Despite a voluminous literature on the role of vitamin A in the biochemistry of the skin there are few reports of histologic studies of human epidermis after local injection of vitamin A and the effect of local injections in treatment of certain dermatoses. These considerations are the purpose of this study. Methods and Materials A commercial vitamin A palmitate solution (Keramin) * especially formulated for injection of cutaneous lesions was employed. This solution has an activity of 50,000 U.S.P. units per cubic centimeter in a vehicle consisting of 11% polysorbate 80, U.S.P. (solubilizing agent), 0.4% dl-alpha-tocopherol, N.F., 0.03% butylatedhydroxyanisole, and 0.5% chlorobutanol, U.S.P., (preservative and antioxidants). A sterile solution containing all ingredients except vitamin A was used for control injection. Effect on Normal Human Epidermis.— The normal skin of two persons was injected intracutaneously with Keramin 0.1 cc. At another site 0.1 cc. of the control solution was injected. These injections


The genotype by environment interaction and the stability performances of yield were analyzed for early indica rice in 1998 and 1999 in southern China regional trial with the methods by Zhu Jun.~([1]There sults indicated that year by location interactions effect was themainfactor.There also existed large location effect and year effect.They ield of Zhongzu 1 was significant higher than the Zhe 85 2 (CK1) .Besides,the sen sitivity degree of yield to environmental index was analyzed .


I. INTRODUCTION Severe civil strife, known as the Troubles, has plagued Northern Ireland throughout its history and continues to be a problem today. In certain cases between 1973 and 2007, terrorism suspects were tried in controversial Diplock courts with a single judge sitting as the trier of both law and fact.1 Though Diplock courts were technically abolished in 2007, Northern Ireland continues to allow non-jury trials of suspected members of paramilitary organizations that are similar to the old Diplock courts.2 The power to refer paramilitary suspects to non-jury, Diplock-type trials was extended for two years in 2009 and still exists today.3 More than half of the murders that occurred during the Troubles remain unsolved.4 In an attempt to heal the wounds of past terrorism, the police department formed the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), a task force that is reinvestigating unresolved terrorism-related deaths.5 These investigations have resulted in criminal trials of some terrorism suspects, and there will likely be more prosecutions as the investigations progress.6 In addition to cases referred for prosecution by the HET, cases may reach the Diplock-type courts through an alternate route: the Director of Public Prosecution may certify any case for trial in a Diplock-type non-jury court if it is related to terrorism.7 For Northern Ireland to become a peaceful democracy, these cases must be tried by jury, rather than in non-jury trials reminiscent of the flawed Diplock court system. II. DIPLOCK COURTS: AN UNFAIR MEANS A. A Brief History of the Diplock Courts In 1973 jury trials for crimes connected to terrorist activity were abolished as a result of Lord Diplock's report, which cited concerns of juror intimidation and "the danger of perverse convictions by partisan jurors."8 Lord Diplock believed that jurors would be incapable of performing their civic duty if they feared terrorist attacks.9 One commentator has echoed Lord Diplock's concerns, stating, "the effects of intimidation, or popular support for violence, or both, may result in witnesses refusing to come forward and juries in the clearest cases refusing to convict."10 Criminal jury trials were replaced in some instances by the Diplock court system, where a single judge sits as the trier of both law and fact.11 Diplock trials were used for about one-third of all serious cases in Northern Ireland until the end of the 1990s.12 Procedurally, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was responsible for determining whether an incident warranted criminal prosecution. If the DPP decided a case should go to the courts, the Attorney General then made the decision whether to try the suspect(s) by a jury or in a Diplock court." The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was concerned with the amount of power vested in the DPP, particularly the DPP's ability to conduct a non-jury trial without showing a risk of interference with the administration of justice.14 The Diplock court system procedures also allowed the police department to improperly participate in the decision regarding when a suspect was to be tried by a Diplock judge rather than a jury.15 B. Abuse in the Diplock Court System Judges in Diplock courts applied a lower standard of admissibility, which resulted in many Diplock court cases relying on coerced confession evidence that would have been held inadmissible in a jury trial.16 At one point, 90 percent of Diplock cases relied on confessions obtained through "intensive interrogations" as primary evidence.17 Opportunities to obtain coerced confessions were increased in the Diplock court context by the Detention of Terrorists (Northern Ireland) Order 1972, which allowed suspects to be detained for twenty-eight days without a hearing or access to counsel.18 This process of internment, the arrest and detention of individuals suspected to be members of illegal paramilitary groups, affected 1,981 people. …


Abstract We desribe and discuss hydrodynamic simulations of the core helium flash using an initial model of a 1.25 M⊙ star with a metallicity of 0.02 near at its peak. Past research concerned with the dynamics of the core helium flash is inconclusive. Its results range from a confirmation of the standard picture, where the star remains in hydrostatic equilibrium during the flash (Deupree 1996), to a disruption or a significant mass loss of the star (Edwards 1969; Cole & Deupree 1980). However, the most recent multidimensional hydrodynamic study (Dearborn et al. 2006) suggests a quiescent behavior of the core helium flash and seems to rule out an explosive scenario. Here we present partial results of a new comprehensive study of the core helium flash, which seem to confirm this qualitative behavior and give a better insight into operation of the convection zone powered by helium burning during the flash. The hydrodynamic evolution is followed on a computational grid in spherical coordinates using our new version of the multi-dimensional hydrodynamic code HERAKLES, which is based on a direct Eulerian implementation of the piecewise parabolic method.


In this paper we propose a new technique of mutual region growing for solving land-cover sorting problems. Land-cover classification subdivides regions of aerial photographs and satellite photographic images into distinct regions, and automation is required for large-scale investigations. In the conventional division method and region growing scheme used for classification without tutorial data, the processing algorithm is simple. However, much labor is required to find the appropriate processing rules, depending on the type of images. In this study, we propose a method of region growing using the structural features of adjacent pixels in the tutorial image, while also utilizing the features of region growing which organize regions with identical properties. In our new method, we aim at flexibly acquiring classification rules by referring to the classification results for the tutorial data. We propose a region growing method in which region growing is performed in the tutorial image by using characteristics based on the neighboring structures of the pixel under consideration. In this technique, the features of the region to be classified in the tutorial image are expressed in the output image by using an agreement index. This index can be obtained by comparing the image structures of the input image and the tutorial image. We also attempt to speed up processing by rearranging the image structure in the teacher image, using a statistical technique. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 35(14): 64–77, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.10688


The discussion is illustrated by particular reference to intuitionistic propositional calculus and a form of classical predicate calculus. Errors reported by the authors or otherwise noticed by the reviewer were few and trivial. Among those reported were the following: page 59—omit the first two sentences of the last paragraph and thereafter for 'recursive . . . proof procedure' read 'recursive . . . notion of proof; page 112, line 1—insert 'formula' before 'vertices'; page 333, line 1—for 'Kl-6' read 'Kl-9 ' ; page 367, line 27—for '( x)' read '(3x)'; and page 379, line 6—for 'if read 'iff.' RONALD HARROP


Purpose: To establish whether the perceptions surrounding the emergence of public relations globally have had an effect on the existing mistrust and misconception about the profession in Kenya.
Methodology:  The study employed descriptive survey approach. A Survey was carried out in Kenya between November 2016 and April 2017. A semi-structured questionnaire was used from to collect primary data from 198 members of the general public on their perception towards PR practice. Secondary data was collected through review of published literature such as journals articles, published theses and textbooks, magazine, newspapers among others.  The study adopted purposive random sampling.  Information was sorted, coded and input into the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS)   for production of graphs, tables, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
Findings: The study found that indeed the perceptions surrounding the emergence of public relations globally such as lack of unclear history, lack a clear reporting structure, lack documented literature among others highly contributed to the existing mistrust and misconception of public relations profession in Kenya hence a lot needs to be done if the profession was to assume its rightful place in society.
Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study findings will help in the joint formulation of a PR curriculum by the professional body in consultation with the country's education ministry to train practitioners. This would give the practice the desired recognition as a profession that is controlled, and therefore, with some standards and not as it stands today where various institutions formulate their own syllabuses as they deem fit.
Keywords: Public relations, origin, misconception, perception, reporting structure


connexion the only figures so far available are for Scotland as a whole. The average annual decline in the notification rate from 1951 to 1956 was 4.8%. If this trend had continued the notification rate for 1960 would have been 87 per 100,000. The actual figure was 67 per 100,000. This accelerating decline in notifications may have several causes, but it seems reasonable to assume that the mass radiography campaign was the chief one. The campaign has operated in two ways. First, it has substantially reduced the pool of previously undetected infection by the discovery of active cases. Secondly, it has anticipated and prevented relapse into active disease in many of the large number of patients brought under observation. The immediate effect has been on the notification rate. There has as yet been no change in the rate of decline in the amount of tuberculous infection in children aged 13, for it has continued to drop at the same rate as for the past ten years and in 1959 was 20%. An accelerating fall in this rate in the next few years would again confirm the success of the campaign. Whether such an enormous undertaking could, or even should, be repeated seems doubtful. In the future the examination of special groups and small community surveys will probably be the better line of attack. The x-raying of all hospital out-patients and the offering of radiological examination to all hospital visitors as well should lead to useful results, since these would form a substantial proportion of the population. Alternatively, community surveys backed by tactful but painstaking and persistent home visiting of the type developed by A. L. Cochrane, J. G. Cox, and F. T. Jarman2 3 in South Wales, and by J. B. Cochran, C. Clayson, and W. B. Fletcher' I in Dumfriesshire, while slower in operation and more expensive to carry out, have proved to be of great value. Also important are surveys of selected occupational groups in whom even one unsuspected infective case could do great damage-for example, hairdressers and workers in catering establishments. Whatever the future policy for mass radiography may be, the further results of the great Scottish campaign will be awaited with keen interest.


