Most children with OSA will benefit from tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Although polygraphic monitoring remains the definitive diagnostic technique, we wondered if all children suspected of having OSA require such evaluation. We therefore administered a standardized questionnaire to the parents of 23 children with polygraphically proven OSA due to adenotonsillar hypertrophy, 46 age and sex-matched normal children, and 23 children subsequently referred for possible OSA. Significantly increased frequencies of the following symptoms were found in the OSA group compared to the control group: difficulty breathing during sleep, 96% vs 2%; apneas observed by the parents, 78% vs 5%; snoring, 96% vs 9%; restless sleep, 78% vs 23%; chronic rhinorrhea, 61% vs 11%; and mouth breathing when awake, 87% vs 18%. Using discriminant analysis, an OSA score was derived which correctly classified all controls and 22 of 23 OSA patients. Considering the data from all groups, we found that (1) OSA scores > 3.5 were highly predictive of OSA requiring adenotonsillectomy, (2) no child with an OSA score < -1 had OSA, and (3) children with OSA scores between -1 and 3.5 require polygraphic monitoring to determine the severity of sleep-related airway obstruction and the need for surgical treatment. Use of the OSA score should decrease the need for polygraphic monitoring and facilitate selection of children for adenotonsillectomy. (Supported in part by the Children's Research Guild).


. Sławomir Sztajer, Ideowy wymiar badań religioznawczych [the ideological Dimension of religious Studies], edited by z. Drozdowicz, S. Sztajer, "Człowiek i Społeczeństwo", vol. XXXiX, poznań 2015, pp. 115-133. adam mickiewicz University press. iSBN 978-83-232-2953-7, iSSN 0239-3271. ideology is often perceived as an impediment to advancing the scientific study of religion. the rhetoric of scientificity, which is present in many academic publications in religious studies, seems to conceal a fear of a marriage between science and ideology. the article argues that it is neither possible nor necessary to build religious studies freed from ideological influences. it is not entirely possible because no researcher can isolate herself from ideological factors which are a result of his participation in social life. But it is also not necessary because one can conduct careful and rigor-ous research in some ideological frameworks. there are situations in which the ideological factor can play a considerable and positive role. what is import_ant, however, is to develop an unceasing critique of ideological influences which aims at uncovering and then controlling them both on the scientific and institutional plane.


Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches have been accepted a significant consideration from scientists and professionals for evaluating, surveying and selecting best alternatives for different commercial enterprises. Out of various MCDM approaches developed to unravel real-world decision making problems, grey relational analysis keeps on working satisfactorily over diversified fields of business. In this paper, we have conducted a state-of-the-art literature survey to taxonomise the research on GRA applications and methodologies in competitive business environment. The present paper is classified into five fields of applications viz. Supply chain and logistics management, manufacturing systems and design engineering, management and business, energy and environment management and some other areas of application. Research papers on GRA requisitions are again distributed based on number of publications in consecutive years and other methodologies compared or coordinated with GRA. We concluded our review paper with recommendations for future research directions in GRA decision making that is both forward-looking and practically oriented.


We propose a selective mode conversion method using dual-phase modulation which performs the full-complex amplitude modulation by use of two phase-type spatial light modulators. In the experiment, the crosstalk to undesired spatial mode was supressed less than −21.2 dB for the 4-LP modes of a few-mode fiber.


In the field of semi-supervised medical image segmentation, the shortage of labeled data is the fundamental problem. How to effectively learn image features from unlabeled images to improve segmentation accuracy is the main research direction in this field. Traditional self-training methods can partially solve the problem of insufficient labeled data by generating pseudo labels for iterative training. However, noise generated due to the model's uncertainty during training directly affects the segmentation results. Therefore, we added sample-level and pixel-level uncertainty to stabilize the training process based on the self-training framework. Specifically, we saved several moments of the model during pre-training, and used the difference between their predictions on unlabeled samples as the sample-level uncertainty estimate for that sample. Then, we gradually add unlabeled samples from easy to hard during training. At the same time, we added a decoder with different upsampling methods to the segmentation network and used the difference between the outputs of the two decoders as pixel-level uncertainty. In short, we selectively retrained unlabeled samples and assigned pixel-level uncertainty to pseudo labels to optimize the self-training process. We compared the segmentation results of our model with five semi-supervised approaches on the public 2017 ACDC dataset and 2018 Prostate dataset. Our proposed method achieves better segmentation performance on both datasets under the same settings, demonstrating its effectiveness, robustness, and potential transferability to other medical image segmentation tasks. Keywords: Medical image segmentation, semi-supervised learning, self-training, uncertainty estimation


During a stay at Naples in the past winter, I became acquainted with a great number of Nemertini which had escaped my notice on a former occasion (1874), and of which I could have numerous specimens in different varieties thanks to the greatly improved methods of dredging and searching which are now practised in Prof. Dohrn's splendid establishment. This enabled me to gain a better insight, not only in the anatomy of the group, but in the range of varieties, species and genera as well. The preliminary results of these researches are contained in the following pages.


Thank you very much for downloading marriages and families intimacy diversity and strengths. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this marriages and families intimacy diversity and strengths, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful bugs inside their desktop computer.


We present a vision based multisensor that is designed for robot interaction with small, soft, and possibly fragile objects. The sensor consists of a rubber membrane, a rectangular frame on which the membrane is mounted and a CCD camera. The entire system is airtight. Based on the observed deformations of the membrane, we determine the contact area, the integral force acting on the membrane, the 3D force distribution over the membrane, and derive properties of the target object by monitoring the evolution of its deformation. We can distinguish between different types of materials, i.e., solid, soft, amorphous, and determine the speed and nature of their deformation. The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted by changing the volume of air within the rectangular frame. We achieved a small noise to signal ratio, which allows us to observe small integral forces in the range of 0.5N to 2.5N, with an average error of 0.04 N.


The biological chromophore xanthommatin (Xa) contributes to the yellow, red, and brown colors and hues in cephalopods and arthropods. In many cases, Xa is also present as part of or coupled to supramolecular nanostructures, whose function has yet to be fully explored. To investigate how such structural elements impact the perceived color of these natural chromophores, amorphous photonic assemblies containing Xa chemically coupled to 100 nm polystyrene nanoparticles (PS100‐XA) are fabricated, and blended with pure polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles of varying sizes. Structural colors are observed comprising these bidispersed colloidal assemblies that are tuned by the particle size of PS nanoparticles, the concentration of PS100‐XA, the local environment, and the method of assembly. In all cases, the addition of PS100‐XA regulates the color hue and contrast of the resultant assemblies by increasing light absorption while minimizing incoherent light scattering. Taken together, the results demonstrate how biochromes like Xa can enhance the color intensity and the diversity in colors present in common photonic assemblies.


Finding a platinum‐free cathode catalyst that effectively models the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of a proton‐exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell cathode better than the current commercial Pt/C catalyst has been a major shortcoming in fuel cell technology. Overall, a promising platinum‐free cathode catalyst must offer great ORR activity, ORR selectivity, and acid stability. Due to their enticing ORR activity and selectivity to the preferred four‐electron ORR pathway, the possible dissolution reactions and oxygen‐intermediate reactions of iron phthalocyanine monolayer supported on a pristine graphene (GFePc) and boron‐doped graphene substrate (BGFePc) have been studied to determine the stability as a function of potential and pH through spin‐polarized density functional theory (DFT) calculations at both infinitesimally low (10−9 m) and 1 m Fe2+/Fe3+ ionic concentrations. BGFePc offers higher stability in both concentrations than GFePc. In both cases, the oxygen‐intermediates are more stable than the bare catalytic surface due to the metal d‐band center shifting further away from the Fermi level in the valence band state (higher energy of antibonding). Moreover, at an Fe2+ ionic concentration, both catalysts would be stable in the potential and pH regions at the operating conditions of rotating disk electrode (RDE) experiments and PEM fuel cells.


We prove new interaction Morawetz‐type (correlation) estimates in one and two dimensions. In dimension 2 the estimate corresponds to the nonlinear diagonal analogue of Bourgain's bilinear refinement of Strichartz. For the two‐dimensional case we provide a proof in two different ways. First, we follow the original approach of Lin and Strauss but applied to tensor products of solutions. We then demonstrate the proof using commutator vector operators acting on the conservation laws of the equation. This method can be generalized to obtain correlation estimates in all dimensions. In one dimension we use the Gauss‐Weierstrass summability method acting on the conservation laws. We then apply the two‐dimensional estimate to nonlinear Schrödinger equations and derive a direct proof of Nakanishi's H1 scattering result for every L2‐supercritical nonlinearity. We also prove scattering below the energy space for a certain class of L2‐supercritical equations. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


As a result of the intense fiscal pressures that the states face and the federal government's new willingness to grant them broader flexibility in casting health policy, several states are moving t...


Mice constitute more than half of all the laboratory animals used in the world. The use of transgenic mice has greatly increased during the last years. To determine their genetic setup a tailbiopsy is often taken and the question arises whether this is a painful procedure that requires anaesthesia and/or analgesia. The tailtip of the mouse contains bone and skin and the periosteum is well supplied with nervous tissue. Today there are no recommendations from the Swedish National Board for Laboratory Animals about anaesthesia or analgesia in conjunction with the tailbiopsy. To evaluate the effects of tail biopsy on behaviour of mice, an automatic system for behaviour recognition was used. Differences were found between these mice and control mice and these differences might be caused by pain or discomfort.


