L.anguillarum is the cause of the high mortalities of cultured half-smooth tongue sole(Cynoglossus semilaevis) during cultivation in Lian Yungang,Jiangsu province.In this study,the detection of the pathogenic L.anguillarum by duplex PCR based on hemolysin and metalloprotease genes were conducted.Two pairs of specific primers were designed based on hemolysin and metalloprotease gene sequence,and these two primers could simultaneously amplify 493 bp and 248 bp gene fragments from chromosomal DNA of L.anguillarum in one PCR reaction,and no cross reaction was detected in 5 other pathogenic bacteria tested.The results of sensitivity of dulplex PCR showed that the two primers could detect L.anguillarum as low as 8×102CFU/mL,and detect purified chromosomal DNA as low as 0.171 875 ng/μL.Dominant L.anguillarum could be isolated from the positive sample of duplex PCR through detecting ulcer tissues and liver of diseased Cynoglossus semilaevis.The specific PCR method for detection of L.anguillarum was established,and the PCR protocol simultaneously amplifying different gene fragments of the L.anguillarum could be useful in the specific,accurate and rapid detection of pathogenic L.anguillarum.


e18020 Background: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) patients may have increased predisposition to CDI as we...


This paper is concerned with an analytical formulation and a numerical solution of the elasto/visco-plastic deformation of the multi-layered shells of revolution subjected to thermal loads due to fluid. Firstly, the temperature distribution through the thickness in each layer is assumed to be linear, and the temperature field in the shell is determined using the equations of heat conduction and heat transfer. Secondly, the stresses and deformations are analyzed by the thermal stress equations. The equations of equilibrium and the relations between the strains and displacements are derived from the Sanders shell theory. For the constitutive relations, Perzyna's equations are employed. As a numerical example, a two-layered cylindrical shell composed of mild steel and titaniuim subjected to locally distributed thermal loads due to fluid is analyzed. Numerical computations have been carried out for three cases of the ratio of the thickness of the titanium layer to the shell thickness. It is found from the computations that the temperature and stress distribuitions and the deformation are significantly varied depending on the ratio.


This report summarizes primary teachers' experiences and concerns in the field of gifted education. The major issues include: identification of pupils' needs, organization of programmes, catering for the whole child and individualization of the curriculum.


Lattice parameters and cell volumes at room temperature are reported for H2O‐VII to 36 GPa and for D2O‐VII to 32 GPa. The data are fitted to seven isothermal equations of state from which are derived averaged values of the isothermal bulk moduli (B) and their pressure derivatives (dB/dP) as a function of pressure. For H2O over the range 2.33⩽P⩽30.9 GPa, B increases from 22.3 to 141.0 GPa while dB/dP decreases from 4.9 to 3.7. For D2O over the range 2.8⩽P⩽30.27 GPa, B increases from 30.0 to 129.0 GPa while dB/dP decreases from 4.1 to 3.1. An independent determination of B and dB/dP using a piecewise regression analysis gives B = 15.78+4.11 P, GPa with no distinction between H2O and D2O over the observed pressure ranges. The procedures employed for treating the data and the reliability of the derived results are assessed for both materials.


Tapping PB-121 for coconut toddy can possibly reduce the loss ofproduction due to Phytophora infection and increasesfarmers income. Experiment was conducted in order to know the potential production of toddy of PB-121 hybrid compared to KHINA-1. The experiment was carried out at Pandu Experimental Garden of Research Institute for Coconut and Palmae Manado, North Sulawesi. Fourteen spathes of sixty palms or each hybrid was tappedfrom May 1991 to May 1992. Observations were made on toddy volume and its sucrose content measured daily in the morning (07:00-09:00) and afternoon (14:00-18:00). Multiple regression models were used to fit the production and sucrose content pattern of toddy. The result showed that coconut toddy production of PB-121 was higher than KHINA-1 from each spathe. Ae average toddy production of PB-121 was 52.99 litre per spathe and KHINA-1 was 46 65 litre per spathe. The sucrose contents of KHINA-1 and PB-121 were not significantly different. Model of the toddy production of KHINA-l and PB-121 differed but there was no difference between the model ofsucrose content of those two hybrid coconut varieties.


Abstract During the 1997 economic crisis in Asia, we observed that several East Asian economies encountered significant external and internal shocks that led to a widespread economic recession. The severe exchange rate depreciation may have harmed the supply side of these economies such that production was contracted. Many argue that the initial tightened domestic policies aimed at countering these shocks and restoring economic growth may have further exacerbated the initial crisis by contracting the domestic sector. This paper analyzes the impact of anticipated and unanticipated changes in the real exchange rate, fiscal spending, the money supply, and energy prices on output and price in Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand. The results indicate that anticipated real depreciation during the crisis may have adversely affected the supply side, shrinking output growth while accelerating price inflation. In contrast, the combined effects of supply and demand channels render the outcome of unanticipated currency depreciation inconclusive on output growth and price inflation. Indonesia and Malaysia have experienced a significant reduction in average real output growth beyond the crisis period with a significant increase in domestic price inflation in Indonesia only. In most cases, we credit accommodating policies for countering external shocks.


Terramechanics concerns studies on the interaction between vehicles and rough terrain in off-road locomotion.The main topics include prediction of vehicle mobility performance,optimum design of mobility systems and soil trafficability evaluation.In this paper,the methodology,test equipment and main results of terramechanics are reviewed,and the recent progress is discussed.The paper focuses on the applications of terramechanics theory in planetary exploration,including the design,validation of planetary rover,development and characterization of simulated soil and in situ mechanical parameter measurement of planetary soil.The possible future directions of this field are also discussed.


Certain approaches to writer identification encode handwriting as texture, producing a single histogram of visual features, ignoring any information about the lexical content of the passage. In contrast, other approaches first segment elements of the text, such as characters or big rams, so that they can be compared like-for-like with other instances of the same element. The difference between the two types of methods can therefore be viewed in terms of what is being compared. In this work we assess the performance of the different approaches as well as exploring the performance of a novel method that lies in between the two. We show that this novel method outperforms the other schemes, achieving an error rate of 0.4% when discriminating samples of 20 characters among 251 writers. This suggests that optimal performance may be obtained by making comparisons between groups of characters, or sub textures, within a passage.


To decrease the computation and the motion estimation time in a H.264/AVC coding converter,this paper presents a new improved small diamond search algorithm,which is based on the Detection of All-Zero(DAZ).In the matching computation of the search center and its near four points,DAZ is used to increase the searching rate.The method is compared with several other typical motion search methods.Keeping with certain Peak Signal to Noise Ratio(PSNR) performance,the improved small diamond search method decreases the searching points and shortens the coding time obviously.The improved small diamond search method fits for the video sequence in a stationary or middle-small motion-intensity background and the application result is good.


To prepare the polyclonal antibody against recombinant E2 protein of bovine viral diarrhea virus(BVDV) in rabbits,E.coli BL21(DE3) was transformed with the recombinant plasmid pET30a-E2.The recombinant E2 protein was expressed in E.coli after cultivation and induction.The purified recombinant E2 protein could be recognized by specific BVDV antisera in western blot.Then the purified recombinant E2 protein was used as antigen for immunizing rabbit to prepare polyclonal antibody against the recombinant E2 protein.The result of virus neutralization test showed that the titer of the polyclonal antibody to neutralize BVDV was 1:2,048.The polyclonal antibody against the recombinant E2 protein of BVDV also had highly reactivity and specialty in immunofluorescence analysis and western blot.The polyclonal antibody against recombinant E2 protein of BVDV developed in rabbits could be used in detection of BVDV in China and provided a good basis for establishing an ELISA for detecting of E2 protein of BVDV.


The recent developent of techniques to compute invariant manifolds, others than just fixed points, is helping to understand the transition between the solutions of a given problem and to weak turbulence. Several classical problems in Fluid Mechanics have benefited from this approach, plane Couette flow, pipe flow, convection in a cube or in rotating spherical shells, etc. (see [1,2] and references therein). The techniques to compute the invariant manifolds (periodic orbits, invariant tori, homo and heteroclinic connections, unstable manifolds of periodic orbits, etc.) are based on NewtonKrylov methods applied to generalized Poincare maps, which require accurate time integrations of the system defining the problem and the first variational equations. The study of their stability requires subspace iteration or Arnoldi methods to obtain the leading spectrum [3]. Tha aim of the minisimposium is to bring together researchers developing the techniques and numerical software for large scale problems (numerical linear algebra, time integrators, etc.) and those applying them to specific problems, in order to share ideas, identify new needs, and to promote collaboration between groups.


The article discussed the construction and development of military medium-small-scale hospital under the new situation from the following six aspects,so as to improve the overall support capability,service quality and technical level.Firstly,establishing a solid ideological foundation of wining the war.Secondly,implementing the unification of training and support,carrying out three expansions to improve medical support ability.Thirdly,coping with combat medical aid based on peacetime medical service.Fourthly,keeping on the combination of peacetime and wartime performance evaluation.Fifthly,promoting special technique level by scientific research.Sixthly,ensuring economic management running in the sun.


