Here are the following results of the kinematic analysis for a left handed softball batter. For an efficient left handed softball bat, the total moving time of the center of mass (COM) must not be fast and the sliding time must be reduced and the movement slow. Also for accurate impact, the follow through swing must be fast, the nose movement up and down is approximately 2cm and the stride length is about 70cm. During the stride the COM movement in the vertical plane needs to be minimized and lower the players body. From the impact to the follow through phase the right leg must be maximally extended so that maximum COM velocity can be increased. The maximum bat speed must arise before the impact and the orientation must be so that the small side contacts with the ball. The trunk angle is about 90 degrees, the wrist angle is about 80 degrees and it must not be un-cocked until after impact. At impact the left knee must be flexed to support the body until the follow through swing where the right leg must be fully extended to maintain a posture to increase the torque. At the take back point the left foot must be focused on and pulled in towards the body while at the impact point the left foot pushes the ground ensuring a strong torque. Finally the right foot pushing towards the home plate while there is maximum knee extension and by the left foot axis the trunks torque must be used to increase the efficiency and power for batting.


Patients with sigmoid shape have an advanced form of the disease and are considered the most difficult to treat. A modified technique (pull-down) has been proposed to straighten the esophageal axis, but there is a limited amount of data available in literature. In this study, we aimed to compare the final outcome of the pull-down technique (PDLHD) with the results of classical myotomy (CLHD) in patients with end-stage achalasia.

 From 1995–2022, patients with a radiological diagnosis of end-stage achalasia undergoing laparoscopic myotomy were enrolled in the study.
 Symptoms were quantified using the Eckardt score. Barium-swallow, endoscopy and manometry were performed before and after the treatment. Treatment failure was defined as the persistence or reoccurrence of an Eckardt score > 3, or the need for retreatment.

 Of the 94 patients with end-stage achalasia (M:F = 52:42), 60 patients were treated with CLHD, and 34 patients with PDLHD.
 The surgical procedures were completed laparoscopically in all patients. During follow-up, two patients (2.1%) developed squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), both in the CLHD group.
 All patients in both groups had an improvement in their Eckardt score after surgery, and the failure rates were 27.6% (16/58) after CLHD and 5.9% (2/34) after PDLHD (p < 0.01).
 Amongst the patients who underwent complete post-operative follow-up, an abnormal acid exposure was detected in 2 patients after PDLH, and in 6 after CLHD (p = n.s.).

 Taken into account the intrinsic limitations of the study (different time window, and different follow-up), the results of this study indicate that performing the pull-down technique during Laparoscopic Heller-Dor improves the final outcome in end-stage achalasia patients.


The Coastcross-1 growth index in relation to five nitrogen doses (0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 kg/ha.year) and two regrowth ages (28 and 42 days) were evaluated. Nitrogen doses were arranged in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme in a randomized complete block design with three repetitions. Nitrogen fertilization was performed in three applications right after the forage harvesting. Higher values for leaf/stem and leaf weight ratio were observed at 28-d regrowth, in comparison with the 42 days of regrowth. Linear reduction of leaf/stem ratio from 1.6 to 1.0 at 0 and 133 kg N/ha.harvest, respectively was observed. The specific leaf area of bermudagrass at 28-d regrowth resulted in increased leaf area ratio (from 10.3 to 20.8 m2/kg with the increase of 0 to 133 kg N/ha. Harvest). At the absence of N treatment, specific leaf rate was higher at 42-d (14.3 m2/kg) in relation to the 28-d of regrowth (8.6 m2/kg). Regrowth age and nitrogen fertilization modify the pattern of forage accumulation and the characteristics of Coastcross-1 pasture. During the summer, the Coastcross-1 grass pasture fertilized with the highest N-dose should be managed at a younger regrowth age (28-d).


Two experiments were carried out on Hubbard HI-Ye broiler chickens and A11 Pekin ducks. On day 1, exactly 5 h after hatch, 30 chickens and 30 ducks were selected and then killed in order to determine the chemical composition of yolk sac residues. Other birds in both experiments were assigned into 5 treatments (every with 6 or 4 replications) and fed mixtures containing gradually increased levels of methionine (crystalline DL-Met 99 %) 0.30 (control), 0.33; 0.37; 0.42 and 0.48 %. The purpose of these studies was to determine the effect of increased dietary methionine on yolk sac (YS) absorption rate as estimated on day 1 st , 3 rd , 5 th ,7 th


Due to the expected increase in air traffic movements around the world and its impact on the environment, the requirement to build more sustainable and low maintenance airfield infrastructures has become very important. One solution consists in using high performance asphalt materials in order to provide a better sustainable whole life cost solution for these pavements. Performances of binder play a key role in the performances of the asphalt pavement as the properties of both are linked. Using Polymer Modified Bitumen Asphalt materials for runway and taxiway represents an alternative solution to traditional Marshall Asphalt (MA). This type of products for wearing course and binder can improve considerably the airfield pavement performances regarding the Rutting resistance, thermal susceptibility or even Fuel resistance. Due to new generation of aircraft more and more aggressive, use of rut resistance asphalt base course is also mandatory. Asphalt Concrete manufactured with Hard Grade bitumen like "High Modulus Asphalt" with improved mechanical characteristics can lead to longer service life, by preserving resources and bringing also cost savings as maintenance is reduced. This type of Asphalt Concrete showed on major airport projects his potential as a viable alternative to the traditional airfield pavement materials for base course such as Crushed Rocks or Dense Bitumen Macadam.


Based on studies related to social practices, configured in discursive practices which concern the policing of human activities' forms in relation to the environment, this paper aims to draw a parallel between the discourse of ecologism, a movement emerged as a reaction to economic growth, and that can be characterized as a discourse of human ecology. This is a comparative route, based on a theoretical triangulation that has at its main apex Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), on the slope of Norman Fairclough (2001, 2003), flanked by critical ethnography, in the molds of Jim Thomas (1993), and by the study of the relationship between language and the environment, configured in 'Ecolinguistics', current developed in Brazil by Hildo Couto (2007). Anchored in this triad, I seek to discuss the theme of ecological issues from the representational meanings of discourse, tied to transitivity of the language proposed by Halliday (1994). The analytical focus of discussion is permeated by theoretical model ('Mandala of experience') that involves from the inner world of abstract relations (be) going through the physical world (material actions) of social practices (cohabitation, changes within the community ) to reach the world of consciousness (need for life preservation, including the environment). The first results signify a contribution in that which is displayed, rather than reflection, serves to encourage transformative discursive practices in terms of benefit (s) to a new social order.


Many prior studies suggest that default alphabetical ordering of coauthors in economicsconfers disproportionate professional advantages on those with an early surname initialbecause of the greater prominence it gives to the first author. However, these studies do notconsider that authors select into coauthorships according to the incentives identified. Wedevelop a model of endogenous selection into single and coauthorships around the principlethat no one wants to be second author when they expect to provide the larger contribution(i.e., are of higher "quality"). We test it with authorship data from economics, with man-agement (which does not use default alphabetical ordering) as a benchmark. We predict foreconomics that lower quality authors with an early surname initial would be less desirablecoauthors, whereas higher quality authors with a late initial would have a lower desire tocoauthor. Most desired are early initial authors of high quality, who are therefore advan-taged in forming high-quality collaborations. The combined effect predicts citation rankincreases with surname initial for single-authored papers and decreases for coauthored.We find both effects for economics when compared to management and absolutely. Ourfindings indicate that part of the advantage enjoyed by early surname initial authors in eco-nomics could be due to the higher ability among them having more incentive-compatiblecollaborators, rather than merely to greater prominence.


The present invention relates to a method for producing a component having an extremely high mechanical properties of rolled coated steel sheet. According to the present invention, is more than 90% of the thickness of the steel component, and the content of iron 65% by weight% or more, Fe / Zn ratio is at least a Fe-Zn-based phase having from 4 to 1.9 It is coated with a compound. The above compound is formed by at least one heat treatment for alloying between the steel and the precoat, the precoat is 2.5% by weight of aluminum from 0.5, optionally, Pb ≦ 0.003 wt%, Sb ≦ 0.003 wt%, Bi ≦ 0.003 wt%, 0.002 wt% ≦ Si ≦ 0.07 wt%, La <0.05 wt%, one selected from Ce <0.05 wt% anda or more elements, the balance consists of a zinc alloy containing zinc, and inevitable impurities, the.


The position indicated by the term "antirealism" has come to the fore in philosophical discussion during the last thirty years, largely as a result of the writings of Michael Dummetl.' Prima facie one would expect an antirealist critique of realism to comprise two parts: a negative part (as the name indicates) criticising the realist view, and a positive part setting out a constructive alternative to the realist position. The tradition starting with Dummett, it is fair to say, has mainly been concerned with the negative part of antirealism. Here, however, the antirealist appears to have a large, and definite, disadvantage in his perennial discussion with the realist, purely in virtue of the chosen label; his position is laid down negatively in opposition to a prior realist position. Accordingly, the antirealist's campaign will be fought on a field determined by his opponent, and in terms chosen by him. Therefore, in this Chapter, I do not take the views of Dummett as my point of departure, especially since the need for a survey of antirealism from this perspective has been excellently met by Hale (1997). Furthermore, in a Handbook of Epistemology, this manner of proceeding (that is, not taking Dummett's views as the point of departure) is quite appropriate, since one of Dummett's main tenets is the primacy of the theory of meaning over the theory of knowledge. Instead, I discuss a number of traditional epistemological notions and theories from an antirealist standpoint, and I also treat of the early work in modern mathematical intuitionism that provided the inspiration for much of the current work on semantical antirealism. Thus the present Chapter can be seen as providing an epistemological and philosophico-malhematical background to the modern semantical versions of antirealism.


