Changes in vibration signals, natural frequency and modal parameters were used for damage detection in a steel beam. Several tests were performed on simply supported steel beams having open transverse cracks with varying depths and locations. Frequencies for the first three vibration modes were generated from the analytical, numerical, and experimental models. Analytical frequencies were calculated assuming Euler-Bernoulli beam and solving partial differential equations. Vibration signals were collected using a portable digital vibrometer and analyzed through Fast Fourier Transform. The finite element beam models were calibrated using experimental results. The graphical plots of the normalized frequency from the experimental study and FE models showed similar pattern for the first mode. The nodal points were identified as the locations where the damaged frequency equals the frequency of an intact beam. The existence of damage in the beam specimen was confirmed by comparing the natural frequency of a beam at its intact and damaged states. Equations relating normalized frequency with varying crack depth and location were proposed.


This paper presents a novel feature extractor for robust large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) task. For accurate and robust estimation of speech power spectrum we propose to compute the features from the regularized minimum variance distortionless response (regMVDR) spectral estimate instead of the windowed periodogram estimate. A sigmoid shape subband spectrum enhancement technique and a short-time feature normalization, known as short-time mean and scale normalization (STMSN), are also used for robust estimation of the cepstral features for speech recognition task. When evaluated on the AURORA-4 LVCSR corpus proposed feature extractor provides an average relative improvement of 38.5%,35.0%, and 34.3%,30.7%,5.6%, and 7.1% over the MFCC, PLP, MVDR-based MFCC, regMVDR-based MFCC, PNCC and the robust feature extractor of [4], respectively, in terms of the recognition accuracy.


As a physiologist or biomedical scientist, have you ever found yourself at some nonspecialist social event, unable to help yourself but listen in to the criminal lawyer at the next table, entertaining her neighbors at said table for hours on end with stories from her professional life, while you— do not, because telling people what you do for a living is either considered TMI,* incomprehensible or deeply boring common knowledge? I sure have. However, on occasion, it fills me with awe when I discover that terms or concepts which I had myself always thought to be common knowledge, are, in fact, technical terms from subject areas I had been rather ignorant about. Growth and development are two such examples. An increase in size, for example, in the context of childhood development, is only defined as growth if it is constant and irreversible.2 Development, in the same context, is a growth in psychomotor capacity.2 Both terms are, in biomedical papers, often used in a much broader sense in relation to other subject areas: At Acta Physiologica, a number of excellent articles reporting growth and development research have been published. Parental health and genetic composition influence both processes from before conception, as evident in, for example, the developmental consequences of fetal programming, be it through maternal obesity,3,4 paternal exercise or lack thereof,5 or a disruption of immune function at the maternofetal interface6 or gestational diabetes,7 for example. The role of individual regulating factors as well as mechanisms during mammalian ontogenesis are another focus area, examples being the role of syndapins,8 Vmat2,9 KCNMA1 variants10 or the microglialeucocyte axis in the developing brain.11 Other recent advancements have expanded and refined the methodological toolbox to exactly characterize potential disruptions of growth and development. The list is huge to name but a few examples, pertaining to, for example, analysis of mass imaging data,12 highly reliable noninvasive organ size determination,13 spatial transcriptomics14 or approaches to refine computational modeling of individual organ systems by improving bilateral feedback exchanges with experimental scientists.15 While growth and development are undoubtedly used beyond their specific meaning with regard to, for example, ontogenic or pediatric development, I would encourage nonnative speakers, myself included, to keep our eyes and ears open at all times to the precise and specific meanings of terms we thought we knew fully well, and which we have been using confidently, all the time.16 Recently, at an interdisciplinary event, I found myself seated next to an engineer doing highend field research on the defusing of rare historical bombs. And yes, there are scholarly articles and journals in the field17; I readily admit I had no idea. If this is not a topic for small talk— wow, he must be the star at every party, I thought. Wrong— he usually tells people that he is a gardener, as otherwise he will never get a moment of peace, let alone an opportunity to eat something, or listen to someone interesting himself.


A relatively small group of Japanese war veterans has played a major part in creating a favourable image of Burma in Japan. In the early 1950s both Japan and Burma needed a swift agreement on reparations, the Japanese because the export markets and natural resources of South East Asia offered a real opportunity to rebuild the Japanese economy, Burma because economic policy was already faltering and financial aid was needed. The Reparations Agreement between Japan and Burma became the model for ODA agreements with other South East Asian nations and the Japanese committed large sums to Burma, yet the Japanese mercantilist approach was never compatible with the Burmese road to Socialism. Since the imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi, some in Japan have promoted a policy of solidarity towards Burma, while others, including the new Prime Minister, Hatoyama have advocated an approach based on concern for human rights.


The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological foundations consideration the functions and powers of local government in the context of national sovereignty. Done concluded that the study and determining the functions and powers of local government must proceed from the fact that local government is a different kind of legitimate public authority, one of the constitutional order, a form of democracy and constitutional means to limit state power. Interaction between local governments and public authorities should be in accordance with the constitutional and legal principles of public power in Ukraine, taking into account the policy of decentralization and deconcentration of power and a clear separation of jurisdiction. From the point of view of the author issues of local importance as a basic facility needs local government constitutional and legal fixation on the principle of "allowed everything that is not expressly prohibited by law".


Summary Using continuous infusion techniques the entry rate of linoleic acid and its contribution to carbon dioxide production has been studied in fed and fasted sheep. The entry rate of linoleic acid in fasted sheep (0·052 mg/min/kg) was considerably less than that of stearic acid (0·432 mg/min/kg), and the percentage of total carbon dioxide production derived from the oxidation of linoleic acid (0·4%) was also markedly less than that from stearic acid (10·13%). On starvation there was a preferential mobilization of palmitic, stearic and oleic acids relative to linoleic acid. The infused 14C-labelled linoleic acid was initially incorporated into plasma phospholipids, with maximal radioactivity at about 1 day post-infusion, and subsequently into plasma cholesteryl esters with a maximum at 2 days post-infusion. The incorporation of 14C-labelled stearic acid into plasma phospholipids was only 25–30% that of linoleic acid, with negligible incorporation into cholesteryl esters. Possible explanations for ruminant animals being able to exist on a very low intake of linoleic acid are discussed. In essence, there is a discrimination against the use of linoleic acid as an energy source, but the mechanisms involved do not appear to be unique to ruminant animals.


The breakage of mechanical parts always begins from surface.The performance of products,especially the reliability and durability depends on the surface quality of the parts to a great extent.


This paper aimed at revisiting the market orientation philosophy, through examining the impact of organizational culture on market orientation within Egyptian business schools. Data were gathered from 46 informants in three business schools in Egypt. The informal and implicit nature of the marketing phenomena under investigation and the need to gain scientific insight into them called for using Grounded theory methodology. Grounded theory analysis helped to identify three distinct models in higher education in Egypt. The models show distinct ways in which organizational culture affect market orientation mechanism, which capitalizes on students' evaluation to fulfill the strategic agenda of business schools within their operating marketing environment.


Between March 1992 and February 1993,222 five-minute stationary bird counts were conducted at 12 sites in the Kennedy's Bush Scenic Reserve on Christchurch's Port Hills. Over the period of the survey, 22 species of bird were recorded in or flying over the reserve.The seven most frequently recorded species were Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis), Grey Warbler (Gerygone igata), Bellbird (Anthornis rn. rnelanura), Fantail (Rbipidurafuliginosa), Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), Blackbird (Turdus rnerula) and Redpoll (Acanthis flarnrnea) . Kennedy's Bush does not contain a high diversity of native bush birds compared to some other mainland sites. Native species also appear less abundant in Kennedy's Bush than in continuous, climax forest sites near Reefton. Kennedy's Bush does, however, support high numbers of some species such as Silvereye, Grey Warbler, Fantail, Bellbird and Shining Cuckoo (Ch?ysococcyx I. lucidus) compared to sites at Kowhai Bush, Kaikoura. The autumn peak in numbers of Silvereye recorded at Kennedy's Bush may result from flocks of migrating birds, some of which may move out of the reserve for the winter months. The numbers of Grey Warbler, Bellbird and Blackbird recorded probably reflect seasonal changes in conspicuousness rather than a change in actual numbers; adults are probably resident in the reserve year round.


Meat and bone meal(MBM) was pretreated by extruding,and defatted MBM was obtained by hexane leaching.The parameters of extrusion were optimized by response surface methodology.The results showed that the optimal extrusion conditions were as follows:moisture content of feed 10%,sleeve temperature 50 ℃ and rotating speed of screw 130 r/min.Under these conditions,the bulk density and percolation of extruded MBM increased;the content of impurity in leached crude oil decreased,and the residual oil rate was only 0.42% after leaching for 30 min.


As supply chain finance developed, more and more enterprises in manufacturing industry can have better payment terms with their cooperator. This paper consider the decision of the optimal trade credit term and production lot sizes considering shortage cost in manufacturing industry. We build a model with which we can prove that there exist the optimal trade credit term and production lot sizes for enterprises in manufacturing industry.


OBJECTIVE:To analyze the efficacy of perindopril in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.METHODS:The treatment group received perindopril4mg,q.d.for four weeks.RESULTS:In the236cases of treatment group,33cases died(13.98%),and in the160cases of control group,55cases died(34.38%)(X 2 =22.94,P0.01).The perindopril also had the actions of improving left ventricular EF and FS,and decreasing left ventricular dimensions.CONCLUSION:Perindopril is beneficial for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction.


