We present, in this paper, a theoretical description on double-fed induction generator (DFIG) with wind turbine, and its control by two methods; indirect power control (IDPC) and sliding mode control (SMC) with Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM) technique to control the inverter. Simulation experiments are done under MATLAB/Simulink. After the results obtained, SMC has lower Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) compared to IDPC. In addition, the control system using SMC shows more stability and has low ripples for both active and reactive powers.


This paper proposes a new output feedback method for a class of partial-state measurement nonlinear systems. Only input and output are available, the inner states and the structure are unknown. The design is based on the combination of the state observer with the fuzzy controller. As no any information of the nonlinear system can be used, the observer is model-free. A adaptive fuzzy controller can be used to control the nonlinear system based on the full observed states. By means of Lyapunov-like analysis we determine the stable learning algorithm for the observer-based fuzzy control.


For injection method for simultaneously delivering at least two agents, a reservoir having at least one flexible section for use in the medicated module (4) (31) is disclosed, wherein the first containing a first agent delivery device (7) receives the medicated module (4) including a second single dose of the drug (2), and both agents are delivered through a single hollow needle (3). Reservoir (31) is one to allow the delivery of the first and second agent or more slit valves including (44, 45). Medicated module (4) also includes a needle guard that engages the housing (43) of the reservoir (31) to open the slit valve (44, 45) (22). .The


Abstract This article aims to introduce some concepts such as complete outer measure on a σ – field and extension of outer measure on a σ – field. We discuss some properties of these concepts. Furthermore, the notion of outer measure relative to the σ – field has been studied as stronger form of null-additive relative to the σ – field. Finally, aims to introduce a new space noted by complete outer measure space and we present a theorem of the unique smallest complete extension outer measure space.


The selection of an appropriate packing material for the biofiltration process is an important factor in the removal of contaminants from vapor phase. This study evaluates two different types of packing media, and focuses on the advantages of an adsorbing media (granular activated carbon) versus a non-adsorbing media (anthracite). The results showed that both media were able to achieve ≥99% removal efficiencies for methanol with no adverse effect on methylene chloride removals. However, there were definite differences between the two media in the biodegradation of methylene chloride. The results revealed that the GAC column allowed for a greater mineralization of methylene chloride, and supported a greater population of microorganisms than the anthracite column.


The author presents a discussion of quality assurance in asphalt pavement construction from the contractor's viewpoint. He relates the experience of the Northern Ohio Paving Company, Twinsburg, Ohio.


Heterostructures offer an exceptional possibility of combining individual 2D materials into a new material having altered properties compared to the parent materials. Germanane (GeH) is a 2D material with many favorable properties for energy storage and catalysis, however, its performance is hindered by its low electrical conductivity. To address the low electrochemical performance of GeH, a heterostructure of GeH and Ti3C2Tx is fabricated. The Ti3C2TX is a layered material belonging to the family of MXenes. The resulting heterostructure (GeMXene) at a defined mass ratio of GeH and Ti3C2Tx shows superior capacitive performance that surpasses that of both pristine materials. The effect of the size of cations and anions for intercalation into GeMXene in different aqueous salt solutions is studied. GeMXene allows only cation intercalation, which is evidenced by the gravimetric electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) technique. The capacitive performance of the GeMXene is compared in neutral, acidic, and alkaline electrolytes to determine the best electrochemical performance. This unleashes the potential use of GeMXene heterostructure in different electrolytes for supercapacitors and batteries. This work will pave the way to explore the heterostructures of other 2D materials such as novel MXenes and functionalized germanane for highly energy‐storage efficient systems, and beyond.


Reaction of Ni(CH3CO2)2·4H2O with N,N′,N″-trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane(L) in methanol and addition of solid NaClO4·H2O yielded a blue-green binuclear nickel(II) complex containing a hydroxo and two acetate groups as bridging ligands. The crystal and molecular structure of the compound has been established by X-ray diffraction. It consists of binuclear cations [LNi(µ-OH)(µ-CH3CO2)2NiL]+, unco-ordinated perchlorate anions, and water of crystallization. Variable temperature (4–300 K) magnetic susceptibility measurements show a weak antiferromagnetic exchange coupling (J=–4.5 cm–1, 〈g〉= 2.17) between nickel centres with TN≈ 7.1 K. The electronic spectra, measured both in the solid state and in solution, yielded the Racah parameter B(873 cm–1) and the spin–orbit coupling constant λ(–208 cm–1). The cyclic voltammogram of the compound in acetonitrile revealed a quasi reversible one-electron transfer (E1/2=+0.38 V vs. ferrocenium–ferrocene) corresponding to the couple NiIIINiII–NiIINiII and an irreversible oxidation wave at Epox≈+1.04 vs. ferrocenium–ferrocene.


Synopsis : In the scrap-melting operation of shaft furnaces, an operation technology with use of 100% small size blast furnace coke for solid fuel instead of typically utilizing foundry coke has been established. An operation technology with use of 100% steel scrap without using return scrap containing 3-4 % carbon for ferrous raw material, and 70% or more of steel scrap consists of shredder scrap, has been established as well. This technology was fi rst developed with one-stage tuyere operations using only lower tuyeres. Next two-stage tuyere operations using lower and upper tuyeres has been developed to explore more ef fi cient operation. In the two-stage tuyere operation, the number of pipes, the diameter, and the protruding length of the upper tuyeres were examined as param-eters, an operation technology with high ef fi ciency was established, which enabled us to achieve high productivity and low coke ratio.


Operating losses directly impact the temperature profiles, life, and efficiency of electrical machines. Achieving accurate predictions of machine performance early in the design process can be a significant challenge. Finite element methods for predicting critical machine performance parameters such as operating losses and efficiency can be used, and advances in computing capabilities have allowed for more extensive use of this approach. This paper is focused on the concepts used in a new and unique method for predicting machine iron losses using transient finite element methods (FEM). A significant difference of the new method is the manner in which the predictive loss function is arrived at given lamination steel experimental loss test data. The new iron loss predictive function is compared to a common historical method for several lamination steels.


The present investigation was undertaken on maize ( Zea mays L.) under two abiotic stress conditions viz. low-nitrogen (low soil fertility) and excess soil moisture conditions (waterlogging) during kharif 2010. Studies were carried out for developing suitable selection indices in relation to multiple abiotic stress tolerance. The experimental material consisted of twelve lines and four testers and their 48 single crosses planted in Randomized Block Design. Analysis of variance revealed significance for all the traits studied in both the conditions, indicating there by the existence of high genetic variability in the genotypes. In low-N conditions, the best performing line was L 5 followed by and among testers T 3 ranked highest. Among the crosses, L 11 ×T 4 ranked highest followed by L 8 ×T 1 and L 11 ×T 3 . In waterlogging conditions, L 6 performed better followed by L 5 . Among the crosses L 6 ×T 4 ranked highest. Economic weights were assigned to various traits under low-nitrogen and excess soil moisture (ESM) conditions. Among the crosses, aggregate score were higher in most of the cases but general trend was that ESM traits had the lower score values. Crosses L 11 ×T 4 , L 8 ×T 1 , L 11 ×T 3 , L 7 ×T 2 and L 6 ×T 2 performed well in low-nitrogen conditions for the assigned selection criteria. In waterlogging trials, L 6 ×T 4 , L 7 ×T 2 and L 4 ×T 1 performed excellent while crosses L 5 ×T 1 , L 12 ×T 2 , L 5 ×T 4 , and L 3 ×T 3 ranked very low in ESM trials. Thus for ESM tolerance, the crosses L 6 ×T 4 and L 7 ×T 2 are the best available crosses according to the given selection criteria and for low-nitrogen tolerance, L 11 ×T 4 and L 8 ×T 1 were the best crosses.


The sugar beet is one of the most important crops for both social and economic reasons, even though the area under sugar beet cultivation in the Red River valley of North Dakota and Minnesota is comparatively smaller that of corn and other crop lands. It generates a large economic activity in local and regional level with a greater impact on jobs and stimulation of agriculture, transportation, and farm economy. Sugar beet transportation takes place in two stages in Red River Valley: the first step is from farms to piling centers (pilers) and the second step from pilers to processing facilities. This study focuses on the problem of optimizing piler locations based on supply variation. Sugar beet supply and harvest varies significantly due to numerous reasons such as weather, water availability, and different maturity dates for the crop. This provides for a variable optimal harvesting time based on the plant maturity and sugar content. Sub-optimized pilers location result in the high transportation and utilization costs. The objective of this study is to minimize the sum of transportation costs to and from pilers and the pilers utilization cost. A two-step algorithm based on the geographical information system (GIS) with global optimization method is used to solve this problem. This method will also be useful for infrastructure decision makers such as planners and engineers to predict the truck volume on rural roads.


Objective
To describe the anatomical characteristics of the brachioradialis (BR) tendon insertion and explore the role of the insertion on the formation of radial styloid process fragment.

Methods
Fourteen fresh adult cadaver arms were selected from March to September in 2015. The general anatomical structure of the BR tendon and the location, shape of the BR insertion were observed, its length, width, area and the distance from insertion to the tip of styloid process were measured. Twenty-nine patients with distal radius fractures concurrent radial styloid process fragment were reviewed from July 2014 to April 2016. The anteroposterior radiographs of the wrists were retrospectively analyzed. The radius styloid process fragments were classified into 2 types: solitary and fragmented. The length of the styloid process and the length of the articular surface of the metaphyseal bone were measured. The fracture pattern was compared with the location of the BR insertion based on the cadaver measurements. The results of the measured fragments were analyzed using statistical software of SPSS 17.0.