This paper was driven by the limited discussion of technology in accounting education literature. Thus, using a narrative literature review as its method, this study discusses the need of infusing technology in accounting education. This study also suggests using digital game-based learning as a practical way to embed technology in accounting classrooms. Additionally, this research also provides guidelines and examples of the implementation of digital game-based learning. It concludes that future research may use this study as a foundation to examine the empirical effect of technology, digital game-based learning, and accounting education.


The author considers the two main factors generally accepted when dealing with the over-involvement of young novice drivers in traffic accidents. The two factors, namely age, when considering risk-taking, and perception, and also inexperience of driving situations, are considered. The relative importance of either of the two factors, and methods of appropriate accident prevention, are examined. The respective influences of these two factors, and their interaction, are considered for France, the UK and the USA. For the covering abstract see ITRD E113459.


The FDTD-ADI scheme is implemented to analyze problems of handset-mounted antenna electromagnetic field-human head interactions. The algorithm has significant promise for stable and accurate FDTD modeling of electromagnetic wave phenomena. As demonstrated in this paper, the number of time steps in the simulation can be reduced and the algorithm is unconditionally stable, thus, the time-step size does not depend on the Courant-Friedrich-Levy condition. (2 pages)


Through a large amount of experimental researches,it has been found that when a rational regulator and stage-addition reagent scheme was adopted,the recovery of gold concentrate can increase nearly 3%,and the grade of gold concentrate increased above 10g/t.This new technology provided reliable technical criteria for existing concentrator′s technical reform.


Abstract : This conference discusses PLENARY LECTURES, PROTEINS & PROTEIN COMPONENTS, Heme Proteins, Other Chromophoric Proteins, Non-resonance Studies of Proteins, Protein Components, NUCLEIC ACIDS AND VIRUSES, LIPIDS/BILAYERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS, OTHER BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS, SURFACES AND SURFACE ENHANCED RAMAN SCATTERING, THIN FILMS, SEMICONDUCTORS, CONFINED RESONANCES, SUPERLATTICE STRUCTURES, LAYERED STRUCTURES, SOLID STATE: INORGANIC SYSTEMS, SOLID STATE: ORGANIC CRYSTALS AND POLYMERS, Polymers, Polyacetylene & Other Conducting Polymers,SPECIFIC MOLECULAR SYSTEMS: INORGANIC AND ORGANOMETALLIC, SPECIFIC MOLECULAR SYSTEMS: ORGANIC, GAS PHASE STUDIES, COLLISION INDUCED PHENOMENA, MOLECULAR, INTERACTIONS, AND LIQUIDS, RESONANCE RAMAN SCATTERING: THEORY AND EXPERIMENT, TIME RESOLVED RAMAN STUDIES, CARS AND OTHER NON-LINEAR OPTICAL STUDIES, NEW RAMAN TECHNIQUES.


This paper, based on the Nicaraguan and Belizean contexts, points out the need of providing environmental education to students from the 1st to 6th grades of the Basic General Education to ensure that young generations will live in harmony with nature, which will depend on their healthy practices to protect the planet. For this, we attempt to stimulate the interest of teachers to create environmental teaching/learning strategies in an organized, planned, conscious way to raise students' awareness and love for their culture and community, and for students to aspire to live in healthy homes. This way, students will succeed in the coexistence experience, in the material and spiritual cultures, and in the economic and development areas.


Understanding the primary triggers of anxiety for African Americans, and the cultural factors associated with these triggers, can enhance our knowledge of emotional responding in African Americans and can ultimately influence how we assess and treat anxiety disorders in this population. In the current study, we investigated the experience of anxiety for African Americans following physical stressors, with an emphasis on cardiovascular arousal. Specifically, anxious responding, following cardiovascular arousal, other physical stressors, and a control task, was evaluated among African American (n = 23) and European American (n = 23) groups on affective, cognitive, and physiological measures of anxiety. Findings suggest physical stressors in general (as opposed to cardiovascular arousal specifically) may be a prominent trigger of anxiety for African Americans. Discussion centers on the idea that the observed relationship between anxiety and physical stressors for African Americans may stem from a cultural sense of vulnerability regarding physical disease.


Summary The macronuclear nucleoli of vegetative non-dividing cells of Didinium nasutum display inverted position of the main parts: the granular component is inside and the dense fibrillar one, in form of discrete bands, is mainly at the periphery. Before binary fission, the nucleoli are degranulated and their fibrillar bands scatter throughout the macronucleus, to be segregated during division between the daughter cells, where they begin to re-form the granular parts. In young resting cysts small nucleoli consist of granular material only, larger nucleoli show a clear segregation of its fibrillar and granular elements. During conjugation, nucleoli of the old macronucleus or of its fragments become segregated into granular and fibrillar parts and the latter are largely eliminated. The nucleoli lose contact with the chromatin bodies. In the developing anlagen of the new macronuclei the first nucleoli appear as fibrous bodies and only later develop granular parts; simultaneously the number of nucleoli increases.


The taxpayers are spending one billion dollars a year, most of it on major defense contractors, for a program lacking in accountability, close evaluation and assured relevance to the military effort; Congress should act now to reassert control


The investigation on optical properties of Si1-xGex/Si strained layer structures has been carried out actively in recent years. The photoluminescence has become a brisker subject in the studies of its various optical properties. A research development on photoluminescence properties of some new Si1-x Gex/Si strained layer structures is introduced.


Utilizing cognitive tests alone, including the Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), cannot detect the presence of amyloid plaques and tangles in Alzheimer's disease (AD). While in late stages of AD clinical diagnosis relying primarily on cognitive testing is correct 70‐90% of the time, in MCI accuracy is reduced to 50‐60%. Although autopsy is the gold standard for AD diagnosis, amyloid PET imaging and more recently the Lumipulse Gβ‐Amyloid Ratio (Aβ1‐42/Aβ1‐40) are validated to determine amyloid pathology. With the upcoming availability of disease modifying therapies targeting amyloid in MCI and early AD, and anti‐tau drugs in the pipeline, it is necessary to have true measures of AD pathology for a clinical evaluation early in the disease process. Here we examine the performance of cognitive testing alone for identification of amyloid positivity in MCI patients from the ADNI study when compared to amyloid PET and CSF testing.


In view of the difficulty of financing in china rural reconstruction,drawing from the success experience of rural cooperatives financing organization operation in Germany,France,US,Japan,Holland etc,this article is tied in wedlock China rural financing system,submit the suggestion that should build the financing channel of cooperative institution,to point out the new way for solves financing problem in the new rural reconstruction,has the stronger practical significance.


We present a moving object recognition system. A description is given of the whole system from the image acquisition through the preprocessing and feature extraction stages to the classification of objects. We use quadratic neural networks (QNN) to model the input data and then extract features from the model which are translation and rotation invariant. We have applied the idea to a practical problem of classifying moving objects in a domestic environment such as moving heads, curtains blown by the wind and external events such as moving tree branches. Reasonable results are obtained using only the spatial information.<<ETX>>


Barbados is actively rising in the latest phase of a long history of emergence that began as far back as 15 Ma. The current phase began at or before ca. 700 ka, is highly nonuniform, and at least locally, has been nonsteady. The uplift rate field in SE Barbados ranges between near-zero and 0.47 m/k.y. and is harmonic to active structures of NNW-SSE contraction. Emergence markers include limestone strata, coral, and shoreline angles, but we used only shoreline angles in calculations. We divided the capping limestone of windward Barbados into 10 units using physical criteria and dated them with over 40 230Th ages as oxygen isotope stages 5a, 5e, late 7 and early 7, and old (older than 300 ka). The oldest unit is a relic of an earlier phase of emergence. Younger units, probably as old as 700 ka, downlap the eroded flank of the oldest unit and sublimestone foundation. Younger units comprise landward clastic facies deposited on abrasion platforms during eustatic highstand and seaward-coalescent fringe reef blankets deposited on preexisting slopes, mainly in transgression. Earlier models of ridged reefs of catch-up growth origin are not supported in windward Barbados. Shoreline angles, the updip tips of terrace floors and of younger limestone units, are isochronous markers of maximum highstand levels. Despite the lack of direct determination of their ages, shoreline angles provide the truest measures and highest values of emergence. Coral thought to indicate highstand growth gives moderately lower uplift rates due to depths of growth and collapse. Coral grown during transgression gives a marked error in emergence.


The topic of the article is relevant due to the fact that the well-being of people and their physical and social health affect the level and quality of life of the population and the economic stability of society as a whole. The purpose of the research topic is to reflect the standard of living of the population in Kazakhstan and to reflect the main ways to solve problems. During the study, such methods were used as absolute and relative changes in indicators, a comparative analysis of indicators by region, a graphical method, deduction and induction, an economic and statistical method. Conclusions and recommendations based on the results of the research conducted by the authors are aimed at further development and improvement of the economic development of the country and regions in order to improve the standard of living of the population. According to the results of the conducted research, measures to improve the standard of living of the population are proposed, which include: increasing the income of the population as one of the main criteria; supporting and developing of the social sphere, reducing the level of poverty of the population; providing the population of countries with high-quality and affordable food and clothing, etc. The research topic is relevant and extensive, and therefore it seems impossible to reflect on the problems and ways of improving the standard of living of the population in one publication. In this regard, it is planned to further study and study the problems in various aspects.