ABSTRACT. A 10‐year assessment of ocular function eye size and other anthropometric parameters indicated a negative influence of low birth weight (LBW). The sample consisted of 302 children with BW <2000 g and 237 full‐term controls. The former had smaller eyes and there were deficits regarding height, head circumference, interpupillary distance and exophthalmometry readings. Based on an 18‐year follow‐up study comprising 137 of the above 539, the various LBW deficits have proven to be permanent, and due not only to delayed development around the age of 10. The menarche appeared later in LBW girls (13 ½ years of age) than in controls (13 years). Exophthalmometry readings have led to rejection of one of the presumed classical permanent stigmata of prematurity: ocular protrusion. The findings indicate that low birth weight is an impediment to the overall development of the individual. It also seems to interfere with some of the usual correlations between growth parameters. In addition, the results confirm the well‐known feature: that males have a more marked growth spurt at puberty than females.


Abstract.
 MICROBIOTHERIIDAE (MAMMALIA, MARSUPIALIA) FROM THE PINTURAS FORMATION (EARLY MIOCENE, ARGENTINA). The Pinturas Formation (early Miocene, northwestern Santa Cruz Province, Argentina) is a continental succession that can be divided into three sequences based on its major intraformational erosive surfaces and lithological changes. Previous studies concluded that the lower and middle sequences have an absolute age of more than 16.5 Ma and they bear a mammal assemblage ("Astrapothericulan fauna") different from and older than that typifying the Santacrucian Land Mammal Age. Recently, the first microbiotheriid marsupial species, Pachybiotherium illuminatum Goin, Tejedor, Abello, and Martin, was described from the middle sequence of this unit. In this contribution, new microbiotheriid specimens from the same sequence, represented by dental elements, are described from three localities of Santa Cruz Province: Cerro de los Monos, Portezuelo Sumich Norte, and Portezuelo Sumich Sur. These specimens are referred to Microbiotherium tehuelchum Ameghino, Microbiotherium divisum Ameghino, and Microbiotherium cf. M. gallegosense Sinclair. Similarly to what was observed for other mammals from these levels of the Pinturas Formation, the microbiotheriid association includes a combination of taxa previously known from the Santacrucian SALMA, others known from the Colhuehuapian SALMA, and a taxon recorded exclusively in these levels (Pachybiotherium illuminatum). This combination of taxa reinforces the idea of the "Pinturan assemblage" as distinct and intermediate in age between the Colhuehuapian and the Santacrucian. The four microbiotheriids represent the most diverse community so far known for this marsupial group as they positively occur in a single locality and stratigraphic level (i.e., Portezuelo Sumich Sur).


The transient response waveform during pulse-forming was investigated on a bipolar resistance switching (RS) device in which Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (PCMO) was sandwiched by a Ta top electrode (TE) and a Pt bottom electrode. We identified "waiting time", which is specific unresponsive time proportional to the square of the TE's area. By combining transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy, we also found that electrons were injected at the PCMO/Pt interface during forming. We propose that bipolar RS is caused by injecting electrons into and extracting electrons from the PCMO/Pt interface, and is linked with oxidation/reduction reactions at the Ta/PCMO interface.


This paper deals with the status of Thrace and Macedonia within the royal administration of the Persian Empire. The scholar views expressed so far are opposing and mutually exclusive, thus making it very difficult to attain a common ground between them. The complete corpus of information on the satrapies comes from the Persian administrative documents and from the extant Greek sources: however, the meaning of the word "satrapy" in the Greek sources is very vague, and moreover, this technical term is nowhere to be found in the Persian documents. This calls for a re-thinking and re-exami nation of the term "satrapy" as a terminus technicus, as well as for a broader analysis of the mechanisms of satrapal actions and their place within the Persian administrative and fiscal framework. As things stand, the term "satrap" should be analysed only in its first, basic meaning, "protector of the King/Empire" a status that did not hinder the possibility of holding other local or foreign offices or honours. 1. This paper deals with subject which can be defined in few words: it concerns the status of Thrace and Macedonia or, more precisely, the Persian territories in Europe within the royal admi nistration of the Persian Empire. The dilemma whether a European satrapy ever existed and whether it is hidden behind the concept of "Skudra" is a never-ending source of inspiration for opposing views, analyses and historical hypotheses. Unfortunately, the manner in which this issue is treated and explained in scholar literature is completely different from its seeming simplicity. Most historians that study the history of Persia usually include in their lists of Persian satrapies a satrapy bearing the name of Skudra, one that allegedly covered the largest part of the Persian territories in Europe and, according to some, even the kingdom of Macedon.1 The starting (or, to be fair, the only) element for these assertions is the *61 1 See, for example, Olmstead, 1948: 157-8; Meritt et al., 1950: 214; Ham mond, 1959: 179; Burn, 1984: 110-111; Castritius, 1972: 4, 10; Danov, 1976: 272; and Errington, 1990. A very tenacious supporter of this view is Hammond, 1980, 5361 and passim in his works. In the impossible mission to mention everyone, all the other, numerous, entries have been left out. 78 V. Sarakinski, The fallacy of the European satrapy ŽAnt 60(2010)77-108 mention of Skudra on the Persian royal inscriptions, as well as in a number of other administrative documents. On the other hand, there are historians who, on the basis of the very same epigraphic and archival documents, oppose the claims concerning the existence of any kind of a European satrapy, and allege that the documents from Perse polis, Naqsh-e Rustam, Susa and Behistun list peoples and/or lands under Persian rule, but not clearly defined administrative governing entities.2 Yet a third group of historians does not set their beliefs on any Persian documents, but rather on Greek narrative sources. Accord ing to the information on the structure of the Persian Empire that come chiefly from Herodotus, as well as the terms he uses in order to present the local administration in Asia Minor, these historians claim that not only did a European satrapy exist, but that we also know its capital, and even the name of its satrap.3 The views expressed so far are opposing and mutually exclu sive; thus, it is rather difficult to attain a common ground between them. The questions that arise are several: why are there still scholarly debates concerning this issue, and how is it possible that a question that provoked speculation for almost a century still causes such dilemmas in the scientific community? In truth, this state of affairs is no different from many other issues that usually plague the mind of a historian; likewise, the root of this dilemma is very straightforward and that is the nature of our extant sources. Let us first look at how things stand with our sole fully pre served narrative source. In 1912, How and Wells describe Herodotus as "our best and most reliable source on the ethnography of the Ancient East."4 In 1978, writing about this very issue, Balcer expresses dissatis faction that Herodotus is once again taken as the main authority on ethnography, as well as on the organization of the Persian Empire.5 And even today, it seems impossible to write about this issue without setting out from the text by the Greek historiographer. Thus, there are continuous references to Herodotus' great satrapy-list of Book 3, as 2 Cameron, 1973: 47-56; Borza, 1990: passim. Wiesehöfer, 2001: 59-63 pro vides an excellent, concise summary of the opposing views. 3 Paj^kowski, 1983: 243-255, who not only revives the idea of the European satrapy, but also claims that Sestos was its capital, and the Persian general Artayctes its satrap. The evidence given by Paj^kowski is based on his arbitrary translation of the phrase in Hdt. 9.116.1. Errington, 1990: 10 alleges, on no further evidence, that Bubares, son of Megabazus, was the satrap of Skudra, supposedly ascending to this position in 492 BC. 4 How & Wells, 1989: 2.151. 5 Balcer, 1988: 2. V. Sarakinski, The fallacy of the European satrapy ŽAnt 60(2010)77-108 79 well as the list of gift-bearers and the assignment of tribute.6 Things are quite the same with the alleged parade and the review of the army in Doriscus, an event that allegedly provides a list of the united Persian army that Xerxes gathered for his invasion of mainland Greece.7 How ever, nearly a century after Herodotus was spoken of in such glowing terms by his two commentators, we need to ask ourselves: do his facts above all, those facts that do not recount events, but are rather more of a shot at a political and economic analysis really deserve our trust and attention to such an extent? Moreover, as we have no other fully preserved narrative account concerning this, are we able to check its veracity, or are we even allowed to believe what Herodotus tells us? The Persian epigraphic and archival sources, found in archaeo logical excavations, would seem a good way to control Herodotus; yet this opens up another set of problems. Above all, in the past, scientific opinion concerning the interpretation of these sources was very unfitt ing to their importance. To illustrate, as far back as the time of Rawlinson,8 up to Macan even, every time the Persian sources presented things differently than Herodotus, priority was always given to the historiographer.9 Today, things seem to be somewhat different: the Persian documents have been studied, among others, by Kent and Cameron,10 Herzfeld, Schmidt and Hauser have catalogued the large monuments,11 and various scholars have studied in detail other epi graphic and anepigraphic monuments, mainly from Susa and Pasargadae. These documents might have been very useful in helping us understand the Persian system of local administration had it not been for the fact that we have to deal with official documents, previously prepared, checked, revised and approved by the central government.12 True, one can easily claim that Herodotus does not understand things to their full extent, that he is only aware of the conditions in the western satrapies, that he conveys only what Greeks of his time understood, or thought they did; yet, on the other hand, we have to work with texts previously prepared and approved, texts which, most likely, do not represent reality, but rather what the court wanted to put across to its people. So the historian is set between two 6 Hdt. 3.89-97. 7 Hdt. 7.59-81. 8 See, for example, Rawlinson, 1860: 4.57, the note on Persepolis. 9 Macan, 1908: 1.1.83: "if the monuments do not show it [sc. what Herodotus says], so much the worse for them." 10 Kent, 1953: 116-156; Cameron, 1973: 47-56, with a detailed bibliography. 11 Schmidt, 1939; 1953; 1970. 12 Cf DB 4.88 sqq., where it is stated even by Darius. 80 V. Sarakinski, The fallacy of the European satrapy ŽAnt 60(2010)77-108 types of sources with an opposite nature, bearing more drawbacks than advantages; for this reason, it is very difficult to bring together the two views, and just about impossible to tell where the truth lies.13 2. Nevertheless, it is fair to admit that a large part of the problem is caused by the historians themselves. Dedicated to scientific debates on whether it should be Herodotus or the primary sources that ought to be believed, battling with analyses and hypotheses on whether the existence of a European satrapy ought to be recognised, they seem to have forgotten the question all of this was supposed to set out from: namely, what exactly is a "satrapy"? The only primary source that we have at our disposal is the corpus of Achaemenid royal inscriptions, or more precisely, "the lists of lands" that these inscriptions contain.14 15There, the word "satrap" really does appear in the form xsaçapâvan or xša6rapavan]s but the word "satrapy"16 is nowhere to be found. To make matters worse, the lands in the lists are not referred to as satrapies, but rather as dahyäva a word with a meaning so general, that it is all but impossible to narrow it down in an administrative context. For a long time this served to confuse historians, who were trying to solve the problem using a variety of hypotheses. First, it was believed that the Persian lists, completely different from those pre sented by Herodotus or the historians of Alexander, have nothing to do with being a directory of the administrative entities that made up the Empire. Later, on the basis of Herodotus' statement that the conquered peoples were the main constitutive element of the satrapies, there was the idea that the Achaemenid Empire ought to be defined not as a set of precisely defined territorial entities, but rather as a mixture of conquered peoples; the lists of dahyäva were thus inter preted as lists of conquered/taxed/gift-bearing dependencies.17 And 13 Or, as Armayor (1978: 2) wittily remarks, it is