Results
The BR tendon had a firm attachment to the deep antebrachial fascia, and the aponeurosis of pronator quadratus and 2nd dorsal compartment. This fibrous connection was very stout. The distal end of BR tendon firmly inserted onto radial styloid process. The shape of insertion was like a water-drop, with the tip pointing to the proximal. The insertion was (18.80±3.67)mm long, (11.23±2.06)mm wide, and the area was (141.53±4.55)mm2. It was (26.59±3.76)mm away from the proximal end of the insertion to the tip of radius. In radiological study, there were 11 cases of the solitary type, the length of the styloid process fragment was (24.42±4.30) mm. There were 18 cases of the fragmented type, the total length of the styloid process fragment, metaphyseal fragment and articular surface fragment were (28.08±4.93) mm, (16.32±3.87) mm and (11.76±3.46) mm, respectively. Compared with specimen anatomical measurements, there was no significant difference between the length of the styloid process fragment and the distance between the proximal end of the insertion and the tip of radius styloid in solitary and fragmented types (t=1.345, 1.334, all P values>0.05). In fragmented type, there was no significant difference between the length of metaphyseal fragment and the length of the BR insertion (t=1.839, P>0.05).

Conclusions
The BR tendon is firmly attached to the radius styloid process, which is the anatomical basis of the metaphyseal fragment in distal radius fracture.

Key words:
Radius fractures; Radial styloid; Brachioradialis; Anatomy, regional; Radiography


Most speech recognizers do not differentiate between reliable and unreliable portions of the speech signal during search. As a result, most of the search effort is concentrated in unreliable areas. Island-driven search addresses this problem by first identifying reliable islands and directing the search out from these islands towards unreliable gaps. In this paper, we develop a technique to detect islands from knowledge of hypothesized broad phonetic classes (BPCs). Using this island/gap knowledge, we explore a method to prune the search space to limit computational effort in unreliable areas. In addition, we also investigate scoring less detailed BPC models in gap regions and more detailed phonetic models in islands. Experiments on both small and large scale vocabulary tasks indicate that our island-driven search strategy results in an improvement in recognition accuracy and computation time.


A 4 year old boy presented with a 24 hour history of fever, cramping central abdominal pain with distension, and bloody diarrhoeal stools. He had developed acute myeloblastic leukaemia at the age of 1. He …


Current research mostly focuses on functional analysis of composite services. However, the issue of how to analyze and evaluate performance of composite services has largely been overlooked. A new PEPA based method for composite service performance modeling and evaluation is presented, which could be used to analyze and evaluate service composition scheme in the stage of system analysis. Firstly, a service composition graph based method is suggested to analysis interactive behaviors among atomic services in a composite service. Isomorphic relation of a composite services and a PEPA mode is proved subsequently. Next, the mapping rule of composite service and PEPA is presented, and performance models of composite service are built. Finally, the whole methods and steps of performance modeling and analysis of composite services are introduced in detail. A case study verifies that the suggested method is more simple, effective and suitable to engineering experience.


In has been supposed that the enhanced neural activity in hippocampus after conditioning is due to the modification of modulating inputs. The influence of serotonin application on the population spike amplitude in hippocampal slices of rats after conditioning was essentially less expressed than that in the slices prepared from the control rats. The after-effects of serotonin in the control slices were due to frequency facilitation in repetitive stimulation. Frequency facilitation was found in the hippocampal slices of conditioned rats before serotonin application. Serotonin did not influence this process. These findings are evidence in favour of an assumption that serotonin can be at least one of the causes of the frequency facilitation in hippocampus after conditioning.


The study of a gas turbine plant fed by solid fuel is discussed in this paper. The plant presented is a small one, 3 MWel, externally fired by the combustion of solid biomass. The aim of the technical discussion is to find both the energetic optimisation and the actual feasibility of the plant through available industrial components (gas turbine, heat exchanger, biomass combustor). The final optimal configuration found in the present study allows for a mix of internal (gas) and external (solid fuel) combustion. In this way higher maximum cycle temperature than in standard biomasss combustors are reached through a small addition of gaseous or liquid fuel. The technical study is based on an optimum size and configuration of the power plant, previously defined, with respect to the performance and the complexity of the plant, and in comparison with other energy conversion processes of biomass such as pyrolysis or gasification. A sensitivity analysis permits the determination an optimal gas turbine in terms of pressure ratio and TIT for the current application and indicates the most important parameters that affect the power plant performance, i.e. the components on which the performance of the plant may depend. Economic data show that the direct external combustion of solid fuel has a more favourable trade-off than the configuration of the plant with gasifier.© 2000 ASME


In this paper we proposed a practical low-power design technique using clock-gating in RTL. An efficient low-power methodology is that a high-level designer analyzes a generic system and designs a controller for clock-gating. Also the desirable flow is to derive clockgating in normal synthesis process by synthesis tool than to insert directly gate to clock line. If low-power is considered in coding process, clock is gated in coding process. If not considered, after analyzing entire operation, clock is gated in periods of holding data. After analyzing operation for clock-gating, a controller was designed for it, and then a low-power circuit was generated by synthesis tool. The proposed technique was verified by Power Theater in netleist level after executing synthesis using Design Compiler of Synopsys and 90㎚ CMOS library of TSMC. From result, we identified that the consumed power of register decreased from 922㎻ to 543㎽, that is the decrease rate is 42%. In case of synthesizing the test circuit using synthesizer of Power Theater, it decreased frm 322mw to 208㎽ (36.5% decrease).


The following Latin version, hitherto unpublished, of the Byzantine Liturgies of St. Basil and St. John Chrysostom was generously placed at my disposal by my confrère, the late lamented Dom André Wilmart, O.S.B., who about seventeen years ago discovered and transcribed it from a manuscript purchased at London in 1899 by the Bibliothèque Nationale: Nouv. Acq. lat. 1791 Since the manuscript was written in the second half of the twelfth century, this translation is—to put it roughly—at least as old as that of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (= X) made at Constantinople about 1180 by the Pisan interpreter, Leo Tuscus, or that of the Liturgy of St. Basil (= B) made shortly afterward by Nicholas of Otranto. But it is important to note at the outset that the present translation represents a considerably earlier redaction of the Liturgies than do the two aforesaid versions, for we have here, as in the earliest of our manuscripts, the Barberinum S. Marci (= BSM), and several others, the prayers of the celebrant only and a corresponding minimum of rubrics. Of special significance, moreover, are the two following facts: first, the precedence given to B, an arrangement found in comparatively few manuscripts, among them the oldest which we know; and secondly, the occurrence in this same Liturgy of ancient rubrics and of the ancient form of at least one exclamation of the deacon, which point to a very early recension as the original from which the translator worked. On the other hand, over against this ancient form stands a relatively modern text, for not only are certain prayers which appear in the most ancient manuscripts only, missing from this translation, but in those few prayers also in the tradition of which it is possible to distinguish an older from a more recent set of readings, it is the latter which are almost invariably found. Similarly, the indication of certain acclamations by the initial words only (an ancient trait) and the writing out of the ἐκΦωνήσ∊ις in full (a very late practice) constitute another combination of ancient and recent features. But to attempt on the basis of these characteristics to fix the date of either the original or the translation, is to face possibilities only, concerning which it would be useless to speculate.


Aim: To assess the cardiovascular risk factors and carotid intima media thickness in young Indian PCOS patients. Materials and Methods : The study group included 25 PCOS patients who were diagnosed according to Rotterdam criteria and 15 healthy controls who had normal menstrual cycles. The mean age and BMI in PCOS (age-22.3±3years, BMI 28.1±5.4 kg/m2) and control (age 21.5±0.6yrs, BMI22.3±3.7kg/m2). In all these patients detailed clinical examination and anthropometry including height, weight were taken and BMI was calculated. Fasting blood glucose and serum insulin, lipids, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), follicle stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, total testosterone were tested. HOMA-IR was calculated according to formula FPG (mmol/l)* S. insulin (μIU/ml)/22.5. Carotid intima media thickness was measured on either side or mean of three readings taken as final value. Results : Carotid intima media thickness was statistically significantly increased in PCOS patients compared to controls (0.699±0.06 vs0.558±0.05mm, p<0.001). Serum insulin, HOMA-IR, hsCRP were significantly more in PCOS compared control. However hsCRP was non-significant when BMI and waist circumference were included in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Present study shows that patients with PCOS are at increased risk of atherosclerosis in young Indian women. © This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.


ABSTRACT Serial subtraction performances were measured before and after a 4-hr iv infusion of testosterone in 27 normal male subjects. Twenty-seven control subjects, individually matched with the testosterone infused subjects for initial serial subtraction performance ability, received control infusions. Testosterone was infused at a rate of 0.8 mg/hr. Plasma testosterone concentrations (PTC) and serum LH levels were measured at the beginning and end of the infusion in some subjects. The post-infusion task performances were poorer in both the testosterone and saline infused groups. However, the control group had a significantly greater decline in performance than the testosterone infused group (p<.05). The PTCs of the saline group declined 21%, probably reflecting the diurnal variation reported for PTC. Control subjects with the lowest post-infusion PTCs had significantly greater declines in performances than those with higher post-infusion PTCs (p<.02). In the subjects infused with testosterone the post-...


In this paper we present a novel bottom-up computer vision approach. The idea is based upon quantifying the stability of the number of regions in a multidimensional parameter scale-space. The parameters forming such a scale-space can be threshold, region growth, intensity variance and other low-level properties. We capture this idea using a scale-space formulation to detect "stable" segmentations as local minima in the scale-space during the processing of retinal images. This method is related with and similar to perceptual organization, a middle platform originating from low-level primitives, and leading to high-level recognition. Some results of images processed are also given.


Previous research on the impact of pretask planning on interlanguage development (e.g., Crookes, 1989; Ellis, 1987; Foster & Skehan, 1996) has focused solely on the linguistic quality of planned output, leaving the cognitive and attentional processes engaged during planning time unexplored. Drawing on recent research on focus on form (Doughty & Williams, 1998a) and on retrospective methodologies used in strategy use research (e.g., O'Malley & Chamot, 1990), the study reported here investigated whether planning opportunity results in an increased focus on form at the level of strategic attention to form during planning time, as well as at the level of production outcomes during task performance. The results provide support for the claim that planning before doing an L2 task can promote an increased focus on form by providing space for the learner to devote conscious attention during pretask planning to formal and systemic aspects of the language needed to accomplish a particular task.