Mineral processing facilities commonly have storage bins for temporary housing of the ore supplied to their processing lines. Facilities with large rectangular bins usually have a tripper machine to load and spread the ore along the entire extension of the bin, by means of forth-and-back traveling movements. The positioning control of a tripper is a relevant yet less concerned control problems, with significant impact on the productivity of mineral processing facilities, for which a poor controlled tripper is a common source of bottleneck. This work concerns the development and implementation of a strategy for autonomous position determination for a tripper in a large iron ore processing facility, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the need for a local operator to decide the tripper positioning under manual operation. Such "autonomous positioning advisor" acts as an expert system to determine the "best" position (bin cell) where the tripper should be placed to feed the bin in order to meet some operational requirements as: (1) to make the ore level more uniform across the bin; (2) to prevent excessive and unnecessary travels of the tripper; and (3) to suppress the ore discharge from the tripper to the bin when the tripper needs to travel over a fully filled cells to reach the destination cell. The positioning control strategy was based on operational knowledge and procedures used by the tripper operators when operating the tripper in manual mode. The results obtained with the autonomous positioning advisor allowed the tripper to operate consistently in automatic mode and showed improved operational performance.


Objective To investigate the occupational stress status in the furniture enterprise workers in Guangming new district of Shenzhen,and to provide references for intervention measures and mental health promotions. Methods According to the characteristics of furniture enterprises,Occupational Stress Inventory( OSI- R) was used to survey 455 workers based on stratified sampling method. Results The occupational stress in different scale enterprises were statistically different( χ2= 27. 01,P 0. 01),the middle and small enterprise workers' occupational stress were both higher than large enterprises. The length of service workers' occupational stress was statistically different( χ2= 37. 78,P 0. 01),and those with one year and below was the highest. There were statistically differences in different age workers' occupational stress degree( χ2= 42. 17,P 0. 01),with 30- 40 years group as the highest. Male occupational stress degree was higher than that of female( χ2= 16. 98,P 0. 01). Conclusion Enterprises scale,gender,age and length of service could exert influence on workers' occupational stress,and thus the intervention measures should accordingly adjusted.


Eleven rust resistant wheat varieties, exotic and indigenous, were crossed with a common parent, R.S. 31-1, an improved high yielding but rust susceptible local variety, for studying the hybrid vigour and the combining ability of the rust resistant parents. Observations were recorded for a number of characters like plant height, tillering, leaf length and leaf width, spikelets per ear, ear length, 100 grain weight, 75 per cent, flowering, fodder yield and grain yield.


This article is about the role of entrepreneurial perception of time and risk vis a vis structural change and growth. Entrepreneurship is a basic constituent element of social capital which in turn is a productive lubricant of the growth process. Different structural entrepreneurial prototypes with respect to time and risk have different structural change effects. Those structural changes (and any structural changes) are not neutral as far as the implications of growth rate changes are concerned. Therefore the time and risk characteristics of active entrepreneurship are reflected in the growth process either in the form of structural change and/or in the form of growth rate change.


It follows from the analysis of the current criminal procedure legislation that the existing system of criminal procedure stages has some drawbacks, as it does not fully reflect the essence, goals and objectives of this procedure. It is proposed to supplement the system with a stage of preliminary consideration of the crime report and a final stage of clearing a criminal record and cancellation of conviction.


We present a qualitative study with 36 diverse social media users in India to critically examine how low-resource communities engage with fake videos, including cheapfakes and AI-generated deepfakes. We find that most users are unaware of digitally manipulated fake videos and perceive videos to be fake only when they present inaccurate information. Few users who know about doctored videos expect them to be of poor quality and know nothing about sophisticated deepfakes. Moreover, most users lack the skills and willingness to spot fake videos and some were oblivious to the risks and harms of fake videos. Even when users know a video to be fake, they prefer to take no action and sometimes willingly share fake videos that favor their worldview. Drawing on our findings, we discuss design recommendations for social media platforms to curb the spread of fake videos.


The role of VLSI in the development of next-generation computers is examined. Progress in VLSI design aids and fabrication technology is discussed. Present capabilities are only a factor of between two and ten away from those required for the million-transistor chip.


D2493 Survival, Morbidity, Sensitisation and Retransplantation Outcomes in a Cohort of Dialysis Patients After Renal Graft Loss Treated at a Single Centre With Protocolised Immunotherapy and Graft Nephrectomy By Indication. A. Coutinho, R. Corbett, M. Willlicombe, P. Brookes, R. Sergeant, R. Sayed, S. Hildebrand, D. Ashby, D. Taube, N. Duncan. Imperial College Renal and Transplant Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, London, United Kingdom. A quarter of prevelant dialysis patients have Dialysis After Graft Loss (DAGL) with unique factors modifying outcome. The indication for transplant nephrectomy at our centre is evidence of systemic infl ammation. 121 incident patients had DAGL in period Jan 2007Aug 2013, we excluded those with multiple, dual organ or immunologically complex grafts. We made a retrospective observational study in the 69 patients with DAGL and previous functioning renal grafts after dialysis start. 27 patients had graft nephrectomy (GN), 42 had graft retained (GR). Numbers of deaths in the GN (2/27) and GR (6/42) groups did not differ signifi cantly (p=0.62). Hospitalisation rate over 12 months for GN patients was statistically lower at 87.8 versus 117.3 per 100 patient years than in the GR group (p= 0.016), but there was no difference by cardiovascular or infectious causes. Using a prospective surveillance system, infection rates triggered by the use of outpatient antibiotics were lower for GR than GN patients at 13.3 versus 30.4 per 100 patient years, but not signifi cant (p=0.6).There were no differences in time-averaged surrogate markers of infl ammation that had been measured monthly CRP, albumin and haemoglobin (p=0.2, 0.14 and 0.45 respectively). There was no difference in waitlisting for transplantation between the two groups (13/27 for GN group versus 12/42 for GR group, p=0.09). Using the UK NHSBT Relative Chance of Kidney Transplantation Calculator, 4/13 waitlisted GN patients had a 50% or greater chance of receiving a transplant versus 2/12 waitlisted GR patients at 5 years, but this did not reach signifi cance (p=0.7). Hospitalisation was higher for GR patients but this may be confounded by comorbidity. Graft retention did not appear to adversely affect rates of survival, infection, markers of infl ammation or chances of retransplantation. Sensitisation is being analysed as this will predict risk of rejection with subsequent transplantation. Abstract# D2494 Current Smoking Is Associated With Reduced Renal Graft Survival. I. Eide,1 A. Aasberg,1,2 T. Jenssen,1,3 D. Dahle,1 A. Hartmann.1 1Department of Organ Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 3Department of Medicine, University of Tromso, Tromso, Norway. Introduction: The effect of smoking on renal graft survival is not yet clear. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of current and former smoking on graft survival after renal transplantation. Methods: In this observational study of 1996 adult Norwegian renal transplant recipients, transplanted between 1999 and 2011, associations between smoking status and graft loss endpoints were determined in a Cox proportional hazard model including the following predefi ned variables: Age, gender, pretransplant diabetes, cardiac-, cerebrovascularand peripheral vascular disease, estimated GFR, cholesterol, number of antihypertensive drugs, donor age, living versus deceased donor and number of HLA mismatches. There were less than 2% missing data and all variables were checked for consistency between register data and medical records to ensure data validity. Results: During follow-up 429 patients suffered renal graft loss (21.5%), of whom 90 were current smokers (28.6% of all current smokers) and 172 were former smokers (24.3%). In 234 of 429 cases functioning grafts were lost due to death and in 195 cases the patient returned to dialysis or renal retransplantation (death censored graft loss). Compared with former smokers and lifelong non-smokers, current smokers had an 82% increased total graft loss risk (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.82, 95% confi dence interval [CI] 1.40 – 2.37, p<0.001, fi gure 1) and a borderline signifi cant 44% increased death censored graft loss risk (adj HR 1.44, 95% CI 0.98 – 2.10, p=0.06). Former smoking did not confer an increased risk of total or death censored graft loss when compared with lifelong non-smokers. Conclusion: Current, but not former, smoking was associated with an increased risk of renal graft loss. Figure 1. Multivariate adjusted graft survival curves. Proportion of surviving renal grafts grouped according to smoking status. Abstract# D2495 Current Smoking Is Associated With Reduced Survival. I. Eide,1 A. Hartmann,1 A. Aasberg,1,2 D. Dahle,1 T. Jenssen.1,3 1Department of Organ Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 3Department of Medicine, University of Tromso, Tromso, Norway. Introduction: Smoking is a leading cause of premature mortality in various patient populations. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of current and former smoking on survival after renal transplantation. Methods: In this observational study of 1996 adult Norwegian renal transplant D2495 Current Smoking Is Associated With Reduced Survival. I. Eide,1 A. Hartmann,1 A. Aasberg,1,2 D. Dahle,1 T. Jenssen.1,3 1Department of Organ Transplantation, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 2Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 3Department of Medicine, University of Tromso, Tromso, Norway. Introduction: Smoking is a leading cause of premature mortality in various patient populations. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of current and former smoking on survival after renal transplantation. Methods: In this observational study of 1996 adult Norwegian renal transplant recipients, transplanted between 1999 and 2011, associations between smoking status and mortality endpoints were determined in a Cox proportional hazard model including the following predefi ned variables: Age, gender, estimated glomerular fi ltration rate, total cholesterol, number of antihypertensive drugs, body mass index, preemptive transplantation and pretransplant dialysis treatment duration, diabetes, © The Authors. Compilation © The American Society of Transplant Surgeons, The Transplantation Society and the American Society of Transplantation


We demonstrate spectral shifting of the photonic band gap in a three-dimensional photonic crystal within a time of less than 350fs. Single 120fs high-power optical pulses are capable to induce the transition from the semiconductor to the metallic phase of VO2 in the pores of our artificial silica opal. The phase transition produces a substantial decrease of the real part of the effective refractive index of the photonic crystal and shifts the spectral position of the photonic band gap.


A 49-year-old man with undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma underwent 2 cycles of chemotherapy, followed by right-side head and neck radiation therapy. Thirteen years later, he developed progressive dysphagia and dysarthria. Neurologic examination showed atrophy associated with wave-like movements and prominent rippling in the right side of the tongue; needle electromyography revealed myokymic discharges in the right genioglossus muscle (Video 1). MRI of the head and neck confirmed isolated unilateral tongue atrophy (Figure) while laryngoscopy showed delayed initiation of swallowing and reduced laryngeal elevation.