Adverse effects of lightning strike are studied through the modeling of the lightning-induced overvoltage (LIOV) using the channel-base current (CBC) functions. A lightning current is characterized by the parameters like current peak value (Im), time-taken by the current to reach Im (tm), maximum rise-rate of the current (di/dt)max (steepness), and charge transferred at the contact point of the strike (Q). Using the CBC functions, the lightning electromagnetic fields are calculated to compute the LIOV using a coupling model. Since the choice of CBC function plays an important role in LIOV computation, this article studies its effect on the computed LIOV for matching and zero load impedance. As a case study, two functions: Heidler's and NCBC functions were examined. It was shown that a-sort-of delay characteristic from the NCBC function is reflected in the computed LIOV and also the tripolar nature of the LIOV for the case of imperfect ground. The difference between the LIOV computed using NCBC and Heidler's function shows space-time reflections of the order of 104 magnitude.


A experimental method measuring laser energy and energy distributing of large-aperture beam is presented. The experimental equipment is established. The energy and energy distribution of beam, the beam size is Φ100mm and Φ360mm, are measured. The result show measuring error for laser energy is less than 8%. The energy distribution is basically consistent.


NEW MATERIAL: A compound of formula I [R 1 is H, halogen or OR 5 (R 5 is H, acyl or lower alkyl; R 2 is H, lower alkyl, lower alkoxy, or halogen; R 3 and R 4 are each lower alkyl, or R 3 and R 4 together form 3-5C alkylene; M is -CONH- or -NHCO-]. EXAMPLE: 5,6,7,8-Tetrahydro-5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalenecarboxy anilide. USE: Treatment or prophylaxis of unusual tissue generation, skin diseases and ageing of the skin, rheumatic and immunological diseases. PROCESS: The compound of formula is obtained by reacting a compound of formula II with a compound of formula III (A is carboxyl or its activated derivative; B is amino, or B is carboxyl or its activated derivative and A is amino; R 11 is a residue of R 1 ) in the presence of a base (e.g. pyridine) for acylation. COPYRIGHT: (C)1991,JPO


Objective: the main objective of this study, which aims to highlight the difficulties encountered by any prescriber in the man agement of pain in the third level, and to determine the constraints of prescribing analgesics belonging to table B. Methods: This is a retrospective study of prescribers of narcotic analgesics in the management of third-level pain. A questionnaire was submitted to volunteer physicians prescribing major analgesics during the period from October to November 2020. Results: Over a period of 2 months, 100 questionnaires were collected from physicians prescribing morphine analgesics. For the storage of this type of so-called narcotic drugs, 74% of the participants judged that their storage was secure, against 20% who found it not secure. On the other hand, stock management seemed easy for 25 participants and always fluid for 16, while 46 doctors complained about the cumbersome abundance of documents. Conclusion: Our results showed that narcotics are important in pain management, especially in palliative care. Several alterna tives to drug treatment can be considered, but unfortunately, analgesics are the main tool that comes first for any pain, which requires health care workers to deepen their understanding of pain and its treatment. For 32 participants, the problem was mainly repeated stock-outs.


Data from 349 urban African American youth were analyzed to explore whether the differences in exposure to violence, resilience, and distress symptoms between gang members and nonmembers resulted from the risk behaviors in which youth participated or from the gang membership itself. Youth with current or past gang membership documented higher levels of risk involvement, lower levels of resilience, higher exposure to violence, and higher distress symptoms. These associations persisted even after controlling for age, gender, or risk involvement. This study provides evidence that gang membership itself may be associated with increased risk and ill-effects on psychological well-being and that strong family involvement and resiliency protect against gang involvement.


Based on the standard,GB/T20984- information security technology-risk assessment specification for information security,a math model was built to evaluate information security risk.The definition of risk entropy was given to quantify the uncertainty of the risk state in every risk domain and the whole system,and the law,the system more complex,the more information security risks,was discovered. The risk evaluation of information security and system risk synthetical assessment method was also theoretically concluded.


In recent history, four influenza pandemics have occurred causing worldwide suffering. It is only a matter of time when a fifth pandemic will emerge. The willingness of the public to perform recomm ...


We might ask the question: how universal are arithmetic circuits for universal computation? We cannot compute everything using arithmetic circuits; for instance, we cannot compute square roots or compute the gcd of two polynomials, because whatever we compute must be a polynomial in the inputs. However, we may wonder about the something such as the determinant: it is a polynomial in its input variables, and there is a polynomial time algorithm (Gaussian elimination) to compute it. However, this algorithm involves branching: we have to test whether a value is nonzero in order to see if it can be used as a pivot. However, this is not an issue: if we just make a circuit to compute the determinant treating input variables as formal variables, then we do not need to use branching. In the end we will have a circuit computing f/g which equals the determinant wherever it is defined. We already know from the last lecture that we can eliminate division and get a circuit for computing determinant. This method works in general for computing polynomials with arithmetic circuits if you can compute them with branches of the form "does yi = 0?". Also note that there are known explicit curcuits for computing the determinant by inductively computing the characteristic polynomial [2].


In women with extragenital pathology in the menopausal period, the use of noninvasive neuromodulation for the treatment of psychovegetative disorders has been proposed. The method allows to reduce the severity of menopausal and psychosomatic (depression, anxiety) disorders and the level of their mutual influence.


In this paper, the physical and electrical characteristics of accelerated thermal aged transformer oil insulation were investigated. The accelerated thermal aging of commercial transformer oil was conducted by increasing its temperature with different time. They were 100°C for 168 hours, 115°C for 96 hours, and 125°C for 48 hours. The lifetime of the tested oil was then estimated based on Arrhenius law and breakdown voltage test. The result showed that the physical characteristic of the tested oil during accelerated thermal aging could be analyzed based on its color changes, in which the higher level of thermal aging resulted in darker oil's color. The electrical characteristic was associated with significant decreasing of breakdown voltage. The lifetime estimation based on Arrhenius law for the tested oil with 100°C, 115°C, and 125°C were about 25663 hours, 4300 hours, and 1408 hours, respectively. The lifetime estimation based on breakdown voltage test for the tested oil with 100°C, 115°C, and 125°C were about 20064 hours, 1526 hours, and 1106 hours, respectively.


SUMMARY In this study two aspects of the biology of the cercaria of Himasthla militaris were examined. Firstly, the cercarial emergence from the first intermediate host, Hydrobia stagnorum, was studied. On a 9 h light (9L)/15 h dark (15D) schedule cercariae of Himasthla militaris emerged from naturally infected Hydrobia stagnorum predominantly during darkness. Inversion of the photo-period resulted in an immediate reversal of the emergence pattern. A comparison between the cercarial release patterns under natural conditions and in a constant light/temperature environment showed that an endogenous as well as an exogenous factor is controlling this process. Secondly, the penetration of the cercaria in Nereis diversicolor and the site-finding of the larva within this second intermediate host was investigated. After a short external migration on the body of N. diversicolor the cercaria enters the polychaete via the anus opening, perforates the gut-wall and moves through the coelom to the anterior segments to encyst in the muscle tissue. This internal migration results in a specific distribution pattern of the metacercariae, with more than 50% of the cysts localized in the first 12 segments and a maximum in segment number 9 (13·8%).


This study presents water distribution analysis of the device for spraying cooling water through specific nozzles numerically and experimentally. Numerical analysis was performed using the 3-D incompressible, multi-phase flow model, for different Reynolds numbers of 4 × 105 , 8 × 105 . Experimental analysis was performed at real-size, under the same conditions. The calculated results and the measured results for the distribution of flow were matched relatively well. The distribution of the nozzle flow depends on the Reynolds number.


Differentiating sieve cells and neighbouring parenchymatous elements of Pinus radiata cotyledons contain a large number of bundles of microfilaments, the majority of which occur peripherally, Microfilament bundles are seen in association with the plasmalemma and several other cell structures. Sometimes a filament bundle was seen in association with more than one cell structure.


Estuaries provide valuable ecosystem services, but they are also subject to environmental pressures due to high anthropogenic activities. The diversity and abundance of Polychaete can be used as indicators of the health of the Kapuas estuary, but supporting data are currently lacking. The objective of this research is to assess the quality of the Kapuas estuary through a Polychaete community approach. The study employed a survey method by selecting ten Polychaete sampling points based on their surrounding environmental conditions. Samples were collected from each point using a Petite Ponar grab, filtered, sorted, and grouped by family. The Polychaete specimens were identified up to the genus level. The data were analyzed descriptively. A total of 108 Polychaete individuals were found, comprising nine genera and seven families. The highest abundance was observed in the genera Capitella (Capitellidae) and Sternaspis (Sternaspidae), with 778 ind.m-2and 667 ind.m-2, respectively. The diversity of Polychaete in the Kapuas estuary was classified as low, with diversity index ranging from 0.5 to 1.21. The high abundance, low diversity, and presence of indicator genera of organic pollutants such as Capitella indicate that the Kapuas estuary is affected by organic contamination


The present invention relates to membrane strip chromatographic analysis system, comprising relates immune response and the order of the enzymatic reactions following manner crossflow process introduced to point-of-care test which has significantly improved analytical performance (POCT) Biosensors the invention, sample receiving membrane pad (10) includes a state where the labeled detection binding component was dried, labeled detection binding component release membrane pad (20), trapping binding component fixed signal generation membrane pad being of (30), the vertical flow solution absorbent membrane pad (40), the substrate solution supplying membrane pad (50) for the enzyme, the lateral flow solution absorbent membrane pad (60) and a substrate solution it relates membrane strip biosensor system.


