Background: There is ample scientific evidence that a person with an untreated sexually transmitted infection (STI), particularly those inducing ulcers or discharge, is at an increased risk of passing on or acquiring HIV during sexual intercourse. HIV counseling and testing (HIV CT) for STI cases is thus an important tool in the public health response to HIV/AIDS. Objective: To assess factors affecting willingness towards HIV CT among patients with conventional STIs in Addis Ababa. Methods: A cross-sectional study, involving 422 STI cases, was conducted in Addis Ababa from December 2006 to April 2007. STI patients were consecutively selected during an outpatient visit in ten government health centers, which were purposively selected mainly on the basis of their high STI case load. A pre-tested, interviewer administered, structured questionnaire was applied for data collection. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess statistical significance of associations between willingness towards HIV CT and respondents' socio-demographic status, knowledge, and behavior. Moreover, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were done to identify predictors of willingness for HIV CT. For all statistical significance tests, the cutoff value set was p<0.05. Results: Nearly 74% of STI patients said that they would be willing to undergo HIV CT at the time or 3 months after their STI diagnosis. Furthermore, 97.4% and 71.8% of STI patients had heard about HIV/AIDS and STIs, respectively. The majority, 93% of STI patients knew at least one prevention method, and 61.2% identified all the three major methods for preventing HIV/AIDS. Overall, 43.8% of the STI patients had at least one misconception, and 38% had comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Ever tested for HIV and being in the age group of 15-34 years were found to be significantly and positively associated with willingness towards HIV CT whereas perceiving small or moderate chance of contracting HIV infection was found to have a significant and negative association. Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated the need for promotion and expansion of sustainable provider initiated HIV CT with subsequent follow up of STI patients as part of a range of services and support, and intensive patient-centered risk reduction counseling for STI patients during the initial visit to health care facilities. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2011;25(2):116-125] Introduction Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain among the major public health problems in all countries, especially in developing countries, where access to adequate diagnostic and treatment facilities are very limited or non-existent. Despite the ability to cure, many of the classical STIs continue worldwide to be a major public health problem, causing serious health, economic and social consequences. World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that globally as many as 340 million new cases of curable STIs (gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydial trachomatis and trichomoniasis) occurred in 1999 in men and women aged 15-49 years, of whom 69 million occurred in sub-Saharan African countries (1). In Ethiopia, STIs have increasingly been recognized among certain risk groups, such as commercial sex workers (2-4). In spite of the high prevalence of STIs in the country, relatively little epidemiological research has been carried out on their prevalence and incidence. During a national review meeting on STIs in 2003, a total of 451, 686 cases were reported from all regions except SNNPR for the period 1990 – 1994 E.C (1997/98 2001/02). In addition, in 1995 E.C. (2002/03) the Integrated Disease Surveillance Team of the Ministry of Health compiled 27, 947 STI cases from all the regions in its routine quarterly report of 2002/03 (5). The presence of STI creates more chance of broken skin or mucous membranes allowing the virus to enter or leave the body. Moreover, certain STIs have been shown to greatly increase the amount of virus in genital secretions as well as the number of inflammatory target cells that HIV needs to replicate. According to current estimation, the probability that a person with STI will transmit or acquire HIV during a single sexual exposure, range as high as 300 fold (6). Above all, there is tangible scientific evidence that untreated STIs, particularly those 117 Factors affecting willingness to HIV CT among STI patients in Addis Ababa Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2011;25(2) inducing ulcers or discharge, increase the risk of passing on or acquiring HIV during sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, there is a critical opportunity to expand access to HIV prevention amongst STI cases that continues to be the mainstay of the response to the HIV epidemic. Without effective HIV prevention, there will be an ever-increasing number of people who will require HIV treatment. Among the interventions, which play a pivotal role both in treatment and in prevention, HIV CT stands out to be of paramount importance (7). There are compelling arguments for HIV CT services for STI cases in sub-Saharan Africa (8). First, individuals have the right to know their infection status and plan for the future to reduce further transmission of the virus. Especially, the high viral load associated with acute HIV infection has critical public health importance since the magnitude of viral load is likely to predict the probability of sexual transmission of HIV (9). Second, early detection of HIV may improve medical and psychosocial support for HIV-infected individuals. Third, HIV CT may enable people to cope with the anxiety associated with HIV sero-status. Finally, HIV CT promotes behavioral change (10). However, HIV CT programs currently in place are not reaching substantial numbers of HIV-infected people who are unaware that they are infected with HIV. For example, an estimated one-fourth of the roughly one million Americans believed to be living with HIV at the end of 2003 remain unaware of their infection (11). Programs that wish to link up with HIV CT services need to be aware of the most common obstacles to testing and do what they can to help reduce or eliminate them. This helps increase routine HIV screening of patients in health care settings, including STI cases; to foster earlier detection of HIV infection; to identify and counsel persons with unrecognized HIV infection and link them to clinical and prevention services; and to reduce further transmission of HIV in the community (12). The aim of this study is thus to bring to light some of the very important hypothesized factors affecting willingness to HIV CT among STI cases, on which we need to focus our attention during the work of promotion of HIV CT. Methods Study area and period: The study was conducted from December 2006 to April 2007 in 10 government health centers in Addis Ababa, including: Kazanchis, Teklehaimanot, Arada, Kirkos, Addis Ketema, Woreda 23, Woreda 17 (Bole), Kolfe, Shiromeda and Yeka health centers, which were purposively selected mainly on the basis of their high STI case load based on the preliminary assessment by the principal investigators. Study design: A cross-sectional study design was employed, as determined by the conventional syndromic approach for STI case management. Study population: STI cases, aged 15-49 yrs, who presented with the conventional STI syndromes including, genital ulcers, urethral discharges (for males), and vaginal discharges with/without lower abdominal pain (for females). The age groups 15-49 years were chosen as targets for the study because of their potentially high risk for STIs, including HIV, and to make a fair comparison between men and women and other similar literatures (1,13,14), as well. Sample size calculation: The total sample size of 422 was determined by using the formula of estimating a single population proportion for a cross-sectional survey, assuming a 50% willingness towards HIV CT, to obtain the maximum sample size, with a 5% margin of error, 95% confidence interval, and 10% non-response rate. Sampling procedures: First of all, 10 health centers were purposively selected and included in the study mainly on the basis of their high STI case load. Then, study subjects, who were clinically diagnosed to have STIs based on the national syndromic approach guideline (15), were consecutively recruited every day (Monday through Friday) during an outpatient visit. STI cases that showed up consecutively on their own free will and consented to respond to the issues set out in the questionnaire were eligible for the interview. However, those individuals, particularly "vaginal discharge" cases, who were risk assessment negative, and those who refused to participate were excluded. This was due to the fact that non-STI "vaginal discharge" is very much common among females (16). Those STI patients, who were seriously ill to the extent being unable to respond to the questionnaire, were also excluded. Owing to the fact that STI patients of this study were consecutive (not randomly selected), representativeness of the sample was not much of a concern. That was also characteristic of facility-based studies where there were limited numbers of study subjects (STI cases) within a specified study period. Data collection: A pre-tested, interviewer administered structured questionnaire, first prepared in English and then translated to Amharic, was applied to collect the information. Data collectors were health professionals, including medical doctors, nurses and HIV counselors working as permanent employees of the respective health centers. They received a three days intensive training on how to collect the required information objectively. The questionnaires were mostly completed while patients were seen at the out-patient department (OPD). However, in those health facilities, where there was health service provider constraint with a large volume of patients seen at the OPD, those individuals diagnosed to have STIs (usually by medical doctors or


