Gastroenterology department, Princess Esra hospital, shahali banda, within 6 months of duration. Patients selected randomly according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. A 110 patients aged 18 to 90 years, and presenting with complaints of abdomen pain, diarrhoea, bloody diarrhoea, painful defecation, altered appetite, bleeding per rectum were screened for the study after taking their informed consent. Patients were categorized into 4 groups; group I (control), group II (Mesalamine), group III (sulfasalazine), and group IV (Mesalamine + steroids) Results: Patients with age group from 18-80yrs were included in the study. The age group of 3150age was found more prone to disease. The total percentage of male and female in 110 patients was found to be 40% (male) and 60% (female). Patients with percentage of 60% male and 40% female underwent treatment with mesalamine (Group-I), 36.6%male and 63.3%female with mesalamine + steroids (Group-II), and 30% male and 70% female with sulfasalazine (Group-III) respectively. The Syed Ibrahim Hassan, Syed Mohd Akbar Hassan, Haleema Begum. Relative effectiveness of aminosalicylates in the management of acute ulcerative colitis Mesalamine vs Sulfasalazine. IAIM, 2016; 3(12): 137-147. Page 138 most common symptom was abdomen pain present in 74% patients and rectal bleeding was the next common symptom (67.21%) and other symptoms include vomiting (55.2%), loose stools (52.3%), painful defecation (44%), and reduced appetite (43.3%). The adverse effects observed during sulfasalazine treatment was abdominal pain (50%), nausea (35%), dizziness (21.6%), anorexia (16.6%), rashes (10%), gastric distress (10%), sleeping disorders (3.30%), cyanosis (3.3), hemolytic anaemia (1.60%) and mesalamine treatment was abdominal pain 21.08%, nausea 3.50%, heartburn 22%, bloated stomach 7.7% and weakness 6.64% and with mesalamine + steroids was abdomen pain 48.3%, rectal bleeding 33.3%, painful defecation 18.3%, loose tools 45%, vomiting 50% and reduced appetite 28.3%. The percentage recovery of symptoms with sulfasalazine was 60% abdomen pain, 30% rectal bleeding, 15% painful defecation, 44% loose stools, 65% vomiting, and 0% reduced appetite, with mesalamine was 40% abdomen pain, 20% rectal bleeding, 0% painful defecation, 15% loose stools, 0% vomiting, 10% reduced appetite and mesalamine + steroids was 21.6% abdomen pain, 13.3 rectal bleeding, 8.3% painful defecation, 26.6% loose stools, 15% vomiting, 18.3% reduced appetite. Conclusion: Patients of acute IBDacute ulcerative colitis of mild type respond faster to mesalamine with or without steroids compared to sulfasalazine alone although both drugs showed good response.


A case of radiation osteomyelitis of mandible in a 56-year-old man with acquired factor VIII inhibitor is presented. He had undergone radiation therapy for malignant lymphoma of the tonsilar region seven years earlier, and also had received steroids to treat acquired factor VIII inhibitor for a year. On initial examination, he was given a diagnosis of phlegmon of the cheek caused by pericoronitis of the left lower wisdom tooth. To prevent the recurrence of inflammation, the wisdom tooth was extracted carefully, but radiation osteomyelitis occurred in association with a pathological fracture of the condylar head. After mini-pulse therapy with methylpredonisolone, segmental mandibulectomy and reconstruction with a titanium metal plate were performed. The postoperative course was satisfactory with no complications such as bleeding or infection.


This study has primarily two objectives. First, using a series of case studies and survey research, it provides a comprehensive overview of transportation outsourcing practices in a variety of public and private sector organizations. The results of these case studies show that public sector organizations, particularly state departments of transportation, identify many of the same costs, benefits, challenges, and risks associated with outsourcing as their private sector counterparts. In light of these findings, this study then translates the private sector's extensive outsourcing experience into a "scorecard" designed to serve as a decision making tool for administrators to identify services that have the potential for successful outsourcing.


The invention discloses a preparation method of a cotton-fiber-reinforced injection-type phenol aldehyde molding compound. The phenol aldehyde molding compound is mainly prepared from linear phenol aldehyde resin, hexamethylenetetramine, inorganic filler and cotton fiber. The preparation method comprises the following steps: 1) weighing the raw materials for later use; 2) putting the inorganic filler and coupling agent in a ball mill or ball milling tank, and carrying out uniform ball milling, wherein the coupling agent accounts for 0.5-10 wt% of the inorganic filler, and the inorganic filler is one or combination of more than two of aluminum hydroxide, silicon micropowder, calcite, talcum, calcium carbonate, glass microballoon, kaolin and ceramic powder; 3) pulverizing the hexamethylenetetramine, and uniformly mixing with the surface-treated inorganic filler and the other raw materials; 4) adding the mixture into a double screw extruder, and extruding; and 5) cooling the extruded stock, and pulverizing. The phenol aldehyde molding compound prepared by the method has the advantages of higher mechanical properties and lower water absorptivity.


Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.is the most excellent in Aquilaria agallocha,which has characteristics of high adaptability and strong pest-resistant.The provenance,planted land,fertilization,tending and pest control of Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.in Guangdong province had been studied,and cultivation technology of Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.was summarized.


Palliative care for children is an active and complete care for a child on a physical, psychological, social and spiritual level and also includes co-operation and active work with family. Palliative care for children begins with the diagnosis of need for palliative care, lasts during treatment, and continues after the death of the child in the form of expert assistance to the family in their grief. It works on the principles of more theoretical contents such as individual approach, holistic approach and biopsychosocial-spiritual model that unites in promoting the quality of life of a child and his family. Numerous legal sources are the starting point for defining palliative care for children as a fundamental human right to health care, as well as basic actions within such right. Palliative care includes interdisciplinary team work where social worker is also included. With his professional knowledge and skills, a social worker, besides working with other team members, is dedicated to work with a child as well as his entire family. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present crucial knowledge in the field of palliative care for children and to see what legal regulation is the right to palliative care for children in the Republic of Croatia and the world and in which way realization of rights is organized. The importance of this topic for social work as a profession advocating for human rights is reflected in the fact that, according to the definition of palliative care, a social worker is part of a basic interdisciplinary team. Therefore, it is important to get familiar with the tasks that carry this role.


This article intends to provide an alternative view to approach the tension between familiarity and novelty for creation that reunites and dynamically combines these two extremes crucial to creativ...


LITTLE is known about the ratios of urinary alpha and beta1 17- ketosteroids in normal and diseased states (Baumann and Metzger, 1940; Talbot and his coworkers, 1942; Rhoads, Dobriner and their collaborators, 1942b; Conference on Ketosteroids, 1942). That such determinations may be of clinical importance is suggested by the reports that relatively large amounts of the beta form are present in cases of adrenal cortical carcinoma (Crooke and Callow, 1939; Talbot and his coworkers, 1942). Scott and Vermeulen (1942) have reported a difference in the relative amounts of alpha and beta fractions in patients with prostatic carcinoma before and after castration. The different workers have based their separation into alpha and beta ketosteroid fractions on the observation that steroids present in the beta fraction are precipitated by digitonin, but different procedures have been followed so that the results are not comparable.


List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments Preface 1. Afghan Feuds and Secret Intelligence 2. Wrong Estimates and the Invasion 3. International Reactions 4. Assessing Kremlin's Intentions, and its Fears 5. Espionage and Clandestine Arming 6. Discovering Chinese Intentions 7. The CIA and Gorbachev Aftermath: Continuing Covert Operations Notes Bibliography Index


The invention relates to a tuning antenna and a tuning method thereof. The tuning antenna comprises an antenna coil, a variable capacitor, and a variable resistor. The antenna coil and the variable capacitor are connected in parallel to the variable resistor. The variable capacitor and the variable resistor are used for adjusting capacitance of the variable capacitor to enable the resonant frequency of the antenna to remain the same when the electrical attribute of the antenna coil is changed and thus adjusting the resistance of the variable resistor so as to maintain the antenna bandwidth to be unchanged. According to the invention, when the electrical attribute of the antenna coil is affected, the resistance of the variable capacitor connected in parallel with the antenna coil is adjusted, so that the resonant frequency of the antenna remains the same; and the resistance of the variable resistor connected in parallel with the antenna coil is adjusted, so that the antenna bandwidth is not changed. Therefore, the anti-interference capability of the antenna is improved.


REaD BOX WARNING: Reading this reflection will WASTE your TIME. It will NOT make you more successful, richer, more patient-centric, or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. If you know that Fyodor Dostoyevsky is NOT the goalie on the Russian Federation hockey team, STOP before it is too


ABSTRACT This article analyzes the impact of insurance development on international trade for a sample of 52 developing countries over the period of 1990 to 2014. The results from the pooled mean group estimator indicate that the countries with a better developed insurance sector have a comparative advantage in international trade in the long term. The sample is then divided into low- and lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle-income countries. For the upper-middle-income countries, the development of non-life insurance plays a much more important role than it does for low- and lower-middle-income countries.


