To achieve both accumulator pressure regulation and generator power tracking for a Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) system, a nonlinear controller designed base on an energy based Lyapunov function. The control inputs for the storage system are the pump/motor displacements inside the hydraulic transformer and the liquid piston air compressor/expander. While the pump/motor inside the liquid piston has a low bandwidth, the other pump/motor inside the hydraulic transformer has a relatively higher bandwidth. On the other hand, the pneumatic energy storage path of open accumulator has high energy density, whereas the hydraulic path is more power dense. The nonlinear controller is then modified based on these properties. In the proposed approach, the control effort is distributed between the two pump/motors based on their bandwidths: Hydraulic transformer reacts to high frequency events, while the liquid piston air compressor/expander perform a steady storage/regeneration task. As the result, liquid piston air compressor/expander will loosely maintain the accumulator pressure ratio, while the pump/motor in hydraulic transformer precisely tracks the desired generator power. This control scheme also allows the accumulator to function as a damper for the storage system by absorbing power disturbances from the hydraulic path generated due to wind gusts. INTRODUCTION Extracting energy from wind is perhaps one of the most attractive industries in renewable energy generation. However, the main disadvantage and constraint in providing a good performance and capacity for the wind turbines is the intermittency and mismatch between available wind power and electrical power demand. Therefore, large scale energy storage systems can be significantly useful to improve the capacity factor of wind farms by providing the steady and predictable power for grid as well as capturing maximum available wind power in normal situations. Storing energy in high pressure compressed air is attractive since increasing the pressure ratio of the compressed air can result an appreciable energy density. For example, at a pressure ratio of 350 (35 MPa), 170MJ of energy can be stored in 1m3 of volume. Other major benefits of CAES systems are their low cost and long operation life. A novel CAES system has been proposed and modeled in [1, 2] (Fig. 1). The excess energy from the wind turbine is stored in the storage vessel prior to electricity generation, while the generator power is maintained at the desired value (demand power from electrical grid). This allows to downsize the electrical components and reduce the involved power electronics. In particular, downsizing the generator will consequently improve the capacity factor of the system defined based on the generator size. Two main challenges in the proposed CAES system are i) the low efficiency and power density of the air compressor/expander, ii) efficiency and power reduction of the compressor/expander when the pressure inside the storage vessel reduces as compressed air depletes. The first concern can be solved by deploying liquid piston air compressor/expander [3] with a chamber filled with porous materials, beside using optimal compression/expansion trajectory [4] and water spray cooling/heating method [5]. The open accumulator concept is a solution for the second issue [6]. Energy can be stored or extracted by pumping or releasing i) pressurized liquid similar to a conventional hydraulic accumulator or ii) compressed air similar to a conventional air receiver. In both cases, energy is stored in the compressed air. By coordinating the hydraulic and the pneumatic paths, the pressure can be maintained regardless of energy content. However, this coordination for the purpose of pressure regulation can affect the generator power due to tandem shaft connection between the pump/motors connected to the pneumatic and hydraulic paths of the open accumulator as well as induction generator. Therefore, a good control algorithm is essential for simultaneous achievement of the pressure regulation and generator demand power tracking. The efficient performance of the CAES system is significantly dependent on this controller design. Note that both objectives should be satisfied in presence of supply or demand power variations. In this paper, an energy-based controller is first developed to exponentially stabilize the system states and meet the abovementioned control objectives. However, this controller does not take advantage of the frequency characteristics of the system as well as meeting the bandwidth requirement for the liquid piston air compressor/expander unit. Therefore, a filter is introduced in the controller implementation to channelize the high-frequency and low-frequency commands to the hydraulic pump/motor and the liquid piston compressor/expander, respectively. In this scheme, the pump/motor responds to the fast changes in the input power due to wind gusts and the liquid piston compressor acts against long-term variations in either wind speed or electrical grid demand power. Simulation results have been presented for the combined wind turbine and CAES system while the turbine torque is controlled by the standard torque controller. Modeling A short summary of the system model is followed that describes different subsystems and their function in the combined wind turbine and storage system: A variable displacement pump (B) is directly (no gearbox) attached to the wind turbine (A) in nacelle which converts wind power to hydraulic power. Such a direct coupling requires a comparatively large displacement pump to transmit a large power (i.e. order of MW) since the wind turbine angular speed is low (≤ 20rpm). At the ground level, there is a tandem connection of a variable displacement hydraulic pump/motor (C), a near-isothermal liquid piston air compressor/expander (F) and a fixed speed induction generator (G), all driven by the pump (B). The liquid piston air compressor/expander, the main unit for storing/regenerating energy, consists of a compression/expansion chamber filled with some porous material (F1) and a liquid piston pump/motor (F2). The porous material is used in addition to optimal compression/expansion trajectory and water spray to enhance the heat transfer inside the chamber to improve its thermal efficiency which has a significant effect on the overall efficiency of the storage system. The open accumulator (E) which is in fact the storage vessel contains both air and liquid. Hydraulic path can be utilized to accommodate high power transient events such as wind gust or sudden power demand (from grid), whereas the pneumatic path can be reserved for steady storage/regeneration function. Figure 1. CAES SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE In summary, the overall dynamic of the combined wind turbine and storage system can be found as: Jrω̇r =− Dp 2π P0(r−1)−Γp(ωr)+ 1 2 ρ0πRrCP(β,λ) V 3 w ωr (1) Jgω̇g =− Dpm 2π P0(r−1)− Dl p 2π P0ln(r)η sgn(Dl p) trm −Γpm(ωg) −Γl p(ωg)−Tg(ωg) (2) V ṙ = Dl p 2π ωg + Dp 2π ωrr+ Dpm 2π ωgr−Ll p(Pw) − rLp(r)− rLpm(r) (3) V̇ =− ( Dp 2π ωr + Dpm 2π ωg ) +Lp(r)+Lpm(r) (4) where r, g, p, pm and l p are subscripts standing for turbine rotor, generator shaft, pump in nacelle, pump/motor in hydraulic transformer and the pump/motor connected to the liquid piston air compressor/expander chamber, respectively. In these equations, D is used to show the displacement for hydraulic actuators, Γ is the mechanical loss and L is the volumetric loss. Moreover, r is the pressure ratio of the air inside the accumulator and V is the volume of the compressed air. Additionally, Rr and Vw are the radius of the wind turbine rotor and the wind speed while Cp is the turbine power factor as a function of blade's pitch angle (β) and tip speed ratio (λ). It should be noted that while the displacement of the actual liquid piston pump/motor in a cycle varies rapidly to achieve the desired compression/expansion profile [4], a cycle mean value is used here shown by Dl p. In the other words, cycle-by-cycle behavior is approximated by a time average model. ηtrm is then the thermodynamic efficiency of the compression/expansion chamber over one cycle. Finally, P0 and ρ0 are the ambient pressure and density of air and J is the angular moment of inertia. Controller Design The overall control objectives of the combined wind turbine and the storage system can be summarized as: i) Capturing maximum available power from wind by controlling the wind turbine angular speed; ii) Maintaining the accumulator pressure ratio over the storage or regeneration mode; and iii) Providing the required power demanded by the electricity grid. Since the wind turbine shaft and the generator shaft are not coupled in the proposed architecture, it would be possible to achieve all these goals at the same time. Wind turbine control is performed by utilizing standard torque control approach through the hydraulic pump located in the nacelle. The accumulator pressure and generator power will be controlled by the variable displacement pump/motors inside the hydraulic transformer as well as the liquid piston air compressor/expander unit. Storage System and Generator In conventional CAES systems, the pressure in the storage vessel reduces as compressed air in the storage vessel depletes, making it difficult for the air compressor/expander to maintain either its efficiency or power at all energy levels. However, in the open accumulator design, it is possible to maintain the pressure no matter how much compressed air is inside the vessel. So, it is important to design a controller such that it maintain the desired power on the generator shaft as well as the desired pressure ratio in the accumulator. Design of an appropriate nonlinear controller begins by choosing a suitable Lyapunov function. Here, the idea is to use an energy based Lyapunov function relying on the energy of generator shaft as well as compressed air inside the accumulator. Note that beca


The Technology-Economy-Society Program at IIASA focuses the evolution, competition, and management of technologies; on identifying economic and social prerequisites; and on assessing the socioeconomic impacts of technological developments.

This reprint summarizes the results of a study performed within the New Logistics Technologies Project in order to explore the interplay between the introduction of some 18 different types of new logistic technologies and the development of freight transport systems.

One in-depth explorative case study from the automotive industry was performed to generate hypotheses and a conceptual framework, which were then tested on some 20 cases from early users of new logistics technologies.


Current studies regarding water resources primarily focus on the qualification of blue water,but seem to pay less attention to green water which should be taken as a part of water resources and particularly is of importance to rain-fed agriculture and ecological systems.Spatially and temporally detailed analysis of different components of water resources are essential for decision-making in water resources planning and management.Blue water is defined as visible liquid water moving above and below the ground in the form of surface or sub-surface runoff,respectively.Green water is referred to as invisible vapor moving to the atmosphere including green water flow and green water storage.In this study,both blue and green water were considered in water resources assessment,which would be helpful for addressing the problem of water shortage.Through an analysis on assessment methods for blue and green water resources,it was considered that the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT),a semi-distributed hydrological model,was one of most promising and efficient tools to estimate blue and green water resources.The SWAT model was used to simulate hydrologic processes in the Lushi watershed,a semi-arid to semi-humid area located in the upstream of the Yiluo River basin.In the light of the definition of blue water and green water,blue water can be equal to the water yield of surface and ground water,green water flow can be taken as actual evapotranspiration (ET),and green water storage can be regarded as the soil water storage estimated by the SWAT model.The SWAT model was used to estimate blue and green water resources in the Lushi watershed.Both spatial and temporal distributions of blue and green water resources were analyzed in detail.Results showed that 1) the amount of blue and green water resources is generally 9 times of the amount of conventional water resources in the Lushi watershed;2) the annual blue and green water in the Lushi watershed peaks in flood season,and is lowest in winter.The green water flow is a major part of green water resources;and 3) the green water storage capacity is relatively larger in well-vegetated areas than that over other areas.Moreover,the concept of blue and green water resources provides stakeholders with a new means for efficiently utilizing and allocating water resources.On the basis of the spatial and temporal distributions of blue and green water,optimum utilization of water resources may be achieved through improvement in water management by reducing inefficient green water and increasing available blue water resources.


