ABSTRACT Brazil's role in UN peacekeeping operations has been subject to increasing attention from academics and policy makers alike. While some authors praise Brazil's engagement in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as a case of innovative South-South cooperation, others accuse Brazil of using Haiti as a 'testing ground' for repressive anti-gang tactics that have subsequently been introduced at home. This article challenges these two dominant views on Brazil's role in Haiti. Based on a period of six months of fieldwork in Port-au-Prince and interviews with key Brazilian actors, the article draws a parallel between MINUSTAH's military raids in gang-ruled neighbourhoods coupled with police reform in Haiti, on one hand, and the Pacifying Police Units (Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora) plus the accompanying UPP Social in Rio de Janeiro, on the other hand. It is argued that Brazil's peacekeeping strategy, at home and abroad, is a mix of coercive and cooperative measures reminiscent of counterinsurgency (COIN) tactics already employed during the French colonial war in Algeria. Moreover, it is shown that policing techniques borrowed from the US are employed to ease the tension between carrots and sticks, notably so in the urban environment in which Brazilian peacekeeping is taking place.


IDSA guidelines for diarrhea include pathogen-specific management. Compared to non-molecular tests, multiplex gastrointestinal pathogen panels (GIPPs) may allow for more timely and cost-effective diagnoses and care. However, this has yet to be definitively demonstrated. Our objective was to determine the impact of positive GIPP results on clinical management, including antimicrobial use.

 We performed a retrospective study of patients with diarrhea and a positive GIPP result (xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel, Luminex) at an academic, tertiary-care medical center from January-December 2018. We excluded immunocompromised patients (solid organ or stem cell transplant, HIV with absolute CD4 count < 200 cells/µL, primary immunodeficiency, and immunosuppressive medications including biologics). We collected patient and clinical data via electronic medical record review. Our primary outcome of interest was change in antimicrobial usage.

 A total of 2,333 GIPP tests were performed of which 266 (11.4%) were positive. Of 193 patients who met inclusion criteria, 34% were tested in an emergency room, 38% in outpatient clinics, and 29% on inpatient wards. Of these, 55% were men, 65% were white, and the median age was 31 years (interquartile range, IQR 5-56). The median turnaround time from GIPP collection to result was 31 hours (IQR 24-53). The most frequently identified pathogens were norovirus, Salmonella, and Campylobacter (Figure 1). In 43% of patients, results led to one or more management changes including antibiotic discontinuation (8%) and antibiotic initiation (25%). Antibiotics were most often discontinued for norovirus (Figure 1A) and started for Campylobacter (Figure 1B). Other management changes occurred in 13% of patients, including avoidance of further diagnostic testing and isolation precaution change. The median turnaround time did not differ for GIPPs that were (30 hours; IQR 22-50) or were not (32 hours; IQR 25-56) associated with management change.

 Positive GIPP results can prompt changes in antimicrobial treatment in non-immunocompromised patients with diarrhea. Future efforts will evaluate the appropriateness of these management changes.

 Melissa B. Miller, PhD, Abbott Molecular: Grant/Research Support|Agena Biosciences: Board Member|ArcBio: Grant/Research Support|Cepheid: Board Member|Luminex Molecular Diagnostics: Board Member|QIAGEN: Board Member|QIAGEN: Grant/Research Support|Sherlock Biosciences: Advisor/Consultant|Talis Biomedical: Board Member|Thermo Fisher: Honoraria|Werfen: Board Member.


Having been a hippie dropout in the sixties, I'd gone back to school at the University of Maine thirteen years later to finish my BA in history. I was commuting an hour each way to campus. And I had a thirteen-year-old daughter who was too young to date but was nonetheless hanging out with the fourteen-yearold boy next door. He was six feet tall and his voice had changed and every time he called her I had a maternal anxiety attack. So I was looking for that holy grail of all students and teachers, a Tuesday-Thursday schedule, so I wouldn't be away from home so much. My advisor suggested that I check with Sandy Ives who taught oral history and folklore fieldwork on Tuesdays and Thursdays. "What's oral history," I asked. "Go talk with Sandy," I was told. So I wended my way into the bowels of South Stevens Hall to the basement office of folklore professor Edward D. "Sandy" Ives. And I fell in love. With Sandy-who is without question one of the most wonderful people I knowand, through his class, with oral history. The assignment for the class was to interview someone and write a biographical sketch based on the tapes. We not only learned the basics of oral history methodology but also discussed the biographer's craft and obligations to her subject and readers. I came from a background in journalism where getting the story is the primary obligation. Sandy stressed a kind of personal integrity manifested in (but by no means limited to) respect for our narrators and readers. Creating lasting relationships with his informants, acknowledging their authorship and


Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is endowed with multiple highly sophisticated immune evasion strategies. This includes the evasion from antibody mediated immune control by counteracting host Fc-gamma receptor (FcγR) mediated immune control mechanisms such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). We have previously shown that HCMV avoids FcγR activation by concomitant expression of the viral Fc-gamma binding glycoproteins (vFcγRs) gp34 and gp68. We now show that gp34 and gp68 bind IgG simultaneously at topologically different Fcγ sites and achieve efficient antagonization of host FcγR activation by distinct but synergizing mechanisms. While gp34 enhances immune complex internalization, gp68 acts as inhibitor of host FcγR binding to immune complexes. In doing so, gp68 induces Fcγ accessibility to gp34 and simultaneously limits host FcγR recognition. The synergy of gp34 and gp68 is compelled by the interfering influence of excessive non-immune IgG ligands and highlights conformational changes within the IgG globular chains critical for antibody effector function. Graphical Abstract NK cells elicit a powerful antibody-mediated antiviral response through ADCC. gp68 (ochroid) binds IgG in a 2:1 ratio reducing, but not abolishing accessibility of immune complexes to FcγRIII+ (dark blue) immune effector cells such as NK cells. gp34 (red, natively forming a dimer (Sprague et al., 2008)) effectively internalizes immune complexes making them unavailable to surveilling FcγRIII+ effector cells but cannot compete with FcγRIII for a similar binding region on IgG. Supported by functional evaluation, we propose a model in which g34 and gp68 work in cooperation to achieve efficient antagonization of antibody-mediated effector mechanisms.


The design of new system requires generally achieving different objectives. The choice of the right system and control architecture is crucial and they can be judiciously exploited. The proposed approach is dealing with the efficient use of a pneumatic cylinder controlled by two servovalves. The control objectives are independent position and stiffness tracking. A Bond graph approach gives, in a first step, a general methodology to check the accessibility of the specifications on energetic and dynamic criteria. Then a control algorithm issued from the flatness concept and the nonlinear control theory is developed. Simulation and experimental results illustrating the proposed principle are finally presented. Concerning the tracking performance, it is shown that the new strategy does not decrease tracking errors, or the static errors, or the standard deviation in term of position and velocity tracking. The performance of the stiffness control is finally illustrated in simulation.


Teratech Corporation is developing an electronic-sonar system for imaging and obstacle avoidance to be integrated into a low power, compact marine vehicles. This sonar system will switch between 2D imaging and 3D obstacle avoidance using a dual purpose planar array. The system incorporates a low power design to preserve the vehicle's ability to conduct extended range missions. The capability of the sonar is a result of the development of application specific integrated circuits based on Teratech's proprietary Charge Domain Processing (CDP) technology. The intended application is for reconnaissance in shallow and very-shallow waters.


In order to obtain accurately the equivalent mechanical parameter model of jointed rock mass, in this paper, the numerical test of particle flow code and Hoek-brown criterion are used to analyse the mechanical parameters of rock mass. First, based on rock sample indoor test, the PFC software is used to check rock block parameters and obtain rock block micromechanics parameters, and the joint elements are added for uniaxial compression and biaxial compression numerical experiments to obtain the mechanical strength parameters of rock mass. Then, these parameters obtained by numerical test are compared with those obtained by Hoek-Brown criterion to comprehensively determine mechanical parameters of rock mass. Finally, the equivalent mechanical parameter model of rock mass is established, and the microscopic parameters of it are obtained by checking the parameters. The research results have certain theoretical significance for joint rock mass modelling.


The issues that are presented in the article concern the broadly understood parameters of the operation of lighting fixtures in mixed systems and the improvement of the quality of electricity, considered in two aspects: as receivers of the energy consumed, determining and generating reactive power, influencing the asymmetry of currents and the production of higher harmonics, determined by the parameters of current and supply voltage (independent of the consumers connected at the connection point), which are influenced by the consumers that are connected at the connection point. After the tests, in order to improve the quality of energy, a proprietary program for the design of passive resonance filters was developed. A wide range of measurements of various types of lighting devices was carried out in single, complex, and mixed systems. Luminaires with discharge and LED sources were selected for the analysis of energy parameters. The tests were carried out in accordance with the IEEE 1459-2010 standard for single-phase circuits with distorted waveforms.


Abstract: Object detection is a challenging task in computer vision that can provide valuable information for visually impaired people. In this paper, we propose a deep learning-based model that detects objects for blind people using frameworks such as TensorFlow and OpenCV. Our system uses a pre-trained model built on YOLO v7 to detect and recognize objects in real-time from images or videos captured by a camera. Other versions of YOLO have also been taken into consideration. However, based on some recent comparisons, YOLOv7 is the fastest and most accurate official YOLO version. It achieves 2% higher accuracy than Cascade-Mask R-CNN models at dramatically increased inference speed (509% faster). The results are then converted to speech using text-to-speech technology and delivered to the user through headphones or a speaker. Our system is intended to be an IoT-based project that can recognize common objects and people. We evaluated our system on several datasets such as Common Object in Context (COCO)- a large-scale labelled dataset containing 1.5 million object images, to demonstrate its accuracy and efficiency. We believe that our system can offer a practical and affordable way for visually impaired people to access visual information and enhance their quality of life.


