By Amy D. Lagorio University of the Pacific 2020 The current functional model of the anuran larynx includes four pairs of laryngeal muscles. Their contractions do not account, however, for the behavioral control of call complexity observed in male túngara frogs (Engystomops pustulosus), which optionally add a secondary note with distinct harmonic structure to their advertisement call. Examination of the túngara frog's laryngeal morphology through dissection, microtomography, and resin histology has revealed that the m. dilatator laryngis is divided into two separate bundles (superficial and deep). The superficial bundle closely matches the typical description of the m. dilatator laryngis and is well positioned to open the glottis. The deep bundle is exclusively innervated by the short laryngeal nerve and has an attachment to the fibrous mass, an internal laryngeal structure necessary for complex call production. This attachment indicates a separate role for the deep bundle in controlling the complexity of the call. Based on physical separation, exclusive attachments, distinct fiber orientation, exclusive innervation, and potential action, this study recognizes the deep bundle of the m. dilatator laryngis as a separate muscle. It also revalidates the name m. arylabialis which had been previously used to describe it. The split of the m. dilatator laryngis into two muscles results in a laryngeal innervation pattern that closely matches that of mammals. This study identified a novel laryngeal muscle in túngara frogs, a potential


The football activities are challenges even for professional players with physical conditioning to withstand all the load. A considerable number of players are withdrawn from activities due to repetitive impact injuries. It has been observed that in order to reduce these injuries some players have the habit of alternating the cleats that they use to avoid that the foot to force specific points continuously. But most of the time this habit is not enough to prevent a player from suffering an injury. In the course of the project, a mechanism was developed to reduce the incidence of injuries, with the aid of the "Intervencao Ergonomizadora" as a methodology. From the analyzes it was understood that the training of this sport is a major contributor to build injuries on the body. When evaluating the movement of these athletes, it was possible to observe that the majority of the detrition is constructed by impacts of the plantar surface against the ground. It was proposed a change in the soccer cleat, more adapted to the reality of the training, with a cushioning system, to reduce the impacts and protect the player's lower limbs. Alternatives were developed and the damping system consolidated as an elastic midsole, above the latches. It was possible to identify a reduction in the physical requirement on the part of the user when performing activities common to the training and the boot satisfactorily met the requirements for its proper functioning. If produced, it can be used in practice to alternate the cleats that are made by these players.


The meeting of economists and modelers at the Fourth Annual Conference on
Global Economic Analysis indicates the importance of global modeling and,
consequently, global datasets. The GTAP data base has become a leading dataset used
by researchers worldwide for a large number of important issues.
In this paper, we discuss the importance of distortionary taxation in general
equilibrium climate modeling. Towards that end, we'd like to do the following. First, we discuss how distortionary taxation affects our policy choices in the area of environmental policymaking in general and global climate change in particular. Then, we discuss how GTAP could be expanded to incorporate distortionary factor taxes (as well as consumption taxes) so that researchers can carry out applied research in a second best world with distortionary taxation. Finally, we also demonstrate its use with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change's CGE model known as EPPA.


protein kinase 2 (MAPKAP 2 or is one of several kinases directly regulated by p38 MAPK. A role for p38 MAPK in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has previously been suggested.


Previous research efforts to optimize OFDMA resource allocation with respect to communication performance have focused on formulations considering only instantaneous per-symbol rate maximization, and on solutions using suboptimal heuristic algorithms. This paper intends to fill gaps in the literature through two key contributions. First, we formulate weighted sum ergodic capacity maximization in OFDMA assuming the availability of perfect channel state information (CSI). Our formulations exploit time, frequency, and multi-user diversity, while enforcing various notions of fairness through weighting factors for each user. Second, we derive algorithms based on a dual optimization framework that solve the OFDMA ergodic capacity maximization problem with O (MK) complexity per OFDMA symbol for M users and K subcarriers, while achieving data rates shown to be at least 99.9999% of the optimal rate in simulations based on realistic parameters. Hence, this paper attempts to demonstrate that OFDMA resource allocation problems are not computationally prohibitive to solve optimally, even when considering ergodic rates.


Cardiac related diseases are a serious health risk for adults. Consequently, therapies exist to treat these aliments such as heart transplant and medication. Heart transplant remains the gold standard for treating severe heart failure, however left ventricular assistive devices, a cardiac blood pump, are become a viable long term treatment. Unfortunately, with the benefits of these devices come risks of clot formation. These occlusions can cause strokes, further cardiac damage, or even death. Therefore, it is critical that these occlusions be detected as early as possible. This work presents an expanded method to non-invasively monitor the condition of a Thoratec HeartMate II ventricular assist device through the application of a boosted classification tree. In addition, both inflow and outflow blockages measured at aorta and pump locations were experimentally tested on a cardiac phantom. The proposed method presents a potential outpatient diagnostic method that may assist experienced cardiologists in their treatment of LVAD patients. Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Jason Kolodziej Title: Associate Professor


The effects of the naturally occurring steroid estradiol-1 713 (E) and the synthetic, nonsteroidal estrogen diethylstilbestrol (DES) upon uterine water inbibition, long-term growth, contractile tension development, and actomyosin production were monitored in relation to the temporal pattern of the nuclear retention of the receptor-estrogen complex (REC) for each hormone. Additionally, the relative potency of the two to stimulate glucose oxidation was determined. True uterine growth was stimulated to a greater degree by DES than by E. The differential growth increase promoted by DES was 13.7% and 24.2% at a hormone dose of 0.1 pg and I pg, respectively. The augmented growth response to DES was accompanied by a significantly (P<0.05) elevated 6.5 h nuclear retention of the DES-REC compared with that for E at both hormone doses. The quantity of DES-REC still remaining in the nucleus at 12 h also tended to be greater than the nuclear retention of E. The same relationship between uterine growth and nuclear retention was observed in immature rats over a period of development in which the uterus was becoming more estrogen responsive and exhibiting an increasingly differential sensitivity to DES. The effect the two hormones had on development of uterine isometric tension and on nuclear retention of REC was qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the uterotrophic response. The contractile response to DES was associated with significantly (P<0.05) greater actomyosin production. In contrast, no relationship existed between estrogen-stimulated uterine fluid uptake and nuclear retention of REC. Although DES was much less potent in this parameter, the temporal pattern and quantity of REC occupying the nucleus after DES treatment was inconsistent with this observation. It is suggested that water imbibition may not be obligatorily coupled to nuclear REC interactions and may more accurately reflect differences in membrane interactions and/or uterine blood flow. E was the more potent hormone in stimulating glucose oxidation by the uterus. Only at a supramaximal dose did DES stimulate glucose utilization to an extent equivalent to that of E. Availability of oxidized coenzyme may be the limiting factor in the reduced sensitivity of uterine glucose oxidation to DES stimulation.


An understanding of the causes and consequences of the high rate of price inflation experienced in Canada will have a sizeable payoff for future economic policymaking. Some aspects of that analysis are now reaching a wide audience for critical commentary. Tom Courchene' s recent book (1976), discussing monetary policy and inflation in the context of the floating exchange rate, provides one rich source of information and analysis. Another link in this chain is the connection between government deficits and inflation. Robert Crozier's recent analysis (1976a, 1976b) attempted to disprove the existence of such a link, even though he found that the government sector contributed to inflation in a variety of other ways. These included tax push inflation, the erosion of incentives, the substitution of non-wealth creating activities for wealth creating activities and so forth. On statistical grounds alone the evidence presented by Crozier will be an enlightenment to many who have been critical of Federal government behaviour in recent years. Essentially, Crozier argued that if the national accounts definition of the deficit is used and Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan contributions added, all levels of government combined have been running a persistent surplus. How then, he asks, can deficit financing account for inflation? This analysis has been critized by Robin Richardson and Charles Loewen (1976a, 1976b) as well as by myself (1976a, 1976b). In my view the Crozier study does not allow us to reject the hypothesis in question. It misses a number of points that must be clarified before one can comfortably come to the conclusion that government deficits are unrelated to inflation. This debate concerns some of the more fundamental issues of economics and, in particular, those that have been researched most extensively in recent years in response to the failures of the basic Keynesian model. The latter approach has looked at the effects of fiscal policy in terms of flow equilibrium. What happened in asset markets as a consequence of financing the fiscal


Intense competition in rapidly changing markets puts intense pressure on product definition and the associated requirements engineering processes. An extensive literature review has identified that brand inertia, customer inertia, inappropriate market entry strategies and an inability to satisfy customer needs or expectations are the principle contributors to customer product rejection. While RE practice has developed a number of methodologies for addressing aspects of the contributing factors to these failures, very little prior work has focused on the inertia aspects of the problem. In this work we present the results of our literature review and build upon this review to develop an initial framework for incorporating stakeholder inertia into RE practice and management processes. We conclude with a detailed agenda for further research into aspects of the stakeholder inertia problem.


As telecommunication networks have become bigger and more complex, the need for managing them more effectively, optimized their capacity and reducing their operation costs has become apparent. To be a adaptive network is becoming more urgent as the telecommunications market is continuously changing and new services have to be constructed and provided quickly and cheaply. This paper introduces an adaptive access network device based on ADP(Auto Discovery Protocol) algorithm, discusses the ADP in detail and give the system software structure.