The complete assignment of 1H and 13C NMR spectra of some 4′‐substituted diethyl 1‐methylthio‐ and diethyl 1‐methylsulfonyl‐2‐oxo‐2‐phenylethylphosphonates bearing as substituents methoxy, fluoro, chloro, bromo and nitro is reported. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract N-Heterocyclic aromatics, such as carbazole and acridine derivatives, are environmental carcinogenic pollutants. Examples of these compounds are 7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole (DBC) and dibenz[a,j]acridine (DBA). The ionization potential (IP) for DBC is lower than for DBA. DBC is metabolized in lung and liver by way of phenols or directly through radical cations. DBC-induced liver and lung tumors have mutations in the 61st codon of ras. DBA is metabolized in skin by way of a diol-epoxide of DBA. DBA-induced skin tumors have mutations in 12th, 13th and 61st codons of ras. In summary, the metabolic activation of DBC proceeds through different adduction pattern pathways than does DBA and leads to different ras mutational spectra.


Royal jelly is a bee product made by the cephalic glands of nurse bees that have been utilized in medicine for ages because of its unique therapeutic properties. Proteins, royalisin, jelleins, fatty acids, and 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid are among the bioactive components found in royal jelly. There are many studies vouch that royal jelly has antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, fertilization, wound-healing, anti-aging, insulin-like, antimutagenic, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory potentials. The bioactive components it contains are primarily responsible for these functions. This study is aimed to review the biological activities of royal jelly.


The invention discloses a magnetic orientation assembly, which comprises a first magnetic orientation device, a second magnetic orientation device and a hot-air blower, wherein the hot-air blower is positioned above the first magnetic orientation device; the air outlet of the hot-air blower is arranged opposite to the first magnetic orientation device; the first magnetic orientation device is positioned on the upper part of a printing material; the second magnetic orientation device is positioned on the lower part of the printing material; a heating plate is arranged between the second magnetic orientation device and the printing material. The magnetic orientation assembly can be dried and sized rapidly during orientated arrangement of magnetic ink, so that the production efficiency is increased, and the production cost is lowered.


In this paper, the behavior of ranked set sampling is analyzed considering the knowledge of the auxiliary variable. The suggested estimators are compared with their simple random sampling counterparts. A numerical study is developed using data from a study developed on the contamination due to burning compost from solid waste from hospitals.


It is believed that the time that  the undergraduate students register in Teacher Education Program they  have an extensive  amount of  experience, but English for specific purpose (ESP) teachersor pre-service ESP teachers are regarded as valuable resources for recognizing attitudes or perceptions of effectiveness of ESP teachers whose classless are taught by them. Pre-service teachers surely have several specific perceptions about their future career and the effectiveness of ESP teachers whose classes are being taught by them during practice teaching. If ESP teachers are asked the question why do you want to be anESP teacher? They may have different responses such as: I want to be an ESP teacher because I have a very good image of my teachers during my school period or I want to be a  ESP teacher because I would like to follow the methods and procedures of effective teaching that my university  teachers did during teaching specific courses. However, some might have an opposite perception. Anyway, this study tries to compare the perceptions of ESP teachers before (pre-service) and after (in-service) teaching period.


The problem of alcohol-related assaults (ARAs) in night-time economy (NTE) precincts is an ongoing issue of policy concern and research interest. One punch truly can kill. This thesis examines the feasibility of a multi-agency linking method to more accurately count these kinds of assaults in close to real-time in order to inform suitable responses by Queensland liquor accords. This can provide more timely evidence to evaluate interventions. This thesis was the first Australian research to achieve this. The Cairns Hospital Emergency Department, the Queensland Police Service and the Cairns Regional Council Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system are capable of providing relevant data regularly. Venues can provide relevant data but capacity to do so regularly is limited. Results support previous research regarding prevalence and time of occurrence of NTE ARAs. The thesis also uses Realist Evaluation to examine how an urban, open-space CCTV system responds to, and reduces, these NTE ARAs. The realist evaluation approach explains why quasi-experimental studies have found CCTV has no effect on this type of offence, but practitioners see CCTV as vital. The thesis shows why the theory of deterrence through CCTV does not apply to NTE ARAs. Conflicting empirical results regarding the efficacy of CCTV in broader crime reduction are explained. A case study analysis of CCTV to address NTE ARAs identifies initial context-mechanism-outcome configurations. The thesis provides evidence that suggests realist evaluation is an appropriate approach to address ongoing methodological problems in studying ways to reduce NTE ARAs.


ed model, see Stephen Hymer and Resnick, "A Model of an Agrarian Economy with Nonagricultural Activities, 'American Economic Review 59 (September 1969): 493-506. This content downloaded from 220.127.116.11 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:26:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Backward-bending Supply Curve 261 leisure minus his marginal utility from work (i.e., his net utility from an additional increment of leisure). Although to noneconomists the jargon may appear esoteric, the model allows us to focus on four key variables, knowledge or assumptions about which are necessary to predict the farmer's behavior: his marginal utility of income, his marginal product, his marginal desire for leisure, and the marginal disutility of the work he must perform. Economists, applying the concept of diminishing returns, go on to make assumptions about the behavior and value of the variables, e.g., they assume that the marginal product of labor and the marginal utilities of income and leisure are all greater than zero but diminishing and that the marginal utility of work is negative and growing more so.43 A few observations are in order: 1. If the marginal utility of income is held constant, then an increase in wage would call forth an increased effort in hours worked. The lefthand side of the equation would be greater than the right side, and for the right to increase in value, the farmer would have to reduce his leisure (with the marginal unit therefore more valuable to him) and increase his labor (with the marginal unit more disagreeable to him). The amount of responsiveness would depend upon the farmer's valuations, but, assuming work grows more disagreeable per unit as more is performed, and leisure less pleasurable per unit as more is obtained, in no case would the response be to work less as wages increased. In short, increased marginal costs will not serve to explain a backward-sloping supply curve of labor.4" 2. If leisure is a normal good (i.e., if, as income rises, the farmer uses some of his income to purchase more leisure), then less time will be available for working, and the supply curve of labor for the individual may be backward bending.45 The normal expectation would be for some of the income to be used to purchase leisure and most to be used in purchasing other goods (and thus reducing the marginal utility of additional increments of income) and for less time to be worked on balance as wages and income rise. While this framework is overly simple, its implications have led economists to label as rational the behavior signified by a backward-bending 13 Winkelman, Traditwnal Fanner, p. 8. 44 Viewed from another perspective, one might ask why, if supply of labor is dependent only upon costs, one level of price brings forth (if the curve slopes backwards) two levels of supply. It instead we consider the backward bend to have been produced by shifts in the supply function over time (assuming the demand function to have been steady or rising), then the bend, to fit historical descriptions (in which a raise in wages elicited a decrease in laboring) would have to have been caused by a shift uptard in costs over time (rather than the downward trend historically observed and noted by Miracle and Fetter). One must question whether such shifts would have been probable in the short run or whether the above explanation sounds more reasonable. 45 It is, of course, possible that, because leisure has now become more expensive than other goods purchased (the wage that could be earned having risen), individuals will switch from leisure to other goods to such an extent as to lead to less leisure being purchased at bigher incomes. See below. This content downloaded from 184.108.40.206 on Wed, 07 Sep 2016 05:26:55 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms


Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonoses affecting 500,000 people annually with no approved human vaccines available. Live attenuated B. abortus vaccine strain RB51 protects cattle through CD4 and CD8 T-cell mediated responses. However, there are concerns regarding its efficacy and use as a live vaccine in people. Therefore, identifying how Brucella vaccines stimulate innate and adaptive immunity is critical to enhancing vaccine efficacy. Brucella stimulate dendritic cells (DCs) through Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) 2, 4 and 9. In this study, to identify how rough vaccine strains stimulate DC activation and function in vitro, we used vaccine strain RB51 versus pathogenic strain 2308 to stimulate bone marrow derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) from TLR2, 4 or 9 knockout (KO) and wild type BALB/c mice. Since inhalation of infected aerosols is one of the most common routes of exposure, in vivo clearance of strain RB51 compared to strain 2308 from intranasally (IN) infected TLR KO vs. control BALB/c mice was assessed. We determined that strain RB51 induced significant (p≤0.05) DC activation compared to strain 2308 which was TLR independent. However, strain RB51 induced TNF - α production was TLR2 and TLR9 dependent and IL-12 production was TLR2 and TLR4 dependent. TLR4 KO mice had significantly (p≤0.05) delayed pulmonary clearance of strain RB51 in vivo at day 14 post infection. Based on these data, future studies will focus on enhancing the protective ability of strain RB51.