Background & aims Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is prevalent and may affect cognitive function. We studied associations of NAFLD with risk of cognitive impairment. Secondarily we evaluated liver biomarkers (alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), their ratio, and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase). Methods In a prospective cohort study, the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke, among 30,239 black and white adults aged ≥45,495 cases of incident cognitive impairment were identified over 3.4 years follow up. Cognitive impairment was identified as new impairment in two of three cognitive tests administered every two years during follow up; word list learning and recall, and verbal fluency. 587 controls were selected from an age, race, sex-stratified sample of the cohort. The fatty liver index was used to define baseline NAFLD. Liver biomarkers were measured using baseline blood samples. Results NAFLD at baseline was associated with a 2.01-fold increased risk of incident cognitive impairment in a minimally adjusted model (95% CI 1.42, 2.85). The association was largest in those aged 45–65 (p interaction by age = 0.03), with the risk 2.95-fold increased (95% CI 1.05, 8.34) adjusting for cardiovascular, stroke and metabolic risk factors. Liver biomarkers were not associated with cognitive impairment, except AST/ALT >2, with an adjusted OR 1.86 (95% CI 0.81, 4.25) that did not differ by age. Conclusions A laboratory-based estimate of NAFLD was associated with development of cognitive impairment, particularly in mid-life, with a tripling in risk. Given its high prevalence, NAFLD may be a major reversible determinant of cognitive health.


The treatment methods of chromium pollution were summarized in this review,including all substitution of chromium tangent with other tangent,partly substitution of chromium tangent with other tangent,recycling and circulation utilization of chromium,and the addition of high exhaustion chrome tanning auxiliary.


We give a pedagogical introduction into the field of (modified) teleparallel theories of gravity. Our presentation is fairly self-contained. In particular, we carefully explain the basic principles of metric-affine approaches to gravity.
This contribution is based on our talk "Teleparallel gravity, its modifications, and the local Lorentz invariance" at the 9th Mathematical Physics Meeting: School and Conference on Modern Mathematical Physics in Belgrade, September 2017.


Problems of propagation and absorption of the electron Bernstein waves (EBWs) in small aspect ratio tokamaks have been intensively discussed in recent years because the EBWs coupled with an externally launched electromagnetic beam seems to be the only opportunity for microwave plasma heating and current drive in these tokamaks in the electron cyclotron (EC) frequency range. The whole EBWH&CD problem is naturally divided into three major parts: coupling of incident electromagnetic waves (EMWs) to the EBWs near the upper hybrid resonance (UHR) surface, propagation and absorption of the EBWs in plasma interior and generation of noninductive current driven by the EBWs. Each of the problems has been studied in a number of papers and this talk is an overview of the most important theoretical and numerical results in these fields. Brief outline of the main results is as follows: Most attractive method of solution of the EMW-EBW coupling problem in a plasma slab has been given in [1] where the mode conversion process is associated with the singularity of the cold plasma wave equation in the UHR. The singularity results in linear interaction of cold plasma EMWs and hot plasma EBWs. This method is applicable to a variety of plasma slab configurations practically without limitations on the plasma inhomogeneity scale-length. The only drawback of the method is its one-dimensionality. An important example of a twodimensional theory of linear conversion is given in [2] where for moderate scale-length of plasma inhomogeneity an analytical formula for the conversion coefficient between ordinary and extraordinary EM modes near the surface of critical plasma density has been obtained. A serious possible problem for application of the EBWH&CD in spherical tori has been pointed out in paper [3] where feasibility of an absolute parametric decay instability accompanying the EBWH&CD is estimated. It is found in [3] that a threshold of parametric decay of the incident UH wave into reflected UH wave and lower hybrid wave may be small enough to prevent penetration of incident microwave beam deep into plasma even for moderate beam powers. In papers [4-7] various aspects of propagation and absorption of the EBWs are discussed. Among them there are a specific behaviour of the EBWs near the plasma mid-plane [4], a modification of the EBW propagation in the EC resonance vicinity in the presence of magnetic wells [5] and useful simplifications [6,7] of very formidable relativistic dispersion relation for the EBWs. Paper [8] describes a code intended for modelling EBWH on MAST tokamak. Current drive by the EBWs in spherical tori has been studied in papers [9-11] in the framework of the most popular O-X-B experimental scheme for NSTX plasma configurations. Feasibility and perspectives of the EBWH&CD in NSTX spherical tokamak have been discussed there.


Yield responses to applied gibberellic acid (GA3) were measured in four normal-height (gibberellin-sensitive) and three semi-dwarf (gibberellin-insensitive) wheats (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell.). Application was made to the head and leaves of the primary tiller separately at heading and jointly at heading and anthesis. The general effect of applied GA3was to decrease grain yield per head, mainly by decreasing the grain number. Increased yield was, however, obtained with two normal-height wheats due to increased grain number, when GA3was applied to the leaves alone at heading and jointly to the leaves and head at anthesis. There was a general decrease in the mean grain size of semi-dwarf wheats with all applications, while the response of the normal-height wheats ranged from little change to a significant increase. Thus distinct group differences between normal-height and semidwarf wheats in yield response were not apparent.


Removal of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution by raw olive pomace (ROP) which is a waste of industrial olive oil and olive pomace modified with ultrasounds and acid (MOP) has been investigated. It was found that the data for ROP and MOP were well fit to the Freundlich isotherm model (R equal to 0.864 and 0.834, respectively). As a result; it was determined that raw olive pomace can be used for the removal of methylene blue dye (KF = 10.08 mg/g(dm/mg)) and modified olive pomace had high adsorption capacity for MB (KF = 73.08 mg/g(dm/mg)).


The chemical composition of two essential oil types of Salvia sclarea L. during early and late flowering stages was analysed. A new chemotype with relatively high citral, geranyl acetate and geraniol content was observed in two small populations growing in northern Israel. Comparison of the new chemotype with a Russian type showed a great difference in composition and organoleptic character between the two oils. The highest amount of mono- and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons was detected in the Israeli type, at the early flowering stage. The relative quantity of most components of hybrid oils was intermediate between those of the parent plants.


Abstract: Many contemporary theoretical approaches to psychotherapy are referred to as neo-Freudian theories. However, many of these approaches are more accurately considered neo-Adlerian. A thorough comparison of Kleinian theory and Adlerian theory demonstrates that Kleinian theory may be better referred to as a neo-Adlerian approach. A historical context of each theory is provided to demonstrate that the principles of Kleinian theory are products of Adlerian theory. A summary is provided that compares Kleinian theory with the basic assumptions of Adlerian theory.


Data from the USDA Forest Service, forest inventory and analyses permanent field plot were used to track changes in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill .) communities in Texas and Louisiana between 1985 and 1995. The decline of longleaf forest has continued in Louisiana. Texas had much less longleaf type in 1985, but unlike Louisiana there has been a small increase in the area occupied by longleaf over the last 10 years. This was due to an increase of longleaf forest on public and forest industry owned lands. The greatest losses in the region over the last decade were from private lands. Longleaf pine communities once covered extensive areas of the West Gulf Coastal Plain. Texas and Louisiana were thought to have had the densest stands over the most extensive areas. Longleaf stands often failed to replace themselves following cutting and acreage declined rapidly. By 1935 much of the virgin longleaf was gone and losses continued through the following decades. Intensive exploitation of longleaf forests, with little regard for regeneration, began in Virginia and North Carolina during colonial times. Mohr (1888) very early concluded that the prospect of main- taining the longleaf forest seemed hopeless. Longleaf stands often failed to replace themselves following cutting as the more competitive loblolly pine (Pinus tuedu L.) and hardwoods captured the sites. Feral hogs contributed to the decline by feeding heavily on longleaf pine seed and seedlings (Schwarz 1907). Longleaf pine forests originally covered extensive areas of the Gulf Coastal Plain from Texas to Alabama (Wahlenberg 1946). In the West Gulf Coastal Plain the longleaf type occurred in 19 parishes in Louisiana and 15 counties in adjacent southeast Texas (Little 1971). Mohr (1896) reported longleaf acreage of 1,625,OOO north of the Red River and 2,668,OOO south of the river in Louisiana and 2,890,OOO in east Texas. The West Gulf Coastal Plain region was the last of the longleaf areas to be intensively logged (Landers et al. 1995). From an estimated pre-logged acreage of 7,183,OOO it was reduced to I ,642,400 (Eldredge 1937; 1938; Cruikshank & Eldredge 1939) by 1935.


The invention relates to a sports whistle for measuring a distance, the use of a sports whistle in football games, in rugby matches and / or handball games, in particular in the amateur and / or distance and / or distance measuring device and a method for manufacturing a sports whistle. The sports whistle (1) comprises a body with a mouthpiece (2) which is disposed at one end of the body, a laser measuring unit (3) is arranged at another end of the body, and wherein the laser measuring unit (3) for detecting a distance is arranged between at least two measuring points. Thus, a possibility is provided to prevent disputes in ball sports games and a means to provide the referee with the clear decisions can be effected.


In the secondary reconstrttction of diff~cuIt cases of unilateral cleft lip. additional support may bc required for the abnormal collapsed Mar cartihtgc on the cleft side. This has usually been achieved by silastic or sept:,i cari]lage lent pole struts to increase tip projection (Millard, 1964)and onluy grafts of the sume materials placed over the lateral crus of the abnormal cartilage to mask the underlying kink in the contour (Cosman and Crikelair. 1965: Musgrave, 1961; Schwenzer, 1973). In addition, cartilage, boom or silastic Ires been used to build tip the depressed nostril sill which overlies an under-developed piriform aperture and alveolar process of the maxilla (Kozin, 1971). For the past four years we have used a 'C' shaped graft carved from costal cartilage to project the tip on the cleft side, to improve the contour of the flattened ahtr and to elevate the depressed nostril sill in patients with severe deformities following cleft lip and palate.


This paper documents the results of experimental simulations designed to compare the performance of multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basis function (RBF) based sensor signal change detection systems. The two systems are simultaneously executed in parallel on the same input signals. Both systems share an identical implementation with the exception of the activation function used in the hidden layers of the artificial neural networks. Previous experiments have employed only Multilayer Perceptrons with sigmoidal activation functions. The results of these experiments quantitatively show the advantages and disadvantages of Radial Basis neural activation for both the function prediction and function correlation neural networks tested.