Maternal smoking before and during pregnancy is one of the compelling reasons of congenital malformations (CMF) in her child. The study involved 442 women of reproductive age. Comparison group (control) were 242 women, brooding or having 1-2 children without CMF. The study group was composed of 200 women who gave birth or hatching with CMF. The aim of this work was to study the associations of maternal smoking and polymorphic variants of genes GST (loci M1 and T1) with the CMF in the child. The study showed that maternal GSTT1 genotype «0/0» and smoking in the home increases the risk of the CMF in the child.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of teachers' and locality on implementation of Information Communication Technology in public secondary schools in Nyeri Central district, Kenya. The dependent variable was implementation of ICT and the independent variables were teachers' level of education and teachers' locality.


Cupid is usually known as a little boy with his bow and arrows that presents on Valentine Day. But only few people know who Cupid really is, what is exactly his role in mythology and moral that is trying to convey in the story. Cupid introduces Love but his love life is not as good as what he is doing. This interesting Mythology will be represented in Comic utilizing digital art for cleaning, coloring, and in order to make proper layout, regarding to the Character Designs, Places, and also the appropriate Target Audience. In order to make the literature which many allegories can be told and understood in another way, this story is represented in Comic. Comic is not also as an interesting media, but it is educating that presents moral effectively to the readers.


This paper presents an analysis method of detecting the inconsistencies between a Java Bytecode program and its formal specification expressed at the Bytecode level, using the Bytecode Modeling Language (BML). The main objective of our work is not only to check the execution code of the called method of a Java object class from a valid input state but also to show how these inconsistencies can be extracted from the Control Flow Graph of the Method Under Test. We believe that Java Bytecode programs can contain bugs that the techniques used for objected-oriented software testing do not necessarily detect from their Java source programs. The proposed formal model shows how both the BML assertions and the Java Bytecode program can be translated into the same model of constraints, and how they can be used for detecting non-conformances of the method under test.


This paper examines co-operatives' challenges in advancing the third sector in Japan, referring to the results of the study on the management capacity of the third sector organizations and reforms of public services. The notion of the third sector largely varies between the United States and Europe; the former identifies it with the nonprofit sector whereas the latter equates it to the "social economy" that includes co-operatives as major components. Why do the Japanese co-operatives have such low visibility despite their world class size, and why did the United Nations' declaration of 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives not provide an impact in Japan? This paper points to the weak identity of the co-operative sector since co-operatives have evolved quite differently due to a divided legal system and public policies. Finally, it proposes some recommendations for co-operatives to contribute to the third sector in Japan.


O'Leary J.G. et al. should be congratulated for their manuscript on the validation of the NACLSELD Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure (ACLF) score for the prognostication of 30-day survival in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis [1]. The definitions of extrahepatic organ failures proposed in this score are different from its European counterpart, the CLIF-SOFA score, especially in regards to respiratory failure (RF) [2]. While O'Leary J.G. et al. defined RF as the need for bilevel positive airway pressure or mechanical ventilation, Moreau R. et al. used a definition more in accordance with the intensive care literature - a ratio of arterial pressure of oxygen / inspired fraction of oxygen (PaO2 /FiO2 ) ≤200mmHg. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


With the advent of time, the concern of customers over the quality of voltage waveform or to say the quality of electric power, which they receive, is increasing. Modern sophisticated electronic equipments used in industries are quite sensitive to poor voltage quality, which may lead to maloperation or failure of device. These electronic devices use electronic switching devices which can lead to power quality problems. Due to the increase in competition among the electric utilities in a modern deregulated market, customer satisfaction is becoming the top notch priority. Voltage flicker is the one of the many power quality problems which seeks the interest of both the utility and engineers. The source of this problem is voltage fluctuations occurring due to heavy nonlinear loads. This paper presents the detailed analysis of voltage flicker on a designed test system and its mitigation using a DSTATCOM firstly using a conventional six-pulse voltage source converter and then using a ten-pulse converter. Though the performance of ten-pulse converter will be marginally inferior to twelve-pulse converter (which is composed of two, six-pulse converters), but it reduces the amount of circuit switching and circuit complexity. The performance based comparison is also charted out for the system. The results are presented to validate the feasibility of proposed topology. Results obtained using ten-pulse converters DSTATCOM are found to be superior over the six-pulse based DSTATCOM. The simulation tool applied to carry out the said task is MATLAB/SIMULINK power system block set.