The focus of this project was to explore Structure Function relationships in the enzyme UDP‐GlcNAc O transferase protein and design and build a physical model that illustrates key functional features of the protein. In particular our focus is on the Cross‐Talk between O‐GlcNAcylation and Phosphorylation that plays a critical role in overall regulation. Using the pdb file 4gyy.pdb from the paper "Crystal structure of human O‐GlcNAc Transferase with UDP‐5SGlcNAc and a peptide substrate" The structure illustrates the binding sites for both UDPGlcNAc and the peptide YPGGSTPVSSANMM with the requisite PV prior to the GlcNAcylatable S. Recent work by Leney et al (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Aug 29;114(35):E7255–E7261) has shown that the preceding T can be phosphorylated and that the sequence TPVS is common in proteins thought to undergo GlcNAc‐Phosphorylation cross talk. We have also used computational models to create and built models of the peptide phosphorylated at the N‐3 Threonine. These models clearly illustrate that the phosphate group clashes with the U in UDP‐GlcNAC. Since the kinetic mechanism of OGT is ordered Bi‐Bi with UDPGlcNAc as the obligate first substrate, the phosphorylated peptide can no longer bind in the peptide substrate pocket explaining why excludes GlcNAcylation. The models described here can be used to illustrate three different aspects contained in the ASBMB 8 Core Concepts of Macromolecular Structure and Function: #3. Structure and function are related, #4. Macromolecular interactions, and #6. The biological activity of macromolecules is often regulated. In addition construction and use of the models illustrates the use of core concept #8, A variety of experimental and computational approaches can be used to observe and quantitatively measure the structure, dynamics and function of biological macromolecule.


Objective: To observe the efficacy of combination of nerve blocking with acupotomy in the treatment of cervicogenic headache(CH).Methods: A total of 60 consecutive patients with conformed CH were randomly divided into groups A(treatment group) and B(control group),with 30 patients in each group.The patients of group A firstly received nerve blocking in the greater occipital nerve,lesser occipital nerve,and the second cervical paravertebral nerve through posterior approach,and then underwent acupotomy therapy on 3 most common and most susceptible pressure pain points in the affected side of occiput and upper hind neck(once a week,for 3 weeks).The patients in group B as control only received nerve blocking as performed in group A.The pain indexes were observed and compared between the two groups just after every therapy and at 1 month after therapy,and the total curative effect was also studied at 3 and 6 months after treatment.Results: Obvious effectiveness was observed in both groups,but group A was superior to group B in treatment outcome and long-term efficacy.Conclusion: Combining nerve blocking with acupotomy has the advantages of satisfying outcome and better long-term efficacy compared with simple nerve block therapy.


An electric excavator consumes battery energy to drive an electric motor attached to a hydraulic pump to generate hydraulic power. In a conventional hydraulic excavator, the hydraulic pump is controlled by regulators, which are used to optimize the diesel engine efficiency. Because of a lack of battery energy capacity, an electric excavator controller should consider not only the electric motor efficiency but also the hydraulic pump efficiency. Thus, electric motor and hydraulic pump efficiency maps were constructed. An optimal operating map (OOM) was created based on the most efficient operating points under each input condition. An integrated control algorithm controlled the speed of the electric motor and displacement of the hydraulic pump according to the OOM. To confirm the utility of this algorithm, a model-in-the-loop simulator for the algorithm with an electric excavator was established. The simulation results showed that the integrated control algorithm improved the energy efficiency of an electric excavator.


Power battery thermal management system(BTMS) is very important for the operation safety of electric vehicles(EVs).In this paper,the major functions of a BTMS were analyzed,several key technologies of a BTMS were introduced,and a specific procedure of BTMS designing was outlined.The various types of thermal management technology were summarized,and their effects,advantages and disadvantages were analyzed systematically.By summarizing the development of BTMS' research,the relevant suggestions were pointed out,which could make positive impact for designing a BTMS.


Objective: To develop a method for the determination of naringin in Jiegu Xujin capsules.Methods HPLC method was adopted in which the separation of naringin was performed on Phenomenex ODS chromatographic column;The mobile phase was composed of acetonitrile : water : acetic acid(22:78:2) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min-1 and detection wavelength of 283 nm.The temperature of column was 25 ℃.Results The linear range of naringin was0.04664~0.4664?g(r = 0.9994),the average recovery rate was 97.7 %(RSD =1.13 %,n=6).Conclusion The established method is simple,feasible,fast,accurate,reproducible and reliable to operate and suitable for the quality control of Jiegu Xujin Capsules.


This note introduces a quantum random walk in R and proves the weak convergence of its rescaled n-step densities. Quantum walks of the type we consider in this note were introduced in [1], which defined and analyzed the Hadamard quantum walk on Z, and a "new type of convergence theorem" for such quantum walks on Z was discovered by Konno [4, 5]. A much simpler proof of Konno's theorem has recently appeared in [3], allowing the theorem to be generalized to quantum walks in Zd. Inspired by the technique of [3], I have proven that Konno's theorem also holds for an analog of the quantum walk that takes steps in R d instead of Zd. This is shown below, but first I review the Hadamard quantum walk of [1] in order to motivate the definition of the "Plancherel" quantum walk. The Hadamard random walker steps along the lattice Z, carrying with her a "quantum coin." Formally, the Walker&Coin state is specified by a unit vector in l2(Z) ⊗ C2; the standard basis vectors of the auxilliary "coin space" C2 will be denoted |H〉 for "Heads" and |T 〉 for "Tails." A complete measurement of the walker's position would find her at j ∈ Z with probability P (j;ψ) = ∣∣ 〈 (j ⊗H) ∣ψ 〉∣∣ 2 + ∣∣ 〈 (j ⊗ T ) ∣ψ 〉∣∣ 2 (1) if the state of the Walker&Coin is ψ ∈ l2(Z) ⊗ C2. But the walker walks unobserved, and her position will become entangled with the state of her coin. To take a step, the quantum walker flips her coin by a Hadamard transform |H〉 7−→ 1 √ 2 (|H〉 + |T 〉) |T 〉 7−→ 1 √ 2 (|H〉 − |T 〉) (2)


As a result of the research on harm of Pseudodendrothrips mori Nima,the pest resistance between different mulberry varieties was differences.The pest resistance of Canzhuan4 and Husang7 were the strongest,but Xinyizhilai and Husang32 were easily to be jeopardized.The quantities of Pseudodendrothrips mori on the 4th leaf were obviously much more than the 8th leaf.The damage caused by Pseudodendrothrips mori on the mulberry tree leaf in fields from May to September was influenced by climate and human beings activity very much.High temperature and drought were favorable for it's occurrence and harm while overcast and rainy weather,summer pruning and chemical prevention and cure were just the opposite.


Efficient test strategies are essential for PHM design of analog systems. However, existed strategies fail to match the modern system topology and avoid information redundancy due to various stress, such as sophisticated mechanisms and variable operational conditions. Besides, the time consumption may be raised since independent test operation with sequential strategies. To overcome the above weaknesses, in this paper, we generate a mixture test strategy with our developed approach called heuristic programming (HP). We developed sequential matrix and decision graph to record the relationship between faults and potential tests. Then, the heuristic mechanism of searching is extended to mixture approaches with both sequential testing and parallel testing. Finally, rollout-strategy is introduced to overcome high searching complexity of large-scale systems. The experiments prove that HP and HP-rollout access the strategy with fewer layers and lower cost consumption than those of the state-of-the-art method. Also, both HP and HP-rollout provide more practical strategies than other methods. Additionally, the cost consumption of the strategy based on HP and HP-rollout is improved because of the updating of the test cost and adaptation of mixture OR nodes. Hence, the proposed methods have high efficiency.


The existence of the long-time tail in the velocity correlation function of a Brownian particle is first discovered from molecular-dynamics simulations and is now well established theoretically and experimentally. In this work, we ask the following question: does this long-time tail have any effect on the kinetics of diffusion-controlled reactions, and if there is any, how the reaction rate is affected, especially in the asymptotic region, t→∞? We will show that this long-time tail can be taken into account by the theory developed recently by Dong and Andre. The exact asymptotic solutions to the order of t−1/2 are found analytically with Smoluchowski and Collins–Kimball boundary conditions. This allows us to reveal that the long-time tail of the velocity correlation function contributes to the reaction rate an additional term of O(t−1/2) to the long-time limit of the classic Smoluchowski and Collins–Kimball theories.


Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) enables contact-less monitoring of the blood volume pulse using a regular camera, thus providing valuable information about the cardiovascular system. However, the quality of the acquired rPPG signal is strongly affected by the region of skin where the analysis is carried out and, therefore, to be confident of obtaining valid information, a pre-selection of the region-of-interest (ROI) for the PPG analysis is necessary. In this paper, we propose a method for the automatic extraction of this ROI combining the local characteristics of the PPG-signal with the color information using fuzzy logic. Results of the quality of the ROI extraction and its application on pulse rate detection are provided


_In the meantime another five years have elapsed since the book "Evidence Based Laser Dentistry" was published in 2006. A great deal has also happened in laser dentistry in this period. Prof Norbert Gutknecht, President of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Laserzahnheilkunde (DGL—German Society for Laser Dentistry), Executive Director of World Federation for Laser Dentistry (WFLD) and editor of the book "Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop of Evidence Based Dentistry on Lasers in Dentistry", gives answers to the most important questions on laser-assisted therapy in the various fields of treatment in the following interview.


This paper aims at analyzing and describing the English compound specifically the English noun compound.  Compound is a combination of two or more words of which meaning cannot always be predicted from the meaning of each part. In English, words, especially adjectives and nouns, are combined into compound structures in a variety of ways. This article attempts to discuss the formal characteristics and types of the English noun compound. The theory of compound was adopted for further analysis. The finding shows that the formal characteristics of  the English noun compound are:  the noun compounds  have primary stress on the first constituent, the  semantic unity of a noun compound is reflected in an orthographic, the meaning of the noun compound cannot be predicted from  the meaning of the parts. The orthographic characteristics can be solid, hyphenated, and open. The types involved are Subject and Verb, Verb and Object, verb and adverbial, verb-less, subject and complement, combining-form and Bahuvrihi


The voltage-source inverters are normally equipped with an electrolytic capacitor in their DC link, however, the electrolytic capacitor has several disadvantages such as increasing size, limiting converter life and reliability. Therefore, several approaches for removing the DC link capacitor have been studied by the authors. This paper proposes a new voltage-source inverter without DC link components. To reduce waveform distortion of the AC source current, the current-controlled PWM-rectifier with di/dt feedback is introduced. The di/dt feedback gain and LC parameters are investigated by calculation for a 0.75kW induction motor driven by this inverter. The calculated AC source currents maintain nearly sinusoidal waveforms with a unity power factor.