In this paper, we employ a molecular theory to study HCl gas-adsorption/desorption properties of PNIPAM brushes. Here, PNIPAM-HCl hydrogen bonds and theirs explicit coupling to the PNIPAM conformations are considered. We find that hydrogen bonding becomes a key element in determining HCl gas-adsorption/desorption behaviors of PNIPAM brushes. Our results indicate that, when at moderate grafting densities, the association of PNIPAM-HCl hydrogen bonds can result in a dependence of PNIPAM brush-height on HCl concentration, and the morphology of PNIPAM brushes may have a significant effect on the HCl gas-adsorption/desorption properties.


We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the left projectivity and biprojectivity of Banach algebras defined by locally trivial continuous fields of Banach algebras. We identify projective $C^*$-algebras $\A$ defined by locally trivial continuous fields $\mathcal{U} = \{\Omega,(A_t)_{t \in \Omega},\Theta\}$ such that each $C^*$-algebra $ A_{t}$ has a strictly positive element. For a commutative $C^*$-algebra $\D$ contained in ${\cal B}(H)$, where $H$ is a separable Hilbert space, we show that the condition of left projectivity of $\D$ is equivalent to the existence of a strictly positive element in $\D$ and so to the spectrum of $\D$ being a Lindel$\ddot{\rm o}$f space.


Objective: The objective was to evaluate the assessment of nutritional status by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients not receiving dialysis. Patients and Methods: A total of 143 patients in stage 4-5 without receiving dialysis were enrolled and classified into well-nourished and malnourished groups by subjective global assessment. Biochemical and anthropometric measurements were performed. Simultaneously, body composition including lean body mass (LBM) and fat mass (FM) was evaluated by DEXA. Results: Compared with well-nourished patients, malnourished patients showed lower pre-albumin (ALB) levels, but higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. There was no significant difference in serum ALB between both groups. For either men or women, body weight, body mass index, and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) were lower in the malnourished group. For the men, triceps skin-fold thickness (TSFT), mid-arm circumference (AC), mid-arm muscle circumference (AMC), LBM-DEXA and FM-DEXA were significantly lower in the malnourished patients. For the women, TSFT, mid-AC and FM-DEXA, but mid-AMC and LBM-DEX, were not significantly lower in the malnourished patients. There was a significant correlation between LBM-DEXA and mid-AMC. A significant correlation also existed between FM-DEXA and TSFT. Multiple logistic regressions showed that low percentage of FM, high serum CRP level and low GFR were independent risk factors for malnutrition. Conclusions: Low percentage of FM, high serum CRP and low GFR are independent risk factors for malnutrition. Estimation of LBM and FM by dual X-ray absorptiometry is in consistent with traditional anthropometric measurements. It's noteworthy that DEXA, a reliable and easy-to-perform assessment method, can sensitively detect early malnutrition and may be useful in monitoring nutrition changes in CKD patients.


Background: The most important therapeutic step in the general retardation of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression is the control of blood pressure (BP). Objective: We examined the impact of age on antihypertensive medication usage in a population of multi-ethnic Asians with stable CKD. Methods: We prospectively recruited 613 stable CKD outpatients. Patients were classified by age >65 and <65 years. Different classes of antihypertensives were analyzed by age categories using Chi-square test. Results: There were 613 patients (male 55.1%, Chinese 74.7%, Indian 6.4%, Malay 11.4%, Others 7.5%) with mean age 57.8 ± 14.5 years (191 age >65). Patients with a history of diabetes were 35.7%, and diagnosed hypertension was 69%. Mean systolic BP was 139 ± 21 mmHg, diastolic BP 74 ± 11 mmHg, serum creatinine 166 ± 115 &mgr;mol/L, and GFR 53 ± 32 mL/min/1.73 m2. Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system blockers were the most commonly prescribed antihypertensives (391/1136). More patients with diabetes were on an ACE-I or ARB (69.9% vs. 60.4%; p = 0.0225); and more patients diagnosed with diabetic CKD were on an ACE-I or ARB (142/204, 69.6% vs. 249/409, 60.9%, p = 0.0401). More patients aged >65 years were on 3 or more antihypertensives (46.1% vs. 22.5%). They were more likely to be on a diuretic (45.6% vs. 29.4%, p < 0.001), beta-blocker (19.6% vs. 14.2%, p < 0.001), dihydropyridine-calcium channel blockers (67.5% vs. 37.2%, p < 0.001), and alpha-blockers (6.8% vs. 1.4%, p < 0.001). Usage of ACE-I or ARB and non-dihydropyridine-calcium channel blocker were not different by age groups. Conclusions: Elderly Asian CKD patients use more antihypertensives.


A new QSAR approach based on a Quantitative Neighbourhoods of Atoms description of molecular structures and self-consistent regression was developed. Its prediction accuracy, advantages and limitations were analysed from three sets of published experimental data on acute toxicity: 56 phenylsulfonyl carboxylates for Vibrio fischeri; 65 aromatic compounds for the alga Chlorella vulgaris and 200 phenols for the ciliated protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis. According to our findings, the proposed approach provides a good correlation and prediction accuracy (r 2 = 0.908 and Q 2 = 0.866) for the set of 56 phenylsulfonyl carboxylates and the 65 aromatic compounds tested on C. vulgaris (r 2 = 0.885, Q 2 = 0.849). For the 200 phenols tested on T. pyriformis, the prediction accuracy was r 2 = 0.685 and Q 2 = 0.651. This is at least as good as the best results obtained with the other QSAR methods originally used on the same data sets. †Presented at the 12th International Workshop on Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships in Environmental Toxicology (QSAR2006), 8–12 May 2006, Lyon, France.


The separation of rare earth metals (REM) from a neodymium magnet has been widely studied in the last year. We have shown that the waste of computer hard disk contains 25.41 % neodymium, 64.09 % iron, and <<1 % boron. To further isolate rare-earth metals, the magnet was acidically dissolved in open and closed systems. In both methods of dissolution was used concentrated nitric acid. The difference between these methods are the conditions of dissolution of magnet. The magnet was dissolved in a microwave sample preparation system at different temperatures and pressures in a closed system. In the open system, the acid dissolution of the magnet conducted at room temperature. 0.2 g of the neodymium magnet sample was taken under two conditions, and the dissolution process in the closed system lasted 1 hour, and in the open system-30-40 minutes. The open system is a non-laborious, simple and cheap method of dissolving the magnet by comparing both systems. Therefore, an open sample preparation system is used for further work. To remove the iron in the magnet, oxalic acid was used and precipitated as oxalates under both conditions. According to the result of the ICP-MS method, it is shown that the neodymium and iron contents in the precipitate are 24.66 % and 0.06 %, respectively. This shows that the iron has almost completely passed to the filtrate. Thus, it is possible to remove the iron from the sample.


FUNCTION of the Y chromosome in mice was established with the demonAstration of its male-determining capacity ( WELSHONS and RUSSELL 1959). Since the inheritance of male antigen normally parallels that of the Y chromosome, an additional function, not necessarily independent of sexual differentiation, is suggested by the observation that females of some strains of mice are capable of rejecting male isografts (EICHWALD and SILMSER 1955). Many data concerning the rejection of male tissue by isologous females have been accumulated. For example, it was shown that females could be rendered tolerant to the male antigen (MARIANI, MARTINEZ, SMITH and GOOD 1958; BILLINGHAM and SILVERS 1958), and tolerant females were then used experimentally to demonstrate a common antigen in males of all different inbred strains tested (BILLINGHAM and SILVERS 1960). Because females of some strains fail to react against males that have the antigen, one can assume a differential capacity of females to react against males. Studies utilizing F, hybrids of "reactive" and "nonreactive" strains ( ZAALBERG 1959) and backcross experiments (KLEIN and LINDER 1961 ) resulted in identical conclusions. Some basic points concerning the genetic determination as well as the transmission of the male antigen still require clarification, We became interested in the following quesiton: Are the antigen determiners actually linked to the Y chromosome as the majority of authors are inclined to believe, or, as originally proposed by Fox (1958) and STERN (1960), is antigen production a consequence of the single X condition (in XY males) as opposed to the two-X condition (in XX females) ? In connection with the latter alternative, one can imagine that a genetic site for antigen production is carried on an autosome, present in both male and female, but inhibited by the two-X genotype. A second question concerns the constitution of the antigen: Is it identical in different mouse strains?


Over the past decade, the demand for digital
information has increased dramatically with the rising use of the
Internet and various types of multimedia data - text, audio,
graphics, video, and voice. As a consequence, the technologies that
connect and transport data have become critically important.
Available interconnect technologies are broadly organized into two
categories: electrical and optical. Although many digital systems
use electrical interconnects, optical interconnects are becoming an
attractive alternative as electrical connection has become
increasingly difficult in terms of cost and performance. However,
the transition from electrical to optical interconnects across
multiple markets could still be hampered by its higher cost
relative to interconnects in the mid-term. Thus, this work seeks to
shed light on the following question: "What additional
characteristics are useful to evaluate the attractiveness of
optical interconnects in emerging markets?" This thesis seeks to
explore and answer this question in three parts. The first part of
the thesis attempts to gauge the opportunities and barriers to
optical interconnect adoption in emerging markets through an
analysis of first phase interviews with professionals working in
the datacom, automobile, consumer hand-held device industries.
Initial review of the response set shows that of the five initial
emerging markets for optical interconnect, datacom, specifically
high-performance computing (HPC), has the greatest potential for
increased optical interconnect adoption in the near future. To
further explore the environment for optical interconnects in the
HPC, a second, more detailed questionnaire was distributed to a
limited number of interviewees. In response to this interview, some
respondents noted that several metrics other than cost and
performance, particularly power consumption, as being "very
important" when deciding which technology to adopt. The second part
of the thesis is primarily concerned with investigating further the
influence that power and performance concerns have on optical
interconnect adoption in HPC data centers. Specifically, this part
of the thesis seeks to explore whether power concerns in data
centers could lead to increased adoption of optical interconnects.
To that end, a cost model of an HPC data center has been developed
to identify the possible economic impacts that the adoption of
optical interconnect technologies would have in a power-driven
scenario. The third part of this thesis presents a set of policy
recommendations based on the results from the data center cost
model.


In this contribution to the forum on Practice-Based Research (PBR), the author reflects on PBR "moves" throughout her career, identifying three moments when she could feel her practice change, in very personal and embodied ways. She reflects on the "personal turns" and the unanticipated methods and information that emerged.