Typically IP networks respond to a link failure by finding an alternate traffic path after the failure is discovered. This results in a convergence time during which traffic may be dropped at the failed link. However, IP traffic can be protected using techniques below layer 3.This article study of IP traffic protection mechanisms, analysis of linear SDH automatic protection switching for routers, MPLS fast reroute , Resilient Packet Ring protection, coexistence of various protection methods and defect disposal mechanism.


Utopian Body: Alternative Experiences of Embodiment in 20 Century Utopian Literature. (May 2010) Olivia Anne Burgess, B.A., Texas State University-San Marcos; M.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Paul Christensen Utopian literature has typically viewed the body as a pitfall on the path to social perfectibility, and utopian planners envision societies where the troublesome body is distanced as much as possible from utopia's guiding force—Reason. However, after two world wars, the failure of communism, and a century of corrupt "utopian" projects like Hitler's social engineering, dystopian societies justified on the grounds of "rational planning" fail to convince us, and the body has risen as the new locus for identity and agency, a point of stability in a dangerous and unstable environment. In this dissertation, I argue that utopian literature in the late twentieth century has identified the body as key to imagining new alternatives and re-connecting with an increasingly jeopardized sense of immediate, embodied experience. Protagonists in utopian literature looking to escape dehumanizing and bureaucratic worlds find their loophole in the sensual rush of adrenaline and instinct and the jarring rejuvenation of nerve and muscle, experiences which are much more immediately real and trustworthy than the tenuous dictates of institutions that tumble easily into absurdity and terror. Survival necessitates a raw and


A starch/carbon black/SBR composite was prepared by direct mixing technique,and its properties were investigated.The results showed that,as the addition level of starch increased, the Shore A hardness,modulus at 300% elongation and tensile strength of the starch/carbon black/SBR composite decreased,the elongation at break,tensile set at break and Akron abrasion loss increased,the tear strength increased at first and then decreased,the rolling resistance and heat build-up decreased,and the wet skid resistance increased.


In this paper we deal with the cosmological dynamics of Randall-Sundrum brane-world type scenarios in which the five-dimensional Weyl tensor has a nonvanishing projection onto the three-brane, where matter fields are confined. Using dynamical systems techniques, we study how the state space of Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker and Bianchi type I cosmological models is affected by the bulk Weyl tensor, focusing on the differences that appear with respect to general relativity and also Randall-Sundrum cosmological scenarios without the Weyl tensor contribution.


Investigation of the utility of association between electroencephalogram (EEG) and somatosensory‐evoked potentials (SEPs) for the prediction of neurological outcome in comatose patients resuscitated after cardiac arrest (CA) treated with therapeutic hypothermia, according to different recording times after CA.


Based on a study of LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb dating of basic volcanic rocks from lower Sangejing Formation and andesitic volcanic rocks from middle Dundunshan Group in Hongliuyuan of Beishan area,Gansu Province,this paper reveals that volcano-sedimentary rocks of Sangejing Formation were formed at 420 ± 15Ma,corresponding to Late Silurian,and volcanic rocks of Dundunshan Group were formed at 367 ± 9.5Ma,equivalent to Late Devonian.These data indicate that Beishan ocean basin was at the stage of the subduction-disappearance in Late Silurian,and entered into the collisional orogeny period,whereas the Dundunshan volcanic rocks were produced by rift extension and entered into a new phase,i.e.,Late Paleozoic intraplate extension.


Educationalinstitutions'administratorsinourcountry andthewhole worldareconcernedaboutregularity ofstudentattendance.RadioFrequency Identification(RFID)based c la ss attendancesystem is asystem thatcanautomaticallycapture student'sattendanceby students passing through an RFID reader with the tag on them or swiping the tag on RFID reader with a web camera that captures their tags' electronic product code (EPC) and images respectively, compare and match them with what is already existing in the database (MySQL) for proper validation and authentication. The tools we used in achieving this system are C variant, Arduino based programming language (the programming languages for the microcontroller AT89C51 on Arduino development board), and the Arduino 1.6.5 IDE, Java programming language was used for serial communication, the image training, detection and recognition and for the application interfaces, and in connection other physical components. At the completion of this work we were able to achieve the following: Asystem thatautomaticallycaptures student'sattendanceby flashingtheirstudentcardattheRFIDreader, that is able to provide security and privacy in such a way that the tags with their unique product codes and identification were not compromised because each student is uniquelyidentify by their images attached totheiruniquetag electronic product code (EPC). The system accepts images through webcam and tags EPC from students through serial communication COM ports with the help of the line drivers (MAX 232) attached to the hardware and store them in a database (MySQL). The system sends alarm to indicate that the right or wrong person passed through the RFID reader, this can draw the attention of the lecturer in charge in the case of a student with another person's tag. The system have an interactive interface designed with Java programming language that can enable lecturers register the students, view, edit and print out the student's attendance weekly, at the end of the month and at the end of the semester.


The flow of a viscous fluid past a sphere in a frictionless circular pipe is investigated by using Faxen's procedure and the results are applied to the problem of sedimentation. Thus we obtained a formula for the sedimentation velocity V in the form: V / V 0 =1-1.6493( d v / M 3 ) 1/3 +0.7968( d v / M 3 ), where V 0 is the terminal velocity of a particle, d v the volume concentration and M a constant of order unity which depends on the distribution of sedimenting particles. Although our model is rather rough, it gives as good results as those given by other theories.


We propose the fabrication of double-helix chiral long-period fiber grating by twisting polarization-maintain fiber when the fiber is heated by CO2 laser irradiation. Different with conventional long-period fiber grating, the chiral grating is found to be insensitive to the fiber bending due to its helical waveguide structure.