Among the Kharif legumes clusterbean (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L. Taub) is important crop and popularly known as "Guar" in India. A field experiment was conducted during Kharif 2013 at Agronomy Farm, S.K.N. College of Agriculture, Jobner, Jaipur (Rajasthan) to evaluate the weed management in clusterbean under the application of different agrochemicals and phosphorus levels. The treatments comprising 6 weed control treatments (Weedy check, one hand weeding at 20 DAS, two hand weeding at 20 and 40 DAS, pendimethalin at 0.75 kg/ha, imazethapyr at 100 g/ha and fenoxoprop-p-ethyl at 70 g/ha and four levels of phosphorus (0, 20, 40 and 60 kg/ha) assigned to main and sub plots of spilt plot design, respectively and replicated thrice. Results showed that HW twice at 20 and 40 DAS and pre emergence application of imazethapyr at 100 g/ha resulted significant reduction in weed density and weed dry matter in comparison to most of the treatments. Results further indicated that application of 60 kg P2O5/ha in clusterbean recorded the highest density and dry weight of weeds at all the stages. Maximum weed control efficiency was recorded under two hand weeding at 20 & 40 DAS.


Bilateral amygdalectomy of monkeys is shown to interfere with transfer of training in the Kliiver stimulus equivalence situation. Further, failure to make "equivalent responses" reflects some process other than that involved in stimulus generalization because differential removals of temporal lobe tissue result in "double dissociation" of the interference with transfer and with stimulus generalization. Amygdalectomy alters primarily transfer of training; inferotemporal cortical resections alter primarily stimulus generalization and discrimination. The nature of this process, basic to transfer of training, remains to be investigated.


Questions surrounding the logic of nuclear deterrence (as well as the subtleties of signaling and risks of inadvertent escalation) are very relevant right now. In fact, the current crisis reveals the need to invest (and to keep investing) in knowledge and expertise in this field. Nuclear threats have not been on our mind for a few years but all of a sudden, it is at the forefront again. The nuclear threat is back and we have to work with that. Regarding deterrence, in my personal opinion, NATO and the United States have been quite understanding of what deterrence means. We have been pretty clear in signaling to Russia that we are closely following the steps being taken and that a nuclear war and/or attack would be totally unacceptable. At the same time, we have been reinforcing our defense and our deterrence posture. It is about striking the right balance between words and deeds. The United State has done a good job of not escalating the situation further. For example, they decided to postpone their test of Minuteman III, which was a really smart decision. However, what this crisis has made clear is that deterrence exists not only in relation to having nuclear weapons, but also in relation the credibility of using them—this is a balance that is really important and that has been going well so far. Though, nowadays, it is very difficult to "predict people who are unpredictable" and this is the current challenge we face.


In order to improve the efficiency and extend the service life of supercapacitors, this paper proposes a supercapacitor energy management method based on phase-shifted full-bridge converter. The method uses the supercapacitor state of charge (SOC) as a reference and combines the DC bus voltage fluctuation to quickly control the energy bidirectional flow. The simulation is carried out in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation results show that the proposed method combines SOC estimation and energy conversion, which can realize the optimal management of super capacitor and has fast dynamic response capability.


The mode of occurrence and mineralogical properties of wairakites from Haga, Hyogo Prefecture were described. Wairakite occurs as a narrow vein (about 1 mm width) only in Palaeogene sedimentary formation (shale or siltstone) around intrusive granodiorite. From X-ray powder diffraction studies, wairakites found in above collecting sites have disordered tetragonal or pseudo-tetragonal structures. They are considered to have been formed at higher temperature than ordered ones (typical monoclinic wairakites).


Image matching is a research focus in the field of image processing. The method based on feature match ing by researchers alike for Its stable performance. Based on the analysis of the traditional SIFT algorithm, For computationally intensive problems of SIFT feature descriptor links, Proposed a new descriptor generat ion algorithm. Experimental results show that this meth od can effectively reduce the amount of calculation , improve processing speed.


This is a list of Frequently Asked Questions about usage-based pricing of the Internet. We argue that usage-based pricing is likely to come sooner or later and that some serious thought should be devoted to devising a sensible system of usage-based pricing.


Commercialization is the concept from the point view of market and gaining profit and it has has been taking place around the world since the beginning of 1999. Under the GATS regime, education was included, and has since been viewed as a tradable commodity. Almost all the countries of the world succumbed to International Monetary Fund (IMF) - World Bank agenda of providing a platform for business in higher education as a solution to solve the crisis in higher education in the era of financial constraints. Since then, higher education has been vigorously commercialized in both developed and developing countries of the world and has become a government-supported service through extensive privatization and regulation. An important consequence of the commercialization of higher education is that students see themselves as customers and education as a product. This is a didactic view of education, as its value is not contained in itself, but in what it can be used to achieve. When education becomes commercialised, the whole purpose of creating organic intellectuals with independent and non-parasitic thinking gets defeated. This paper argues why education cannot be treated as a commodity and is something that should remain outside the purview of market ideology.


Sixteen ENT core surgical training rotas were obtained by freedom of information requests. For each rota, the number of normal working days in 16 weeks – the average placement length – was calculated. It was anticipated that 3 days per week should be available for training; a total of 48 days per placement. It was assumed all normal days would be available for training, and that trainees would not be required to cover the wards or rota gaps.


Tape stripping in combination with spectroscopic measurements is a suitable method for the non-invasive determination of the dermatopharmacokinetics of topically applied substances. The penetration profiles obtained by these methods represent a cut to the stratum corneum, where the distribution of the topically applied substances is shown. For the penetration of these penetration profiles knowledge regarding the penetration pathways is necessary. Laser scanning microscopy is a well-suited method for the analysis of the penetration pathways. In the present paper, the results obtained by the combined tape stripping method and laser scanning microscopy were compared for the interpretation of penetration profiles concerning the penetration pathways of the topically applied substances.


Intramolecular 5-endo-dig-cyclization of various (Z)-seleno- and thioenynes is mediated by CuBr2 or CuCl2 to afford 3-bromo or 3-chloroseleno- or thiophenes.


This work presents a fully integrated multistandard, triple band wireless transceiver with integrated PAs. The narrowband transceiver is suitable for LoRaWAN, IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee), 802.15.4g (SUN) and Bluetooth to promote interoperability in future internet-of-things applications. With the presented architecture the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band and the ISM bands at 780–960 MHz and 390–510 MHz are supported with a single 1.5–2.0 GHz frequency synthesizer leading to an area efficient design. The output power for the low band is 20.0 dBm at 55% drain efficiency, for the mid band 24.3 dBm at 44 % drain efficiency and for the 2.4 GHz band 15.3 dBm at 43 % drain efficiency to allow high range applications without need of external PAs. The chip has been fabricated in a 130 nm CMOS technology.


Aaron L. Phillips is the Director of Research for the Treasury Management Association. The Treasury Management Association (TMA) has conducted survey research to identify job responsibilities and knowledge items needed by professionals engaged in treasury management. In addition, TMA's research documents the informational needs of treasury executives, from analysts through chief financial officers. The results of this research suggest that curricular opportunities exist for teaching topics of vital importance to prospective employees in this profession. A major responsibility reported by all respondents, including treasurers and chief financial officers, is liquidity management, which is comprised of cash management, short-term borrowing, and short-term investing.


Veteran Roma hardcore punks STRENGTH APPROACH are back with their new self-released EP Revenge Is Mine, a concise, powerful encapsulation of their ...


We focus on the nucleation rate calculation for diblock copolymers by studying the two-dimensional stochastic Cahn--Hilliard dynamics with a Landau--Brazovskii energy functional. To do this, we devise the string method to compute the minimal energy path of nucleation events and the gentlest ascent dynamics to locate the saddle point on the path in Fourier space. Both methods are combined with the semi-implicit spectral method and hence are very effective. We derive the nucleation rate formula in the infinite-dimensional case and prove the convergence under numerical discretizations. The computation of the determinant ratio is also discussed for obtaining the rate. The algorithm is successfully applied to investigate the nucleation from the lamellar phase to the cylinder phase in the mean field theory for diblock copolymer melts. The comparison with projected stochastic Allen--Cahn dynamics is also discussed.


Designs the management information system of military sanatorium convalescent certificates according to the practical needs of Healthcare Bureau of Health Department of General Logistics Department.Chooses Microsoft ACCESS as the development platform while programmed with VBA to achieve the required advanced functions.19 units have used the system for more than 3 years and it is shown that the system is characterized by powerful functions,stable running,being easy to operate with intuitive interfaces.


In the march towards exascale, supercomputer architectures are undergoing a significant change. Limited by power consumption and heat dissipation, future supercomputers are likely to be built around a lower-power many-core model. This shift in supercomputer design will require sweeping code changes in order to take advantage of the highly-parallel architectures. Evolving or rewriting legacy applications to perform well on these machines is a significant challenge.

Mini-applications, small computer programs that represent the performance characteristics of some larger application, can be used to investigate new programming models and improve the performance of the legacy application by proxy. These applications, being both easy to modify and representative, are essential for establishing a path to move legacy applications into the exascale era.

The focus of the work presented in this thesis is the design, development and employment of a new mini-application, CleverLeaf, for shock hydro- dynamics with block-structured adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). We report on the development of CleverLeaf, and show how the fresh start provided by a mini-application can be used to develop an application that is flexible, accurate, and easy to employ in the investigation of exascale architectures.

We also detail the development of the first reported resident parallel block-structured AMR library for Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Extending the SAMRAI library using the CUDA programming model, we develop datatypes that store data only in GPU memory, as well the necessary operators for moving and interpolating data on an adaptive mesh. We show that executing AMR simulations on a GPU is up to 4.8⇥ faster than a CPU, and demonstrate scalability on over 4,000 nodes using a combination of CUDA and MPI.