This paper studies the problem of dynamically scheduling ships to multiple continuous berth spaces at the raw material docks in an iron and steel complex with the objective of minimizing the total weighted service time. We propose two mathematical models and develop an improved Lagrangian relaxation algorithm to solve the problem. Based on the problem structure, six properties are observed that help speed up the procedures of solving the sub-problems, updating Lagrangian multipliers and obtaining feasible solutions, respectively. Computational results on 50 real data problems and 120 randomly generated problems show that the algorithm generates good solutions in short time and that using the properties can reduce by more than 80% the computation time of the algorithm.


This study was conducted with the main aim of gaining a better understanding of the role and relative impact of a certain number of factors which form consumers' opinions of using a mobile phone whilst driving. Legally, many countries charge a driver for using a mobile while driving if he/she has been involved in any accident. Further, there is general agreement that using push buttons and not holding the phone to receive a call is not punishable. In order to achieve aims of the role and relative impact of a certain number of factors which form consumers' opinions of using a mobile phone whilst driving Research, 140 participants were selected for the study and a questionnaire was used to collect the data for this research study in the City of Edinburgh, UK. The questionnaire had mostly closed questions with liker scales to measure the level of agreement to the variable.


Diabetes mellitus type 2 is a metabolic disorder resulting from the inability of the pancreas to produce enough insulin, or muscle and tissue cells become resistant to insulin and are unable to properly use it. It is a disease with greater social health impact, not only because of its high prevalence, but also by the chronic complications in people with the disease and its high mortality rate.


The paper analyzes the influence of motivational factors on professional adjustment of Indian Senior and Middle level manager's assigned international projects. It aims to find the relationship between motivational factors of expatriation and expatriate professional adjustment. Further, this paper presents the ranking of motivational factors having comparatively higher influence on expat's professional adjustment. The study is quantitative in nature and a structured questionnaire was used to administer the survey. The questionnaire was circulated among 100 Indian Senior and Middle level managers working in USA, Canada, Germany and Italy. Four factors of expatriate motivation extracted from data reduction technique are Motivation of Cognitive Development, Motivation of Money & Career Development, Motivation of Professional Development and Motivation of Personal Development. The research findings presented a positive relationship between motivational factors and professional adjustment of expatriates. Further, this paper present the ranking of motivational factors having comparatively higher influence on expat's professional adjustment. This work is crucial for companies to understand the employees' motives for accepting international assignments. The scope of this paper was limited to four developed countries only Germany, Italy, USA and Canada and the sample size was small.


This study aims to analyze the effect of travel costs Wooden Boat, travel time, delay time and service frequency on the selection of wooden ship routes using the stated preference method. Two variables, dependent and independent variables were analyzed using linear regression analysis, correlation and sensitivity model. From the results of the sensitivity analysis, the travel cost of attribute variable is the most sensitive to the probability of route selection is travel time. The changes of travel time will changes the probability of choosing a route which relatively largerer than changes the other attributes. For the elasticity analysis of the model for each attribute resulted the probability of choosing route 2 is more sensitive than route 1. This is indicated by the cross elasticity value which is greater than the direct elasticity value. The direct elasticity values for the attributes of cost, travel time, delay time, and service level are -0.5248, - 0.1667, -0.0845, and 0.1182 respectively. Meanwhile, the cross-elasticity values for the attributes of cost, travel time, delay time, and service level are -0.6477, -0.3979, -0.2016, and 0.2821


A dielectric barrier discharge CO2 TEA laser excited by a thyratron driven power
supply has been developed and characterized. Laser output was observed at frequencies up to
25 Hz for an electrode separation of 10 mm with 1.8 mm suprasil glass covering the electrodes. At this gap separation, pulsed power output of about 9 W was detected for gas pressures
between 100 and 400 mbar. The laser has a pulse duration was about 0.3 flS with a risetime of ~100 ns. Changing the electrode separation to 5 mm and using 1.4 mm suprasil glass dielectric increased the output power to 23 Wand enabled laser output to be observed at gas pressures up
to 700 mbar and maximum pulse excitation frequencies of up to 400 Hz. The developed laser does not require water cooling since the system operates in burst pulse mode.


Graphene is highly desirable as an electromagnetic wave (EM) absorber because of its large interface, high dielectric loss, and low density. Nevertheless, the conductive and electromagnetic parameters of pure graphene are too high to meet the requirement of impedance match, which results in strong reflection and weak absorption. In this paper, we report a facile solvothermal route to synthesize reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets combined with surface-modified γ-Fe2O3 colloidal nanoparticle clusters. The obtained two-dimensional hybrids exhibit a relatively low EM reflection coefficient (RC) and wide effective absorption bandwidth, which are mainly attributed to the unique microstructure of colloidal nanoparticle clusters assembled on RGO. The nanoparticle clusters have more interfaces. The interfacial polarization within nanoparticle clusters and conductivity loss of RGO plays an important role in absorbing EM power. The minimum RC reaches −59.65 dB at 10.09 GHz with a matching thickness of 2.5 mm. T...


It has been hypothesized that initial conditions derived from eddy‐resolving ocean models could benefit eddy‐permitting forecast systems at subseasonal lead times ( ∼$$ \sim $$ 2 weeks to ∼$$ \sim $$ 2 months) by providing improved ocean initial conditions and reduced sea‐surface temperature (SST) errors associated with a more realistic representation of mesoscale features and ocean fronts such as the Gulf Stream. Here, we test this hypothesis by running a series of coupled 32‐day reforecasts with ocean initial conditions derived from native resolution (i.e., eddy‐permitting) and higher resolution (i.e., eddy‐resolving) ocean reanalyses. Initial conditions derived from the eddy‐resolving reanalysis reproduce observed temperature and sea‐level variability associated with mesoscale ocean eddies more accurately. Furthermore, forecasts of ocean variables are significantly improved in the extratropics, particularly in regions of observed intense mesoscale variability. This result is relevant for the marine forecasting community and demonstrates the potential for improved probabilistic forecasts of ocean variables in affordable ensemble forecast systems. However, the impacts on the mean state and forecast skill in the atmosphere are more limited. Based on an evaluation of model biases as a function of lead time, we conclude that there is room for further improvements to the initialization of the Gulf Stream that could lead to more significant impacts on atmospheric skill. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our reforecasts underestimate the strength of mesoscale air–sea interaction in the vicinity of strong SST fronts by 20–40%. We speculate that the impacts of improved ocean eddy initialization on atmospheric forecast skill may be larger in coupled models with higher ocean and atmosphere resolutions that can simulate air–sea interaction in the midlatitudes more realistically.


Purpose. To determine the urinary levels of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), 2-naphthol (2-NAP) and cotinine in pregnant women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Methods. One-hundred twenty-four pregnant women from four hospitals were interviewed using a questionnaire. Data obtained included demographic information and life styles. The levels of 1-OHP and 2-NAP in urine specimens from all participants were analyzed by HPLC-Fluorescence; urinary cotinine levels were measured by HPLC-photodiol instrumentation. Results. Urinary levels of 1-OHP, 2-NAP and cotinine in the ETS exposure group were higher than the non-exposure group; only urinary cotinine levels differed significantly between the two groups. Urinary levels of 1-OHP were positively correlated with 2-NAP (r=0.14) and cotinine (r=0.09), and 2-NAP and cotinine (r=0.12); however, no significant correlation was found. Conclusions. Urinary cotinine and 2-NAP levels can be used as biomarkers to measure the exposure to poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) emitted from burning cigarettes.


The paper describes the research on the quality evaluation of the foreign scitech document resources of the National Science and Technology Library(NSTL).It puts forward a draft evaluation index framework of foreign scitech document resources that consists of three parts including usage status,academic levels and user needs.A test of the evaluation of the resources in agriculture has been made and got a satisfied result.


English is a core subject of the National Curriculum, and English is also the oral and written medium of instruction for the whole curriculum. 'English across the curriculum' conceptualises pupils applying their knowledge of these strands to other domains of subject knowledge. Subject English is highly politicised and contested; no other curriculum area undergoes such continuous scrutiny and revision. English as an Additional Language (EAL) is, in contrast, a 'diffuse' curriculum area which is not articulated as a distinct subject or a controversial domain of learning although, like English, EAL crosses all curriculum subjects.
Part of an online series on EAL and curriculum subjects, the article discusses how pupils learning EAL apply their developing knowledge of English as well as their other languages in this particular subject area and how the curriculum in English can create additional linguistic and cultural demands on pupils learning EAL, making subject knowledge and understanding more challenging.

Funded by TDA.


Medical error is a leading cause of death in the United States. The root cause analysis (RCA) process provides the framework for analysis of sentinel events and other medical errors. A thorough understanding of this process is a key component in promoting safety within the health care setting. Risk reduction strategies are presented to make this process meaningful and efficient while promoting the ultimate goal of safer health care systems.


The use of frequency-domain equalization based on minimum mean square error criterion (called MMSE-FDE) can significantly improve the bit error rate (BER) performance of DS-CDMA signal transmission compared to the well-known coherent rake combining. However, in a DS-CDMA cellular system, as a mobile user moves away from a base station and approaches the cell edge, the received signal power gets weaker and the interference from other cells becomes stronger, thereby degrading the transmission performance. To improve the transmission performance of a user close to the cell edge, the well-known site diversity can be used in conjunction with FDE. In this paper, we consider DS-CDMA downlink site diversity with FDE. The MMSE site diversity combining weight is theoretically derived for joint FDE and antenna diversity reception and the downlink capacity is evaluated by computer simulation. It is shown that the larger downlink capacity can be achieved with FDE than with coherent rake combining. It is also shown that the DS-CDMA downlink capacity is almost the same as MC-CDMA downlink capacity.