Objective The systolic displacements of the tricuspid valve ring were measured in patients performed the tricuspid annuloplasty with tissue motion annular displacement(TMAD)technology,in order to evaluate the recovery of right ventricular systolic function and compare the forming effect of different tricuspid annuloplasty.Methods Forty patients were performed the tricuspid annuloplasty from December 2010 to May 2011,Beijing An Zhen Hospital,Cardiac Surgery,including 22 cases of soft ring and 18 cases of Edwards MC3 ring.The lateral tricuspid annulus displacement and parietal septum displacement of the forty patiens were measured with TMAD technology.Annulus diameter in apical four-chamber view,tethering height,right ventricular transverse diameter and long diameter were measured with two-xdimensinal echocardiogram.Color Doppler flow imaging was used to measure the tricuspid regurgitation area and continuous wave Doppler was used to measure the pulmonary artery systolic pressure.Then we compared all the data in the two groups.Results Right ventricular lateral tricuspid annulus displacement[(8.73±3.13)mm] in the Edwards MC3 ring forming group was greater than that in the soft ring forming group[(7.07±1.72)mm],and the difference was statistically significant(t=-2.12,P=0.04);Right ventricular parietal septum displacement[(7.64±2.70)mm]in the Edwards MC3 ring forming group was greater than that in the soft ring forming group[(5.89±2.24)mm],and the difference was statistically significant(t=-2.23,P=0.03);the results of annulus diameter in apical four-chamber view,tethering height,right ventricular long diameter and transverse diameter,tricuspid regurgitation area,pulmonary artery systolic pressure were(27.91±5.47)mm,(4.01±2.00)mm,(64.88±8.33)mm,(33.88±4.90)mm,(2.62±1.85)cm2,(29.50±9.14)mm Hg(1 mm Hg=0.133 kPa) in the Edwards MC3 ring forming group,and were(27.77±3.32)mm,(4.32±1.52)mm,(64.59±7.76)mm,(35.36±4.47)mm,(2.96±2.06)cm2,(30.72±8.14)mm Hg in the soft ring forming group,the difference between the two groups were not statistically significant(t=-0.10,0.55,0.39,0.99,0.54,0.44,P0.05).Conclusion Impacts on the displacement of the tricuspid annulus with Edwards MC3 ring forming group was smaller than that with soft ring forming group,and the recovery of the right ventricular systolic function with Edwards MC3 ring forming group is better than that with soft ring forming group.


Objective:To research efficacy and safety of Follow-up of laser treatment lotion with Quyou lotion four weeks to reduce recurrence of condyloma. Method:To study the condyloma acuminatum prospectively with 94 women patients,In which only 47 cases of laser treatment and another 47cases treated with Quyou lotion for 4 weeks after the laser wound healing. To study condyloma recurrence ratio and safety evaluation in 4,8,12 and 16 weeks with unified evaluation standard. Result:In raser treating group,the recurrence ratios are 6. 38% ,2. 13% ,0 and 0 in 4,8,12 and 16 weeks respectively. In combined treatment group the recurrence ratios are 24. 44% ,9. 09% ,4. 55% and 2. 27% ,the Total recurrence ratio is 40. 91% ,there is significant difference between the two groups(P 0. 01). Conclusion:Quyou lotion combined laser treatment is a safe treatment method and can reduces the recurrence rate of condyloma.


The biochemical changes on normal and degenerated tissues of rotator cuff supraspinatus tendons were probed by FT-Raman spectroscopy. The Raman spectra showed differences on the spectral regions of cysteine, amino acids, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. These spectral differences were assigned to pathological biochemical alterations due to the degenerative process of the tendon. Principal Components Analysis was performed on the spectral data and enabled the correct classification of the spectra as normal (grade 1) and degenerated (grades 2 and 3). These findings indicate that Raman spectroscopy could be a very promising tool for the rotator cuff supraspinatus tendon diagnosis and for quantification of their degenerative degree.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major causes of liver cancer worldwide and every year 3–4 million people become infected. Whereas some infected people eradicate the virus spontaneously, almost 85% do not and instead develop a chronic infection. Recently, it was shown that people with a functional IFNL4 gene have a lower chance of clearing the virus spontaneously or in response to treatment than people with a non-functional IFNL4 gene. Why it is a disadvantage to have a functional IFNL4 gene during HCV infection is currently not known although a causal relationship between the activity of the IFNk4 protein and poor HCV clearance has been demonstrated. IFNk4 belongs to the type III IFNs together with IFNk1, -2, and -3. However, it differs from the others not only by its low sequence similarity but also by its impaired secretion. This impairment is not due to a weak signal peptide, as swapping the signal peptides between IFNk3 and -4 had no effect on secretion. When we purified IFNk3 and -4, we found that IFNk4 is far more difficult to refold in vitro than IFNk3 suggesting that the poor secretion of IFNk4 could be due to an inherent problem of folding the protein. Because such a problem could also mean that IFNk4 could be far unstable than the other type III IFNs, we decided to compare the stability of recombinant IFNk3 and IFNk4. Our results demonstrate that IFNk4 like IFNk3 is surprisingly stable once it has folded properly.


Self-imaging possibilities for periodical gratings that have nonuniform pit structure are theoretically investigated. The diffraction of periodic arrays in the deep Fresnel region is analyzed according to the scalar diffraction theory. The expressions of the diffraction intensities of three different gratings that have binary square, binary circle, and Gaussian pit structure are considered. Talbot images of gratings with nonuniform pit structure are predicted to appear at multiple certain distances. The present paper shows that even a structure in short-range disorder may take on the self-imaging effect in a Fresnel field.


This paper proposes to examine some symbolic features in the book The Lord of theRings, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who brings some references to aspects of everyday life inmedieval times. First of all, we want to reflect on the implementation of The lord of the rings inthe lessons of history, within theoretical and practical, with a view to pedagogical practice thatenables students to construct historical knowledge. The idea of exploring this aspect of the workcame about after observing that the author makes use of various topics related to the MiddleAges  to  recreate  his  fantasy  world,  a  land  of  people, language,  history  and  geographythemselves.


Ronald Delaney is an angry and frustrated Newfoundland physician and he has a warning for government officials who want to meddle in private medical matters. If they think......... they're going to be able to rummage through his confidential ofX fice files, photocopy his patients' records and charts and otherwise examine the innermost thoughts and feelings of the people who consult him, they're banging on the wrong doctor's door. He won't D _ allow it. He bristled as he spoke to CMAJ from his Casey Street office in downtown St. John's. "I took an oath when I became a doctor and I plan to respect it," he said. What he's saying is that conversations and examinations in the doctor's office are the business of just two people, the physician and the patient, and they're confir dential. Delaney, a 44-year-old general practitioner who was born and raised in small-town Buchans, Nfld., is the focal point of a controversy arising out of one of many audits of physician billing accounts by the Newfoundland Medical Care Commission. Known locally as the MCP, this government medicare agency processes and pays doctors' fee claims. Delaney maintains that in


The Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) after heart valve replacement in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) leads to the endothelial dysfunction. However, surprisingly little is known about the specific role of the endothelium and cell adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of IE and SIRS after cardiac surgery. In this study we enrolled 110 consecutive Caucasian (Russian) individuals who underwent heart valve replacement surgery due to IE. Open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass was performed in all cases. We measured plasma concentrations of soluble L, P, E-selectins, MMP-1, MMP-2, TIMP-1, TIMP-2 levels and von Willebrand factor activity at the different time points after cardiac surgery. Statistically significant differences between the concentrations of MMP-1 and MMP-2, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2, Е-selectin and clinical groups of patients were identified.


The new tungsten allyl nitrosyl complex, Cp*W(NO)(η3-CH2CHCHMe)(CH2CMe3) (1) (Cp* = η5-C5Me5; Me = CH3), selectively activates the terminal C−H bonds of n-pentane at room temperature and forms the thermally stable compound, Cp*W(NO)(η3-CH2CHCHMe)(CH2CH2CH2CH2Me) (2), from which the n-pentyl ligand may be selectively released as 1-iodopentane by treatment with I2. Current experimental evidence suggests that the C−H activation chemistry derived from 1 proceeds via two distinct steps:  (1) formation of the intermediate η2-diene complex, Cp*W(NO)(η2-CH2CHCHCH2) (A) via intramolecular β-H elimination of neopentane from 1, and (2) incorporation of n-pentane into A via intermolecular β-H addition to produce 2. Intermediate A can be trapped by PMe3 as the Cp*W(NO)(η2-CH2CHCHCH2)(PMe3) adduct (3), and the solid-state molecular structures of 1, 2, and 3 have been established by single-crystal X-ray crystallographic analyses.


The Topical Meetings of the IEEE Photonics Society are the premier conference series for exciting new areas in photonic science, technology, and applications, creating the opportunity to learn about emerging fields and to interact with the research and technology leaders in an intimate environment. This year the meetings will be held at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, located in downtown Seattle, WA.