I.INTRODUCTION II.BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL PROTECTIONS IN CONTRACT AND MARITIME LAW A. Fundamental Concepts in Contract Law B. The Necessity of Judicial Intervention C. The Foundation of Admiralty and Maritime Law and Jurisdiction 1. The Osceola 2. The Jones Act 3. Judicial Interpretation of the Jones Act III.THE DIFFICULT JOURNEY TO DEFINE THE INDEFINABLE A. Who Qualifies as a Jones Act Seaman? B. What Duties Qualify as Aiding in the Accomplishment of the Mission? C. When Is a Seaman Attached to a Vessel? IV.WHY IS THE JONES ACT VITAL TO SEAMEN IN PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS? A. Benefits Received Under the Jones Act B. Seamen Are Not Entitled to Recovery Under Any Other Precept V.APPROACHING A CROSSROADS IN MARITIME LAW A. Forum Selection Clauses B. Opening a Pandora's Box VI.THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS OF FORUM SELECTION CLAUSES A. M/S Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co.--Beginning the Trend B. Maritime Law Changes Direction C. A Survey of the Circuits Regarding General Application of Forum Selection Clauses 1. First Circuit Court of Appeals 2. Third Circuit Court of Appeals 3. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals 4. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals VII.A QUESTION OF FORUM SELECTION IN SEAMEN'S CONTRACTS A. A Changing of the Tide in the Fifth Circuit 1. Marinechance Shipping, Ltd. v. Sebastian 2. MacPhail v. Oceaneering International, Inc. B. Considering Boyd VIII. THE FUTURE OF FORUM SELECTION CLAUSES: FORUM SELECTION CLAUSES FOLLOWING NUNEZ V. AMERICAN SEAFOODS IX.CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION Individuals and corporate entities alike expect certain freedoms and rights to be preserved under the laws of the United States through the powers of legislation and judicial enforcement. Fundamental basics such as the right to contract freely with others in commerce for goods and services must be protected. (1) As technology advances and the boundaries of the world in which companies conduct their daily business transcend oceans and continents, the basic concepts of law must evolve to meet the changes in demands. (2) Additionally, recognition of the validity of the laws of other forums proves vital to continuing business relations between countries and cultures. (3) Beyond the need for foreign diplomacy and the protection of foreign relations lies the concern for the protection of individuals' rights. (4) Freedom of contract is vital to evolving business relationships; however, the courts must not go so far as to allow progress to impede basic human rights under the law and the protection these rights deserve. With the development of international commercial relationships, the question becomes which country's laws will govern the agreements of each relationship and any controversies arising from it. (5) Many companies have sought to settle the question by including forum selection clauses within the language of their contracts. (6) The courts once regarded these clauses that seek to set the forum of future litigation in advance as a type of forum shopping. (7) In early cases involving forum selection clauses, the courts refused to enforce the clauses, claiming they violated public policy by serving as an effort to deny a court its jurisdiction. (8) However, following a 1972 decision by the Supreme Court, MIS Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., (9) the lower courts sharply turned their practice to upholding forum selection clauses in almost any circumstance. (10) While the new trend provides consistency in determining disputes arising under contract law, it has failed to provide the protections required of the courts when enforcing other areas of the law. (11) This comment will discuss the evolution of the Bremen precedent and the argument that the lower courts have applied the ruling too broadly and have failed to consider the analysis used by the Court in arriving at this significant decision. …


Traditionally the interjurisdictional management of non-fish marine species has been considered to fall under the purview of conservation or multilateral environment accords (MEAs). The last ten to 15 years have witnessed a slow alteration in this assignment of responsibility, concomitant with an increased understanding that the primary threat to marine wildlife is through their interaction with man. One, if not the highest, cause of human induced marine wildlife mortality is accidental capture in fishing gear. Acknowledging this linkage, Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) have accorded increasing attention to the broader ecological impacts of fisheries — especially the issue of marine wildlife bycatch. The term "bycatch" is used to describe the capture of non-targeted fish and non-fish species in fishing operations. Bycatch is also commonly referred to as "incidental" or "non-target take," and in the international arena is also referred to as the capture of "ecologically related" or "associated" and "dependant" species. To date, the focus has been on the threat to wildlife on sea birds, cetaceans and marine turtles. The problem of uncontrolled and escalating bycatch, as with overfishing, emerged largely due to the rapid development of fishing technologies, the growth of commercial


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review state-of-the-art literature on product/brand positioning to re-examine the positioning concept and developing a more comprehensive definition from a theoretical viewpoint.

Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review of positioning was conducted. The review conformed to a rigorous set of core principles: it was systematic (organized according to a method designed to address the review questions), transparent (explicitly stated), reproducible and updatable and synthesized (summarized the evidence relating to the review question).

Findings
The literature review reveals that there is lack of coherent definition for positioning, and there is no mutual agreement among marketing scholars and practitioners about the exact meaning of the concept. Therefore, comprehensive definition of positioning encompassing the five underlying positioning perspectives (competition; empty slot/mind; consumers' perception, differentiation and competitive advantage) is suggested.

Research limitations/implications
This paper will be useful for academicians to analyze the current nature of academic research in this area and will provide an added advantage to managers to design and implement positioning strategies for their product/brands that will allow their organizations to gain competitive advantage. This study acknowledges limitations with respect to its exclusive search criteria, which might affect its generalizability.

Social implications
Position and positioning is of relevance in society in broad terms, e.g. in sports, politics and culture. Positioning strategy is discussed and implemented in different industries (business-to-business and consumer), for all kinds of brands (including, for instance, corporate brands) and for "brands" in the very widest sense (such as places or people).

Originality/value
This is the first systematic review of positioning that provides a detailed understanding of the current state of positioning research on a single platform and also draws a comprehensive positioning conceptualization.


Objective To compare the serum virological response and end-of-dose failure after treatment with lamivudine(LAM) in patients with chronic hepatitis B(CHB) infection.Methods 104 patients were divided into HBeAg(+)CHB and HBeAg(-)CHB groups,and both groups were given oral LAM 100 mg/d.The treatment lasted 52 weeks.Serum HBV DNA level of all patients were examined before and at 4,12,24,36,48,and 52 weeks during the treatment.Results The serum HBV DNA response rate of the HBeAg(+)CHB group was lower than that of HBeAg(-) group at different times during therapy(P0.01).But the time point of HBV-DNA response rate between the two groups had significant variation(e+CHB at 52w,e-CHB at 36w).Conclusions LAM effectively suppresses the serum HBV DNA in patients with HBeAg(+)and HBeAg(-)chronic hepatitis B infection.But the early response rate and end-of-dose failure rate of the two groups were significantly different.But the time point of HBV-DNA response rate between the two groups had significant variation.Maybe there is difference in route chart for management of patients receiving oral lamivudine for chronic hepatitis B.


The antenna usually needs to be embedded into the cavity to achieve a conformal design with the stealth platform, but it often destroys the stealth of the platform. In this paper, a discone antenna is designed, which has good end-fire and omnidirectional radiation performance. The radar cross section (RCS) of the platform is studied after placing the antenna in the cavity of the platform. Through cavity and antenna shape modification, the radar cross section (RCS) reduction can be realized. The effectiveness of the measures is verified by simulation software.


During 1993 and 1994, the Kansas Department of Transportation constructed a 15.25-km full-depth asphalt-rubber project on I-135. Three test sections were finished in 1994 along with one control section in 1995. The test sections consisted of both a thick and thin asphalt-rubber section over rubblized portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP) and a completely reconstructed asphalt-rubber section. The control section was built over rubblized PCCP to the same thickness as the thick asphalt-rubber section. Approximately 172 000 metric tons of asphalt-rubber were produced using the wet (reacted) process. Data indicated that the asphalt-rubber mix cost approximately 50 percent more than the asphalt-only mix. Reducing the thickness of the asphalt-rubber from 225 mm to 180 mm would allow the cost to become equal to the asphalt-only control section. Equal performance of the reduced thickness section or longer performance from the 225-mm asphalt-rubber section would be a cost-effective method of using tire rubber in asphalt pavements. Test data indicate a stable mix and adequate thermal characteristics but high permeabilities. Performance after 6 winter months under traffic indicates no raveling, rutting, flushing, cracking, or moisture damage.


In 2013 the need for high quality vocational education for the healthcare workforce gained increased relevance. Vocational qualifications became central to Health Education England Strategies and the Government announced revisions to Apprenticeships which combined with NHS workforce reforms to become a catalyst for change: Abs P-236 Table 1 The project An appetite from hospices for collaboration and support for vocational education was proven in an 18-month pilot hospice consortium. Consequently, and with funding from CHKcharities.co.uk, the National Hospice Education Collaborative formed. The initial focus is building quality and capacity of vocational education, including nurse associate and degree level nurse apprenticeships. Economies of scale and sharing of expertise will benefit all involved. Work on other educational initiatives will emerge. Sustainability Significant interest and two years' funding enables the establishment of a subscription model for sustainability.


Recently, there is a growing need for query optimization algorithm that can effectively deal with federated database systems. Modern optimizers use a cost model to choose the best query execution plan (QEP) which heavily dependent on statistics maintained in the system catalog. Keeping such statistics up to date in the federation is troublesome due to local autonomy. The main objective of this paper is to introduce a general framework for federated database system based on DB2 II to improve federated learning optimizer and enhancing global query optimization. In addition it will suggest two algorithms which may be evolved within the proposed framework to give the federation the full autonomy, precise statistics collection, efficiency in processing federated queries and permitting mid-query execution.


Aiming at the problem that in the research and development process of the intelligent ship perception system, the fuzzy understanding of the perception demand causes the perception equipment to be inconsistent with the ship's autonomous collision avoidance needs, based on the application practice of the 1972 "International Maritime Collision Avoidance Regulations" and the good marine craftsmanship of the mariners Based on the comparison and experience summary method, the ship pilot's perception of navigation obstacles is analyzed, and the requirements for intelligent ship navigation perception at sea are proposed from five aspects: vision, ARPA radar, AIS, human-computer interaction, and electronic chart, it can provide theoretical support for the research of intelligent ship sensing system.


The key point of embedded internet technology is to implement TCP/IP communication protocol on MCU.Most of embedded protocol researches stay on the implementation of protocol and software optimization,many researches study on TCP/IP memory management and design.There are little researches work on system architecture level and hardware/software collaboration.The paper analyzes from hardware execution speed and software internal structure,and implements and compares the embedded TCP/IP implementation in different applications,different technologies.Ultimately,it gives optimal solution for embedded TCP/IP protocol stack on industrial control system.