1Department of Osteoporosis Care and Control, The First People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311200, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Cancer Medicine, The First People's Hospital of Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 311200, People's Republic of China; 3Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310053, People's Republic of China Background: Bone metabolism can be influenced by type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the relationship between T2DM and bone mineral density (BMD) remains inconsistent. This study explored the differences in BMD in middle-aged adults with and without T2DM. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 4986 participants aged 40–59 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2018. We performed multivariable logistic regression models to evaluate the associations between T2DM status, serum glucose, glycohemoglobin (HbA1c), disease duration and lumbar BMD. Results: There was a positive association between T2DM status and lumbar BMD in all three models (model 1: β=0.039, 95% CI: 0.025–0.052; model 2: β=0.045, 95% CI: 0.031–0.059; model 3: β=0.035, 95% CI: 0.014–0.055). In the subgroup analysis stratified by gender, this positive association existed in both gender after adjusting for confounders (males: β=0.033, 95% CI: 0.003–0.062; females: β=0.035, 95% CI: 0.008–0.062). Besides, there were no significant associations of serum glucose, HbA1c, disease duration with lumbar BMD in both genders with T2DM. Conclusion: This study indicated that middle-aged adults with T2DM had significantly higher lumbar BMD compared with those without DM.


A duality theorem is proved which establishes the property of self-duality in the thermodynamic limit to be a natural property of a large class of pure three-body Ising models. A new form of low temperature expansion is obtained for triplet Ising models in zero field, which are closed polygon expansions and are highly lattice dependent. These closed polygon expansions readily establish an equivalence between pure triplet models and corresponding vertex models, and it is seen that a number of 'ice rules' are equivalent to triplet models at the dual point.


Time-Reversal (TR) technique is well-known for its ability of focusing waves. A common claim, based on this focusing ability, supports that TR technique may allow spatial multiplexing and secure transmissions. In the present paper, measurements campaigns were performed in a reverberation chamber and in a standard office to assess the viability of TR technique. It is shown that the results obtained do not support the common claim, especially in standard indoor environment where the focusing ability is strongly degraded.


The changes in the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in peripheral blood of mice infected with Mycoplasma suis were investigated in the present study in which BALB/c mice were infected with Mycoplasina suis and the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in peripheral blood of mice were determined by means of ELISA assay 3, 5 and 7 days after infection. The results showed that the lower level of IFN-γ and higher level of IL-4 could he demonstrated 3 and 5 days after infection in comparison with those of the control groups respectively (P<0.05, P<0.01), but there was no significant difference in the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 after 7 days of infection (P<0.05). It is evident from this result that determination of the levels of IFN-γ and IL-4 in peripheral blood of mice may constitute an additional sero-diagnostic index to infection with M. suis and provide the experimental data for the studies in the serology and immunology of this infection.


:- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an advanced medical imaging technique providing rich information about the human soft tissue anatomy. Segmentation plays the vital role in the medical image processing. There are several typical MRI segmentation approaches such as Thresholding techniques, Edge-based methods, Region-based segmentation, Cooperative hierarchical computation approach, Statistical approaches, and ANN image segmentation techniques. One more important phase in the medical sciences is Brain tumor classification, the images acquired from different modalities such as CT, MR that should be verified by the physician for the further treatment, but the manual classification of the MR images is the challenging and time consuming task. The main aim of this research and review paper is to explore the existing segmentation and classification techniques in the medical image processing.


The effects of 50% ethanol extract(5DWGEE) and 70% ethanol extract(7DWGEE) of defatted wheat germ on antioxidant activity and serum lipid metabolism of rats fed with high-fat diet were studied.Sixty male C57BL/6 rats of four week age were randomly divided into six groups.The control group was fed with basal diet,and the other five groups were fed with high-fat diet,high-fat diet and 2%5DWGEE,high-fat diet and 6%5DWGEE,high-fat diet and 2%7DWGEE,and high-fat diet and 6%7DWGEE,respectively.The results showed that comparing with the control group,both 5DWGEE group and 7DWGEE group could remarkably enhance the antioxidant capacity of rats,improve the activity of superoxide dismutase,catalase and glutathione peroxidase,and decrease the content of MDA.In addition,oral administration of 5DWGEE and 7DWGEE to rats could effectively decrease the levels of serum total cholesterol,triacylglycerols,low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol,and increase the level of serum high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol.The supplements of 5DWGEE and 7DWGEE could effectively enhance antioxidant activity,relieve oxidative stress caused by high-fat diet and improve serum lipid metabolism.


To many managers, a budget is just a budget - a routine task to perform. But in this eye-opening book, they'll find out how many to transform it into much more. Finney shows how to turn the budgeting process into a useful planning and management tool. He invents a fictitious company to vividly illustrate common budgeting problems and their solutions. Pinpointing the techniques and processes for developing good budgets, he describes how to establish the context and select the format; deal with uncertainty; and develop the content and encourage excellence. Finney not only presents a proper process flow and describes how to organize the details for accuracy, consistency, and terrific communications, but also helps executives make the transition from what they are doing now...to the rewards of powerful budgeting.


This colloquium took place in the University of Sheffield on March 23—26, 1970, and developed as a much larger and more international gathering than the first conference of the Association which was held in London in September 1968 (Kadmos 7, 1968, 178—9). Its subject was "Bronze Age Migrations in the Aegean Region". From the first full day's proceedings one derived the impression that, among British archaeologists at least, migrations were out of fashion. Professor J. D. Evans emphasised the regional differences within the Aegean in the Early Bronze Age, and some of these were illustrated by reports direct from field operations: Professor J. L. Caskey, for example showed convincing evidence of contacts with the Troad in the early period of Ayia Irini; and Mr. J. N. Coldstream described mainland and Cretan 'colonies' of this period on Kythera geographically too close to have overlapped in time. But Professor Evans thought that cultural changes during the Bronze Age could be better understood in terms of internal developments rather than on the hypothesis of intrusion from outside. More specifically Mr. R. J. Howell regarded the Grey Minyan Ware of Greece as a product of local evolution in EH III, under the influence of Balkan prototypes. Such influence was supported by evidence cited by Mr. M. S. F. Hood and Dr. J. Bouzek about intrusive corded ware, but it was stoutly challenged by Professor M. Garaäanin. Dr. P. M. Warren could find no signs of immigration into Crete during the long period of 2800—1450 B. C., and this led him to the conclusion that "the 'language' of Linear A could be neither Indo-European nor Semitic, but must be the native language of Troy I."


In this paper we introduce a concept for monitoring and surveillance based on SAR imagery. A workflow for detection and characterization of changes is presented and discussed. SAR imagery is quite efficient for detection of changes, but less adequate for characterization of the changes. For this purpose context information can be used or detailed geographical information, derived from optical satellite imagery. We discuss two case studies on basis of the workflow, one with present-day satellite SAR data and one with high-resolution air borne SAR data resembling data from future high-resolution radar satellites.


A total of 243 genotypes of pigeonpea were evaluated during Kharif, 2019 on the basis of DUS and D2-cluster analysis. Pigeonpea genotypes were grown in the augmented design for evaluation. Morphological characterization was done based on plant descriptors for pigeonpea at different stages of plant growth. The cluster analysis grouped all the genotypes into six clusters. The clusters I, II, III, IV, V and VI had 32,3,9,79,115 and 5 genotypes, respectively. The inter cluster distance was maximum between cluster II and VI (240.47) followed by cluster I and II (231.37). On the basis of cluster mean values cluster II was superior for the character pods/plant (340.90) as well as in yield/plant (59.4). The genotypes included in cluster VI were early with short plant height. The study revealed that the diverse genotypes viz; AH 06-09, AH 14-01, AH 16-36, PADT-16 and HDM 04-01 could be used in hybridization programme to develop high yielding, early genotypes with short plant height.


ABSTRACT The main objective of this work is to understand steam gasification performance of municipal solid wastes (MSWs). The thermodynamic analysis was carried out by using seven different kinds of MSWs as the feedstock with the temperature ranging from 773 to 1773 K and steam to MSW ratio ranging from 0.5 to 1.5. It is summarized that temperature and the effective mole ratio of H/C (RH/C) are two key factors, and lower temperature and/or larger RH/C result in a larger mole ratio of H2/CO. The model predictions agree very well with the referenced experimental results, which can predict steam gasification performance of MSWs.


Pain cries elicited from nine full‐term, clinically normal neonates and five premature neonates with no reported abnormalities were studied using computer analysis. Based on the source‐filter theory of speech production, greater variability of fundamental frequency (F0) and of cry spectra were hypothesized for premature infants. The cepstral technique was used to extract F0 from the cry spectra of each infant. The null hypothesis of no differences in variability of F0 between groups was tentatively accepted. A Test for Stationarity was used to determine spectral variability. As predicted, results showed greater variability of cry spectra for premature infants. Spectral variability findings were interpreted as probably reflecting differences in underlying neurophysiological maturity.