This article examines the historical fragments of cemetery records and monumental masonry for the poet and journalist Laman Blanchard, who was interred in West Norwood Cemetery, London, in 1845, and whose monument was cleared a century later by Lambeth Council. It focuses on Blanchard's role in the Dickens literary circle and his relation to mid-Victorian writers, situating his untimely death in light of changing legislation on suicide. His lost grave marker is recovered by scrutinising his burial record, obituary, epitaph, and periodicals to ferret out connections amongst the archival sources of his death. The nebulous association, between what is written-by a person in life and what is written-about that person after death, is contemplated throughout.


Most analyses of non-paradigmatic SE derive their agreement patterns structurally, forcing a passive/impersonal distinction against all evidence. Instead, we uniformly analyze them as regular sentences where the T-agreeing subject is se itself, an argumental clitic pronoun, with [person] but no number ϕ-features, and show that the overt argument, which has object properties, does not genuinely agree in syntax. We reveal a new asymmetry between postverbal and preverbal/null arguments, which conceals two postsyntactic processes with very distinctive properties: morphological clitic Mutation into number agreement, and T's Number Harmony with a close DP, not ruled by syntax or morphology.


New public management (NPM) assumes that government should be run as a business and is based on a set of interrelated principles applied to reduce the costs of government by encouraging privatization and managed competition of government services. The author analyzes the viability of NPM as a governing strategy by examining the extent of implementation of NPM policies by New York City's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an aggressive proponent of the NPM agenda. Close examination reveals that Mayor Giuliani's success in implementing his NPM agenda has been limited. The mayor's difficulties in achieving his goals are identified and are illustrative of the reform/accommodation cycle facing Mayor Giuliani and other urban mayors who attempt to implement abstract reform principles in a politicized environment.


Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate only (CPO) are congenital birth defects where the upper lip and/or palate fail to fuse properly during embryonic facial development. CL/P and CPO fall under the larger category of orofacial clefts (OFCs), which affect ~1.2/1000 live births world‐wide and imposes significant social and financial burdens on affected individuals and their families. The etiology of orofacial clefts is complex and likely results from a combination of genetic mutations with environmental covariates. Recent genome wide association studies (GWAS) and whole exome sequencing (WES) for orofacial clefting identified significant genetic associations and variants in several genes. Of these genes, we investigated the role of common and rare variants in the SHH, RORA, MRPL53, ACVR1, and GDF11 genes. We sequenced these five genes in multi‐ethnic CL/P and CPO samples in order to find mutations that may provide potential explanations for OFCs missing heritability. In total, 19 variants of interest were found, seven of which were in SHH, one in RORA, three in MRPL53, six in ACVR1, and two in GDF11. Types of mutations found included stop‐gained, missense, synonymous, intronic, and splice site variants. Of these 19 variants, 3 novel missense variants were found, one in SHH, one in RORA, and one in GDF11. Rare and novel variants were further analyzed using in‐silico predictive tools such as SIFT, Polyphen‐2, Provean score, CADD, and HOPE. This study provides evidence that mutations in SHH, RORA, MRPL53, ACVR1, and GDF11 may contribute to risk of OFCs in various populations.


Ultrafiltration by continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) is a well-established therapy for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Aggressive fluid removal, however, may worsen the symptoms or even inflict de novo organ dysfunctions especially in the hemodynamically unstable patients. We described the incorporation of CVVH and impedance cardiography (ICG) in the management of an ADHF patient on maintenance hemodialysis. Simultaneous monitoring of the hemodynamic and fluid status using ICG helped optimize the CVVH prescription and improve the patient outcome. As such, assessment of the unique hemodynamic characteristics of each critically ill patient is indispensable, which may enhance the efficiency of the critical care unit. Selection of the ultrafiltration against diuretics is also discussed. From The 4th Hospital, HeBei Medical University, ShiJiaZhuang 050011, China (Tao Wang, Yan Zhang, QiYao Yu, Lei He, JinSheng Xu) Address for correspondence:


proxy indicators – for example, the number of late government amendments to bills as an indicator of the quality of policy-making and the number and success rate of applications for judicial review as an indicator of the fairness of administration. Their choices of indicators are carefully justified, but whether or not you agree with their conclusions may well depend on how convincing you find those justifications. As you might expect from these authors, this book is elegantly written and their account of their methodology is beautifully clear. Their chapter on the difficulty of compiling a body of consistent and comparable data over three decades, in the face of changes to government record keeping, publication and (latterly) information technology systems, is a wonderful discussion both of the relationship of data and records to government practice and of some of the practical methodological problems that researchers in public policy and administration may encounter.


The DINION IP dynamic 7000 HD camera is a 1080p30 progressive scan CMOS camera that uses Boschdesigned digital imaging technology to achieve a very high dynamic range. The camera uses an internal feedback system based on the intelligent analysis of the scene, to re-tune the video processing. This provides better detail in the areas that matter and better all-round performance, day or night. Features such as multicasting, internet streaming and iSCSI recording are fully supported.


The objective of this research is to analyze metal elements, such as Na (sodium), Mg (magnesium), Al (aluminum), Si (silicon), Pb (lead), K (potassium), Ca (calcium), and Fe (iron), found in dust particles within two distinct areas from which the samplings were taken. The first sampling was taken from the road verge of a highly trafficked road section, while the second sampling was taken from a residential garden area 90 m away from the road. Several metal elements were detected with a high difference in Si, which presented higher concentrations in the dust samples from the road verge area. Pb has only been detected in the samples taken from the road verge, which could be explained by residual remnants from old lead gasoline and wheel weights. Additionally, during the same investigation, airborne particulate matter (PM) concentrations were measured in comparison between the road verge and the garden area; this presented a substantial difference in the concentration levels, suggesting that dense vegetation is protecting and blocking a majority of airborne PM. A literature highlight of the health effects of different metal elements and PM concentrations is presented.


ABSTRACT The aim of this essay is to clarify Nāgārjuna's use of the term pratijñā (thesis) in verse 29 of the Vigrahavyāvartanī (VV) as situated in its contemporaneous thriving debate culture. In contrast to the standard formulation, which interprets the term pratijñā as a reference to the thesis of śūnyatā (emptiness) proffered by Nāgārjuna in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, an examination of the debate culture in, and leading up to, second-century CE India shows that the term pratijñā refers to the first of five steps within the Nyaya five-membered syllogism as it functions within a vitaṇḍā form of debate. Through an examination of the context in which this verse was written, the association made between Nāgārjuna's use of pratijñā in the VV and śūnyatā within other texts becomes dislodged, thereby demonstrating the inadequacy of the standard formulation and the need for a revised understanding of the intent of the VV.


This work builds on the idea that the transition to marriage is influenced simultaneously by social context, family context, and individual's early biography and socioeconomic status. Unlike previous studies that examine the transition to marriage in Mexico, I consider theoretically and analyze empirically the role of intergenerational influences on marriage timing. Using data from the National Family Planning Survey, I estimated a set of nested discrete-time hazard models to evaluate the effects of mothers' marriage age on children's transition to marriage. I find that children of mothers who married young enter into marriage earlier than children of mothers who delayed marriage. This relationship persists after controlling for important socioeconomic factors. In fact, the effect of mothers' age at marriage on children's age at marriage is larger than the effect of mother's education. I also find this relationship to be similar for both sons and daughters, suggesting that family influences are a key aspect of the transition to marriage in Mexico.


Reef-shoal carbonate gas reservoir is different from conventional sand gas reservoir and the effective development of this kind of reservoir is facing some problems.Longgang Gas field is a typical reefshoal carbonate gas reservoir.The geological research and the trial production showed some characteristics, including the huge heterogeneity of reservoir,the extreme complexity of fluid distribution,the crucial influence on gas wells of formation water and the significant discrepancy in different development wells.The effective development of it mainly encountered problems of reservoir heterogeneity evaluation,fluid distribution description,reserves calculation and productivity evaluation.Aiming at these problems and development characteristics,four technical development strategies were proposed.(1)Utilize well-seismic combination technology for fine reservoir description to enlarge the gas reservoir development scale;(2)Use irregular well networks in the process of well pattern to improve the efficiency of gas reservoir development;(3) Strengthen dynamic monitoring and increase the ability of scientific management to improve the management levels of gas reservoir development;(4)Adhere to the development concept of integrated development to reduce the risk of gas reservoir development.The formulation of gas reservoir development technology strategies can provide guidance for the effective development of Longgang gas reservoir.


The specific molecular mechanism of cyclooxygenase-2(cox-2) inhibitor in the generation of hepatic fibrosis is hot at home and abroad,in which there is widespread controversy.Now it's considered the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor agent has a treatment in chemical liver fibrosis,while it aggravates immune liver fibrosis.This paper reviews the effects of cyclooxygenase-2 on hepatic fibrosis to provide a new way or target for liver fibrosis.


We examine the problem of transmembrane protein structure determination. Like many questions that arise in biological research, this problem cannot be addressed generally by traditional laboratory experimentation alone. Instead, an approach that integrates experiment and computation is required. We formulate the transmembrane protein structure determination problem as a bound-constrained optimization problem using a special empirical scoring function, called Bundler, as the objective function. In this paper, we describe the optimization problem and its mathematical properties, and we examine results obtained using two different derivative-free optimization algorithms.


The Surfers Paradise Beach Replenishment Project is described together with a discussion on the problems and unusual conditions met during the work. The project resulted in an extra 1.4 million cubic metres of sand being placed in the active zone of an ocean beach along a length of approximately 4000 metres.