Finally, we show how mini-applications can be employed to improve the performance of production applications on existing parallel architectures by selecting the optimal application configuration. Using CleverLeaf, we identify the most appropriate configurations on three contemporary supercomputer architectures. Selecting the best parameters for our application can reduce run-time by up to 82% and reduce memory usage by up to 32%.


The basic agronomic characteristics of transgenic A.annua lines and the wild-type were evaluated,and the physiological responses to the drought and salt stress of three transgenic A.annua varieties and wild-type were compared by determining the relative water content of leaves,POD,proline and so on.The results indicated that there were significant differences in plant height and stem diameter between transgenic A.annua varieties ANF176,GFH13 and wild-type,in crown width and 1000-seeds weight between transgenic A.annua variety SQS159 and wild-type.The difference between three transgenic A.annua varieties and wild-type in other agronomic characteristics was not significant.Moreover,under the experiment condition transgenic A.annua varieties and the wild-type had similar stress tolerances to salt and drought.Three transgenic A.annua lines and the wild-type were not tolerant to the two herbicides,paraquat and s-metolachlor.


A comparison of the effects of wavy rolling and cold rolling on microstructure variation, phase evolution, tensile and magnetic properties of a thin coil of Fe-18.47Cr-8.10Ni-0.94Mn austenitic stainless steel was made at room temperature. Wavy rolling led to strengthening with no change in magnetic property and thickness, unlike the conventional cold rolling that changed all these properties by deformation induced martensitic transformation, in addition to substructure evolution. The yield strength of 413 MPa and magnetic saturation 3.7 emu/g under mill-annealed condition increased, respectively, to 1208 MPa and 11.8 emu/g, upon four cycles of wavy rolling. While the maximum yield strength of 1790 MPa could be achieved by combining this stage of four cycles of wavy rolling with subsequent 50% conventional cold rolling, the magnetic saturation increased to 73.3 emu/g by deformation induced martensitic transformation caused by the latter.


Jack Clay is on the trail of the Nawab of Tungabhadra's missing fortune, hijacked out of India at the time of partition. However, other men and women are prepared to lie and cheat, murder and maim to get hold of the diamonds. From the author of "Shooting Script" and "Venus with Pistol".


Summary The Interaction of the Rivers with the Divers Land Uses in the Development – Conversion Process of the Urban Areas Stated on the Example of Izmir Province The urban rivers in the process of population growth and industrial development are polluted, their beds are narrowed and turned to areas where noone willing to live. The scheme though is as drawn, researches on urban rivers are limited in our country. In this study, six polluted rivers of the Izmir Province are dealt with as the bases of the research. The interaction of the rivers with the land uses are assesed within the method formated. The existing major issues are identified and the recommendations for the existing – future of the urban river banks are opened to discussion in order to create a new vision for the future of the urban river banks.


Our statistical knowledge of the implications of ageing may be summed up by the statement that it is possible to assess the chances of living to be old, but not whether it is worth doing so. National life tables show the average number of years which can be expected by an individual of any age, but there are few data giving the incidence of disabilities according to age, and none which enable us to construct a balance sheet of pleasures and pains in old age. Whether ''chloroform at sixty", which Osier recom mended on public grounds, would also be advisable for private reasons, is still, so far as statistics are concerned, an open question. In a previous communication (Brown, McKeown, and Whitfield, 1958), the incidence of disease and dis ability and of fitness for employment was examined in a group of representative men aged 60-69. it was thought worthwhile to extend the inquiry to men over 70, but because the focus of interest is not the same at the later ages we have treated the material somewhat differently. This first report is concerned with the significance of ageing from the point of view of the individual, as reflected in the frequency of disease and disability, and in the relative importance attached to specific pleasures and complaints. A later report will consider the significance of ageing from the point of view of the community, as shown by the increasing demand for medical and social services, and by declining ability to contribute through gainful employment. The discussion which follows is arranged in three parts. The first part gives the incidence of specific diseases according to age and social class. The second part examines the increase with age in the frequency of disability, and the extent to which class differences are attributable to specific diseases. In the last part an attempt is made to assess the relative importance of the various things which give pleasure or cause dis comfort to old people. It is of course a subjective assessment, but it could scarcely be anything else.


Purpose of Research : To disprove idea of some contemporary researchers accusing the old critics to have been fanatic against the innovated poetry in the Abbaside period , and it also exhibits the criticism issues that were generated by the innovation question. Means of Research : The study was built on pursuing opinions of some contemporary researchers , then samples of the old critics' attitudes were displayed , it is two parts . The first part included two different trends of texts one of them is that on which the contemporary researchers have relied in an attempt to prove the old critics were fanatic and the other displayed several criticism texts of each old critic showing their positive critical attitudes towards the innovated poetry. The second part includes critical texts representing the critics' opinions from the end of the second century of Hegira until termination the dealing with the innovation in the Abbaside poetry issue. Outcome of Research : It has been proved that the old critics were not fanatic against the innovated poetry , rather they have admired a lot of it , and the old critics' critical opinions were not confined to such fanaticism but they have given critical judgments based upon technical standards as to judging on both the old and new poetry.


To order via fax, dial (301) 470-1244. You may also call toll-free: 1-877-433-7827 (1-877-4-ED-PUBS). If 877 service is not yet available in your area, call 1-800-872-5327 (1-800-USA-LEARN). Those who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a teletypewriter (TTY) should call 1-800-437-0833. The authors would like to thank the state and district staff who participated in the NETTS data collection efforts; staff from 50 state education authorities (and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) and 916 school districts completed surveys. In particular, state staff from our six case study states—Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia— generously provided staff time and resources before, during, and after site visits. We learned a great deal from these individuals and hope the lessons gained from their efforts will be of use to policymakers and other staff at all levels of the education system. An external advisory panel provided assistance in reviewing study methods and materials and prioritizing issues to investigate. The advisory panel consisted of Tim Best of the Ohio Board of Regents, We thank them for their expertise and insights so generously shared. Volume I, Examining the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program, describes state-level educational technology policies, focusing on the implementation of state-level Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) programs in the first years of operation. The report draws on survey data from both state educational technology directors and district-based educational technology coordinators that were collected by NETTS. Introduction The recent proliferation of information and communication technologies, including desktop and laptop computers, handheld devices, cell phones, portable video players, and the Internet, has transformed the world in which we live. In just a decade or two, the ways in which people shop, bank, work, and communicate have changed sufficiently to suggest to many that children growing up today will require a new and more demanding intellectual skill set to thrive in adulthood than their parents did. As a result, many experts recommend that students' educational experiences be reformed to better prepare students for their future. These efforts have renewed emphasis on developing mathematics, science, engineering and technology proficiency among our nation's youths. As information and communication technologies place increased demands on workers and families, they also have the power to enhance and extend formal and informal educational opportunities. Educational technologies, when used properly and in coordination with a variety of school reforms, have been shown to enrich learning environments …


To assess the relationship between glycogen content in bladder detrusor tissue and historical bladder function in a guinea‐pig model of partial bladder outlet obstruction (PBOO).


Atomoxetine is a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor indicated in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is primarily metabolised by CYP2D6 to its equipotent metabolite, 4-hydroxyatomoxetine, which promptly undergoes further glucuronidation to an inactive 4-HAT-O-glucuronide. Clinical trials have shown that decreased CYP2D6 activity leads to substantially elevated atomoxetine exposure and more adverse reactions. The aims of this study were to analyse the pharmacokinetics of atomoxetine and to develop a pharmacologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of atomoxetine in different CYP2D6 genotypes. A single 20 mg dose of atomoxetine was given to 19 healthy Korean individuals with CYP2D6*wt/*wt (*wt = *1 or *2) or CYP2D6*10/*10 genotype. Based on the results of this pharmacokinetic study, a PBPK model for CYP2D6*wt/*wt individuals was developed. This model was scaled to those with CYP2D6*10/*10 genotype, as well as CYP2D6 poor metabolisers. We validated this model by comparing the achieved pharmacokinetic parameters with diverse results from the literature. The presented PBPK model describes the pharmacokinetics after single and repeated oral atomoxetine doses with regard to CYP2D6 genotype and phenotype. This model could be utilized for identification of appropriate dosages of atomoxetine in patients with reduced


With a hybrid monitoring array of 15 Hz downhole sensors and lower frequency sensors on the surface, we can look in detail at the differences in rupture processes between lower magnitude seismicity usually associated with hydraulic fractures (M 0). We find that in the dataset we examine from the Horn River Basin in NE BC, that the lower magnitude events are associated with more lubricated, slower slip, and simple rupture processes whereas the larger magnitude events are more consistent with a more complicated rupture process with less of a fluid component. These findings are important to develop an understanding of the generating processes behind larger magnitude events observed during hydraulic fracture completions.


The shift of tomato cultivation from highlands to lowlands caused damage to the fruit due to fruit cracking. The damage was caused by high temperatures. This study aimed to determine the inheritance pattern of radial fruit cracking resistance and the characters that are directly related to fruit cracking so that it can recommend the right selection method for assembling radial fruit cracking resistant tomato. This study used six sets of population namely P1 female parents who were resistant to radial fruit cracking (IPB T64), P2 male parents who were sensitive to radial fruit cracking (IPB T73), F1, F1R, BCP1, BCP2, and F2. Mendel's analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative characters, and joint scaling test was used to the estimation of the actin genre of quantitative character. The results of the analysis showed that the character of the number of locules, the thickness of the fruit flesh and percentage of fruit cracking per plant were controlled by polygenes and there was no maternal effect. The herritability in a broad and narrow sense for all characters was moderate to high with a proportion of additives variance to total high genetic variability. The gene action for the number of locules was dominant epistasis x dominates and duplicates, for thicknesses of fruit flesh and fruit additive x dominan duplicate epistasis, and the number of fruit cracking by dominant epistasis gene x dominance, which was complementary. Radial fruit cracking which was controlled by the action of dominant epistasis gene by both parents with resistant genotype was FC3-FC4-, FC3FC3-fc4fc4, fc3fc3-FC4FC4 and genotype which was susceptible to radial fruit cracking was FC3fc3- fc4fc4, fc3fc3-FC4fc4 and fc3fc3- fc4fc4. The selection method which was appropriate for the development of the best type of tomatoes that were resistant to fruit cracking was the pedigree method.