Environmental sustainability is one of the most important variables for sustainable development. Yet, what is environmental sustainability? How can we measure it? And what method can we use to measure it? How to solve these problems is the key link to change from the concept of sustainable development to its practice. Based on the basie policies for environmental sustainability and the basie conditions for its limits, the measuring method for environmental sustainability is a new try to solve this problem.


The article reports a case of the application of the thee-dimensional models of an injury on a corpse and of a blunt trace-forming object with which it was presumably inflicted for the identification purposes. The models were constructed based on a series of the digital photographs processed with the use of the specialized software program. The work with the application of the three dimensional models made it possible to avoid disfiguring of the corpse, to determine the stages and conditions of infliction of the injury in the graphic editor software environment, and to arrive at the conclusion about the parts of the traumatic agent with which the injury was caused.


It highlights information such as arguments in defense of the maintenance and improvement of the public support structure for health services, especially due to emergency of the new coronavirus pandemic and the urgency of actions to contain the spread of Covid 19. It analyzes the situation from its actors, the events and the relationships present in it, arguing that scientific production and communication are crucial factors in understanding the disease and its effects, in the search for possible, if not effective, at least risk-reducing solutions. It points to the imminence of a total dismantling of public structures, after the pandemic, with the resumption of the privatization process, suspended due to the urgent needs for its maintenance and use. In the current context of perverse capitalism, coupled with an intimidating policy of scientific knowledge, critical thinking, social movements, and collective actions, strengthening public information, education and health structures is crucial for overcoming the crisis.


In this research, the aim is to determine causes of the failure in a school that was placed second to last as per TEOG average scores despite being located in Burdur city center. This research is in descriptive research model, and a mixed study designed according to both quantitative and qualitative research approach. Study group of the research consists of 11 school teachers and 171 students of the school in question. In the research, quantitative data was collected from students through the causes of failure determination survey, and qualitative data was obtained from teachers through open-ended questions. Quantitative data was examined with descriptive analyses and chi-square test, qualitative data was examined though content analysis. As a result of analyses, it is clearly understood that causes of students' failure show so much diversity. It has been observed that causes such as inability to ask questions to teachers on issues students do not understand, quickly forgetting what they learn and inability to take good notes show significant difference as per upper and lower success group, and hat students pull such situations to forefront as reasons for failure. As a result of the content analysis, it is understood that teachers explain causes of failure under themes of family, student and school.


—Existing clustering ensemble methods often directly integrate multiple weak base results to obtain a consensus one which can improve the clustering performance. However, since the base results are weak and the clustering ensemble can improve the performance, why not refine the weak base results via the clustering ensemble, and then boost the clustering ensemble with the refined base results? To fulfill this idea, in this paper, we propose a novel clustering ensemble method with an adaptive multiplex. We first use the multiplex to represent the multiple weak base results. Then, we learn an updated representation by diffusing the representation on the multiplex with a manifold ranking model. Since the multiplex characterizes the structure information of all base results, the learned representation can ensemble such structure information during diffusion. Next, the multiplex is refined by such representation, which is a process of refining base results via ensemble. We iteratively learn the representation (i.e., do ensemble) and update the multiplex (i.e., do refinement), which can make the ensemble and refinement be boosted by each other. At last, the final consensus result is obtained from the refined multiplex. The extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed framework. The codes of this paper are released in https://Doctor-Nobody.github.io/codes/CEAM.zip.


Historically, many police headquarters were built in precincts to serve the needs of communities around the centre of a city, town, even village. These properties have become threatened with obsolescence as their precincts or 'beats' have altered through demographic change and urban development. Threats can be identified in the forms of functional and image obsolescence1 and are most evident in postcolonial territories where the notion of image obsolescence is particularly contentious. In the light of the ICOMOS 2001-2002 report on Shared Colonial Heritage, this paper presents examples of some heritage properties under threat in Asia. An argument is put forward for the preservation of such properties to retain their historical contribution to the cultural identity of their communities. While some may be preserved as museums and become tourist attractions, others may continue to meet the need for security in historic neighbourhoods that have increasing levels of criminal activity targeting tourists. Ongoin...


The 3D human posture detection is an important technology in the field of health surveillance,human-computer interaction and motion capture,etc.Traditional detection methods such as motion capture and identification based on computer vision have some defects of the complicated recognition algorithm,huge calculation time and expensive equipments.This paper presents a 3D human posture detection system based on MIMU,which consists of three-axis accelerometer,three-axis gyroscope,three-axis magnetic sensor,and the parameters of human posture are detected by MIMU in real-time.Body posture coordinates are calculated in quaternion.Human model is drawn by OpenGL and it can simulate the 3D human posture in real-time.


The aim of this study was to determine some quality properties of fat-reduced ice creams produced using some fat substitutes: 10% fat ice cream was considered as the control group; 6% Simplesse®100 or 2% Maltrin040 was added as fat substitute to 7.5%, 5% and 2.5% fat ice cream. The organoleptic (firmness, melting resistance, structure, gumminess, melting in mouth, feeling in mouth, icy structure, smoothness, flavor, cream taste, milk powder taste, foreign taste, vanilla taste and general acceptability), physical (viscosity, overrun, melting rate and first drip time) and chemical (dry matter, fat, fat in dry matter, protein, pH, titration acidity and ash) properties of ice cream samples were investigated on the 1st, 7th, 15th, 30th, 60th and 90th days of the storage. According to results of the research, the viscosity of 7.5% fat ice cream Maltrin040 or Simplesse®100 added was higher than the control group. Moreover, decrease in fat adversely affected organoleptic properties of the ice cream. As a result of the findings, 7.5% fat ice creams 6% Simplesse®100 added can be recommended for ice creams to be produced by reducing fat ratio. In the near future, the production of ice-creams with fat substitutes at an industrial level will be of great importance for low-energy and vegetable fat dieters.


The effect of wind speed on low‐frequency ambient noise has been measured in an experiment carried out in the South Fiji Basin. This site provides an ideal location for studying sea surface noise, owing to the low density of shipping in the basin. The data were recorded using a towed line array over an 11‐day period in the winter storm season. The local wind speed was measured at the site, with an observed variation between 0–35 kn. The noise measurements in the frequency band 15–250 Hz were strongly correlated with the variations in the local wind speed. The relationship between wind speed v and noise level N is expressed by N = B + 20 n log(v). The constants B and n have been determined by fitting this model to the data at frequencies from 15–250 Hz. At 250 Hz, the values are 22 dB and 1.5 for B and n, respectively. This value for n is higher than the results of similar experiments carried out in the northern hemisphere oceans where the influence of shipping is greater.


In the letter 12-14 Verse 23 of Qoran, it describes the process of creation of humanfrom nuthfah, turned into alaqah, mudhghah, Izham and khalqan akhar (other beings).Further, It has described in other verses like (QS:25:54), (QS:86:6-7), (QS:18:37),(QS:32:7), (QS: 37:11), (QS:15:26). After learning carefully the various verses above, wecan conclude that the body / physical is one of element that exists within the human.However, these elements have many weaknesses. The purpose of this study was toexamine the three elements that exist in human beings, then we would like to observecarefully about status, role and function of one of the most important elements in humman,which causes humans can be regarded as a perfect creature. The methods of thisobservation is examines various verses in the Qoran related to human, then we would liketo force the reader to trust and believe in the truth. Results of this study prove that humanis composed of three elements, namely the bodies (physical materiality), spirit and soul.The study concluded that soul that distinguishes human from other creatures. The soul thatcan make a human become perfect beings. Soul has been main actors and controllers all ofhuman life in the world.


This study aims to analyze the influence of corporate governance index quality and its subindex towards the financial distress in a company, using Altman Z-Score to measure the financial distress of companies. The empirical approach followed in the study involvedconstructing a comprehensive measure of corporate governance for 48 non-financial companies listedon the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the years 2015-2017.This study used a secondary data from the official website of Indonesian Stock Exchange (www.idx.co.id) and the sample in this study using the purposive sampling techniques. The result of this study shows all the index quality are having a positive relationship towards financial distress, board of directors, board of commissioners, shareholder, and ownership index quality are significantly affecting financial distress while the remuneration, audit, and behaviour index quality are insignificantly affecting the financial distress.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Index Quality, Financial Condition, Financial Distress


The article suggests a new view at the effect of digital revolution in economy. And in this connection here are defined the functions of such concepts as the sociocentrism, individocentrism, personacentrism (personality-centeredness). Also the article justifies the prospects of new pedagogical strategy.


A kind of composite?insulation formwork superposed by glass fiber reinforced cement single formwork and thermal insulation materials is introduced,as the permanent building formwork,which is poured with concrete to form a sandwich-type composite shearing wall.This kind of shearing walls not only have the function of self-insulation,but also make the insulation layer avoid direct contact with the open flame so as to reduce the risk of fire.According to the combinations of different insulation materials,different types of concrete and different materials interface connection ways,the shearing bond performance and failure modes of the interfaces between composite layers in different conditions are studied,the impact on the shearing behavior of the specimens,which is resulted by the different insulation materials,different types of concrete and different interface connections,is contrasted and discussed,and then some recommendations are presented.


1. Two vinyl ethynyl carbinols, 3-methylpent-4-en-1-yn-3-ol (compound II) an intermediate in commercial synthesis of Vitamin A, and its homologue, 3-ethyl-pent-4-en-1-yn-3-ol (compound III) were both found to be effective orally and parenterally as hypnotics in experimental animals. 2. Compounds II and III possess anticonvulsant activity against pentylene-tetrazole seizure in mice, with protective indices of 2.2 and 1.1, respectively. 3. Daily intramuscular injections of as high as 212 mgm. of compound II per kgm. body weight for fourteen days were well tolerated by rats. 4. Daily oral administration of as much as 265 mgm. of compound II for 28 days was tolerated by dogs without deleterious effects on liver and kidney functions or blood pictures.