Juvenile scombrid fishes of eight species collected from stomach of tunas and related species are described. The vertical distribution of S. japonicus, S. sarda, A. thazard, E. alletteratus and K. pelamis is tentatively presented according to the distribution of their most important predators. C. hippurus was the most important predator of the upper epipelagic zone, the billfishes (I. albicans and T. albidus) were the most important predators in the middle and deeper epipelagic zone and T. albacares, comparatively, was a poor predator of juveniles of species of its own family.


The traditional Chinese artifacts are very popular to play with for their magic tricks and these transformations contain potential theory of mechanisms. The assembly-circles artifact is a metamorphic mechanism which can change its configuration and shape through the motion of joints. In this paper, the topology and configuration of the assembly-circles artifact is investigated by dividing the mechanism into 3 sections. The geometry property of this special mechanism is also studied. And further, three evaluating criterions for metamorphic mechanisms, which are linear ratio, area ratio and volume ratio, are proposed. The performance of this artifact is estimated by these criterions. Our research provides some fundamental ideas for the design of metamorphic mechanisms.


Abstract Working within a theoretical framework of sociocultural theory, with a particular focus on the construct of scaffolding, this five and a half month qualitative study explored the ways in which one third‐grade teacher supported students' move towards literature discussion groups. Data sources including expanded field notes, video and audiotape records, teacher interview transcripts, and artifacts were analyzed utilizing the constant‐comparative method. Findings indicated two prominent themes related to the instructional focus of the teacher's scaffolding during preparatory activities—a response‐oriented focus and an interpersonal focus. By focusing on these two areas, the teacher facilitated students' acquisition of response strategies and interpersonal strategies— strategies they later used effectively in literature discussion groups.


The utility model relates to a bent cap bearing frame without a full framing, which adopts the technical scheme that steel pipes with the sizes of Phi 400*7 mm and Phi 277*6.5 mm and I56 I-beams are adopted to manufacture trusses; steel pipes with the size of Phi 400*7 mm are adopted to manufacture bearing vertical uprights; the trusses and the vertical uprights are connected through high-strength bolts; the two trusses are connected by using precision rolling deformed steel bars and [28 channel steel therebetween; the trusses and the vertical uprights are clasped with reinforced concrete upright posts by using [20 channel steel; and the bent cap load is transmitted to the trusses, the vertical uprights, a bearing platform and a pile foundation through bottom die distribution beams at the top of the trusses. According to the bent cap bearing frame without the full framing, the reinforcement processing is carried out without a foundation, vertical uprights are few, the occupied area of the ground is small, an overall processing manner is adopted, the work amount of manual operation for installation is less, and the installation is simpler.


In the past it has been claimed that lamellar molybdenum disulfide ${\mathrm{MoS}}_{2}$ undergoes a deep structural transformation upon lithium intercalation. In the absence of accurate x-ray diffraction data, the structure of ${\mathrm{LiMoS}}_{2}$ is not clearly known, even if recent x-ray absorption spectroscopy results indicate a cluster formation of molybdenum. First principle calculations have been performed in using the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method. They predict a cluster formation mode in the so-called ``diamond-chain'' scheme and an $\mathrm{ABAB}$ sulfur stacking mode. This proposed structure is in agreement with all available experimental results. Calculations indicate that a charge-density-wave phenomenon would be at the origin of such a cluster formation.


Background: The risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases is high among persons who exchange sex for money or non-monetary items. This study aimed to decsribe the factors influencing the choice of working as a commercial seks workers (CSWs) at Bandar Baru, Deliserdang, North Sumatera.
Subjects and Method: A qualitative study was carried out at Bandar Baru Whore House, Deli Serdang, North Sumatera. A sample of informants was selected for this study, including CSWs and pimps. The study theme was factors influencing the choice of working as a CSW. The data were collected by indepth interview and direct observation.
Results: The main reason for being a CSW was ease of earning money to support their lifestyle including consumption of illicit expensive drugs.
Conclusion: Commercial sex work is chosen to support costly lifestyle.

Keywords: commercial sex worker, lifestyle, HIV/AIDS


The use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer. however, the underlying mechanism is complex and remains to be fully elucidated. NSAIDs have modulated NF‐κB in response to stimulating cytokines, but the link between NF‐κB and aspirin‐induced growth inhibition of colorectal cancer cells has yet to be thoroughly investigated. in the present study, we examined the effects of aspirin on the NF‐κB pathway and the association between these effects and apoptotic tumor cell death. we found that aspirin induced a concentration and timedependent reduction in cytoplasmic inba in colorectal cancer cells that was due to phosphorylation‐dependent, proteosome‐mediated degradation of the protein. with aspirin‐induced IκBα degradation, we observed nuclear translocation of NF‐κB, as determined by immunocytochemistry and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (emsas). the NF‐κB response to aspirin preceded cell death and was, therefore, more likely to be a cause than a consequence. to further investigate this relationship, we generated HRT18 and CT26 colon cancer cells that constitutively expressed a super‐repressor IκBα. we found that inhibition of NF‐κB nuclear translocation in these cells abrogated aspirin‐ induced apoptosis. when we investigated the cell specificity of the aspirin‐induced response, we observed both IκBα degradation and growth inhibition in a panel of colorectal cancer cells, but there was no effect in cells of noncolonic origin. thus we conclude that aspirin induces activation of NF‐κB, which is required for its anti‐tumor activity and may contribute to the protective effect of aspirin that has been observed in clinical trials.