This Paper presents the details of studies on five test sections of overlays each of 100 metres length constructed over an existing flexible pavement using (i) 4 cm thick BC, (ii) 8 cm thick BC, (bituminous concrete), (iii) 10 cm thick WBM + 2 cm PMC, (iv) 15 cm thick WBM + 2 cm PMC and (v) 20 cm thick WBM + 2 cm PMC. However, the actual thickness of overlay at each deflection observation point was determined by a network of spot levels before and after the overlays were constructed. The pavement and overlays were subjected to Benkelman Beam deflection studies and surface condition evaluation. The values of deflection reduction factor, R were worked out for the overlay materials; it was found that the R-value increases with overlay thickness. Regression equations were worked out for R-values on thickness of BC and WBM overlays. The equivalency factor or BC in terms of (WBM + PMC) was worked out using the results of this study. The equivalency factor of BC is found to decrease with increase in overlay thickness. An interim chart for the design of BC and WBM overlays over flexible pavements has been prepared. The economics between the two types of overlays has been discussed.


Intergroup dialogue is designed to foster commitment to action. This article analyzes papers written by students in 52 intergroup dialogue courses (N = 739) to test a theoretical model of how intergroup dialogue is expected to encourage frequency of acting to educate others and to collaborate with others. The theoretical model posits that dialogue pedagogy fosters distinctive communication processes, which influence psychological processes that, in turn, relate to action (Nagda, 2006; Sorensen, Nagda, Gurin, & Maxwell, 2009). Statistical analyses of the number of references to each of these concepts that were coded in the students' papers provide substantial support for the model. Dialogue pedagogy, communication processes, and psychological processes all influenced how much students wrote about action, and the influence of these concepts conforms to the theoretical model. Results also show that educating others was written about more by students in race/ethnicity dialogues than in gender dialogues, at least partially because students in race/ethnicity dialogues also wrote more about the communication processes and psychological processes that specifically related to educating others.


Increasing labour force participation by successive cohorts of mothers in post-war Britain has brought about a change in women's economic role, because they no longer specialize completely in domestic activities, except for a relatively short period associated with childrearing. By contrast, men continue to specialize in paid work, taking little responsibility for household tasks. Economic argument and sociological evidence are brought together in this paper to suggest that the demands of economic efficiency no longer require household members to specialize between domestic and market tasks. This idea runs counter to the major recent theory of economic demography, the socalled `new home economics', in which specialization (within marriage, though not necessarily by sex) is of crucial importance because of the particular way in which productivity is assumed to improve as more time is devoted to an activity. The nature of the returns to time spent at domestic and market activities is examined here in some detail — for example it is suggested that experience accrues more to participation in an activity than from the scale of that activity, and empirical evidence from various sources would appear to support this. The implication is that resources may not currently be allocated efficiently, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the factors which may hinder the achievement of efficiency, and how these might be overcome.


study of agricultural policy reform. Specifically, the focus is on farm price and income support programs (or simply, the farm programs), which historically have combined financial assistance to farms with restrictions on crop production. Reform, as the authors specify it, involves reducing the intrusiveness of these programs, ideally culminating in their elimination. Although they aver that their "analytic tone remains more positive than normative" (p. 11), their ideological preference for the market shapes the narrative. Reform of the farm programs is analyzed using the categories developed in a four-cell matrix. Reform can be instituted gradually over time or quickly; compensation may or may not be provided to farmers affected by reform. On this basis, a gradual, compensated closeout of farm programs becomes a cash out, whereas quicker, compensated elimination is a buyout. Slow reform without compensation is a squeeze out; quick, uncompensated repeal of the farm programs have been cast, whether successful or not, as cash outs. The authors acknowledge, albeit a bit grudgingly, that the farm programs were justifiable in the 1930s because of the Great Depression. Due to the scientific, technological, and economic transformation of American agriculture, however, they are no longer needed. Briefly stated, their case for reform is this. The farm programs have done little to increase agricultural productivity, although other government policies have been helpful here, and they have not done much to reduce regular poverty. Producers of commodities that account for 60% of farm sales—livestock, fruits and vegetables, and specialty crops—receive no direct benefits from farm programs. Moreover, about 1.5 million farm units derive only a small fraction, if any, of their income from farming. For 536,000 large commercial farms, income from farming in 1995 averaged $38,000 for those with sales under $250,000 and $303,000 for those with sales above that figure. They receive most of the farm program benefits. Finally, the farm programs hinder the movement of commodities in world markets. These points are well taken and collectively support the need for some kind of reform.


This chapter motivates Reasons Responsiveness by situating it within the metaethical literature on rationality. The first task is to show how Reasons Responsiveness can overcome prominent arguments given by John Broome that seek to show that rationality is not a function of normative reasons. The second task is to show that Reasons Responsiveness can capture the data that motivates rival coherentist accounts in the metaethical literature. It is argued that usually one is irrational when incoherent and that Reasons Responsiveness can explain this because of the way in which reasons transmit. Some forms of incoherence are not irrational. Reasons Responsiveness can explain this as well. The upshot is that Reasons Responsiveness can explain the data that motivates rival views without incurring their main problems.


Phycoremediation is the use of algae for the removal of pollutants from wastewater since algal species are relatively easy to grow, adapt and manipulate within a laboratory setting and appear to be ideal organisms for use in remediation studies. The present investigation was carried out to determine the phycoremediation potential of Spirogyra sp. using sugar mill effluent. The results of the present study revealed that sugar mill effluent is considerable loaded with TDS, EC, BOD, COD, TKN, PO43- , Ni, Cr, Fe and Mn. The phycoremediation studies showed that the maximum removal of TDS (24.92%), EC (14.47%), pH (11.47%), BOD (47.82%), DO (21.46%), COD (15.73%), TKN (40%), PO43- (44.44%), Ni (42.79%), Cr (40.74%), Fe (24.78%) and Mn (34.92%) was recorded after 60 days of phycoremediation experiments using Spirogyra sp. moreover, the removal of TDS, EC, BOD, COD, TKN, PO43- , Ni, Cr, Fe and Mn of the sugar mill effluent was progressively increased at 15, 30, 45 and 60 days of phycoremediation experiments using Spirogyra sp. Therefore, the phycoremediation study clearly indicated the effectiveness of microalgae Spirogyra sp. for the removal of nutrients and heavy metals present in the sugar mill effluent.


This paper takes the position that more is possible if e-commerce developments are included broadly. The partnerships being formed to deliver commercial e-training have infrastructure that is valuable to universities with their large teaching data sets. A requirements analysis, selection of the group best placed to handle each requirement, coupled with reflection on the `core business' for the particular university, can show the association most appropriate to a given VU.


The effects of water supply and light intensity on the growth of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was studied under carefully controlled conditions. The leaf water potential (LWP) was measured from 5 to 40 d after the initiation of water supply treatments (DAIT) . The LWP decreased as DAIT progressed. At higher photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFDs), the LWP decreased as the water supply decreased. The water supply rate had little impact on tiller initiation and survival under low PPFD. As the PPFD increased, however, tillering responded sharply to water supply. Differences in tiller numbers were mainly due to differences in the number of subtillers from T0, T 1 and T2 primary tillers. The water supply rate did not affect plant growth significantly under low PPFD. Increased PPFD resulted in increased plant growth, except for leaf numbers per main stem, as water supply rate increased. Thus, there was a highly significant interaction of water supply and light intensity on the growth of spring wheat.


We present the sublattice approach, a procedure to generate, from a given integrable lattice, a sublattice which inherits its integrability features. We consider, as illustrative example of this approach, the discrete Moutard 4-point equation and its sublattice, the self-adjoint 5-point scheme on the star of the square lattice, which are relevant in the theory of the integrable discrete geometries and in the theory of discrete holomorphic and harmonic functions (in this last context, the discrete Moutard equation is called discrete Cauchy-Riemann equation). Therefore an integrable, at one energy, discretization of elliptic two-dimensional operators is considered. We use the sublattice point of view to derive, from the Darboux transformations and superposition formulas of the discrete Moutard equation, the Darboux transformations and superposition formulas of the self-adjoint 5-point scheme. We also construct, from algebro-geometric solutions of the discrete Moutard equation, algebro-geometric solutions of...


The velamen and exodermis of roots of 76 species of epiphytic orchids occurring in West Africa were examined and evaluated for the following characters: number of velamen layers; wall striations and hairs of the velamen; wall thickening and lignification of velamen and exodermal cells; size, and uniformity in shape and size, of velamen and exodermal cells. The term epi-velamen is proposed for the distinctive outermost layer of multi-seriate velamen. High correlation is reported between the number of velamen layers and taxonomic as well as habitat-tolerance groupings, together with lower, but still appreciable, correlation between the other characters evaluated and taxonomic and habitat-tolerance groupings.