Background: Ethnically mixed partnerships are often regarded as the ultimate evidence of the integration of migrants and their descendants into their host society. A common finding in the literature is an increase in the occurrence of mixed partnerships across migrant generations. Objective: This study investigates the formation of minority–majority partnerships in Estonia, with special attention to the variation associated with the migrants' generation and their exposure to the majority population. Methods: The study uses pooled data from the Estonian Family and Fertility Survey (FFS) and the Estonian Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), and estimates proportional hazards models. Results: The experience of second-generation migrants indicates a stalling trend in the incidence of mixed partnerships between the majority population and migrant groups, which is rooted in contextual features. Apart from residential proximity, the study shows the salience of early acquisition of the host society language. Our results for the majority population highlight the role of international migration, which exposes host populations to mixed partnership formation. Conclusions: The results lend support to the view that the integration of migrant populations through mixed partnering is a lengthy process that stretches across several generations. A linguistically divided school system and residential segregation contribute to the pillarization of society. Contribution: By focussing on an Eastern European context, the study contributes to a more comprehensive account of mixed unions in different socioeconomic and cultural settings. Estonia provides an interesting case as its migrant-origin minorities span several generations. The study underscores the importance of contextual factors for both the minority and majority populations.


Before this liaison agreement can be final, it must be approved by JTC1. However, the Chair of WG9 intends to proceed with implementation of the liaison arrangements in anticipation of approval by JTC1. We strongly believe that such a liaison will be important to the SIGAda community, as it will provide us with the opportunity of having input to the evolving Ada language specification. The benefits to SIGAda are identified in the draft. In addition, this will also provide extra value to a SIGAda membership, in that:• SIGAda members will be allowed to see the draft WG9 documentation for the next Ada Standard in its early stages. [This documentation has not been made available to us before.]• SIGAda members will be allowed (collectively) to comment on the draft WG9 documentation, thus potentially impacting the standard;• SIGAda members will have an important role in the management of Ada Application Program Interfaces (APIs); and• SIGAda members (collectively) can play a more active role in the evolution of the Ada standard should they choose to do so.We are already addressing ways in which SIGAda and Ada-Europe can work more closely with WG9. One of the first initiatives is to address a method to manage Ada APIs. Currently the vast majority of Ada bindings to APIs fall into the category of unmanaged. These Ada bindings are frequently hard to find. Once found there is frequently little information concerning how to best use the API nor information on lessons learned from its use. Frequently these bindings do not evolve with updates to the base API, needed maintenance, or Ada language changes. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 WG9 has requested that SIGAda and Ada-Europe propose a mechanism for managing Ada Bindings that are not covered already via formal standards. These Ada Bindings can then be recommended by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22 WG9 as defacto standards for use in Ada application development. A very draft plan, the Plan for Ada Application Program Interfaces (API) Management, has been proposed that would provide a lightweight process to manage Ada Bindings available to the Ada community without the formalism required by an ISO standard. The intent is that Ada-Europe, SIGAda, and WG9 can work together to provide a valuable service to the Ada community for managing Ada bindings to APIs. The draft plan is presented in pages 134-138 of this Ada Letters. There is no consensus on this plan and any final plan may look totally different. Please look it over and provide comments to Mr. Clyde Roby at and . If you are interested is serving as the APIWG Chair or Co-chair for an API, please contact Mr. Clyde Roby. He has volunteered to serve as Acting Chair of the APIWG and is planning a workshop at SIGAda 2002 in Houston, Texas.We are planning for our next conference to be at Houston/Clear Lake, Texas from 8-12 December 2002. The venue will be at the Holiday Inn/NASA, right across the way from the NASA Space Center. We are planning a NASA SIGAda 2002 activity, which should be interesting. For more information, please see: http://www.acm.org/sigada/conf/sigada2002. I am looking forward to seeing you there!


FORCE-TJR study, compared with 34% of patients from our study in whom TKR was classified as inappropriate based on use of a modified version of the classification system developed by Escobar and colleagues (2). We consider this direct comparison to be invalid for 3 reasons. First, no reference was provided, nor were we able to find a published article by Franklin and colleagues to support the claim. Second, in order to compare our results with the FORCE-TJR data, the Escobar classification system or a modified version similar to the one we developed should be applied. If different appropriateness criteria are used to compare findings from 2 data sets, the differences would likely be attributable to the methods used to make the appropriateness judgments and not the judgments themselves. One can agree or disagree with the soundness of the Escobar system, but unless the system is consistently used on independent data sets, how can differences between data sets be legitimately interpreted? Third, the data for FORCE-TJR come from centers that were carefully selected for studying a representative sample of patient types but not necessarily a representative sample of surgeons in the US or their practice patterns. Because participation in the FORCE-TJR registry requires an application process, it is possible that the authors selected surgeons who were not representative of all US surgeons. Other surgeons in the US who were not selected for participation might base the recommendation for TKR surgery on different criteria. We used data collected as part of the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) study (3). The key measures were Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index scores for pain and physical function (4), validated knee radiography data, knee impairment measures, and age at the time of surgery. These variables were used in algorithms defined by Escobar et al (2) to classify patients into groups (appropriate, inappropriate, or inconclusive). In addition, we have reported 2-year outcome data for the 3 classification groups (5). In our view, using a similar modification of the Escobar classification system would allow for a valid comparison across OAI and FORCE-TJR data sets and would advance the evidence related to the appropriateness of TKR procedures. We agree with Franklin and colleagues that research designed to refine classification criteria for TKR appropriateness would enhance the science of TKR selection, and that TKR is an excellent option for patients who are likely to receive substantial benefit after taking into account the risks and costs.