Two recent papers evaluate psychologic symptoms in allergic patients with asthma, rhinitis, urticaria, and eczema (3, 8). Michel (8) relates the affective hypersensitivities of these patients to nerve-mastcell bidirectional links (see his Figs. 2 and 3, and his Reference 3). Badoux & Levy (3) found that emotional disorders are more frequent in allergic women than allergic men. Here we briefly discuss the following two topics of these papers.


The use of an inclined output transducer with a 127-tap fixed-code correlator is described. The advantages of this layout for long correlators are shown to be increased tapping levels and a reduction in cumulative 2nd-order distortional effects.


External noise disturbs measurements carried out with the method of Spectral Induced Polarization (SIP), and lessens its data quality. In densely populated areas the disturbance signals mostly originate from high voltage power lines and the electrical devices supplied by them. However, disturbances (tellurics, lightnings) also appear in remote areas. At frequencies up to 250 kHz, disturbances through VLF and LW transmitters are also be taken into account. Stacking techniques are very time-consuming. We have implemented and tested the novel Geoelectrical Reference Technique, which with reasonable additional hardware costs effectively reduces most noise types without loss of time. External noise is characterized through a high spatial coherence. The signals of disturbance source can be observed in a large area. The Geoelectrical Reference Technique uses this fact by recording the noise at one or more remote locations. In doing so, the technique predicts and eliminates the coherent noise components contained in the SIP records. In order to use the Geoelectric Reference Technique in a wide frequency band, we developed a completely new hardware (SIP-Fuchs-4). Field measurements show that the Geoelectric Reference Technique improves the data quality at medium frequencies by a factor of up to 40.


Schizophrenia has such a strong impact in so many areas of family life that social workers in almost all settings are asked to provide service to schizophrenic patients or their families. In recent years increas ing demands have been made on the pro fession to develop programs and to devise new methods of dealing with this illness, both in psychiatric hospitals and in com munity agencies. It is estimated that on any given day a quarter of all hospital beds in the country are occupied by schizo phrenic patients. In addition, there is a much larger number of discharged patients who require assistance. The social work staffs in psychiatric hospitals have increased rapidly in recent years, and social workers are the largest single professional group serving the mentally ill in the community.1 Since the profession is devoting so much of its limited resources to the mentally ill, a large percentage of whom are schizo phrenic, it seems imperative that programs and treatment techniques be evaluated con tinually in terms of what research can de termine about the illness.


What explains the emergence of a relatively independent legislature in Kenya since the early 1990s? In this chapter, I situate the evolution and institutional development of the Kenyan legislature in historical context. In so doing, I show how legislative organizational development under both colonialism and the era of single-party rule provided the foundation for the emergence of a relatively strong legislature after 1992. The primary lesson that emerges from this chapter is that to understand contemporary legislative independence in Kenya requires an appreciation of the country's history of contested executive–legislative relations, and the impact of this on legislative institutional development.


ABSTRACT Following the signing of the JCPOA nuclear deal between Iran and the 5+1 countries in June 2015 and the subsequent lifting of international sanctions, many observers predicted that Chinese carmakers would be squeezed out of the Iranian market by European and South Korean manufacturers. In 2018 however, after the Trump administration withdrew the United States from the agreement and reinstated sanctions, the situation moved in favour of the Chinese car industry. China has now become the biggest overseas player in Iran's automobile market. This article argues that the abandonment of the JCPOA by Washington led to the 'China-ization' of the car industry in Iran and shows how Iranian carmakers played an instrumental role in this process.


The Problem of Postpartum HemorrhagePostpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in developed and developing countries, followed by high blood pressure in pregnancy, anemia, infection, and malaria and dengue infection. PPH complicates 6-10 percent of all births, is estimated to be responsible for approximately 1/4 - 1/3 of all maternal deaths, and has a case fatality rate of PA.1 In developing countries the risk of death from PPH is estimated to be 1:100 or higher.2 PPH is estimated to be responsible for 31% of maternal deaths in Asia, 34% in Africa, and 21% in Latin America and the Caribbean.5Postpartum hemorrhage is defined as blood loss > 500 mL in the immediate postpartum period (1st 24 hrs) after vaginal or cesarean delivery (this paper will focus on PPH after vaginal delivery); other criteria include a decrease in hematocrit (blood count) or need for transfusion. PPH can occur immediately after birth or, perhaps more commonly, over the first 24 hours post-delivery, due to inadequate monitoring of bleeding and inattention to uterine massage in the recent parturient.Cardiovascular Adaptation in Pregnancy and Mechanisms of Postpartum HemostasisA remarkable set of vascular, renal and coagulation system adaptations occur in pregnant women, which appear to protect against the consequences of PPH. Plasma volume begins to increase very early in pregnancy and increases until 28-34 weeks, with a parallel increase in blood volume. The total plasma volume at term is approximately 4.7-5.2 liters4 while blood volume is 100 mlVkg, or approximately 6.5 liters in a 65 kg woman.5 Salt retention and fluid redistribution occur during pregnancy, with an increase in extravascular fluid. As a result of increased red blood cell synthesis, red blood cell mass increases by 17-40% and the total blood volume is increased 45% over non-pregnant values. Cardiac output and heart rate increase while blood pressure de- creases until mid-pregnancy, when the latter begins to increase.6 Serum levels of clotting factors increase dramatically during pregnancy.For adequate hemostasis to occur after delivery, contraction of uterine smooth muscle is required, which enables the uterus to stop bleeding during the third stage of labor (from birth of the neonate to placental separation and delivery of the placenta). Placental separation and expulsion occur in 3 stages. The first stage involves contraction of the uterus, followed by placental separation, detachment, and expulsion. Hemostasis occurs with myometrial contraction and compression of maternal vessels, spiral artery spasm and constriction, and transient activation of the coagulation system. In contrast, inadequate uterine contraction leads to uterine atony, where the uterus is slack and non-contracted. Uterine atony is responsible for an estimated 70% of cases of PPH.7 Thus, factors which predispose to uterine muscle fatigue or which interfere with uterine contraction are associated with postpartum hemorrhage.Among the most common patient risk factors for PPH include anemia, grand multiparity (where a woman has given birth 5 or more times), long labor, twin gestation, large baby, genital lacerations, and retained clot or placenta. Of these, one of the most important risk factors is antenatal anemia, which increases mortality risk because blood loss which would be readily tolerated in a non-anemic woman can be symptomatic or fatal in a severely anemic woman. Another, often unrecognized source of blood loss is genital lacerations, which cause bleeding which cannot be controlled by increasing uterine contractions. Among the most common health system risk factors for PPH-related morbidity and mortality are lack of prenatal care, inadequate management of the second and third stage of labor, inadequate postpartum care, lack of access to health care facilities, and non-availability of emergency obstetrical services, including intensive care, transfusion and surgery. …


The study investigates how sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies surrounding the Maritime Continent (MC) modulate the impact of developing El Niño events on Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) rainfall. Using a climate model we find that the ISM rainfall response to tropical Pacific SST anomalies of eastern and central Pacific El Niño events is sensitive to the details of cold SST anomalies surrounding the MC. Furthermore, the remote rainfall responses to regions of SST anomalies do not combine linearly and depend strongly on gradients in the SST anomaly patterns. The cold SST anomalies around the MC have a significantly larger impact on the ISM response to eastern Pacific events than to central Pacific events. These results show the usefulness of idealised modelling experiments, which offer insights into the complex interactions of the ISM with modes of climate variability. Hosted file essoar.10512660.1.docx available at https://authorea.com/users/578255/articles/620307-thesensitivity-of-the-el-ni%C3%B1o-indian-monsoon-teleconnection-to-maritime-continentcold-sst-anomalies


Rainwater pollution is a problem which should be resolved primarily in urban rainwater utilization system,controlling of initial runoff is a key point to restrict non-point pollutant load in one whole rainfall.On the base of building pollutant wash-off model,parts of roof and road rainwater are sampled and analyzed among 03~05,it tests that the concentration of pollutant in rainwater draw up to match a good exponential relation with rainfall,and it is determined that roof and road are discharged the initial rainfall of 3 mm and 6 mm,which can remove 78.3% and 77.9% of the COD total amount respectively.