Thesis Submitted To The Business Administration Department Ashesi University College in Partial Fulfilment Of The Requirements For The Award Of Bachelor Of Science Degree In Business Administration April 2015. Rating: 3* (3 stars)


There are previously reported data describing differences between Asian and European patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), few direct comparisons based on cancer registration characteristics or using cohorts to validate scoring systems. This is the first study from South‐America, which attempts to describe demographic, clinical features, and outcome of MDS patients. We retrospectively analyzed 1,080 patients with de novo MDS from Argentina (635), Brazil (345), and Chile (100). Chilean patients were younger (P = 0.001) with female preponderance (P = 0.071). Brazilian series showed a higher predominance of RARS subtype regarding FAB and WHO classifications (P < 0.001). Hemoglobin levels were significantly lower in Brazilian and Chilean series (P < 0.001), and Chilean series also showed a lower platelet count (P = 0.028), with no differences concerning the neutrophil count, % BM blast, and the distribution of cytogenetic risk groups (P > 0.05). Chilean series depicted a lower overall survival (OS; 35 months vs. 56 months‐Argentine; 55 months‐Brazil, P = 0.030), which was consistent with a higher predominance of the high‐risk group according both to the IPSS and IPSS‐R (P = 0.046 and P < 0.001). The IPSS‐R system and its variables showed a good reproducibility to predict clinical outcome for the whole South‐American population. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics, distribution among prognostic subgroups, the OS, and the access to disease modifying therapies were more similar between Argentinean and Brazilian compared with Chilean MDS series. This will need further analysis in a larger group of patients. Descriptive and comparative studies are necessary to establish epidemiological features useful for public health attitudes to generate suitable therapeutic schemes. Am. J. Hematol. 90:851–858, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The most commonly used fine aggregate in concrete production is river sand. Its extensive mining has led to massive environmental degradation. Volcanic activity in most parts of the world has deposited enormous amounts of pyroclastics especially volcanic tuff and lapilli which can be used to reduce overdependence on river sand. The effects of sand-pyroclastics mixture on workability of fresh concrete, absorption and compressive strength of cured concrete were investigated. Factorial experiments were done with 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% sand replacement by weight of sand. Concrete test cubes were casted in 150 mm x 150 mm x 150 mm cube steel molds with a water-cement ratio of 0.445, and cured for 28 days. Workability decreased with increase in sand replacement. Water absorption for 150 x 150 x 150 mm concrete test cubes after 28 days curing period increased with increase in the amount of sand replaced. This followed the trend of individual aggregates. Compressive strength increased from 25.6 kNm -2 (0% sand replacement) to an optimum of 27.8 kNm -2 and 27.2 kNm -2 at 25% sand replacement for volcanic tuff and lapilli respectively at 28 days curing period due to the pozzolanic activity of volcanic tuff and lapilli material. The results have shown that replacing sand with up to 50% volcanic tuff or lapilli can produce lightweight concrete of class 25. This would reduce the amount of sand used in concrete manufacture with subsequent decrease in environmental degradation associated with mining of river sand.


For low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication, a frequency shift from the Doppler effect can cause some design difficulty of the receiver. A new method for compensate influence of the Doppler shift is presented in this paper. According to relative position and velocity between satellite and ground station, the amount of Doppler shift during communication time are beforehand calculated, then resonance frequency of the DDS is adjusted in real time to compensate the frequency shift and eliminate the effect of Doppler.


The Republic of Macedonia was the only state which had managed to separate itself from the rump Yugoslavia without any serious military confrontation with the Yugoslav Army (JNA) in the beginning of the 1990s. However, the international conditions that had required rapid recognition of Macedonia as a sovereign state by ignoring the fragile ethnic composition of this tiny Balkan country led to ethnic strife and consequently a political reform process. This process was definitely predominated by the political demands of the ethnic Albanians at the expense of the majority Slav Macedonians and the other smaller ethnic groups, including the Turks. In this context, this study aims at unfolding the political stand of the Turkish minority during the political reform process between 2001 and 2002 in Macedonia—the so-called Ohrid (Framework) process—which culminated in a semi-consociational system entirely favoring the ethnic Albanians, to the chagrin of the smaller minorities, particularly the Turkish minority.


This study investigates the application of a student choice logit model to examine the role demographic, socioeconomic and psychological variables play in influencing undergraduate students' preferences towards choosing to study in particular disciplines. As a tool of analysis, logit regression has offered an innovative approach that allows the researcher to estimate the probability that a prospective student will apply to certain disciplines. The likelihood ratio of the model is highly significant (p =.000) suggesting choice behaviour can be effectively explained by a set of particular explanatory variables. The marketing application of the logit model in generating 'student types' and simulation analyses is discussed. These findings have implications for higher education institutions wishing to develop segmented marketing strategies to influence choice behaviour of prospective students.


PurposeDue to globalization, textile small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operations have become complex which raised the needs of risk-free financing solutions to support the SMEs' daily processes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of supply chain (SC) finance, a risk-free financing solution, on SC effectiveness (SCE) in the context of textile SMEs by employing transaction cost (TC) approach.Design/methodology/approachThe participants of the study were recruited from textile SMEs through a structured questionnaire. The proposed model and structural relationships were assessed by employing AMOS 24.0.FindingsThe results of this paper indicate that supply chain finance (SCF) has a significant effect on SCE. Furthermore, all proposed factors of SCF adoption have a positive and significant effect on SCF.Practical implicationsThis study helps the SMEs executives or owners to adopt SCF as a secure financing scheme to reduce the credit TCs, optimize the firm working capital, reduce the risk of default, and improve SC effectiveness. SMEs and suppliers can build strong relationships while adopting the findings of this study. SMEs can engage the suppliers to work under strategic alliance through negotiation, collaboration, and work digitization, and extend their payment terms while providing an opportunity to the suppliers to get their payment back before a fixed time through discounting from financial institutions as needed.Originality/valueThe present study covered the gap related to SCF and SCE by identifying unique factors of SCF adoption which was ignored in the previous literature by employing TC approach.


The paper proves the need to clarify the agroecological assessment of soils, taking into account the migration of substances, the non-exchange fixation of biophilic elements by the soil, the relationship between the properties of soils, the intensity and speed of soil-forming processes, and the manifestation of the law of decreasing fertility. It is shown that on well-cultivated sod-podzolic soils of the Moscow region, the losses of elements with high water and ground water averaged 19.3 and 6.9 kg/ha of N-NO3, 0.7 and 1.2 N-NH4 in the crop rotation. Losses with surface-runoff waters were: nitrogen-2.2 kg / ha, potassium-7.0; calcium-11.0; magnesium-6.0; phosphorus-0.9 kg / ha per year. When the Ca/K ratio in the soil solution of this soil was 0.44±0.03 and 2.7±0.1, the content of water – soluble iron was 57.9±7.4 and 5.3±0.7 mg/l, respectively; manganese-2.3±0.4 and 1.1±0.2 mg/l. It is shown that plants consume biophilic elements from different soil horizons, which must be taken into account in the balance of biophilic elements. It is shown that the optimal soil properties differ depending on the hydrothermal conditions of the territory, the combination of soil properties. It is proved that in order to choose the optimal crops for growing on certain soils, it is necessary to take into account the alienation of energy with the crop. Keywords: SOIL FERTILITY, FERTILIZERS, BALANCE, ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY


Hegel's historical view has three characteristics: idealistic, objective and dialectical. The idealism made him separate the heroes and the mass. He praised the heroes while disparaging the masses. So he held a hero-dominant historical view. The objectivity made him acknowledge the regularity of the historical development, the positive role of the laborers, the historical restriction on the role of heroes and the creativity of the laboring people. Therefore his hero-dominant view contains the seeds of historical materialism. The dialecticality made him correctly expound the opposition and unification relations between heroes and mass, heroes and time, motivation and effect as well as freedom and necessity. Thus his hero-dominant view has its unique character and became one of the direct sources of the historical materialism.


From the ancient years' data, distributing process has reached many areas of computer science with geographic information system. With the enduring increase of existing data, algorithms and data management are to be moved to a new design, which requires a great deal of effort. In the existing AEGIS Frame work, large image data is distributed over the different hosts. Distributing the data over different machines and parallel computing will increase the execution time. This paper defines a geospatial data processing framework Big Geo Spatial Data Analyzer (BGSDA) to enable distribution of raster data in HDFS environment and pixel based classification using MapReduce environment. Multi Spectral Geo spatial satellite images are split into equal and individual blocks using edge detection based border handling strategy which uses 3x3 filtering kernel and they are stored in a Hadoop cluster as part of data distribution. On each image split, parallel processing is implemented by MapReduce to process pixels. Based on Known sample pixels data each unknown pixel in each image split will be classified using Map(s) and Reducer(s) concurrently. After classification of each image split in the individual data node, all are merged by matching the borders of each split using edge detection algorithm to get a single large classified image. It was observed that processing time has been reduced drastically in the proposed system when the satellite images are too large and Number of Data Nodes are increased.


The author collected folklore information on herbal treatments to control fertility from different parts of Assam, India. Temporary methods of birth control include Cissampelos pareira L. in combination with Piper nigrum L., root of Mimosa pudica L. and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L. Plants used for permanent sterilization include Plumbago zeylanica L., Heliotropium indicum L., Salmalia malabrica, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L., Plumeria rubra L., Bambusa rundinacea. Abortion is achieved through use of Osbeckia nepalensis or Carica papaya L. in combination with resin from Ferula narthex Boiss. It is concluded that there is tremendous scope for the collection of folklore about medicine, family planning agents, and other treatments from Assam and surrounding areas. Such a project requires proper understanding between the survey team and local people, tactful behavior, and a significant amount of time. Monetary rewards can also be helpful for obtaining information from potential respondents.


Perhaps the most fundamental and distinctive idea of Kantian moral psychology is that no behavior can count as action unless it is performed on a subjective practical principle, or a maxim of action. The maxim is supposed to provide the target of moral assessment of all actions, whether this assessment is prospective (as it is in deliberation) or retrospective. The presence of a maxim is also supposed to illuminate how it is that agents are active in, hence responsible for, the peculiar species of events we call actions. To put the point roughly, agents are the sources of their actions in that they have in some sense affirmed or endorsed the maxims of these actions.


Ultrasonic strain imaging aims to display mechanical stiffness parameters of soft tissue. This not yet commonly used medical imaging modality can help improve tumor detection and diagnosis based on the fact that many pathological changes are related to increases in tissue stiffness. Since real-time imaging is often indispensible for diagnostic purposes in clinical practice, fast estimation methods are needed. We investigated the performances of one novel and several established estimators with real-time capability and found that two are especially well-suited for freehand strain imaging. Results are from both Field II simulations and experiments using a commercial ultrasound scanner and a tissue-mimicking phantom that was designed to represent a typical tumor situation.