In Chapters 4 and 5 of his 1998 book From Metaphysics to Ethics: A Defence of Conceptual Analysis, Frank Jackson propounds and defends a form of moral realism that he calls both "moral functionalism" and "analytical descriptivism". Here we argue that this metaethical position, which we will henceforth call "analytical moral functionalism", is untenable. We do so by applying a generic thought-experimental deconstructive recipe that we have used before against other views that posit moral properties and identify them with certain natural properties, a recipe that we believe is applicable to virtually any metaphysically naturalist version of moral realism. The recipe deploys a scenario we call Moral Twin Earth. 1


Combined experimental and numerical study of spatial evolution of unidirectional random water-waves is performed. Numerous realizations of wave fields all having identical initial narrow-banded Gaussian power spectrum but random phases for each harmonic were generated by a wavemaker in a 300 m long wave tank. The measured in the vicinity of the wavemaker temporal variation of the surface elevation was used to determine the initial conditions in the numerical simulations. The cubic Schrodinger equation (CSE) and the modified nonlinear Schrodinger (MNLS) set of equations due to Dysthe were used as the theoretical models. The detailed comparison of the evolution of the wave field along the tank in individual realizations, measured by wave gauges at different distances from the wavemaker and computed using the two theoretical models, was performed. Numerous statistical wave parameters were calculated based on the whole ensemble of realizations. Comparison of the spatial variation of the computed statistical c...


Development of demulsification techniques for crude oil emulsion is one of the most important research topics in petroleum industry. The recent advances in the demulsification of crude oil emulsion are reviewed,with emphasis on chemical,physical,and microbial demulsification. The advantages of such demulsifacation methods are summarized and the important research directions in the application of these methods in commercial scale are discussed.


The article presents the precast large panel construction technology used in Poland from the second half of the 20th century to contemporary times. In addition, it discusses the origins of precast large panel construction, its share among the various building construction methods over a two-decade period, as well as its nature, with consideration given to different large panel systems. It also contains a detailed percentage share of individual precast large panel technologies employed in building construction in the 1970-1985 period, as well as the typical defects occurring in such structures along with a description of the underlying reasons. Further on, the article describes four methods used to, among others, assess the wear of precast large panel buildings depending on the use and maintenance quality. A table and diagram show the differences in technical wear over the 125 years of expected life of a precast large panel building. Zużycie techniczne i wybrane wady w budynkach wielkopłytowych Słowa kluczowe: budownictwo, obiekt budowlany, systemy wielkopłytowe, wady budynków, zużycie


For over ten years, Argonne National Laboratory has supported the US Department of Energy`s Flue Gas Cleanup Program objective by developing new or improved environmental controls for industries that use fossil fuels. The goal is to help US industries compete in an environmentally sound manner by providing cost-effective control technologies. As new issues arise and emission limits are gradually reduced, there are continuing needs for engineering improvements and research into new concepts that could lead to improved processes. Efforts continue to emphasize combined NO{sub x}/SO{sub 2} control.


We are constructing Mid-IR Test Observation System (MIRTOS) as an IR imaging system to evaluate and monitor the performance of the Japanese National Large Telescope, SUBARU. The system combines two cameras. One of the camera is for near-IR (NIR) and the other for mid-IR (MIR). They capture images simultaneously at the rate fast enough to freeze the seeing. Simultaneous NIR images are useful not only for evaluation of the image quality of the telescope but for two-wavelength shift-and-add that preserves diffraction-limited angular resolution of MIR images for a long integration. The system also has telescope emissivity mapping mode that images the telescope entrance pupil in MIR. For the MIR camera, a Santa Barbara Research Center (SBRC) Si:As IBS array with 320 by 240 pixels is used with pixel scale of 0.067 arcsec/pixel that takes enough samples to make diffraction limited images at 8 microns. For the NIR camera, an SBRC InSb array with 256 by 256 is used. Pixel scale is 0.028 arcsec/pixel. It is optimized to detect position of the brightest speckle in images at the wavelength of 2.2 microns with wide enough field of view to image a reference point source. In the emissivity mapping mode, a temperature controlled black body is inserted just outside the dewar window as an absolute calibration source for the telescope emissivity. In this paper we will present detailed design of MIRTOS.


Four nucleosides(uracil,inosine,uridine,xanthine) in Cervus nippon Temminck and C.elaphus Linnaeus were determined and compared by HPLC for the first time.Separations were carried out in Nucleosil C18 column(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm) by using mobile phase acetonitrile-water at detection wavelength 260 nm and column temperature 30 ℃.Gradient elution proceeded with the flow rate of 1 mL/min.The results showed that there were no significant difference in content of the four nucleosides between C.nippon and C.elaphus(P0.05).It is suggested that the method show simple,accurate,reproducible and appropriate,which can be used for quality control of cauda cervi.


Cabbage is one of the vegetable commodities that can grow and produce well
in Indonesia and is included in the export commodity. A large amount of cabbage
exports in Indonesia has attracted interest in several regions in Indonesia such as
Karangreja Subdistrict, Purbalingga Regency to cultivate cabbages because they are
considered to have ease in terms of marketing. The objective of this study was to
determine: 1) pattern of cabbage distribution access; 2) socioeconomic problems that
occur and the solutions offered in cabbage farming; and 3) structure, conduct, and
performance of cabbage marketing in Karangreja Sub-district of Purbalingga
Regency. The method used in this study is a survey. Site selection is done purposively.
Respondents were taken using a purposive sampling method determined using Slovin
formula with the results of 42 farmers and 20 cabbage traders. The study was
conducted for four months, from April to July 2019.
It can be concluded that: 1) There are seven patterns of cabbage distribution
access in Karangreja Sub-District; 2) Socio-economic problems that exist in cabbage
farming, namely the problem of narrow land, minimal capital, limited technology,
less optimal management, low human resources and simple post-harvest; and 3)
Structural analysis of the market share formed by the largest collectors, namely
25.21% and the largest retail market share at 30.88%, while the CR4 concentration
ratio of the collectors and retailers forms the market is the oligopsony market, while
the Herfindahl Index on collectors and retailers show a strong oligopsony market. In
the conducted analysis of the activities carried out namely sales and purchasing
activities, pricing strategies, cooperation between marketing institutions, and
marketing functions, meanwhile in the analysis of performance, the largest amount of
trading margins is found in the 7th pattern with a total margin of Rp.6,300 / Kg and
the trading system pattern that has the smallest margin is the 2nd commerce pattern
with a total margin of Rp.2,619 / Kg, the portion received by the farmer (farmer
share) from cabbage commerce in Karangreja Sub-District which is the largest that
is in the trading 4 patterns of 58, 36%, and the smallest one is in the trading system 1
pattern of 45.03%.


Purpose: To establish the determinants of interest rate spread among commercial banks in Kenya. Methodology: The study utilized a descriptive survey research design. Findings: The results indicated that the commercial banking sector has witnessed a gradual rise in the Interest rate spread. Results also showed that the mean of market structure has been fluctuating with year (2010) being the lowest with mean of 4 and year (2012) being the highest with mean 12. Results also showed that there was no regulation from the year (2005) to the year (2009) but it was later adopted whereas regulations shoot steadily to mean of 1.0 in the year (2009) and remained in the same level the rest of the years. The regression results indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between market structure, credit risk and interest spread. The regression results also indicated that there is a positive but insignificant relationship between access to information and interest spread. Further, the results indicated that there is a negative and significant relationship between regulation and interest spread. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study is important to the management of Commercial banks as it will provide an insight on the factors influencing interest rate spread among commercial banks in Kenya. The results of this study will provide information to policy International Journal of Finance and Accounting ISSN 2518-4113 (Online) Vol.2, Issue No. 8, pp 29 42, 2017 www.iprjb.org 30 makers and other stakeholders in the financial sector (especially the banks) to come up with strategies that help in dealing with the high interest rate spread experience in the banking sector and thus improve on the financial performance of the organisations. It may be used as a tool for persuading commercial banks to reduce their interest rates spread and hence increase their volume of business, which of course would compensate the loss in the interest rate spread. The study will also be invaluable to the government and CBK. This is because the monetary policy framework of Central Bank of Kenya and its implementation will be guided by a need to ensure, among others: realistic interest rate spreads that encourage financial deepening and a safe, sound, efficient and competitive banking system through discreet risk management. These findings therefore might influence the effectiveness of economic policies. The research results will also be important to scholars and researchers as it will add to the existing pool of knowledge.


The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the existential crises of Indian migrant workers, both domestic and overseas, to the centre stage of public discourse like never before. Millions of Indian migrant workers are stranded in foreign countries after losing their jobs; they face an uncertain future and even starvation. The migrant workers' plight is fast turning into a major humanitarian crisis for which the current union government was not prepared. This paper seeks to analyse the various facets of the migrant workers' crisis, the importance of remittances in the Indian economy, the rising cases of coronavirus infection among overseas Indians and the challenges of repatriation, mitigation efforts by the Indian government and implications of the migrant workers' crisis for the Indian economy, society, politics and foreign policy. Finally, an attempt has been made to recommend policy measures to protect the interests of Indian migrant workers.


National problems that never ended, ranging from the economic slump, a leadership crisis, a moral crisis, the environmental crisis to the threat of terrorism, requires all the elements and components of the nation to stand and take part as a problem solver. No exception with a wide range of potential schools that are still hidden treasures tub. This is one of the major challenges of our times, how big the potential raises pesantren became a real contribution to society and the nation.


Results from the stem and leaf cali induction of Cerasus humilis showed that the modified MS supplemented with(1.0 mg/L) NAA +(0.5 mg/L) IBA +(0.2 mg/L)BA is optimal for leaf callus induction while the modified MS with(0.5 mg/L) 2,4-D +(0.3 mg/L) NAA +(0.15 mg/L) BA optimal for the stem callus formation.As far as plantlet regeneration,the medium as 1/3 MS +(2.0 mg/L) BA +(0.01 mg/L) IBA performed the best.


This clinical case presents an elite level 23-year-old female tennis athlete with a high-grade partial thickness tear of the supraspinatus with associated pain, dysfunction, and deficits in strength and range of motion (ROM) of her trunk and lower extremities. The purpose was to determine the efficacy of using a regional interdependence approach in the treatment of a partial supraspinatus tear with associated kinetic chain deficits in an elite level athlete. Following 24 physical therapy sessions, pain, mobility (ROM), strength, and function improved in the dominant shoulder in addition to further symmetry of the trunk and lower extremity due to a regional interdependence rehabilitation approach and returned to elite level of play. As a result of this case, it is important for clinicians to consider a comprehensive, global approach to patient rehabilitation following injury.