A dose‐finding study of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) was performed in 60 autologous donors who donated 2 units of blood prior to orthopaedic or vascular surgery. The correction of phlebotomy‐induced anaemia was studied in four groups of 15 patients who received 500 U/kg, 250 U/kg, 125 U/kg or no (controls) rhEPO subcutaneously twice per week during a 3‐week period. Haemoglobin concentration in the 500 U/kg, 250 U/kg and 125 U/kg group and in the controls reached respectively 99·2, 98·8, 91·9 and 87·1% of pre‐phlebotomy value. Flow cytometric analysis of reticulocytes showed a steady increase of reticulocyte count as the dose increased. Maximal levels of high fluorescence reticulocytes which represent early changes of erythropoiesis were reached after 7 d and decreased thereafter in each group. Serum ferritin decreased significantly to approximately 50% of baseline values in all groups; no differences in the decrease of serum ferritin were observed between the patients who received rhEPO and the controls. No severe adverse events were observed.


Based on nonstationary panel data,namely,panel unit root and panel cointegration,the paper studies the effects of FDI on wages in China.There is a panel cointegration,namely,the long-run equilibrium relationship among FDI,DDI,wages and employment.FDI has no significant effect on wages,while DDI is remarkablly positive to wages,employment is negative to wages.


In this paper, we propose the application of a dual pocket adjacent to the source in a tunnel field effect transistor (TFET) to improve its electrical characteristics. Using two-dimensional device simulations, we demonstrate that if appropriate doping concentration and length are chosen for the dual pocket, then a sharp curvature is obtained in the energy bands at the onset of tunneling. Consequently, a smaller tunneling width and higher band-to-band tunneling are obtained in a dual pocket TFET (DP-TFET). We demonstrate that the proposed DP-TFET exhibits a 64% smaller average subthreshold swing (SS) compared to a conventional TFET and a 39% smaller average SS compared to a TFET in which a single fully depleted counter-doped pocket adjacent to the source is added. Moreover, the proposed technique of inserting a dual pocket is effective at lower supply voltage (V DD = 0.5 V). Therefore, we can obtain a high ON-current to OFF-current ratio at lower supply voltages and the proposed technique can be employed in future TFETs for low power applications.


Shorebirds feed on biofilm at their stopover site on the Fraser estuary, Canada, a phenomenon previously quantified using stable isotopes. We improve on this approach by considering metabolic routing through the novel use of breath carbon isotope analyses. Our results confirm strong protein and energy contributions of biofilm during stopover.


This best practice aims to provide an overview of the activities for implementing literacy skills through the LICALIDO strategy (See Read Write Tales), and describe the achievements after improving literacy skills through this LICALIDO strategy at SD Negeri Jatirahayu VIII. The result of this best practice is a significant increase in literacy skills in terms of reading comprehension, writing short stories or essays, and telling stories about the essays they have made. So, in the end the students can achieve achievements in the field of literacy.


From the Publisher:
Renowned Flash wizard and innovator Robert Penner reveals the fascinating programming and design concepts behind his signature creations. Detailing his groundbreaking designs—including his now legendary back button—this book showcases Penner's work that merges math and design with Flash. You'll get an inside look at his sophisticated and unique approach to design—which incorporates advanced ActionScript programming—and discover exclusive techniques associated with some of the most groundbreaking interactive designs ever created.


Rheological and morphological properties of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) and thermoplastic starch (TPS) with low‐density polyethylene‐grafted‐maleic anhydride as a compatibilizer were investigated. The results showed that the circularity of the droplets decreased with increasing TPS content. The presence of compatibilizer led to finer morphology and higher continuity. The rheological analyses showed that TPS and compatibilizer can increase elasticity and viscosity of the blend dramatically. In addition, the compatibilizer enhanced the compatibility of the blends, as evidenced by the shifting of the relaxation time peak of TPS to longer times. The rheological properties of the neat components and their blends were discussed by the Carreau‐Yasuda and fractional Zener models. The fractional Zener model results proved the existence of network structure in the compatibilized blends. The transient properties of blends showed that TPS and compatibilized blends had strong overshoot compared with the uncompatibilized blend, owing to the formation of high elastic network in their structure. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 20:250–259, 2014. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers


A simplified model of intermediate complexity for convectively coupled gravity waves that incorporates the bulk dynamics of the atmospheric boundary layer is developed and analyzed. The model comprises equations for velocity, potential temperature, and moist entropy in the boundary layer as well as equations for the free tropospheric barotropic (vertically uniform) velocity and first two baroclinic modes of vertical structure. It is based on the multicloud model of Khouider and Majda coupled to the bulk boundary layer‐ shallow cumulus model of Stevens. The original multicloud model has a purely thermodynamic boundary layer and no barotropic velocity mode. Here, boundary layer horizontal velocity divergence is matched with barotropic convergence in the free troposphere and yields environmental downdrafts. Both environmental and convective downdrafts act to transport dry midtropospheric air into the boundary layer. Basic states in radiative‐convective equilibrium are found and are shown to be consistent with observations of boundary layer and free troposphere climatology. The linear stability of these basic states, in the case without rotation, is then analyzed for a variety of tropospheric regimes. The inclusion of boundary layer dynamics—specifically, environmental downdrafts and entrainment of free tropospheric air—enhances the instability of both the synoptic-scale moist gravity waves and nonpropagating congestus modes in the multicloud model. The congestus mode has a preferred synoptic-scale wavelength, which is absent when a purely thermodynamic boundary layer is employed. The weak destabilization of a fast mesoscale wave, with a phase speed of 26 m s 21 and coupling to deep convection, is also discussed.


Background and Goal of Study: Rhabdomyolysis is the rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue due to traumatic injury, either mechanical, physical or chemical. The principal result is a large release of the CPK enzymes and other cell byproducts into the blood system. We present a case of rabdomyolysis after a prolonged surgery. Materials and Methods: A 42 year-old male chronic smoker, ASA physical status II, affected of tongue carcinoma was scheduled for left hemiglosectomy, functional neck dissection and fasciocutaneous radial forearm free flap. Preoperative blood test was within normal limits. General anaesthesia was maintained with remifentanyl, cisatracurium besilate and sevoflurane. The patient remained in supinus decubitus position during the total procedure which lasted twelve hours. He maintained haemodynamic stability for all the procedure with mean arterial pressure 80-100 mgHg and urine output greater than 0.5 ml/kg/h. Total fluid volume administration was 1000 ml colloids plus 3500 crystalloids. Estimated blood lost was 500 ml and the cumulative amount of urine 1000 ml. The patient was extubated uneventfully and was transferred to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). The patient's vital signs remained stable all the time but urine colour became dark two hours later. Suspecting rhabdomyolysis syndrome blood chemistry was checked. The blood test revealed serum increased of CK (20.618 U/l) whereas renal function was normal. The patient was managed with fluid expansion using 500 ml/h of lactated Ringer solution. The urine colour returned back normal after four hours. 24 hours later serum CK level started to decline. Results and Discussion: Rhabdomyolysis can be caused by tissue compression as a result of extended periods of immobilization. We believe that direct and prolonged compression of muscles against the operating table during 12 hours was the cause of rhabdomyolysis developed in our patient. An early diagnosis for good outcome is necessary. Treatment mainly consists of prompt volume replacement with crystalloids (500.1000 ml/h). Addditional adjunctive therapies include forced alkaline diuresis with bicarbonate, mannitol and loop diuretics. In rare occasion renal dialysis is required. Conclusion(s): Prophylactic measures, early diagnosis and treatment of rhabdomyolysis is imperative to prevent the potential fatal complications. If a diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis is confirmed, aggressive treatment of the disturbances produced by rhabdomyolysis should be initiated.


This paper reports an approach to language identification (LID) system fusion using discriminative training. Maximum mutual information (MMI) training for Gaussian mixture model is introduced to the standard LDA-GMM fusion framework. Experimental results show that the proposed fusion scheme outperforms the maximum likelihood (ML) trained backend of LID system. The impact of number of Gaussian mixtures on fusion performance is also discussed.


The number of aged patients requiring nasal surgery for chronic sinusitis has been increasing as the population ages.A clinical study on the number of aged patients, complications and factors responsible for the increasing incidence of sinusitis was conducted on patients who underwent nasal surgery for chronic sinusitis from 1983 to 1990. Patients who underwent the operation from 1963 to 1970 served as controls.In the control group, most patients were 10 to 30 years of age. In the study group the number of aged patients had increased markedly and the distribution of patients was more equal among the age groups. There were many associated disorders, including cardiovascular disorders, lower respiratory tract disease, endocrine disorders and psychoneurotic disease. It is suspected that drugs used to treat hypertension or psychiatric diseases may aggravate chronic sinusitis, and diabetes itself may make it worse. Among aged patients, pathological change in the nasal cavity was marked, and the mucosa showed fibrosis, which was assumed to be irreversible. Nevertheless, the prognosis was good in aged patients.These results indicate that nasal surgery for aged patients with chronic sinusitis should be performed carefully and with a full understanding of the background factors.