In Brasil, health is a right to all and a duty of the State. The practice of user embracement has been one of the most important elements of the National Humanization Policy (NHP) from the National Health System. Objective: to analyze the national publications of scientific articles about the user embracement as National Humanization Policy as health, betweeen 2001 and 2011. Method: This is a qualitative systematic review, conducted in LILACS database using the descriptor "user embracement". Of the 560 articles found, 175 were analyzed. Using the content analysis method, the following items were analyzed: location where the research was made; year of the publication; level of health attention in which the article treats the user embracement; method of research used in the article; and most common themes associated to the user embracement. Conclusion: it is remarkable the great emphasis of the user embracement associated to primary health attention considering that the majority of the researches are made with a qualitative methodology and focused in user's interviews. There's still much to be discussed on the operationalization of the user embracement, particularly in the secondary and tertiary levels of health care services to achieve the desired qualifications of public health services.


In this tutorial, review the pros and cons of laparoscopy for diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. Do the negatives of laparoscopy – anesthesia, for example – outweigh the ability to make definitive diagnosis based on visualization and treat in the same intervention?


This paper introduces the current situation of the culture in the construction of digital library in higher vocational college,expounds the measures that should be taken in aspects of the network system,service system,resources integration,and development environment,etc.,and emphasizes the cultural colors and features that the library of demonstrative higher vocational college possesses.


ACTAS DEL VI COLOQUIO INTERNACIONAL ΑΓΩΝ COMPETENCIA Y COOPERACIÓN DE LA ANTIGUA GRECIA A LA ACTUALIDAD Homenaje a Ana Maŕıa González de Tobia La Plata, FAHCE-UNLP, 19 al 22 de junio de 2012 sitio web: http://coloquiointernacionalceh.fahce.unlp.edu.ar ISSN:2250-7388 14 A debated and usual conception considers inadequate to express philosophical subjects by means of poetry, for in a general sense, poetry do not satisfies the necessary rigor and clarity to develop scientific subjects. This conflict between form and content is well known as a didactic poetry feature, and easily recognizable in Lucretius's poem. Nevertheless, Lucretius was not the first to attempt this poetic approach to philosophy with persuasive-instructive purposes; despite contradicting the Epicurean precepts, this choice was in consonance with the written discourse used by some of the pre-Socratic thinkers to transmit knowledge about natural phenomena. The study of this stylistic preference in Lucretius's work will help us reach a better understanding of the persuasive-instructive intention to which this controversial text aims. PALABRAS CLAVE: Epicureísmo-Poesía didáctica-Conflicto entre contenido y forma.


This study presents and examine the specific needs of English language ESP for students of different faculties at Red Sea University. The study was carried out in five faculties using descriptive analytical method to find out How, ESP plays a vital role in the learning process nowadays The statement of the problem is that: most of Sudanese university do not have any kind of readymade EAP materials designed by experts in the field of syllabus design. The EAP teachers compile the EAP materials by themselves. most of the students conceive that the compiled material by the English language instructors is inadequate in some ways and should be developed to become effective in classes. Students, also, see that the English language instruction does not help them to acquire vocational English efficiently and it should be improved to increase their learning capacity in that type of ESP The Questionnaire as a research tool was distributed to 100 respondents (male and female students) of five faculties and the data was collected and analyzed by using tables of percentages for each scale in this study. In addition to the teachers Interview. The findings of the study reveal that A/Limited use of ESP books as reference caused Insufficient ESP Competencies. B/ Drawbacks in ESP materials are due to the absence of needs analysis in the process of syllabus design C/ Many of ESP learners in Sudanese higher institutions are not aware of both their learning and target situation needs. The results of the investigation have revealed the following: 1/. the respondents need the four skills in learning ESP as academic purpose with the following ranking: listening, reading, writing, speaking conversely for the career purpose with these four skills. 2/. many of ESP learners in Sudanese higher institutions are not aware of both their learning and target situation needs. The study concluded with some recommendations. 1/. the importance of determining the English language for specific purposes based on the students need and thus designing the courses based on this analysis gathered. 2/. ESP courses which are taught in Sudanese universities should be tailored to the students' specific needs.