Insulated rail joints (IRJs) are a primary component of the rail track safety and signalling systems. Rails are supported by two fishplates which are fastened by bolts and nuts and, with the support of sleepers and track ballast, form an integrated assembly. IRJ failure can result from progressive defects, the propagation of which is influenced by residual stresses in the rail. Residual stresses change significantly during service due to the complex deformation and damage effects associated with wheel rolling, sliding and impact. IRJ failures can occur when metal flows over the insulated rail gap (typically 6-8 mm width), breaks the electrically isolated section of track and results in malfunction of the track signalling system. In this investigation, residual stress measurements were obtained from rail-ends which had undergone controlled amounts of surface plastic deformation using a full scale wheel-on-track simulation test rig. Results were compared with those obtained from similar investigations performed on rail ends associated with ex-service IRJs. Residual stresses were measured by neutron diffraction at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Measurements with constant gauge volume 3x3x3 mm3 were carried in the central vertical plane on 5mm thick sliced rail samples cut by an electric discharge machine (EDM). Stress evolution at the rail ends was found to exhibit characteristics similar to those of the ex-service rails, with a compressive zone of 5mm deep that is counterbalanced by a tension zone beneath, extending to a depth of around 15mm. However, in contrast to the ex-service rails, the type of stress distribution in the test-rig deformed samples was apparently different due to the localization of load under the particular test conditions. In the latter, in contrast with clear stress evolution, there was no obvious evolution of d0. Since d0 reflects rather long-term accumulation of crystal lattice damage and microstructural changes due to service load, the loading history of the test rig samples has not reached the same level as the ex-service rails. It is concluded that the wheel-on-rail simulation rig provides the potential capability for testing the wheel-rail rolling contact conditions in rails, rail ends and insulated rail joints.


The realisation of lexical stress among Malaysian speakers of English is likely to be different from other varieties of English. In spite of this, there is a preference for a native pronunciation model in the teaching of English in Malaysia. In relation to this issue, this paper focuses on lexical stress among a group of Teaching of English as a Second Language teacher trainees. The objectives of this paper are to assess the overall level of awareness of lexical stress among them, to examine their production of lexical stress, and to determine the link between their level of awareness and production. The method used to elicit data for the first objective was a Lexical Stress Awareness Test (LSAT), completed by 104 teacher trainees. Data for the second objective were obtained by recording the trainees reading sentences containing test words. The findings from the LSAT indicate that most of the trainees have an intermediate level of awareness of English lexical stress. They were generally unable to describe the characteristics of a stressed syllable. In addition, the findings from the acoustic analysis of the recordings suggest that they did not have a systematic pattern of stressing syllables with the main correlate of stress being vowel lengthening. In contrast, most of them chose 'higher pitch' as the characteristic of a stressed syllable. Hence, there is an inconsistency between their awareness and production of lexical stress in English. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the teaching of pronunciation in the classroom and the effect of lexical stress placement on intelligibility. Our general conclusion is that more attention needs to be given in teacher education to how lexical stress is used in English, and also to the characteristics of stress in the Malaysian variety of English.


A 2830 g neonate was delivered by caesarean section at 38 weeks. There was no history of trauma during pregnancy or any use of forceps or vacuum during delivery. The neonate presented an isolated left-parietal skull depression (SD) measuring 4×5 cm. Neurological examination was normal (normal fontanels and sutures, head circumference at 50th centile). Radiography revealed a large depression of parietal skull (figure 1 …


Flood emergency management has been a major issue in the last few decades as it can disrupt human lives as well as the economy and property damage. A flood occurs when the overflow of water that melts relatively dry land. In the hydrology discipline, floods are a field of study and they are the most common and widespread unpredictable weather occurrence of natural sources. Floods can look quite different because anywhere from a few inches of water to several feet is affected by flooding. They can also come on suddenly, or slowly increase. Therefore frequent identification of flood impact levels is very important. This study aims to create a multimedia big data platform with a deep learning approach for flood emergency management. It uses multimedia data as they are freely available as social media data (Twitter and Facebook), satellite image data, crowdsourcing, and sensor network data for mining purposes. As this research based on deep learning and image processing cutting edge technologies, authorities can identify impact level using satellite images and provide a real-time warning for the people or people can use this for self-estimation of flood risk level when they want in their day to day life like detecting passable or low-risk roads in flooding time. The deep neural network plays a major role in feature extraction and data augmentation helps to increase the number of images in the dataset. This study provides a comparative study between VGG16, VGG19, Densetnet169, and MobileNet deep learning models and evaluates the performance by using training and testing data. Dataset compromises of over 1500 data and the conclusions drawn from work prove that the MobileNet model worked with 86% accuracy with high performance. In the latter part of the paper, it will describe future recommendations.


The main objective of this study is to examine the practice of thinking skills in student-centered learning lessons taught by Islamic primary school teachers. Along with globalization, thinking skills are important and should be emphasized on young people so that they are vulnerable to the concept of thinking on a high level. Hence, this study is conducted to meet these goals. This study uses qualitative design and case studies. The data collection process uses in-depth interview methods by using semi-structured interviews. The findings were also supported by document analysis. The findings showed that the student-centered learning process in the teaching of the Faith emphasized the element of thinking skills. The emphasis of the thinking element is based on the argument guide from the Quran and the argument of kholqillah. In summary, the practice of thinking skills applied by Islamic Education teachers in learningcentered learning of the Faith students raises students' level of thinking.


Wolbachia is an obligate intracellular ct-pro teobacterium associated with arthropods and nematodes (O'Neill et al. 1997; Bazzochi et al. 2000). Wolbachia is transovarially transmitted by females to their progeny, and infections often are associated with reproductive anomalies in their host (O'Neill et al. 1997). In parasitoids, Wol bachia can cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (Stouthamer et al. 1999), thelytoky (parthenogen esis) (Stouthamer et al. 1990), and alter aspects of fecundity (Grenier et al. 2002). In Florida, colonies of the thelytokous endo parasitoid Diaphorencyrtus aligarhensis (Hymen optera: Encyrtidae) (Shafee, Alam and Agarwal) and the arrhenotokous ectoparasitoid Tamarixia radiata Waterston (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were imported from Taiwan and Vietnam, respec tively, and released in a classical biological control program against the Asian citrus psyllid, Diapho rina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) (Hoy & Nguyen 1998, 2000; Hoy et al. 1999; Skelley & Hoy 2004). Worldwide, these parasitoids have a significant impact on reducing populations of D. citri, which is the most economically important citrus pest in regions where it vectors citrus greening disease (Chien 1995; Halbert & Manju nath 2004). Jeyaprakash and Hoy (2000) detected Wolba chia in the imported population of D. aligarhen sis. We hypothesized that Wolbachia causes thely toky in D. aligarhensis, and this was tested by at tempting to eliminate Wolbachia with antibiotics following the previous work of Stouthamer et al. (1990). This research is important because D. aligarhensis populations are low in Florida, and this could be due to its low reproductive rate (Skelley & Hoy 2004) which may be influenced by Wolbachia. A laboratory colony of D. aligarhensis was maintained as follows. Ten small citrus trees (20 50 cm tall) grown in 15.2-cm diameter pots were pruned each week, fertilized with Peter's 20-20-20 (N-P-K) water-soluble fertilizer (United Indus tries, St. Louis, MO), and placed in wooden framed mesh cages (0.76 m x 0.91 m x 1.11 m) in a greenhouse at 20-32?C with a 16L:8D photope riod. Adult female psyllids oviposited on the new growth (flush) produced by the trees. Adult D. ali garhensis were aspirated and released into the cages when immature D. citri reached the first or second instar. After emergence, adult D. aligar hensis were fed pure clover honey smeared on small strips of Kimwipes (Kimberly-Clark, Roswell, GA) and used to initiate the next gener ation. During a 4-year rearing period, all D. ali garhensis observed in this colony were females (J. Meyer, personal observation). A preliminary toxicity test indicated that 10 mg/mL tetracycline + honey did not negatively in fluence longevity in adult female D. aligarhensis, so this dosage was adopted for this experiment. For 3 consecutive generations, 50 newly-emerged female D. aligarhensis were administered pure clover honey + 10 mg/mL tetracycline hydro chloride (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) (Stouthamer et al. 1990) for 24 h at 70-75% RH, 24-25?C with a 16L:8D photoperiod. Treated par asitoids were released into a separate cage and maintained as described above. After the third generation, approximately 60 adult male D. ali garhensis were observed and collected. Female and male D. aligarhensis were placed on a glass slide and submerged in 95% EtOH or Euparal mounting medium (BioQuip, Rancho Domingez, CA) for photography with the Auto Montage Pro system with software ver. 5.02 (Syn optics, Frederick, MD). Morphological differences were observed between female and male D. ali garhensis (Fig. 1). The male abdomen was small and all black, but the female abdomen was larger and was yellowish and black (Fig. 1A, D). Both the geniculate antennae (Fig. IB, E) and genitalia (Fig. 1C, F) of female and male D. aligarhensis were structurally distinguishable. The antennae of male D. aligarhensis in an arrhenotokous pop ulation from Asia (Shafee et al. 1975) were simi lar to those observed in male D. aligarhensis pro duced here. Molecular analyses were used to determine if Wolbachia was eliminated from male D. aligarhen sis. DNA was isolated from each of 3 individual fe male and male D. aligarhensis with PUREGENE reagents (Gentra Systems, Minneapolis, MN) ac cording to the manufacturer's protocol. A 25-uL high-fidelity polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted according to Hoy et al. (2001) to detect the wsp gene of Wolbachia with the primers wsp 81F (5'-TGGTCCAATAAGTGATGAAGAAAC-3') and wsp 691R (5'-AAAAATTAAACGCTACTCCA 3') (Braig et al. 1998). For a DNA template control, the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene (COI) was amplified with the primers CI-J1632


The biodegradation mechanism of fluoroquinolones (FQs) during composting is the key information to accurately assess and effectively control the environmental risk caused by FQs in sewage sludge. This study investigated the biodegradation of two FQs (norfloxacin [NOR] and ofloxacin [OFL]) using a series of sludge composts over a 56-d incubation period. Sludge composts were collected at the mesophilic, thermophilic, and curing phases from the matrix of a pilot-scale sewage sludge composter; spiked with NOR and OFL (each 5 mg/kg); and incubated at 35 (mesophilic), 55 (thermophilic), and 40°C (curing). Compost samples were evaluated by determining FQ concentration, intermediate metabolites, enzymatic activity (laccase, manganese peroxidase, and lignin peroxidase), and bacterial and fungal communities. Results showed that NOR was likely to be predominantly biodegraded via the acetylation route and the routes for OFL in each phase varied, while the main metabolites from both NOR and OFL retained the FQ core structure related to the antibacterial activity. Only manganese peroxidase had a significant correlation with FQ residue during the mesophilic phase. Proteobacteria and Ascomycota were the dominant bacterial and fungal phyla in the incubated sludge compost, respectively, and Pseudomonas was the most involved bacterial genus for FQ biodegradation in the sludge composts with Exophiala, Dissoconium, Talaromyces as the fungal genera.