A new genus, Stilbotulasnella, with the single species Stilbotulasnella conidiophora, is described from material collected in Hawaii. The distinguishing features of the genus are (i) copious production of blastic conidia; (ii) scattered tulasnellaceous basidia; (iii) germination of conidia and basidiospores by budding; (iv) dolipore septa without parenthesomes. Conidia of S. conidiophora are blastic annelidic, dikaryotic; they are produced on mononematous conidiophores or conspicuous synnematous to sporodochial conidiomata. The basidiospores germinate by repetition, by germ tube, or by budding.


In this paper, through discussing the construction and administration of the open laboratory, the author expound that constructing the open laboratory is the need of fostering talents with high quality, and the need of education reform and the need of accomplishing the economic globalization.


Purpose – Loyalty programmes are an important tool with which retail companies manage relationships. While the last 15 years have seen a broad dissemination of loyalty programmes in new sectors and new countries, since the early 2000s, both in the academic and managerial world, the power of loyalty programmes to stimulate retention and support loyalty, has been brought into question. The purpose of this paper is to focus on these elements, analyzing data collected on a sample of loyalty cardholders.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the results of an exploratory study focused on a sample of loyalty cardholders by means of telephone interviews.Findings – The empirical data demonstrate that loyalty is not created and supported by a loyalty programme and prove how weak and limited such programmes are, especially point collection programmes. Programme effectiveness can however be achieved if there is a continuous search for differentiation and through reduced loss (discounts) and extra gain (pri...


A body bias generator (BBG) for fine-grain body biasing (FGBB) compatible with cell-based design How is proposed. The FGBB is effective to reduce variability and power consumption in a system-on-chip (SoC). Since FGBB needs a number of BBGs, automated design How of BBGs is required. This paper proposes a design of the BBG to implement the BBG in a cell-based design How by partitioning BBG into unit-height cells. Circuit configuration of the BBG enables wide range of the supply voltage from 0.6V to 1.2V. We fabricated the BBG in a 65nm CMOS process to control 0.1mm2 of core circuit with the area overhead of 1.4% for the BBG.


Fishery systems involve complex interactions between resource stocks and the people involved in harvesting those stocks. While the population dynamics of fish stocks have received considerable attention in the ecological literature, the dynamics of human communities dependent on the fishery are equally important. Indeed the joint dynamics of the fish stocks and the fishermen must be taken into account in determining appropriate management policies. A bio-socio-economic modelling approach is developed here to incorporate these effects within a multi-objective optimization framework. Fishery labour dynamics are determined by the decisions of individual fishermen with net migration into and out of the fishery (and hence the fishing community) dependent on internal conditions such as per capita incomes and employment rates, as well as on the state of the external economy. The task of fishery management is then one of balancing multiple objectives – such as conservation, income generation, employment, and comm...


The epidemic of chronic non-communicable diseases(NCDs)has become a major public health problem in China.But for healthcare system,control of NCDs should still been paid more attention.The cooperative relationship of hospitals and communities is not well established,which makes the health services inhomogeneous.Meanwhile,the prominent separation phenomena exists in the prevention and treatment of the diseases.In order to control the epidemic of chronic diseases,we should further improve collaborative management of regional health services system and optimize the management of NCDs based on the discipline of prevalence of NCDs.


With the purposes of rendering assistance to the organisations attending to a heat supply, transfer, distribution, heat consumption, and also rendering assistance to the organisations of management of subjects of the Russian Federation and local governments for the resolution of disputes, maintenance of reliable functioning of systems of a heat supply, creation equal in rights both sharing of subscribers and supply the organisations the author accurately shows an order of drawing up of the agreement on the basis of observance of the legislation and other elements of law.


In the article modeling techniques meet the challenges of finding optimal routes of tourism. Done formal mathematical description of the problem of designing a tourist route network and, based on the analysis of numerical methods for solving them concluded that one of the most promising to date is a method of optimizing imitation ant colony. For example, the traveling salesman problem shows how in algorithms for solving optimization problems of discrete components to implement self ants. Figs.: 2. Refs.: 16 titles. Keywords: search optimal routes of tourism; optimization method imitation ant colony; numerical method.


(57) discloses a container for producing metals from a metalliferous feed material by Abstract: direct smelting process. This container comprises a molten bath having a metal layer (15) and a metal layer on the slag layer (16) has a gas continuous space (31) above the slag layer. The container includes a refractory steel hearth, the hearth has a bottom portion in contact with the molten metal (3) and side (55), with extending from the hearth of the side (55) upward and a side wall (5) in contact with the slag layer and the gas continuous space. Side walls in contact with the gas continuous space (5) contains a slag layer and the panel water cooled panels (57). Container further one injects an oxygen-containing gas extending downwardly into the vessel above the metal layer in the container or one or more lances / tuyeres (13), at least part of the metalliferous feed material and and a plurality of lances / tuyeres for injecting into the molten bath so as to penetrate the metal layer in the carbonaceous material with a carrier gas (11).


Three adeolescent cases of rhinogenic intracranial complications are reported. Case#1 was an 11-year-old girl diagnosed with a rhinogenic subdural and extradural abscess. Case#2 was a 15-year-old girl diagnosed with a rhinogenic subdural abscess and bacterial meningitis. Case#3 was a 13year-old boy diagnosed with a rhinogenic subdural abscess and bacterial meningitis. All three cases were successfully treated using broad-spectrum antibiotics, sinus surgery and neurosurgical drainage. Streptococcus intermedius was identified in all three cases. The development of antibiotic therapy and sinus surgery is thought to have reduced postoperative intracra nial complications. Recent reports suppose that idiopathic frontal sinusitis is the most frequent cause of intracranial complications. The development of antibiotic therapy would have been reducing intracranial complications. Relatively speaking, the idiopathic cases are increasing, and the postoperative cases are decreasing due to the development of sinus surgery. Idiopathic frontal sinusitis was the cause of the intracranial complications in all of the presently reported cases. The paranasal sinuses were fully developed in all three patients, and they experienced fewer nasal symptoms than usual. Subdural abscesses are rare, and sinusitis is thought to be the major cause of this disease. Therefore, a complete examination should be performed in cases with frontal sinusitis and neurological symptoms, such as headache or fever, to rule out the possibility of intracranial complications. Magnetic resonance imaging is more useful than computed tomography for the early detection of intracranial lesions.


The increase in solar radiation and temperature as a result of climate change and variability has increased sunburn damage to fruits, which highly affects quality and yield in tropical and subtropical fruit plants. Solar injuries increase because of conditions with low relative humidity, fruits left uncovered by foliage, and plantations at higher altitudes as a result of increased UV radiation. Three different types of sunburn on fruits are distinguished: photooxidative sunburn, sunburn browning, and necrosis on the epidermis. Fruits employ self-protection mechanisms against this stress through the production of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Fruit growers try to mitigate the impact of sunburning by planting species and varieties that are tolerant to this stress, pruning and training plants, leaving enough leaves above the fruit, efficient irrigation and intercropping for shading. More technical sunburn mitigation strategies include 1) improving the microclimate (shading nets, fruit bagging, evaporative cooling), 2) suppressors (kaolinite clay particle films, calcium carbonate) or 3) chemical protection (tocopherol, abscisic acid, ascorbic acid, anti-transpirants). This paper presents the state of research and its results for this abiotic stress in some tropical and subtropical fruit trees, such as avocado, banana, citrus, mango, pineapple and pitaya, along with observations for other fruit trees in tropical altitude zones. Continued research is recommended for this stress in different varieties with the use of environmentally friendly protective materials, along with studies on molecular mechanisms that direct the acclimatization of plants to a combination of these two types of stress, excessive radiation and temperature.


Introduction: B-1 lymphocytes with high levels of CD5 markers are capable of differentiation and transformation into macrophage-like cells, as B-1 cells. This study aims to isolate and purify this unique subset from umbilical cord blood cell. Materials and Methods: 14 umbilical cord samples from healthy neonates of natural or elective cesarean deliveries were used. White blood cells were separated from red blood cells using hydroxyethyl starch or gelatin 3%. Cell culture was performed to separate adhesive and non-adhesive cells. Umbilical cord lymphocytes subsets were separated from the remaining leukocyte contents by Ficoll densitygradient centrifugation. Lymphocyte rosette test was used to assess purification stage. Results: Despite lack of difference in cell count between the two blood dilution methods, cell vitality in hydroxylethyl starch method was less than 87%, while cell vital activity in the dilution method by gelatin 3% was measured between 90 and 95%. Lymphocyte rosette test results indicate B-1 cell purification rate of approximately 99% by using the above method. Conclusion: This process indicates most of the extracted B-cells from human umbilical cord blood belong to the B-1 cell subtype, and gelatin 3% procedure is the best and most appropriate method in terms of number and vitality of cells.


In order to promote a tourism destination, managers need to understand the sources of information most heavily used by foreign visitors in their search for information about overseas vacation destinations. This article examines the sources of information used by travelers from Japan and the former West Germany when they determine their top five overseas vacation destinations. This research discovered that both the Germans and Japanese relied heavily on multiple sources of information, with the travel agent being the number one information source for both groups. However, the Japanese relied more heavily on the print medium for their secondary information source. The Germans' main secondary information source was word-of-mouth advice from family and friends.


Review of the historical growth in offshore pipelines in UK-controlled waters, and discussion of their operational incident record. Particular attention is paid to the Piper Alpha disaster and to the work that has been - and is being - done to reduce the chance of similar accidents in the future. Finally, the paper reflects on the future prospects for offshore pipelines in the UK and how government and industry can work together to face the new challenges


Environmental Education (EE) is an important tool for the sustainable development of tourism, which is used to educate people on minimizing environmental impacts caused by the use of natural resources in tourist activities. Within this perspective, studies on EA in the Post-graduate Programmes in tourism in Brazil seem to be important and necessary to identify trends and gaps in the process of


The heterogeneous nature of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks can be exploited to optimize a wide range of applications. But this requires an accurate characterization of peer heterogeneity, which is difficult due to huge population and disparate properties of individuals. To overcome this barrier, we conduct a thorough inspection of peer heterogeneity in terms of individual churn and resource capacity. We make a first attempt to (i) experimentally reduce heterogeneous churn and resource dynamics to simple distributions with individual-specific parameters, and to (ii) provide an empirical support for the heterogeneous Markov model of churn. We further demonstrate how our characterization can be leveraged to optimize practical systems, through two case studies: fast backup in online storage and fault-tolerance in cycle-sharing systems. Both applications gain remarkable performance improvement by incorporating our model of peer heterogeneity.