Objective To improve the diagnosis and management of the entire distal humeral epiphysiolysis, and to decrease the misdiagnosis and complication. Methods Twenty - two children with entire distal humeral epiphysiolysis were treated and followed - up from 1985 to 2001 in our hospital. Open reduction was carried out in 13 patients and close reduction in 7 cases, skeletal traction through decronon of ulna were carried out in 2 cases. Result All were followed- up for ml to 16 years, excellent results were obtained in 14 cases, cubes virus were found in 5 cases, and poor in 3 cases. Conclusions This kind of trauma is easily misdiagnosed. Recognizing the exact position of the axis of radius and optimum of humerus is the key to diagnose the fracture in children.


Middle-aged women are inclined to experience empty nest syndrome, menopause, health problem, sleep disturbance, weight gain, lethargy and attention deficit. Overwhelming workload, multiple roles at home, elderly care giving and so forth worsen the situation. These factors may influence their emotional well-being and their life satisfaction. This article therefore has two objectives, which are to identify the differences in life satisfaction among middle-aged Malay women from different educational level, marital status, career and income, and to identify the profile of middle-aged women who have low life satisfaction level. This study adopted the survey technique, which employed the Life Satisfaction Index AShort Form by Barrette and Murk. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling have been used to obtain the responses. A total of 410 middle aged career women in Hulu Langat, Selangor have participated in this study. The finding showed that life satisfactions among middle-aged women are different depending on their marital status, career and income. Single women and widower who are working in private sector and of low-income level reported to have the lowest life satisfaction. This finding may provide input to the planning of programs to enhance the well-being and life satisfaction among middle aged career women.


BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
This study compared the degree of patients' satisfaction with cataract surgical services at a private, semi urban secondary eye care hospital - St Mary's Catholic Eye Hospital, Ago Iwoye, (SMEH) and a public tertiary hospital-University College Hospital Ibadan (UCH) in South Western Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A prospective, observational study of consecutive patients undergoing cataract surgery at SMEH and UCH was conducted between May and October 2007. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 366 patients preoperatively, 1 st day and 8 th week postoperatively. Results were analyzed using the SPSS statistical software.

RESULTS
Evaluation of patients' satisfaction with preoperative care showed that patients were more satisfied with the pre-consultation time (P=0.006) and cost of surgery (P<0.001) at SMEH than in UCH. There was no statistically significant difference with respect to satisfaction of patients with vision in both hospitals (P=0.09). More patients were satisfied with overall care at SMEH than UCH and were therefore more likely to recommend the hospital.

CONCLUSION
This study compared patients' satisfaction with cataract surgical services in two hospitals. Patients from the private secondary eye care hospital were more satisfied than patients from the public tertiary hospital. Satisfied patients have a great role to play in increasing cataract surgical uptake.


Today's type-safe low-level languages rely on garbage collection to recycle heap-allocated objects safely. We present LTAL, a safe, low-level, yet simple language that "stands on its own": it guarantees safe execution within a fixed memory space, without relying on external run-time support. We demonstrate the expressiveness of LTAL by giving a type-preserving compiler for the functional core of ML. But this independence comes at a steep price: LTAL's type system imposes a draconian discipline of linearity that ensures that memory can be reused safely, but prohibits any useful kind of sharing. We present the results of experiments with a prototype LTAL system that show just how high the price of linearity can be. 1 Background and Motivation Safety certification systems such as Java or MSIL bytecode verification make it possible to verify the safety of code obtained from an untrusted provider or over an untrusted network [13, 7]. Refinements like proof-carrying code and typed assembly language [19, 18] make it possible to check and execute machine code directly rather than through interpretation. However, all widely used systems for verifying low-level code require a trusted run-time environment to provide safe memory management. Furthermore, each of these systems takes a rather ad hoc approach to initialization of heap-allocated objects. Recently, Wang and Appel [32] and Monnier, Saha, and Shao [16] have shown how to build a type-safe garbage collector based on the ideas of the Capability Calculus [29], thus eliminating most of the memory management from the trusted computing base. However, some trusted code is still required to implement the region primitives, and the region calculi on which these systems are based are relatively complicated. Furthermore, the region-based approaches do not address the initialization problem. In this paper, we step back and examine a more foundational approach to the issues of initialization and memory management for low-level code. In particular, we use a linear type system to provide a clean, elegant solution to both problems. More specifically, we present: 1. A linear type system for a conventional, MIPS-style assembly language called LTAL. 2. Theorems that show every well-typed LTAL program is sound and "leak-free" (i.e., uses bounded memory). 3. An encoding of memory management operations malloc and free within LTAL. 4. Techniques for compiling unrestricted (i.e., non-linear) high-level functional languages to LTAL in a type-preserving fashion. It is important to note that we do not consider the resulting system to be practical. The price of LTAL's simplicity and elegance is that it does not support shared data structures. At first, such a restriction seems to preclude the use of LTAL as a target for high-level languages. However, we show that there is a type-preserving translation for a high-level ML-like language to LTAL based on explicit copying. Unfortunately, our experiments show that this naive translation is far


Abstract This paper responds to the main points put forward in a recent paper by Lally and Ardren (2008) on the social study of the archaeological 'infant'. They criticise the biological terminology used for defining 'infancy' and argue that osteoarchaeology is a form of 'bio-power', in effect disregarding the importance of bioarchaeological and humanist research on past human remains. They describe the treatment of human bones in lowland Mayan civilisations, which they argue questions Western humanistic perspectives on archaeological human bodies. Here we provide some constructive debate on the points raised by Lally and Ardren (2008), and how we can move forward to visualising the 'infant' in archaeology as both a biological and social being.


It is known that a free neutron decays into a proton, an electron, and an anti-neutrino. Interesting, recent attempts to measure the neutron's lifetime has led to two slightly different estimates: namely, the number of decaying neutrons is somewhat larger than the number of newly created protons. This difference is known as the neutron lifetime puzzle. A natural explanation for this difference is that in some cases, a neutron decays not into a proton, but into some other particle. If this explanation is true, this implies that nuclei with a sufficiently large number of neutrons will be unstable. Based on the observed difference between the two estimates of the neutron lifetime, we can estimate the largest number of neutrons in a stable nucleus to be between 80 and 128. The fact that the number of neutrons (125) in the actual largest stable nucleus (lead) lies within this interval can serve as an additional argument is favor of the current explanation of the neutron lifetime puzzle. 1 Formulation of a Problem Neutrons are unstable: reminder. Neutrons are one of the three main non-zero-mass particles, the other two being protons and electrons. It is known neutrons are unstable: if left on its own, a neutron n decomposes into a proton p, a positron e−, and an anti-neutrino of electron type νe: n→ p + e− + νe. (1) Neutron lifetime puzzle. It is known that the neutron's lifetime (to be more precise, half-time) is about 900 seconds. Recently, several experiments that tried to measure this lifetime led to differing results. To be more precise, two different types of experiments produce two somewhat different results (see, e.g., [3, 5, 6, 8, 10] and references therein):


Abstract The purpose of this study is to know how the discussion method implemented and to know the increase of students' achievement on social changing topic in sociology subject at SMA Negeri 4 Pekanbaru. Based on the result of examination, it was found that most students cannot reach the minimum achievment criterion (KKM). To solve this problem, the researcher used discussion method. The data of this study are taken from students score on pre-test and post -test. The result of pre-test showed that only 9 (25.71 %) students reach KKM while 26 (71.29%) students cannot reach KKM. After using discussion method in cycle 1, it was found at the first activity, there were 12 (31.29%) sgtudents reached KKN while 23 (65.71%) students cannot reach KKM and at the second activity there were 24 (68.7%) students reached while 11 students cannot reach KKM. The result of cycle 2 showed that at the first activity there were 27 (77.14%) students reaxhed KKM whille 8 (22.86%) cannot reach KKM and at the second activity there were 35 (100%) students reached KKM. It is concluded that the discussion method can increase twelve grade students' achievment in social changing topic in sociology subject at SMA Negeri 4 Pekanbaru. Keywords: discussion method, student achievment, social changing


The UV,FTIR,1 D and 2 DNMR(1 HNMR,13 CNMR,DEPT,1 H1 H COSY,HSQC and HMBC) spectra of Dronedarone hydrochloride were reported and interpreted.1 H,13 CNMR signals were assigned.The structure of Dronedarone hydrochloride was elucidated.


The present invention provides a container monitoring-control system for a modem-equipped refrigerator container loading vessel. The container monitoring and control system of a ship equipped with a modem equipped with a modem according to the present invention can be implemented with high reliability and stability in monitoring each of the refrigerator containers loaded on a ship, System construction cost is reduced, and the system can be constructed using power line or communication line already installed in the ship. Monitoring of the container without modem is also performed easily and smoothly with monitoring of the refrigerator container equipped with modem . A container monitoring and control system for a container equipped with a modem equipped with a modem according to the present invention includes a management server (10) installed on a ship and monitoring of a refrigeration container is performed; A junction box (20) connected to the management server (10); An electric distribution board unit (30) comprising a plurality of electric distribution boards (31) connected to the junction box (20) and having a data relay converter (80) installed in each electric distribution board (31); And a plurality of RCS module sets 41 connected in parallel to each of the switchboards 31 by a power line 90b. The RCS module set 41 is composed of a set number of RCS (Reefer Container Socket) modules 42, The RCS module 42 is connected to a plurality of modem-installed refrigeration containers 1 by a power line, receives RCS information from each modem-installed refrigeration container 1 through power line communication, The refrigerator container state information transmitted from each modem-equipped refrigerator container 1 including the unit 40 is transmitted to the RCS module 42 of the RCS unit 40 and the data relay converter 80 of the switchboard 31, Is input to the management server (10) via the box (20).