PKC and PKA phosphorylation inhibit TREK‐1 channels downstream of Gs protein‐coupled receptor activation in vitro. However, the role of phosphorylation of TREK‐1 in neuropathic pain is unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether altered TREK‐1 channel function by PKA and PKC modulators contributes to antiallodynia in neuropathic rats. Furthermore, we investigated if the in vitro described sites for PKC and PKA phosphorylation (S300 and S333, respectively) participate in the modulation of TREK‐1 in naïve and neuropathic rats. L5/L6 spinal nerve ligation (SNL) induced tactile allodynia. Intrathecal injection of BL‐1249 (TREK‐1 activator) reversed nerve injury‐induced tactile allodynia, whereas spadin (TREK‐1 blocker) produced tactile allodynia in naïve rats and reversed the antiallodynic effect induced by BL‐1249 in neuropathic rats. Intrathecal administration of rottlerin or Rp‐cAMPs (PKC and PKA inhibitors, respectively) enhanced the antiallodynia observed with BL‐1249 in neuropathic rats. In contrast, pretreatment with PdBu or forskolin (PKC and PKA activators, respectively) reduced the BL‐1249‐induced antiallodynia. Intrathecal injection of two high‐activity TREK‐1 recombinant channels, using a in vivo transfection method with lipofectamine, with mutations at PKC/PKA phosphosites (S300A and S333A) reversed tactile allodynia in neuropathic rats, with no effect in naïve rats. In contrast, transfection of two low‐activity TREK‐1 recombinant channels with phosphomimetic mutations at those sites (S300D and S333D) produced tactile allodynia in naïve rats and interfered with antiallodynic effects of rottlerin/BL‐1249 or Rp‐cAMPs/BL‐1249. Data suggest that TREK‐1 channel activity can be dynamically tuned in vivo by PKC/PKA to provoke allodynia and modulate its antiallodynic role in neuropathic pain.


accent-variation in common and proper nouns, 179a; ft Achaeans and Homer, 80 f. Achilles' armour, 1 ff. the original legend, 16 the three gifts, ift, ff. Adam's The Vitality of Platonism and Other Essays, . noticed, 224 f. Adonis-song (Theocr. Idyll, xv.), translation of, 36 f. Aelius Stilo and Varro, 60a, b Aeschylus, Ag. 83-103, note on, 108 f. Sept., last scene of, 141 ff. Bursian's view, 1416 peculiar diction, 142a, b possible explanation, 143ft, f. Scholl's theory, 141a African Latinity, 2666 Ajax Furens (Soph. Ai. 143-147), 105 ff. Akessamenus, ancestor-hero of the Paeonians, 250a, 251a Alcaic stanza, the Horatian, 199a, ft Wickham on the, 199a Allardyce's Arnold's New Latin Course (parts i. and ii.), noticed, 32a, b Allen (L. H.), on Horace, Carrn. I. xx. 10, 2060 Ammianus Marcellinus, clausulae in, 167 f. speeches in, 1686 Andrew—Lees' Excavation of the Roman Forts at Castleshaw, noticed, 1006, f. Antonine Itinerary, the, 21ft Apollo Maleatas, 249a, 251ft Apollonius Rhodius i. 668 sqq., note on, 83a, ft Archaeological Explorer and his Methods in the Seventeenth Century, an, 109 ff. Aristophanes' Acharnians, performed at Cardiff, 346 Frogs, performed at the University of Leeds, 33 fAristotle, Poetics, Arabian version of, 87a, 88a ' esoteric ' style of, 906, f. MSS. of. 88 f. Arnold (E. V.), notice of Corcoran's Studies in the History of Classical Teaching, 163 f. • arsis ' and ' thesis,' 200a, b Ashby (T.), notice of Tomassetti's La Campagna Romana, antica, medioevale e moderna (vols. i. and ii.), 20 ff. Asia Minor, eastern trade-route in, 76 f. relations with the Aegean in bronze age, 77«, b assibilated ti in ' Beneventan ' script, 16& in Spanish MSS., 166, f. Athens and Sparta, 248 f. the walls of, 247ft, £ Diodorus on, 247ft (and n.) B., notice of Ferguson's Hellenistic Athens, 162 f. Baedeker's Greece and the walls of Athens, 2481! (n.) Baldwin's (Miss) The BelUim Civile of Petronius, noticed, 64 ff. Balleine (C. F.), notice of Hardy's Six Roman Laws, 17 ff. Barth on Statius' Silvae, 257a (n.) Barton (A. T.). the late, 69a, ft Basaett (S. E.), on the exposure of Oedipus, 217a, 6 Bathe and his Janua Linguarum, 163 f. Bayfield (M. A.), obituary notice of Arthur Woolfar Verrall, 172 f. Baynes (N. H.1, on the worship of the horse in Persia, 50 6 Bell (H. I.), notice of works on Graeco-Roman Egypt. 158 ff. Beneventan script, the, 233 6 Blase (Dr.) on the Latin subjunctive and Sonnenschein's recent book, 35a, ft Blinkenberg's The Thunder-weapon in Religion and Folklore, noticed, 196 f. BOOKS RECEIVED, 38 ft, 71 f., 102 ff., 140, 175 f., 207 f., 239 f., 271 f. ' Brevis brevians,' law of, 248a, 6 Brillant's Les Secretaires Athenians, noticed, 2336, f. their mode of succession, 2346 Brock's (Miss) Studies in Fronto and his Age, noticed, 265 f. Bucolici Graeci, notes on the, 241 ff. Burnam's Commentaire anonyme sur Prudence d'apres le Manuscrit 413 de Valenciennes, noticed, 67a, ft Burrows (R. M.), Greek elegiac greeting (' Manchester to Athens '), 139a, 6 Burnet's Plato's Phaedo, noticed, 160 ff. Butler (H. E.), notice of some new works on Propertius, 168 ff. Petroniana, 221 f.


We have performed a study of two associated upward lightning flashes that involved two adjoining tall grounded objects with a time difference of about 45.8 ms. These two associated lightning are found to have opposite polarity, the first one being negative and the second one, positive. Their occurrence appears to be direct evidence that one upward lightning flash can trigger other upward lightning of opposite polarity from nearby tall grounded objects.


ABSTRACT Forest thinning, using cut-to-length and whole-tree harvesting systems with subsequent underburning were assessed for their influence on stand structure, health, and fire resilience in uneven-aged Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi Grev. & Balf). Stand attributes, derived from measuring trees ≥ 10.2 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), were collected from permanent plots. Trees were divided into three size classes that generally corresponded to dominant/codominant, intermediate, and suppressed crown classes. Comparisons of post- to pre-burning mortality revealed significant thinning and fire main treatment effects as well as significant interaction between these two treatments in the two larger size classes. Mortality increased by 250% in the intermediate crown class within the burned stand portion of the whole-tree treatment, whereas among dominant/codominant trees mortality rose by 160% in the burned cut-to-length treatment combination. Pre- to post-burning shifts in live crown, expressed as a percentage of total tree height, were significantly influenced by both thinning and fire main treatments in the two larger size classes, while the interaction of these treatments was also significant among the largest trees. Within both of these size classes, decreases in live crown percentage were greatest in the burned portion of the unthinned treatment, where intermediate crown class trees lost over 20% of their crowns, while reductions in dominant/codominant trees averaged nearly 25%. The second highest losses for both size classes occurred within the burned cut-to-length treatment. In the smallest trees, mortality rose sharply and live crown decreased substantially after burning in both thinning treatments and in the unthinned control. Within the two larger size classes, preburn live crown size was negatively correlated with changes in crown size subsequent to underburning while DBH was negatively correlated with postburning changes in mortality, but only in intermediate crown class trees. These results present land managers with outcomes of differing management practices presently being evaluated for their potential to enhance forest health and reduce wildfire risk in the Sierra Nevada and similar dry forest regions.


Heat loss through piping is a costly problem in steam-oriented thermal recovery operations. To determine the heat loss from above- and below-ground insulated steam piping, a program has been written for the TI-59 programmable calculator. Given the pipe parameters, steam temperature, and wind velocity, this program calculates the heat loss in w/m. Assuming pressure drop through the line is negligible, steam quality may be calculated at any point along the pipe. The newton-Raphson iterative technique is used to solve 2 simultaneous equations for the skin temperature. Once convergence is complete, skin temperature is used to calculate the heat loss. The program will allow the engineer to determine heat lost from the steam generator to the wellhead.