The Texas Cold Neutron Source (TCNS) is operated in one of the beam ports of the UT-TRIGA 1-MW research reactor. Beams of cold neutrons are produced by means of a cooled moderator contained in an aluminum chamber (7.5-cm diam x 2 cm thick) located in the graphite reflector close to the reactor core. The moderator, mesitylene, is maintained at cryogenic temperatures ({approximately} 30 K) by a 3-m-long thermosyphon (heat pipe) using neon as the working fluid. The neon thermosyphon, a 1.9-cm-diam aluminum tube, runs from the {open_quotes}cold head{close_quotes} of a cryorefrigerator, located outside the reactor shield, down to the moderator chamber with a slope of 2.5 deg. Neon gas is supplied from a 6-l reservoir, which is also outside the biological shield and is never valved off from the thermosyphon. Details of the various TCNS components have been given elsewhere. This paper focuses on the thermosyphon behavior in order to provide an understanding of its performance.


any throat carriage of this organism. The patient's symptoms all completely resolved following the above treatment regimen. His close contacts were also given prophylactic antibiotic therapy and at 6-month follow up he remained symptom free. Known host risk factors for developing CM include partial treatment with antibiotics and immunodeficiency (e.g. terminal complements, immunoglobulin or properdin deficiencies). However, the patient's investigations had revealed negative serology for human immunodeficiency virus 1 ⁄2 and no quantitative or qualitative abnormalities of his immunoglobulin, complement, lymphocytes and neutrophils to account for his presentation. Nevertheless, he was vaccinated against NM and other capsulated organisms (Haemophilus influenzae and Pneumococcus) as it remained difficult to predict if he was at risk of developing any further unusual reactions to these capsulated organisms. The decision to vaccinate him against NM is controversial given that this vaccine provides immunity against NM serogroup C (to which he would have already developed immunity following this infection), as well as other rarely encountered strains (A, W135 and Y), but not to serogroup B (a more frequent cause of meningococcal disease in the U.K.). CM is defined as meningococcal septicaemia, with febrile episodes of at least 1 week's duration without meningeal symptoms. It is characterized by a prolonged nonspecific febrile illness in association with migratory arthralgia and a cutaneous eruption. The latter is typically a maculopapular eruption (although cutaneous vasculitis, pustules and ⁄or nodules have also been described), occurring in association with febrile episodes and distributed primarily around painful joints. Individuals with CM often make a dramatic response to appropriate antimicrobial therapy; however, if the disease remains undiagnosed (especially in adults) it can lead to many adverse complications (such as acute meningococcaemia, meningitis, endocarditis and nephritis), including death. Thus, early diagnosis of CM is required if complications of this disease are to be avoided. While serial blood cultures taken during febrile episodes (up to five sets have been reported in the published literature) are an established tool for diagnosing CM, false-negative results may still occur, highlighting the need for adjunctive diagnostic tools, e.g. lesional skin culture. The usefulness of lesional skin culture (and Gram stain) as a diagnostic tool is already established in AM. In the setting of CM, Texereau et al. have also reported making this latter diagnosis with lesional skin culture, despite negative serial blood cultures (both undertaken during febrile episodes). This leads us to postulate that the cutaneous eruption occurring in individuals with CM is not the sole result of immune complex deposition or indirect damage by macrophagic cytokines induced by the microorganism, but may also involve direct invasion of the bacteria into the skin. This hypothesis is supported by the recent development of a polymerase chain reaction-based assay which has successfully isolated NM in skin biopsies of individuals with CM. N. SHAH O.E . DADZ I E* Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, U.K. *St John's Institute of Dermatology, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London SE1 7EH, U.K. Correspondence: Ophelia E. Dadzie. E-mail: email@example.com


IN a recent article, [Wang and Hey (2009)][1] consider estimation of the parameters in an isolation-with-migration (IM) model for two species. For each locus, the data X consist of two samples, and therefore the probability of the data depends only on the time to the most recent common ancestor (


The alkaline hydrolysis of chloroacetates,such as methyl chloroacetate(MCA),ethyl chloroacetate(ECA),tert-butyl chloroacetate(t-BCA),were investigated at different concentrations of anionic surfactant micelle of sodium dodecyl sulfate(from 5 mmol/L to 70 mmol/L) with the traditional method of conductant.The results indicated that SDS inhibited the alkaline hydrolysis of chloroacetates.The principle for the inhibition effect was discussed.


A phase shifter is needed to control the main beam for an antenna in vertical direction. There are many types of phase shifters, but to avoid passive intermodulation mechanical phase shifters are the only choice for basestation antennas if the it has to be integrated in the antenna. This report describes how a phase shifter can be made by microstrip and slotlines to achieve a phase shift of ±180*. The results show that it possible to realize a phase shifter with a slotline connecting two outports and rotating inport in microstrip that control the phase shift. The phase shifter can shift the phase ±170*. To achieve a phase shift of ±180* a small change is needed. Over the frequency band 1.9 to 2.2 GHz the matching varies between –21 to –13 dB and the transmission between –4.1 to –5.5 dB. Due to these varying values there is a phase error of 5*. The radiation losses of the system are about 30% which is not satisfying but in the end of this report there are some suggestions how to achieve lower losses.


Water irrigation systems are required to provide adequate pressure levels in any sort of network. Quite frequently, this requirement is achieved by using pressure reducing valves (PRVs). Nevertheless, the possibility of using hydraulic machines to recover energy instead of PRVs could reduce the energy footprint of the whole system. In this research, a new methodology is proposed to help water managers quantify the potential energy recovering of an irrigation water network with adequate conditions of topographies distribution. EPANET has been used to create a model based on probabilities of irrigation and flow distribution in real networks. Knowledge of the flows and pressures in the network is necessary to perform an analysis of economic viability. Using the proposed methodology, a case study has been analyzed in a typical Mediterranean region and the potential available energy has been estimated. The study quantifies the theoretical energy recoverable if hydraulic machines were installed in the network. Particularly, the maximum energy potentially recovered in the system has been estimated up to 188.23 MWh/year) with a potential saving of non-renewable energy resources (coal and gas) of CO2 137.4 t/year.


CSG West Economic Development and Trade Committee By Rich Lindsey [1] Saturday, August 9, 2014 at 12:00 AM CSG West Economic Development and Trade Committee August 9, 2014 States play an important role in supporting entrepreneurs, who are important for successful economic development. A panel of experts discussed the most effective ways to market products and services, unique one-to-one business coaching models designed to produce rapid return on investment, and the ways venture capital can help grow innovative small businesses. Capitol Ideas Today: Growing a State's Economy, One Business at a Time [2] ●


Successive British governments have committed substantial public resources to apprentice training, but far too few young people benefit and not enough high value skills have been developed. That is the central conclusion of a new report published by the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP). The report's author, Dr Hilary Steedman, who has nearly 30 years of research experience in this field, calls for a change in the country's apprenticeship model.