The Training Deficiency in Corporate America: Training Security Professionals to Protect Sensitive Information by Kenneth T. Johnson MS, Trident University International, 2011 MS, Trident University International, 2009 BS, Trident University International, 2008 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University August 2017 Abstract Increased internal and external training approaches are elements senior leaders need to know before creating a training plan for security professionals to protect sensitive information. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore training strategies telecommunication industry leaders use to ensure security professionals can protect sensitive information. The population consisted of 3 senior leaders in a large telecommunication company located in Dallas, Texas that has a large footprint of securing sensitive information. The conceptual framework on which this study was based was the security risk planning model. Semistructured interviews and document reviews helped to support the findings of this study. Using the thematic approach, 3 major themes emerged. The 3 themes included security training is required for all professionals, different approaches to training are beneficial, and using internal and external training's to complement each other. The findings revealed senior leaders used different variations of training programs to train security professionals on how to protect sensitive information. The senior leaders' highest priority was the ability to ensure all personnel accessing the network received the proper training. The findings may contribute to social change by enhancing area schools' technology programs with evolving cyber securityIncreased internal and external training approaches are elements senior leaders need to know before creating a training plan for security professionals to protect sensitive information. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore training strategies telecommunication industry leaders use to ensure security professionals can protect sensitive information. The population consisted of 3 senior leaders in a large telecommunication company located in Dallas, Texas that has a large footprint of securing sensitive information. The conceptual framework on which this study was based was the security risk planning model. Semistructured interviews and document reviews helped to support the findings of this study. Using the thematic approach, 3 major themes emerged. The 3 themes included security training is required for all professionals, different approaches to training are beneficial, and using internal and external training's to complement each other. The findings revealed senior leaders used different variations of training programs to train security professionals on how to protect sensitive information. The senior leaders' highest priority was the ability to ensure all personnel accessing the network received the proper training. The findings may contribute to social change by enhancing area schools' technology programs with evolving cyber security technology, helping kids detect and eradicate threats before any loss of sensitive information occurs. The Training Deficiency in Corporate America: Training Security Professionals to Protect Sensitive Information by Kenneth T. Johnson MS, Trident University International, 2011 MS, Trident University International, 2009 BS, Trident University International, 2008 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Business Administration Walden University August 2017 Dedication To the greatest man I have ever known, my father! Thank you for challenging me to be a better man. I love you and miss you very much. To my mother who taught me how to write a book report and started me on this journey. You are amazing and I thank you for being a fabulous mother. To my wife and kids, you guys are supportive of my goals and now we can relax for a while and enjoy what is ahead of us. To all of my military men and women who I served with, thank you for your encouragement when my road was tough. To God, I appreciate your patience and understanding while I learned my way! Acknowledgments What a journey this has been! I started my education journey in 2006 when I was in the military not knowing what I wanted to accomplish. At the time, I was a single father and knew if I did not have my education, my kids would not have had a role model to look up too. Fast forward 11 years and I am at the pinnacle of my profession. I cannot help, but think back on the long nights of writing papers, searching for the right reference, and making sure it was in APA format! To the people who have helped me along the way, I thank you more than words can express! To my chair, Dr. Lazo, what an amazing person you are! Thank you for taking the time to help me achieve a dream I never thought to be possible. To Dr. Roussas and Dr. Anthony, thank you for challenging me to perform at a high level. Lastly, I would like to thank some individuals who are here in spirit and those who had no idea of their contribution to my success. Haywood Johnson Sr., my father. Although, you may not be here to witness me walk the stage, know that your legacy lives on and thank you for every lesson. To my mom, thank you for teaching me how to write a book report. To my kids, you are the reason I wake up and the reason I work so hard, I love you both! Special thanks to my friends Calvin Thomas, Linda McIntosh, and Tina Hampton for being supportive and encouraging during this journey. Finally, my wife, Tina, for the last four and half years you had to put up with me, and you never complained. You supported me when I thought I was going to lose my mind pursuing this degree. I want to thank you because without you none of this is possible as you have been my rock! I love you!


Islam outlines two important standards to ensure foods consumed by Muslims are good, quality, pleasant and healthy. The first is the most well-known, that is halal or lawful. The second, equally important, is tayyib or good quality. Some foods may be halal, but it may not be good (tayyib) for consumption. Therefore, food quality standards which based on the concept of halalan tayyiban (lawful and good) should be implemented to offer reassurance to those of the Muslim faith as well as developing good quality human capital. This paper, therefore, aims to (1) offer an instructive understanding of food quality standards in Islamic perspective and (2) discuss on the significance of the food quality standards which entail the holistic concept of halal and tayyib in developing good quality human capital. This concept paper is a qualitative in nature. The authors apply a document analysis approach through deep and intense readings of the previous texts and literature related to the topic. The authors thoroughly analyse the pertinent literature and develop the relationship between quality foods and quality human being. This paper reveals that consuming good quality food bounded by Islamic dietary laws has an intense relationship in generating good health which leads to developing good quality human capital.


Background: Walking for physical activity is important for older adults' physical and mental health. We developed and tested the reliability of an environmental audit tool designed to be used by lay people to identify appropriate walking routes for older adults trying to increase their physical activity. Methods: A 44-item Walking Route Audit Tool for Seniors (WRATS) was developed based on literature review and input from older adults during focus groups. Observers completed the tool for 24 walking routes which were specifically selected to maximize variability in environment features and quality. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using Kappa and percent agreement. Results: Inter-rater reliability was good to excellent for 27 of the 44 WRATS items and moderate for 9 items. ICCs were good to excellent for 6 of the 8 scales (ICCs = 0.61 to 0.90). Conclusions: These results provide evidence for the reliability of WRATS for evaluating environmental attributes of walking routes suitable for older adults. Some scales need further refinement, and validity should be tested in a sample of older adults.


Epidermal" and "Dermal" electrical potential measurements were performed at 3 acupuncture points of the Heart Constrictor and the Triple Heater meridians and 2 acupuncture points of the Lung meridian. Data analysis of these measurements in terms of electrical potential gradient and direction of current flow revealed the results consistent with those obtained from earlier experimental studies as reported in ["Measurement of ki-energy, diagnosis and treatment" by Motoyama, Tokyo 1985 ]. It has been confirmed that, in Yin meridians such as Heart Constrictor meridian and Lung meridian, ki-energy flows from "bottom to top" while, in Triple Heater meridian, direction of the flow is from "top to bottom",. In contrast to this the electrical potential gradient and direction of current flow as obtained by "Epidermal" potential measurements have been found "not in agreement" with the above described directions of the ki-energy flow. I. Objectives The objective of this study is to confirm and demonstrate that the acupuncture meridians exist in the dermis and that there is ki-energy flow in there, and furthermore that the meridians do not exist on the epidermis.. II. Experimental Method 1) Differential Amplifier and its Zero Adjustment [Fig. 1, Graph 1-1, 1-2 ] A special differential amplifier devised by Motoyama and Kinoshita, designed and built by Kinoshita, which was further improved by Digitex LAB.CO.LTD, was used. (Its noise level was lower than typical electrometer made in USA.) Before performing measurement each negative input terminal was grounded. Likewise the indifferent electrode pasted on the outer skin surface of subject's left arm was also grounded. Under this grounded condition zero-adjustment was performed on Meridians Exist in Dermis 4 the computer screen. Next, both positive and negative input terminals were inter-connected and further zero-adjustment was performed on the computer screen. The subject to be tested is then instructed to enter the shielded room, sit on the reclining chair and maintain stable posture. 2) "Dermal" Electrical Potential Measurement at 3 Acupuncture points of the Triple Heater Meridian A special #3 needle (0.20mm diameter) with insulation resin coating such that electrical conduction is allowed only at its bottom tip where metal of the needle is exposed to 0.3mm length. The length of the needle was "1.3 sun". The needle was inserted to 3mm depth at about 45 degrees to the skin surface on left Yochi (TE 4), left Gaikan(TE5) and left Shiko (TE6) [Fig.2]. Each needle was connected to (+) electrode and electrical potential was measured continuously for 600 sec. When needle is inserted into the dermis, ionic polarization takes place between the stainless steel of the needle and ions in the dermis. It takes 5~10 minutes for the signal to stabilize. Electrical potential signal was read after it was sufficiently stabilized. 3) "Epidermal" Electrical Potential Measurement Next, non-polarizable surface electrode(9.5 mm x 4.5 mm) made of silver/silver chloride compound was pasted on the skin surface at left Yochi, left Gaikan and left Shiko of the Triple Heater meridian, and their electrical potential was measured continuously for 600 sec. 4) "Dermal" and "Epidermal" Electrical Potential Measurements at 3 Acupuncture points of the Heart Constrictor Meridian By following the same measurement procedure used for acupuncture points of the Triple Heater meridian described above, "Dermal" and "Epidermal" electrical potentials at Gekimon (PC4), Kanshi (PC5) and Naikan (PC6) were measured for 600 sec on a different day. [Fig.3] 5) Test Subjects Total 10 subjects ( 5 males and 5 females ) CIHS Journal 2008: Vol 3 No1 5 III. Statistical Analysis and Consideration 1) Data of Electrical Potential Measurements and their Statistical Analysis [Graph 3] As shown in Graph 3 ("Dermal" potential measurement performed on subject N.Y.; date 2004.4.4), "Dermal" electrical potential is measured at each point. Then, electrical potential differences among the points are calculated to determine the direction of the potential gradients. By the same procedure, potential difference and the direction of the potential gradient are determined for the "Epidermal" potential measurements as well. Next, data are organized as shown in Table 1-1, from which Table 1-2 is produced. Chi squared test is then applied to the "m x n" table to test the directions of currents in the dermis or on the epidermis. 2) "Dermal" Electrical Potential Gradient and Direction of Current Flow (1) "Dermal" Electrical Potential Gradient and Current Direction in Triple Heater Meridian According to Table 1-2, statistical test of frequencies of normal direction [Yochi Gaikan Shiko] and reverse direction in terms of electrical potential gradient and current direction shows P=1.4 x 10< 0.002, i.e., high level of significance. Here, normal direction or reverse direction refer to the direction of ki-energy flow which has been known clinically since ancient times. Namely, in Yang meridians ki-energy flows "from top to bottom" and in Yin meridians it flows "from bottom to top". This fact was experimentally confirmed by Motoyama. [Ref: Fig 5, page 70 "Measurement of ki-energy flow , Diagnosis and Treatment" ] Furthermore, under normal conditions, Motoyama found that, in 6 pairs of Yin-Yang meridians, "BP(ki-energy) of Yin meridian" > "BP(ki-energy) of Yang meridian". [refer to Table A, page 46 of the same reference] Table 1-2, which is produced from Table 1-1, shows that 3 subjects out of 10 showed normal direction of current flow by [Yochi Gaikan Shiko] and that 10 out of 10 showed normal direction by [Gaikan Shiko]. In contrast to this, [Gaikan Yochi], which means reverse electrical potential or reversed direction of ki-energy flow, is seen in 7 subjects out of 10. According to Table 1-2, the test result from χ is P=1.4 x 10< 0.002, which Meridians Exist in Dermis 6 indicates frequency of normal flow direction in Yochi → Gaikan → Shiko in Triple Heater meridian is significantly higher than frequency of reverse flow direction in Gaikan → Yochi. In Graph 2 it is to be noted that, when the needle is inserted into the dermis, the electrical potential varies greatly due to the onset of polarization between the needle and ions in the dermis. This polarization stabilizes in 5~10 minutes. "Dermal" electrical potential reading at each acupuncture point is taken after stabilization of this polarization. Above facts imply following 3 things;1 Between Gaikan and Shiko, the flow is [Gaikan Shiko], i.e., normal direction "from top to bottom" in 10 subjects out of 10. 2 Between Yochi and Shiko, 3 out of 10 showed the flow direction of [Yochi Shiko], i.e., normal direction. 3 Between Gaikan and Yochi 7 subjects out of 10 showed reverse direction of flow. Namely, [Gaikan Yochi] or electrical potential of Gaikan is higher than that of Yochi. Looking at Table 1-3, it is evident that Gaikan has the highest average electrical potential.(1161 mV), while that of Yochi was 1104 mV and that of Shiko was –215 mV. The fact that Gaikan shows highest potential might be explained as follows; Together with Naikan of Heart Constrictor meridian, Gaikan of Triple Heater meridian has been clinically known since ancient times to be the point of inter-connection through which Triple Heater meridian and Heart Constrictor meridian exchange the information. Therefore, as point for the transmission of information, it might require higher electrical potential. Lastly, as regards the electrical potential gradients of Triple Heater meridian, 3 subjects out of 10 showed the flow of [Yochi Shiko], which is a normal direction. Furthermore, 10 out of 10 showed normal direction with respect to [Gaikan Shiko] and 3 out of 10 show normal directions in [Yochi→ Gaikan]. Thus, 16 cases of normal flow direction. In contrast to this cases of [Gaikan Yochi], i.e., reverse direction were 7 out of 10. Therefore, it can be said that, in Triple Heater meridian, normal flow, i.e., cases of "from top to bottom" are more frequent that those of reverse CIHS Journal 2008: Vol 3 No1 7 direction. The reason why there are cases of reversed flow is presumably due to the reversal of [BP(ki-energy flow) of Heart Constrictor meridian < BP(ki-energy flow) of Triple Heater meridian]. This point will be explained more later. (2) "Dermal" Potential Gradient and Current Direction(=direction of Ki-energy flow) in Heart Constrictor Meridian 1 According to Table 2-2, derived from Table 2-1, P = 1.2 x 10< 0.02, namely, with 2% level of significance, there is difference between the cases of normal direction by electrical potential gradient and ki-energy flow; "from bottom to top", i.e., [Gekimon Kanshi Naikan] and those of reversed direction, i.e., [Gekimon Kanshi Naikan]. As for frequency of normal direction [Kanshi Naikan], 9 cases out of 11 showed normal direction, while, in the reverse direction [Gekimon Kanshi], 9 cases out of 11 showed reverse direction. Table 2-3 shows that readings of electrical potential values were 1168mV for Kanshi, 1095mV for Gekimon and 1059mV for Naikan indicating that Kanshi is the point of boundary between the normal and reverse directions of ki-energy flow. 2 As described in ○2 of (3) later, Lung meridian (=Yin meridian) and Large Intestine meridian (=Yang meridian [Fig 4, 5]) are a pair of meridians in Yin-Yang relationship. As for the Lung and Large Intestine meridians, 7 out of 8 showed [BP (ki-energy flow) of Lung meridian (=Yin meridian) > BP (ki-energy flow) of Large Intestine(=Yang meridian) ]. Thus, electrical potential gradient or direction of ki-energy flow of Lung meridian is always in the normal direction or from bottom to top. [see Table 3-1] In contrast to this, with respect to Heart Constrictor meridian and Triple Heater meridian, when normal and reverse directions of Yin-Yang pair meridian are examined by AMI data, 7 out of 10 showed [Heart Constrictor < Triple Heater ] or reversed relatio