Introduction The relevance of studying of self-regulation styles of young people who face various difficulties at a stage of vocational training has increased in the situation of a pandemic. Objectives The purpose of our work is to describe the functional states of students at different stages of education, characterized by different degrees of satisfaction with educational and professional activities and different levels of self-regulation, to substantiate programs of psychological support for students during the formation of their professional identity. Methods The sample consisted of 153 students enrolled in 1 and 3 courses in Moscow higher educational institutions. They were asked to fill out a package of methods aimed at diagnosing self-regulation styles (Morosanova, 2020), the severity of states of reduced performance (Leonova, Velichkovskaya, 2002). Results Indicators of reduced working capacity among third-year students are statistically significantly higher (p≤0.05) and are in a critical range of severity than among freshmen. Despite a similar level of satisfaction, third-year students demonstrate a whole palette of states of reduced performance, characterized by the experience of monotony of activity with high tension associated with the requirements of the educational situation. The absence of significant differences in the diagnostic indicators of self-regulation obtained in these two groups does not give grounds to assert that the general self-regulation of senior students is higher than that of first-year students. Conclusions The data obtained confirm the "painfulness" of the crisis of the "middle" of education and necessarily raise the question of developing a targeted program for mastering the means of conscious self-regulation by students. Disclosure No significant relationships.


This article considers how three competing subscription video on-demand services (SVODs) – Jewzy, ChaiFlicks, and IZZY – attract American Jewish subscribers via content selection, platform design, and marketing rhetoric. Although these three SVODs offer similar catalogs, they nonetheless foreground distinct elements of Jewish life, history, and practice. This process of commercial framing, the paper argues, creates unique brand identities for the three services that align with three different approaches to the construction of American Jewish identity. The article goes on to show that these SVODs offer an opportunity to revisit core assumptions embedded within Jewish screen studies and minority screen representation studies more broadly. Minority identity on screen is most often studied through the interpretation of key instances of minority representation. These SVODs instead emphasize the dynamics of interpellation, as they hail viewers by appealing to limited, pre-constructed concepts of cultural identity while offering entire platforms worth of representations.


Readings of Jesus' speech in Mark 12:1-11 often focus on its situation within the temple controversy episodes (Mark 11:15-12:37) and understand it at the level of the depicted rhetoric of Jesus in conflict with Jewish leaders. This article argues that, although it does function at one level as polemic, a significant aspect of the speech's persuasiveness lies in the effect created at a level outside the literary construct. The speech, disconnected to an extent from the narrative argument about authority, addresses crucial Markan topics-the rejection and reinstatement of a beloved son-which cannot be known to the narrative figures. As Mark's readers/hearers perceive this incongruity, they could reasonably be expected to hear Jesus' voice projected past the temple scene to their time and place.


Optical absorption of AlN thin films shows a ''knee'' structure at 6.2 eV and an intense band at 7.8 eV. The structure at 6.2 eV is interpreted as excitonic absorptions due to transitions across the direct energy gap of about 6.2 eV. Dichroism observed at the absorption edge indicates that the transition Γ1v–Γ1c (E∥c) is of lower energy than the transition Γ6v–Γ1c (E⊥c). Strong dichroism in the 7–8‐eV region is thought to cause the birefringence of AlN.


Recent advances in Smart City infrastructures and the Internet of Things represent a significant opportunity to improve people's quality of life. Corresponding research often focuses on Cloud-centric network architectures where sensor devices transfer collected data to the Cloud for processing. However, the formidable traffic generated by countless IoT devices and the need for low-latency services raise the need to move away from centralized architectures and bring the computation closer to the data sources. To this end, this paper discusses SPF, a middleware solution that supports IoT application development, deployment, and management. SPF runs IoT services on capable devices located at the network edge and proposes an information-centric programming model that takes advantage of decentralized computation resources located in the proximity of application users and data sources. SPF also adopts Value-of-Information based methods to prioritize the transmission of essential information.


ABSTRACT Jettison is the practice of throwing goods overboard in order to lighten and consequently save a vessel, as well as the lives of those on board. This phenomenon has long been part of seafaring, with the dangers of navigation not having changed since ancient times. Accordingly, various bodies of maritime law emerged in the medieval era to handle the consequences of such events. This article will discuss how the principles of jettison and general average introduced by the Lex Rhodia and maintained in Roman law were understood in some medieval regulations. Although most legal texts indicate a common understanding of the principles of general average, opinions vary widely on details of procedure and events covered by the rulings. This analysis will show how the rules of jettison and general average are treated in different contexts and by the diverse societies administering them.


Pseudoaneurysm formation in the vessels near the pancreas is a rare complication in patients with chronic pancreatitis [1]. Treatment of bleeding pseudoaneurysms is difficult and rarely endoscopic. We present the case of a patient with chronic pancreatitis and a pseudoaneurysm eroding through the wall of the duodenal bulb, who underwent emergency endoscopic therapy for initial stabilization. A 54-year-old man with chronic pancreatitis from alcohol was admitted to the hospital with an acute episode of pancreatitis. On hospital day 9, the patient experienced ~300mL of hematemesis. His vitals signs were normal except for tachycardia of 122 beats per minute. Physical examination revealed epigastric tenderness but was otherwise normal. His hemoglobin was 7.3g/dL (baseline 9.9g/dL). He underwent endoscopy, which showed an actively bleeding, bulging 1.5-cm red lesion with sharp borders in the duodenal bulb (●" Fig.1). Epinephrine (10mL of 1:10000) was injected in a four-quadrant fashion around the lesion, and five Resolution endoclips (Boston Scientific Corp., Natick, Massachusetts, USA) were placed in sequential fashion to close the lesion, resulting in successful hemostasis (●" Fig.2). Later that day, computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen was performed and showed a 1.2-cm aneurysm formation adjacent to the duodenum (●" Fig.3). Three days later, the patient underwent CT angiography, which showed endoclips on the medial aspect of the duodenal wall and contrast pooling in the pancreatic head region near the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery, with a focus within the duodenal wall, consistent with pseudoaneurysm with extravasation. He underwent angiography, which demonstrated a bleeding bilobulated pseudoaneurysm arising from the gastroduodenal artery. The pseudoaneurysmwas successfully coiled. After 19 days of hospitalization, the patient was discharged with a stable hemoglobin level. Although bleeding pseudoaneurysms are a rare complication of chronic pancreatitis, they should be considered in any patient with chronic pancreatitis who presents with upper gastrointestinal bleeding [1–3]. Radiographic intervention with coiling of the vessel is the predominate treatment, with endoscopic therapy of such lesions being extremely rare and potentially dangerous without the availability of interventional radiology [4,5]. In this unique case, a rare duodenal bulb pseudoaneurysm was identified on endoscopy. This pseudoaneurysmwas treated endoscopically for initial stabilization (with an interventional radiologist readily available), and subsequently underwent coiling by interventional radiology.


The pathogenesis of LVH is very complex,in addition to blood pressure,it related to biomechanics,neurohumoral and genetic factors.Based on evidence-based medicine:LVH are independent risk factor for coronary heart disease,heart failure,sudden cardiac death,stroke and other cardiovascular events.Long-term effective antihypertensive treatment can largely reverse the LVH,and reduce the associated cardiovascular events.


When Doctor Kyusaku Ogino (pronounced Oh gee no) of Niigata, Japan, began his prospective study in May 1919, women had little to go by to ascertain the fertile days of their cycles. Popular opinion, even medical text books, were practically advising that pregnancy can occur on any day of the cycle, right up to the next menstruation. Contemporary studies in Germany, however, were excitedly proposing new theories about a fixed and limited time of fertility only once during the cycle. Unfortunately they disagreed. Ruge II concluded that ovulation occurs on days 7 -14 of the cycle; F raenkel, on days 14-16 (of regular 28 day cycles); Schroeder, on day 18.9 in average. So the spread was from the 7th to the 19th days and beyond, almost the entire cycle. Little of that helped couples who sought either to conceive or to avoid conception by natural ways. Dr. Ogino decided to do research of his own at Niigata University Hospital, where he was on duty to perform gynecological operations. He sensed something amiss in the German studies; they counted days of the cycle from the previous menstruation to locate the day of ovulation and the fertile time. Maybe that was a mistake. A German missionary priest, Fr. Hubert Reinirkens, helped him with his German studies. He selected 65 cases during his three year study of May, 1919 November, 1922. He included only those women who claimed very regular or almost regular cycles. He did not mind whether the cycles were long or short, so long as they were quite regular. One of them had 45-day cycles, another 40 days; 27 had 30-day cycles, 11 had 28 days, 3 had 23 days, others were somewhere between. Dr. Ogino marked it all down. The first thing he examined after incising the abdominal wall was the condition of the ovaries on both sides. Before disturbing them by traction, he inspected whether the one or the other ovary had a follicle which was not yet ovulated; and if so, what was its condition. If already ovulated, he observed the condition of the corpus luteum. He was aware that traction during the operation might alter the initial condition; ripening follicles might burst, and corpus luteums


This paper proposes A stripline structure dual-band frequency selective surface (FSS) with three metal layers. Two transmission bands are designed near 1.85 GHz and 2.45 GHz by a U-shaped metallic line and a metal meander line as two different srtipline structures in parallel between the upper and lower metal ground, respectively. Positions of the two frequency bands can be adjusted independently or simultaneously.


This work investigates the voltage response of electrostatically actuated of Double-Wall-Carbon-Nano-Tube (DWCNT) parallel to a ground plate (electrode). The voltage between the DWCNT and the ground plate is an Alternating Current (AC) voltage whose frequency is near half of the fundamental natural frequency of the DWCNT. Since the application of this research is mass sensing, and the low power consumption is desired, the Direct Current (DC) voltage is not included in this work. DWCNT coaxial vibrations are investigated. Numerical solutions of this problem are reported.Copyright © 2016 by ASME


Innovative teaching methods integrated with web technologies have been increasingly used in higher education. However, there are few studies discussing effective web-mediated teaching methods for both students and teachers. To help students learn and develop their academic involvement in a blended course, and improve their thoughts regarding this course, the author in this study re-designed and re-developed a combined teaching method for the course. The author conducted a quasi-experimental study to explore the effects of different combinations of web-mediated CL with/without initiation and SRL with/without feedback on involving students and enhancing their thoughts regarding this blended course. This research involved 227 second-year university students from four class sections, including three experimental groups (CISF, CIS, and CI groups), and a control group (C group), who received different combined interventions. In this research, students in CISF group (web-mediated instruction that integrated CL with initiation and SRL with feedback) significantly improved their involvement by the end of the course. In addition, students in CISF group had positive thoughts regarding web-mediated CL with initiation and SRL with feedback. The implications and discussion for teachers who plan to design teaching methods for online courses are also provided in this paper.