TPS639 Background: The combination of the MEK inhibitor, Cobimetinib, with the PD-L1 antagonist, Atezolizumab, significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared to Atezolizumab monotherapy in patients with advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC) following first-line chemotherapy (NCT03201458). Interrogation of biospecimens from this trial and parallel pre-clinical work showed that the addition of MEK inhibition enhanced tumor immunogenicity but simultaneously had detrimental effects on host T-cell activation and priming. The addition of immune co-stimulants rescues T-cell function in the setting of systemic MEK inhibition in vivo. Unlike other immune co-stimulatory markers, CD27 is one of the most positively differentially expressed receptors in the TME post-treatment with combined MEK inhibition and PD-L1 blockade. We hypothesize that addition of CD27 immune agonism to the combination of PD-L1 and MEK inhibition can improve immunotherapy outcomes in patients with BTC. Methods: We are conducting an open-label, randomized ph 2 trial evaluating a PD-L1 inhibitor (atezolizumab) in combination with a CD27 immune agonist (CDX-1127 [Varlilumab]) with or without addition of a MEK inhibitor (Cobimetinib) in patients with unresectable, previously treated, BTC. Key inclusion criteria include: adults with pathologically-confirmed BTC, s/p 1-2 lines of systemic therapy (including any FDA-approved targeted therapies) in the metastatic setting, measurable disease, ECOG performance status ≤1, adequate baseline organ and marrow function. Patients who have received gem-cis-durvalumab, and/or prior FGFR2/IDH1 targeted therapy are eligible for enrollment. The study is planned for 64 evaluable subjects (32 subjects per treatment arm) randomized in a 1:1 ratio, stratified by site of BTC location, to either Atezolizumab + CDX-1127 or Atezolizumab + CDX-1127 + Cobimetinib. During the 28-day treatment cycles, all patients receive Atezolizumab (840mg flat dose) and CDX-1127 (3mg/kg) infusions on D1 and D15. For those randomized to the triplet regimen arm, the additional Cobimetinib will be dosed orally at 60mg daily on days 1-21. Overall response rate and PFS are co-primary endpoints. A clinically meaningful improvement in ORR warranting further study is 20%. The primary correlative outcome is treatment-related changes in CD8+ infiltrating T cells. After an initial safety lead-in, a planned interim efficacy analysis will take place following enrollment of the first 18 patients in each treatment arm. Currently, 14 participants (n=6 [triplet arm], n=8 [doublet arm]), have been enrolled & treated on protocol. This study is sponsored by the NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program and is open nationally at designated NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network sites. Clinical trial information: NCT04941287 .


RAND Corporation is a think tank in the USA. It is a corporation in which experts of different fields of science write analytical works devoted to that or other problem. RAND has strong authority in the USA. Many works on Vietnam were done by the state order of the USA (from the Ministry of Defense), including Robert Komers works (conducted by the request of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency at the U.S. Department of Defense). It is the research of this expert that is discussed in this paper. The paper looks at the biography of Robert Komer in the context from the conflict in Vietnam to cooperation with the RAND Corporation. In Vietnam, on the personal instructions of the US President Lyndon Johnson, Komer was the head of the program of appeasement or officially: the program of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS). Having completed his activities in Vietnam, Komer shared his experience and knowledge in reports for the RAND Corporation. His works are addressed to the problems of the counterpartisan war. The paper describes the work of Robert Komer in the framework of the RAND Corporation. In conclusion, the relevance is emphasized. Due to the events such as the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, Komers activities in the implementation of the CORDS program in Vietnam have gained increased interest from many modern experts.


Critical value management is an important measure to ensure patient safety. The PDCA cycle was used in the critical value management in hospital,which got goof effect and improved the qualified rate of critical value management from 29. 5%in January to 96. 6% in June 2013. Furthermore,it explored the experience on use of PDCA cycle in hospital management.


We review and extend some results for the fractional Schrödinger equation by considering nonlocal terms or potential given in terms of delta functions. For each case, we have obtained the solution in terms of the Green function approach.


UV stellar photometry is presented for 1563 stars within a 40 minutes circular field in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), excluding the 10 min x 10 min field centered on R136 investigated earlier by Hill et al. (1993). Magnitudes are computed from images obtained by the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) in bands centered at 1615 A and 2558 A. Stellar masses and extinctions are estimated for the stars in associations using the evolutionary models of Schaerer et al. (1993), assuming the age is 4 Myr and that the local LMC extinction follows the Fitzpatrick (1985) 30 Dor extinction curve. The estimated slope of the initial mass function (IMF) for massive stars (greater than 15 solar mass) within the Lucke and Hodge (LH) associations is Gamma = -1.08 +/- 0.2. Initial masses and extinctions for stars not within LH associations are estimated assuming that the stellar age is either 4 Myr or half the stellar lifetime, whichever is larger. The estimated slope of the IMF for massive stars not within LH associations is Gamma = -1.74 +/- 0.3 (assuming continuous star formation), compared with Gamma = -1.35, and Gamma = -1.7 +/- 0.5, obtained for the Galaxy by Salpeter (1955) and Scalo (1986), respectively, and Gamma = -1.6 obtained for massive stars in the Galaxy by Garmany, Conti, & Chiosi (1982). The shallower slope of the association IMF suggests that not only is the star formation rate higher in associations, but that the local conditions favor the formation of higher mass stars there. We make no corrections for binaries or incompleteness.


In this paper, we introduce a new and simple integral representation of some k -confluent hypergeometric functions and k -hypergeometric functions. Mathematics Subject Classification: 33C20, 33C15, 33B15, 33D60


Based on the actual earth-rockfill dam,the constant stress ratio path tests on wide grading gravelly soil,as the material of core wall,were performed,and the stress-strain property of wide grading gravelly soil under complex stress conditions was studied.It showed that wide grading gravelly soil exhibits elastic characteristics whenever under constant stress ratio path or constant stress increment ratio path. During dam construction,all the curve relationships of average principal stress p(or shear stress q) versus volume straine_v(or shear straine_s) can be simulated by power function,both the curve relationships ofe_v versuse_1 ande_3 versuse_1 can be simulated by linear function.All the above relationships can be simulated by linear function during dam impounding.The study showed the relationship of stress and strain of wide grading gravelly soil under complex stress path.It's an important message for further studying the stress-strain model on wide grading gravelly soil.


Bryophyllum pinnatum (syn. Kalanchoe pinnata), a plant native to Madagascar, was introduced into anthroposophic medicine in the early 20th century. In recent years, a number of investigations were conducted on the chemical composition, pharmacological properties, and clinical efficacy of Bryophyllum. Here the phytochemistry, and pharmacological and clinical data are reviewed. With respect to pharmacology, a special focus was put on properties related to the use in anthroposophic medicine as a treatment for "hyperactivity diseases", including preterm labor, restlessness, and sleep disorders. Recent studies suggest that B. pinnatum has also potential as a treatment option in patients suffering from overactive bladder syndrome. Tolerability of Bryophyllum is addressed, and existing toxicological data are discussed in relation to bufadienolides contained in Bryophyllum. Open questions regarding the use of Bryophyllum are also discussed.


Solvent absorption and membrane gas separation are two carbon capture technologies that show great potential for reducing emissions from stationary sources such as power plants. Here, plants combining chemical solvent absorption and membrane gas separation are considered for post-combustion capture as well as pre-combustion capture. In all ASPEN HYSYS simulations the membrane stage initially concentrates CO2 into either the permeate or the retentate stream, which is then passed to a monoethanolamine (MEA) based solvent absorption process. In particular, post-combustion capture scenarios examined a membrane that is selective for CO2 against N2, while for the pre-combustion scenario a H2-selective membrane was studied. It was found the energy demand of the combined hybrid plant was always more than that of a stand alone MEA solvent process. This was mainly due to the need to generate a pressure driving force upstream of the membrane in the post-combustion scenario or to recompress downstream gas streams in the pre-combustion scenarios. For both scenarios concentrating the CO2 in the feed to the solvent system reduced the absorber column height and diameter, which could represent a CAPEX saving for the hybrid plant, dependent upon the membrane price. The use of a hydrogen selective membrane downstream of an oxygen fired gasifier was identified as the most prospective scenario, as it led to significant reductions in absorber size, for a relatively small membrane area and energy penalty.


Introduction Transplantation has long been regarded as an effective treatment for end stage organ failure. However, the demand for transplantable organs far outweighs the number of organs available for transplantation. In an effort to bridge this gap, the utilisation of organs from marginal donors has become a common accepted practice. This paper will share cases from three metropolitan hospitals in Sydney Australia to describe how marginal donors can contribute to transplantation success. Methods A retrospective audit and review of medical records (both hard copy and electronic) was conducted in three Sydney hospitals and the clinical information of four marginal donors were pulled together. Information on the outcome from these donations was also collected. Results The four cases identified as marginal donors met at least two of the following criteria: age of 60 years or greater; a history of hypertension or diabetes mellitus; renal insufficiency; infectious disease. The donors' age ranged between 44‐77 years and all four cases were donors after brain death. All four donors were able to donate between 1 to 3 organs that were successfully transplanted. Conclusion The decision to offer a recipient an organ from a marginal donor occurs on case by case basis and it depends on the benefits and risks associated with the quality of the organ as well as the circumstances of the recipient. The use of organs from marginal donors is being used with increasing success in Australia and this allows more organs to be considered for transplantation therefore more patients can benefit and this essentially increases the number of donors and recipients.