Strong light matter interactions between semiconductor quantum dots and optical micro/nanocavities are useful resources for developing quantum information processing devices and for exploring diverse quantum optical phenomena. In pursuit of better device performances and novel physics, it is desirable to achieve a larger coupling constant between the quantum dot and the cavity while keeping the high coherence of the coupled system. In this letter, we report the observation of a large vacuum Rabi splitting of ∼328 μeV using a single InAs quantum dot embedded in a GaAs-based H0 photonic crystal nanocavity, which possesses a near-diffraction limited mode volume as well as a high experimental Q factor of ∼52 000. The resulting figure of merit of the strongly coupled systems, defined as a ratio of the coupling constant to the cavity decay rate, reaches 6.4, which is the record high value for semiconductor QD-nanocavity systems reported to date.


Closed form expressions and Monte Carlo estimates for the Bayes factor are obtained for selection among weighted and unweighted models. Weighted distributions occur naturally in contexts where the probability that a particular observation enters the sample gets multiplied by some non-negative weight function. Suppose a realization y of Y under the generalized density f(~10) enters the investigator's record with probability proportional to w(y, T). Clearly, the recorded y is not an observation on Y, but on the random variable Y~', say, having pdf:


In a context of vertical product differentiation we analyze the effect of delegation on quality. We consider a duopoly where firms can delegate to an agent the quality determining activities. The quality level is determined by the level of a random fixed cost. The actual realization of this fixed cost is known, at no cost, to the firm or to the agent that undertakes the activities a..c;sociated with this fixed cost. By delegating a firm faces an asymmetry of information since the owner cannot observe the realization of the random variable, while his agent has ex ante full information concerning the actual state of nature. When one firm delegates and the other does not, we find two equilibria that mimic the full information situation, and two equilibria which display quality levels for the delegating firm lower than the full information ones. When the delegation decision is endogenous there are equilibria configurations with zero, one and two delegating firms.


Glutamate dehydrogenase (E C 184.108.40.206) isolated from the seeds of asparagus beans was partially purified to a factor of 22 by dialysis after fractional precipitation with solid ammonium sulphate at 40 and 60% saturation. A specific activity of 11.78μmol min -1 mg -1 protein was calculated for the partially purified enzyme when the NAD + - linked deaminating activity was assayed with glutamate as the substrate (ranging in concentration from 8.33 mM to 33.33 mM). From the Lineweaver – Burk plot, the V max and K m , representing the maximum velocity and Michaelis constant, respectively were deduced. Vmax was found to be 25 μmol min -1 while the Km was 33 mM. Keywords : Glutamate dehydrogenase, asparagus beans, enzyme, ammonium ion International Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences Vol. 2 (3) 2006: pp. 197-200


Cellulose paper (CP)‐based asymmetrical thin film supercapacitors (ATFSCs) have been considered to be a novel platform for inexpensive and portable devices as the CP is low‐cost, lightweight, and can be rolled or folded into 3D configurations. However, the low energy density and poor cycle stability are serious bottlenecks for the development of CP‐based ATFSCs. Here, sandwich‐structured graphite/Ni/Co2NiO4‐CP is developed as positive electrode and the graphite/Ni/AC‐CP as negative electrode for flexible and high‐performance ATFSCs. The fabricated graphite/Ni/Co2NiO4‐CP positive electrode shows a superior areal capacitance (734 mF/cm2 at 5 mV/s) and excellent cycling performance with ≈97.6% Csp retention after 15 000 cycles. The fabricated graphite/Ni/AC‐CP negative electrode also exhibits large areal capacitance (180 mF/cm2 at 5 mV/s) and excellent cycling performance with ≈98% Csp retention after 15 000 cycles. The assembled ATFSCs based on the sandwich‐structured graphite/Ni/Co2NiO4‐CP as positive electrode and graphite/Ni/AC‐CP as negative electrode exhibit large volumetric Csp (7.6 F/cm3 at 5 mV/s), high volumetric energy density (2.48 mWh/cm3, 80 Wh/kg), high volumetric power density (0.79 W/cm3, 25.6 kW/kg) and excellent cycle stability (less 4% Csp loss after 20 000 cycles). This study shows an important breakthrough in the design and fabrication of high‐performance and flexible CP‐based electrodes and ATFSCs.


Abstract: Dendritic cells (DCs), which represent a key type of antigen‐presenting cell (APC), are important for the development of innate and adaptive immunity. DCs are involved in T cell activation in at least two main ways: priming via direct processing/presentation of soluble antigen taken up from the microenvironment (conventional priming), and processing/presentation of antigen released from other cells (cross‐priming). relB, a component of the NF‐κB complex of transcription factors, is a critical regulator of the differentiation of DCs. In mice, lack of relB impairs DCs derived from bone marrow both in number and function. Here relB (−/−) bone marrow chimera mice is used to study the APC function of residual DCs in presentation of soluble antigen and cross‐priming. It is found that the DCs in these mice are profoundly deficient in their ability to both prime and cross‐prime T cell responses. It was concluded that the relB gene is involved in regulating the APC function of DCs in vivo.


Chapter 1. Globalization and International Cooperation O. Lafontaine Chapter 2. German Economic Policies through European and Global Perspectives G. Schroeder Chapter 3. The German and European Answers to Globalization E. Schwanhold and R. Pfester Chapter 4. Balancing Positive and Negative Integration: The Regulatory Options for Europe F. Scharpf Chapter 5. German Foreign Policy under the Conditions of Globalization R. Scharping Chapter 6. Economics, Foreign Policy and National Interests C. Zoepel Chapter 7. Globalization and Social Policy in the Nation State R. Dressler and H. Flassbeck Chapter 8. Political and Social Consequences of Globalization for Women B. Schaeffer-Hegel Chapter 9. Consequences of Globalization for Unions R. Hoffmann Chapter 10. Industrial Relations in an International Economy W. Streeck Chapter 11. Women in Industrial Countries U. Schmidt Chapter 12. Women in Developing Countries R. Mehra Chapter 13. The Technological Forces of Globalization S. Mosdorf Chapter 14. The Effects of Globalizationon Education and Higher Education H. Schmidt Chapter 15. Global Environmental Management U. E. Simonis Chapter 16. Sustainable Development M. Caspers-Merk Appendix: "Globalisierungs-Denkschrift" E. U. von Weizsacker and W. Thierse Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index


Belief in life after death is implicated, for the typical 'Wittgensteinian', with Cartesian dualism, and the latter seen to entail a private inner subject that cannot survive the anti-private language argument. But Descartes does not really suffer from this defect and belief in life after death is not merely a product of 'confused' Cartesian metaphysics. Descartes is presented as an intellectual analogue of the formation of the concept of 'soul' in spiritual contexts. Just as metaphysical reflection forces us to conclude, for Descartes, that we are only contingently flesh and blood beings, so it is only under the condition of recalcitrant experience that exemplary practitioners seem forced to forge a distinction between body and soul, thus revising influentially their view of themselves as single beings both conscious and extended.