With the established surface mount infrastructure and the temperature constraints of components and printed circuit boards, the melting temperatures of lead‐free solder alloys need to be designed as close to 63Sn/37Pb as practical, and not to exceed 215°C. However, metallurgically, the Sn‐based lead‐free solders cannot approach a melting point as low as 183°C without incorporating a high content of low‐melting elements such as In, Bi or Ga. Incorporating such high contents of these elements involves prohibitive mechanical properties and/or cost. Nonetheless, it has been found that a low dosage of one or more low‐melting point elements within a well designed alloy composition can achieve superior performance to 63Sn/37Pb without incurring an unacceptable cost. To avoid prohibitive cost and/or mechanical properties, whilst achieving the melting temperature requirement, the thresholds for each of these elements, as examples, are found to be In ≤q 6 wt.%, Bi < 4 wt.% or Ga ≤q 0.5 wt.%. This paper summarises the results for one of the lead‐free systems studied within a ten‐year research program.


The invention relates to a method for improving the sensitivity of a surface plasmon resonance sensor based on a spectral response curve. The method comprises the steps that the first spectral response curve monotonically decreasing within a selected wavelength range is obtained; the incident angle of the SPR sensor is adjusted, so that within a preset refractometry range, the resonant wavelength of the SPR is within the wavelength range of the spectral response curve and is better at the end of the long wave; the position of the resonant wavelength of the SPR is judged directly through original spectral data of a system, and adopted as output data of the sensor, and therefore the sensitivity of the spectral type SPR sensor is improved.


[Objective]To know the living condition and requirements of AIDS-related health services among men who have sex with men(MSM),and analyze the factor that influences theif taking part in HIV test to provide suggestions on improving the intervention work against AIDS high-risk behaviors.[Methods]A cross-sectional survey was performed to collect information about demographic characteristics,living condition,social networks and sexual behaviors,knowledge and attitude towards AIDS/HIV, history of HIV test and HIV infection,etc.A total of 158 eligible MSM of different age and income were investigated face to face and one by one from June to December,2010.[Results]Among the MSM investigated,66.5%(105/158) were from provinces or cities outside Shanghai,17.7%(28/158) were bisexual,and 64.1%(97/158),50.6%(80/158),51.9%(82/158) and 10.1%(16/158) admitted having regular male sexual partners,many-nights male sexual partners,one-night male sexual partners and female sexual partners respectively.In addition,71.5%(113/158) of the subjects had the history of HIV test and 57.6%(91/158) were tested in recent two years.Non-conditional logistic regression analysis showed that education(OR=0.29,95%CI:0.09-0.90) was a factor that significantly obstructed the act of getting HIV tests.Their advices on AIDS prenvention and control included strengthening health education,showing more care and understanding and less discrimination,and promoting free delivery of condoms.[Conclusion] More health services such as free HIV tests should be given to MSM.Measures like strengthening health education,showing more care and understanding and less discrimination,and providing free condoms can play an important role in meeting both the physical and psychological needs of MSM and preventing HIV transmission.


Technological innovations have confronted considerable changes during recent years which pave the way for digital marketing era.It has changed the way the business utilize its technology for marketing.The entire outlook of traditional marketing was replaced by digital marketing.The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges and opportunities of digital marketing.The study also deals with the marketing mix concerned with digital marketing.The study also extends on search engine optimization,content marketing and Internet of Things.Marketing is the only field which is often first in line to lead digital transformation.Digital marketing has become more complex as it requires a new approach to marketing activities and it is always one step ahead of current strategies.


This is an invitation to enjoy watching how unbounded subnor-mality, a rather recent development, gets involved in solving the commutation relation of the quantum harmonic oscillator.


In this article, we use real world cases to discuss different ways enterprises can contribute to open source. We also analyze the economic incentives for enterprises to participate in the open source community. We found it is useful to distinguish firms that build business models on OSS (OSS vendors) from those that use OSS in internal IT projects (OSS users). Based on the models we propose, we investigate the conditions and optimal amount of contributions from each firm.


The authoress thinks that the theme of voluntary sacrifice was not invented by Euripides, because the bulk of it is to be found in Sophocles. On the other hand, she maintains that only the Antigona of Sophocles and the Hippolytus of Euripides presents voluntary sacrifice as really tragic.


Abstract. Significance: Hemoglobin oxygen saturation and red blood cell (RBC) tissue fraction are important parameters when assessing microvascular status. Functional information can be attained using temporally resolved measurements performed during stimulus–response protocols. Pointwise assessments can currently be conducted with probe-based systems. However, snapshot multispectral imaging (MSI) can be used for spatial–temporal measurements. Aim: To validate if hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction can be quantified using a snapshot MSI system and an inverse Monte Carlo algorithm. Approach: Skin tissue measurements from the MSI system were compared to those from a validated probe-based system during arterial and venous occlusion provocation on 24 subjects in the wavelength interval 450 to 650 nm, to evaluate a wide range of hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction levels. Results: Arterial occlusion results show a mean linear regression R2  =  0.958 for hemoglobin oxygen saturation. Comparing relative RBC tissue fraction during venous occlusion results in R2  =  0.925. The MSI system shows larger dynamic changes than the reference system, which might be explained by a deeper sampling including more capacitance vessels. Conclusions: The snapshot MSI system estimates hemoglobin oxygen saturation and RBC tissue fraction in skin microcirculation showing a high correlation (R2  >  0.9 in most subjects) with those measured by the reference method.


During the last decade, the Islamic banking sector in Brunei Darussalam experienced remarkable and increasingly challenging development in the face of strong competition from conventional banks. The main objective of this paper is to examine the effects of both service quality and product quality, and of satisfaction awareness of Islamic banking in Brunei Darussalam. This study also examines the reasons that consumers select Islamic banking. A questionnaire survey was conducted among Islamic banks' customers. The findings show that the indirect effects of service quality and product quality on satisfaction awareness were positive and significant. They also revealed that consumers were aware of Islamic banking products and services to a certain degree; and the reasons for preferring them were profitability and religious principles. As a result, these findings provide the Islamic banking industry with helpful guidelines in its efforts to formulate suitable promotional policies to attract more banking customers.


A DRUG CONTAINS retarder composition IBUPROFENO as a racemate, a mixture of racemate with its enantiomers, UN SEUDORRACEMATO (MIXTURE OF EQUAL PARTS SY R BUPROFENO) or a mixture of different parts of SNO in the area between S the ibuprofen composition DELAY CONSTITUTES nanosol PHARMACEUTICALLY APPLICABLE BASED JELLY AND MEETS THE REQUIREMENTS OF THERAPY FOR eFFICIENT rheumatism.


The invention provides an autonomous mobile multifunctional robot comprising a bottom unit, a body unit and a head unit. The bottom unit comprises a laser radar and a collision detecting sensor, used for detecting and feeding back first and second distance messages of an obstacle, respectively. The body unit is located above the bottom unit and comprises a plurality of ultrasonic sensors and a control unit; the ultrasonic sensors detect and feed a third distance message of the obstacle back; the control unit receives the distance messages and calculates a distance between the robot and the obstacle. The head unit is located above the body unit and comprises a camera and a display screen. Compared with the prior art, the autonomous mobile multifunctional robot has the advantages that with the self-carried various ranging devices, such as the laser radar, the collision detection sensor and the ultrasonic sensors, the robot detect the environment with no aid from any other external sensors, independent thinking ability of the robot can be greatly improved, and intelligence level of the robot can be greatly increased.


Soil damping ratio is an important parameter for modelling the dynamic behaviour of soil embankment structures, especially for the micro‐vibration analysis of hospitals and high‐tech industries, which have a very severe construction requirement for vibration. This paper explores using a least‐squares method to evaluate the Rayleigh damping parameters for the finite element analysis of wave propagation in soils. The least‐squares method was first used in Bornitz's equation to calculate the absorption coefficients of soils. Afterward, the best‐fit Rayleigh damping parameters were obtained using those coefficients in the least‐squares scheme again. Both three‐dimensional finite element analyses and field experiments were performed to validate the accuracy of this method. The comparison between experimental and finite element results demonstrates that the accuracy of this least‐squares method is acceptable. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective To study the incidence and risk factors of pesticde mixtures poisoning ,and raise a preventive plan for reducing the morbidity of pesticide mixtures poisoning.Methods Those 1 102 pesticide mixtures sprayers(exposure group) and 1 260 single pesticide sprayers(control group) were investigated by means of epidemiologic methods.Results The incidence of exposure group was significantly higher than that of control group( P 0 05),the differences of the AchE inhibiting rate before or after spraying were no significance between exposure group and control group.Ten indexes,such as the spraying quantity and ways of pesticide using were the main risk factors causing pesticide poisoning.Conclusion The risk exposing to pesticide mixtures was 4.5 times higher than that of single pesticide.Preventive measurements were raised.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on the place and role accorded to the collections of the Spanish Crown and nobility at the Exposición Histórico-Europea organized in Madrid in 1892. It sets the exhibition in the political and cultural context of the Fourth Centenary of the Discovery of America and analyses the role of Juan Crooke y Navarrot, the Count of Valencia de Don Juan to understand how royal and aristocratic collections were instrumentalized in a bid to assert the place of the Spanish monarchy on the European and international scene and strengthen its prestige. Commissioner of Crown property, the Count of Valencia de Don Juan was one of the members of the nobility who exhibited their collections to the public. Therefore, his investment in the organization of the exhibition, as a non-professional curator, helps understand what the event meant for Spanish nobility. This enables us to gauge what role such exhibiting played in the construction of the national heritage and art historiography of Spain.


of minority candidates. Those who support term limits vigorously contend that restricting legislators' tenure in office creates new oppor? tunities for minorities (Jacobs 1991), whereas opponents assert that term limits erode the potential for minority advancement (Bositis 1992). However, these conflicting views have been based primarily on conjecture because of a lack of reliable empirical data on limit? ing tenure and electoral outcomes (Mondak 1995), even though limitations on tenure in state legislatures began after the 1990 elec? tion. An extensive body of empirically vali? dated data necessary for in-depth analysis has been slow to develop because the effect of legislative term limits in most states has yet to be fully manifested and recorded (Carey, Niemi, and Powell 2000). Since the 2000 election, however, credible empirical data on the influence of term limits on the electoral


Cu + /(SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 ), Cu + /Al 2 O 3 and Cu + /SiO 2 catalysts were prepared by a combination of the ion-exchange method and thermovacuum treatment. In-situ XANES and EXAFS investigations of the catalysts have revealed that Cu + ions are anchored onto Al 2 O 3 or SiO 2 as planar 3-coordinate Cu + , while being anchored onto SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 as linear 2-coordinate Cu + . Photoluminescence measurements of the catalysts and their quenching by the addition of N 2 O indicated that the Cu + ions interact with N 2 O in their photo excited state (3d 9 4s 1 ). UV irradiation of the catalysts in the presence of N 2 O led to the formation of N 2 and O 2 at 298 K, indicating that the photocatalytic decomposition of N 2 O proceeds on the Cu + ion catalysts. Reaction proceeds more efficiently on the Cu + /(SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 ) catalyst than on the Cu+/Al 2 O 3 or Cu + /SiO 2 catalysts, suggesting that the 2-coordinate Cu + species show the higher activity for the photocatalytic decomposition of N 2 O than the 3-coordinate Cu + species.