It is found here that a first-order condensation can actually occur in a hard sphere gas under the basic assumption that the effective volume of a molecule is larger in the gas phase than its occupied volume in the condensed phase.


Sintering of metal nanopaste (NP) has been proposed as an alternative in die-attach bonding for the soldering to overcome such high operation temperature in wide-gap semiconductor power devices. Silver (Ag) NP as one of the candidates has some obstacles for mass production due to the high cost of Ag and vulnerability to the electrochemical migration. In the present study, the authors developed a simple solution method to synthesize copper (Cu) nanoparticles with the mean diameter of 57.5 nm. Cu NP was prepared by dispensing as-prepared Cu nanoparticles into deionized water with the assistance of ultrasonic. Pulsed Electric Current Sintering (PECS) was used to join two pieces of bare copper with Cu NP to achieve strong joints in a short time less than 200 ms. Die-shear testing was used to evaluate the bonding strength. The bonding strength increased with the increasing current and reached the highest value of 58.5 MPa at the current of 1.0 kA. Microstructural analysis of the sintered joints showed that the sintered Cu NP layer had a uniform microstructure with micrometer-sized porosity with the potential for high reliability under high-temperature applications. The PECS was recommended to bond two pieces of bare copper with Cu NP in power electronic applications without any protective atmosphere.


Many centuries have passed for mankind, while many puzzles have not been discovered about the universe. For example, what causes gravitational force? Does the pushing force of the bodies of the universe exist? Why do planets revolve around their axis in the opposite sense to the Sun's rotation around its axis? Meanwhile, Venus rotates in the same sense with the Sun. There is a perfect rule in the universe. This rule is certainly based on laws; such as the Gravitational Energy Law, the Universal Attract Law. These laws are elaborated with detail in the book, of course based on facts, equations, formulas and calculations. Of these the author can mention: The Basic Equation of the Universe; The basic equation of the rotation of the stars and the bodies of the universe around their axis; the equation of the universal equilibrium. In the book are calculated: the dimension of the universe, its mass; genesis and age of the Solar System and many other astronomical issues. For everything the author has been dealing with, he welcomes the suggestions, advice, criticism, and comments of astronomers. He is looking forward to a dialogue with astronomers about the discovery of many enigmas of the universe.


Here, we review the advances in research on management of key oil palm insect pests globally, including defoliators, leaf/fruit scrapers, borers and sap feeders. The common oil palm pest management methods include synthetic insecticides, biopesticides, semiochemical lures, cultural practices, and integrated approaches. However, effectiveness, affordability, availability and impact of these methods on human and environmental health vary considerably based on the target insect and geographical location. The use of quarantine regulations to prevent the spread of invasive pests has also been applied with remarkable results. There are notable research advances in semiochemicals, bioacoustic detectors, nanotechnology, insect growth regulators, and entomophagy for better management of oil palm pests. We suggest the following research areas for improving effectiveness of oil palm pest management interventions: (i) exploration of semiochemical attractants for the majority of pests with no previous semiochemical work, and their integration in attract-and-kill devices laced with pathogenic microbes; (ii) expanding the application of digital sensing, predictive modeling and nano-technology in pest control strategies; (iii) developing effective technologies for mass trapping of edible insect pests for food or feed, especially among communities with a tradition of entomophagy; and (iv) strengthening regulatory frameworks for the management of quarantine oil palm insect pests.


This paper considers a number of artworks by contemporary French artist Sophie Calle. The focus is on a number of these that have a 'public' aspect. Through Calle's work, idioms of following, documenting, seduction and love are discussed, and artistic and representational dichotomies: documentation and action are critiqued. The essay contextualizes Calle's art through its dynamic relationships with conceptual art generally and particularly work that involves following as a performance strategy. The possibility of love's fabrication as a dramatic means of critical art practice and analytical writing are foregrounded through encounters with Jean Baudrillard's writings on seduction and on Calle.


Considered by many scholars to be the oldest witness in Latin for an authorised canon of New Testament books, the so-called Muratorian Canon has attracted much attention since its discovery in 1740. In the context of different issues of New Testament introduction, this canon is regularly referred to as evidence in establishing the early existence of a New Testament canon and in reconstructions of the history of ancient Christianity. Despite its significance, the text has not been examined with sufficient critical acumen, as Rothschild points out:


Cancer risk assessment models are used to support prevention and early detection. However, few models have been developed for head and neck cancer (HNC).


The Medi-test system we developed was motivated by the large number of resources 10 available for the medical domain, as well as the number of tests needed in this field (during and 11 after the medical school) for evaluation, promotion, certification, etc. Generating questions to 12 support learning and user interactivity has been an interesting and dynamic topic in NLP since the 13 availability of e-book curricula and e-learning platforms. Current e-learning platforms offer 14 increased support for student evaluation, with an emphasis in exploiting automation in both test 15 generation and evaluation. In this context, our system is able to evaluate a student's academic 16 performance for the medical domain. Using as input medical reference texts and supported by a 17 specially designed medical ontology, Medi-test generates different types of questionnaires for 18 Romanian language. The evaluation includes 4 types of questions (multiple-choice, fill in the blanks, 19 true/false and match), can have customizable length and difficulty and can be automatically graded. 20 A recent extension of our system also allows for the generation of tests which include images. We 21 evaluated our system with a local testing team, but also with a set of medicine students, and user 22 satisfaction questionnaires showed that the system can be used to enhance learning. 23


We reported the predation record of the hylid frog Bokermannohyla alvarengai by the colubrid snake Chironius flavolineatus in a montane rocky grassland in Santana do Riacho municipality, Minas Gerais state, southeastern Brazil. Our findings contribute to the biological knowledge of B. alvarengai through identification of one of its natural predators, and of C. flavolineatus by adding an anuran species to its diet, data not previously available in the scientific literature.


This paper proposes the use of information derived from the graph of a texture image function for texture description. The graph of an image function is a rumpled surface in the three-dimensional space that appears like a landscape. Four novel texture feature curves are used to characterize the texture. This method is named as statistical landscape features (SLF). SLF achieves a very high correct classification rate of 94.53% on the entire Brodatz set. Besides the very good performance, another remarkable advantage of the proposed method is that it has no parameter to tune.


We construct a rigid analytical regulator for the K2 of Mumford curves, a non-archimedean analogue of the complex analytical Beilinson-Bloch-Deligne regulator.


The purposes of this paper are demonstrating the reliable optimization results can be guaranteed when hierarchical kriging (HK) model is used as a surrogate model and proving the existence of the appropriate number of high initial sample for time-efficient optimization. The HK model is one sort of variable fidelity modeling (VFM), which mimics the general tendency of a model based on the low-fidelity information and calibrates the accuracy of the model with the high-fidelity information. In this study, the results calculated by 2 million and 8 million grid systems are respectively set to be low- and high-fidelity information. With these information, HK model is constructed and overall optimization is conducted. As a result, the reliable optimization results are obtained regardless of different numbers of high initial samples and time reduction appears up to the 43.05%.


The aim of this study was to characterize phenotypical properties, to analyse whole genomes of novel Acinetobacter baumannii phages infecting carbapenem‐resistant Ac. baumannii (CRAB) and to evaluate their potential as antimicrobial alternatives to control Ac. baumannii in clinical settings.


The present paper summarized the experience on the study of dry-sand EPC process. The effects of process parameters on casting quality were studied. The equipment and parameters for casting process of typical castings were determined.


Significance The homogenous propagation of the action potential in cardiac cells is guaranteed by a complex network of membrane invaginations called the T-tubular system. In cardiac diseases, T-tubules may show electrical defects that can compromise cell function. Here, we investigate the diffusional properties of fluorescent probes inside T-tubules to predict electrical conductivity of the tubular network. We apply this method to detecting alterations of T-tubule conductivity in a pathological setting characterized by compromised T-tubule integrity. We found that in heart failure, T-tubule conductivity is significantly reduced compared with healthy cardiac cells. A reduction in conductivity can impair the propagation of action potential across the network and may explain the presence of conduction defects found at the single tubular level. Well-coordinated activation of all cardiomyocytes must occur on every heartbeat. At the cell level, a complex network of sarcolemmal invaginations, called the transverse-axial tubular system (TATS), propagates membrane potential changes to the cell core, ensuring synchronous and uniform excitation–contraction coupling. Although myocardial conduction of excitation has been widely described, the electrical properties of the TATS remain mostly unknown. Here, we exploit the formal analogy between diffusion and electrical conductivity to link the latter with the diffusional properties of TATS. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) microscopy is used to probe the diffusion properties of TATS in isolated rat cardiomyocytes: A fluorescent dextran inside TATS lumen is photobleached, and signal recovery by diffusion of unbleached dextran from the extracellular space is monitored. We designed a mathematical model to correlate the time constant of fluorescence recovery with the apparent diffusion coefficient of the fluorescent molecules. Then, apparent diffusion is linked to electrical conductivity and used to evaluate the efficiency of the passive spread of membrane depolarization along TATS. The method is first validated in cells where most TATS elements are acutely detached by osmotic shock and then applied to probe TATS electrical conductivity in failing heart cells. We find that acute and pathological tubular remodeling significantly affect TATS electrical conductivity. This may explain the occurrence of defects in action potential propagation at the level of single T-tubules, recently observed in diseased cardiomyocytes.


Comments are very useful to developers during maintenance tasks and are useful as well to help structuring a code at development time. They convey useful information about the system functionalities as well as the state of mind of a developer. Comments in code have been the focus of several studies, but none of them was targeted at analyzing commenting habits precisely. In this paper, we present an empirical study which analyzes existing comments in different open source Java projects. We study comments from both a quantitative and a qualitative point of view. We propose a taxonomy of comments that we used for conducting our analysis.