Using soil mineralogy and relative mineral stabilities, soils formed on stable sites were compared to soils formed on features believed to have undergone mass movement. The mass movement features studied are termed solifluction terraces. The terraces are gently sloping and extend into an arcuate, convex-downslope, steep, rocky front. The presence of Early to Late Wisconsinan glacial deposits in close proximity and at similar elevations to the study area terraces, coupled with the lack of glacial features within the study area, provides evidence that a periglacial environment existed in the area. This study indicates that the terraces were formed by periglacial processes during the Pleistocene. Specifically, the terraces are thought to be formed by solifluction, used here to indicate the slow movement of water-saturated material from higher to lower ground over a frozen substrate in a periglacial environment. A study of the mineralogical changes in the soils within the study area was made in order to substantiate the solifluction hypothesis. An analysis of the degree of weathering and the distribution of the minerals within the soils found striking differences between the soils of the solifluction terraces and those found on the stable sites. Clay mineralogy analysis demonstrates sharp and erratic changes in the distribution of minerals within the solifluction terrace profile, which contrast sharply with the gradual changes in clay mineral distribution exhibited by the stable profiles. In addition, coarse-size minerals in the stable sites show a gradual decrease in weathering with depth whereas the solifluction soils contain a mixture of fresh and highly weathered minerals throughout the profile. These differences are likely the result of frost heaving and downslope motion in the solifluction terrace soils and support the concept that the origin of the terraces are attributable to the mass movement process of solifluction. The study demonstrates the utility of integrating soil mineral analysis with geomorphology and that an analysis of mineral texture and distribution within a soil can provide valuable information to distinguish stable landforms from those formed by mass movement processes. SOIL MINERALOGY USED TO DISTINGUISH SOLIFLUCTION DEPOSITS' FORMED UNDER A PERIGLACIAL ENVIRONMENT ON THE BOULDER BATHOLITH, JEFFERSON COUNTY, MONTANA by Janette Louise Young Black A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in


SMA asphalt mixture is an asphalt mixture with gap graded, so this type of pavement requires a high asphalt content. High asphalt content in the mixture has positive and negative impacts. The advantage is that it can make the mixture resistant easily oxidization and can make increase the durability of the road pavement layer. The disadvantage is prone to drain down (a condition where the binder (asphalt) will flow or separate from the mix) in the form of cellulose fibers or polymer fibers. This results in a mixture of SMA which is more resistant to deformation, deflection, and cracking and is stable to withstand the load of the vehicle's wheels. The additives commonly used are synthetic cellulose fibers, called Arbocell and Viatop66. This product is manufactured in Rosenberg-Germany. The use of this product causes problems, namely the high price and depends on the dollar price, and requires additional procurement costs in the form of import costs. Therefore, it is necessary to find an alternative to replace the cellulose fiber with natural fibers that have characteristics that are close to synthetic fibers. Based on the literature review, several natural cellulose fibers that have been successfully used as additives for SMA mixtures are rice bran fiber, palm fiber, coconut fiber, and pineapple leaf fiber, coconut fiber, kapok fiber, corn cobs. With cellulose content ranging from 14 – 64%, it shows good performance. Therefore, pineapple leaf fiber with a higher cellulose content of 69.5%-71.5% has the potential to be used as an additive because it has a cellulose content that is close to synthetic fiber.


Fire Department DKI Jakarta is the element of the implementation of local government which was given responsibility in carrying out the duties of handling the fire problem. Fire Department DKI Jakarta, has 3 (three) main task is, fire prevention, fire fighting, and rescue the soul from the threat of fires and other disasters. Ethnic Office Building and Fire Department, is one of the planning of improvement (renovation of the total) for construction of pre-existing building that is entrusted to the PT process workmanship. Nanda Gustina partners as contractors and targeted for completion in December 2007. The project was built with total area of 3732.32 m2 and 850.37 m2 of building area consisting of four floors. Contractor use of ready mix concrete in foundry process, from casting the beams, columns, floor plate, and so forth. It is used to facilitate and streamline project work, in order to finish on time. In discussing the special problems of governance Tribe office building in South Jakarta Fire Department access for a building supporting the Fire Department officers in performing their duties. From the results of the spatial planning of buildings found to be made according to the functions of the office buildings that Fire Department offices that are rarely encountered in building offices and other government agencies.


In this paper, we review research on computational mechanisms for complex reasoning. We start by defining the reasoning task in broad terms and discussing elements that arise when addressing it. Next we consider different types of multi-step reasoning problems and alternative paradigms that vary in their underlying assumptions. Finally, we discuss some complicating factors that make reasoning difficult, along with ways that controlled experiments can reveal strengths and limitations of alternative approaches. Our aim is to provide readers with a balanced, accessible introduction to the important area of artificial reasoning.


Compaction effect usually occurs in the construction of precast piles.This effect may have a negative impact on the environment.A pile-soil model is simulated based on a numerical method using the finite element software Abaqus.A specially-defined contact element of pile-soil interface is used with a thickness of 0.08 m to simulate the mechanical features of the interface between the pile and soil.The mechanical parameters of the elements are set between those of the pile and soil,and the elements close to the soil are coupled with the element nodes in the soil.The Mohr-Coulomb's law is applied to reflect the constitutive law of the elements close to the pile.Based on the numerical simulation,the effective distance and depth resulting from pile driving are analyzed.The characteristic change of the compressive pile is explored.The relationship between the load and the penetration depth together with the side resistance distribution of the pile are then obtained.The results of simulation and cavity expansion theory are compared.It shows that the effective horizontal and vertical distances are about 5 and 2 times the diameter of the pile,respectively.The described method may provide references to the construction and design in the pile engineering.