Abstract 272 The treatment of Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) with Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) and/or Cryopoor Plasma (CPP) replacement is well established. This process adds plasma ADAMTS-13 activity and removes plasma ADAMTS-13 inhibitor. Limited data has indicated combination of 5% albumin in the first half of the procedure followed by FFP in the second half of the procedure is effective in treating TTP. Theoretical calculation of addition of exogenous ADAMTS-13 is still substantial because ADAMTS-13 infused initially is removed as the plasma exchange procedure progresses. A 50% reduction of FFP would decrease the number of donor exposures and transfusion reactions associated with human plasma. Further, plasma of limited supply, such as AB plasma, can be more effectively used. We report a retrospective comparison of TPE for TTP using all FFP versus 5% Albumin/FFP (AFFP) replacement fluid. One health system with two closely connected tertiary campuses with common Hematology/Oncology services and Transfusion Medicine services treated 17 idiopathic TTP patients (March/2009 – June/2012) with documented very low ADAMTS-13 levels ( Table 1 shows that the FFP versus the AFFP groups at presentations are comparable. Table 2 indicated FFP versus AFFP treatment is comparable. For the FFP and AFFP groups respectively, mean number of total procedures: 16 vs. 14, length of time from first TPE to last TPE 19 vs. 22 days, Relapses 2 vs. 2, and deaths 1 vs. 0. Conclusion: The use of AFFP as replacement fluid for idiopathic TTP does not appear to be inferior to 100% FFP replacement. Length of treatment, rate of recovery, and relapse rate are comparable. There were more deaths in the FFP cohort but the low number of observations limits the significance. AFFP fluid replacement should be considered for TPE in idiopathic TTP. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Building a university outreach programme is a complex task that requires coordination of funding, regulations, research aims, practical activities and recruitment strategies. This article describes the building of an outreach programme based on the Philosophy with Children practice and the associated changes in the programme's research focus, practical activities and organisation over the first five years. Where did the initial inspiration come from, what form did it take eventually, and what have we learned? The article outlines our strategies and activities and I argue that two shifts in focus made the programme stronger in terms of impact and research. First, instead of sending university students into classrooms, we turned to teacher training programmes. Second, conversations with teachers indicated that the most interesting research questions were not about cognitive gains but about learning environments, teacher roles, facilitation techniques and other topics from educational studies. The article also assesses the strategies and research from the first six years of the programme and how they have demonstrated both challenges and opportunities in Philosophy with Children.


nities and social sciences has so far been limited, which suggests a paradox: translator scholars have spent decades researching all kinds of translation phenomena and yet the phenomena closest to them have been largely neglected. In their different ways, the essays in this volume all help to redress the balance in pointing to a conception of translators as "translatorial agents" (19) enjoying varying degrees of visibility within academia but invariably recognized as playing a transformative role. Some of the authors (especially Link and Grüning) reflect on the status of academic translators within academia and the value accorded to translation work as a form of research output. Here, further reflection might involve thinking, perhaps from a policy perspective, about the kinds of status granted to translation in research assessment exercises and university courses specializing in translation (especially at graduate level, where academic translation is still given little attention), while also applying a sociological lens to the position of academic translators within the academic field more generally. In other words, where are they positioned within the community? How are they represented (in all senses of the term) in different academic cultures? In either hinting at or providing partial answers to these questions, this volume has set the terms of future work on questions that even those cultures most resistant to the idea of translation as a transformative scholarly endeavor cannot ignore – as the transcultural phenomenon of theory, to name but one example, clearly demonstrates.


Cultural and social influences in composition of children and adolescents were investigated within the context of a longitudinal study of children as composers. Participants attended after-school lab sessions once a week and worked at individual computer stations to compose their own pieces. Students ranged in age from five to fourteen years old. Participants' works reflect both their musical and non-musical experiences at home and in school, as well as influences from the broader cultural and social contexts in which they live. Sources of experiential, social, and cultural effect in students' compositions fall into several broad categories and seems to vary with age. In general evidence from five years of study indicates that participants' composition show direct and indirect social and cultural cues.


Critical evaluation of Rachmaninoff's music has been considerable and varied, with both laymen and professional musicians often at swords'-points with regard to the work of the late Russian master. One unfortunate feature of this controversy is that by far the greater attention is paid to the composer's larger pieces, with little consideration given to his most representative and perhaps his finest output—his songs, a situation which extends also to the listening experience of the general public.


Introduction The term 'therapeutic community' was first used by Main (1946) to describe a hospital regime which departed from the traditional model to allow patients to accept responsibility for their own actions within a supportive environment. Since that time there has been increasing acknowledgment of the effects of institutionalization (Martin et al. 1954), particularly shown in Goffman's studies in 1961. Institutionalization is a process which undermines self responsibility and the use of initiative due to the provision of the inmates' needs and the lack of recognition of individuality. It is most likely that the effects of institutionalization may be seen most dramatically in penal institutions. A fundamental aspect of imprisonment is punishment by deprivation of liberty, which necessarily implies lack of opportunity for using responsibility and initiative. This necessity for security and control also imposes manifold restrictions, i.e. from cellular containment and prison uniform to restrictions on choice of food, provisions and activities. For the institution to run effectively it is necessary for activities to be carried out on time, hence set times for feeding, bathing and visiting also preclude personal choice. Presumably it is not the intent of the authorities that these institutional effects occur, but they are undoubtedly a consequence of imprisonment and all that imprisonment tends to imply. These considerations suggest that prison is an environment which is conducive to institutionalization and the formation of feelings of helplessness. The therapeutic community is the ideal vehicle to undermine those undesirable effects of imprisonment as it encourages initiative and self-help behaviour. But a therapeutic community in prison is a challenging and difficult endeavour as it challenges the traditional penal model. One such problem illustrating this conflict concerns the staff. Members of staff who work in such a unit are often perceived negatively as being soft and sympathetic to prisoners. Working a shift system means that staff in the unit are often detailed to work elsewhere in the institution and, contrariwise, other staff may have to work in the therapeutic unit. This can cause some psychological conflict of loyalties and even result in inconsistencies in the management of the unit. This paper aims firstly to describe the Hospital Annexe in HMP Wormwood Scrubs, a unique example of a therapeutic community within a maximum security prison, and secondly to present and discuss the implications of the running and process of such a unit. Evaluation by means of reconviction data will be discussed, but it will be argued that such data do not provide information about the equality of the regime nor should such data be used solely to justify the existence of the therapeutic communities.


We have studied the resistance of two-dimensional random percolating networks of zero-width metallic nanowires (rings or sticks). We took into account the nanowire resistance per unit length, the junction (nanowire/nanowire contact) resistance, and the busbar/nanowire contact resistance. Using a mean-field approximation (MFA), we derived the total resistance of the nanoring-based networks as a function of their geometrical and physical parameters. We have proposed a way of accounting for the contribution of the busbar/nanowire contact resistance toward the network resistance. The MFA predictions have been confirmed by our Monte Carlo numerical simulations. Our study evidenced that the busbar/nanowire contact resistance has a significant effect on the electrical conductivity when the junction resistance dominates over the wire resistance.


The magnetic structures of iron nitrides are studied by Landau's theory of second-order phase transitions. It is found that the magnetization direction of ɛ-Fe3N must be parallel to the c-axis of the hexagonal structure, which may conclude the debates on the easy axes of ɛ-Fe3N in this field. The easy axes of α″-Fe16N2 are turned out to be along [001], or [100], or [110] direction, with the former two cases already found by the experiments. The magnetization along [111] is forbidden, which solves rigorously the puzzle why the easy axes of the α″-Fe16N2 on InGaAs and Fe are different from each other. Finally, the magnetic structure of γ′-Fe4N is also determined, and the result shows that there are three possibilities for the magnetization: parallel to the axial, or the body diagonal, or the face diagonal direction of the cubic structure, among which the first case has been found in experiments.


Metadata is an important tool for recording data assets and in the spatial information industry it is also used to describe the quality of data to consumers. It is text-based information with industry-specific terms, however there is a general impression in the industry that consumers still do not fully understand its meaning. This research aims to bridge the communication gap between data providers and consumers by designing, developing and testing better ways to communicate spatial quality information. The research intends to develop strategies for presenting quality information that meets the needs of the consumer when deciding whether or not to use a particular dataset. Accordingly, we believe there are three questions to be answered: (1) Can this be achieved without losing information? (2) Is the quality information prescribed in current standards adequate and helpful? and (3) Will data providers be able to conform to the new protocols? Our aim is not to categorize the quality of data as 'good' or 'bad'—since that is task dependent—but rather to communicate the reliability of the data in a way that allows consumers to make the necessary value judgments about its suitability for their needs.


Introduction 1 1. Some relevant aspects of Chinese social structure 7 2. The theory and functions of government in China 28 3. The structure of the administration 37 4. The personnel of the administration 50 5. Codified law 56 6. Judicial procedure 66 7. Jurisdictional aspects of the isu and the guild 80 8. Local and customary jurisdiction 97 9. The complex of legal institutions considered as a whole 112 10. The content and sources of law and its effectiveness as a support for the social order 124 Appendices 1. A specimen page from the Ta Ch'ing La Li (Penal Code) 131 2. Examples of deeds of sale, mortgage and loan 133 3. Proverbial sayings which indicate popular attitudes to court trial 135 4. Extracts from the Tso-chih yao-yen (Precepts for local administrative officials) by Wang Hui-tsu 137 5. Extract from Pei Ch'i Tzu I (Essays on the meaning of tenrms), by Ch'en Ch'un 151 Bibliography 153 Character Index: index of characters for Chinese and Japanese names and expressions 163 General Index 175


Although there have been lots studies about vehicular maneuvers on land or sea, maneuvers within a small area that require direction changes have rarely been discussed. Many reports on the arrival or departure of ships from ports have revealed more about what are safe and effective turning maneuvers within a narrow area. Convenient navigation systems for ship maneuvering should allow quick avoidance of obstacle to find the shortest distance in the whole seaway is important. This study proposes a review model that will satisfy optimal turning maneuvering anywhere and be applicable to any type of ship. However, the water-based environment is more complex and there are many factors that will affect the formula. By using a nonlinear unified state-space model to discuss another model we can divide and conquer the problem. In recent studies some categories have been evaluated to determine where the main attention should be directed. In this review study we look at how to construct the optimal turning maneuver within a limited sea area.