The water droplet motion processes actuated by applying surface acoustic waves at various RF powers and frequencies were investigated by numerically modelling and compared with experiment. A three-dimensional computational model of a free water droplet streaming on the surface of the substrate have been developed using Finite Element Method (FEM) with Laminar Two-Phase Flow Moving Mesh approach for Navier–Stokes equations which were coupled with Convection Wave equation (CWE) module of the COMSOL Multiphysics. Water droplet motion speeds were experimentally measured and confirmed for water droplets with the volumes of 2 and 5 μl, at SAW frequencies 34 and 58 MHz, and power range 0.1–1.23 W. The effect of frequency on microfluidic performance such as streaming flows and droplet motion has been studied both numerically and experimentally toward developing MEMS devices for future energy sources, e.g., for direct methanol fuel cells, hydrogen energy, as well as for use in a wide variety of chemical, water desalination and purification of other fluids from salts, germs, bacteria, and viruses based on perspective multiphysical effects.


At present, the secondary security check at the transfer station between high-speed railway and urban rail transit brings inconvenience to passengers. The aim of this study is to develop a methodology for evaluating the safety level of high-speed railway and subway stations by using variable fuzzy set theory, so as to determine the conditions for security check mutual recognition. In this research, considering transportation capacity, personnel and equipment, and environment and management, three aspects are considered to construct an evaluation index system for mutual recognition of high-speed railway and urban rail transit security check. Then, the variable fuzzy safety evaluation model has been established for high-speed railway and subway stations and their transport modes to analyse the feasibility of security check mutual recognition. Using the variable fuzzy set theory and the important consistency sorting theorem, the decision approach proposed in this study was tested for the high-speed rail station A and subway station B. As a result of using the methodology, the safety evaluation result of high-speed railway station A is 1.60, and the result of subway station B is 2.26. It is concluded that the safety of high-speed rail station A is higher than that of subway station B, and it is possible to enter the metro station without security check in one direction. The approach presented in this research can be used for judging the conditions for security check mutual recognition at interchange stations between high-speed railway and urban rail transit, which provides reference for the implementation of security check mutual recognition.


Abstract. In this note we construct an example of compactly supported orthonormal wavelets of non-tensor type from a multiresolutlon of


We investigate the energetics, electronic structure, optical properties, and charge transfer characteristics of coronene and its imide-functionalized derivatives using quantum chemical calculations. We analyze the formation feasibility of pristine coronene and its different imide monomers, namely, coronene-5-diimide, coronene-6-diimide, and coronene-tetraimide, from a common parental compound, coronene octacarboxylic acid, and find that the most favorable derivative is the pure coronene. Our results also show that coronene-6-diimide is preferred over other possible imide compounds, which is well in accordance with the relative experimental abundance of coronene-6-diimide. The absorption characteristics obtained for both the monomer and dimer of coronene imides show bathochromic shifts for the low-energy peak positions in comparison to the pristine coronene because of the presence of the electron withdrawing imide groups, and the trend in transition energy follows the order of the electronic gap. Interesti...


Neural tissue has been recognized to contain ascorbic acid ( AA) concentrations that rank among the highest of mammalian biological tissue. Autoradiographic studies of labeled AA' and endogenous assays of regional specific area^'^ suggest that varying neuroanatomical locations concentrate AA in differing degrees. Certain brain locations, including the hippocampus and hypothalamus, consistently show high AA values in both man and animals when compared with other structures within the central nervous system (CNS). have traced the entrance of AA from blood to brain. Ascorbate molecules leave the blood and enter ventricular fluids through the choroid plexus. These molecules presumably then diffuse passively across ventricular walls into neighboring CNS tissue. Beyond this, it is not known if brain tissue in close proximity to ventricular walls concentrates high AA levels possibly at the expense of those structures more distant to it. Is it only incidental that these structures lay juxtaposed to the ventricular system containing cerebral spinal fluid? Does the brain in fact resemble a diffusing gradient away from ventricular walls? To address these questions a topographical mapping was undertaken of human brain and small animal brains. In a series of experiments, Spector and


This work presents preliminary measurements taken with the first prototype Hamamatsu (R6970) 8-inch Position Sensitive Photomultiplier Tube (PSPMT). These measurements are compared with similar ones obtained using a 5 inch PSPMT (Hamamatsu R3292). The new 8 inch PSPMT has 12 dynode stages, 11 with a proximity mesh structure whilst the last one is a back reflector. The entrance window is 7.5 mm thick and has an active area of 180 mm diameter. The crossed-wire anode of the 8 inch tube consists of 36/spl times/36 wires on a 4 mm pitch. These are paired together to give an 18/spl times/18 wire outputs. Both PSPMTs were coupled to a 110 mm diameter, 3 mm thick CsI(Tl) scintillating array in which each pixel has dimensions of 2/spl times/2 mm/sup 2/. Two read-out methods are compared in this paper. The first being the conventional resistive-divider technique. The second method uses a new multi-wire readout technique in which, the charge on each anode wire is individually read out and digitized. Measurements of the spatial resolution, position linearity, energy resolution and intrinsic charge distribution were carried out for both tubes using both read-out systems. Spatial resolution values of approximately 2 mm FWHM were obtained using the 8-inch PSPMT and the multiwire read-out technique. The other measured characteristics were similar to those obtained using the 5-inch PSPMT. These results obtained using the prototype 8-inch PSPMT underline the potential of this detector in the field of imaging in Nuclear Medicine.


As we know, if we consider Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) stochastics induced defectivity, the minimum pitch for the line/space is around 36~ 40 nm and 48 ~ 50 nm for the contact holes and vias in 0.33 NA EUV lithography. From the current roadmap, the ultimate minimum pitch of the metal layer in EUV lithography is 14 nm, which will be realized by double patterning with high NA EUV tool. After some studies, we believe that the optimum pitch for the line/space is believed to be around 28 nm and 38 ~ 40 nm for the contact holes and vias with 0.55 NA EUV lithography. We have done a simulation study for some typical patterns with the anchoring metal pitch of 28 nm in high NA EUV lithography with self-developed program. Generally speaking, critical structures in advanced logic technologies nodes are Tip-to- Tip structures, the minimum area structures, etc. For these patterns, we have briefly studied the influence of Source Optimization (SO) on and the impact from coma Y to the process window and we have found that the contribution of SO is not significant (<5%) and we have determined the specification on the optical aberration based on our understanding in the requirement from process window. Due to the high kl nature of EUV lithography, we have also done a study on a 45° local interconnect pattern in a 3 nm CFET SRAM with both low NA and high NA EUV processes.


Debate over whether early word learners attend to p honetic details (e.g., [1]) or phonemic structure ( e.g., [2]) has hinged on their discrimination of word/nonword mini mal-pairs (e.g., "BABY" vs. "VABY"). However, such manipulations (/b/ to /v/) conflate phonetic and phonolog ical changes, making it difficult to tease apart th e two accounts. To overcome this, we compared children's identifica tion of familiar words pronounced in a native (Aust ralian English; AusE) and a non-native dialect (Jamaican Meso lect English; JaME), as cross-dialect pronunciation s are phonetically, but not phonologically, disparate. We used an eyetracking (Tobii X120) task to assess wo rd identification. Vocabulary size was used as a predi ctive measure. We compared 15- (N=12) and 19-month-olds' (N=10) looks to corresponding target and distractor images d uring word repetitions. In all eighteen test trials per d ialect, a target word played at the end of a carrie r sentence, followed by a second token of the word, then by animation of the target image while a reward phrase played (e.g ., "You got it!"). Fifteen-month-olds looked longer to the named targe t image than the distractor image in AusE [ t(11)=2.24, p<.05], but not JaME, suggesting attunement to experienced phonetic details of their regional dialect, while 1 9-month-olds identified words in AusE [ t(9)=5.67, p<.001], and approached significance in identificati on in JaME [ t(9)=2.21, p=.055], suggesting a perceptual shift to recognizin g abstract phonological structure. Moreover, vocabu lary size, but not age, was correlated with target-looking in the non-native dialect [ R 2 =.18, R=.43, F(1, 21)=4.40, p<.05], suggesting vocabulary plays an important role in dr iving this perceptual shift. These findings corresp ond to results from a previous preference study [3], and to other reports indicating expressive vocabulary size is st rongly associated with the emergence of phonologically-based word recognition in toddlers [4, 5, 6].


To investigate the combined effects of endostatin gene therapy and radiation in lung adenaocarcinoma model. Human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line was transfected with retroviral vector pLESSN which encoded endostatin gene to obtain A549/Endo cells. PCR amplification was used to verify the endostatin gene in the DNA of A549/Endo cells. The transfectant A549/Endo cell's growth in vitro was estimated by cell counting assay. And the inhibitive effect of expressed endostatin on the proliferation of endothelial cell EA.hy926 in vitro was assayed by MTT method. In vivo study, the nude mouse subcutaneous tumor growths of 4 groups (A549, A549/Endo, A549+irradiation, A549/Endo+irradiation) were observed and compared. And the microvessel density (MVD) of each of 4 group tumors was assayed with Immunohistochemical analysis. PCR confirmed that there was a 600-bp endostatin gene fragment in the DNA of A549/Endo cells, but not in the DNA of A549 cells. Cell counting assay showed that there was no cell-proliferation difference between A549/Endo cells and A549 cells in vitro. MTT assay revealed that the expressed product of endostatin gene could significantly inhibit the proliferation of endothelial cells EA.hy926 in vitro by 47.3%. Tumor growth of A549/Endo cells was delayed significantly compared with A549 cells (p<0.01). Although radiation had a definite effect on A549 tumors, the tumor growth inhibitive effect of endostatin gene transfer plus radiation was greater than any their alone therapy (p<0.01, respectively). The results of immunohistochemical detection showed that the MVD of A549/Endo and A549/Endo+Irradiation tumor were both significantly decreased compared with A549 tumor(p<0.01, respectively). But further compared betweenA549/Endo and A549/Endo+Irradiation tumor, the MVD of A549/Endo+Irradiation tumor was further significant declined (p<0.01). Retrovirus vector can effectively transfer endostatin gene into A549 cells. Endostatin gene transfer combined with radiation has a synergistical inhibition effect on the growth of lung adenocarcinoma tumor model.