Under the mandate of the amended U.S. Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has the authority to regulate all aspects of activities involving radioactive materials that are undertaken by DOE or on its behalf. Within the DOE's Office of Packaging and Transportation, the DOE Packaging Certification Program (PCP) is responsible for the certification of fissile material and Type B packages that conform to U.S. Department of Transportation and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements. To facilitate the implementation of the pertinent DOE Orders, rules and regulations in a safe and secure manner, PCP regularly sponsors training courses on a broad range of packaging- and transportation-related topics. The courses are offered to packaging designers and users, regulators and system administrators, and fissile handlers and shippers from the United States and abroad. The courses are typically organized and prepared by the contractor U.S. national laboratories.


In this paper we have studied the photodegradation of omeprazole in aqueous solution, this medicament is the active ingredient in many antacids widely used worldwide. Omeprazole used in the experiments of degradation was obtained by the process of solid-liquid extraction from a generic brand commercial medicament. The degradation experiments were carried out in a reactor illuminated with low energy UV light lamps using TiO2 Degussa P25 as catalyst. The experimental results indicate that the organic compound is easily degraded in a very short period of time. However, the omeprazole molecule is not mineralized in a rapid manner. In the same way as other aromatic compounds, omeprazole is transformed to other organic compounds before being mineralized to CO2 and water.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia was a recent worldwide outbreak During chest computed tomography (CT) we may observe pulmonary parenchymal opacity, as sign of COVID-19 Very few have reported pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum as complications of severe COVID-19 pneumonia We describe a 44-year-old male admitted to our department after the onset of sudden chest pain and high fever and evidence on computed tomography of spontaneous pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum, subsequently confirming COVID-19 pneumonia


A coloring $c$ of the vertices of a graph $G$ is nonrepetitive if there exists no path $v_1v_2...v_{2l}$ in $G$ such that $c(v_i)=c(v_{l+i})$ holds for all $1\le i\le l$. Given a graph $G$, its complete (resp. empty) blow-up $G[K_k]$ (resp. $G[E_k]$) is the graph obtained by substituting every vertex of $G$ by a copy of $K_k$ (resp. $E_k$, the empty graph on $k$ vertices) and every edge of $G$ by a copy of $K_{k,k}$. We prove that a (complete or empty) blow-up of any tree has a nonrepetitive coloring with at most $4k$ colors and there are trees where this bound is best possible. We concentrate then on paths and prove that for a sufficiently long path $P$, a nonrepetitive coloring of the complete blow-up $P[K_k]$ needs at least $3k+\lfloor k/2\rfloor$ colors. If $k>2$ then we need exactly $2k+1$ colors to nonrepetitively color the empty blow-up $P[E_k]$. If we further require that (in a nonrepetitive coloring of the empty blow-up $P[E_k]$) every copy of $E_k$ be rainbow-colored and the path $P$ is sufficiently long, then the smallest number of colors needed is at least $3k+1$ and at most $3k+\lceil k/2\rceil$. Finally, we define fractional nonrepetitive colorings of graphs and consider the connections between this notion and the above results.


Accurate radiometric calibration of IR sources can be challenging, but is required for advanced sensors being used today. Santa Barbara Infrared has developed a new test facility to provide spectro-radiometric calibration of extended area sources. The station comprises a Bruker Invenio Fourier transform infrared spectrometer or FTIR, a NIST-traceable, high-emissivity DB-04 blackbody reference and an automated stage for switching between the reference source and unit under test. The system uses a series of differential measurements to perform the radiometric calibration. The first output of the calibration is a spectral emissivity that can be used to calculate output radiance based on the temperature as measured in the well of the blackbody source. The second output of the calibration is a derived gradient term allowing the calculation of the temperature of the surface of the source based on the temperature of the thermometric measurement well and the temperature of the ambient environment. The additional gradient term allows for improved radiometric accuracy when operating at source and environment temperatures different from those at which the source was calibrated.


We construct the first fail-stop signature scheme where neither the signature length nor the length of the public key grows as a function of the number of messages that can be signed with one key. The computation needed for signing and testing is reduced similarly. This removes one of the main differences between the complexity of ordinary signature schemes and previous fail-stop signature schemes: In the latter, signatures were branches in an authentication tree, and their length is therefore logarithmic in the size of that tree. Our result also bridges the main gap between known lower and upper bounds on the complexity of fail-stop signature schemes. The construction is based on one-way accumulators.


Shunt hybrid power filter are extensively used for current harmonic elimination and to compensate reactive power for linear/nonlinear loads and to improve input power factor. Hybrid power filter is thus used as practical solution to solve the electric power quality (EOQ) issues. Hybrid filter consists of a shunt active power filter (SAPF) and passive filters .Shunt active power filter operates at a very low switching frequency, thus giving higher conversion efficiency. The combined operation of shunt active power filter and passive filter ensures total harmonic distortion (THD) of source current should be within the permissible limits set by various regulatory agencies ie THD=<5% and supply power factor is near unity. The effectiveness of the hybrid filter has been verified by the extensive simulation results carried out in MATLAB/Simulink and Sim Power System software. General Terms Hybrid power filter, active power filter, hysteresis controller, passive filter, power quality.


We report here the experimentation of a group of cocaine users facing two SERDP offi ces in the province of Bologna enlisted by the reference operators on a "smart" Skills training program of 10 meetings.The candidates were 8 male, with a fl uctuating relationship with substances characterized by periods of abstinence and periods of resumption of use often in conjunction with relationship diffi culties or emotional crises.All the candidates were socially integrated with a regular job, 3 of them were married with offspring and all had contacted the Relationship Service with a partner or a family member who was the fi rst to see the urgency of asking for help for the dysfunctional behavior of the relative. 4 out of 8 patients were in individual psychotherapy with the group leader who suspended individual interviews in favor of skills training for the entire duration of the group, the others benefi ted from psycho-social and educational support from a professional educator.All patients underwent the PID 5 test in the diagnostic phase and the pre-treatment phase was treated in terms of opportunity and commitment.After the 10 skills sessions, the patients will be followed up individually by taking the dbt forms and group follow-ups will be organized at 3 and 6 months.The results we report are in terms of frequency (average 66.6%), active participation and evaluation of the experience by problem consumers.


. Chemical looping reforming of methane (CLRM) involves lattice oxygen transfer in metal oxides. This study aims to compare iron (Fe 2 O 3 ) and cerium (CeO 2 ) oxides as oxygen carrier materials for isothermal solar-driven stepwise CH 4 reforming and H 2 O splitting. Experiments were conducted in a directly-irradiated lab-scale solar reactor heated by concentrated sunlight in the temperature range 950-1150 °C. Using solar energy for process heat reduces the dependence on fossil energy resources and avoids CO 2 emissions, while converting solar energy into chemical fuels. The performance of the oxygen carrier materials was compared and evaluated by determining the averaged amount of oxygen transferred, methane conversion, syngas yield, and thermochemical cycling stability. As a result, iron oxide reduction with methane strongly depended on temperature and displayed relatively lower reaction rate than CeO 2 . The reduced iron (Fe) was not completely re-oxidized to iron oxide (Fe 3 O 4 ) after water-splitting step because of its low thermal stability resulting in strong sintering and agglomeration, thereby decreasing syngas yield and eventually leading to material deactivation. In contrast, cerium oxide exhibited faster reaction rate and stable syngas yield with H 2 /CO molar ratio approaching two over repeated cycles. Stable patterns in the averaged oxygen nonstoichiometry (  =0.35-0.38), methane conversion (X CH ₄ =46.9-60.9%), and total syngas yield (5.67-6.80 mmol/g CeO ₂ for reduction and 2.38-2.57 mmol/g CeO ₂ for oxidation) over twelve successive cycles for ceria reticulated foam demonstrated excellent thermal cycling stability. Thus, employing Fe 2 O 3 as oxygen carrier was not suitable for solar CLRM, but iron oxide reduction with methane could be a promising option for solar metallurgy aiming at producing both metallic iron and


This study aims to establish and explore students' perception of a corpus in vocabulary learning. The corpus development was completed based on IDM ADDIE. This research was started by conducting a problem analysis that reveals students' obstacles in learning a language. The students' are identified to have a limited vocabulary of the language they learned. The corpus construction and development was begun by creating a script in PHP language. This research produces a corpus with 377880 tokens and five sub-corpora, namely Indonesian, English, German, Arabic, as well as art and design. The vocabularies are presented according to the highest frequency in the language and language teacher education field. The evaluation carried out by the experts of materials, language, and media discovers that the corpus is feasible to be integrated into the learning. Simultaneously, the assessment from students who have attended the corpus' implementation with data-driven learning (DDL) approach shows that this corpus helps students broaden their vocabulary, including the word meaning, form, and usage through observation on the concordance and collocation lines.


Rapidly development in the realm of biometrics in recent years results in the unprecedented growth with the number of researchers and interesters. As one of the biometrics, gait recognition has many advantages such as from a distance, lower quality video, hard to disguised comparing with others. However, nearly all studies on gait recognition are 2D methods based on analysis of image sequences captured by a monocular camera. This paper presents a novel 3D method for automatic gait recognition by analyzing the changes of a 1D silhouette signal. Binarized silhouette of a moving individual is firstly achieved. Secondly contour is extracted for next stereo matching. Afterward 3D contour is obtained through a step of contour based stereo matchin. Then, stereo silhouette vector (SSV) is extracted from 3D contour and transformed to a 1D silhouette signal as the stereo gait feature (SGF). K-L transform is applied for reducing the dimensionality of feature and the complexity of computing. Finally, kNN and NN are applied to gait classification and recognition. A stereo gait database named PRLAB is established for gait recognition based on stereo vision. Experimental results on PRLAB showed the efficiency and robustness of our algorithm.