By using of the method of multiplier-enlargement,this paper discusses the asymptotic estimation of approximation of multivariate unbounded continuous functions with positive linear operators,and gives general asymptotic formulae.As an example,the asymptotic formulae of approximation of multivariate unbounded continuous functions with Landau operators are discussed and therefore some conclusions of professor Hsu Lizhi are generalized.


Resolving a conjecture of Füredi from 1988, we prove that with high probability, the random graph

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 n-o(n)

 vertices have more neighbours in their own part as across. Our proof is constructive, and in the process, we develop a new method to study stochastic processes driven by degree information in random graphs; this involves combining enumeration techniques with an abstract second moment argument.


Confucianism is profound,and occupy an important position in China's traditional culture.It is the traditional spirit of China,and had far-reaching implications to China's social development,occupies a pivotal position,it contains positive elements,can be taken as a valuable resource of the construction of socialist spiritual civilization,and play a role pf promoting the spiritual civilization;The content of which there will be serious constraints of feudal construction of spiritual civilization,only to enhance the positive factors of Confucianism in the correct guidance,do keep the essence,remove the dross,to make Confucianism play an active role in in the construction of socialist spiritual civilization.


It is shown that the problem of improving the effectiveness of prevention of emergencies related to the underwater location of explosive objects is relevant. An important and unresolved part of the problem is the lack of a mathematical model of the emergency response process associated with the underwater location of an explosive device in general. Based on this, the object of the study was the elimination of an emergency situation related to the underwater location of explosive objects, and the subject of the study – the process of operational activities of personnel of the underwater demining department of a group of special diving rescue team. The aim of the work is to develop a mathematical model of the emergency response process related to the underwater location of an explosive object as a process of functioning of the system "emergency – special means of underwater demining – diver-sapper", which should be the basis for substantiation of operational and technical recommendations. increasing the efficiency of underwater demining by diver sappers without reducing their level of safety.
It is shown that the mathematical model of underwater demining by a diver-sapper is a system of three analytical dependences. The first is a functional that describes the process of underwater demining in the form of a three-factor polynomial model. The second allows us to present this functionality as a set of one-factor models. The third provides the definition of weights in solving a multifactor problem. It is noted that such a model allows to proceed to the substantiation of operational and technical recommendations to the management of the group of special diving works.
The advantage of the new scientific result is the ability to obtain both quantitative estimates of the impact of the direct components of the system "diver-sapper – special means of underwater demining – underwater location of an explosive object" and their relationship. The disadvantage is the large number of experimental results that must be obtained to implement the selected plan.


Regarding the complexity of actual software systems, including web portals, it is becoming more and more difficult to develop software systems such that their real usage will satisfy their intended...


This report describes a computer model of an all-secondary explosive hot-wire device. The model accounts for the ignition of the explosive by electrical heating of a wire and the shearing of a flying plate that is subsequently used to detonate a second explosive. The results obtained from the model are in excellent agreement with experimental data.


Objective To prepare 1.3 copies C-type HBV transgenic mice for providing a better model for the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B.Methods The HBV transgenic mice were generated by microinjection of 1.3 copies C-type HBV genome into the pronucleus of FVB /N zygotes.PCR,ELISA,RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the integration,replication and expression of HBV gene in the transgenic mice.Results Tow thousand two hundred and eighty-two fertilized eggs were injected and a total of 2024 survived.The survival rate of injection was 88.7%.The injected eggs were transplanted into 72 pseudo pregnant female mice,among which 59 became pregnant.The pregnancy rate was 81.9%.One hundred and eighty-five F0 offsprings were produced with 19 positive mice as detected by PCR,and the positive rate was 10.3%.RT-PCR revealed that HBV DNA replication of 102-103 copies/ml existed in serum of 6 mice.Ninety-six F1 offsprings were produced,of which 33 were positive for HBV DNA replication as detected by PCR,the positive rate was 34.4%.RT-PCR showed that HBV DNA replication was observed in 10 mice with 102-103 copies/ml.Three mice were randomly chosen from each of F0 and F1 generations to detect the HBsAg expression in livers and kidneys by immunohistochemistry.The results showed that HBsAg expressed in both livers and kidneys,and it was stronger in kidneys than in livers.Conclusion The 1.3 copies C-type HBV gene can not only replicate and express in the transgenic mice produced,but it also can be transmitted to the next generation of these mice.


We have estimated the height of barriers against carriers formed in the metallic carbon nanotube (m-CNT) grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The result shows that the heights of the barriers against both electrons and holes are about 300 meV. The existence of the barrier in the m-CNT was confirmed by local current modulation using scanning gate microscopy and by the potential drop obtained by Kelvin probe force microscopy.


Soybean is rich in protein and can enhance the nutritional quality of food products. Now-a-days Soybeans are world's important provider of vegetable protein and oil. Soybeans have been classified as oilseed. Soybeans are most widely grown oilseed in the world. Soybean (Glycine max) is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for oil production. The article will focus on nutritive benefits of soybean. Soybean is excellent source of high quality protein, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins. It is also a good source of B complex vitamins, potassium, phosphorus, sodium and magnesium. Soybean is a rich source of phytoestrogens, especially isoflavones. Soy isoflavones are utilized for estrogen replacement therapy. The isoflavones in soybean helps to reduce LDL level. Phytoestrogens are non-steroidal plant compounds that exert estrogenic effects. It is economic and effectively meets human body requirements.


In this paper, analysising and comparing the different definition about Fractional Integrals and Derivatives, it will show the definition how to lead in and what relation among them .


Open Crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon Mechanical Turk provide an attractive solution for process of high volume tasks with low costs. However problems of quality control is still of major interest. In this paper, we design a private crowdsourcing system, where we can devise methods for the quality control . For the quality control, we introduce four worker selection methods, each of which we call preprocessing filtering, real-time filtering, post processing filtering, and guess processing filtering. These methods include a novel approach, which utilizes a collaborative filtering technique in addition to a basic approach of initial training or gold standard data. For an use case, we have built a very large dictionary, which is necessary for Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech. We show how the system yields high quality results for some difficult tasks of word extraction, part-of-speech tagging, and pronunciation prediction to build a large dictionary.


The invention relates to a chemical luminescent immunodetection thyroid microsomal antibody detection reagent kit and a preparation method of the reagent kit. The reagent kit comprises a protein A antigen labeled with a tracer marker, or an anti-human IgG and anti-human IgM labeled with the tracer marker, a thyroid microsomal antigen coated with magnetic spheres, or a junction complex of a protein carrier and the thyroid microsomal antigen coated with the magnetic spheres. The invention also provides a method for detecting the concentration of the thyroid microsomal antibody. When the reagent kit provided by the invention is used for detecting the concentration of the thyroid microsomal antibody, the enzymatic reaction is not involved, and the bridging of enzyme is not needed, so that the reagent is long in preservation time and stable; the detection also can be carried out by virtue of a full-automatic chemical luminescent method, so that the operation time is shortened, the manmade operation error is reduced, and the sensitivity and the accuracy in detection can be improved by utilizing the specificity of the chemical tracer marker.


Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of hardiness training on test anxiety of first-grade female students of high schools in Tehran. Method: for this purpose sixty students, were selected by multistep cluster sampling method. Tools of study were Sarason Test Anxiety Scale (S.TAS) and Hardiness Training. Results: The results indicated that the test anxiety rate of students who received hardiness training was significantly lower than test anxiety of students who did not. Discussion: Hardiness training is effective in decreasing student test anxiety.


Abstract : A set-up for determining conversion coefficients by means of different arrangements with semiconductor detectors (both lithium-drifted silicon and germanium) and scintillation counters is presented. The conversion coefficients corresponding to the three transitions in Hg198 were measured. 'Singles' electron conversion and gamma-ray spectra were recorded deriving the value of the conversion coefficient for the 1.083-MeV transition, taking into account the value obtained for that of the 0.412-MeV transition. Beta continuum-electron conversion coincidences have been performed with two lithium-drifted silicon detectors and the K-conversion coefficient for the latter transition was obtained. Gamma-gamma coincidences with a lithium-drifted germanium detector and a conventional scintillation counter were done, yielding the value of the K-conversion coefficient for the 0.671-MeV transition. (Author)


Methodologies for identifying multivariate outliers are extremely important in statistical analysis. Outliers may reveal relevant information to variables under investigation. Statistical applications without prior identification of possible extreme values may yield controversial results and induce mistaken decision making. In many contexts, outliers are points of great practical interest. Given this, this paper seeks to discuss methodologies for the detection of multivariate outliers through a fair and adequate comparative technique in their simulation procedure. The comparison considers detection techniques based on Mahalanobis distance, besides a methodology based on cluster analysis technique. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy metrics are used to measure the method quality. An analysis of the computational time required to perform the procedures is evaluated. The technique based on cluster analysis revealed a noticeable superiority over the others in detection quality and also in execution time.