Economic integration creates two different forces on industrial location: dispersion and agglomeration forces. The dispersion force relocates industries across integrated countries according to each country's comparative advantage and achieves the static efficiency of resource allocation. In contrast, the agglomeration force serves as a dynamic source of industrialization but at the same time, it may produce the economic disparities among integrated countries and among domestic regions within each country. In order to work out effective development strategies under the influence of the two forces, it is important to manage dexterously the nonlinear effects, such as home market effect, lock-in effect and hub effect. With these effects, drastic progress in long-term economic development can be triggered by a single success of a short-term program for inviting firms, particularly in the initial stage of agglomeration. Individual policies therefore bear great importance in the industrialization process, but the government of each country is likely to face two kinds of difficulties in developing a successful strategy: (1) strategy-building requires extremely accurate information about the state of the country; and (2) difficulty in policy coordination to avoid excess public investment for development.


Based on the annual data of 1992-2003,this paper uses Granger causality test to analyze the relationship among credit,investment and economic growth.The result indicates that there is a positive correlation between credit and economic growth.In addition,it is found that credit is determined by investment in fixed assets in China,the level of price has no effect on current investment and enterprises' decision-making on investment is based on prior period's price.We, therefore,conclude that the mechanism of credit influencing economic growth in China is as follows: credit influences current prices;fluctuating current prices influence the next period;change of investment influences economic growth.


【Adequate postural control depends on the spatial and temporal integration of vestibular, visual, and somatosensory information. Especially, the musculoskeletal function is essential to maintain the postural control. The experimental studies was performed on the muscular activities in the lower extremities during maintaining and moving exercises on an unstable platform with Magneto Rheological(MR) dampers. The unstable platform of the developed system was controlled by electric currents to the MR dampers. A subject executed the maintaining and moving exercises which are presented through the display monitor. The electromyographies of the eight muscles in lower extremities were recorded and analyzed in the time and the frequency domain: the muscles of interest were rectus femoris(RF), biceps femoris(BF), tensor fasciae latae(TFL), vastus lateralis(VL), vastus medialis(VM), gastrocnemius(Ga), tibialis anterior(TA), Soleus(So). The experimental results showed that the muscular activities differed in the four moving exercises and the nine maintaining exercises. For the anterior-posterior pattern, the TA showed highest activities; for the left-right pattern, the TFL; for the 45, $-45^{\circ}$ pattern, the TFL and TA. Also, the rate of the increase in the muscular activities were affected by the condition of the unstable platform with MR dampers for the maintaining and moving exercises. The experimental results suggest that the choice of different maintaining and moving exercises could selectively train different muscles in various intensity. Futhermore, the findings suggested that the training using this system can improve the ability of postural control.】


The paper describe that friction plate thpe clutch is appliecl to the machine tool,under the heating state of workin, it is evaluated limit connecting times of clutch and area method of friction plate.


With the use of this method, it was demonstrated how important it is for the company to know how to select a reliable supplier when we require raw material for our work process The Topsis methodology was applied because it is a practical method and the most appropriate to solve this problem. At the moment of applying this methodology, we generated which are the levels of importance that the company requests to select one of them, more than anything are factors or points that each company chooses for a better management of its resources, thus taking care of the part of time and money. In the industry where this observation will be made, the main levels of importance requested are the following: Quality, Time, Price and Reliability of the supplier.


Abstract 3307 Poster Board III-195 Myeloablative (MA) and reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) are both effective treatment approaches for patients with otherwise incurable hematologic diseases. However, patients who survive beyond 2 years are still at risk for significant morbidity and mortality. Differences in these later post-transplant outcomes may exist between those patients who received MA and RIC regimens. We therefore investigated outcomes on 677 patients (590 MA and 87 RIC) with hematologic diseases who underwent alloHSCT at our institution from 1/90-12/06. 235 MA and 37 RIC patients survived >2 years (40% vs. 42%, respectively, p=0.63). Factors predictive for surviving >2 years on multivariable analysis included younger age, greater Karnofsky performance status (KPS) at transplant, related donor and HLA matched donor. For > 2 yrs survivors, as compared to those treated with MA conditioning the RIC patients were older (median age 55 vs. 39 yrs, p 2 yr survivors 178 (76%) MA and 28 (76%) RIC patients remain alive at median follow-ups of 72 (range, 3-196) vs. 33 mos (range, 5-86), respectively (p Myeloid disease status was also predictive of lower disease relapse (p=0.005) and better relapse-free survival (p=0.014) on multivariable analysis. However, no differences in CMV infection, other infections, incidence and severity of chronic GVHD, relapse, RFS or OS were found when comparing MA vs. RIC patients for myeloid and lymphoid diseases independently. We conclude that the majority of MA and RIC patients surviving >2yrs after alloHSCT remain alive and relapse-free. The superior RFS for patients with myeloid diseases is likely related to a more robust graft-vs-malignancy effect. Further strategies with novel approaches to decrease late relapses for these patients are warranted. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Jose E. Julia, Carlos A. Lizana, Eugenio Rolle,and Walter Williams. Universidad Nacional de Tucuman, II Brigada Aerea de Parana and Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Argentina Commision III An experiment to establish the accuracy of camara position and attitude provided by the Photogrammetric Integrated Control System (PICS), for further utilization in combined block adjustment by models an bundles, is being carried out by the II Brigada Aerea from Parana, Argentina, in cooperation with the Universities of San Juan and Tucuman.Exterior orientations of camara stations derived from block adjustment are directly compared with PICS auxiliary data in a similar way to that employed in the IIBodensee Test", with a non inertial system, by the University of Stuttgart. First results and preliminary conclusions are presented.