In mobile devices, limited space and time for browsing contents of web pages is an important issue. Summarization solutions running on web browsers can help the user to view and access summarized content of web pages in real time. In this paper we propose a framework for summarizing text viewed through mobile web browsers. The framework consists of an application that runs as part the mobile browser and extracts raw text. The text is then preprocessed and input to the summarization algorithm. The algorithm can be implemented either on the device as part of the browser engine or on a remote cloud service. The cloud service uses appropriate techniques to summarize the text and returns the summarized content to the device, where it is then displayed. During summarization, an extraction algorithm is used that uses ontology and a weighing mechanism to determine suitability score for each sentence. The sentences with the highest suitability scores are selected for inclusion in the summary as per the compression required. We describe a number of user interface elements in the mobile web browser to trigger the summarization and display the results, and compare the performance of publicly available summarization services.


In this paper we describe the architecture and interface of KODA, a production strength database kernel. KODA is unique in the industry in its ability to support two different data models viz. Oracle Rdb (a relational database system) and Oracle CODASYL DBMS (a CODASYL database system). Our experience in designing and implementing KODA demonstrates . the feasibility of implementing multiple data models on top of a common kernel, l the benefits of leveraging performance and feature enhancements for multiple products, . the benefits of maintainability of a common code base, . ease of migration and interoperability between the two products without customers having to re-learn common kernel utilities like backups, data file organization and analysis tools. Over the years, KODA based products have performed exceptionally well in industry standard benchmarks. This clearly demonstrates that including data model dependent functionality in the kernel is not a pre-requisite for high performance. A data model independent kernel like KODA can thus be used, without much change, as the database industry moves from CODASYL to Relational to Object-Relational data models and beyond. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the VLDB copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Very Large Data Base Endowment. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or special permission from the Endowment. Proceedings of the 24th VLDB Conference New York, USA, 1998 1.0 Introduction KODA was consciously designed to support multiple data models in a shared disk environment. It provides a simple, powerful interface that carefully isolates the data model dependent aspects from the data model independent aspects of the functionality. This makes the kernel easier to maintain and also makes it possible for multiple clients to leverage the benefits of the functionality in the kernel. The focus of this paper is to describe the interfaces that a full function database kernel can provide and yet be data model independent. The shared disk architecture of KODA means that special care was taken in areas like message passing and buffer cache coherency algorithms (implemented using underlying distributed lock manager functionality). In addition, by encapsulating most of the operating system dependencies within KODA, it is possible to easily port the KODA client products to multiple platforms. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. We begin with a description of the common components in KODA that all clients share. In each component, we also describe the interfaces that KODA makes available to clients. This is followed by a description of the client specific portions in KODA. It is interesting to note that less than 5% (in lines of code) of KODA is client specific. 2.0 Common Components KODA follows a layered architecture with each major component being independent of the others. This makes it possible to evolve each component separately. During execution, only the components that are needed are invoked. This aspect of KODA makes it easy to extend its support to different data models. Some of the major components of KODA and their layering is shown in Figure 1.


Fructosuria in an 18-month-old boy suffering from sickle-cell thalassemia is reported. The fructosuria persisted after the patient was placed on a fructose-free diet. Oral and intravenous tolerance tests were normal. The fructosuria had diminished by the age of 3½ years. The mechanism of the fructosuria is uncertain. A delay in enzyme maturation is suggested.


A two‐stage study was conducted in southern China to determine and validate an optimal combination of Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV)‐related seromarkers for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) screening. In the first stage, six seromarkers [VCA‐IgA, EA‐IgA, Epstein‐Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA1‐IgA), EBNA1‐IgG, Zta‐IgA and Rta‐IgG] were detected by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and two traditional NPC screening seromarkers (VCA‐IgA and EA‐IgA) were detected by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) in serum samples from 191 NPC patients and 337 controls. An optimal combination of seromarkers for NPC diagnosis was selected using logistic regression models. Results showed that the diagnostic performances of VCA‐IgA and EA‐IgA tested by ELISA were superior to the performances of the same seromarkers by IFA. VCA‐IgA combined with EBNA1‐IgA by ELISA was identified as the optimal combination, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) up to 0.97, a sensitivity of 95.3% and a specificity of 94.1% for classification of NPCs vs. controls. In the second stage, 5,481 participants aged 30–59 years and without clinical evidence of NPC were recruited into a population‐based NPC screening program from May 2008 to February 2009 in Sihui City, China. Their sera were tested simultaneously by both the new and the traditional screening schemes and eight early stage NPC patients were subsequently histopathologically confirmed. The traditional and the new screening schemes had comparable specificity (estimated as 98.5%), but the sensitivity of the new scheme (75.0%) was significantly higher than that of the traditional one (25.0%). The combination of VCA‐IgA and EBNA1‐IgA by ELISA outperforms the traditional NPC screening scheme and could become the preferred serodiagnostic strategy for NPC screening in high‐incidence areas.


Summary Proteases are enzymes that perform very important functions in organisms and are used for a variety of objectives in vitro. In recent years, proteases have been used for clinical, pharmaceutical (alimentary digestion, anti-inflammatory, etc.) and industrial applications (cheese production, meat tenderizing, leather tanning). In this research, a protease has been purified from capsules of caper (Capparis spinosa) and characterized. Caper plants have been used for food and medicine since ancient times. The plant grows abundantly in certain regions of Turkey. Ammonium sulphate fractionation and a CM Sephadex column were used for purification of the enzyme. The purification enzyme has an optimum pH=5.0 and its optimum temperature was 60 °C. The vmax and Km values determined by Lineweaver-Burk graphics were 1.38 mg/(L·min) and 0.88 mg/L, respectively. The purification degree and the molecular mass of the enzyme (46 kDa) were determined by SDS-PAGE and gel filtration chromatography. It was investigated whether the purified and characterized protease could cause milk to congeal or digest chicken and cow meat. The results show that protease can be used for industrial production.


Generation conditions of shale gas from the Hetaoyuan Formation in the Biyang Sag of the Nanxiang Basin were systematically studied according to the U.S.A marine shale gas evaluation index for the first time.The Hetaoyuan Formation extends widely with big thickness of single layer in the region.The TOC content is high and the thermal evolution degree is equivalent to that of Devonian basins in the U.S.A.The responses of gas-bearing shale in well logging are obvious.Micro-fracture and micro-pore are well-developed in shale,providing good condition for reserving.Gas is well preserved in shale.The high content of brittle minerals such as quartz is favorable for reservoir fracturing.Shale gas exploration prospect is bright in the Biyang Sag where is favorable for shale gas forming and the potential resource of shale gas is huge.


22 Filed: Aug. 14, 1998 Lovell 57 ABSTRACT Related U.S. Application Data A composition and method for Stripping tin or tin-lead 63 Continuation of application No. 08/521,305, Aug. 30, 1995. alloys, and any underlying copper-tin intermetallic, from a 6 copper Surface. The composition includes an aqueous Solu 51 Int. Cl. .......................... CO9K 13/00; CO9K 13/04; tion of approximately 5-60% nitric acid by weight, approxi C09K 13/06 mately 0.5-30% ferric nitrate by weight, and a nitric acid 52 U.S. Cl. ........................ 252/79.1; 252/79.2; 252/79.4 Stabilizer Selected from the group consisting of an amino 58 Field of Search .................................. 252/79.1, 79.2, triazole, amino-isoxazole, and a linear amino Sulfone in 252/79.4 the form HN-SO-R, where R is any alkyl or benzene group, wherein the Stabilizer is present at a concentration 56) References Cited Sufficient to inhibit exothermic conditions, emission of toxic U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS NOX gas, and copper attack. Asoluble Source of halogenion, Such as hydrochloric acid, can be added to the composition 4,374,744 2/1983 Kawanabe et al. .................... 252/79.4 tO yield a uniform, reflective, bright pink copper appearance, 4,713,144 12/1987 Schiller....... ... 156/656 and to further reduce Sludge formation. In addition, Sludge 3. 3. Sanskis et al. .. s formation can be eliminated by adding a Soluble Source of


In many enterprises, fraudulent activities and processes are widely prevalent. But, their employees would not report the illegal activities since they would be attacked by defensive and reactive retaliations in their enterprises. Against this backdrop, we design notification systems for whistle blowing. The design would certainly be useful for fraudulent process notification while using management information systems in the field of business. The fraudulent process notification is related to whistle blowing systems, methods, storage media, and so on. Also, we establish the whole architecture of fraudulent process notification with functional structure from the viewpoint of systems and whistle blower. The flow diagram of notification method is added.


Coherence of white light interference has been investigated based on Michelson interferometer by inserting quartz glass slices with different thickness only in one light path or in both two light paths. The refractive index of the glasses has been measured,indicating the small uniformity of the materials.


We study a many-server queuing system with general service time distribution and state dependent service rates. The dynamics of the system are modeled using measure valued processes which keep track of the residual service times. Under suitable conditions, we prove the existence of a unique fluid limit.