Powerful electric currents and transient luminous events (sprites, blue jets and gigantic jets) have been detected in discharges between thunderclouds and the lower Ionosphere. The occurrence of such phenomena is strongly related to the occurrence of Ultra Low Frequency (ULF ∼ 6–50 Hz) waves and to the occurrence of positive polarity cloud‐to‐ground flashes. In the present letter, we present a novel mechanism to explain the origin and propagation of the observed ULF waves. Ionospheric clouds are composed of charged ice/smoke particulates, protons, electrons and neutrals. Our objective here is to show that such partially ionized dusty plasmas with streaming electrons in ionospheric clouds may support unstable ULF dust acoustic waves (DAWs). For our purposes, we employ a multifluid dusty plasma model and derive the dispersion relation for modified DAWs in a magnetized collisional plasma. The dispersion relation is analyzed numerically to obtain the growth rate and threshold.


Dynamic symbolic execution (DSE) is an approach for automatically generating test inputs from source code using constraint information. It is used in fuzzing: the execution of tests while monitoring for generic properties such as buffer overflows and other security violations. Limitations of DSE for fuzzing are two-fold: (1) only generic properties are checked: many deviations from specified behaviour are not found, and (2) many programs are not entirely amenable to DSE because they give rise to hard constraints, so that some parts of a program remain uncovered. In this paper, we discuss how to mitigate these problems using metamorphic testing (MT). Metamorphic testing uses domain-specific properties about program behaviour, relating pairs of inputs to pairs of outputs. From a given test suite, follow-up tests inputs are generated, and their outputs are compared to outputs from the original tests, using metamorphic relations. Our hypothesis is that using metamorphic testing increases the ability of a DSE test suite to find faults, and that the follow-up tests execute some previously-uncovered segments. We have experimented with seven small but non-trivial libraries, comparing DSE test suites with DSE+MT test suites, demonstrating that DSE+MT test suites improve coverage marginally, but find more faults.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Postoperative analgesia after hepatectomy remains a challenge, mainly because of limited therapeutic index of the conventional opioids. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of bilateral single-site thoracic paravertebral block for the management of postoperative pain following right lobe donor hepatectomy (RLDH) using a prospective, randomized and controlled study design.

METHODS
Twenty four adult patients, aged 18-50 years, ASA-I-II, of both sexes scheduled for right lobe donor hepatic resection, were enrolled in this study. Patients were randomly allocated into 2 equal groups of 12 patients each. Before induction of general anesthesia, all patients received bilateral single-site thoracic paravertebral injection at the level of T7-8 in the sitting position. Patients of Group B were injected with 25 mL of bupivacaine 0.25% with epinephrine 1:200.000 on each side. Patients of Group P were injected with 25 mL of 0.9% NaCl (placebo). General anesthesia was standardized in all patients. Postoperative pain score, analgesic requirements and the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting were recorded.

RESULTS
Bilateral single-site thoracic paravertebral block significantly decrease the pain visual analogue score parameters. Total morphine consumption in the first 24 hours postoperatively was decreased by more than 50% in Group B (21.76 +/- 6.8 mg compared to 44.12 +/- 9.2 mg in Group P). There was significant prolongation in time to rescue analgesia (104.08 +/- 2.04 min in Group B, and 31.5 +/- 6.14 min in Group P). Postoperative nausea and vomiting was significantly less in the active Group B when compared to the controlled Group P.

CONCLUSION
Bilateral single-site thoracic paravertebral block is easy, safe and efficient technique for postoperative pain management in patients undergoing right lobe donor hepatectomy.


Because of the tremendous current increase in aircraft loads and movements, airport authorities need to classify and check continuously the structural condition of their pavement to avoid both overstressing and underutilizing it. This article presents and analyzes a simple procedure for classifying airport pavements in terms of the Aircraft Classification Number–Pavement Classification Number method of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The proposed methodology can help airport managers, airline operators, and aircraft manufacturing companies to reduce the operational cost of flights and the maintenance cost of pavements.


College teachers' self-ratings were investigated in this study by comparing them to ratings given by students. The sample consisted of 343 teaching faculty from five colleges; these teachers, as well as the students in one of their classes, responded to a 21-item instructional report questionnaire. Teacher self-ratings had only a modest relationship with the ratings given by students (a median correlation of .21 for the items). In addition to the general lack of agreement between self and student evaluations, there was also a tendency for teachers as a group to give themselves better ratings than their students did.

Discrepancies between individual teacher ratings and ratings given by the class were further analyzed for: (a) sex of the teacher (no difference found); (b) number of years of teaching experience (no difference); and (c) subject area of the course (differences noted for natural science courses vs. those in education and applied areas).


This paper summarizes the outcomes of the International Workshop on Natural Language Processing for Recommendations (NLP4REC 2020), held in Houston, USA, on February 7, 2020, during WSDM 2020. The purpose of this workshop was to explore the potential research topics and industrial applications in leveraging natural language processing techniques to tackle the challenges in constructing more intelligent recommender systems. Specific topics included, but were not limited to knowledge-aware recommendation, explainable recommendation, conversational recommendation, and sequential recommendation.


Beta-glucan from oats and barley may decrease cardiovascular risk factors. Beta-glucan from some kinds of mushrooms may have as similar effect while modulating the immune system. This pilot trial examined whether beta-glucan derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae can favorably decrease the risk of or symptomology associated with upper respiratory illness. Forty healthy adult subjects (18 to 65 years of age) were enrolled in a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallelgroup trial conducted during the cold/flu season. The treatment arm compared Wellmune WGP® (WGP) gluco polysaccharide (beta-glucan) (500 mg/d) vs a placebo (500 mg rice flour). Cold/flu


Mental Health Test (MHT) has been performed to investigate a sample of 799 pupils from grade 4 to 6 in Wenzhou primary schools. The main findings are as follows: 0.25% of the pupils have psychological troubles. The main psychological troubles are impulsion tendency, body symptom and fear of others.Only few of the students tend to be isolated. These psychological problems are greatly different in different schools.areas,grades and sexs.


Temporary wafer bonding has emerged as the method of choice for handling silicon wafers during the thinning and high-temperature backside processing required for the manufacture of 3D device structures. Among the requirements for temporary wafer bonding materials to be used in high volume manufacturing are simple device and carrier wafer preparation, high-throughput wafer bonding, excellent thermal stability, and clean room-temperature release directly from the device wafer. We will present successful temporary wafer bonding using a new BCB (benzocyclobutene)-based material that can meet these requirements. For this temporary wafer bonding technology, wafer preparation involves spin coating the device wafer with the BCB-based adhesive to a thickness of up to 100 μm and spin coating the carrier wafer with an adhesion promoter. The wafers can then be bonded at temperatures as low as 80 °C for as short as 30 seconds. The low bonding temperature means the wafers can be loaded into a preheated wafer bonding to...


A new scheme of MPLS multicast——MPLS Aggregated Multicast Tree was introduced. Then the efficiency of MPLS aggregated multicast tree in reducing multicast control message overhead,delay of failure recovery and the number of label was discussed. The bounds on label reduction of MPLS Aggregated Multicast Tree were analyzed. The conclusion was that this solution was significant in label reduction.


Problems encountered in setting up a primary health care system in the Gambia are discussed. National political commitment to primary health care was reinforced by efforts to spread information at the local level. The main problems were believed to be sustaining the initial commitment and translating it into concrete action. Progress in reversing the rural/urban imbalance of resources was made by budgeting according to site as well as objective. Villagers were prepared for primary health care and the necessity of their participation was stressed. Villagers realized that they could do much to help themselves but some balked at being asked to pay for services that urban dwellers receive free. Participation of villagers in planning for primary health care made them more willing to participate and contribute. The problems of remuneration regular provision and funding of supplies and drugs and evaluation and supervision have been tackled but final procedures have not been established and will be worked out as experience accumulates. Funding is another limiting factor particularly since inflation rising fuel costs and drought have worsened the national economic situation since planning for primary health care was initiated. Primary health care overall is more expensive than the usual health care system. Despite the problems the health system of the Gambia has improved greatly in the last 5 years. Local commitment to primary health care is strong but international commitment is needed as well.


Photoreaction of polynitrobenzenes (1,3- or 1,4-dinitrobenzene; 1,3,5-trinitrobenzene) with adamantylideneadamantane gave stable dioxazolidine derivatives; X-ray structure analysis together with thermal and acid-catalysed reactions have been examined for one of the dioxazolidines.


The method of determining the critical parameters of stability of the crane beam walls with fatigue cracks in the compressed belt zone is briefly described. The dependences of the bifurcation critical and limit stresses in the wall on the crack length, the crack position in the section, and on the wall flexibility are shown. The results of numerical studies of the effect of cracks on the increase in normal stresses in the compressed belt are presented. A method for assessing the local stability of the beam wall with a crack is proposed.


The rate of HIV replication is estimated to be about 10 billion particles a day, and the cell's structure is its primary defense against infection. Cell membranes provide a defense against infection by forming a tight bond, preventing cells from being invaded by other organisms. The complex process of how HIV enters a cell is explained, and various parts of the process are illustrated. One key step in the process is fusion, which is when a virus particle attaches to a T cell, and the virus and cell merge together, allowing the virus to enter the cell. Researchers hope to find ways to interfere with fusion, so as to prevent HIV infection. Trimeris, Inc. has developed a new drug called T-20, or pentafuside, that is capable of preventing HIV from infecting a target cell. Results from studies of T-20 are provided, and ongoing studies are described.