A bubble in water is an example of a scatter for which the refractive index of the core (gas) is less than that of the surroundings. So bubbles in water exhibit scattering phenomena which differs significantly from those for drops in air or solid particles in water. The scattering of bubbles in water as a means to detective the size of bubble has been investigated in many ways such as Mie theory and Davis's geometric-optics theory. In this paper, a new physics-optics method was applied to manifest the scattering properties of a spherical bubble in water. The angular distribution of intensity of light scattered from a collimated beam that is incident upon a spherical air bubble in water is determined for any bubble with radius greater than a few wavelengths of the incident light. One external reflection, four internal reflections and four refractions are considered. The intensity of scattering light is tabulated and plotted as a function of the observing angle, the effects of the bubble's radius, the electric field's polarization of the incidence light and the wavelength of the incidence light on the scattering intensity distribution are also discussed.


The interesting papers by Margaritondo (2005 Eur. J. Phys. 26 401) and by Helene and Yamashita (2006 Eur. J. Phys. 27 855) analysed the great Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 using a simple one-dimensional canal wave model, which was appropriate for undergraduate students in physics and related fields of discipline. In this paper, two additional, easily understandable models, suitable for the same level of readership, are proposed: one, a two-dimensional model in flat space, and two, the same on a spherical surface. The models are used to study the tsunami produced by the central Kuril earthquake of November 2006. It is shown that the two alternative models, especially the latter one, give better representations of the wave amplitude, especially at far-flung locations. The latter model further demonstrates the enhancing effect on the amplitude due to the curvature of the Earth for far-reaching tsunami propagation.


This chapter reviews some computational methods and software tools available for modeling materials at small scales where the matter exhibits its discrete nature. Discrete models operate on differe ...


In this study, propylene oxide (PPO) at low pressure (100 mm Hg) was tested for rapid disinfestation of dried figs as replacement for methyl bromide by evaluating its toxicity to Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) and the fig moth, Ephestia cautella (Walker), in absence and presence of dried figs, its sorption and residue on dried figs. The complete mortality of all life stages of P. interpunctella and E. cautella was achieved at a Ct product of 45.5 and 53.2 mg h l for empty space fumigation (without commodity) respectively. It required a dosage of 11.4 and 13.3 mg l for empty space fumigation and 32.4 for and 30.2 mg l for fumigation in presence of dried figs to kill 99% of the larvae of P. interpunctella and E. cautella respectively. Thus, 2.85-fold and 2.27-fold higher dose of PPO required for PPO fumigation in presence of dried figs to obtain the complete mortality of the larvae of P. interpunctella and E. cautella, respectively. Sorption of PPO by dried figs after 5 h exposure time was relatively high by an average of 58% reduction of initial concentration. The PPO residue in dried figs was a maximum average of 85 ppm at 0-1 day after termination of aeration, which all was much lower than the 300 ppm maximum tolerance. Based on these data, the combination of PPO with low pressure can be a potential as fumigant for replacing methyl bromide for quarantine purposes in dried figs.


: Droplet impact on heated surfaces is widely used in various industrial processes such as internal combustion engines, fire suppression and cooling systems. Droplets performs diversely on surfaces at different temperature. Leidenfrost state, which inhibits heat transfer between solid and liquid for the arousing laminar airflow, is a key factor to impede high-temperature cooling. On the other hand, the airflow-endowed self-lubricating property in the Leidenfrost state possesses broad application prospect in droplet self-migration, which is becoming a hot research topic. The boiling modes of droplets on heated surfaces and the main effecting factors of Leidenfrost points on solid surfaces are introduced, as well as the latest research of droplet self-migration at high temperature. Furthermore, inadequacy of current studies of droplet impact on heated surfaces is discussed and its future research prospects are proposed.


A new end-on bis(m-azido) nickel(II) complex of the formula [Ni2(L)(N3)4] (1) (L /hexadentate Schiff base ligand made from the reaction of 2 moles of 2-benzoyl pyridine and 1 mole of triethylenetetramine) has been prepared and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. Each nickel center is coordinated in a distorted octahedral (NiN6) fashion consisting of three nitrogen atoms from the hexadentate ligand moiety, two nitrogen atoms from two end-on azido ligands and the last one from another terminal azido ion. The variable temperature magnetic susceptibility of compound 1 shows that the nickel centers are ferromagnetically coupled. The Ni /N /Ni bridge angles are very similar [98.36(8)8 and 97.66(9)8] and the Ni/ /Ni separation is 3.155(1) Å. The magnetic exchange coupling constant J /21.8 cm 1 is consistent with the structure and the value has been compared with some similar reported compounds. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


The generation of triggered jitter-free ultra-fast electrical pulses is important in precise and ultra-fast bing bang control. Experiments of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch triggered by nanosecond laser pulse were reported. The switches were insulated by solid multi-layer transparent dielectrics. Jitter-free electrical pulse from the 1 mm-gap GaAs switches was observed when biased with the low voltage and triggered by the serial laser pulses. Its triggered jitter-time was less than 10 ps, and pulse width was up to sub-nanosecond.


There is increasing use of the sedimentation rate of erythrocytes as a test in clinical medicine, but there is equal difficulty in correct interpretation of the results obtained due to the many factors that influence it. Much work has been done to elucidate the value of this test in different clinical conditions, especially in infections. Fahareus 1 has reviewed the literature and studied many of the factors that influence the sedimentation velocity of erythrocytes, especially the amount of fibrinogen and globulin in the plasma. Many other publications add new evidence. Westergren 2 , 3 states that a definite positive correlation exists between the plasma proteins and the sedimentation of erythrocytes. Zarday and Farkas 4 have modified blood by the addition of normal fibrinogen and globulin and found that the sedimentation rate was increased in proportion to the amounts added. When they added albumin the rate was decreased. Coburn and Kapp 5 arrived at similar conclusions and added that albumin inhibited sedimentation almost completely. Lucia and coworkers 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 found that in vitro a consistent relationship cannot be established between the sedimentation rate and the globulin content of various dilutions of serum globulin. They also showed that in vivo the sedimentation rate is apparently accelerated as the globulin content of the serum increases, and that a cause and effect relationship between the quantity of the various serum proteins and the rate of sedimentation cannot be said to exist. Further, they have shown that beef serum albumin or human serum albumin prolonged the sedimentation time when dissolved in Locke's solution or added to plasma. Such controversial statements are found in the literature concerning the effects of the different protein fractions on sedimentation rate. We have briefly attempted to show some of the fundamental factors that influence sedimentation rate of erythrocytes. The method used in determining the sedimentation velocity is as follows : Whole oxalated blood was used.


OBJECTIVE
To prepare high mobility group chromosomal protein N2 (HMGN2) polyclonal antibodies and determine the subcellular localization of HMGN2 in human monocytes.

METHODS
The recombinant prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-1lambdaT-HMGN2 was constructed and E. coli-based product of GST-HMGN2 fusion protein was prepared and used to immunize rabbit for producing the anti-serum against HMGN2. The polyclonal antibodies were partially purified by caprylic acid and ammonium sulfate precipitation. The titter of specific polyclonal antibodies against HMGN2 was detected by ELISA. The immunocytochemical staining was performed to determine the distribution of HMGN2 in THP-1 cells.

RESULTS
Gel electrophoresis of the enzyme-digested recombinant plasmid and the DNA sequencing confirmed that the recombinant prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-1lambdaT-HMGN2 was correctly constructed. After IPTG induction, the recombinant-transformed E. coli produced a bulk of GST-HMGN2 fusion protein. The polyclonal antibodies to HMGN2 was obtained from the serum of rabbit immunized with GST-HMGN2 fusion protein and its ELISA titer was 1:2000. The immunocytochemistry staining indicated that when stimulated with LPS, HMGN2 was present not only in THP-1 nucleus but also in the cytoplasm. The presence of HMGN2 was also detected in the culture supernatant.

CONCLUSION
This result suggests that recombinant peptide fusion protein could be used to produce peptide antibody. HMGN2 could be present in the cytoplasm of monocytes and release to the extracellular environment when stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).


Medium access protocols are one of the most important issues in the network design. It can be seen especially while using contention protocols in wireless networks. For every protocol it is possible to evaluate its efficiency using probability calculus. However, it is interesting how these protocols behave in a practical network. To test the protocols efficiency, an experimental wireless network has been created. It consists of one control station (receiver) and three local stations, sending frames to the receiver. Several MAC protocols have been tested: Aloha, slotted Aloha, CSMA and MACA. The results, shown on the pictures, are similar to the theoretical results, although some differences can be observed


Based on the inconclusive results of the efficacy of corrective feedback (CF), this study investigated the outcomes of direct corrective feedback given to 19 students (n=19) in the experimental group compared to the 16 students (n=16) who received no feedback. Both groups have beginner level English proficiency which is based on the placement test result. A quantitative design using SPSS version.21 was applied in analyzing the data. Analysis showed a significant improvement in the performance of the experimental group. The results indicated that direct corrective feedback provide positive reinforcement on grammatical learning, in this case, the use of correct preposition of time. Further analysis also showed that being able to recognize errors in the targeted linguistic features, as posited by Schmidt's Noticing (2010) and Swain's Output (2005) Hypothesis, helped students to improve their output production. Due to the small participants involved, the findings cannot be generalised, thus more research needs to be done on a bigger population so as to confirm the findings. Copyright © 2016 Penerbit Akademia Baru All rights reserved. .