Since the clock power consumption in today's processors is considerably large, reducing the clock power consumption contributes to the reduction of the total power consumption in the processors. Recently, a gated flip-flop is proposed for reducing the clock power consumption of flip-flop circuits. The gated flip-flop employs a clock-gating circuit which cuts off an internal clock signal if the data stored in the flip-flop does not need to be updated. This reduces the clocking power consumption. However, the power dissipated in the clock-gating circuit is still large. For reducing the power dissipated in the clock-gating circuit, this paper proposes a technique for unifying the multiple clock-gating circuits, which reduces the overhead of the clock-gating circuit. Experimental results obtained using an RTL model of a commercial embedded processor demonstrate that our technique reduces the power consumption of register circuits in the processor by 44% on an average and 53% at the best case compared to the register circuits composed of the conventional gated flip-flops.


This article proposes log‐linear models for the latent intensity functions of replicated spatio‐temporal point processes. By simultaneously fitting correlated spatial and temporal Karhunen–Loève expansions, these models produce spatial and temporal components that are usually easy to interpret and capture the main directions of spatio‐temporal correlation. The asymptotic distribution of the estimators is derived, and their finite sample properties are studied by simulation. As an example of application, we analyze the spatio‐temporal patterns of usage of a bike station in the Divvy bike‐sharing system of the city of Chicago.


The influence of the fibrous filler on the properties and phase composition of the mullite-cordierite ceramics is regarded in the article. It was established that the application of the steel fiber reinforcement when cordierite ceramics manufacturing is not possible. At the same time it was found that the using of the steel fiber to reinforce the cordierite ceramics is possible. It was shown that when using the mullite-silica fiber as a component of a mixture for the mullite-cordierite ceramics manufacturing the mechanical strength increased by a factor of 1,2‒2,0 can be achieved, the coefficient of linear thermal expansion being 4,1·10 –6 ‒5,0·10 –6 К –1 at 800 °C. It was noticed that when the mullite-silica fiber is introduced into the ceramics the relative amount of both cordierite and mullite edges up.


PurposeAs the focal point of both academic studies and business practices, the theme strategy of corporate social responsibility (CSR) arouses wide attention. However, extant studies concentrate more on the selection of the theme of CSR activities, such as the fitness between CSR activities and the core business, thus largely neglecting the consistency of the theme. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the enterprise should adopt a consistent theme strategy or should participate in different social programs, and how do customers response to the lack of studies in different theme-consistent strategies.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, two progressive experiments are performed. The purpose of study 1 is to examine the influence of theme consistency on consumers' CSR association and how consumers' attribution to corporation motivation mediates such impacts. The purpose for study 2 is to examine whether information dissemination channels and cooperation with public organization could affect the influence of theme consistency strategy.FindingsThe significant influences of theme consistency on consumer CSR association was demonstrated, and consumer's perceived motivation of CSR was found to play the mediation role. Moreover, the moderation effect of the communication channel of CSR information was found to be important to strengthen the influence of the theme-consistent strategy.Originality/valueThis paper not only demonstrates the influence of theme consistency, but also explains how theme consistency influences consumers' attitude and behavior. It enriches the study on the antecedent variables of consumers' attribution to corporate motivation.


In the aqueous system of initial pH value of 7.0 through orthogonal test and individual factor test, the optimal operation condition of Fe(Ⅱ)/S2O8(superscript 2-)S2O3(superscript 2-)degrading diuron was determined to be Na2S2O8 concentration 2.0mmol/L, Fe(Ⅱ) concentration 1.0mmol/L, Na2S2O3 concentration 0.5mmol/L under the condition of reaction time 120min, 0.1mmol/L diuron degradation rate reached 91.3%. The sulfate free racial and hydroxyl free radical produced in system were determined by molecular probes (ethanol and tert-butanol) methods, and the reaction mechanism of Fe(Ⅱ)/S2O8(superscript 2-)S2O3(superscript 2-) system produced free radical was discussed.


As is well known, the subject of nonradiating source distributions is intimately related to questions concerning the uniqueness of various wave-theoretic inverse problems.' In spite of this fact, no general technique appears to have been developed so far for specifying all nonradiating sources that can be associated with a given source domain. Moreover, relatively little is known about fields that nonradiating sources generate within the region that they occupy. 2 3


In this paper, the relation between the Painleve property for ordinary differential equations and some coordinate transformations in the complex plane is investigated. Two sets of transformations are introduced for which the transformations of singularities structure in the complex plane are explicitly computed. The first set acts only on the dependent variables while the second one acts also on the independent variables. It allows for defining an extended Painleve test which is coordinates invariant. Our results are applied on various problems arising in the singularity analysis such as the problem of negative resonances and the weak Painleve conjecture. The method for finding new first integrals for dynamical systems is also shown.


Motivated by climate, health and economic considerations, alternatively-fueled bus fleets have emerged worldwide. Two popular alternatives are compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric vehicles. The latter provides the opportunity to generate revenue through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services if properly equipped. This analysis conducts a robust accounting of the costs of diesel, CNG and battery-electric powertrains for school buses. Both marginal and fleet-wide scenarios are explored. Results indicate that the marginal addition of neither a small CNG nor a small V2G-enabled electric bus is cost effective at current prices. Contrary to previous findings, a small V2G-enabled electric bus increases net present costs by $7,200/seat relative to diesel for a Philadelphia, PA school district. A small CNG bus increases costs by $1,200/seat relative to diesel. This analysis is the first to quantify and include the economic implications of cold temperature extremes on electric vehicle battery operations, and the lower V2G revenues that result. Additional costs and limitations imposed by electric vehicles performing V2G are frequently overlooked in the literature and are explored here. If a variety of technical, legal, and economic challenges are overcome, a future eBus may be economical. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


Increases in corporate retentions do not necessarily increase private savings by an equal amount. They may be exactly compensated by reductions in other personal savings, partly compensated, or not compensated at all. The three hypotheses are examined along with the empirical support they have received. Empirical estimation is undertaken to test the three rival hypotheses by use of U.K time-series data. Three frameworks are adopted ; a Simple Linear model, both Static (SLS) and naive dynamic (SLD) ; a General Distributed Lag (GDL) model, and the Life Cycle Hypothesis in its General Distributed Lag Equivalence (LCHGDLE) form ; a Simple Add-on (SAO) model is derived from three identities and simple behavioural assumption(s). It is shown that ; both the GDL and the LCHGDLE models can be obtained from the SAO model. This highlights the underlying naivete of their nature ; all models can be nested in a general form, obtained by use of any of the GDL, LCHGDLE and SAO models. Support is found for the Add-on hypothesis ; increases in corporate retentions will add-on, on a one-to-one basis, other personal savings. Doubt is cast upon the LCH prediction of perfect substitutability. Some macro-implications are briefly examined.


Hyperglycaemia is common during hospitalization; glycaemic targets in non‐critical care settings have not been well studied. We assessed associations between inpatient glycaemic control and adverse events.


The change of modal characteristics directly provides an indication of structural damage. Based on changes in frequencies and mode shapes of vibration, a damage identification technique is proposed in this paper for predicting damage location and severity. The method is applied at an element level with a conventional finite-element model. The element damage equations have been established through the eigenvalue equations that characterize the dynamic behavior. Several solution techniques are discussed and compared. The influence of simulated noise in the modal data is also presented. The method has been verified by a number of damage scenarios for simulated beams and has found the exact location and severity of damage. It is demonstrated that multiplying the damaged eigenvalue equations with the undamaged or damaged mode shapes provides more equations and guarantees the damage localization. The resulting equations, however, become more sensitive to the deviation of modal data and the direct solution often...


Vendex 50WP (0.125 lb and 0.50 lb ai/100 gal) was compared to Acaraben 4E (0.50 lb ai) in full season spray trials for citrus rust mite (CRM) control. Vendex formulated in water soluble bags was compared to the standard WP. Each treatment was applied to a single row of 40 mature grapefruit trees (15 ft x 25 ft spacing). Spray applications were made by a John Bean Model F-357 CP Speed Sprayer at 1 mph. Applications were made on May 3'77, Jul 9'77 and Sept 9'77. CRM counts were made at 30 and 60 days posttreatment. For each count, 10 fruit in each of 10 trees/treatment were examined for CRM and mite density was rated using the following scale: 0.0 = no mites; 1.0 = 1-5; 2.0 = 6-10; 3.0 = ≥10 mites per sample. A spray is normally recommended when CRM density ≥ 1.0/fruit. Rust mite damage evaluations were made at harvest on Nov 11 '77. Twenty fruit were randomly sampled from each of 10 trees, i.e., 200/treatment, and graded using the "United States Standards for Grades of Grapefruit" USDA Agric. Marketing Service Bui. Oct 1'69.


The papers by Freshwater and van Kooten and Arthur (in this issue) illustrate several types of conundrums in policy-conundrums involving competing ends (developmental vs. environmental), competing means (agricultural vs. nonagricultural policy to improve rural life), and competing places. These conundrums are representative of common themes in policy analysis and policy making. The venue for these meetings provides an interesting opportunity to look at these policy conundrums from different perspectives. Despite their common history and many social, political, and economic similarities, Canada and the United States have quite different policy institutions and processes, and their economies reflect the consequences of different policy choices. In this paper, I outline my views on the similarities and differences in policy environments in Canada and the United States. I then review the papers by Freshwater and van Kooten and Arthur in light of these different environments.