Ab−initio Molecular Dynamic (MD) and static Density Functional Theory (DFT) are used to study the structural and bonding properties of small hydrocarbon adsorbates inside Ca(squarate)−Metal Organic Framework (MOF). Car−Parrinello Molecular Dynamics (CPMD) simulations of a single−adsorbate−MOF structure are used to obtain the adsorbate most preferred site of adsorption. This site is used for further structural and bonding analyses using static DFT. Unlike many other MOFs; we found that the Ca(squarate)−MOF physisorbs and weakly binds small adsorbate molecules such as C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, and C3H8 with no observed charge transfer and minimal hybridization with the MOF orbitals. No covalent bonding is seen near the preferred site of adsorption. The calculated binding energies decreases as the H content in the adsorbate molecule increases and found to be −18.71 kJ/mol, −18.14 kJ/mol, −15.75 kJ/mol, and—4.47 kJ/mol for C2H2, C2H4, C2H6, and C3H8 molecules respectively. Density of State (DOS) and a Crystal Orbital Overlap Population (COOP) analyses show that the interactions between C and H atoms in the molecule and C and O atoms in the MOF have antibonding characteristics near the Fermi level. These antibonding states tend to destabilize the overall electronic structure of the combined adsorbate/MOF system and hence decrease the binding energies of these adsorbates inside the MOF.


Objective:To report 1 case of hepatoid adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine characteristic of the stomach(HAS)and analyze its histopathological and clinical manifestations.Methods:Histological features and differential diagnosis of HAS were discussed in combination with literature review.Immunohistochemistry was conducted to evaluate the expression of AFP,PLAP,and HCG.Results:Histopathological analysis revealed that the tumor was composed with two pathological changes,which were similar with hepatocellular carcinoma or adenocarcinoma.AFP,PLAP,and HCG were found positive in the specimen of tumor by immunohistochemistry.The serum alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)level of this patient was markedly increased.Conclusion:with the expression of PLAP and HCG belongs to undifferentiated carcinoma.Further study is needed on the mechanisms and biological behaviour of HAS with the expressing PLAP and HCG.


Frequent nursing of pups by non-filial females (fostering) has been reported in Hawaiian monk seals ( Monachus schauinslandi ) at French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern-Hawaiian Islands. We present data on the occurrence of fostering at Laysan Island, NWHI, and compare spatial patterns and behavior of seals at Laysan Island and East Island, French Frigate Shoals, to investigate the importance of density in frequency of fostering. Fostering was common at Laysan Island; 53% of 17 females nursed pups other than their own for some part of their lactation period. This level of fostering was significantly less than that at East Island, where ca. 90% of females fostered pups in 2 separate years ( n = 30 in 1987 and 10 in 1989). Density of females was significantly lower at Laysan Island than East Island (0.5 versus 1.5 females/1,000 m2), and nearest female neighbors were significantly farther away (58 versus 27 m) at Laysan Island. Stage of lactation at which fostering started, the total duration of foster care and the duration of fostering episodes did not differ between colonies. However, mean number of pups fostered per female at the denser colony (2.3 pups, East Island) was greater than at the less dense colony (1.3 pups, Laysan Island). No difference occurred between islands in relative frequency of aggressive interactions between females, which are known to result in females exchanging pups. High female density does appear to increase fostering frequency but not through female-female aggression as expected. Instead, high density increases the likelihood that separated females and pups will encounter another potential partner before reuniting.


Case combination is the basis for evaluating medical quality. Its objective is to manage the quality cost of cases and regulate medical behavior. Its methodology is: ①to categorize cases according to standard; ②to classify similar cases according to the first diagnosis 1 and ③to group similar types of cases.


Full wave simulations provide a valuable tool for studying the spatial and temporal nature of an acoustic eld. One method for producing such simulations is the nite-dierence time-domain (FDTD) method. This method uses discrete dierences to approximate deriva- tives in the governing partial dierential equations. We used the FDTD method to model the propagation of nite-amplitude sound in a homo- geneous thermoviscous fluid. The calculated acoustic pressure eld was then used to compute the transient temperature rise in the fluid; the heating results from absorption of acoustic energy by the fluid. As an example, the transient temperature eld was calculated in biological tissue in response to a pulse of focused ultrasound. Enhanced heating of the tissue from nite-amplitude eects was observed. The excess heating was attributed to the nonlinear generation of higher-frequency harmonics which are absorbed more readily than the fundamental. The eect of nonlinear distortion on temperature rise in tissue was observed to range from negligible at 1 MPa source pressure to an 80% increase in temperature elevation at 10 MPa source pressure.


Dear Editor, The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated modifications in clinical and educational environments. Dermatology residents' experiences during the early part of the pandemic have been described. Our objective was to assess the effect of the pandemic on dermatology residents as the pandemic progressed. After Institutional Review Board exemption (Protocol No: 20-04021753) from the Weill Cornell Medicine, an anonymous survey was emailed to resident dermatologists at our institution, as well as to dermatology residency program directors for distribution to residents. Surveys were collected during 26 May 2020 to 1 July 2020, with 60 respondents (estimated 60% response rate). Participant demographics are summarized in Table 1. The majority of respondents were female (61.7%, P = .004), located in the Northeast (61.0%, P = .02), and affected by "stay-at-home" orders (83.3%, P < .001). Respondents were approximately evenly distributed from postgraduate years 2 through 4. Table 2 highlights findings regarding the pandemic's impact on residency. Overall, 59.6% of respondents stated that the pandemic had negatively impacted their education. Over 90% of subjects reported having virtual didactics, with a subset canceled (42.6%) or postponed (34.0%). Residents reported reductions in clinic volume, from a baseline of 68.4 ± 49.0 patients/wk before the pandemic to 15.1 ± 16.1 patients/wk during the study period (P < .001). There was an increase in telemedicine visits/wk from 0.95 ± 4.0 to 19.6 ± 27.1 pre-pandemic to pandemic periods, respectively (P < .001). Despite a majority reporting a hospital shortage in personal protective equipment (PPE) (63.8%), 74.5% felt they had adequate PPE to perform their duties. Of the 31.9% of respondents redeployed to nondermatology services, all were located in the Northeast. A majority of residents reported feeling unprepared to provide nondermatological duties (66.0%) and feared redeployment (68.1%). This study highlights experiences of our resident workforce. Despite expressing fear of redeployment and becoming sick with COVID-19, many residents delivered patient care in nondermatology settings and caring for COVID-19 patients. As COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the United States, it is critical that residents receive appropriate training, preemptively, to alleviate such concerns if the need for redeployment arises again. A majority of respondents noted that modifications to education proposed early in the pandemic, such as online didactics and incorporation of residents in teledermatology appointments, had been incorporated into their training. Yet, despite these initiatives, our study supports findings by other authors who have researched the impact of COVID-19 on residents in other surgical and medical specialties, with that by Rana et al finding that 50% of medical and surgical residents believed that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their clinical training. As in-person activities have yet to return to pre-pandemic baseline, it is crucial to continue innovating ways to supplement


This paper carries out a lot of contrasting experiments by use of impact-like vibratory roller designed by authors,and discusses the state of work and gives the variable curves of the strength of vibration along with the time by selecting the values of 3 kinds of amplitude and 5 kinds of vibratory frequency.The results show that the roller has the impact effect in the vertical and horizontal directions,and has jump vibration in many cases,but the roller works stably and the effect of compaction is well.When the ratio of the largest strength of vibration F0 to weight G is less than 1.3,the roller will not jump.The condition of stable work with jump vibration is that the ratio is between 1.3 and 7.5.This roller can have smaller frequency and larger amplitude,so it can make sure that the work is stable and cannot affect compaction quality.1 tab,10 figs,6 refs.


The genus Arotis Mabille is removed from synonymy with Euphyes Scudder and is defined as a monophyletic unit including Arotis sirene Mabille, Arotis derasa (Herrich-Schaffer), n. comb., Arotis kayei (Bell), n. comb., Arotis mapirica (Bell), n. comb., Arotis pandora (Lindsey), n. comb., Arotis bryna (Evans), n. comb., and Arotis evansi (Mielke), n. comb. The genus Pereneia Lindsey is a junior subjective synonym of Arotis . Based upon a phylogenetic analysis, I suggest that Problema Skinner and Williams is the sister group of Arotis and that these two genera together form the sister group of Euphyes .


The invention relates to driving assistance systems (108) which are adapted to output representations of surroundings of a vehicle to a driver. The invention further relates to a method in such a driving assistance system, comprising the steps of: Detecting at least one ambient representation representing at least a section of the real environment of the vehicle (100); Transforming the at least one environmental representation to a representation (130) of the real environment from a virtual point of view; Determine object-related information with respect to at least one remote object (106); Displaying the representation (130) of the real environment, wherein a synthetic representation (132) of the at least one remote object (106) is displayed, taking into account the object-related data.


Marsh is the largest insurance broker in the world. It has been very successful in the risk management business, to a point where the company has between sixty and seventy percent of the market share across the country. To maintain its success and increase revenues, the organization is shifting focus to the insurance and benefits services segment. This segment of the industry is fragmented, and no single organization has significant market share. Marsh needs to find ways to increase the insurance and benefits services segment of the business to obtain a dominant position in this market. The insurance industry has been in a hard market for three years and is currently starting to soften. Marsh is at a critical stage, as the global organization relies heavily on the company to generate significant growth. The softening of the insurance market will serve to reduce overall income levels to Marsh, making year over year growth targets more difficult to achieve. This paper focuses on the insurance and benefits segment of Marsh Canada Limited and analyzes ways the company can continue to grow the revenue base of the business to meet the mandated global goals of the parent company, Marsh & McLennan Group of Companies. This paper begins by analyzing the insurance brokerage industry. An internal analysis and evaluation of four strategic alternatives to increase the insurance and benefits segment of the business follows. The alternatives reviewed include: creating a new separate company specifically for insurance and benefits services, acquiring a competitor, hiring staff, and finally maintaining the status quo. In conclusion, recommendations are outlined indicating the best strategy for Marsh to achieve sustained growth well into the future.