This executive order by Governor Richard W. Riley orders that an army helicopter be made available to the Emergency Preparedness Division for aerial surveillance along the coast.


Background: The CDC advocates improved physician cultural competence to reduce disparities in cardiovascular (CV) health. Cultural competence may be particularly important to establish an effective therapeutic alliance to mitigate CV risk. This study sought to better understand physician elements of cultural competence that can be targeted to improve cardiovascular health in minority populations. Methods: Family physicians, internists, cardiologists and neurologists practicing in the southern US were queried in this survey. Participants assessed their cross-cultural knowledge, skills, attitudes, and training using 5-point scales. Office managers of respondents were then invited to complete a separate survey assessing compliance with 3 Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) standards relevant to the office setting. Results: Among 697 respondents, 57% considered sociocultural issues important in patient interactions. Prior training was reported by 76%, but 18% considered multicultural health training of little importance. On average, self-assessed knowledge (10 items) and skill (15 items) were moderate. More than 3 of 4 physicians reported little or no knowledge of CLAS standards; more than half reported limited knowledge of traditional healing. Striking differences were noted among physicians of different racial groups with blacks consistently reporting greater self-awareness, knowledge and skill compared to whites (p Conclusions: Physicians and their office staff have modest levels of cultural sensitivity as well as moderate cross-cultural knowledge and skills, but deficits, especially among physicians and particularly as a function of physician race, are present in important areas. Building upon this foundation to achieve greater proficiency in cross cultural care may improve the quality of care and reduce disparities in CV health.


A new type quasi-continuous radar which take a double linearly frequency interrupted modulation signal with large operating duty as the transmitting wave is proposed in order to solve the range-velocity coupling problem in the LFM-CW radar and the short-range blind area problem in LFM pulse radar.In this quasi-continuous radar,two LFM signals whose spectrums are not overlapped are transmitted alternately in the transmitting pulse,and the estimated values of the range and the velocity can be obtained within a pulse repetition interval in the receiver by the separating the transmitted signals,Stretch processing,correlation processing,FFT and the motion compensating.In this paper,the signal model and the principle of range-velocity decoupling are firstly given.And then its performance is analyzed.Finally,some key problems to be solved are discussed in the radar.


This article discusses the relationship between the losses of a sinus filter choke. Its influence on the loaded sinus filter temperature field distribution within and on the surface, verification of these performance and temperature relationships. It includes three-dimensional transient finite element analysis (FEA) of the sinus filter choke temperature conditions based on a mathematical description of the conduction, free convection and losses and describing temperature field validation methodology. In addition, there is shown mutual evaluation of the validation measurement and FEA simulation. Finally, there are outlined further options for the future optimisation of the sinus filter choke


Using structural life cycle method,storage construction process is divided into four stages:the planning stage,the analysins stage,the design and implement stages,the operation stage and the maintenance stage,which make the tasks of each stage clear.Based on the data from library database divided into three categories(restorable data,unrestorable data,core data)and the demand list of store designed in this paper,the store demand of library is expressed clearly and completely.The grading backup strategy for three knids of data is provided to explore a new idea to the storage construction of library.


Emergency departments (EDs) often face challenges related to high patient volumes, leading to overcrowding, increased wait times, and potential compromises in patient care.1 This research project aims to explore the potential utilization of ChatGPT, an AI-based chatbot powered by OpenAI's language model, to decongest a busy ED and improve patient outcomes. By leveraging the capabilities of ChatGPT, we aim to enhance patient triage, optimize resource allocation, and improve communication and patient education within the ED setting.1In the NHS based in the UK wait times for green cases can be hours long leading to bitter experiences and poor compliance.


This book, which is the first comprehensive study of its subject, shows how one traditionally esteemed author, the Roman poet Virgil, played an unexpectedly significant role in the shaping of Venetian Renaissance culture. The author draws on reception theory, the sociology of literature, and history of the book to argue that Virgil's poetry became a best-seller because it sometimes challenged, but more often confirmed, the specific moral, religious, and social values its Venetian readers brought with them to their texts. The texts that are used are the printed books of the fifteenth and sixteenth century printed books in which readers of the period encountered Virgil, the prefaces and commentaries that guided their responses, and, the marginal notes that record those responses. How the Renaissance Venetians saw themselves when they looked into their literary past tells us a good deal about them, but it also illuminates a number of issues at the centre of humanistic studies today, ranging from how reading takes place to the role of class and gender in fashioning interpretation. The wide range of interests that are touched on should make this book of value to scholars in the disciplines of classics, history, Renaissance studies, and Italian studies, as well as English literature and cultural studies.


To understand the DNA binding mechanism ofAtSPL14 protein, the imino proton exchange rates weremeasured for the DNA duplex containing the consensusDNA-binding site for the AtSPL14 transcription factor(referred to as wt-SPL14 duplex, Fig. 1). To further under-stand the correlation between the base pair stability/dynamicsand DNA binding affinity of the AtSPL14, the exchange rateconstants of the imino protons for the wt-SPL14 duplexwere compared with those of the mutant SPL14 duplexes(see Fig. 1), which display different binding affinities forAtSPL14 protein. Experimental SectionAll DNA oligonucleotides were purchased from M-bio-tech Co. (Seoul, Korea). The oligonucleotides were purifiedby reverse-phase HPLC and desalted by Sephadex G-25 column.DNA duplexes were prepared by dissolving two strands at a1:1 stoichiometric ratio in an NMR buffer (90% H


A preliminary study of 6 kittens and 6 rhesus monkeys, approximately two years old, indicated that: 1. The kittens as compared to older cats adapted less well to laboratory routine and learned tasks of lever-pressing and audiovisual discrimination more slowly; 2. The young monkeys adapted to laboratory routine as well as the older ones but took more time to master the lever-pressing; on the other hand, they learned a series of discrimination problems as quickly as did older pre-adolescents though again somewhat more slowly than adults; 3. The young animals readily developed neurotic patterns under the stress of adaptive conflict but these reactions, though resistant to 7 to 17 months of retraining, were much less generalized than those in adult controls; 4. Lesions in the amygdaloid and frontal areas induced heightened sexuality and general activity level respectively, but, despite 16 to 25 months of postoperative retraining, there was no (in cats) or little (in monkeys) amelioration of neurotic patterns ...


Cruciform fillet welded joints are found in many industrial applications. Welded structures are often subjected to load cycles due to loads that can vary in position and value. As a result of these loads, the phenomenon of fatigue occurs. Fatigue consists in the occurrence of failures, after applying a large number of load cycles, of loads below the yield limit of the material from which the structure is made. Fatigue mattempts have to be carried out over very long periods of time and are very expensive because of the expensive machines. A method by which the fatigue behavior of fillet welded joints can be predicted is the finite element method. The paper proposes to investigate by the finite element method, the fatigue life of some cruciform-fillet-welded specimens, making a comparison of two applied rehabilitation techniques.


17O NMR spectroscopic data, at natural abundance, in acetonitrile at 75 °C were obtained for a series of phenyl alkyl and cycloalkyl ketones, benzophenone, methyl alkyl ketones, three fused‐ring aryl ketones and a series of variously hindered aromatic aldehydes. The trend in chemical shifts for the relatively unhindered alkyl aryl ketones is a general increase in shielding with increasing size of the alkyl group. However, when steric hindrance becomes significant, torsion angle rotation occurs and deshielding is observed. Cyclopropyl ketones show much larger shielding effects than their isopropyl analogs. Torsion angles for aryl ketones and aromatic aldehydes are estimated using an indirect method based on previous results from electronically similar hindered ketones.


The symptoms on admission were, emaciation; cough troublesome at night; sense of stricture in chest; soreness of epigastrium, with tenderness and pain on slight pressure; hiccup; skin warm, dry, and sallow; pulse frequent, some fulness; sordes on teeth; tongue clean, dry and polished; eyes sallow; carotids pulsate with force; perfectly sensible; great soreness of his flesh; no appetite, and not troubled with thirst; diarrhoea, bowels moved six times before admission today, and almost constantly since; discharge watery and offensive. He appeared much prostrated and exhausted by his removal to the Infirmary. He stated that during his illness he had been vomited several times, had been very frequently purged, and had been taking powders of calomel.


Interdependent preferences generally imply Pareto inefficiency. For a general demand system, we provide a characterization of Pareto improvements. For a prominent parametric specification, the Linear Expenditure System, we characterize in detail the welfare loss associated with interdependent preferences. Using an estimated empirical model of this kind, we calculate the compensating variation corresponding to the welfare loss. Copyright 2004 Blackwell Publishing Inc..


Though generally accepted, the precautionary principle has aroused much controversy both in theory and practice. Its internal predicament can only be solved by clarifying and interpreting the core issue rather than mere analysis of legal texts. Since the core issue lies in the legal effect, the legal effect and social positive analysis is suggested to explore the social effectiveness of the precautionary principle.