The OPERA experiment aims at measuring the \nu_{\mu} -> \nu_{\tau} oscillation through the \nu_{\tau} appearance in an almost pure \nu_{\mu} beam (CNGS). For the direct identification of the short-lived {\tau} lepton, produced in \nu_{\tau} CC interactions, a micrometric detection resolution is needed. Therefore the OPERA detector makes use of nuclear emulsion films, the highest spatial resolution tracking device, combined with lead plates in an emulsion cloud chamber (ECC) structure called 'brick'. In this paper the nuclear emulsion analysis chain is reported; the strategy and the algorithms set up will be described together with their performances.


Four different approximate approaches used to model the stressing of coronal magnetic fields due to an imposed photospheric motion are compared with each other and the results from a full time-dependent magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code. The assumptions used for each of the approximate methods are tested by considering large photospheric footpoint displacements.
We consider a simple model problem, comparing the full nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic evolution, determined with the Lare2D numerical code, with four approximate approaches. Two of these, magneto-frictional relaxation and a quasi-1D Grad-Shafranov approach, assume sequences of equilibria, whilst the other two methods, a second-order linearisation of the MHD equations and Reduced MHD, are time-dependent.
The relaxation method is very accurate compared to full MHD for force-free equilibria for all footpoint displacements but has significant errors when the plasma $\beta_0$ is of order unity. The 1D approach gives an extremely accurate description of the equilibria away from the photospheric boundary layers, and agrees well with Lare2D for all parameter values tested. The linearised MHD equations correctly predict the existence of photospheric boundary layers that are present in the full MHD results. As soon as the footpoint displacement becomes a significant fraction of the loop length, the RMHD method fails to model the sequences of equilibria correctly. The full numerical solution is interesting in its own right, and care must be taken for low $\beta_0$ plasmas if the viscosity is too large.


RESULTS: Oxygen uptake at the different thresholds was not significantly different (P > 0.05). Moreover, GET and [O2Hb]-T were significantly correlated: (1) to each other (r ≥ 0.79; P ≤ 0.001) and (2) to time-to-exhaustion (r = 0.81 and r = 0.72, respectively; P < 0.01). RPE13-T, however, was not significantly correlated with the time-to-exhaustion (P = 0.148). CONCLUSIONS: The 'anaerobic threshold' as identified from GET was concomitant to [O2Hb]-T. Both thresholds were correlated to time-to-exhaustion, and could therefore be used as a performance index in middle-duration events.


INTRODUCTION Low salinity water (LSW) flooding is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method that has received more attention during recent years [1]. Previous experimental studies have revealed the EOR potential of LSW for producing incremental oil on top of conventional water flooding using high salinity water [2-3]. Moreover, different mechanisms were proposed to describe LSW performance among which rock wettability alteration toward more water wetness was believed to be one of the main underlying oil recovery mechanisms [4-5]. The latter was also experimentally supported that LSW could affect oilwater relative permeability function and make them more water-wet [6-7]. Although there is still no consensus on the dominant microscopic mechanisms leading to wettability alteration, it has been reported that geochemical reactions among low salinity water, crude oil and rock minerals could affect rock wettability [8-9]. The review of the previous studies shows that the core of the modeling procedure of LSW is mainly to modify oil-water relative permeability and capillary pressure as a function of brine salinity [1011]. To this end, different interpolating parameters have been proposed to describe rock-fluid interaction induced by LSW injection [9, 11-12].


The current state of the entire agro-industrial complex dictates the need for a radical revision of the methods of state support. Therefore, experience of using rational elements in organizing the system of state regulation of agricultural production in advanced economies will be interesting and useful for our country. Experience of many developed countries is useful, where agricultural production is of paramount importance in connection with the state provides finance for the agricultural producers in varying amounts. Therefore, it is necessary to study the mechanism of agricultures' state support in the countries such as the US, China and individual EU countries in more detailed form.


The present invention provides a transmission method and apparatus of the uplink control information in a next generation mobile communication system. Specifically, by the time domain spreading the control information on the number of the information amount of control information to be transmitted, if increasing the transmission bit rate, thereby enabling user-to-user segment. The method of the present invention, when the process of selecting a transmission scheme for control information to be transmitted, there is no data to be transmitted to an uplink, such as the amount of information of said control information is smaller than a predefined threshold value, or the said control information, and transmitting by spreading by means of at least one each representing cycle by each resource block (LB) to a time interval of shift (Zadoff Chu) ZC sequence that is used to transmit control information and, if there is data to be transmitted to the uplink, the data If the process of the control information transmitted in a time division multiplexing (TDM), and there is no data to be transmitted in uplink to the information amount of the control information to be transmitted, if it exceeds the threshold, or the different types of control information at the same time, It includes a step of transmitting by spreading in the time domain by the orthogonal code assigned to the control information for each terminal. SC-FDMA, CDM, Spreading, control information


ABSTRACT Recently, social media has emerged as a relatively low-cost option for all restaurants that offers more opportunities for monitoring performance than traditional types of media. To date, social media research related to restaurants has often emphasized how to implement social media as a promotional tool and communication device and has focused on larger, chain restaurants or on the consumer perspective. In this study, we apply the resource-based view theory to specifically explore the managerial side of monitoring social media in small restaurants by interviewing people in charge of it. We interviewed eighteen restaurants and specifically asked them about their challenges and successes of using social media as a monitoring tool to explore how they can better utilize social media. We discovered that due to an array of challenges, most small restaurants underutilize social media as a monitoring device in their operations. We suggest ways this can be addressed even with the limited resources small restaurants may have.


[The Unorganised Sector] demonstrates the importance of adopting a holistic approach to the needs of poor women' - "Jana Everett, Contemporary South Asia " This is a practical, experience-based analysis of existing government and non-government schemes which cover workers with no fixed employer or employment in India.


It briefly introduced the application status of SAWL pipe in oil and gas transportation pipeline,and put forward weld cracking along inside welding toe which occurred on individual pipe after expansion,when some enterprise used domestic X80 steel plate to produce SAWL pipe.Through analysis on working procedure,process and parameters of steel pipe production,steel plate performance before and after expansion,welded joint performance,it considered that the yield strength value of steel plate is near the upper limit of technical condition,is the main reason caused steel pipe cracking during expanding.Some solutions were proposed,such as adjusting milling edge,forming,welding,expanding and other technological parameters.


Abstract:A girl learns her first lessons about cheating and death at her grandparents' house, playing cards and Scrabble and listening to them read from the obituaries in the Detroit Jewish News.


Aspect of the present invention, isolated nucleic acid encoding a consensus DIII region of the protein E, and vaccines produced using the same, and using the aforementioned nucleic acids and vaccines, flaviviruses, in particular, West Nile virus and Japanese encephalitis the immune response to multiple serotypes of the virus to a method for causing the host.


This final chapter underlines the weak impact of the gastropub on the pub sector as a whole in purely quantitative terms. It cannot decisively stem the pub dying, but nevertheless has made many positive contributions to the sector. These are examined under four headings: its impact on the built landscape; the wider pub sector; the provision of a community focus; and its effect on the upgrading of food and drink, as well as its positive effect on consumers' expectations and, on the whole, their greater appreciation of good food. By way of a conclusion, the historical continuities and divergences between taverns, inns, and gastropubs are explored. The relaxed hospitality and the extremely informal and flexible nature of consumption of food and drink today have echoes of tavern sociality. In general, today's gastropubs share many more features with the taverns of old than with ale and public houses of earlier centuries.


THE catholicity of Chaucer's interests has always fascinated and confounded those who seek to trace the origins of the Canterbury Tales. Numerous studies, for example, have been devoted to explaining the miraculous grain in the Prioress's Tale, and these attest to the many sources literary historians have investigated in their quest to understand even the smallest details of Chaucer's great work. The purpose of this paper is to suggest other sources possibly influential in determining Chaucer's use of a grain in this context, and to remind those who study the Middle Ages of the wealth of ideas to be found in the rich garners of medieval medical texts. The Prioress's Tale is the account of the appearance of the Virgin to a child whose throat had been cut. She asked him to sing a hymn in her honour, and to effect this miracle, placed what he thought to be a grain on his tongue. This object permitted him to sing, and the Virgin then promised that even when the grain was taken away, she would not abandon him. After an abbot removed it from the boy's tongue, the child, 'yaf up the goost ful softely'.' Although several versions of this legend are known, only in Chaucer's account is a grain the object by which the Virgin performs her miracle. In other analogues, the effective agent is a lily, a precious stone, or a white pebble.2 The question why Chaucer chose to describe the miraculous object as a 'greyn' has long perplexed students of the Canterbury Tales, many of whom have tried to find solutions by focusing on one of the diverse meanings of the word. It has been shown that rosary beads were called 'greynes' in Middle English, and that a particle of the consecrated Host also could have been so designated.3 Several interpretations have been based on the fact that the word was frequently used as a synonym for kernel or seed. Thus, it has been suggested that Chaucer may have been influenced by the Seth-legend in which three seeds were


A presidential panel of scientists is urging the US government to scale back its fusion program drastically, hoping that the blueprint will satisfy congressional budget cutters while allowing some progress toward the goal of harnessing the sun`s energy source. However even that now seems optimistic. This article describes the scaled back proposal, which involves the Tokamak Physics Experiment and test reactor and the international Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as the political manuvering surrounding fusion funding.