The influence of exposure of polyvinyl chloride) (PVC) to corona dis charge on physical properties was investigated. It has been found that transport process of diffusion of the cyclohexanone into the PVC obeys the second Fick's law. The measured average apparent diffusion coefficients of the studied system vary in the interval (0.9—2.5) x 10" l 0 m s~' and increase with exposure in an equal manner as the activation energies of diffusion which vary in the interval (27.6—32.8) kJ mol" There have been deter mined : limiting angle of wetting (9, temperature of glass transition Tg, and absorption in the UV region. The dependence of the physical properties on time of exposure of PVC to corona discharge is described. The changes in the physical properties after the low-temperature plasma application are similar and much faster than the photochemical changes caused by ul traviolet radiation.


Recognition of surgical instruments is a key part of the post-operative check and inspection of surgical instrument packaging. However, manual inventorying is prone to counting errors. The achievement of automated surgical instrument identification holds the potential to significantly mitigate the occurrence of medical accidents and reduce labor costs. In this paper, an improved You Only Look Once version 5 (YOLOv5) algorithm is proposed for the recognition of surgical instruments. Firstly, the squeeze-and-excitation (SE) attention module is added to the backbone to improve the feature extraction. Secondly, the loss function of YOLOv5 is improved with more global parameters to increase the convergence rate of the loss curve. Finally, an efficient convolution algorithm is added to the C3 module in the head to reduce computational complexity and memory usage. The experimental results show that our algorithm outperforms the original YOLOv5 with improvements observed across various metrics: mean average precision 50–95 (mAP50-95) achieved 88.7%, which improved by 1.8%, and computational requirements reduced by 39%. This study, with a simple but effective method, is expected to be a guide for automatically detecting, classifying, and sorting surgical instruments.


Nkx3.1 is a prostate-specific homeobox gene related strongly to prostate development and prostate cancer. To study its regulation of transcription, 1.06 kb 5′ flanking region of Nkx3.1 gene and its 5′ deletion mutants (861,617,417 and 238 bp) were obtained by PCR and cloned into pGL3-basic, a promoter-less luciferase reporter vector, to examine their promoter activities driving the reporter gene transcription, pRL-TK, a Renilla luciferase reporter vector was used as internal control, and pGL3-control and pGL3-basic were used as positive and negative control respectively. The promoter activities were determined by dual-luciferase reporter assay 48h after pGL3 constructs were cotransfected with pRL-TK into prostate cancer cell LNCaP. The results showed that dual-luciferase reporter assay (M/M2) of pGL3-1.06kb cotransfection with pRL-TK was 2.7, which was about 1.5-fold higher than that of pGL3-control cotransfection with pRL-TK and 50-fold higher than that of pGL3-basic cotransfection with pRL-TK. The results also showed that the relative activities (M1/M2) were 0.71, 0.84, 0.44 and 2.07 respectively for pGL3-861bp, pGL3-617bp, pGL3-417bp, pGL3-238bp, the last one still had 80% promoter activity compared with pGL3-1.06kb, which showed that deletion from 1.06kb to 238 bp had small effects on promoter activity. The conclusion was that the 238bp fragment containing a TATA box and two CAAT boxes had strong promoter activity. However, the deletion from 1.06kb to 861bp reduced activity 3.8-fold while the deletion from 417bp to 238bp enhanced activity 4.7-fold, which indicated that these deleted sequences might contain some important positive or negative regulatory elements. It will be important to identify the elements within the Nkx3.1 promoter that contribute to regulation of the gene transcription in the future studies.


CASE tools have contributed to model building for representing several aspects of a problem, for converting it in source code of a software piece; however, these tools have limited capacity in the amount of type models they can elaborate. Some years ago researchers have been developing MetaCASE tools, e.g. AToM and DOME. Models in this kind of tools aren't defined; instead of, models are built in a graphic or textual formalism, supported in a language for modeling syntax expression and graphic representation. In this paper, we present UN-LEND, a language created by UN-INFO research group for UN-MetaCASE model specification; this language torn apart model logic from graphic representation, for facilitating multiple view usage of the same model.


We present an N=1 supersymmetric non-Abelian compensator formulation for a vector multiplet in three dimensions. Our total field content is the off-shell vector multiplet (A{sub {mu}}{sup I},{lambda}{sup I}) with the off-shell scalar multiplet ({phi}{sup I},{chi}{sup I};F{sup I}) both in the adjoint representation of an arbitrary non-Abelian gauge group. This system is reduced to a supersymmetric {sigma} model on a group manifold, in the zero-coupling limit. Based on this result, we formulate a 'self-dual' non-Abelian vector multiplet in three dimensions. By an appropriate identification of parameters, the mass of the self-dual vector multiplet is quantized. Additionally, we also show that the self-dual non-Abelian vector multiplet can be coupled to the supersymmetric Dirac-Born-Infeld action. These results are further reformulated in superspace to get a clear overall picture.


The managerial system of fundamental old-age insurance includes: administration,operations handling,fund management and supervision and so on,whose rationality and validity decides the success or failure of the old-age insurance system.This paper probes into the historical evolution,the current situation and the problems of China's fundamental old-age insurance managerial system,and makes several suggestions to the reform of the system.


An analitical approximation of $ $ for a massive scalar field in a zero temperature vacuum state in static spherically symmetric spacetimes is obtained. The calculations are based on the method for computing vacuum expectations values for scalar fields in general static spherically symmetric spacetimes derived by Anderson, Hiscock and Samuel [Phys. Rev. D {\bf 51}, 4337 (1995)]. The analitical approximation is used to compute $ $ in Schwarzschild and wormhole spacetimes.


Estimation of watershed runoff accurately has been a challenge for water resource managers and planner especially for large river basins. Inflow forecasting in the series of multipurpose reservoirs constructed in Narmada river basin shall be useful for maximization of hydropower generation to its optimum capacity. The accuracy in predicting the surface runoff becomes more imperative in case of large watersheds like river Narmada basin. In the present study, alternate options of spatially distributed SCS-CN model and modified SCS-CN model have been applied in the Uri river basin. The daily runoff has been computed under three conditions; (i) by considering area weighted average CN and rainfall, (ii) spatially distributed CN and rainfall with Ia/S ration as 0.2 and (iii) considering average CN and rainfall with Ia/S ratio as 0.05. The analysis shows that the computed runoff are more close to the observed runoff, if runoff is computed by considering area weighted average CN and average rainfall in lower Narmada river basin.


Chile presents the highest incidence of SARS-Cov-2 worldwide. Mortality rates have increased ten-fold in Chile during the last two months. Emergency and hospital services have been overwhelmed.
A partnership between the P. Universidad Catolica de Chile, regional health authorities and municipalities was developed to address the management of patients with Covid-19 pneumonia in an area of extreme poverty in Santiago.
A new program based on a 24-hour continuous clinical management of patients at primary health care centers was developed.  In one month, 574 patients with Covid-19 pneumonia cared for. Only 31% had to be referred to emergency services and when home care was fully implemented 111 patients were able to return home to continue oxygen therapy and rehabilitation. The new program is a concrete innovation that represents the potentiality and adaptability of primary care and can reduce the burden of the Covid-19 epidemic in Latin America.


We consider joint optimization of user-to-base-station (BS) association, and time-frequency resource block (RB) and power allocation in heterogeneous networks (HetNets). The objective is to develop a design: 1) that maximizes the number of users accommodated in the network while satisfying their quality of service demands and 2) that minimizes usage of the resources required to meet these demands. We investigate two novel instances of HetNets with opportunistic RB-reuse. In the first instance, user-to-BS associations and power allocations can be time-shared, and the RBs can be reused during the signaling interval. For this instance, it is shown that the design problem can be approximated by a problem that yields tight convex upper and lower bounds on the objective. In contrast, the second instance represents a case in which the RBs can be reused, but the user-to-BS associations and power allocations are not time-shared, and hence, fixed throughout the signaling interval. The latter case gives rise to a combinatorial optimization problem, which we provide an approximate solution for by using a polynomial-complexity two-phase approach based on semidefinite relaxation with randomization.


This study examined the relationship between spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence with transformational leadership of athletic managers of Zanjan province. The research method used was a correlation. The population of sports managers in Zanjan province includes 103 people in 2015; those due to the limited population of all the members of the sample in this study were selected and examined. Data collection included three standard questionnaires of spiritual intelligence Linda Hildbrant (2011), emotional intelligence questionnaire of Seiber or Shring (1999) and Moradi (2005) and multifactor leadership questionnaire Bass (1985) respectively. Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient using a questionnaire, 90% of spiritual intelligence, 82% emotional intelligence, and 73% were obtained for transformational leadership. To analyze the data in this study, the SPSS software package and methods of descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum scores, T-test, Pearson correlation, multiple regressions was used. The results showed that, between spiritual intelligence and transformational leadership style of athletic administrators of Zanjan province have a simple and positive multiple correlation and significant and among the components of spiritual intelligence, awareness, a greater share of the anticipated component of transformational leadership of athletic managers of Zanjan province. The results also showed that between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style of athletic administrators of Zanjan province have a simple and positive multiple correlation and significant and among the components of emotional intelligence, motivation, a greater share of the anticipated component of transformational leadership of athletic managers of Zanjan province.


In the process of investigating criminal cases, it is usually necessary to infer the suspect's height according to the footprints on the scene. The current common method is to multiply the length of barefoot footprints by a coefficient of 7, and the accuracy of the results obtained by this method is less than 70% in the positive and negative 3cm of the interval. In this paper, the average foot length of 1200 people is collected by using mathematical statistics analysis method, and the average stride length of each person is added to the multiple regression analysis. The better results are obtained, which makes the accuracy rate of body height in positive and negative 3cm increase to about 87%.


In this paper a generalized Engel's algorithm based on known Engel's algorithm has been introduced. Using this algorithm playing time of chip-firing game which is defined on directed graph, can be minimized for evaluation of absorbing probability of an absorbing Markov chain. Here proposed algorithm has been compared empirically in terms of timings, for playing game as well as for determining absorbing probability. As MATLAB is a high-performance language for technical computing, hence hare performance of generalized algorithm will be analyze by MATLAB language.