Thinking Clearly is a textbook written for north American journalism students. (A companion volume of notes for teachers is separately available from the publishers). At first glance it may therefore seem to offer little to AJIA readers. However those who teach undergraduate international relations may find it interesting in at least one respect; for this is an unconventional text in that it seeks to extend case-study teaching to journalism schools. The casestudy method was originally developed by the Harvard Business School and is nowadays widely used in business and law schools. As James W. Carey points out in his introduction, this method is best suited to teaching structured decision-making. He points out that while the law has 'a clear procedure for adjudication', and business decision making 'an obvious and quantifiable goal' in profit maximisation, there is no easy formula which journalists can apply to reporting news stories. Those who would use the case study method to teach international relations to undergraduate students—and it is now being used in Australian international relations schools—seemingly face a similar problem. Case studies designed to expose undergraduate students to the complexities of foreign policy making don't 'teach themselves'. Judgment is required. Thinking Clearly comprises eight very different cases designed to illustrate the range of judgments involved in reporting. These range from the challenge McCarthyism posed reporters in the early 1950s, to the 1972 Watergate break-in, to the ethical issues posed by the 1999 Columbine School shootings. Each case has been written by an experienced journalist. Only one of the cases has an international relations dimension. Each case lays out the events that occurred and the decisions that editors and reporters made at the time. In each case students are provided with a few pertinent discussion questions along the lines of 'what steps can a news organisation take to correct a mistake?' However all of the cases are American. Thus Thinking Clearly is not a text which is likely to be widely adopted in Australian journalism


Corn cobs are one of the many lignocellulosic wastes highly available all over Indonesia, one of them is in Banten. Lignocellulosic waste is agricultural waste containing cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Corn cobs contain cellulose (40-60%), hemicellulose (20-30%) and lignin (15-30%). To be able to utilize the cellulose content contained in corn cobs optimally, it is necessary to separate the lignin content in corn cobs. This study aims to examine the effect of the addition of FeCl3 and AL 2 O 3 on the delignification process of corn cob with NaOH solvent using ultrasonic waves. In the previous study, 40% lignin in cellulose was obtained by using NaOH solvents with the help of ultrasonic waves at a temperature of 60 0 C and an ultrasonic frequency of 40 KHz. Therefore, in this study a delignification process was carried out at a temperature of 60 0 C with an ultrasonic frequency of 40 kHz with the addition of FeCl 3 : NaOH, AL 2 O 3 : NaOH, AL 2 O 3 : FeCl 3 and FeCl 3 : AL 2 O 3 0: 1; 1: 1 and 2: 1 respectively. The test results using the Chesson method showed that the lowest lignin content in cellulose was 12% at the ratio of NaOH: AL 2 O 3 as1: 2.


Traffic light is the one important device where it is using for the street user. There were so many traffic lights with multi function. In this thesis, the digital counter for
traffic light to display the desire count up timer is constructing. The C++ language and Visual C++ are using in this term. Every changing the color light has setting
timer and it will display the count up number. The important fields which are discussing about counter and software where used for produce the Digital Counter for traffic light.


In this article, a numerical study of a one-dimensional, volume-based batch crystallization model (PBM) is presented that is used in numerous industries and chemical engineering sciences. A numerical approximation of the underlying model is discussed by using an alternative Quadrature Method of Moments (QMOM). Fines dissolution term is also incorporated in the governing equation for improvement of product quality and removal of undesirable particles. The moment-generating function is introduced in order to apply the QMOM. To find the quadrature abscissas, an orthogonal polynomial of degree three is derived. To verify the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed technique, two test problems are discussed. The numerical results obtained by the proposed scheme are plotted versus the analytical solutions. Thus, these findings line up well with the analytical findings.


Thirty years ago the leitmotif of ethnology and linguistics was militant relativism. It was emphasized that each culture and each language is a world of its own with its own elements and arrangements, its own standards, and its own laws. It was often, though not always, clearly recognized that, running across the differences, there were points of agreement among different systems. In the effort to avoid ethnocentrically based errors, the principle of generalization itself was sometimes atrophied. In the matter of research technique, openmindedness was emphasized. The field-worker was urged to gather plentiful evidence before drawing any conclusions. In matters of phonology it was recommended that one write exactly what one heard. Now, one of the positive fruits of the relativist epoch was the development of the idea of structure, the gestalt principle, and, in the study of sounds, phonemics. This means that not until one has discovered the system is he in a position to perceive sounds adequately. And something of the same kind is applicable in other phases of language. In dropping the illusion of objective non-phonemic recording there was opened up a short-cut to the laborious collection of unorganized facts.


The scattering of He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe from Pt (111) surfaces characterized by LEED has been measured for surface temperatures between 100°C and 500°C using effusive thermal energy beams of 23°C and 700°C. The LEED and helium scattering indicate that the surfaces are geometrically smooth, regular, and free from low molecular weight contaminants. Results are in qualitative agreement with some of the predictions of the "cube" scattering theories but at variance with the effect of incident angle and surface mass. Data agree qualitatively in these respects with the finite range interaction (FRI) models. Approximate mass balances between the total scattered flux and the incident flux permit estimates of the initial trapping probabilities. No diffraction of He was observed.


The paper investigates the effect of financial inclusion on economic growth and development in Nigeria over the period 1986-2015 using the Ordinary Least Squares technique. Financial inclusion was measured in the study using loan to deposit ratio, financial deepening indicators, loan to rural areas, and branch network. Measures of financial deepening adopted in the study are ratios of private sector credit to GDP and broad money supply to GDP. Economic growth was proxied as growth in GDP over successive periods while per capita income was adopted as a measure of poverty, hence an index of development. The study shows that (i) credit delivery to the private sector has not significantly supported economic growth in Nigeria (ii) financial inclusion has promoted poverty alleviation in Nigeria through rural credit delivery. The monetary authorities should deepen financial inclusion efforts through enhanced credit delivery to the private sector as well as strengthen the regulatory framework in order to ensure efficient and effective resource allocation and utilization.


of the natural order, regardless of the fortunes amassed in foreign cities by some exiled merchants. The fate of exiles occasioned many a diplomatic flurry, as internal power struggles developed consequences beyond the city walls. Thus, in the 1470s, we find Sixtus IV supporting Milanese rule in Genoa, regardless of his own Ligurian birth, while Giuliano made no secret of his partiality for the Genoese rebels exiled by Milan, fuelling existing tension between uncle and nephew. Moving on to Julius's own pontificate, the pope's arrival in Perugia in 1506 raised the hopes of those Perugians exiled by the Baglioni; later that year, the restoration of papal authority in Bologna resulted in the de facto tyrant Giovanni Bentivoglio and his male heirs to the fourth generation being branded as rebels and exiled accordingly. It goes without saying that the pactice of exiling rebels was part and parcel of endemic factionalism in communes throughout the peninsula. Christine Shaw is no less astute in her appreciation of these internal factions, whether in Todi and Spoleto in the 1470s or Rieti, Perugia and Forli in the 1500s, and is to be commended for raising the profile of these disputes. Thorough knowledge of the appropriate sources and effective employment of substantial quantities of archive material are presented in a brisk,


Abstract In the 1950s, vocational guidance was dominated by the aim of helping clients to find fulfilment through their work. Since then this 'vocational aim' has been diluted by a flood of developments in vocational theory and research, in counselling practices, and particularly in the nature of work and the patterns of careers. The impact of these various changes on vocational guidance over a period of nearly 40 years is assessed; and the author asks whether it is now feasible, or desirable, to retain the vocational aim.


Objective To investigate pollution characteristics and health risk assessment of PM2.5 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Methods PM2.5 were collected consecutively for one week in winter in 2012 in suburb of Jiamusi. A total of 16 EPA priority PAHs were extracted by ultrasonic extraction method and were quantified using GC/MS. Results PM2.5 mass concentrations ranged 55.63-120.72 μg/m3with an average of 74.80 μg/m3, while PAHs mass concentrations ranged 24.49-220.78 μg/m3with an average of 102.82 μg/m3. The ratio analysis suggested coal-burning was the predominant sources for PAHs from PM2.5 in Jiamusi, not vehicle emission. PAHs profile was predominated by fluoranthene, pyrene and phenanthrene and the average contribution was 53.58%. Adopting benzo(a) pyrene(BaP) and benzo(a) pyrene-equivalent carcinogenic concentration(BaPE) to evaluate carcinogenic power of PAHs in PM2.5, the daily average concentration of BaP was 7.19 ng/m3 and the daily average concentration of BaPE was 8.62 ng/m3. The BaP and BaPE concentration were in excess of the regional standard(2.5 ng/m3), the level was higher. Conclusions Coal-burning is the predominant source for PAHs from PM2.5 in Jiamusi and BaP concentration is higher.


Winnicott is concerned with the springs of imaginative living and of cultural experience in every sense, with whatever determines an individual's capacity to live creatively and to find life worth living.


The process of Castilian establishment in Murcia was long and laborious. The complexity of the conquest, where the Mudejar element plays an important paper, it transforms to the vegetable garden murciana into one of the best reflections to observe those changes. This work is centered in the final phase of the seat and occupation of the vegetable garden murciana coinciding with the difficult years of the end of the XIII century and first decades of the XIV one


Patients undergoing major abdominal surgery carry a risk of complications associated with their underlying conditions and the surgery itself as...


As tourist destinations and recreational meccas, the national parks are imbued with a distinct commercial overtone that can be traced to park concessioners and nearby communities. From the beginning, the national park designation has served as a beacon for entrepreneurs who have viewed park visitors as a resource to be exploited. Initially, local residents stepped forward to provide intrepid, nineteenth-century wilderness adventurers with accommodations and food, only to see their efforts soon displaced by outside corporate entities eager to exploit a burgeoning captive market. Whether their commercial activities were centered inside the parks as concessioners or outside them in gateway communities, each recognized the park as the proverbial "goose with the golden eggs," and each has long been deeply entwined with the making of park policy, yet another instance in which the parks cannot be divorced from their larger surroundings. The Park Service, unschooled in the commercial marketplace, has long looked to private business to help meet its visitors' needs, creating sometimes unholy relationships with adverse ramifications for park resources and values. The public interest in nature preservation and the private interest in profit are rarely in harmony.