: As Yunnan Province proposes to develop eight key industries, play the world-class "three cards" and build a modern industrial system oriented towards 2035. With the introduction of a large number of trillion-level industries, 100-billion-level industries, and 100-billion-level enterprises, people have gradually increased their emphasis on vocational education. Professional technical talents in higher vocational colleges have also become a new driving force for Yunnan's economic development. In order to realize the matching of professional and technical talents with regional economic development, the needs of employers, and mutual promotion, it is necessary to rely on the teaching quality of vocational colleges. Therefore, it is particularly critical to identify the factors affecting the construction of the financial and commercial professions in higher vocational colleges and to make suggestions. This article summarizes the specific factors that affect the construction of financial and commercial majors in higher vocational colleges. Combined with the literature review method, the influencing factors are classified and integrated, and the influencing factors of the construction of the financial and commercial majors of vocational colleges are identified from the three levels of government, society, and schools. At the same time, use the network analysis method to establish a strategy evaluation model. Furthermore, it provides targeted suggestions for the follow-up research on the construction of financial and commercial majors in higher vocational colleges.


An urgent challenge confronting society today is the vulnerability of urban areas to "eXtreme" Events (XEs) (Mileti, 1999; CWR, 2002; Godschalk, 2003). These hazardous situations include natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, as well as accidental and intentional disasters such as fires and terrorist attacks. At the global level, a total of 608 million people were affected by these disasters in 2002, out of which 24,500 died (IFRC, 2003). The economic damages to property and the environment were estimated at $27 billion dollars (IFRC, 2003). From January to October 2005, the number of people killed in disasters globally was estimated at 97,490 and the economical losses were approximately U.S. $159 billion (WHO, 2006). These significant human and economic costs emphasize the urgent need to reduce the vulnerability of urban areas to XEs (Mileti, 1999; CWR, 2002; Godschalk, 2003), improve the impact of relief team actions in these situations (NRC, 1999; NSTC, 2003), and the decision making process (Stewart, 2002; Mendonca, 2007). When an XE affects an urban area, a variety of personnel and organizations with different expertise participate in the disaster relief process (fire, police, health services, and government authorities). Typically, this process is composed of three phases: (a) the preparedness of first response plans for disasters, (b) the response process to reduce the impact of XEs, and (c) the recovery of the affected areas (Mileti, 1999; NSTC, 2003). Some countries have defined response plans specifying the role of each organization and the way the relief tasks have to be coordinated (FEMA, 1999). Additionally, these plans establish the superior authority in charge of coordinating the inter-organizational efforts. Nevertheless, it is rare in practice to find a superior authority making macro-decisions and coordinating the inter-organization activities (Scalem, 2004). Typically, each organization has its own hierarchical structure and it establishes members' responsibilities, decision making levels, and protocols to coordinate its activities. The decision making process is local for each organization; thus, the decisions made by one of them can generate problems to other ones. The lack of cooperation and trust among these public and private agencies (Mileti, 1999; NCTA, 2004) and also the lack of coordination and information sharing (NRC, 1999; NCTA, 2004) often jeopardize the effectiveness of the mitigation process (Stewart, 2002). Although this problem is complex, two important lessons have been learned from recent disasters: (a) the need to improve the collaboration among organizations in order to increase response effectiveness (NRC, 1999; Scalem, 2004) and (b) the use of IT solutions to support the coordination activities and the distributed decision-making processes (NRC, 2002; NSTC, 2003; Scalem, 2004). This article describes the challenges to face when carrying out distributed inter-organizational decision making and the technological requirements to be considered when supporting such process in urban disaster cases. The next section presents the key XE properties and the implications they have on the decision making process. The third section describes the decision making scenario in urban disasters. The fourth section describes the technological requirements for supporting this process. Finally, the fifth section presents the conclusions and further work.


Pullulanase was produced from the Klebsiella pneumoniae NFB-320 with the composition of 1.0% pullulan, 1.5% yeast extract, 0.2% K₂HPO₄ and 0.02% MgSO₄ ㆍ7H₂O(pH 5.5). The optimum temperature for activity of the pullulanase was 30℃ and the highest yield of the enzyme was obtained after cell growth at 30℃ for 18hr, and maintained until 24hr cultivation. The pullulanase was successively purified 52.6 folds with 7.8% yield by acetone precipitation, DEAE-cellulose column chromatography and gel filtrations. The purified enzyme hydrolyzed pullulan into maltotriose exclusively. Chemical and physical properties of purified pullulanase from Klebsiella pneumoniae NFB-320 were examined. The optimum pH and temperature for enzyme activity were 5.0 and 60℃, respectively. The enzyme was stable between pH 4 and 7, and up to 50℃. The effect of modification on the rate of enzyme reaction was studied with various chemicals and metal ions. The enzyme has been found to be inactivated by I₂ and N-bromosuccinimide(NBS), which probably indicated the involvement of tryptophan residues in the active center of the enzyme.


Acute toxicity test was conducted on Litopenaeus vannamei on short term exposure (96 hours) to various concentration of cadmium at different salinity. A static test was applied as an acute toxicity test technique. The objective of this study was to assesst the mortality rate and the damage of gill tissue of L. vannamei exposed to cadmium at different salinity. Tolerance to these metal was decreased progressively according to the salinity level. The less tolerant salinity and the heaviest damage gill tissue was found at lowest salinity/10 ppt (96 h LC50 : 1.66 ppt Cd) and followed by 20 ppt (96 h LC50 : 2.54 ppt), 30ppt (96 h LC50 : 4.41 ppt), and 40 ppt (96 h LC50 : 5.16 ppt), respectively.


As part of its development efforts, the World Bank has a fiduciary duty to ensure that its funds are used for their intended purposes and with due attention to economy and efficiency. In furtherance of this fiduciary duty, the Bank's anti-corruption measures seek to incorporate processes that ensure standards of good governance and conformity with principles of the rule of law. Indeed, fraud and corruption weaken institutions and divert essential resources from those who are supposed to benefit the most: the poor. Since the mid-1990s, the World Bank has worked to develop a robust sanctions system that is efficient, effective, and fair, offering accused parties a fair process through which they can present their defense. The World Bank has also sought to work with its partners to deter and prevent misconduct from occurring in the first place. This chapter describes the history and evolution of the World Bank's sanctions system and its efforts to combat fraud and corruption in its development activities.


from father to son." But places change as well as men. Many buildings are swept away, and formerly well-known places so altered as to be forgotten, in the course of only a few years of city improvements. Works, therefore, such as those of Mr. Douglas are welcome to all who think of Bombay and Western India with happy memories, and are interested in the history of the establishment of the English in those parts and the progress of the ' Urbs prima in Indis.' In each of the divisions of the book, viz., Social, Banks and Merchants, Roads by Sea and Land, Clubs, Biographical and Historical, papers well worth reading will be found, such as "Bombay Domestic Annals, A.D. 1800-1893," " Bombay before Joint Stock Banking," " Across India in a Palkee," " Aquaviva of Salsette," " People whom India has forgotten." It is hoped that this book will not be, as stated by the author, the last stone which he will heave on to the cairn of Old Bombay. 0. C.


The production of degradable polyanhydride-based nanoparticles that exhibit tuneable degradation times using thiol–ene 'click' polymerizations is described. Linear polyanhydrides were used in the production of nanoparticles with diameters typically in the range of 250–400 nm using the emulsion–solvent evaporation method. A variety of reaction parameters, including polymer composition, surfactant species and concentration, sonication amplitude and duration, and reaction medium, were investigated to examine their impact on particle size. Also demonstrated are the potential to incorporate diverse functionality in the polymer network, the ability to load nanoparticles with a payload as exemplified by a model dye compound, and how the introduction of cross-linking into the polymer network extends degradation profiles, thereby allowing for tuneable degradation timeframes, which range from ~1 day to 14 days.


Experimental data obtained by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry and electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy determinations of amounts of copper and lead deposited on glassy carbon electrodes essentially validate a recently published model for the process of preconcentration of metal ions by electrodeposition. Data elucidating the related phenomena of amount deposited, equilibrium concentration of unrecovered ions, and percent recovery have been determined and are discussed. For solution concentrations that allow multilayer electrode coverage (usually greater than 10{sup {minus}7} M), and monolayer or less electrode coverage, data show initial-concentration-dependent limits to electrochemical preconcentration, which decrease percent recovery. Electrodeposition parameters that minimize equilibrium concentration levels are discussed. The analytical importance of the verified model is that, for a set of experimental conditions, it allows calculation of predicted recoveries from data collected at macroconcentration levels to concentration levels 3 magnitudes lower.


Objective To evaluate the IUI success factors relative to controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) and infertility type, this retrospective cohort study included 1251 couples undergoing homologous IUI. Results We achieved 13% clinical pregnancies and 11% live births. COS and infertility type do not have significant effect on IUI clinical outcomes with unstable intervention of various couples' parameters, including the female age, the IUI attempt rank, and the sperm quality. Conclusion Further, the COS used seemed a weak predictor for IUI success; therefore, the indications need more discussion, especially in unexplained infertility cases involving various factors. Indeed, the fourth IUI attempt, the female age over 40 years, and the total motile sperm count <5 × 106 were critical in decreasing the positive clinical outcomes of IUI. Those parameter cut-offs necessitate a larger analysis to give infertile couples more chances through IUI before carrying out other ART techniques.


Mental imagery and possible-selves interventions can help to improve physical activity (PA) in a variety of populations. Currently, no study has combined these two interventions to test the efficacy or possible synergistic effect. This study investigated the efficacy of a one-time exposure to one of three parallel interventions: imagery, possible selves, and combined, on exercise and self-efficacy, compared to a control group who were given nutritional information as an intervention. One hundred and twelve participants were randomized and provided data at three time points – eligibility screening, post-intervention, and 4-week follow-up. There were no significant group by time interactions or group differences. Main effects for time and exercise showed all participants increased in exercise suggesting that there are no advantages of the interventions. We discuss reasons why this may have occurred and suggest several areas for future researchers to expand upon, including replication with more exposure to interventions.