The most powerful tool we have for communication is language. This is true whether we are considering communication between two humans, between a human programmer and a computer, or between a network of computers. In computing, we use language to describe procedures and use machines to turn descriptions of procedures into executing processes. This chapter is about what language is, how language works, and ways to define languages. A language is a set of surface forms and meanings, and a mapping between the language surface forms and their associated meanings. In the earliest human languages, the surface forms were sounds but surface forms can be anything that can be perceived by the communicating parties such as drum beats, hand gestures, or pictures. A natural language is a language spoken by humans, such as English or Swahili. natural language Natural languages are very complex since they have evolved over many thousands years of individual and cultural interaction. We focus on designed languages that are created by humans for some a specific purpose such as for expressing procedures to be executed by computers. We focus on languages where the surface forms are text. In a textual language, the surface forms are linear sequences of characters. A string is a sequence of string zero or more characters. Each character is a symbol drawn from a finite set known as an alphabet. A simple communication system can be described using a table of surface forms and their associated meanings. For example, this table describes a communication system between traffic lights and drivers: Surface Form Meaning Green Go Yellow Caution Red Stop


Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation was found in preparations of liver mitochondria obtained from adequately fed sheep, killed 24 hr after the administration of phenothiazine. Sheep fed a low quality diet suffered considerable loss of weight and all had fatty livers at necropsy. The extent of the fatty change seemed to be related to the rate of weight loss. Liver mitochondria from sheep which had lost body weight at an average of 0.3 lb/day had normal biochemical activities. The administration of phenothiazine to such sheep caused uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation. Animals with weight losses of 0.33 lb day or more showed depressed mitochondria] respiration rates with very little phosphorylation. Phenothiazine did not increase the Q(N)O2 values in such sheep. Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was found to be extremely low in sheep erythrocytes—approximately 5% of normal human red cell values. The activity of this enzyme was not affected by malnutrition, or by phenothiazine administration to either well-fed or undernourished sheep.


A diagnosis based on the current state of Dominican academic libraries and information centers. The methods used: quantitative (survey) and qualitative (focus groups). This study is focused more in actual situation than perspectives of Dominican academic libraries. The main results are - limited participation (38%) of library directors in academic and financial university planning, significant part of these libraries have appropriate methods of collection development, but not necessary actualized collections. Service hours of most libraries support institutional needs. Libraries say have studied various technological means. Not so with the amount of the same or their distribution. Most significant finding is that only 7% of librarian in Dominican academic librarians have academic professional preparations in corresponding field. Moreover a very marked imbalance is observed with library staff in a library and between libraries.


After a carburetor vehicle is replace by gasoline/CNG(Compressed Natural Gas),the weight of vehiele increases 55 kg,output power reduces 19%.CO emission increases 25.6 times and HC decreases 28% compared to original vehicle,so com- bustion system should be adjusted accordingly,otherwise advantages of CNG vehicle can not be achieved completely.It may cause cylinder-knocking and more residual exhausting gas if gasoline is used again after adjustment,so bi-fuel vehicle is modified into mono-fuel CNG vehicle to shorten period of gasoline/CNG bi-fuel vehicle and step up construction of CNG gas station.


The main indicators of natural and mechanical movement of Pskov region's population for the period of 2010 to the middle of 2012 are presented versus other regions of North-western federal district and Russia as a whole. Intraregional differences in indicators of natural loss and migratory balance of population are analyzed. A special emphasis is put on approaching of another birth rate crisis, as a consequence of a «demographic wave», coming from Great Patriotic War.


The rapid prosperity and future prospects of this colony are to me, not understanding these subjects, very puzzling. The two main exports are wool and whale oil, and to both of these productions there is a limit. Pasture everywhere is so thin that settlers have already pushed far into the interior: moreover the country further inland becomes extremely poor. Agriculture, on account of the droughts, can never succeed on an extended scale: therefore, so far as I can see, Australia must ultimately depend upon being the centre of commerce for the southern hemisphere, and perhaps on her future manufactories. Possessing coal, she always has the moving power at hand. From the habitable country extending along the coast, and from her English extraction, she is sure to be a maritime nation. 1 formerly imagined that Australia would rise to be as grand and powerful a country as North America, but now it appears to me that such future grandeur is rather problematical (Darwin 1845).