This article applied uses and gratifications to investigate motivations for posting Snapchat videos to identify whether journalistic norms inform Snapchat behavior. This study revealed that information sharing, entertainment, recognition, and self-expression motives were related to Snapchat video use; professional journalistic practices were not. Findings suggest that Snapchat video is used primarily for entertainment, rather than journalism among users. Given the robust increase by legacy news outlets in Snapchat Discover, the findings are timely and relevant.


Some people call it an "Information Superhighway", some say that it is a library which is five minutes old. Its image is quite complex, but to cut the long story short we may say that it is a cyberspace navigated by computer users on the world's largest computer network where people throughout the world exchange an immeasurable amount of information, electronic mail, news, pictures, resources, and ideas.


1 President, Ceylon College of Physicians 2012. Past Presidents, Board of Trustees, Members of the Council, representatives of the Ministry of Health, professional organizations, and other health carerelated institutions, special invitees, ladies and gentlemen, at the outset, I wish to congratulate the outgoing President and the Council, for the splendid work they carried out during the last year.


Based on an effective energy conversion method between flowing gas enthalpy and thermal radiation in a porous medium, a new type of gas-to-gas heat exchanger with a pair of porous media has been developed by Echigo et al. In this study in an attempt to improve the heat exchanger efficiency and to insulate the system effectively, a self-insulated type of the heat exchanger with a porous heat recovery section is proposed. The present heat exchanger consists of three porous media separated by two opaque solid walls. A high temperature section is placed between low temperature and heat recovery sections. This arrangement, along with a flow directional effect of low temperature gas toward the separating wall in the heat recovery section, enables the heat exchanger to be self-insulated. A numerical analysis is carried out on the basis of a simple one-dimensional model, in which convection and radiation heat transfer take place simultaneously in the medium and one-dimensional approximation along the main stream is applied for gas flow and radiative propagation. Three sets of coupled energy equations for gas and porous medium are numerically solved using the finite difference method. Experiments corresponding to the analytical model are also performed. Under relatively lowmore » temperature conditions like the present experiments (the inlet gas temperature of the high temperature section T{sub gho}=673--873K), the calculated porous medium temperatures, which are obtained from an analysis considering convection heat transfer at the walls, are shown to agree satisfactorily with the measured ones. By adding the heat recovery section, the heat exchanger is effectively insulated, and as a result, the outer wall temperature of the system T{sub w} is kept such low values as about 303--343K for T{sub gho}=673--1,473K. It is also shown that, the effective heat recovery rate H{sub eff}of the system with the heat recovery section becomes almost two times higher than that of the system without it. Then, the overall heat transfer coefficient K of the system is improved from 17--42W/m{sup 2}K to 32--68W/m{sup 2}K for T{sub gho}=673--1,473K, which is about two to three times higher than that of the conventional gas-to-gas heat exchanger.« less


Tabbycat is a video server prototype demonstrating the benefits of a proactive approach for distributing popular videos on demand to a large customer base. Rather than reacting to individual customer requests, Tabbycat broadcasts the contents of the most popular videos according to a fixed schedule. As a result, the number of customers watching a given video does not affect the cost of distributing it. We found that one workstation with a single ATA disk drive and a fast Ethernet interface could distribute three two-hour videos while achieving a maximum customer waiting time of less than four minutes.


The career choice is a process in which a student recognizes the interests, attitudes and abilities related to a profession because it considers it attractive, resulting in a decision (Castaneda and Solorio, 2014). The objective of this work is to systematize the experience of the vocational guidance program of the Centro de Bachillerato Tecnologico Agropecuario 197, to choose the technical career based on professional skills, by documenting and explaining the process followed in the school year prior to the This study was carried out in order to propose a model that contributes to reducing the failure rate and increasing the graduation rate in subsequent years. The methodology has a mixed perspective, exploratory in nature with a descriptive logic and for systematization purposes (Hernandez, Fernandez & Baptista, 2016). The sample consisted of 493 individuals equivalent to 90% of the target population. The test consists of 28 items, 25 related to the professional skills of the technical careers offered at the campus and three to choose their first, second and third option. For the information gathering, the Google Applications platform Forms tool was used. The results found indicate that the first option they chose is the Agricultural Technician, 36% (179), the second option was the Technician in Industrial Food Production 34% (167), and the third option was for the Technician in Biotechnology 26% (127). Based on these results, a vocational guidance intervention model is proposed.


The invention relates to a method for synthesizing 2-chloro-5-trifluoromethylpyridine. In the method, the 2-chloro-5-trifluoromethylpyridine is synthesized by performing three-step reaction, namely N-oxidation, benzoyl chloride chlorination and chorine gas chlorination on 3-methylpyridine serving as an initial raw material. In the reaction process of preparing 2-chloro-5-methylpyridine from N-oxy-3-methylpyridine, an isomer 2-chloro-3-methylpyridine of which the property is similar to that of the target product is not required to be separated, and the 2-chloro-5-methylpyridine can be directly used for the next-step reaction, so that the separation process is simplified, and operation efficiency is improved; and the whole synthesis route is easy to operate, reaction conditions are mild, and the requirement on an equipment material is low.


Abstract The effect of B2O3 on reduction of FeO from iron saturated FeO–CaO–SiO2–MgO–Al2O3–TiO2 slags by graphite has been studied under static conditions between 1473 and 1573 K. The compositions of quenched samples were determined by electron probe X-ray analysis (EPMA). The reduction degree (R) of FeO in each sample was obtained by mass balance and compared with the reduction of FeO in the slags without B2O3. The results showed that FeO reduction in the primary slag was effectively improved with only 1 mass-% B2O3 content, but did not continue to increase with the increase in B2O3 content and it reduced slightly at about 3 mass-%B2O3. After reduction B2O3 gathered in the liquid phase where it can restrain the formation of iron–titanium oxide and promote the reduction of FeO, so benefiting blast furnace operation.


Incremental vertical ground movements due to coal mining can increase landslide susceptibility greatly in a short time and have thus triggered a large number of geological disasters, especially in the Karst Region, where a lot of steep slopes are on fractured rocks. Therefore, the landslide susceptibility maps (LSM) in Karst Region should be updated regularly. This paper presents an efficient methodology to update and refine LSM by using Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) data directly. First, an original LSM was produced by using a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, and the distribution of coal mining was considered a crucial factor to generate the LSM. Then, the Permanent Scatterer Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PSInSAR) technique was implemented to retrieve displacement time-series. Finally, the landslide displacement map, produced by the PSInSAR analysis, was projected to the direction of the steepest slope and resampled to the same cell in the LSM, to update the original LSM. This methodology is illustrated with the case study of Bijie in the Karst Region of Southwest China, wherein the ascending RADARSAT-2 and descending Sentinel-1 datasets are processed for the period of 2017–2019. The results show that the susceptibility degree increased in 56.41 km2 of the study area, and 80 percent of the increased susceptibility degree was caused by coal mining. The comparison between original and refined LSM in two specific areas revealed that the proposed method can produce more-reliable landslide susceptibility maps in areas of intense mining activities in the Karst Region.


a) Production system targets bubbles and shooting these targets, including bubble generating games, amusement devices and methods for their implementation, b) The device is characterized in that it comprises in combination a tank, a bubble blowing wand, handlebars left maneuver (51) and right (55) pivotally connected in the vicinity of their front ends, a bellows device (58) compressible / expandable interposed between the left operating handles (51) and right (55). c) A target bubble generating system and shooting these targets, including bubble generating games, amusement devices and methods for their implementation.


In recent years, the squeeze casting process has been widely used with various aluminum alloys to manufacture near-net shape automotive components. Preliminary research has also demonstrated technical feasibility potential of squeeze casting for magnesium. A better understanding of sqeeze casting process is essential for applying the process for the production of large automotive components, such as engine block, using aluminum and magnesium. Meanwhile, simulation can help to achieve the analysis and optimization of the casting process. Unfortunately, for squeeze casting, no appropriate model is presently available. In this study, a mathematical model has been developed to simulate the transport phenomena and solidification occurring in squeeze casting process. The model was based on the control-volume finite difference approach and on an enthalpy method. An experimental system was developed capable of characterizing local in-cavity pressures, determining casting/die interfacial heat transfer, and observing pressurized solidification phenomena taking place in squeeze casting of aluminum and magnesium alloys. It was found that, during squeeze casting process, the local cavity pressure distribution was inhomogeneous. Experimental correlations of heat transfer coefficient were integrated into the model with local cavity pressures estimated by a force balance approach. Hence, instead of using static boundary condition, a dynamic boundary condition was established in the model. In order to minimize the deviation of calculation, experimental correlations between solidification temperatures and applied pressures were also integrated into the


The invention relates to a brush hole type plug seedling planter which is characterized by comprising a bracket, wherein a seed plate is arranged on the bracket, the seed plate is provided with a plurality of planting holes at intervals, the seed plate penetrates through a seed containing box in a sliding manner, a guide sliding rod is penetrated on the seed containing box above the seed plate in a sliding manner and is arranged in parallel with the seed plate, and two ends of the guide sliding rod are arranged on the bracket. The brush hole type plug seedling planter has the advantages of simple structure, convenience for operation, low cost, high reliability, and no damage to seeds, can meet the demands of precision drilling of one hole one seed, is suitable for dry seeds or wet seeds of crops such as cotton and the like, and has wide application prospect in the modern facility agriculture.