The purpose of this report is to collect some open positivity conjectures for integer partitions. The conjectures in §2-§3 are simple to state and initially appear easy to do, but remain open. The conjectures in §4-§5 should be related to representation theory, since they generalize known facts in this area. The conjectures in §6 are speculative, and if true, would require new combinatorial insight. We will use standard notation found in [1] throughout. The q-shifted factorials are defined by


3131 Background: The growing number of targeted therapies approved to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has anchored biomarker testing in clinical practice. Despite general concordance across international guidelines recommending advanced NSCLC patients be tested for oncogenic alterations and immune biomarkers, this is not always the case. This study uses real-world data to explore the barriers to testing across US, Japan, Germany and China. Methods: Ipsos' Biomarker Testing Rate Monitor is a multi-stakeholder, physician-reported syndicated patient record database. 206 cancer-treating physicians (US=69, Japan=37, Germany=41, China=59) were screened for seniority and caseload and submitted data on 990 NSCLC patients (aggregate) in which biomarker testing had not taken place. Data were collected online January – December 2022. Results: Analyzing physician cited barriers why patients were not tested, choosing not to test at patient's current stage was highest in the reported US patient cohort, guidelines not calling for testing at this point was more frequently cited in the Japan (27%) and Germany (25%) patient cohort and patient's co-pay was more frequently cited in the China cohort (34%). The Japan cohort had higher mentions of tissue not being available. Country disparities in the reported metastatic (IIIB-IV) cohort included lack of tissue in Japan (48%) and Germany (25%), deferring testing to a later point in the US (21%) and high co-pay in China (50%). The top cited reasons are shown. Conclusions: Results from this study indicate that, despite guidelines, not all oncology patients receive biomarker testing. While reimbursement structures are difficult to overcome, a concerted effort is needed to raise awareness of the clinical utility of biomarker testing and of the importance of collecting sufficient tissue during the biopsy to allow patients the chance of benefiting from precision medicines. Similarly, calls for earlier testing would support efforts that ensure the best available treatment options are available to patients throughout their journey. Further investigation using comparator cohort is warranted. [Table: see text]


We previously reported that depletion of glutathione in murine hepatocytes by diethylmaleate (DEM) or acetaminophen (APAP) leads to oxidative stress—dependent necrosis and sensitizes to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐induced apoptosis in an oxidative stress—independent fashion, which could not be explained by interference with nuclear factor κB (NF‐κB) nuclear translocation. The present report explores the mechanisms of these effects. We observed that DEM led to necrosis when both mitochondrial and cytosol glutathione were depleted profoundly but sensitized to TNF‐induced apoptosis when cytosol glutathione was depleted selectively. DEM and APAP lead to a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) ratio. Glutathione depletion by DEM or APAP was associated with inhibition of TNF‐induced NF‐κB transactivation of anti‐apoptotic genes, including inducible nitric oxide synthase (i‐NOS). Provision of exogenous NO partially abrogated the sensitization to TNF in response to glutathione depletion. Glutathione depletion alone led to sustained increase in phospho‐jun levels and c‐Jun‐N‐terminal kinase (JNK) activity. JNK inhibitor partially blocked the sensitization to TNF‐induced apoptosis accompanying glutathione depletion. In conclusion, these findings suggest that extramitochondrial glutathione depletion alters the thiol‐disulfide redox state, leading to inhibition of NF‐κB transactivation of survival genes and to sustained activation of JNK, both of which contribute to the sensitization to TNF‐induced apoptosis.


To reduce greenhouse gas emission as per the Kyoto protocol control over the global warming and climate change and to overcome from this issue green building serves the important role. In which we can use the environment friendly "Green" material which is also biodegradable, renewable, and recyclable. India is progressing towards developing to developed country in which Indian government is promoting the movement like "Make In India" under which the construction is rapidly growing. The demand of rapid construction forcing builders to use material which is harmful to Environment. In this paper we discussed about sustainable materials which can be used in rapid construction


We develop a theory describing spatiotemporal behavior of spin transport in two-band metals by postulating a spin–exchange interaction between electrons and holes. Starting with the semiclassical Boltzmann equation, we derive a system of coupled diffusion equations and solve them analytically under steady-state conditions. The solutions reveal two types of electron–hole coupled-spin transport modes: a dissipative mode and a nondissipative mode with an infinite spin diffusion length. The two modes are the manifestations of two types of spin coupling channels. Besides the exchange interaction, we incorporate into our derivation the relaxation caused by the spin–orbit interaction to show how it affects the spin transport characteristics of the two modes.


Complementary DNAs encoding a previously unidentified phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PLC) isozyme were cloned from a rat brain cDNA library by the polymerase chain reaction with degenerate oligonucleotide primers based on sequences common to three known -type PLC isozymes. The encoded polypeptide contains 772 amino acids (calculated molecular mass, 88,966 daltons) and is similar in primary structure to -type PLC isozymes, with overall sequence identities of 45% to PLC-1, 72% to PLC-2, and 47% to PLC-3. Thus, the new PLC isozyme was named PLC-4. Recombinant PLC-4 was purified from extracts of HeLa cells that had been infected with vaccinia virus containing the corresponding cDNA. The purified protein exhibited an apparent molecular mass of 90 kDa on SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The specific activity of PLC-4 and its dependence on Ca were similar to those of PLC-1. The distribution of PLC-4 in 16 different rat tissues was studied by immunoblot analysis with PLC-4-specific antibodies of fractions obtained after an enzyme-enrichment procedure. The 90-kDa immunoreactive protein was detected unambiguously in only eight tissues and was present at concentrations that were low compared to those of other major PLC isozymes. A 93-kDa immunoreactive protein was also prominent in testis but was not detected in the other seven positive tissues. The 93-kDa enzyme appears to be derived from a splice variant of the mRNA that encodes the 90-kDa PLC-4 and contains an additional 32 amino acids between the X and Y catalytic domains. Splice variants have not previously been detected for -type PLC isozymes.


A novel type of pH-sensitive hydrogel blend of poly(vinyl alcohol) with acrylic acid-graft-guar gum has been prepared. Microspheres with a size of ∼10 μm were produced by the water-in-oil (w/o) emulsification method for investigating the controlled release of an antituberculosis drug, isoniazid. These novel carriers were analyzed for surface morphology, size, effect of pH, swelling, drug loading, and in vitro release of isoniazid in pH 1.2 and 7.4 media. The kinetics of drug release was analyzed using empirical equations. Release times of the drug were increased to 8 h from its nascent plasma half-life of 0.5−1.6 h.


We have devised a method which allows efficient subcloning of PCR DNA without the need for primer purification or the need for introduction of restriction sites in the primers. The use of crude oligonucleotides to direct DNA amplification does not affect the yield of the desired DNA fragment. However, DNA fragments amplified in this fashion may be characterized by varying lengths of ends, since the use of primers with varying 5' ends will result in many amplified molecules with 3' overhangs


Through this diploma thesis, the reader can be informed about the different taxonomies of cyber and physical threats, the threat modeling process, as well as the risk assessment procedure of web applications.
Each chapter is a continuation of the previous one and they all aim to initiate the reader in risk assessment methodologies and techniques.
More specifically, in the chapters that follow:
o the risk assessment is defined and its significance is analyzed in the current era
o the various risk assessment methodologies, threats taxonomies and threat modeling methods are thoroughly analyzed
o The uCMDB web application is presented and a risk assessment for this application is carried out by combining risk assessment methodologies and threat modeling tools
Concluding the diploma thesis in the last chapter, some conclusions have been drawn regarding the study of the risk assessment and threat modeling methodologies, as well as the conduct of the extensive risk assessment research as a methodology.


This paper describes the steps taken by a major commercial bank in the USA to redesign a critical function within its check‐processing operation. Animated simulation models of the current and new process were developed to understand the relationship between process parameters, waiting times, and productivity measures. We describe the animated simulation modeling approach in detail, present sample results and provide directions for further use of such an approach in banking.


Obtaining an overview is an important first step in the analysis of data sets, which cannot be easily done nonvisually with current accessibility tools. We present TableVis, a multimodal interface to obtain overview information from numerical data tables non-visually, with the use of an interactive sonification technique controlled from a tangible physical device (a tablet). An experimental study with TableVis is reported, in which it is found that performance is highly insensitive to the size of the data set being explored, for a broad range of data set sizes.


This report explores what is behind this shift in China - ASEAN relations and how it may affect American interests in the region. The key policy issue for Congress is to assess how the United States should view China's expanding posture in Southeast Asia and decide what is the best way to react to this phenomenon. This report may be of assistance to Congressional decision makers as they review legislation such as H.Res. 43 or H.Con.Res. 33 (109th Congress).


It is well known that estimation performance of the Kalman filtering (KF) depends closely on systemic observability. Moreover, observable degree is usually used to measure the ability of observability on systemic state variables in control and estimation systems. Thereby, there should be a corresponding relation between the estimation performance of the KF and the observable degree. Unfortunately, value of the observable degree can tend to be infinite for most current computational ways and there must be a performance upper bound for the KF estimate. There is a clear impact between the observable degree and the filtering accuracy. Two common approaches to compute observable degree of estimation systems are briefly introduced in this paper, i.e., eigenvalues and eigenvectors analysis method for mean squared error (MSE) and singular value decomposition (SVD) method of observability matrix. Furthermore, the corresponding impact relation between the filtering performance and observable degree is expressly discussed by considering influences from system parameters to the observable degree and the estimation accuracy, respectively. Finally, two simulation examples are given to verify the analysis results obtained in this paper.


The clamp mould mechanism is the critical part of the die sinking pressing machine. In this article, two types of clamp mould mechanism are analyzed and studied.