The authors assert that the major flaw with the ModSim/TWOS (Time Warp Operating System) system as it currently exists is that there is no compiler support for mapping a ModSim application into an efficient C/TWOS application. Moreover, the ModSim language as currently defined does not provide explicit hooks into the TWOS and hence the developer is unable to tailor a ModSim application in the same fashion that a C application can be tailored. Without sufficient compiler support, there is a mismatch between ModSim's object-oriented, process-based execution model and the Time Warp execution model. The authors present their assessment of ModSim/TWOS and also discuss both components in isolation.<<ETX>>


The atomic layer deposition (ALD) of phosphate containing thin films using reactions between the metal halide and the phosphorus source without any additional oxygen sources was examined. Two very common metal halides, AlCl3 and TiCl4, were used in conjunction with trimethyl phosphate (TMPO) to grow corresponding metal phosphate films. Aluminum phosphate thin films were deposited at temperatures between 150 and 400 °C while titanium phosphate films grew between 275 and 450 °C. Amorphous films of Al2.6PO7.0 and Al1.6PO5.6 were deposited at 200 and 300 °C, respectively, while the amorphous titanium phosphate films deposited at 300 and 400 °C consisted of Ti0.8PO3.9 and Ti0.6PO3.5 (Ti1.2P2O7). The stability and crystallization of the films were studied with high temperature XRD, while the surface morphology of the annealed films was studied using FESEM.


The article focuses on to conduct a comparative analysis of English and Kazakh phraseological units nominating the image of a dog. The purpose of this study is to consider the national and cultural specifics, reflected in the stable expressions of the English and Kazakh languages with the "dog" component. The article provides a brief overview of works related to the issues of phraseology in English and Kazakh. The work was based on general scientific methods: induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis. The work with the collected card index of stable expressions was carried out by the method of continuous sampling, using the descriptive-analytical method. An important place in the work with the material was given to the methods of definitional, contextual and typological analysis. Using the comparative-comparative method, national-specific and universal features of zoonyms in English and Kazakh languages were determined. The material of the research was a card index of phraseological units of the English and Kazakh languages (more than 160 units) which were selected using the method of continuous sampling from phraseological dictionaries of the English and Kazakh languages. When analyzing the authors of the article relied on materials from phraseological dictionaries in English and Kazakh languages. In the course of the analysis, groups of phraseological units were identified and their differences and similarities in the compared languages were identified, as well as their national and cultural specificity, based on the action of universal cultural codes; the national and cultural specificity of zoonyms is determined by a number of extralinguistic factors: the location of the country, the living conditions of the people, their customs and traditions, history, religion and socio-political structure. All this secures national-specific connotation to zoonyms and determines their productivity. The results of the study showed that through the prism of axiology, an analysis of English and Kazakh stable combinations with the "dog" component, reflecting the paradigm of values (general cultural and national-cultural) and anti-values of the corresponding ethnic communities, was presented, as well as universal values representing at the intercultural level. The results of the study showed that through the prism of axiology, the analysis reflects the paradigm of values (general cultural and national-cultural) and anti-values of the corresponding ethnic communities. The research results have both theoretical and practical significance; it will be additional material for elective courses on the subject of "Lexicology" taught at the faculties of philology and foreign languages in higher educational institutions.


3D stacked memory enables more off-chip DDR memories. Redesigning existing IPs to exploit the increased memory parallelism will be prohibitively costly. In our work, we propose a practical approach to exploit the increased bandwidth and reduced latency of multiple off-chip DDR memories while reusing existing IPs without modification. The proposed approach is based on two new concepts: transaction id renaming and distributed soft arbitration. We present two on-chip network components, request parallelizer and read data serializer, to realize the concepts. Experiments with synthetic test cases and an industrial strength DTV SoC design show that the proposed approach gives significant improvements in total execution cycle (21.6%) and average memory access latency (31.6%) in the DTV case with a small area overhead (30.1% in the on-chip network, and less than 1.4% in the entire chip).


Reviewing recent theoretical works, we propose a strategy to optimize the carrier multiplication in semiconductor quantum dots. This strategy is discussed using calculations on quantum dots of a semi-metal, α-Sn.


The invention relates to an organic carrier for a conductive slurry. The organic carrier comprises organic resin and a solvent. The organic carrier also includes an acrylic acid system being a mixed system of an acrylic monomer and an acrylic acid cross-linking agent. The acrylic acid system has the ideal controlled compatibility and thus a new interface layer can be formed at the surface of the conductive slurry formed by the organic carrier, so that the levelling property of the conductive slurry can be improved and a phenomenon of gate breaking caused by usage of the conductive slurry for manufacturing an electrode can be avoided. Besides, when a battery piece is prepared by using the conductive slurry manufactured by using the organic carrier the acrylic acid system can form thermosetting polymer having a three-dimensional net structure during the drying and sintering processes, so that the moulding property of the conductive slurry can be improved and gate line collapsing during the drying process can be avoided. In addition, the invention also provides a conductive slurry and a battery piece that use the organic carrier.


The cultivation of innovative talents has become more and more important in a highly uncertain environment. Environmental scanning is one of the key processes that enables college students to precisely perceive environment, gain high-quality information with flexibility, which will contribute to higher innovation ability and employment quality. This study applied questionnaire surveys and multivariate linear regression analysis to investigate environmental scanning behavior of Chinese college students. In this paper, we not only verified the relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and environmental scanning, the moderating effect of the perceived information accessibility, but also analyzed the different perception and coping behaviors of college students in task environment and general environment. Finally, we offered theoretical contribution and practical implications on the cultivation of innovative talents in universities.


Aortic dissection is a severe and often fatal condition, and has been shown to be associated with vascular oxidative stress. One of the main sources of oxidative stress in the vasculature is NADPH ...


Some believe that there are negative properties, such as being non-red or non-circular. Armstrong had attempted a detailed refutation of negative properties since he did not want negativity to be a part of what there is. His arguments were unsuccessful. He thought that sharing a property meant having something in common, but two things could both be non-red because one was all blue and the other was all yellow. But this begs the question, since only if we have already ruled out non-red as a real property can we say that those two things do not share something. There seems no conclusive argument against negative properties, but nor are there conclusive arguments in their favour either. The question of their reality can only be settled after we have looked at other matters.


This work is carried out with the optimum design of a stand-alone hybrid energy storage system (HESS) based on solar, wind and super capacitor (SC) with battery storage system which is effectively optimized in the grid power system. The distribution of the power source is mainly considered on the Hybrid renewable energy power sources. This discourse presents an adaptive power optimizing the three-phase inverter and grid-connected hybrid renewable energy resources efficiently. In this analysis, the similar parameters are taken for the compensation such as voltage fluctuation, harmonics and Frequency imbalance by implementing Adaptive Power Management Strategy (APMS) and the obtained issues are synchronized by inverter control. All these comparative activities of the inverter are done either discretely or combined to stabilize the unbalanced impacts of a wide range of adjusted, uneven, power loss at the circulation level. A battery and SC energy management are essential for maintaining the energy sustainability in renewable energy system. Combination of solar and wind with the battery and SC is used to test the proposed stand-alone grid management. The proposed hybrid power system is designed to work under classical-based energy management and this performance is monitored with the help of the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning based on Polynomial Linear Regression Algorithm. The focus of the suggested HESS is reduced by the loss in stand-alone grid system with an economic performances.


Patients with moderate‐to‐severe atopic dermatitis (AD) have increased risk of cutaneous and extracutaneous infections. Dupilumab has previously been associated with reduced risk of serious/severe infections and non‐herpetic skin infections in adults with moderate‐to‐severe AD. This analysis assessed infection rates with dupilumab versus placebo in pediatric patients with moderate‐to‐severe and severe AD participating in clinical trials.


The invention discloses a liquid crystal panel which comprises a pixel area and a test short-circuiting bar area arranged at the periphery of the pixel area, wherein the short-circuiting bar area is provided with a plurality of first switch circuits, a plurality of scanning signal test points, a public electrode test point, a plurality of first unidirectional circuits or second switch circuits, and a plurality of data signal test points; scanning signal lines are connected with the scanning signal test points by the first switch circuits; data signal lines are connected with the data signal test points by the first unidirectional circuits or second switch circuits; and a public electrode is connected with a public electrode test point. The invention also discloses a method for clarifying reasons resulting in poor screen images of a liquid crystal module. Through the way, by using the liquid crystal panel disclosed by the invention, an effect of saving cutting equipment and a process of cutting a test lead of the short-circuiting bar area in the manufacturing process of assembly can be achieved, so that in the subsequent production stages after the manufacturing process of assembly, the test lead of the short-circuiting bar area can continue to be used for carrying out screen image detection, thereby improving the test accuracy of screen images.