This paper will discuss how many national and local governments are seriously considering road pricing as a policy measure to raise revenues and reduce congestion and emissions from road transport. There has been a number of countries, states and cities that have actually implemented such measures. This paper will consider the effectiveness of road pricing by reviewing road pricing studies worldwide. The paper will focus on the observed effects of schemes actually implemented. Road pricing can be effective, however much depends on the objectives and the design of the scheme. The paper determines that road pricing schemes, where there are alternative routes and where the charges are likely to vary considerably by time of day, will cause substantial changes in route choice and departure time choice. A substantial increase in public transport use will only occur if public transport will be an attractive alternative for many of the origin-destination combinations as seen in the London and Stockholm Congestion Charging systems .


ADVA's FSP 150 ProVMe combines an open platform for hosting of virtual network functions with multilayer business service demarcation in a single network element. We were engaged to verify ADVA's claims regarding integration of fiber-based business access solutions with open VNF-hosting platforms for Network Function Virtualization (NFV) of fiber-based business access solutions and open-source virtual infrastructure management (VIM) systems for Network Function Virtualization (NFV). ADVA claims that FSP 150 ProVMe can be configured with OpenFlow, OpenStack and Netconf/YANG-supporting Software Defined Networks (SDN) and NFV-centric networks, creating significant advantages over legacy proprietary solutions. In our series of tests we reviewed FSP 150 ProVMe's performance and functionality. EANTC confirmed that FSP 150 ProVMe can replace legacy customer premises routers with virtualized, integrated solutions, without sacrificing any of the functionality or performance.


The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is charged with providing to physicians in the United Kingdom the guidelines for treatment of various diseases, including ovarian cancer. Currently, these guidelines in ovarian cancer recommend the use of paclitaxel/platinum combination therapy or platinum therapy alone as first-line treatment for ovarian cancer. The guidelines also recommend the use of topotecan or pegylated liposomal doxorubicin for treatment of patients with recurrent ovarian cancer. To be useful to the practitioner, such guidelines should be updated, as necessary. It is when the guidelines do not reflect the most up-to-date information, and when they appear to be at odds with ongoing clinical trials, that questions can be raised about their applicability. The guidelines allow the physician to choose either single-agent platinum or paclitaxel in combination with platinum-based compounds (either cisplatin or carboplatin) as adjuvant therapy following surgery. For the vast majority of patients, the preferred platinum compound is carboplatin, and there is no reason why the guidelines should not specifically address this issue. The results of the 800-patient Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trial (protocol 158) of cisplatin plus paclitaxel vs. carboplatin plus paclitaxel, together with a similar trial from the AGO investigators in Europe, clearly demonstrate that carboplatin plus paclitaxel is the preferred regimen. In the GOG trial, the relative risk (RR) of progression for carboplatin plus paclitaxel compared with cisplatin plus paclitaxel was 0.88 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.75–1.03] and the RR of death was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.70–1.02). Median overall survival was 57.4 months for carboplatin plus paclitaxel-treated patients compared with 48.7 months for cisplatin plus paclitaxel. Coupled with the decrease in toxicity with the carboplatin regimen, there is little reason for the guidelines not to endorse carboplatin plus paclitaxel as the preferred regimen. The results of GOG158 also have direct relevance on the NICE recommendation that either single-agent carboplatin or carboplatin plus paclitaxel be used as adjuvant therapy because no clear-cut advantage, primarily on the basis of ICON3, has been established for the combination. However, questions have been raised regarding the ICON3 trial and its conclusion. It should be pointed out that there are at least seven large clinical trials currently in progress in which new adjuvant therapies are being, or have been, studied in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The control arm in all these studies is carboplatin plus paclitaxel. I am not aware of any randomized trial currently in progress in which single-agent carboplatin


The basic pathogenesis of primary glomerular disease were dampness,hot,blood stasis and deficine.The basic treatment principle were invigorating the liver and kidney,promoting diuresis to eliminate damp pathogen,activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis and clearing away hot and cooling blood.Integrated with modern medicine and pharmacology,it is pointed out that Chinese herbs could treat the disease by regulating immune function,improving hemodynamics,inducing diuresis to remove edema and inhibiting allergic reaction.


Sample pre-treatment is the key process of veterinary drug residue analysis.There are some newly developed techniques such as solid phase extraction,matrix solid-phase dispersion,solid-phase microrxtraction,supercrifieal fluid extraction,str bar sorptive extraction,membrane extraction,liquid-phase microrxtraction,pressurized liquid extraction,immnuoaffinity chromatography,and microwave-assistant solvent extraction to appear. These techniques can reduce error in sample treatment and make the sample preparation faster and simple. The principle,characteristic of these techniques and their application in the sample treatment of drug residue analysis were reviewed. The prospect of the sample pre-treatment was discussed.


The objectives of this research were to determine the sample size (number of plants) to estimate the average of the morphological and productive characters of black oat (Avena strigosa Schreb) and check the variability of the sample size among characters and evaluation times. A field experiment was conducted and in ten evaluation times (22, 28, 34, 42, 48, 55, 76, 83, 90 and 105 days after sowing) were randomly selected 52 plants, totaling 520 plants. In each plant, were measured morphological (plant height, number of leaves and number of tillers) and productive characters (fresh and dry matters). Measures of central tendency and variability were calculated, normality was checked and the sample size was calculated. In the culture of black oat, there is variability in the sample size among characters and evaluation times. To estimate average with the same precision, the sample size of productive characters is greater than morphological. The sample size at the intermediate stage of crop development is greater than the final (last evaluation times) and initial stages (first evaluation times). For the morphological and productive characters, 47 plants are enough to predict the average, with an estimation error maximum of 20% of estimated average, with a degree confidence of 95%.


The Sm-Nd and Lu-Hf isotope systems have been valuable tools in trying to understand the differentiation and evolution of bulk silicate Earth (BSE). Together these systems help constrain evolution of the crust and mantle and provide a basis for quantifying bulk Earth isotopic mass balance. Linking these systems is especially important for constraining the history of the early silicate Earth as they provide independent records in rocks with long and complex tectonothermal histories. Ultimately, the utility of these systems will depend on how well we know the Sm and Lu decay constants as well as the Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd isotopic composition of BSE. Recent work on the Lu decay constant by crosscalibration of U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotope systems on mineral isochrons in terrestrial rocks [1,2] have determined values (1.867 x 10y) 3-4% lower than the values in use for the last two decades and ~6% lower than the value determined from meteorites [3]. The terrestrial value, if true, would result in predominantly negative initial εHf values for the oldest terrestrial rocks and zircons, indicating they were derived from a source with a prior crustal history. In contrast, a faster decay constant would result in more positive εHf values and indicate derivation from a depleted mantle source. The chondritic LuHf parameters, while still a matter of debate [4], will have little effect on εHf values in the early Earth because plausible increases in the Hf/Hf BSE value are linked to higher Lu/Hf values, based on Lu-Hf systematics in chondrites. The Nd isotope record for the early Earth is broadly characterized by positive εNd values. Thus, if the terrestrial Lu decay constant is correct, there appears to be a fundamental conflict between the Nd and Hf isotopic records for the Earth's oldest rocks with Nd indicating a depleted mantle source and Hf a crustal source. In light of large amounts of new Hf data emerging for early Archean rocks and zircons, and the implications of that data for early crust on the Earth, this apparent conflict between the Nd and Hf isotopic records needs to be resolved.


View of the junction of Thorndon Quay and Mulgrave Street showing shops and houses in Thorndon Quay, St Paul's Cathedral in the centre and Thistle Inn on the left. Taken by an unknown photographer, ca 1867.
Arrangement: Idential with 1/2-020714.
Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s).


Based on the equivalence principle and the reciprocity theorem, the multiple scattering up to N th-order by N parallel 2-D targets arbitrarily located in a plane wave/Gaussian beam is considered. The first-order solution can easily be obtained by calculating the scattered field from isolated targets. However, due to the difficulty in formulating the couple scattered field, it is almost impossible to find an exact analytical solution for the higher order scattered field. In order to overcome this difficulty, the composite scattering field is studied by employing the technique based on the reciprocity theorem and the equivalence principle and a surface integral solution up to N th-order is obtained. To evaluate the i th order scattering field,only the i -1th order scattered field from scatterers and the equivalent surface electric and/or magnetic current density induced by the incident wave are required. Using the approach proposed in this paper, the bi- and mono-static scattering width of the incident field by parallel adjacent inhomogeneous plasma-coated conducting cylinders is calculated and the dependence of attenuation of the scattering width on the thickness of the coated layer, the electron number density, the collision frequency and the radar frequency is discussed in detail.


Palabras claves: mito y politica, peronismo, dramaturgia argentina, intertextualidad. Title and subtitle: Myth, politics and political uses of myth: Antigona Velez. Abstract: In this work, we analyze the relation of the text of Leopoldo Marechal with the intertext of Sophocles and the ancient Greek myth in general, as well as with other intertexts that appear in this play. Besides, this particular version of the myth is placed in the ideological coordinates and the political time in which it was created.


Kinetic studies on the reduction of dithizone by stannous chloride was carried out in acidic medium (HCl) at room temperature. The study was made in the presence of cationic surfactant, Cetyl Trimethyl ammonium Bromide (CTAB) and anionic surfactant, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS). The reduction of dithizone in the presence of CTAB is much faster than in the absence of surfactant in acidic medium. As the concentration of acid increases the rate of the reaction also increases. No significant change was observed with SDS. The significant rate enhancement of these reactions in presence of CTAB micelles is due to the hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions between the substrate, reductant and micelles. These effects are discussed on the basis of interactions of the above compounds and micelles of different charge type. Mechanism of the reaction has been proposed consistent with the experimental findings. The binding constant between the substrate and CTAB micelles in HCl medium has been calculated by analyzing the data using pseudo phase model and found to be 757 M .