The 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia states that every citizen has the right to work and a decent life. Consequently, citizens have the right to receive rewards and fair treatment in employment relations and the state has a constitutional responsibility to guarantee the fulfillment of the right to work of migrant workers and foreign workers to create protection and legal certainty between them. Meanwhile, the national labor law and government regulations regulate foreign workers including only professional workers. In fact, foreign workers working in Indonesia are not only professional workers but also unskilled laborers. This is due to the enactment of changes to the regulation of the use of foreign labor which frees and tightens foreign workers who work in Indonesia.
Keywords: Foreign Workers, Supervision, Legal Certainty of Foreign Workers


Purpose. To present clinical cases of keratorefractive surgery in patients with iridocorneal endothelial syndrome. Material and methods. The examination and symptomatic treatment of two patients who underwent laser keratorefractive surgery for myopia correction was carried out. In the postoperative period, one of the operated eyes had low visual acuity, diffuse corneal edema, decompensation of IOP of unclear genesis. Results. The consistent use of standard (biomicroscopy, ophthalmoscopy, gonioscopy) and highly informative methods of examination (OCT of the anterior segment of the eye, UBM, endothelial microscopy) made it possible to diagnose iridocorneal endothelial syndrome in both cases. Drug hypotensive therapy in one case and trabeculectomy in the other allowed to restore the transparency of the cornea and improve visual acuity. Conclusion. Manifest changes in the anterior segment of the eye in many syndromes accompanied by the formation of glaucoma make it possible to identify hydrodynamic disorders at the earliest stages and prevent the destructive effect of increased IOP. The complex application of modern imaging methods provides an objective assessment of pathological changes in the eye, and allows you to determine indications and contraindications to refractive surgery. Key words: keratorefractive surgery, complications, iridocorneal endothelial syndrome


Over the past year, the NCAFP has worked to strengthen the U.S.–ROK alliance to cope with the current regional security structure in Northeast Asia. Current dynamics in the region, especially the rise of China and the DPRK nuclear issue, necessitate strengthened U.S. alliances with our key allies to maintain stability and peace in the Asia-Pacific region. The NCAFP envisions ways to develop a multilateral mechanism for regional cooperation to help reduce mutual suspicions and prevent misperceptions and miscalculations. As a leading institution in Northeast Asian security efforts, the NCAFP continues to host credible and authoritative dialogues. We provide an opportunity for the three sides to engage in frank and forthright dialogue out of the media spotlight, discuss current and longer range issues, and chart a common strategy for dealing with challenges in the region.


Tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) is a proinflammatory cytokine produced by several cell types, including T cells upon antigen stimulation. Its production is crucial for the development of an early defence against many pathogens, but its beneficial effects are dependent on the strength and duration of its expression. In this paper we present evidence indicating that serum increases translational efficiency of TNF‐α in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated with superantigen. The increase in translation of TNF‐α due to serum could be inhibited by the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3‐K inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002, suggesting that PI 3‐K is involved in the translational control of TNF‐α by serum. Similarly to primary T cells, stimulation of Jurkat T cells with superantigen led to TNF‐α secretion and this was up‐regulated by serum. Transfection of Jurkat cells with a constitutively active form of PI 3‐Kα increased the production of TNF‐α in cells stimulated with superantigen. Additionally, we used the specific inhibitors targeting ERK kinase and p38 mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK), potentially downstream of PI 3‐kinase, PD98059 and SB203580. Differently from with PI 3‐K inhibitors, the accumulation of TNF‐α mRNA was inhibited by PD98059 or SB203580. These results suggest that, in T cells, activation of PI 3‐K is an important step in controlling TNF‐α protein synthesis in response to growth factors.


1.1. Background: Early diagnosis of hypertension (HT) is an important strategy in its control. Previous studies have documented that hypertension may begin in adolescence, perhaps even in childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension and risk factors among school going children in Delhi, India. Materials and Methods: School going children aged between 5 to 15 years of 10 different schools were selected and blood pressure measurements were taken. Prehypertension is considered when blood pressure is more than 90th percentile according to NIH 2005 guidelines. Results: Total prevalence of prehypertension in the study was 3.1%. The prevalence in boys was 3.2% and in girls was 2.9%. Prevalence of obesity in prehypertension was 8.0% against normotensives 1.1% (P<0.05). Prevalence of hypertension in family members of prehypertensives was 18.6% and in normotensive 13.1% (P=0.1). Prevalence of diabetes mellitus in family members of prehypertensives was 23.4% and 13.7% in normotensives (P<0.05). Conclusion: Prevalence of pre hypertension was 3.1% in the study subjects. Obesity and family history of diabetes mellitus was found to be significantly associated with childhood hypertension.


Construction of a new primary beam line, called the B-line, started in 2013 at the J-PARC Hadron Experimental Facility. The B-line is branched at the middle of an existing primary proton beam line (A-line) in the beam switching yard (SY), which is the connecting tunnel between the Main Ring (MR) and the Hadron experimental hall (HD-hall). At the branching point, about 0.1% of the primary beam is kicked off at 5 degrees using a Lanbertson magnet and two septum magnets. The Lambertson magnet has a field free hole in its yoke. The proton beam that goes through a field region is separated from the A-line, and it is extracted to the B-line. The rest of the beam that goes through the field free hole is transported through the existing primary beam line. Since a significant beam loss as much as 420 W occurs at the edge of field free hole, the magnets near the Lambertson magnet are operated under a very high radioactive environment. We have developed a "mini-chimney system" regarding easy maintenance of those magnets. The mini-chimney means a vertical tower of approximately 1m in height. The tower is comprised of water pipes, power electrodes, and signal cables for safety interlock. Those can be easily connected and disconnected at the top of chimney on the ceiling iron shields. In this paper we summarize the maintenance scheme developed for the B-line, as well as the design of B-line.In May 2020, the first proton beam was successfully extracted to the B-line by means of the Lambertson and the septum magnets. Up to now, the 1010 protons per 5.2 sec accelerator cycle shot have been available.


Abstract We divide the narrative history of legends on volcanoes, descriptions of volcanic landscape, eruptions and products, and the gradual development of volcanology in Costa Rica as a formal science, into several periods or stages. Each stage is discussed in detail in the text: (a) pre-Columbian period (11 500 BC–AD 1502); (b) colonization period (1502–1718); (c) first period (1719–1887); (d) second period (1888–1925); (e) third period (1926–62), and (f) fourth period (1963–present). The social and economic contribution of volcanology research is also discussed.


The paper examines the effects of the degree of competition on firms'decisions to innovate in differentiated markets. Firms favor productinnovations if they produce close substitutes (so competition is severe) andfavor process innovations if products are differentiated (so competition isless severe). Assumptions on the strategic complementarity of product andprocess innovations and on the decreasing returns of a product innovationare found to be the critical assumptions in the sense of Milgrom and Roberts (1994).


Systematic Review | Volume 6 | Number 1| 1 Copyright 2019 by Kaur KK. This is an open-access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which allows to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and reproduce in any medium or format, even commercially, provided the original work is properly cited. cc Article information Received: February 2nd, 2019; Revised: March 13th, 2019; Accepted: March 14th, 2019; Published: March 22nd, 2019 Kulvinder Kochar Kaur, MD1*; Gautam Allahbadia, MD, DNB2; Mandeep Singh, MD, DM3


The characteristics of solar resources in South Korea were analyzed by comparing the solar irradiance derived from COMS (Communication, Ocean and Meteorological Satellite) with in-situ ground observation data (Pyranometer). Satellite-derived solar irradiance and in-situ observation showed general coincidence with correlation coefficient higher than 0.9, but the satellite observations tended to overestimate the radiation amount compared to the ground observations. Analysis of hourly and monthly irradiance showed that relatively large discrepancies between the satellite and ground observations exist after sunrise and during July~August period which were mainly attributed to uncertainties in the satellite retrieval such as large atmospheric optical thickness and cloud amount. But differences between the two observations did not show distinct diurnal or seasonal cycles. Analysis of regional characteristics of solar irradiance showed that differences between satellite and in-situ observations are relatively large in metrocity such as Seoul and coastal regions due to air pollution and sea salt aerosols which act to increase the uncertainty in the satellite retrieval. It was concluded that the satellite irradiance data can be used for assessment and prediction of solar energy resources overcoming the limitation of ground observations, although it still has various sources of uncertainty.


A study performed by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) with the assistance of the Texas Transportation Institute for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) identifies the key input parameters to I-DYNEV affecting evacuation time estimates (ETEs). In addition, the study attempts to determine the sensitivity of ETEs to changes in those parameters when applied to two different evacuation networks. The information could then be used to determine parameters requiring additional research and to assist in the evaluation of ETEs submitted by licensees and applicants. The parameters analyzed for the study included vehicle population, network capacity, loading time, the capacity reduction factor, the time interval of processing, and free-flow velocity. These parameters were applied to two evacuation networks simulating a rural and an urban area. Changes in each of the six input parameters evaluated for the study affected to some degree the estimates of evacuation times. In general, however, the results obtained revealed that the sensitivity of the evacuation time estimates to changes in the input parameters is consistent wih traffic modeling theory and documented algorithms included in the model.