Knowledge of the atmospheric conditions along an optical path is crucial to many experiments. A technique using differential scintillations was adapted for the Small Mobile Atmospheric Sensing Hartmann (SMASH) system to estimate proles of the refractive-index structure constant, C2n(z), and the wind speed. Estimates of those parameters from data taken along a 1 km horizontal path over level ground at a height of about five feet at Kirtland AFB is presented. Five sonic anemometers, placed along the path, serve as an independent estimate of the turbulence conditions with which to evaluate SMASH's performance.


The present invention provides an auxiliary drive for a machine that processes plate elements of the type comprising a feed table provided with at least one lower drive belt (11) for conveying a sheet (3) of plate elements. The drive comprises a frame intended to be positioned above the feed table of the processing machine. According to the invention, the frame supports-at least one upper drive belt(15) capable of co-operating with the lower drive belt(s)(11) for conveying said sheet (3) of plate elements by exerting pressure and driving force on the upper surface of the sheet (3), and-a drive mechanism of the upper belt(s)(15), capable of driving the upper drive belt(s)synchronously with the lower drive belt(s)(11). The invention further relates to a processing machine for plate elements of the type comprising a feed table provided with at least one lower drive belt (11) for conveying a sheet (3) of plate elements comprising said auxiliary drive.


Objective To investigate the expressions of hyperplasic suppress gene(HSG) and epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in normal breast tissues,breast carcinoma and breast fibroadenoma issues,and their relationship with clinicopathological and other molecular features.Methods The protein expression of HSG,EGFR in normal breast tissues,breast carcinoma,breast fibroadenoma issues were detected by using SP immunohistochemistry.Results HSG protein was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm.The positive rate of HSG protein in breast cancer tissues was significantly lower than that in breast fibroadenoma and normal breast tissues,the difference was statistically significant(P0.05);while the positive rate in breast fibroadenoma and normal breast tissues showed no statistically significant difference(P0.05).The expression rate of EGFR protein was significantly higher in breast cancer than those in breast fibroadenoma and normal breast tissues(P0.05);while the positive rate in breast fibroadenoma and normal breast tissues showed no significant statistical difference(P0.05).The expression of HSG and EGF protein was correlated with lymph node metastasis and different pathological grades of breast cancer.That was also correlated with ER and H-erb-2.The expression rates of EGFR and HSG protein had no correlation with the age of the patients,tumor type,tumor size and clinical stage(P0.05).The expression of HSG is negatively correlated with EGFR in breast cancer tissues;is positively correlated with ER and H-erb-2;and is not correlated with PR.Conclusion Joint detection of the expressions of HSG and EGFR is important for the biological behaviors,prognosis and instruction of breast cancer.


Thank you for your patience while your study was peer-reviewed over the Christmas holidays. I have now received reports from the three referees that were asked to assess your study, which you will see below. Although referee 2 is more negative about the general interest of the resource provided by your dataset, both referees 1 and 3 are more positive and consider it will be a valuable contribution. Nevertheless, they raise several issues that would be worth addressing during revision to strengthen the study and thus its general interest.


SummaryA method was developed for determining 3 sulphonamide drug residues in honey at the level of 1 ppm. Residues were extracted with acetone, evaporated to dryness, redissolved in twice-distilled water containing sodium hydroxide, and then directly analysed by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. The chromatographic conditions of the analyses and the degradation rates of sulphonamide residues in honey are described and discussed.


• Accurate nutritional assessment should be an integral part of pediatric care and may require technical measurements • The measurement of resting energy expenditure using indirect calorimetry is the best available method to accurately estimate a child's caloric needs to promote weight gain or maintenance • In addition to anthropometry, the most commonly used clinical method of body composition assessment is dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). DXA-based bone density measurements are increasingly being used to assess bone health in children with chronic diseases © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel


Progress in business analytics and scientific fields, such as climatology, bioinformatics, and high energy physics, relies on processing big data. To process big data faster, high performance computing systems have recently begun to deploy flash storage devices at large scale. However, there exists variation in how flash devices are deployed on high performance computing systems. We found this variation leads to unexpected performance degradations from using flash devices. The performance issue occurs when big data applications' I/O workloads are not suitable for the flash device configuration of the system. To quantify this issue, we develop a new metric to fairly compare flash-based HPC systems. Then, we characterize and generalize the performance of a diverse set of I/O workloads across different in-production flash storage architectures, using I/O benchmarks and in-production post-processing climate data software. Then, we improve existing flash storage architectures by a factor of two for our workloads, identify new bottlenecks for applications running on flash-based HPC systems, and describe how big data applications can be adapted to maximize performance on flash-based HPC systems. I. PROBLEM AND MOTIVATION Large amounts of data are generated from many scientific simulations and data analysis software in fields such as climate science, bioinformatics, and physics. In order to make use of big data, applications are used to extract and modify this data to provide scientific insights [13]. Many of these applications, which facilitate scientific discovery, are I/O intensive. I/O intensive means the speed at which they execute depends mainly on the underlying hardware on which the data is stored. Scientists can spend days waiting for their applications to execute and some applications create terabyte-scale output bursts for intermediate results [16]. This leads to significant delay in scientific discovery and productivity. The performance of these applications suffers even more considering the current ratio of I/O to compute performance is 1 GBps to 10 teraflops in high performance computing (HPC) systems [8]. To solve this problem, HPC system designers are now deploying flash storage devices at large scale. Flash storage is an order of magnitude faster than disk-based storage and thus allows data to be read and written faster. For example, Gordon released in 2012, Catalyst in 2013, Comet in 2015, and Wrangler in 2015 all have a large-scale deployment of flash devices [2] [11]. Two other HPC systems, Cori and Aurora, will be available in 2016 and 2019 with large-scale flash as well [3] [1]. Aurora is of core importance to scientific progress as it is a result of President Obama's recent signing of an executive order to develop the first exascale machine and thus the fastest supercomputer in the world[4]. This emerging large scale deployment of flash devices was not possible a decade ago, when flash costs were $80 per GB but are now $.2 per GB [5]. In the near future, scientists will have the capability of running their big data software on flash devices that can be orders of magnitude faster than traditional hard disk drives, potentially allowing much faster data analysis and scientific breakthroughs. However with this recent emergence of large scale flash devices, there is significant variation in how the flash devices are being incorporated into HPC systems. This variation is in the location of flash devices, the interconnect to the devices, and the type of file system the flash devices are mounted on. We define the term flash storage architecture as how an HPC system configures its flash. We found that transitioning I/O intensive software from hard disk-based storage systems to theoretically order of magnitude faster flash devices does not necessarily ensure performance improvement. In fact, we found inappropriate flash storage architectures can negatively impact performance to the degree that flash-based I/O subsystems perform 2x worse than typical disk-based systems. Based off this insight and the near-term deployment of many flash-based HPC systems, we believe users in many science domains will need to know how to best adapt their applications to various flash storage architectures to maximize performance and cost effectiveness. Also, system designers will need to know how to improve existing flash storage architectures to better suit big data workloads. In this paper, we compare tradeoffs between different flash storage architectures to help both users and system designers. First we develop a new metric to fairly compare flash-based HPC systems. Using the metric, we analyze performance of a diverse set of I/O workloads using I/O benchmarks and in-production big data applications on two different flash storage architectures. Then, we improve existing flash storage architectures by two factors, identify and quantify new bottlenecks which arise for applications on flash-based architectures, and describe how big data applications can be modified to maximize performance on flash storage architectures. II. BACKGROUND AND RELATED WORK Flash devices are a fast type of storage device, which can be orders of magnitude faster than hard disks. A common type of flash device is a solid state drive (SSD). However, any type of storage device which uses flash technology is a flash device. Flash devices are non-volatile and lack a mechanical foundation, unlike hard disks, making them significantly faster than disks. The amount of benefits from flash over disks depends on I/O workloads, such as random vs. sequential access and I/O request size or size of data fetch. We categorize flash-based HPC systems into three different types of flash storage architecture. The first is a local flash


Objective: NA Background: Stroke-like migraine attacks after radiation therapy (SMART) syndrome is a rare complication of cranial irradiation. It has been increasingly encountered with prolonged survival after cranial irradiation for primary or metastatic brain tumors. Design/Methods: Case description: This is a 40 year old left-handed male with history of metastatic nonseminomatous germ cell tumor treated 8 years ago. Treatment included surgical resection of bifrontal metastatic lesions followed by whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) to a total dose of 30 Gy. He suffered residual impairment of cognitive and executive functions and mild right hemiparesis. Sequelae included infrequent focal epileptic seizures involving right arm and face with few episodes of secondary generalization. Seizures were fairly controlled with a single AED and he remained seizure free for the last 3 years. He presented with new onset left sided headache and subsequently developed global aphasia, flaccid left-sided hemiplegia, and had a generalized seizure. Extensive workup ruled out vascular, infectious and neoplastic etiologies. MRI showed leptomeningeal enhancement involving the entire left hemisphere compelling for a diagnosis of SMART syndrome based on imaging findings and clinical history. He gradually returned to clinical baseline over the following 10 days. Follow-up MRI revealed resolution of cortical enhancement on MRI. Results: NA Conclusions: SMART syndrome is a rare complication of cranial irradiation. Pathophysiology has been speculated to be a result of a process driven by cerebral hyperexcitability with impaired autoregulatory mechanisms and endothelial damage as a consequence of remote radiation. Clinico-radiological features are challenging and typically include reversible episodic unilateral neurological dysfunction, headache and sometimes seizures in association with transient cortical gadolinium enhancement. Differential diagnoses includes: tumor recurrence, leptomeningeal carcinomatosis, infection, vascular disorders, hemiplegic migraine, posterior reversible encephalopathy (PRES) and post-ictal MRI changes. Duration of symptoms varies from hours to several weeks. Most reported cases had full clinical and radiological recovery with symptomatic management. Disclosure: Dr. Hamouda has nothing to disclose. Dr. Jazebi has nothing to disclose. Dr. Weathers has received research support from Mundipharma and Genentech.