Here we analyze the practical implications of using Bell states produced through optical down-conversion in a quantum-data-hiding protocol. We show that the uncertainty in the production of Bell states through spontaneous parametric down-conversion should be taken into account, because it will cause difficulties for the encoding procedure. A set of extended Bell states and a generalized Bell-state analyzer are proposed to describe and analyze the possible states of two photons distributed in two paths. Then we present a method to integrate the above uncertainty of Bell-state preparation into the data-hiding procedure, when we encode the secret with the set of extended Bell states. These modifications greatly simplify the hider's encoding operations, and thus pave the way for the implementation of quantum data hiding with present-day quantum optics.


Sett distribution and characterization of badgers in the northern slope of Gorbea Natural Park In this study we have carried out a search for badger (Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) setts in a study area of 112 km 2 . This territory is set in the Gorbea Natural Park (Biscay, Basque Country). Our aim is to make a selection analysis from the use and availabilty data of the different habitat variables. A low density of setts (0.142 setts/km 2 ), located mainly in exotic coniferous forests and, in a lower proportion, in beech forests and among shrubs was found. Of the 16 badger setts found, 14 were associated to rocky overhangs. The selection analysis shows a certain preference for the setts to be positioned at a medium altitude on slopes with a gradient greater than 15 % and oriented northwards. They are located at a distance of between 200-350 m from watercourses and more than 3 km from roads. The selection analysis reveals a dislike for lowest elevations, gentle slopes and areas that are less than 100 m from watercourses.


Automatically extracting the liver from CT or MR images due to its heterogeneous shape and proximity to other organs is a challenging task. In recent times, Deep Learning have shown good results in medical image segmentation. Among the developed networks, U-Net has recorded many successes in medical image segmentation. This research presents an algorithm to perform a detailed liver segmentation. In this algorithm, images are first classified with a classification network to be separated into the liver included and non-liver included classes, then the class containing the liver are analyzed with the segmentation network. The segmentation network is an extended version of the U-Net, which takes full advantage of ConvLSTM, densely convolutional layers, recurrent and residual blocks. In the construction and extraction path, common convolutional blocks have been replaced by R2Conv blocks, to train the network more abstractions from input features and prevent gradient vanishing. Also, the mechanism of densely convolutional layers has been used in the last convolutional layer of the construction path. This idea improves the power of network representation by allowing information propagation through the network and reusing features. To concatenate the feature maps in the corresponding contracting path and the up-sampled output, instead of a simple concatenation in skip connections, ConvLSTM was used. Finally, applying this algorithm to the data used in the trial CHAOS challenge for CT, has resulted in a Dice value of %97.5.


The international movement of workers and the inflow/outflow of immigrants are increasing, the term immigrant communities which country in the world is more familiar. Also, the country that accumulated a history of immigration over decades have been promoted while continuously changing the integration policies for immigrants. The immigration into home country such as the married immigrant women, etc. is constantly increasing in South Korea that had a homogeneous culture. While, it is continued to the overseas movement of young people looking for opportunities in foreign rather than domestic. In South Korea, the multi-cultural families are increasing together with the immigration of foreign workers, the marriage immigrants, etc. in accordance with the globalization of capital and labor, and the multi-cultural society is being formed in accordance with the influx of alien culture and various religious. In this paper, it explored the trends and the future outlook for the multi-cultural workforce in these dimensions. Also, in a multi-cultural society, it suggested the implications and the future assignments for the new changes in the education & training and the employment in order to improve the quality of life and to use as the production entities of multi-cultural workforce.


In this paper Liangcheng county was taken as the research areas,and use the multi-spectral image of ALOS on July 20th,2009 and Landsat5 TM image on July 09th,2009 to classify land use in this region. For image pre-processing and calculating the normalized difference vegetation index. NDVI,DEM and Slope were used as auxiliary data of classification. A combination of above content to establish the extraction rules of decision tree classification,to research land use classification into Liangcheng country. The analytical results showed that: Overall classification accuracy of 73. 67%,kapaa coefficient of 0. 696 4. In order to improve the classification accuracy to class the classification results are classified post-processing,and the bare land area is the largest 49. 71%,forest land,cultivated land,grassland area of 37. 77%,other types of land covers a total area of 12. 52%,getting land types area conform to the actual land use area of study region.


Layered/spinel heterostructured Li-rich material is prepared by controlling the conditions of a solvothermal method to obtain precursor and the subsequent high-temperature solid phase reaction, and then, 3 wt % LiF, 3 wt % Li2TiO3, and 3 wt % Li3PO4 are coated on the surface of the layered/spinel heterostructured Li-rich oxide by a wet chemical method. The influences of different lithium salt coating layers on the layered/spinel heterostructured material are investigated by transmission electron microscopy, galvanostatic charge/discharge tests, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It can be seen that after coating a Li salt layer, the initial charge–discharge efficiency, cycle, and rate performance are obviously improved. Especially, the sample coated with Li3PO4 shows an optimum result in improving the rate capability of layered/spinel heterostructured Li-rich material and effectively inhibiting the side reaction between the layered/spinel heterostructured Li-rich material and organic electrolyte ...


Updating a model framed as a real symmetric quadratic eigenvalue problem to match observed spectral information has been a powerful tool for practitioners in different discipline areas. It is often desirable in updating to match only the part of newly measured data without tampering with the other part of unmeasured and often unknown eigenstructure inhering in the original model. Such an updating, known as no spill-over, has been a critical yet challenging task in practice. Only recently, a mathematical theory on updating with no spill-over has begun to be understood. In applications, however, often there is the additional requisite of maintaining positive definiteness in the coefficient matrices. Toward that need, this paper advances one step forward by preserving both no spill-over and positive definiteness of the mass and the stiffness matrices. This investigation establishes some necessary and sufficient solvability conditions for this open problem. AMS subject classifications. 65F18, 15A22, 93B55


This editorial describes the indications and technical aspects of the simultaneous retrieval of thoracic and abdominal organs in Maastricht III donors as well as the preservation of such organs until their implantation.


power of prison guard unions. Because so much space is devoted to abuses within the prison walls, one feels a bit short shrifted when it comes to his discussions of both reintegration of offenders and future remedial possibilities. In terms of reintegration, Elsner superficially describes most of the known difficulties faced by ex-prisoners, but fails to scrutinize the larger social structural issues that both lead to so many young African American men going to prison in the first place and that also make it so difficult to stay out upon release. Although Elsner himself does not add much that is substantively new, he brings together the best corrections research and criminal justice statistics exceptionally well and uses interviews with corrections staff, administrators, and inmates to engage the reader. Elsner is not a criminologist; he is national correspondent for Reuters news agency. Therefore his book reads more like a narrative than a textbook (for which it could substitute). For this reason it is particularly well suited for undergraduate criminal justice or corrections classes as well as for the general public, or the criminologist who is not intimately familiar with corrections issues. In addition to his synthesis of the research, Elsner adds appropriate and useful interviews with inmates, correctional officers, and administrators to make his point that the treatment of inmates in most of the USA's prisons and jails is unnecessarily abusive. What he does not do is offer his own theory about why such institutions are so abusive or a concrete way out of the problem. This is where readers who are looking for truly new theoretical insight will be disappointed. However, to be fair, given that Elsner is not a criminologist, but rather a reporter, his purpose in writing the book is to call the public's attention to this problem – not necessarily to theorize about why we have it. Gates of injustice is really a compassionate plea for the type of prison reform that occurs when the public, politicians, and corrections professionals become informed and start seeing prisoners as people who will one day return to society and then choose to offer them the services in prison that they will require to live successful lives outside of prison. Christine Gardiner California State University, Fullerton, USA


ABSTRACT While getting a Web portal off the ground for the School of Medicine's new International Medical Institute (IMI), featuring freely available Spanish language materials, the authors became acutely aware that there was a dearth of information on such materials directed at the patient/consumer. In the interest of providing a more balanced picture and more resources, two native Spanish-speaking librarians embarked on a quest to locate high quality relevant resources that could be used by Spanish-speaking patients and their families to serve their health care information needs.


The emergence of "Tao" was the timing process into the origin,with the bulk of which was freeing out."Game" operates in the timing of "Tao",which means "Game" has cast off the shackles of all things,and entered free horizon.The occasionalism of "changing with time" in Taoist aesthetics was the apperception of Tao.


The aim of the study is the analysis of the possible use of ion-exchange demanganization of drinking water in the Oktyabrsky District of the Jewish Autonomous Region to reduce the concentration of manganese to a value below MPC. For the ion-exchange demanganization of drinking water, a domestically-produced KU-2-8 ES cation exchanger and an imported Purolit C120 E cation exchanger were used as adsorbents. We used four different methods, reproducing purification with drinking filters in domestic conditions. We have determined that among 33 analyzed water samples, 16 of them, which were combined into groups No. 2 and No. 4, exceeded the MPC value for gross manganese. This fact indicates that these waters require treatment and conditioning for drinking purposes. We have revealed the ranges of concentrations for indicators of the physiological relevance of water: the total hardness is 1.5–7 meq / dm3, the calcium content is 25–130 mg / dm3, and the magnesium content is 5–65 mg / dm3. This fact indicates that the concentrations of calcium and magnesium, as well as the total hardness in the water, are below the lower limits of their physiologically relevant concentrations in drinking water.