In the days preceding Hurricane Katrina in 2005, over one million people evacuated from southeast Louisiana. Preliminary evidence suggests that, given the few available routes and short advance warning, this achievement was the most successful highway-based evacuation in U.S. history. This paper presents the contraflow plan that was developed to evacuate the greater New Orleans area, the transportation goals and philosophies that underlie it, and the unique features that permitted it to be used so effectively. The plan was unprecedented in its size and scope. It required the closure of long segments of interstate freeway, forced movement of traffic onto alternative routes, established reversible flow segments of freeway that crossed state boundaries, forced coordination of parallel nonfreeway routes, and forced reconfiguration of busy urban freeway interchanges to more effectively load evacuees from the surface street network onto the interstate system. The lessons learned from this experience can be applied by emergency planning experts in their own jurisdictions.


Activity coefficients for HCl in the system HCl + CoCl2 H2O, at 298.15 K and at constant total ionic strengths of 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mol kg–1, have been measured by an e.m.f. method. The results have been treated using Scatchard's and Pitzer's equations for mixed electrolyte solutions and activity coefficients for the salt have been derived. Although Scatchard's treatment generally gave a more accurate fit to the experimental data, the fit to Pitzer's equation, though satisfactory, could be significantly improved for the six HCl + NCl2 systems considered, provided that recognition is given to the contribution of higher-order electrostatic terms beyond the Debye–Huckel approximation to the thermodynamic properties of asymmetrical mixtures.


Follow-up to a previous report by alexandru ghillis (revista muzeelor si monumentelor - muzee n. 7/1985) on the use of a structural adhesive covidez c.p. Gold, for the consolidation of damaged panel paintings. Further research and use in restoring icons confirmed the qualities of the product.


From August I, 1914, to August r, 1915, between four and five hundred thousand tests (455,oo7) of the various Courtis standard research tests were sent from Detm.it to school men in 42 different states. ,This material wa-;mainly Series B Arithmetic Tests, and the growth from the use of the tests by a single school in 1909 maybe taken as an index of the growth throughout the United States of the interest in the movement for measurement. It should be evident at once that if this great quantity of material is being used so as to result in benefit to the schools tested, then measurement must be already exerting throughout the country a very widespread influence on the teaching of arithmetic. On the other hand, this extensive use of testing material may represent merely natural curiosity and an experimental trial by wide-awake school men of a new and much-discussed type of examination. Fortunately, measurement itself is,not on trial. The movement for measurement is merely an application of scientific methods to the study of educational problems. Both as a general method for the discovery of natural law and as a method of proved worth in education, the method of science rests on so sure a foundation that for a school man to declare that in his hands measurement has been a failure is to confess his own lack of training or his own incompetency. As for the Courtis tests, they were designed by the writer for a specific purpose, viz., to measure the effects of his own teaching and of methods invented to improve its efficiency. \This purpose has been successfully accomplished. For the writer's own purposes the tests yield resulL'i which are satisfactory and which have fully justified the time and effort given to the testing work. Further, the returns received from other schools to which the tests were sold on the co-operative basis have yielded information which has proved of the highest professional interest and value to


The utility model discloses a digital control drilling power head, including a housing, a main shaft arranged on the housing, a main shaft transmission system connected with the main shaft, a tapping transmission system and a digital controller; the tapping transmission system is connected on the main shaft; the main shaft is connected with the main shaft transmission system through an axial movable connecting mechanism; the digital controller is respectively connected with the main shaft transmission system and the tapping transmission system through conductors; the main shaft is in axial feeding in the rotation process under the action of the tapping transmission system, thereby avoiding defects of conventional manual feeding or leading screw feeding. The digital control drilling power head has simple operation for the integrated structure, convenient assembly and disassembly, small processing noise, easy replacing and debugging and wide applicability; a servo motor controlled by the digital controller improves processing precision and processing accuracy of holes, thus making a good beginning for full digitalization and full automation in the later period.


The performance of students in grades five through eight on test items in formats designed to measure various aspects of computational estimation was examined. Paper-pencil test data for 1376 students and interviews with 20 students were analyzed. Performance differed by item format, types of numbers and operations in the items, and grade level of students. Students tended to round numbers to the nearest leading power of 10 even when the items required other estimation processes.


Dispersion of the refractive index of thin Bi{sub 4}Ge{sub 3}O{sub 12} films produced by the discrete evaporation technique is studied within the two-oscillator approximation. The dispersion curve in the visible region is shown to be determined mainly by the electronic transitions between mixed states of the 6s and 6p shell of bismuth. 10 refs., 1 figs.


A case of primary carclnoid tumor of the kidney occurring In a 6&yeard women b reported. The tumor was 10 times 10 times 9 cm In she, did, yellowlsh‐white In color, and associated with nuuslve hemorrhagk necrosis. Hlstoluglcally, it was composed of trebecular and anastornosing ribbonlike nests. The tumor cells showed argyrophllbity with the Grlmelius stain and cytoplasmlc PCwitMty for neumendocrlne markers, (Including chromogranln A, neuron‐specifie endase, synap tophysln and Leu‐7), prostetlc acid phosphatase, keratin and vimentln. Numerous cytoplasmlc neurosecretory granules were demonstrated uhstmcturally. These histologic and Immunohistochemical findings are consisten with the theory that this tumor has a common phenotype with that of carcinoid tumor aridng from the hlndgut or cloaca.


Immunochemical studies of the Hepatitis B virus and its gene products require labeled virus or derivative gene products of high antigenic and structural integrity. Such ligands can be provided by 125I Hepatitis B antigen (HB Ag). Techniques for the iodination of microgram quantities of 22 nm HB Ag particles with either immobilized lactoperoxidase or chloramine-T are described. Specific activities of 2 to 10.0 µCi/µg can be achieved. The labeled products of both methods compare favorably with unlabeled antigen in terms of sedimentation velocity and density; however, the solid-phase lactoperoxidase method produces an 125I HB Ag ligand of superior antigenic integrity. 125I HB Ag prepared by lactoperoxidase has an in vivo clearance rate (T½) of 23 hr as compared to 19 hr for chloramine-T-labeled 125I HB Ag. Competitive inhibition radioimmunoassays, with 125I HB Ag, are influenced by the antigenic integrity of the ligand and only with the lactoperoxidase product can concentrations as low as 10 ng/ml (3 × 10-12 M) of purified unlabeled 22 nm HB Ag particles be detected. Deterioration of trichloroacetic acid precipitability and immunoprecipitability of 125I HB Ag is observed over a period of weeks, which imposes a requirement for fresh 125I HB Ag if maximum antigenic integrity of the ligand, sensitivity, and immunochemical precision are to be achieved.


In this article, we analyse the behaviour of cotton shirting fabrics during multiplex washing. The behaviour of fabrics was evaluated on the basis of the changes to hand parameters as determined with the KTU-Griff-Tester. The relationships between the 5 hand parameters and the cycles of fabric washing were determined. The influence of the 2 chemical liquid soften ers was analysed with the intention of stopping the deterioration of the hand parameters of woven fabrics, and stabilising the performance properties of fabrics.


In the automotive industry, products are increasingly diversified and produced in small quantities, making it difficult to rationalize production with fixed automated lines. In this paper, we constructed a model to estimate the posture of a mobile manipulator that combines an AMR and a manipulator, and developed a method to perform assembly and pick-and-place operations without slowing down or stopping while running.