Modal analysis of a rectangular room requires evaluation of the eigenvalues of the Helmholtz operator while taking into account the boundary conditions imposed on the walls of the room. When the walls have finite impedances, the acoustic eigenvalue equation becomes complicated and a numerical method that can find all roots within a given interval is required to solve it. In this study, the interval Newton∕generalized bisection (IN∕GB) method is adopted for solving this problem. For an efficient implementation of this method, bounds are derived for the acoustic eigenvalues and their asymptotic behavior explored. The accuracy of the IN∕GB method is verified for a canonical problem by comparing the modal solution with the corresponding finite element solution. Furthermore, reverberation times estimated using the IN∕GB method are compared to those calculated using the finite difference method. Through these examples, it is demonstrated that the IN∕GB method provides a useful and efficient approach for estimat...


Designing modern circuits comprised of millions of gates is a very challenging task. Therefore new directions are investigated for efficient modeling and verification of such systems. Recently, a new language, SystemVerilog, was introduced and became an IEEE standard. SystemVerilog extends the hardware description language Verilog by including higher abstraction levels and integrated verification features. In this paper, we first present the concept of modeling multiple valued logic circuits in SystemVerilog. We demonstrate that this approach allows for efficient simulation of complex multiple valued logic systems. Secondly, we show how SystemVerilog can be used to ensure functional correctness. A generalization of binary toggle coverage for the multiple valued logic domain is presented and evaluated. As a test case, a scalable multiple valued logic arithmetic unit is modeled and experimental results for multiple valued logic toggle coverage are given.


Psychological researches indicate that human attention resources are rather limited. Accordingly it proves to be very hard for learners to simultaneously attend to both content and form in L2 learning. This study aims to examine the effects of task frequency on EFL speaking ability acquisition. Both instant test and delayed tests were given. 20 sophomores of Chinese English majors repeatedly retold the same story and the material was chosen from the national TEM4 (Test for English Majors-Band 4), a proficiency English test for Chinese undergraduates. It was found that participants' attention was gradually shifted from content to form so that the balance development of both content and form could be achieved in participants' EFL speaking ability acquisition. In addition, participants also made correspondent progress in various linguistic forms such as fluency, accuracy and complexity. The results revealed the positive effect of task frequency on appropriate use of attention resources and explored the effective means to the balance development of various aspects in linguistic content and form. There are important implications for the results.


This study aims to determine the effectiveness of using the Cake application for students' English vocabulary learning. This research is a quantitative research which is a pre-experimental study with a one-group pre-test post-test design. The population of this study were students of the Bhinneka PGRI University English Education study program. The sample of this study were 8th semester students, totaling 19 students. The sample used by the researcher is a purposive sampling type. The instruments used were pretest and posttest. The results showed that the use of the cake application affected students' English vocabulary mastery. In addition, it is also proven again by using hypothesis testing paired sample t-test. The result obtained is 0.003. In the paired t-sample test rules, if the significance is less than 0.05, then H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded that the use of the cake application affects students' English vocabulary learning.


Objective To investigate the relationship of serum resistin,high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) and obesity in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with cardiovascular disease.Methods The obese patients with T2DM(n =21),non-obese patients with T2DM(n =29),obese T2DM with cardiovascular disease patients (n =24) and non-obese T2DM with cardiovascular disease patients (n =26) were enrolled.The serum resistin and high-sensitivity C reactive protein(hs-CRP) levels were measured.Results The levels of serum resistin and hs-CRP in T2DM with cardiovascular disease patients were higher than those in T2DM patients.The levels of serum resistin in obese T2DM with cardiovascular disease patients were higher than those in non-obese T2DM with cardiovascular disease patients.And levels of serum resistin in patients with obese T2DM were higher than those of patients with non-obese T2DM.The levels of hs-CRP had no obvious difference between obese and non-obese patients.Conclusions The levels of serum resistin is significantly higher in type 2 diabetes patients with obesity and cadiovascular disease,serum resistin levels are correlated with obesity.

Key words:
Type 2 diabetes mellitus with cardiovascular disease;  Obesity; Insulin resistance; Resistin;  High-sensitive C-reactive protein


Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, represents a valuable treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV). RTX biosimilar CT-P10 (RTX-B) has been approved in Europe in all indications held by RTX originator (RTX-O). As stated by recent international consensus-based recommendations, 1 there is evidence regarding safety and efficacy of biosimilars in the context of rheumatic diseases, but it is encouraged to gather additional data. 2,3To report the experience of a single Italian center with RTX-B in AAV in terms of safety and efficacy.We retrospectively reviewed the charts of all AAV patients followed up in our Small Vessel Vasculitis Clinic and we selected those who received RTX-B between October 2017 and May 2020, both naïve to RTX (RTX-Bn) or already treated with ≥1 course of RTX-O and switched to RTX-B (RTX-Bs). Baseline features, disease outcome, concomitant therapy and adverse events 6 (T6), 12 (T12) and 24 (T24) months after RTX-B introduction, when available, were collected. Non-parametric statistic tests were used.Fifty-six AAV patients (44 [78.6%] granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), 12 [21.4%)] microscopic polyangiitis (MPA)) received RTX-B with a median follow up of 20 (IQR 10-24) months. ANCA were positive in 49 (87.5%) patients. Ten (17.9%) patients were newly diagnosed with AAV, while 23 (41.1%) had refractory disease and another 23 had relapsing disease.Thirty-three (58.9%) patients were RTX-Bs, whereas 23 (41.1%) RTX-Bn. In 29 (51.8%) patients RTX was decided because of remission induction, while in 27 (48.2%) as maintenance regimen. Median cumulative RTX-B dose was 2.5 (2-3.875) grams with 3 (IQR 2-4) median courses. AAV activity, adverse events and concomitant therapy at T6, T12 and T24 are shown in Table 1. One GPA patient died of severe infection 3 months after a single infusion of RTX-B 500 mg as maintenance therapy.Table 1.AAV activity, concomitant therapy and adverse events at T0, T6, T12 and T24.T0T6T12T24n (%)56 (100)52 (92.6)40 (71.4)18 (32.1)Dose RTX-B, median (IQR) grams1.75 (0.5-2)0.5 (0.5-1)0.5 (0.5-1)0.5 (0.5-1)Concomitant prednisone therapy, n (%)42 (75)27 (48.2)13 (32.5)4 (22.2)Dose prednisone, median (IQR) milligrams/day5 (5-15.625)2.5 (2.5-5)3.75 (2.75-7.5)2.75 (1.56-4.5)Concomitant bDMARDs, n (%)10 (17.9)5 (9.6)3 (7.5)1 (5.6)RefractorinessNA4 (7.7)2 (5)1 (5.6)RelapseNA0 (0)3 (7.5)2 (11.1)RemissionNA48 (92.3)35 (87.5)15 (83.3)SuspensionNA10 (19.2)9 (22.5)4 (22.2)Infusion reaction, n (%)1 (1.8)1 (1.9)0 (0)0 (0)Infectious adverse events, n (%)NA10 (19.2)6 (15)3 (16.7)Severe infectious adverse events, n (%)NA2 (3.8)1 (2.5)0 (0)Considering the 52 (92.6%) patients who reached a 6 months-follow up, we marked a significant decrease of number of patients on steroid therapy (39 [75%] vs 27 [51.9%]; p=0.003), of median prednisone daily dose (5 [IQR 5-25] vs 2.5 [IQR 1.25-5 mg; p=0.001) and of number of patient on concomitant bDMARDs (10 [19.2%] vs 5 [9.6%]; p=0.003).Analysing the 40 (71.4%) patients who reached a 12 months-follow up, we confirmed the tendency with a decrease of number of patients on steroid therapy (29 [72.5%] vs 13 [32.5%]; p=0.007), of median prednisone daily dose (5 [IQR 5-12.5] vs 3.75 [IQR 2.75-7.5]; p=0.008) and of number of patient on concomitant bDMARDs (9 [22.5%] vs 3 [7.5%]; p=0.009).No statistically significant difference was found for the same variables comparing T0 versus T24.Our experience with RTX-B is limited; however, it represents an extensive report about the use of RTX-B in AAV patients and confirmed that it may be a well-tolerated and effective therapy in AAV setting, in agreement with previous evidence on RTX-O. Prospective and larger studies are needed to confirm this preliminary evidence.[1]Kay J, et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2018;77:165–74.[2]Kwon HC, et al. Yonsei Med J 2020;61:712-9.[3]Mittal S, et al. Clin Rheumatol 2021;40:645-51.Silvia Sartorelli: None declared, adriana cariddi: None declared, Luca Moroni: None declared, Elena Baldissera Speakers bureau: Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Consultant of: Novartis, Enrica Bozzolo: None declared, Lorenzo Dagna Consultant of: Abbvie, Amgen, Biogen, BristolMyers Squibb, Celltrion, Galapagos, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, and SOBI., Grant/research support from: The Unit of Immunology, Rheumatology, Allergy and Rare Diseases (UnIRAR) received unrestricted research/educational grants from Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merk Sharp & Dohme, Mundipharma Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, and SOBI.


Objective: To evaluate and analyze the occurrence and clinical characteristics of trigeminal neuralgia in the population of Mardan, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. Material and Methodology: Data of 190 patients with trigeminal neuralgia reported to the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Bacha Khan Medical College Mardan, from Jan 2013 to Dec 2014 were reviewed. History, clinical examination and investigations were carried out for diagnosis. Data regarding the age, gender, site, division and branch of nerve involved and severity of pain was evaluated and analyzed. Results: Females outnumbered the males. The most common age group involved was 51-60 years. Right side (72.63%) was involved more than left side. Single nerve (92.20%) involvement was more common than multiple nerves. Mandibular division was involved in 46.30% cases. Infraorbital nerve was the most common peripheral nerve involved in 42.6% cases and presented with moderate pain. Conclusions: This study showed that TN was more common in aged females. It occurred more on the right side and mainly affected mandibular division. The common peripheral nerve involved was infra-orbital and many patients presented with moderate pain.