Acidic clay catalyzed reaction of malononitrile derivatives with an excess of 1,2-aminoalcohol furnishes mono-oxazolines selectively; a simple strategy to prepare 2,2-dialkyl-3-aminopropionic acid derivatives is presented.


Variability in the hemispheric‐scale atmospheric circulation can be directly linked to variations in surface environmental features, such as temperature, precipitation, salinity of water bodies, and pollutant transport. One indicator of the behavior of the hemispheric‐scale circulation is the circumpolar vortex (CPV). This research utilizes a geographic information system approach to characterize variability in the Northern Hemispheric (NH) CPV. Specifically, the area, shape, and centroid of the January NHCPV are analyzed for 1959–2001 because it may provide insight about relationships between hemispheric‐scale circulation and global temperature change. We also use a new means of characterizing the hemispheric‐scale circulation using a 'circularity ratio' (Rc). Results suggest that the January NHCPV has exhibited no long‐term trends in area or shape, and that the mean centroid is positioned at approximately 85.3°N, 178.0°W. Regional patterns emerge, which suggest that the area and circularity are associated with variability in surface temperature and moist static energy. Furthermore, the area of the January NHCPV is associated with variability in the Arctic Oscillation, while the shape is tied to variability in the Pacific‐North American teleconnection pattern. These results will facilitate understanding of the relationship between hemispheric‐scale circulation, regional circulation, and local temperatures. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society.


Objectives: To determine the frequency of extra-dural hematoma in patients with head injury.Patients and Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was done in neurosurgery department of Hayat-abad Medical Complex, Peshawar, from 2nd February 2012 to 1st September 2012. All patients of head injury, from all ages and both genders were included. Patients in whom EDH caused by bleeding disorders or vascular malformations of the dura mater and post surgical EDHs were excluded from the study. CT scan brain was done for all patients to confirm their diagnosis. The information regarding patient demographical details, clinical presentation and site and size of hematoma was documented in patient's Performa. The data was analyzed by SPSS version 17.Results: A total of 281 patients with head injuries were included in the study. Out of 281 patients, there were 191 (67.9%) males and 90 (32.02%) females. The mean age was 27 years. Majority of patients 81 (28.8%) were in the age range of 21 – 30 years. EDH was found in 31 (11.03%) patients. Eleven patients (3.91%) had their hemato-mas in temporal region. Temporo-parietal region was involved in 9 (3.2%) patients. Frontal and parietal region was affected in 5 patients (1.78%) each. One patient had extra-dural hematoma in posterior cranial fossa.Conclusion: Extra-dural haematoma is fond in 11% of head injury cases. It is more contain in males as com-pared to females. It is most common in 20 – 40 years of age, temporal and parallel cases are most frequently in-volved regions. The mortality in head injury patients can be reduced if extra-dural hematoma diagnosis and operation done early.


In this paper, we present a new speech bandwidth extension method (BWE) using recurrent temporal restricted Boltzmann machine (RTRBM). The conventional Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based and deep neural networks (DNNs)-based BWE methods perform stably and effectively. However, the mapping function of GMM-based methods is a piecewise linear transformation, which is insufficient to model the complex nonlinear mapping relationship between the spectral envelope features of low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF). In the conventional DNNs methods, temporal correlations across speech frames are ignored, resulting in spectral detail loss of the reconstructed speech by BWE. To counter these issues, a multilayer DNN which is composed of two RTRBMs and a feedforward neural network (NN) is employed to obtain time information and model deep nonlinear relationships between the spectral envelope features of LF and HF. The proposed method takes advantage of the strong ability of RTRBM in discovering the temporal correlation in the high-order space and modeling deep nonlinear relationships between input and output. Both the objective and subjective evaluations indicate that our proposed method outperforms the conventional GMM-based methods and other NN-based methods.


Tourism Malaysia has adopted the tagline "Malaysia Truly Asia" in projecting this country to tourists since 1999. Branding Malaysia as an Asian destination has been a well-established theme in marketing Malaysian tourism. As a result of this, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has retained Asia as a unique tourism brand and identity in the launching of Visit Malaysia 2020 campaign. However, the slogan has been slightly rephrased to "Visit Truly Asia Malaysia". Because of the importance of Asia as a Malaysian tourism brand for two decades, this paper aims to explore how the national tourism authority of Malaysia portrayed the recent tourism campaign "Visit Truly Asia Malaysia" in the official promotional video. Utilising a discourse analysis method, visuals and the textual content through lyrics of the song were assessed to uncover how this country has been framed as part of the theme "Visit Truly Asia Malaysia". The assessment of the promotional video uncovered that the projection of "Truly Asia" primarily reflects multi-ethnicity of Malaysian societies and unity in diversity as core attractions in the official video. This is manifested through the portrayal of their colourful cultural heritage attributes, particularly traditional costumes, traditional music and performing arts, musical instruments, and gastronomy. Diverse spectacular natural resources, such as tropical rainforests, wildlife, beaches and highlands, are also parts of "Truly Asia" projection. The overall assessment of the promotional video identified that the portrayal of Malaysia as a tourist destination adopted some attributes of Orientalism, particularly fascinating traditional cultural heritage attributes and natural resources in order to highlight Otherness uniqueness and exoticness. Aspects of modernity and familiarity are depicted through cosmopolitan cities and Western lifestyles.


The ultimate goal of risk management is the generation of efficient incomes. The objective is to generate the maximum return for a unit of risk taken or to minimise the risk taken to generate the return expected i.e. it is the optimisation of a financial institution strategy. Therefore, by measuring its exposure against its appetite, a financial institution is assessing its couple risk-return. But this taskk may be difficult as banks face various types of risks, for instance, Operational, Market, Credit, Liquidity, etx. and these cannot be evaluated on a stand alone basis, interaction and contagion effects should be taken into account. In this paper, methodologies to evaluate banks' exposures are presented along their management implications, as the purpose of the risk appetite evaluation process is the transformation of risk metrics into effective management decisions.


Summary Following the initial discoveries of Hochstetter in 1859, geological research in the province was for a long time almost entirely the work of officers of the early Geological Survey. This period lasted until the late "eighties", when Sir Algernon Thomas, first professor of natural science, encouraged a few of his students to take advanced degrees in geology and to publish the results of their researches on local geology. This research work of geologists at Auckland University College, at first intermittent, increased, particularly after the appointment of Professor Bartrum, and it now represents a substantial contribution to knowledge concerning the province. The information compiled at the University is most complete for the district surrounding the city of Auckland, where it has proved useful in engineering projects A short account is given of the careers of some pioneer survey geologists and university geologists. A brief outline of the geology of the province omits reference to some of the mor...


The update of databases ‐ in particular 2D building databases ‐ has become a topical issue, especially in the developed countries where such databases have been completed during the last decade. The main issue here concerns the long and costly change detection step, which might be automated by using recently acquired sensor data. The current deficits in automation and the lack of expertise in the domain have driven the EuroSDR to launch a test comparing different change detection approaches, representative of the current state-of-the-art. The main goal of this paper is to present the test bed of this comparison and the results that have been obtained for three different contexts (aerial imagery, satellite imagery, and LIDAR). In addition, we give the overall findings that emerged from our experiences and some promising directions to follow for building an optimal operative system in the future.


The seroprevalence of hepatitis is no higher in patients with recent-onset polyarthritis than in the general population. Therefore, screening patients for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection when evaluating them for polyarthritis suggestive of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is not useful.


The basic PSO algorithm is a simple and rapid method, using evolution and calculation. However, the convergence precision of the basic PSO algorithm is low, and the algorithm can easily fall into its local maximum value. In order to overcome these disadvantages, an MPSO (modified particle swarm optimization) algorithm is proposed. The MPSO algorithm combines a mutation operator and a dynamically adjusted inertial factor which are respectively borrowed from different references. A group of optimal parameters are obtained based on experiments, then the algorithm adopts different parameters in different systems to meet the different demands. We test this MPSO algorithm on IEEE-6-bus system and IEEE-14-bus system. Compared with the basic PSO algorithm, the algorithm of MPSO performs better, and the convergence precision of the MPSO algorithm has been greatly improved.


The hypothesis that homocysteine (Hcy) is atherogenic was proposed more than 30 years ago.1 People with inherited disorders of Hcy and methionine metabolism due to rare mutations such as in the cystathionine β-synthase gene present with a severe form of hyperhomocysteinemia that is characterized by premature atherosclerosis and thrombotic disease. A common variant in the metylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene, 677C to T, is associated with decreased enzyme activity leading to mild hyperhomocysteinemia in humans.2 This mutation is present in the homozygous state in 10% to 15% of North American and European populations.2 Epidemiological studies in the general population have indicated a positive correlation between an elevation of total plasma Hcy and stroke, myocardial infarction, peripheral vascular disease, and venous thromboembolism.3 Whereas a significant association between Hcy levels and clinical cardiovascular events has not been observed in all prospective studies, hyperhomocysteinemia is now considered by many to be an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular disease. Furthermore, the belief that hyperhomocysteinemia may be not only a marker but also a cause for atherosclerosis and thrombosis has intensified research in this area.

Hcy is a thiol amino acid, but only a small fraction (<2%) circulates in the thiol form. The reminder is a mixture of disulfide derivatives, including protein-bound disulfides. Hyperhomocysteinemia is usually defined as an elevation of plasma Hcy above 15 μmol/L. This elevation may be caused by genetic defects, renal insufficiency, certain drugs, or nutritional insufficiencies of cofactors required for Hcy metabolism, including folate, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxal phosphate), or vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin). Because plasma Hcy can be lowered by oral supplementation of folic acid or …