Intergranular fatigue cracking mechanisms in various copper crystals with different grain boundaries (GBs) were systematically investigated and summarized. In the present investigation, the GBs are classified into three types, i.e. (I) random large-angle GBs parallel, perpendicular or tilting to the stress axis in various copper bicrystals; (II) lowangle GBs parallel or perpendicular to the stress axis in copper columnar crystals; (III) large-angle 19b GB in a special [ 41520] / [1827]copper bicrystal. The slip planes of the adjacent crystals are coplanar across the later two types of GBs, but the slip directions of the two component grains are different beside the 19b GB. With the help of electron channeling contrast (ECC) technique in scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fatigue cracks and the interactions of dislocations with the GBs in all the fatigued crystals were observed and revealed. The results show that all the largeangle GBs (type I) in copper bicrystals always become the preferential sites to initiate fatigue cracks, independent of the interaction angle between the GB plane and the stress axis. This intergranular fatigue cracking mechanism can be attributed to the piling-up of dislocations at the large-angle GBs. For the columnar crystals containing low-angle GBs (type II), it is observed that persistent slip bands (PSBs), which transfer through low-angle GBs continuously, are the preferential sites for the nucleation of fatigue cracks. However, fatigue cracks were never observed at the low-angle GBs, no matter whether they were perpendicular or parallel to the stress axis. The non-cracking behavior of the lowangle GBs can be explained by the continuity of the dislocations, which led to the disappearance of piling-up of dislocations. For the 19b GB (type III), it is found that the favorable fatigue cracking mechanism is still intergranular type in comparison with PSB cracking even though the two component grains have a coplanar slip system. The corresponding GB cracking mechanism should be attributed to the difference in the slip directions between two component grains, which only allows for partial passing through of dislocations across the 19b GB. Based on the results above, it is suggested that intergranular fatigue cracking strongly depends on the interactions of PSBs with GBs in fatigued crystals, rather than the GB structure itself. Among all the GBs, only the low-angle GBs are intrinsically strong to resist the nucleation of fatigue cracks under cyclic loading.  2002 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


The theme of the paper is the issue of fluency disorders, mediating the approach to a girl with cluttering. Cluttering, as a central speech disorder, can affect the entire personality of a  person and his/her surroundings. Cluttering affects communication pathways, thus becoming a barrier to interpersonal interaction, and at the same time is an opportunity to explore support possibilities. The text offers the concept of Speech and Language Therapy in a girl of early school age, with regard to the analysis of semantic, syntactic and phonetic expressions. The paper illustrates the focus of the therapeutic process on the area of respiration, concentration of attention, structuring of speech and text work. Following identifiable difficulties, the case report captures the importance of cooperation with the girl and her mother. Klíčová slova breptavost, tumultus sermonis, plynulost, tempo, logopedická intervence, strukturování


With the ever-shrinking size of transistors and increasing scale of applications, silent data corruptions (SDCs) have become a common yet serious issue in HPC applications. Selective instruction duplication (SID) is a popular fault-tolerance technique that can obtain a high SDC coverage with low-performance overhead, as it selects the most vulnerable parts of a program for protection with priority. However, existing studies of SID are confined to single program input in the evaluation, assuming that the error resilience of the program remains similar across inputs, leading to a drastic loss of SDC coverage from SID when the protected program runs different inputs. Hence, we proposed Sentinel, an automated compiler-based framework to mitigate the loss of SDC coverage. Evaluation results show that Sentinel can effectively mitigate the loss of SDC coverage (up to 97.00%) across multiple inputs, which significantly hardens existing SID techniques.


Many Methods have been developed to .easure displace.ent with high accuracy, for exap1e, with a dual frequency laser interferometer (AC interferometer) and an classic interferoseter (DC interferoeter) which use a stabilized laser and fringe counter, and an AC interfero.eter has ore advantage over the DC one. An AC interfero.eter with a Zee.an laser can get a high resolution, in the order of nanoMeters, but its resolution extension liRited by nonlinear relation between phase and displace.ent which caused by the two-frequency coRponents in interferoaeter[1]. Because the fundaaental length scale of the interferometer is the wavelength of the light source in the air. The accuracy of an interferoeter is li.ited by the operating envireaent, teRperature, husidity, pressure, etc. because the aiRs of interferoseters expose in the air. A high resolution optical fiber heterodyne interfermeter is described in the paper.


abstract:As academic libraries explore their connection to student success and how library staff spend their time, it is important to understand how research consultations influence academic achievement. Several studies have found correlations between various measures of library use and grade point averages (GPAs), but only limited research has investigated the impact on student success of lengthy research consultations with a librarian. This exploratory study attempted to compare consultation users with the overall student body. Due to a small sample size, only descriptive statistics were obtained. Thus, this study also focuses on the methodological challenges of conducting student success studies in academic libraries, including the concerns associated with learning analytics, participant recruitment, sampling, and buy-in from library faculty and staff.


The response aims at detecting additional angles in Benhabib's problematic and adding some variables to its potential resolution. I examine two such variables. One concerns the rights-bearing subject. Benhabib addresses the tension between individual universal rights and sovereign self-determination by positing a modified Kantian `cosmopolitan federalism'. While I can support this thesis, I see a whole other reality in the making that offers additional kinds of resolutions as well as a repositioning of cosmopolitan federalism in a different field of forces. Critical here is the incipient denationalizing of citizenship which is taking place inside the nation state, and hence is not predicated on post-national and transnational conditions for citizenship. Such resolutions are precluded in Benhabib's text because of the closure she projects onto the nation state. The second variable I discuss addresses precisely this question of the state today — that is to say, in a context of the ascendance of an international human rights regime and of globalization. Benhabib sees the national and the global as mutually exclusive. In my own research I see a process whereby global logics get partly constituted inside the nation state and the state apparatus itself, producing, again, an incipient denationalizing of what historically was constructed as national. This opens up possibilities for cosmopolitan federalism that Benhabib overlooks given her national—global binary.


1. A process for producing a modified polymer based on a conjugated diene, which comprises the following steps: (A) the reaction of a silicon compound and a polymer based on a conjugated diene, having an active end so that the reaction be proceeded by an active end group, wherein the silicon compound in its molecule contains a protected primary amino group and a bifunctional silicon atom to which hydrocarbyloxy and associated reactive group, which thereby modifies the active end, and! (B) conducting a condensation reaction, which includes part of the compound containing a bifunctional silicon atom in the presence of the titanium compound used as the condensation accelerator based on titanium. ! 2. The method of claim 1, which further comprises a step (c) deprotecting by removal of the group which is associated with the active end group of the polymer based on a conjugated diene, and which is derived from a compound containing a bifunctional silicon atom, whereby the protected primary amino group present in the group associated with the active end group, is converted into the free amino group. ! 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the compound containing a bifunctional silicon atom and is used in step (a) is a silicon compound having the formula (I):! ! wherein each of R1 and R2 represents a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, each of R3-R5 is a hydrocarbon group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, R6 represents a divalent hydrocarbon group contains


The increasing proportion of the built-up area of cities now in squalid conditions and the share size of human population residing in them particularly in the developing countries, give cause for alarm. The gloomy externalities of urban progress in the form of poor and inadequate housing, filth and decaying infrastructure and the progressive brutalization of man in such an environment are now casting doubts on the real essence of cities. Overwhelmed by the enormity of city problems, most governments in the developing countries continue to grope for solution, sometimes formulating selfcontradicting, self-defeating policies. The paper examined two contrasting residential districts in Calabar Municipality, namely, the Mbukpa Residential District and the Cross River Housing Estate. The former is a poor residential district where most houses are qualitatively inferior. The latter is a planned residential district where houses have high qualitative rating. However, the living conditions in Mbukpa District are outcomes of a gradual process of environmental degradation.


Xian-huang chicken whose demand of nutrition is different with the big fat chickens'is a kind of local chicken.Its demand of nutrition is different with the same kind of chicken in the scatter-feed.The present situation of product on the nutrition of forage of scatter-feed Xiang-huang chick,the necessary factors of the compound forage of scatter-feed Xiang-huang chicken,a few reference formulas of the scatter-feed commodity fat chicken and the reasonable suggestion on the demand of nutrition and the technique of compound forage are mentioned in this paper.


This study compared the productions of 35 articulation impaired children obtained by picture elicited single word and connected speech sampling methods. Productions were compared on the basis of bo...


—Counterfeit electronics is a growing threat with widespread impacts on many aspects of modern civilization including defense, communication, health-care, manufacturing industry, agriculture and all other areas dependent on integrated circuits (ICs) or chips. Among all of the counterfeit chips types, recycled and remarked are the most prevalent. These are the chips that are taken from discarded, obsolete electronics board and then sold as new. Therefore, these chips are aged and deteriorated with short remaining lifespan, proneness to failure, etc. Research has been conducted to identify recycled chips but those methods are not equally applicable to all kinds of chips. Specifically, hardware security primitives such as cryptographic primitives, physical unclonable functions (PUFs), true random number generators (TRNG), silicon odometers etc. are primarily developed for digital circuits and not easily ported to analog and mixed signal (AMS) chips. Recently, an LDO-based odometer was proposed to detect recycled AMS chips which requires external measurements through exposed pins which is both expensive and poses a security vulnerability. In this work, we propose a self-contained design that overcomes these issues while still being able to detecting aging in AMS chips.


EDITOR: WALTER B. ROETTGER Institute of Public Affairs and Administration, Drake University To date, this Department has reviewed metropolitan developments in Illinois, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In this issue, Dr. Hugh Winebrenner of Drake University examines the phenomenon in lowa, paying particular attention to the impact of two recent amendments to the Iowa Constitution: Municipal Home Rule and County Home Rule. Together, these promise to expand the range of local decision-making discretion, though it is not yet clear how and if this expanded freedom is used.