The topic of carotid stenting has been a main feature in many meetings and forums in the past 12 months. The procedure is now being performed in increasing numbers in both Europe and Asia mainly by cardiologists and vascular radiologists. In attempting to evaluate this procedure for our own centre, a review of the literature disclosed that there was little published by interventional neuroradiologists on this procedure. In my conversations with others there was an impression that interventional neuroradiologists were sceptical and wary of this procedure. Was this due to ignorance or a lack of a capability and familiarity with the handling and use of stents? The issue appears to have been most enthusiastically taken up by cardiologists who feel that their ability to control the flow of patients and their vast experience in the use of stents provides them with the raison d'etre to be designated to apply this procedure. Let us address some of the issues at debate here. The first is the viability and safety of the procedure, the second is the choice of devices and, finally, the last and probably the most contentious would be who is to do the procedure. Revascularisation procedures are becoming one of the mainstays of treatment in the coronary, renal, iliac and lower limb vessels The use of angioplasty balloons supplemented now by the use of stents with relatively low morbidity and complications makes it an extremely good alternative to surgery in these areas. It is based on this premise that this procedure has been extrapolated to the carotid vessels. Carotid PTA has to date been reported by numerous groups in both Europe and North America. The results of carotid PTA appear to be favourable with all groups reporting results with low mortality and morbidity. The proponents of stenting have taken this procedure a step further. PTA by itself has limitations in that the angiographic results could be less than favourable and the incidence of restenosis is also difficult to predict. It is therefore thought that in dealing with the percutaneous revascularisation of vessels, to ensure that results be more predictable, and complicationfree, stents be utilized. These devices would ensure a predictable immediate post-procedural diameter, seal intimal tears and dissections, thus decreasing the incidence of acute closures. These stents would also theoretically seal loose flaps and trap friable material, reducing the chance of distal embolisation and, finally, based on studies in the coronaries, these devices would also reduce the incidence of late restenosis. Based on the results of two trials, one for the coronary and the other for the iliac arteries, stent procedures appear to have a distinct superiority over balloon angioplasty. The carotid vessels are, after all, proponents argue no different from the iliac or the coro-


Two very different bias functions may be observed in the study of perceived 2D orientation of visual stimuli. One bias function is symmetrical between vertical and horizontal. This "cardinal" bias (e.g., Gischick et al. 2011) has sometimes been argued to be a front-end coding bias due to the overrepresentation of vertical and horizontal in natural scenes and in visual cortex. The second, "categorical" bias function (Dick & Hochstein, 1989) is asymmetrical; it exaggerates angular deviations from horizontal while underestimating deviations from vertical with the consequence that orientations that are only 37-40° from horizontal are judged to bisect the angular distance between horizontal and vertical (Durgin & Li, 2011). Here we report that both of these biases appear to be yoked to the perceived gravitational reference frame: When observers are positioned at an attitude of 45° so that retinal and gravitational reference frames are dissociated, it is the perceived gravitational reference frame that matters most. In the case of the categorical bias, the gravitational horizontal seems to provide a particularly strong reference orientation, consistent with the importance of the gravitational ground plane. In the case of the cardinal bias, which is measured by comparison between two orientations, the gravitational reference-frame dominance is clearly inconsistent with an account based on cortical over-representation of cardinal orientations. More likely, for purposes of comparison, orientations are coded relative to a perceptually-given reference frame that is divided into quadrants. Cardinal bias might therefore be understood as resulting from representational range compression within each perceptual quadrant. In a series of five experiments we show that noisy orientation textures composed of variably-oriented gabor patches can show both kinds of cognitive orientation bias, and that both biases are yoked to perceptual rather than retinal reference frames. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 2018 and 2019 at the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, to study the effect of crop-establishment methods and enriched organic nutrient sources on growth and productivity of 'Pusa Basmati 1509' rice (Oryza sativa L.). The experiment was laid out in splitplot design with 3 replications. The treatments comprised 2 main plot treatments, viz. aerobic rice (AR) and conventional transplanted (CT) rice, and 5 subplot treatments, viz. control (no fertilizer), 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF)–100% mineral fertilization), 50% P through P enriched compost + 50% P through diammonium phosphate (DAP), 50% N through N-enriched compost + 50% N through urea and DAP and 100% organic (through N-enriched compost and P-enriched compost). The transplanted rice gave significantly higher grain yield (4.3 and 4.5 t/ha), straw yield (7.2 and 7.5 t/ha), plant height (97.8 and 99.1 cm), number of tillers (369.4 and 375.1), macro (1.4 and 1.3%-N, 0.14 and 0.15% -P, 0.27 and 0.28% K) and micro-nutrient concentration (70.5 and 76.8 ppm-Fe 22.2 and 22.9 ppm-Mn 24.1 and 24.7 ppm-Zn 10.1 and 10.5 ppm-Cu) in grain compared to aerobic rice. Enriched N compost having 50% N through N-enriched compost + 50% N through urea and DAP resulted in significantly higher grain yield (4.85 and 5.13 t/ha) than the other treatments except enriched P compost including 50% P through P-enriched compost + 50% P through DAP and these 2 treatments were at par in both the years. The 100% RDF resulted in more grain yield than 100% organic treatment, though differences were nonsignificant in both the years. Treatment of 50% N through N-enriched compost + 50% N through urea and DAP also resulted in taller plants, more tillers/m2 , higher macro and micro-nutrient concentration in grain than the other treatments. Hence, conventional transplanting of rice along with integrated application of enriched compost and inorganic fertilizer may be recommended to farmers for getting higher growth, productivity and better nutritional security.


Abstract
This one-year qualitative study examined the role Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies (Paris, 2012; Paris & Alim, 2014) had on secondary pre-service teachers in an urban school. This study examined the journey of six pre-service urban high-school teachers in Arizona as they enact Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) in a year-long student teaching residency. Pre-service teachers worked with and learned from English Language Learners in various contexts. Factors that influenced their CSP practices are discussed through themes that emerged from interviews and classroom observations.


Abstract This paper examines a 'landscape of power' in the marginal northeastern corner of Italy, near the Italian-Slovenian border. The landscape is centred around the small town of Gradisca and its highly contested centres for asylum seekers and marked by the concomitant presence of a giant shopping mall, the largest Italian war memorial, and an aestheticised wine district. The result of participant observation, visual and textual analysis, and selected interviews, this study reflects on the transformation of a former cold war border area into a mix of carceral, hospitality, commercial, residential, rural spatialities that seem to be entirely disconnected with each other and linked instead to broader regional, national and international geographies. This fragmented landscape, dominated by massive 'fortified' enclosures and with gradually deterritorialised in-between spaces, described here as no man's land, may be provocatively analysed as an Italian exopolis.


of view and for giving her a full and patient hearing. It is not always possible or desirable to set the stage. The visitor at no time had been satisfied with her contact with the family, but for this particular visit she had no objective beyond that of handling the problem of the hour. (2) What might be called a second first interview took place; that is, there was a retelling, with more elaboration of the material considered important in a first interview. Many times this second first interview contains more significant material than the first one, which may have touched in only a perfunctory way on deep rooted problems. (3) The client's point of view was not only secured but respected and an appeal to her intelligence was made in explaining the community's attitude. By putting her on her honor for telling the truth, her truthfulness was stimulated. . (4) The visitor's strong interest in community organization problems was undoubtedly a factor, although superficially it might appear to be incompatible with the client's sense of individual grievance. The visitor comments that the explanations given Mrs. Reilly were almost verbatim quotations from a talk she had given to a church group. In the analysis of any treatment interviews, we are still bandicapped by the lack of proper terminology, in spite of our continuous efforts to record behavior. Weare even further away from recording in definite terms any of the worker's objectives or processes, clear pictures of which are necessary to the study of the use of the interview. For example, how much more effective the interview with a certain feebleminded man might have been, if the student visitor had known the previous visitor's method of conducting her home visits. As it was, the client came into the office asking to. see the previous visitor. The superintendent, to whom he was referred, asked him why he felt he must talk to Miss Brown instead of to Miss Smith. "Oh, we like Miss Smith all right, but Miss Brown when she came to see· us, she just talked about one thing at a time. We got that thing all decided before we talked about something else. ·Now Miss Smith she talks to us about everything all at once." Some form of subjective recording would have shown how the visitor "talked about one thing at a time." In the conclusion may I just make one more plea for the further study of the interview as a tool in the art of helping?


A current mode control type switching power supply device includes a first switch, a second switch, a current sensing portion configured to sense current flowing in the second switch, and a controller configured to control the first and second switches in accordance with the current sensed by the current sensing portion. The controller includes an accumulating portion configured to accumulate information of the current sensed by the current sensing portion during a predetermined period of time while the first switch is in the off state, and reflecting portion configured to start the transmission of the current information accumulated by the accumulating portion before the first switch is changed from the off state to the on state so as to reflect the current information accumulated by the accumulating portion on the slope voltage, and controls the first and second switches in accordance with the slope voltage.


This case report describes our first experience performing percutaneous epicardial catheter ablation for Burugada syndrome in our hospital. We describe the good results achieved in this case. The patient was a man in his 30s with no remarkable medical history. However, his family history was notable for the sudden death of his grandfather at age 37 years and his father at age 27 years. While asleep, the patient experienced convulsions and lost consciousness. During emergency transportation, defibrillation was performed 7 times by the ambulance crew. When the patient arrived at our hospital, sinus rhythm was observed on ECG. During resuscitation, Burugada syndrome was diagnosed based on ECG findings. On hospital day 6, an internal cardioverter defibrillator was implanted. After discharge, the defibrillator operated 10 times, so we opted for ablation treatment. Fractionated potential of over 150 ms was confirmed in the right ventricular outflow tract. A low voltage zone of < 1 mV could be mapped, and the same site was cauterized a total of 46 times. As a result, ST segment amplitude decreased significantly in lead V1 on ECG. Percutaneous epicardial catheter ablation performed with reference to Nademanee's report achieved good results in this case of Burugada syndrome.