Abstract : In experiments on modification of the physical properties of the P fillings, a procedure was developed for conversion of white P to red P in the munition itself. The resultant massive red P filling is very stable ballistically, but it ignites and burns somewhat less rapidly than is desirable. Most of the work done concerned mixtures of granulated white P and fluid binders which set to solid masses at room temperature. Attempts to prepare suitable binders from laboratory reagents were unsuccessful, but several commercial products appeared to be satisfactory. A method of producing white P granules of suitable particle size was developed in the course of the work. The experimental fillings were charged into M15 grenades for preliminary tests. The performance of the fillings was evaluated in firing tests under simulated service conditions. A thermal stability test was developed and used to measure the effect of storage at high temperatures on the ballistic stability of the fillings.


The European Union has shifted significantly toward a more climate friendly and efficient electricity system with the increase of renewable energy sources. Next electricity management systems help to better integrate distributed generation renewable resources, such as photovoltaic as well as small or micro wind or combined heat and power units, in the electricity market. For example, in 2014 the Spanish National Commission for Markets and Competition accounted of 60,000 photovoltaic plants in comparison with 10,000 plants that had been registered for 2006. Moreover, it is expected that distributed generation increases more in Spain as the Action Plan for Renewable Energy 2011-2020 (Spanish Government, 2011) proposes that the installed capacity of micro and small scale hydropower, photovoltaic and micro wind reach 2158 MW, 12356 MW and 300MW till 2020. By using an Input-Output approach, this paper study the environmental and economic impacts of different energy sources and greenhouse gas emissions in a massive integration of electricity distributed generators under a next electricity management systems. Several scenarios are considered according to different paths of the integration of distributed generators in electricity supply and electricity management strategies. Economically, the investment in these technologies can originate relevant induced effects in the economy. For example, Microwind, Small Hydro and photovoltaic have large economic direct and indirect effects in the Spanish economy in term of output and employment, but the variability of renewable should be considered. The estimated co-benefits in terms of output and new jobs in the economy are relevant and help to the transformation to not only lower-carbon economy but a prosperous nation.


The present work was prepared with the purpose of determining the level of influence of
the organizational factors in the staff turnover of the company "Inversiones Promutel
SAC.", agency Trujillo, Year 2016.
With the accomplishment of the present research work , I´d obtained information that
help to identify the organizational factors that influence the personnel rotation, allowing
other companies to take correctional policies to fight it and in this way to achieve that the
workers will have a better labor stability.
The design was used "transeccional correlacional no causal, and there were applied
surveys to the workers and an interview to the Manager as a technique of investigation.
As result of this investigation , was that the organizational factors have a high influence
in the staff turnover of the company "Inversiones Promutel Sac.", because it was found
that the unsuitable management of these, did that the index of rotation of the period in
study was high; in that way , the workers consider to be priority to have opportunities of
professional growth, which recognize its achievements , also to be in positions according
to its profile.


During Anti-Japanese War,JIANG Jie-shi realized personal dictatorship by paring and disintegrating local strength,by using the changing of regime.That JIANG Jie-shi could realize personal dictatorship was because of three causes:the power needed centralization during the war,the need of Guomindang defending its position of the ruling party and Anti-fascist alliance of the world.


Offshore installation is an important part of deepwater project,and also the last significant engineering before operation.Multi-body analyzing during the installation guide the safety and efficiency of operation,playing a significant role in successful installation.This paper assume liwan 3-1 with Spar platform as background,considering the hydrodynamic interference between multiple floating bodies of craneship,transportship and Spar platform.According to the 3D frequency domain potential theory,the first order wave force and motion response of the wave are analyzed,the best environmental parameters and floating bodies relative position were selected.


Abstract 1853 Background: Bortezomib (1.3 mg/m2) combined with Lenalidomide (10–25 mg) and Dexamethasone (VRD) is effective in newly diagnosed and relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). Reported data on the effect of these drugs in relapse/refractory MM are available from the APEX and MM-009/MM-010 trials, respectively. These trials, however, were performed in patients with 2–8 prior regimens. Aim: This investigator sponsored two-step phase 2 HOVON trial was designed to evaluate escalated dosages of Bortezomib (B) given once weekly and daily Lenalidomide (L) combined with weekly Dexamethasone (D) (eVRD) followed by Lenalidomide maintenance in an homogenous group of patients with symptomatic MM in first relapse. The goal was to explore the maximum tolerated dose of this combination in order to achieve a durable second remission. Methods: Dose levels were B 1.3 mg/m2, L 10 mg, (level 1); B 1.6 mg/m2, L 10 mg (level 2); B 1.6 mg/m2, L 15 mg (level 3); B 1.6 mg/m2, L 20 mg (level 4). D dose was 20 mg days 1–2, 8–9, 15–16 in all dose levels. Inclusion criteria were symptomatic MM ISS stage 1–3, aged 18–80 in first relapse after initial treatment. The primary endpoint was response (complete response (CR) according to IMWG criteria, very good partial response (VGPR), partial response (PR), together overall response (ORR)) with Progression-free Survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and toxicity as secondary endpoints. Results: Eighty-one patients were included, i.e. 15 patients in dose levels 1, 2 and 3, followed by 66 in the phase 2 part. This report is based on 12 patients in the dose escalation phase and the first 42 patients in the phase 2 part. Median age was 67 yrs, with ISS stages 1 (56%), 2 (40%) and 3 (5%). 37/54 patients had received HDM followed by stem cell transplant as part of first-line treatment. The MTD was reached at dose level 3 when the maximum of 3 SAEs in 5 patients was observed. After establishment of the MTD, the phase 2 part of the trial was performed with B 1.6 mg/m2 once weekly for 3 weeks, L 20 mg days 1–21 and D 20 mg days 1–2, 8–9, 15–16, for 8 cycles of 28 days followed by L maintenance 10 mg days 1–21 of a 28 days cycle. The median number of cycles was 6 in the dose-escalation phase and 7 cycles in phase 2. 7/12 (58%) patients in the dose-escalation phase and 23/42 (55%) patients in phase 2 started lenalidomide maintenance. Reasons for premature discontinuation of the protocol treatment were toxicity (14%), progression (24%), no response (5%) or other (14%). Polyneuropathy grade 3–4 occurred in 19% with a median time to maximum PNP of 123 days. Hematological toxicity grade 3 and 4 was observed in 29 % of patients In the phase 2 part including 42 patients the ORR was 92 %, ≥VGPR 64% and CR/nCR 30%. Median time to response was 1.1 cycles. At a median follow-up of 13.6 months PFS at 18 months was 52% and OS 76%. Among predetermined risk factors ISS stage, prior HDM/ASCT and achieved response on protocol, depth of response was the only significant factor which was associated with PFS (p Conclusions: Escalated VRD followed by Lenalidomide maintenance is effective and feasible in patients with first relapse MM. We will present an updated follow-up at ASH This trial was registered as Eudract nr 2007–002533–37. Unrestricted grants and study drug were provided by Janssen and Celgene. Disclosures: Sonneveld:Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Onyx: Honoraria, Research Funding.


This article considered the steady two-dimensional boundary layer flow of incompressible viscous Casson nanofluids over a permeable, convectively heated, shrinking/stretching slippery sheet surface. The achievements of this work are extremely relevant, both theoretically with respect to the mathematical modeling of non-Newtonian nanofluid flow with heat transfer in engineering systems and with respect to engineering cooling applications. The combined impacts of suction/injection, viscous dissipation, convective heating, and chemical reactions were considered. The governing modeled partial differential equations with boundary conditions are transformed into nonlinear ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations and finally converted to the first-order initial value problem. Then, the technique of the fourth-fifth order Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg with the shooting method is used to obtain numerical solutions. Moreover, the effects of different involving parameters on the dimensionless temperature, velocity, and concentration, as well as, from an engineering viewpoint, local Nusselt number, the skin friction, and local Sherwood number are illustrated and presented in graphs and tabular forms. For critical shrinking parameter

 λ

 c

 , the existence of a dual solution within the interval

 λ

 c

 <
 λ
 <
 0

 is revealed, and this range escalates with the suction and slipperiness parameters; hence, both control the flow stability. The increment in the values of the porous media, Casson, Forchheimer, slipperiness, and convective heating parameters reduces the local skin friction and intensifies the rates of mass and heat transfer. For the Newtonian flow (that is, as the Casson parameter

 β

 gets to infinity

 ∞

 ), the thermal boundary layer thickness, temperature profile, and skin friction diminish, whereas the concentration profile, mass, and heat transfer rates increase compared to the non-Newtonian Casson nanofluid. These results excellently agree with the existing ones.


Background: Transanal Total Mesorectal Excision (TaTME) presented in recent years as a novel technique to achieve better outcome in circumferential margin (CRM) and distal margin (DRM) in lower rectal cancer operation. The current study aimed to assess the perioperative and pathological characteristics of TaTME in comparison with laparoscopic total mesorectal excision (LaTME) in patients with mid- and low-rectal cancer. Methods: From January 2016 to December 2018, we enrolled all consecutive patients with rectal cancer, who underwent TaTME and LaTME. Primary endpoints like circumferential rectal margin (CRM) status, distal rectal margin (DRM) status, and pathological outcomes, as well as secondary endpoints including perioperative outcomes (total blood loss, duration of hospitalization, anastomosis leakage, as well as 30-day mortality) were evaluated and compared statistically (α=0.05). Results: 11 patients with distal rectal adenocarcinoma which was biopsy-proven, underwent TaTME, and 19 patients operated on using LaTME. Both groups were similar in the baseline characteristics. Also, the perioperative outcomes were similar in both groups. Regarding pathological outcomes, no patients with CRM Conclusion: TaTME is a reasonable procedure in patients with low rectal cancer. But no remarkable superiority was observed in this method compared to laparoscopy with respect to the pathological outcomes.