This paper introduces a local pose prior based real-time online approach to capture 3D human animation from a single depth camera. The key idea is to learn a series of local pose prior models with K motion capture examples from a pre -established large and heterogeneous human motion database, according to automatically extracted labelled virtual sparse 3D markers from captured depth image. Then, by solving a Maximum A Posterior (MAP) problem via an iteratively optimization process, the system automatically tracks the 3D human motion sequence. The experiments show that, the proposed approach robustly captures accurate 3 D human motions at 25fps. The proposed tracking system can easily applied to different actors with large different body sizes via an automatically indi vidual body parameters calibration process. The proposed system can widely apply to 3D game/movie produce , human-machine interaction.


A radio receiver (1), especially a car radio, enabling space to be saved when connecting an antenna cable (15). A mobile telephone (30) is built into said receiver (1). An antenna connection (5) is provided on a rear or side wall (10) of the housing of the receiver (1). The antenna connection (5) for connecting the antenna cable (15) extends in a parallel direction or at a slight angle to the rear or side wall (10) of the housing. The antenna connection (5) is placed in a projection of the rear or side wall (10) of the housing.


The global radiosonde record is the primary tool for determining climatic variations of temperature, moisture, and wind above the surface, but instrument and data processing changes have caused all long-term trends to be questioned. This paper describes initial stages of an effort to adjust radiosonde observations to a common hypothetical "reference instrument" to determine unbiased global precipitable water trends starting 1973. There are two primary outputs of this research: (1) Metadata listing all stations with valid soundings and their elevations and instrument types, to be released through the Comprehensive Aerological Reference Data Set (CARDS, possibly to be called postCARDS soon), and (2) Soundings with temperatures and dew points adjusted for the instrument differences, to be equivalent to the "reference instrument." Since there is no operational reference instrument, the data is adjusted to be equivalent to the average of certain VIZ and Vaisala models. Strictly speaking, the adjustments are not "corrections" since the true state of the atmosphere is not known. The first output should be useful to researchers who are pursuing their own instrument corrections, or who are comparing radiosondes with other data sources such as satellites. While beyond the scope of this project, satellite retrievals should differ from radiosonde data at individual stations in systematic ways according to the radiosonde instruments in use. Studies of satellite versus radiosonde differences should help confirm the accuracy of the inferred instrument metadata. A long homogeneous radiosonde record should help verify the calibration of different satellites used for climate studies, whether the satellites overlap or not.


T here is a great job advertised in the region at the moment. It rotates between this teaching hospital and a district general, where previous registrars have been well trained and enjoyed the experience. The post is open to suitably qualified applicants from all over the world—except, it seems, my excellent registrar.

He cannot apply because he is "on the scheme" already. His post rotates to a different district general hospital. He cannot apply for the job he would prefer, even though he is not due to rotate for nine months, and could easily give the statutory three months' notice. Apparently transferring within the scheme might be possible at the discretion of the postgraduate dean, but there would have to be a good personal reason to be allowed to change.

> Matching schemes must be set up so that they are not too large and so that people are not locked in

What is a good reason? A sick child? Getting married? Living with someone? What about living with seven other people in a hippy commune? What about simple personal preference?

Should postgraduate deans and regional advisers really have to judge …


The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic scenario in Africa - What should be done to address pregnant women needs? A commentary.Charles M'poca Charles 1,2,*† ; Emefa Modey Amoah 3†; Kadidiatou Raissa Kourouma4; Luis Guilhermo Bahamondes2 ; Jose Guilherme Cecatti2 ; Nafissa Bique Osman 5,6,; Philip Govule 7; Abdou Karim Diallo8; Jahit Sacarlal 9 ; Rodolfo de Carvalho Pacagnella 2.1 Provincial Health Administration - DPS Manica, Manica Province, Mozambique.2 University of Campinas, School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 101 Alexander Fleming st, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Zip code: 13083-970, Brazil.3 University of Ghana, Department of Population Family and Reproductive Health, Accra, Ghana.4 National Institute of Public Health of Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.5 Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 706 Salvador Allende st, Maputo, Mozambique.6 Maputo Central Hospital, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Agostinho Neto st, Maputo, Mozambique.7 University of Ghana, School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Disease control, Accra, Ghana.8 Clinique Gynecologique et Obstetricale de l'Hopital Aristide Le Dantec, Dakar, Senegal.9 Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, 706 Salvador Allende st, Maputo, Mozambique.† Co-First authorship*Corresponding author:Charles M'poca Charles, Provincial Health Administration - DPS Manica, Manica Province, Mozambique.Email: firstname.lastname@example.com number: +258 825483741 / +55 19 98198-7713Shortened running title: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Africa & pregnant women.Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, Africa, Low and middle-income countries, network, severe maternal morbidity.The SARS-Cov-2 (COVID-19) virus causes an infectious and multisystem disease first diagnosed in China in December 2019.1Having evolved rapidly with an exponential increase in the number of cases and deaths worldwide, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the WHO in mid-March 2020. Although in most Sub-Saharan African countries the pandemic is in its initial phase, as of 8 September 2020, the cumulative total cases of COVID-19 in the African Region exceeded one million and it is now at 1 315 073 confirmed cases with 31 725 deaths.2The advent of the pandemic has exhibited the weaknesses of health systems in different settings, testing capacity and strategy being more evident in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).3The growing number of COVID-19 cases has forced many countries to reorganise existing health services and reassign available healthcare professionals to combat COVID-19. In this regard, a number of service delivery points were closed due to the lack of healthcare providers.In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries enforced lockdown restrictions that closed down schools, businesses, restaurants, markets, religious gatherings, and limited mass gatherings and border entry. The lockdowns in some contexts, led to the disruption or suspension of many essential health services including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, thus placing women of reproductive age under conditions of greater vulnerability and at risk of suffering devastating effects from COVID-19.4, 5In LMIC countries, the disruption in SRH services such as family planning, prevention and treatment of sexual transmitted infection (STI), safe abortion services, antenatal and postnatal consultations pose risks to women of reproductive age. The disruptions were generally associated with low coverage of the health network, weak diagnostic capacity for SARS-CoV-2 detection, shortage of trained healthcare personnel and reduced demand for services in the available health facilities due to stigma and fear of acquiring SARS-COV-2 infection.This situation has the potential to contribute negatively to the incidence of high risk pregnancy, near miss, maternal and perinatal deaths in these LMIC countries, with the consequent compromise of objective 3.1 of the WHO Sustainable Development Goals, 2030 agenda.6Although information on the clinical course of the disease and the consequences on maternal and perinatal health are still scarce, there is evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of perinatal complications, including foetal distress, premature birth, perinatal death 7 and increased rate of admission to the intensive care unit and need for mechanical ventilation. 8, 9The risk of maternal and perinatal complications may be increased in pregnant women with underlying medical conditions, black pregnant women, and pregnant women from a disadvantaged social class and, in contexts with limited access to adequate healthcare services for COVID-19 management. 10, 11Although, the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women was considered a secondary priority (12), studies involving pregnant women with respiratory diseases caused by other respiratory viruses in addition to recent data from studies of pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection in middle and high-income countries, highlight the need to pay special attention to this group of women, especially in settings where healthcare services are strained.While global maternal deaths gradually declined between 2000 and 2017, disparities in patterns of mortality still exist with Sub-Saharan Africa region alone accounting for approximately 66% of deaths in the continent.13 Due to the increasing number of reported maternal death cases related to the COVID-19, mostly from LMIC, and deficiencies in reporting cases in those countries, the need for prospective monitoring of COVID-19 cases among pregnant women in the context of LMIC is needed now more than ever.As SARS COV-2 is a novel virus, knowledge of its impact on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is now emerging. 14Therefore, to understand the dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection in its broad spectrum in the obstetric population of LMIC countries and to minimize the effects of the pandemic on maternal and perinatal health, it is essential to join forces among African researchers to generate evidence to better elucidate the magnitude of the problem. For this, the adoption of interinstitutional and multinational strategies is essential to optimize the allocation of scarce resources to fight the pandemic.In response to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic in sub Saharan Africa, domestic and regional level efforts have been undertaken by various partners in multiple sectors.15, 16 A critical component to complement these strategies is the setting up of multi-centre collaborative networks of African researchers to undertake surveillance studies of conditions related to maternal and neonatal morbidity associated with COVID-19 and interinstitutional support for the creation and implementation of care protocols. The building of a collaborative network to study the impact of COVID-19 on the obstetric population in Africa (African Network for fighting COVID-19 in pregnancy- ANCOVID-19) would enable a broad understanding of the pattern of disease evolution in different countries and different contexts, enabling a better understanding of the role of context-specific determinants in the evolution of infection by SARS-CoV-2 and strengthen measure to ensure access to essential reproductive health services during pandemics, lockdowns and easing of restrictions.Likewise, the implementation of robust surveillance systems and support to weaker systems by the stronger partnerships may favour the collection of standardised information on related maternal and perinatal morbidity. Continuous monitoring of the impact of the disease on maternal and perinatal health including strategies for remote monitoring of pregnant women through telephone calls and/or digital tools where available coupled with the sharing of clinical information will contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of infection in this population and the moment of greatest vulnerability for the maternal and newborn health.Thus, we call on all researchers in Africa to join in a continental effort to combat COVID-19 and reduce its impacts on maternal and perinatal health in Africa. This would encourage the provision of routine maternal and newborn services during and post pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa.


In this paper, we studied the dynamics of thin shell in the perfect fluid composed of scalar field. To formulate the equation of motion of the shell, we used the Israel thin-shell formalism for the...