Introduction: One of the mysteries of Fe-sulfate observations on Mars is the discrepancy between the findings of jarosite and a variety of ferric sulfates at both Mars exploration rover sites (Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum) [1,2] and the rarity of findings of Fesulfates by orbital remote sensing . By orbital remote sensing, Mgand Ca-sulfates have been identified with wide vertical and horizontal spread in Valles Marineris, Meridiani Planum, and in north polar regions . In contrast, a few occurrences of Fe-sulfates were reported by the CRISM team. The overall quantity of Fe-sulfates at the potential occurrences is not comparable with those of Mgand Ca-sulfates. Another mystery in Fe-sulfate observations is the temporal spectral changes of Fesulfate-enriched salty soils after they were excavated from the subsurface and exposed to current atmospheric conditions at the surface by Spirit. Laboratory experiments suggested that dehydration is the best candidate to explain the spectral changes, i.e., a phase transition of ferric sulfates has occurred indicating that it was originally NOT in equilibrium with atmospheric condition at the martian surface. There have been numerous studies of the phase relationships of Mg-sulfates of various hydration states and on the stability fields and phase transitions of these minerals. However, to our knowledge, phase boundaries for ferrous sulfates have only been studied for one pair and there have been no such studies for ferric sulfates. The lack of information on fundamental thermodynamic properties of ferric sulfates has made it difficult to interpret mission observations and thus to link the occurrence of these secondary minerals with paleoclimatic conditions on Mars. Study of the fundamental thermodynamic properties of ferric sulfates: We have been conducting a systematic laboratory experimental study on the fundamental thermodynamic and kinetic properties of hydrated ferric sulfates. This study has gone through three steps. We firstly synthesized eight ferric sulfates with different degrees of hydration, acidity, and crystallinity (ferricopiapite, paracoquimbite, kornelite, lausenite, pentahydrate, rhomboclase, mikasaite, and amorphous Fe-sulfates). Their identities were confirmed using XRD, and then spectroscopic characterization was done using Raman, MIR, NIR, and UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy . Because of the importance of copiapite among common ferric sulfates, we then synthesized its four chemical endmembers (ferricopiapite, copiapite, magnesiocopiapite, and aluminocopiapite) and characterized them spectroscopically . We then used five of the synthesized ferric sulfates to set up 150 experiments at three temperatures and ten relative humidity levels to study their stability fields and phase transition pathways. We report here the results of this study after over two years' reaction time. These results provide the basic information for the third step of our investigation in which an experimental study of the phase boundary between a pair of ferric sulfates (Fe2(SO4)3·5H2O and Fe2(SO4)3·7H2O) was designed and conducted. The results are reported in a separate abstract. 150 Experiments: Because the state of Fe-sulfates is a function of fH2O, pH, and fO2, the sulfates with Fe and mixed Fe/Fe were avoided in our experiments for the purpose of removing at least one variable. We selected five of the synthetic ferric sulfates on the basis of these considerations: (1) they are the most common species precipitated from aqueous Fe-S-O solutions in a wide temperature and pH range; (2) they are common species observed in terrestrial settings; (3) they can occur in an extremely arid environment like amorphous Mg-sulfates; and (4) they are easy to make in the laboratory. Ten relative humidity (RH) buffers (saturated aqueous solution with excess salts: LiBr, LiCl, MgCl2, Mg(NO3)2, NaBr, KI, NaCl, KCl, KNO3, and H2O) provide a RH range of 6% to 100%. Three temperature zones at 50±1°C, 21±2°C, and 5±1°C were maintained in an oven, at ambient conditions on a lab bench, and under refrigeration. Dry powders of the starting ferric sulfate phases were placed in a reaction vial, which was uncapped and was placed inside of a glass bottle filled with RH buffers. The tightly sealed 150 sample-buffer vial pairs were put into designated temperature zones for long period to equilibrate.


Abstract Background Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is known to include problems relating to nutrition, information about nutritional behavior, caregiver feeding styles, and anthropometric measurements is still limited. Aims We aimed to assess the nutritional behavior, anthropometric measurements, and caregiver feeding styles of children with ASD. Method One hundred and four children with ASD and 100 controls were enrolled in the study. Children's weight and height were measured and recorded by the researchers. The Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire, Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire, Development Assessment Form, and Sociodemographic Data Form were conducted by their caregivers. Results Children with ASD were difficult to feed as babies, experienced more problems in the transition to supplementary food, were more selective about food, and were fed diets with a more limited variety than the control group. The BMI z-scores for children with ASD were higher than those for children without ASD, while their height z-scores were lower. Children with ASD displayed more responsiveness to food, emotional overeating, enjoyment of food, desire for drinks, emotional undereating, and food selectivity behaviors, while the parents of these children were found to use more emotional feeding, instrumental feeding, and tolerance-controlled feeding styles than the parents of the controls. Conclusions Children with ASD are more selective about foods and have greater difficulty in switching to supplementary food. The BMI-z score for children with ASD is higher and the height-z score is lower. Children with ASD have different eating and feeding styles compared to children in the control group.


In order to research and realize the localization rub fault in rotating machinery base on acoustic emission( AE) signals and to improve the accuracy of localization,firstly,we analysed the propagation of the acoustic emission in near-field model,and presented a new location method of acoustic emission in which the empirical model decomposition( EMD) was used in connection with the multiple signal classification( MUSIC) method. The signal of every senor was decomposed into a number of intrinsic mode functions( IMF) by making use of EMD's self-adaptive decomposing property. Then,the MUSIC method was used to deal with AE source related IMF,by means of distance and azimuth joint estimation to achieve the AE source location. The simulation results show that EMD connection with MUSIC method can effectively detect the position of weak AE source under strong interference.


Abstract The reactivity of N-cyanomethyl quaternary salts of 4-, 5- and 7-azaindoles towards salicylic aldehydes has been studied. The interaction of azaindolium salts with salicylic aldehydes proceeds as a base-promoted domino reaction, giving the corresponding chromenoimidazopyrrolopyridines. In the case of the 7-(cyanomethyl)-7-azaindolium salt, the reaction was found to be more sensitive, but the use of the 1-methyl-substituted salt allowed the synthesis of the desired compounds, incorporating the heterocyclic core of isogranulatimide C, a marine natural product.


Foreword by Christopher E. Wolfla, MD, 62nd President of the CNS In January of 2012, the Congress of Neurological Surgeons suffered a tragic and unexpected loss with the untimely death of Dr Christopher C. Getch, the 61st President of the CNS. Having known and worked with Dr Getch since 2000, when we were both appointed to the CNS Executive Committee, I can personally attest to the profound sense of vision and leadership he brought to the CNS, as well as to the tremendous void his passing left in our specialty. During the 2011 CNS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, Dr Getch delivered a poignant and inspiring address on the state of our specialty and how the changing regulatory environment has impacted the way neurosurgeons are valued by patients and by society (Figure 1). His address touched on the unique character of a neurosurgeon and the profound sense of duty we have always felt toward our profession. He encouraged us all to protect our ability to give back to the profession through volunteerism, in spite of the changing environment around us. The following is a transcript of this earnest and insightful Presidential Address from one our specialty's most inspiring leaders—a man who worked tirelessly throughout his career on behalf of the CNS, its members, and the profession of Neurosurgery.


Mahoney, K. J. and Gillard, C. L. 2014. Plant health and yield of dry bean not affected by strobilurin fungicides under disease-free or simulated hail conditions. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 1385-1389. Strobilurin fungicides have been advocated to manage plant stress, optimize plant health, and increase yields of several crops. Studies were conducted in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 to determine if azoxystrobin or pyraclostrobin induced plant health effects and increased yield of dry bean grown under conditions with very low levels of foliar disease and with the application of a simulated hail stress treatment. Azoxystrobin (125 g a.i. ha-1) and pyraclostrobin (100 g a.i. ha-1) applied at the start of flowering reduced the percentage of harvested dry bean seeds that were discoloured or misshaped (i.e., pick value) to 2.06 and 2.15%, respectively compared with 2.4% for the untreated control. Increased seed quality of edible legumes has been identified as a plant health benefit induced by strobilurin fungicides; however, neither fungicide contributed to increased seed weight or dry bean yield compared with the untreated control in the presence or absence of a simulated hail treatment. The results of this study suggest that the application of azoxystrobin or pyraclostrobin when dry bean growing conditions are unfavourable for disease development should be weighed against economic considerations and the potential risks associated with disease resistance development.


To check the functions and reliability of on-line monitoring systems of transmission and distribution equipment,a series of tests are needed.Based on the application experience of on-line monitoring systems and relevant standards,the test system is proposed which includes the type test,factory test,handover test,special test,and sampling test.The main test items includes accuracy test,simulation test,isolation test,environment test,electromagnetic compatibility test,mechanical performance test,continuous-current test,and reliability test.The detail contents and index requirements are also put forward.


TVA's power rates have been the subject of a long and unsettled controversy. TVA argues that its low promotional rates are sufficient to cover its costs of production. According to TVA, low rates lead to greater sales which lead to economies in production, transmission, and distribution, and hence to lower costs per kwh. The nation's private utilities and the Chamber of Commerce of the United States view TVA's


ABSTRACT Objective: When psychotherapy is brief (1–2 sessions), "early dropout" – defined as premature treatment discontinuation due to financial or structural barriers – is a commonly assumed cause. However, there are several possible reasons why treatment may be brief, including youth-level factors such as psychopathology complexity or problem type. Better characterizing whether factors beyond financial and structural barriers predict adolescents' receipt of briefer (versus longer-term) treatment may guide efforts to retain specific youth in longer-term services – and disseminate intentionally brief interventions to youth potentially positioned to benefit. Method: Using data from the 2017 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, we examined whether sociodemographic disadvantage (minority race, low-income, government assistance), perceived problem type, and psychopathology complexity (1 versus multiple problem types) related to psychotherapy length (1–2 versus 3-24+ sessions) among adolescents receiving outpatient psychotherapy (N = 1,601; ages 12–17; 60.59% white; 64.50% female). Results: Among adolescents beginning outpatient psychotherapy, 23.36% ended treatment after 1–2 sessions. Psychopathology complexity predicted greater likelihood of receiving >2 sessions, after adjusting for specific problem type (χ2 = 75.14, p < .001, OR = 1.80). Further, although certain problem types (e.g., depression, anxiety, and anger control) were associated with increased likelihood of greater treatment length, these findings did not hold after accounting for psychopathology complexity. No sociodemographic factors significantly predicted treatment length. Conclusions: Structural and financial barriers alone may not explain when and why youth psychotherapy is brief. Additional factors, such as psychopathology complexity, may be important and potentially primary contributors to treatment duration among youth who access outpatient services. Future research may examine whether youth with less comorbidity differentially benefit from intentionally brief interventions, along with strategies for retaining youth who might benefit from longer-term care – such as those with multiple co-occurring problems – in treatment.


This research is to explore the satisfaction for senior citizens on continuing education in Taiwan. The purpose of this research aims at the difference on teacher's teaching, personal relationship, learning result, materials and environment. Through different sexual and living area as the background variables, a questionnaire is adopted as the methodology in this research. Three results are found in this research. In overall, senior citizens taking continuing education put the most important attention on personal relationship but materials and leaning environment put the least. There is a significant difference on personal relationship, teacher's teaching and research result between different sexes. Female senior citizens attach more importance to teacher's teaching and learning results but male senior citizens value on personal relationship. Another significant difference is shown on teacher's teaching and personal relationship because of senior citizens living area. Urban senior citizens put importance on personal relationship and rural senior citizens respect teacher's teaching more. Keywords—Learning satisfaction, continuing education, senior citizens.