(57) The invention provides a medicament topical mucosal application to various types of mucosal epithelium as a hydrophobic ointment. SUMMARY Vitamin E and esters thereof, in particular vitamin E acetate, dry mouth mucosa, vaginal mucosa, rectal mucosa, nasal mucosa, dried and itching mucosa of the eye, aphthous ulcers, stomatitis, glossitis, keratoconjunctivitis, cervical exstrophy, follicular pudendal dermatitis, erythematous pudendal colitis, radiation-related pudendal flame, genital herpes, pruritus ani, fecal incontinence, proctitis, and the like ulcerative proctitis for topical treatment of mucosal diseases for use in the manufacture of drugs.


Since the end of the 1950's, active research into the subjective assessment of reproduced sound quality has been conducted in Japan. After a brief review of these efforts, one research of the sound quality assessment process is introduced as an example of recent developments. In this study, a multiple regression model is adopted for quantitatively describing the sound quality assessment process by listeners. In this model, a psychometric scale expressing the total quality judgement (preference) of a listener to a reproduced sound is explained using a weighted sum of multidimensional scale values. These values are related to the physical characteristics of the reproduction system. The weight for each sensory scale is different for each listener and is thought to change with advances in the audio field. Subjective sound quality for various reproduction systems differing in lowpass and highpass frequency characteristics, nonlinear distortion and dyanmic range are experimentally analyzed. Then, four‐dimension...


The author argues that globalization has been an objective reality and inevitable tendency of human development from
which no one can escape. So long as a country opens to the outside world, it will be in the process of globalization.
China is no exception in this global age. Globalization is initiated and dominated by the US-led Western developed
countries. How-ever, no country, including the US, is able to manipulate completely the process of globaliza-tion on
which developing countries, including China, have been exerting more and more in-fluence. Globalization is a sword
with negative and positive sides for both developed and de-veloping countries. Both of them can either benefit from or
get lost in globalization. Global-ization changes modern world civilizations into a cosmopolity, no matter whether it
origi-nated in the East or the West. Therefore, to learn from the West never means "Westerniza-tion" while to learn from
the East never means "Easternization" exclusively, and China's par-ticipation in WTO and introduction of market
economy never means "Westernizing or Americanizing China" exclusively. Internationalization, nationalization and
localization sup-plement each other. China has to participate actively in globalization if she wants to preserve her own
unique civilization; just as China has to carry her national advantages forward if she wants to participate in globalization
effectively. Globalization in an authentic sense is by no means an absolute "Westernization" or "Americanization". It will
prove a lack of foresight to argue that China would be "Westernized" or "Americanized" once it participates in the
proc-ess of globalization.


We discuss recursive formulas for Branson's Q-curvatures. These formulas present Q-curvatures of any order on manifolds of even dimension in terms of lower order Q-curvatures and lower order GJMS-operators. They are universal in the sense that their formulation does not depend on the dimension of the underlying space. We introduce two algorithms of different nature for the computation of the coefficients in the universal recursive formulas. One of these rests on the theory of residue families ([25]). The second algorithm recursively generates systems of interpolation polynomials. These are used to describe all coefficients in terms of their values on the natural numbers. We formulate two conjectures. These concern the equivalence of both algorithms, and the actual coincidence of the resulting formulas with Q-curvature. Full proofs are given for Q4 and Q6 for general metrics, and for Q8 for conformally flat metrics. We display explicit (conjectural) formulas for Q-curvatures of order up to 16. The high order cases are tested for round spheres of even dimension and Einstein metrics.


We developed a standardized cost estimation method for occupational health (OH) services. The purpose of this study was to set reference OH services costs and to conduct OH services cost management assessments in two workplaces by comparing actual OH services costs with the reference costs.


Numerical experiments have been performed to investigate the linear and nonlinear dynamics, and energetics of the ion resonance instability in cylindrically confined nonneutral plasma. The instability is excited on a set of parametrically different unstable equilibria of a cylindrical nonneutral cloud, composed of electrons partially neutralized by a much heavier ion species of single ionization. A particle-in-cell code has been developed and employed to carry out these simulations. The results obtained from the initial exponential growth phase of the instability in these numerical experiments are in agreement with the linearised analytical model of the ion resonance instability. As the simulations delve much further in time beyond the exponential growth phase, very interesting nonlinear phenomena of the ion resonance instability are revealed, such as a process of simultaneous wave breaking of the excited poloidal mode on the ion cloud and pinching of the poloidal perturbations on the electron cloud. This simultaneous nonlinear dynamics of the two components is associated with an energy transfer process from the electrons to the ions. At later stages there is heating induced cross-field transport of the heavier ions and tearing across the pinches on the electron cloud followed by an inverse cascade of the torn sections.


Anglo-Jewish Women Writing the Holocaust: Displaced Witnesses, by Phyllis Lassner. Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 225 pp. $75.00. "Why is the Holocaust still being written?" writes Phyllis Lassner in the introduction to her book about Anglo-Jewish writers, poets, and artists who have dealt with the Holocaust in their creations. This serious question positions the book within the genre of research delving into the questions not only of "what" but of "why" various things have been written about the Holocaust in the past generation. Lassner has focused on a number of types of Holocaust related writings and their authors. One is the compositions of Holocaust refugees who reached Great Britain such as Karen Gershon and Lore Segal, and through them, the literature relating to the Kindertransports. However at the same rime she also devoted chapters to writers of the second generation (children of Holocaust survivors) such as Anne Karpf and Lisa Appignanesi, and finally, to a number of British writers without a direct connection to the Holocaust who chose to write about the cataclysm such as Elaine Feinstein, Julia Pascal, and Sue Frumin. Both the writers and the works that Lassner has chosen to examine in her erudite book are multifaceted. Some, such as Gershon, are no longer alive. Others, like Pascal, are middle aged or even younger. Some experienced a portion of the Nazi regime and are writing from memory. Others, born elsewhere or long after the war, are creating memories which never existed, taking the poetic license of fiction to its farthest possible borders. Leafing through the book it appears that the basic commonality of the authors examined is found on the junction of gender, religion, and nationality, or basically the fact that all are Anglo-Jewish women, as the title of the book explains. Is Lassner's choice of authors representative of all Anglo-Jewish women of a certain generation who wrote about the Holocaust? One is not certain. For example, none of the women cited are Orthodox, but does that mean that no observant Jewish women in England have written about the Holocaust since 1945? It would have been helpful had Lassner begun her book not just with a short explanation of British history and British-Jewish history during and after the Holocaust, but with a broader survey of the existing British-Jewish women's literature about the Holocaust since the end of the war, locating the various works which she discusses in her book within the larger picture, if such exists. …


Results of the study conducted on the reproductive biology of Leiognathus brevirostris (Valenciennes) from the northwestern coastal waters of Sri Lanka (latitude 6-10° N and longitude 80-82° E) during the period November 1992 to October 1993 are presented. The length at 50% maturity for the males and females were estimated to be 79 and 81 mm, respectively. Statistical analysis indicates that the overall sex ratio is significantly different from 1:1 almost throughout the study period except in November 1992 and January 1993. During the rest of the period it seems that females predominate. There is a significant difference from 1:1 sex ration for the size range studies. The predominance of females above the total length 89 mm suggests either a possibility of greater natural mortality rate in males after attaining a total length of 89 mm or they may have a behavioral pattern of separating from the females after attaining an age corresponding to this size. The study indicates the possibility of two recruitment and spawning pulses separated by five and four months, respectively. The fecundity as the number of eggs that are to be shed was estimated to vary between 12,335 and 18,333 for fish of the size range 95 mm to 115 mm.


Increasing production and use of digital medical imagery are driving new approaches to information storage and management. Traditional, centralized approaches to image communication, storage and archiving are becoming increasingly expensive to scale and operate with high levels of reliability. Multi-site, geographically-distributed deployments connected by limited-bandwidth networks present further scalability, reliability, and availability challenges. A grid storage architecture built from a distributed network of low cost, off-the-shelf servers (nodes) provides scalable data and metadata storage, processing, and communication without single points of failure. Imaging studies are stored, replicated, cached, managed, and retrieved based on defined rules, and nodes within the grid can acquire studies and respond to queries. Grid nodes transparently load-balance queries, storage/retrieval requests, and replicate data for automated backup and disaster recovery. This approach reduces latency, increases availability, provides near-linear scalability and allows the creation of a geographically distributed medical imaging network infrastructure. This paper presents some key concepts in grid storage and discusses the results of a clinical deployment of a multi-site storage grid for cancer care in the province of British Columbia.


This research offers a comprehensive analysis of vulnerability to climate-induced humanitarian crises on a global scale. In a world increasingly impacted by the ramifications of climate change, understanding vulnerability becomes paramount. The study delves into the intricate web of factors that contribute to vulnerability, ranging from socio-economic disparities and healthcare infrastructure to environmental degradation and access to resources. Through a multidisciplinary approach, it identifies regions and populations most at risk, emphasizing the disproportionate burden borne by marginalized communities. The research underscores the urgency of proactive adaptation strategies, from climate-resilient infrastructure to community-based initiatives, and highlights the critical role of international cooperation. By providing evidence-based insights and policy recommendations, this research equips policymakers, humanitarian organizations, and communities with the tools needed to mitigate vulnerability, enhance resilience, and work collectively toward a more sustainable and equitable future in the face of a changing climate.


Over the last decade, wavelet transformations have been extensively used for image compression which permits the data analysis of signals or images in keeping with scales or resolutions. The main benefit of wavelets is that it represents a large class of signals as a result of which it permits to identify roughly isotropic features at all spatial scales and locations (Arokia Priya et al 2011). In order to obtain a critical sampling, Do & Vetterli (2004) introduced the contourlet transform which permits different number of directions at each scale/resolution. It has better properties for 2D functions than curvelet and wavelet transformation. It is used to identify a discrete-space construction as it is computationally very effective.