Resumen en: We have prepared the Si/Mo multilayer by alternate deposition with a multi-gun rf/dc magnetron sputtering system. A current collector was Cu foil that h...


The universal C*-algebra generated by a partial isometry is a nonunital residually finite dimensional C*-algebra which is not exact. Many unitarily inequivalent partial isometries generating any given finite dimensional full matrix algebra are constructed. The K-groups of this algebra are computed, and it is shown that all projections in the algebra are equivalent.


A novel fossil-fuel pollution indicator based on the C/C isotopic composition of plants has been designed. This bioindicator is a promising tool for future mapping of the sequestration of fossil-fuel CO2 into urban vegetation. Theoretically, plants growing in fossil-fuel CO2 contaminated areas such as major cities, industrial centers, and highway borders, should assimilate a mixture of global atmospheric CO2 of δC value of 8.02‰ and of fossil-fuel CO2 of average δC value of 27.28‰. This isotopic difference should thus be recorded in plant carbon. Indeed, this study reveals that grasses growing near a major highway in Paris, France, have a strikingly depleted δC values averaging at -35.08‰, versus rural grasses that show an average δC value of 30.59‰. A simple mixing model was used to calculate the contributions of fossil-fuel derived CO2 to the plant tissue. Calculation based on contaminated and non-contaminated isotopic end-members shows that urban grasses assimilate up to 29.1% of fossil-fuel CO2 derived carbon in their tissues. The C isotopic composition of grasses thus represents a promising new tool for the study of the impact of fossil fuel CO2 in major cities.


A simple and direct synthesis of 3,5-disubstituted-4-aminothiophene-2-carbaldehyde from vinyl azides and 1,4-dithiane-2,5-diol was developed. An attractive feature of this protocol is that the desired products are generated in a highly efficient and eco-friendly manner. A plausible mechanism has been proposed.


RIFT is a new specialized dynamic routing protocol originally designed
for Clos and Fat Tree Data Center networks. It is designed to work on
multilevel network topologies in which nodes in certain level will
only connect to nodes in one upper or lower level with optional and
non-contiguous intra-level connectivity. While the protocol was
originally designed to meet the needs of Massively Scalable Data
Centers, its ability to automatically prune the information
distribution from higher levels to lower levels, as well as provide
optimal routing for intra and inter-level traffic makes it a good
match for user access networks, or any network that combines end user
access and various compute enabling various network service for these
end users. Current directions in distributed computing seek to blur
even that distinction. Large distributed networks can be created,
where virtual compute units can be in all tiers, combining and
crossing many requirements for DC or User Access design. This draft
seeks to analyze these requirements.


In this paper, we describe the optical, optomechanical, and optoelectronic design of a multistage optical backplane demonstration system. In addition, operational testing and performance is discussed.


METHODS. A total of 152 eyes of 83 subjects (96 healthy and 56 glaucomatous eyes) underwent peripapillary RNFL imaging using at least 2 of the following 3 SD-OCT devices on the same day: Cirrus HD-OCT (optic nerve head [ONH]) cube 200 · 200 protocol), RTVue-100 (ONH protocol [12 radial lines and 13 concentric circles]), and 3D OCT-1000 (3D Scan 256 · 256 protocol). Calibration equations, bias and imprecision of RNFL measurements were calculated using structural equation models.


The oxidation of (I) with PbO2 affords the low-spin Fe(III) complex (II), characterized by magnetic susceptibility measurements, electronic and Moessbauer spectra, whereas the oxidation in aqueous solution with Na2S2O8 leads to oxidation of the ligand yielding (III) together with mixed crystals containing the cations of (I) and (III).


What one rural school system did (and what any school can do) to turn around the behavior and learning of a fourteen-year-old student


The European Economy series contains important reports and communications from the Commission to the Council and the Parliament on the economic situation and developments, such as the Economic forecasts, the annual EU economy review and the Public fi nances in EMU report. Subscription terms are shown on the back cover and details on how to obtain the list of sales agents are shown on the inside back cover. Unless otherwise indicated, the texts are published under the responsibility of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission, BU24, B-1049 Brussels, to which enquiries other than those related to sales and subscriptions should be addressed. LEGAL NOTICE Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained in this publication, or for any errors which, despite careful preparation and checking, may appear. FOREWORD The European economy is in the midst of the deepest recession since the 1930s, with real GDP projected to shrink by some 4% in 2009, the sharpest contraction in the history of the European Union. Although signs of improvement have appeared recently, recovery remains uncertain and fragile. The EU's response to the downturn has been swift and decisive. Aside from intervention to stabilise, restore and reform the banking sector, the European Economic Recovery Plan (EERP) was launched in December 2008. The objective of the EERP is to restore confidence and bolster demand through a coordinated injection of purchasing power into the economy complemented by strategic investments and measures to shore up business and labour markets. The overall fiscal stimulus, including the effects of automatic stabilisers, amounts to 5% of GDP in the EU. According to the Commission's analysis, unless policies take up the new challenges, potential GDP in the EU could fall to a permanently lower trajectory, due to several factors. First, protracted spells of unemployment in the workforce tend to lead to a permanent loss of skills. Second, the stock of equipment and infrastructure will decrease and become obsolete due to lower investment. Third, innovation may be hampered as spending on research and development is one of the first outlays that businesses cut back on during a recession. Member States have implemented a range of measures to provide temporary support to labour markets, boost investment in public infrastructure and support companies. To ensure that the recovery takes hold …


The present invention relates to a method for generating a fault signal, the fault signal is given in a three-phase fault in a power supply pole or poles, the fault is in the presence of electric supply occurs during oscillation of the grid. In order to provide the following possibilities: the possibility of using an electrode with high reliability can be identified during the oscillation occurring failure or poles, the present invention proposes that the signal is generated during the oscillation of symmetry, the symmetry of the signal indicates that the oscillation is symmetrical or asymmetrical, and the power supply fault occurs inspection phase, wherein a check is performed in order to consider the symmetry of the signal. If a fault is detected in the inspection, the fault signal is generated. The present invention further relates to a protective device control apparatus has a corresponding configuration.


This paper presents and realizes an efficient algorithm for the convex hull of planer point set.It is Eight Direction Extreme Value Fast Convex Hull Algorithm.The extreme values on eight directions(east,west,south,north,east-south,west-south,east-north,west-north)are found fleetly after scanning the point set.Thus an initial convex hull that is closer to the real one is built.So more inner points can be excluded during the next scanning.During the second scanning,not only all the inner points of the initial convex hull are excluded,but also every outside point is associated with its unique initial convex hull edge.Thus,the searching of the farthest point is limited in its outside point set.In addition,when a point is judged as an outside point of a sub convex hull edge,the information of the farthest point of the sub convex hull edge is saved,so the distance calculating for searching the farthest point is avoided.All these make the algorithm more efficient.The space complexity of the algorithm is O(N).Although its time complexity can not break through the low limit of O(Nlog N)in the worst case,its expected time complexity is already linear.Additionally,the algorithm can be generalized to three or high dimension easily.


In the previous studies, the addition of Mn or Ca in the BME MLCC was used to prevent the occurrence of semiconducting and the deterioration of insulation resistance. However, the addition of anti-redaction additives would generate oxygen vacancies that would lead to low insulation resistance and poor life stability under high electric filed. Generally, Dy and Nb were doped in BaTiO3 to improve the life stability of BME MLCCs during HALT. The raw materials (Ba0.96011Ca0.03988)(Ti0.82089Zr0.17911) O3(BCTZ)were doped with MnO and Nb2O5 to adjust Ba/Ti = 1. The samples then were added different amount of Dy2O3 and sintered at 1320℃ for 2 h in a reducing atmospheres. This investigation was to elucidate the effects of different addition of Dy2O3 in (Ba,Ca)(Ti,Zr) O3 on the microstructure and electricity properties. At Dy concentration x = 0.001, Dy occupied B-site and resulted in increasing lattice constant. In this condition, Ti-rich phase Ba6Ti17O40 formed produced and lead to liquid phase sintering and grain growth. Therefore, the insulation resistance deteriorated due to the presence of Ti-rich phase Ba6Ti17O40 and the decrease of the volume fraction of grain boundary. Experimental results reveal the ofemax increased with increasing grain size. At the doping level of 0.003 mol% to 0.01 mol%, Dy substituted A-site of the BCTZ and resulted in semiconducting at room temperature. During the temperature rose, Dy2Ti2O7 was formed, which suppressed grain growth due to the pinning effect. Some of the Ca ions were forced to occupy the B site, which act as acceptors and lead to increasement of lattice constant. Simultaneously, the formation of oxygen vacancies that can trap more free electrons and slow down the decrease of the insulation resistance. For sample with Doping 0.015 mol%, the lattice constant and insulation resistance become to decreased compared with 0.01mol% doped sample. It indicated that the occupational sites of some Dy ions changed from A site to B site and, correspondingly the amounts Ca ions in B-site decreased.


We report a 21-year-old postpartum woman presenting with a very rare tumor of the spleen, diffuse hemangiomatosis. Gross and microscopic examination revealed that the whole spleen was permeated by neoplastic blood vessels. Immunohistochemical staining suggested an origin from vascular endothelium (CD 31+, CD 34+, FVIII+ and CD 8-). Although steroid hormone receptors are discovered in other vascular proliferations, we report the first case of a diffuse hemangiomatosis of the spleen showing strong and diffuse immunopositivity for estrogen receptor (ER). Hormonal changes associated with pregnancy might have induced or promoted the development of diffuse splenic hemangiomatosis. [Turk J Cancer 2004;34(2):85-87]