Curricula for teacher education are the major way to impart knowledge to the teachers-to-be and cultivate their better scientific cultural qualities. The curricula design for teacher education is directly related with the sound construction of the knowledge structure of the teachers-to-be.Depending on the comparison and enlightenment from the teacher education curricula design modes abroad,this paper studies the construction of curricula system for teacher education in our country.


Travel time reliability (TTR) is one of the important indexes for effectively evaluating the performance of road network, and TTR can effectively be improved using the real-time traffic guidance information. Compared with traditional traffic guidance, connected vehicle (CV) guidance can provide travelers with more timely and accurate travel information, which can further improve the travel efficiency of road network. Five CV characteristics indexes are selected as explanatory variables including the Congestion Level (CL), Penetration Rate (PR), Compliance Rate (CR), release Delay Time (DT), and Following Rate (FR). Based on the five explanatory variables, a TTR model is proposed using the multilogistic regression method, and the prediction accuracy and the impact of characteristics indexes on TTR are analyzed using a CV guidance scenario. The simulation results indicate that 80% of the RMSE is concentrated within the interval of 0 to 0.0412. The correlation analysis of characteristics indexes shows that the influence of CL, PR, CR, and DT on the TTR is significant. PR and CR have a positive effect on TTR, and the average improvement rate is about 77.03% and 73.20% with the increase of PR and CR, respectively, while CL and DT have a negative effect on TTR, and TTR decreases by 31.21% with the increase of DT from 0 to 180 s.


Because they are easy to create and modify, low fidelity prototypes are commonly used in early evaluations of user interface designs. Designers typically use either pen-and-paper or various computer-based tools to create and test low fidelity prototypes; however, our informal analyses of these existing technologies indicate that they do not optimally support the two key, complementary tasks of (a) prototype creation and (b) wizard of oz testing. To address this problem, we have been developing WOZ Pro (Wizard of Oz Prototyper), a pen-based software environment for the quick and easy creation and testing of low fidelity user interface prototypes. We are designing WOZ Pro to be as easy to use as pen-and-paper, but to hold key advantages over pen-and-paper and existing computer-based tools. When designing interface screens in WOZ Pro, designers can easily (a) propagate a design change to other related screens, and (b) specify the set of screens that are reachable from a given screen. In a wizard of oz test, WOZ Pro reduces the cognitive load on the wizard by allowing navigation only to those next screens that are valid. We are planning a controlled experiment to compare WOZ Pro against paper-and-pencil along several measures in a set of prototype creation and evaluation tasks.


Germinal centers (GCs) are sites enriched for proliferative B cells undergoing class switch, somatic hypermutation, and selection for clones expressing high-affinity antigen-specific receptors. GCs are a main source of long-lived plasma cells (PCs) and memory B cells, and many B-lineage cancers including multiple myeloma (MM), a malignancy of PCs, also originate in GCs. However, little is known about the biochemical pathways regulating GC B cells or GC-derived effectors. Thus, we sought to define the role of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a serine/threonine kinase known to regulate several biochemical pathways needed for cell growth, division, and survival, in the maintenance of GC B cells and GC-derived cells. To address the role of mTOR in GC B cell generation, we treated NP-CGG-immunized mice with rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor. Rapamycin treatment caused a near-complete loss of NP-specific GC B cells in the spleen, and a selective reduction of newly formed bone marrow PCs. We next generated Raptorf/f x CD20-ER-Cre mice to induce B cell-specific deletion of the mTOR-requisite protein Raptor; Raptor deletion caused the ablation of antigen-specific GCs, as well as secondary antibody responses mediated by memory B cells. The data indicate that GC B cells utilize mTOR signaling to regulate metabolic pathways required for cell division and/or survival. Future studies will address the notion that malignant PCs responsible for MM must be replenished by ongoing GC responses.