BACKGROUND: Do-it-yourself technologies such as 3D printing offer interesting opportunities for creating custom-made assistive devices for people with disabilities. Although these opportunities are increasingly acknowledged, it remains unclear how 3D printing technology should be implemented in assistive devices delivery processes. OBJECTIVE: In three separate action research projects carried out in Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands, workflows were designed and evaluated that incorporate 3D printing as a standard option for providing clients with suitable assistive devices. METHODS: In this paper we describe and compare the three workflows that were conceived simultaneously, yet independently from each other. RESULTS: Based on the evaluations of these workflows, and the experiences of the researchers who developed the workflows, we provide recommendations for implementing 3D printing as a common approach in assistive device delivery processes in practice. Most importantly, designing and manufacturing should be done by means of a client-centered co-creation process by interdisciplinary teams of clinicians, clients, and 3D printing experts. We provide several recommendations for facilitating and supporting collaborations within such teams. CONCLUSIONS: The three workflows presented in this paper are strikingly similar and therefore provide a convincing starting point for interdisciplinary design teams who wish to embark on 3D printing custom-made assistive devices.


TERATOMAS of the mouth in the newborn are commonly referred to as epignathi, although etymologically this term should be reserved for tumours arising from the jaw. The condition has seldom been recorded, and the surgical management is not established. A new case is reported and the treatment of this and the other cases in the literature is reviewed. T h e true teratoma is very rare. Berry, Keeling, and Hilton (1969) reviewed 91 teratomas seen in the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, from 1925 to 1969 and found 2 basicranial teratomas. During this time the child who is the subject of this report was only the second seen at this hospital with a large nasopharyngeal teratoma presenting at birth, and only 3 patients who had survived after surgery for this condition were found in the literature out but was discontinued when it was amarent that a satisfactory airway could be maintained by -fixing the tumour to the side of the face (Fig. I). The child was transferred to the Hospital for Sick Children late on I Oct., 1969. On arrivdthere were no abnormal findings apart from the local pathology, and no evidence of respiratory distress. Local examination showed a large mass protruding from the mouth. The maxilla was pushed forward with flattening of the bridge of the nose. The mandible was small and there was failure of fusion at the symphysis menti, the anterior ends of the alveolar margins curving back on themselves into the floor of the mouth. The large skin-covered tumour measured approximately 7 x 4 cm. and had a broad attachment to the roof of the mouth which extended backwards and into the nose. Around this base were four or five soft finger-like projections filling the left side of the oral cavity and pushing the


This paper describes the teaching method based on VR technology. It means that a manipulator leads the interface equipment to create teaching path during teaching and at the same time inputs instructions through keyboard. Subsequently, the software and hardware settings for virtual teaching are described especially for those which can be used to exchange data messages between human and machine. At last a concrete project is presented to carry out the virtual teaching for MOTOMAN industrial robot.


The invention discloses a kind of crosslinkable polyethylene blend composition, preparation method and products prepared therefrom.Specifically, the present invention relates to crosslinkable polyethylene composition, preparation method and products prepared therefrom that a kind of pair of metal has the adhesion strength improved.Crosslinkable polyethylene composition of the present invention includes: the polyvinyl resin of (a) 100 parts by weight;(b) polyolefin of unsaturated carboxylic acid, acid anhydrides and/or its ester derivant grafting of 0.5~12 parts by weight;(c) peroxide cross-linking agent of 0.2~6 parts by weight;(d) optionally, the auxiliary agent of 0.01~10 parts by weight.Crosslinkable polyethylene composition of the present invention has excellent adhesion strength to various metals (for example, aluminium, copper, steel etc.) and other polar materials after cross-linking.


When scientists first began studying human DNA well over a quarter of a century ago, they stumbled onto something strange. Though humans are endowed with 3 billion bases, or units, of DNA, only a fraction of them roughly 5% encode genes. As for the other 95%, it was anybody's guess what it was doing there. In 1972, after studying the DNA of a variety of species, Susumu Ohno, Ph.D., a scientist at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., put forward a possible explanation. Writing in the Brookhaven Symposium on Biology, he proposed that these millions of "silent DNA base sequences" represented genes that had died off like dinosaurs during the course of human evolution. "The earth is strewn with fossil remains of extinct species; is it a wonder that our genome too is filled with the remains of extinct genes?" wrote Ohno.


A predictable and preventable hurdle stops a majority of young women from entering the scientific and technical fields. This cuts down the individual's career possibilities and cuts in half the pool of potential U.S. engineers later available to industry. The waste of talent does not advance our country's competitive position. The typical American adolescent girl has acquired all the basic mathematical skills needed to pursue science and math, but, from adolescence on, she does not build the foundation of science and math courses that she would need later in life to work in engineering. Several questions are addressed: Why are some young women stopped cold in their mathematical tracks during adolescence? What is the influence of psychology, including discussion of the personality traits quantifiably shared by women in technical fields? and How should the school system adapt to keep their female charges learning math and science?


1. Modes of larval development play important roles in the ecology, biogeography, and evolution of marine benthic organisms. Studies of the larval ecology of fossil organisms can contribute greatly to our understanding of such roles by allowing us to race effects on evolutionary time scales.


The goal of this paper is to examine how our personal pursuits—hobbies, activities, interests, and sports—can serve as a metaphor to reflect who we are in our teaching practice. This paper explores the notion that our favorite personal pursuits serve as metaphorical mirrors to reveal deeper assumptions we hold about the skills, values, and actions we encourage, recognize, and reward in our classrooms. The paper has four principle objectives: first, to understand the importance of identifying the skills, values, and actions that form our basic assumptions of knowing in our personal pursuits and teaching practices; second, to appreciate the importance of reflection on experience as an epistemology for self-knowledge and for developing in our teaching practices; third, to understand the power of metaphors to enhance our ability to see previously unavailable and therefore unexamined assumptions; and fourth, to examine and challenge for validity, through dialogue, our assumptions to improve our teaching practices. In addition, in this article we offer a metaphorical mirror exercise designed to help facilitate application of personal pursuits through reflection and dialogue to one's teaching practice.


In this paper, we present a modular method of environment perception for a mobile robot by local mapping. This map building process is done in order to authorize the motions of a mobile robot in unknown indoor environment. To validate it, we have implemented a reactive navigation on a mobile robot which perceives its near environment with two range finders. The map building process is the cluster of several functions: sort of measures in subsets, model of these subsets, elaboration of a map, and updating it with previous measures. Furthermore this process must be quick and sufficiently robust to deliver in real time a safe map to the robot.


Wittgenstein's philosophy of language theories have provided language teaching with theoretical guidance and the shift from his early theories to the later thought forces us to rethink about English teaching activities for the English majors. His essential ideas,such as " language game", " meaning as use" and " form of life" should be applied to practice to achieve situational teaching,contextual teaching and culture teaching.


We summarize our results of transverse-field muon-spin-relaxation (TF-\ensuremath{\mu}SR) experiments on a variety of polycrystalline cuprate high-${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$ superconducting systems. In this paper we present the conditions under which the \ensuremath{\mu}SR depolarization rate at low temperatures ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{0}$\ensuremath{\propto}${\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{\mathit{a}\mathit{b}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$(0)\ensuremath{\propto}${\mathit{n}}_{\mathit{s}}$(0)/${\mathit{m}}_{\mathit{a}\mathit{b}}^{\mathrm{*}}$ is determined in a unique way by the doping state of ${\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}$ planes and the consequent critical temperature ${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{c}}$. Disorder and pinning effects due to various sorts and amounts of dopant atoms do not affect ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\sigma}}}_{0}$. From our results on ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}_{7\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$, ${\mathrm{YBa}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{4}$${\mathrm{O}}_{8}$, and ${\mathrm{Y}}_{2}$${\mathrm{Ba}}_{4}$${\mathrm{Cu}}_{7}$${\mathrm{O}}_{15\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\delta}}}$ (systems having both planes and chains) we conclude that a superconducting condensate is not only formed in the ${\mathrm{CuO}}_{2}$ planes but is induced additionally in the CuO chains. This chain condensate is rapidly suppressed by any disorder in the chains and depends strongly on the oxygen ordering.


Objective Smoking has been proven to increase systemic inflammation in previous studies using different biomarkers. The eosinophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (ELR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) are new indicators of systemic inflammation that are used as predictors of systemic inflammation, morbidity, and mortality associated with many diseases. We investigated the effects of smoking on these inflammatory indicators. Methods In total, 616 consecutive smoking healthy subjects and 387 age-matched nonsmoking healthy subjects were enrolled. White blood cell counts (neutrophils, lymphocytes, basophils, eosinophils, and monocytes) were determined by electrical impedance with an automatic blood cell counting device. The ELR, LMR, and NLR were calculated based on these cell counts. Smoking habits of participants were calculated as pack/year. Results The NLR and ELR were significantly higher and the LMR was significantly lower in smokers than nonsmokers. The pack-years were positively correlated with the NLR and ELR and negatively correlated with the LMR. Conclusion A high NLR and ELR and low LMR are associated with cigarette smoking and may be useful indicators of systemic inflammation activity, even in healthy smokers. Smokers with a high NLR and ELR and low LMR can easily be identified during routine blood analysis and might benefit from preventive treatment.


The EU economy is characterized by a high level of productive force, developed infrastructure, high industrial concentration and specialization level and highly developed agriculture in the whole. In the same time, this region is not uniform as regards the economic development level of its constituent parts and this is creating making problems. Countries in Europe can be divided in many ways and on different bases. In this paper will be described and discussed classification, i.e. clustering, of European countries based on indicators of achieved objectives of macroeconomic. Parameters regarding objectives of macroeconomics for European countries will be analyzed and processed by the means of multivariate statistical analysis with the goal to cluster countries with similar macroeconomic national policies. The clusters of countries based on objectives of macroeconomic will be discussed. These clusters will be analyzed to judge the role of economic flows in dynamics of integrative processes in Europe.