Using orbital‐free molecular dynamics simulations we study the structure and dynamics of increasingly asymmetric mixtures such as hydrogen–carbon, hydrogen–aluminium, hydrogen–copper, and hydrogen–silver. We show that, whereas the heavy component structure is close to an effective one‐component plasma (OCP), the light component appears more structured than the corresponding OCP. This effect is related to the crossover towards a Lorentz‐type diffusion triggered by strongly coupled, highly charged heavy ions, and witnessed by the change of temperature scaling laws of diffusion. This over‐correlation translates into an enhancement of nuclear reaction rates much higher than its classical OCP counterpart.


Summary The long-term effects of liming a peat soil on nitrogen availability to 3-year-old Picea sitchensis seedlings were assessed in greenhouse experiments. Seedlings were planted in pots containing either unlimed or limed peat soils that had been limed 28 years earlier. The plants were harvested in October 1993, April 1994 and July 1994 with these dates representing 100, 160 and 263 days after planting respectively. Concentration of extractable NO3 ‐ in the limed peat was higher than in the unlimed peat. Liming also resulted in increases in extractable organic N and total extractable N in the peat. On all harvesting occasions, percentage 15N utilization and total N were reduced in plants grown on the limed peat. Decreased concentrations of N in the fine-root fractions were apparent for plants grown on the limed peat at the October and July harvests only. During the growing season, the above-ground parts of the plant were the dominant sinks for nitrogen. The needles and fine roots were the major fractions for the utilization of 15 N particularly in April and July. The only effect of a limed peat on dry weight of plant fractions was a decrease in fine-root dry weight when plants were examined in October 1993. On all harvesting occasions, populations of mycorrhizae were decreased and roots were blackened for plants grown in the limed peat soil.


This paper presents a cross-domain trend analysis that aims to identify and analyze the relationships between stock prices, stock news on Twitter, and users' behaviors on e-commerce websites. The analysis is based on three datasets: a US stock dataset, a stock tweets dataset, and an e-commerce behavior dataset. The analysis is performed using Hadoop, Hive, and Tableau, allowing for efficient and scalable processing and visualizing large datasets. The analysis includes trend analysis of Twitter sentiment (positive and negative tweets) and correlation analysis, including the correlation between tweet sentiment and stocks, the correlation between stock trends and shopping behavior, and the understanding of data based on different slices of time. By comparing different features from the datasets over time, we hope to gain insight into the factors that drive user behavior as well as the market in different categories. The results of this analysis can provide valuable insights for businesses and investors to inform decision-making. We believe that our analysis can serve as a valuable starting point for further research and investigation into these topics.


The purpose of my survey is to get an overview perspective of the interest in the modern foreign languages Spanish, French and German during the school years 2009/2010, 2012/2013 and 2015/2016 in S ...


Literature Discussion Groups: An Introduction Way Should I Use Literature Discussion Groups, and How Do I Implement Them in My Classroom? Avoiding Round-Robin Discussions The Need for Instructional Scaffolding Integrating Skills Instruction With Literature Discussions Assessing Literature Discussion Groups Social and Cultural Influences on Literature Discussions


Abstract : Information superiority rests on a technological foundation that, until now, remained unchallenged. China's anti-satellite test is one example of an emerging threat to United States military dominance in the information domain. Understanding the relationship between information and decision-making enables commanders to understand the implications of threats to information superiority. This paper analyzes "information" in the context of decision-making theory at the operational level. It explores observed trends in command and control caused by the evolution of network-centric warfare and supporting technologies and exposes negative effects. Finally, the paper draws conclusions concerning ways to minimize exposure to vulnerabilities in information technology infrastructure and recommends implementation of measures to optimize decision-making and minimize risk in a disruptive C2 environment.


The strength of slab-column connections is assessed, under the U.S. design standard ACI 318, using an interaction equation that includes contributions from both shear and unbalanced moment. Based on a reexamination of tests reported by Hanson and Hanson, the unbalanced moment at interior connections is shown to contribute far less to transverse shear than is assumed in design. A simple limit analysis is presented that is more consistent with observed behavior and accepted material limits and better predicts the test results.


Catecholamines have been measured using a fully-automated HPLC-ethylenediamine condensation reaction-peroxy-oxalate chemiluminescence (CL) detection system with both high sensitivity and selectivity. When a CL solution containing trifluoroacetic acid was kept at room temperature, 4°C or − 20°C, and then used for the CL detection of catecholamines, the CL intensity was significantly increased. With the solutions stored at − 20°C, the maximum CL intensity was observed, even after being stored for one year. This increase in the CL intensity was observed with CL solutions prepared using either bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyi)oxalate (TCPO) or bis[4-nitro-2-(3,6,9-trioxadecyloxycarbon-yl)phenyl]oxalate (TDPO) in either dioxane/ethyl acetate or acetonitrile. A certain strong carboxylic acid in the CL solution, such as trifluoroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid or heptafluorobutyric acid, was necessary in order to increase the CL intensity. This increase in the CL intensity was also observed even after decomposition of all the oxalate in the CL solution, suggesting that an active intermediate(s) for generating CL is produced in a strongly acidic solution during storage.


India's economy is dependent on the agricultural production, which in turn is dependent on the monsoon rainfall and its distribution. The year to year fluctuation in rainfall as well as the fluctuation within the monsoon season governs the crop growth, development and yield. Even in monsoon months the crops are subjected to moisture stress due to occasional dry spells. Although the rainfall is high, the distribution is erratic making the crop vulnerable even during monsoon. Agriculture, especially in developing countries, is a sector which is vulnerable to risks of various types. Most importantly, weather related risks play a major role in affecting agricultural income. These would include extreme rainfall events which result in floods / droughts, as well as extreme temperature events. Poor and small farmers are especially susceptible to income variability because of weather – related risks to their crops. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 11 (2017) pp. 1856-1861 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


Abstract—Different signal transduction cascades have been implicated in angiotensin II (Ang II)–mediated cell growth, such as the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways. To identify the downstream targets of PI3K involved in Ang II–induced proliferation, we used both rat aortic smooth muscle (RASM) cells and a CHO cell line stably expressing the rat AT1A receptor. The ERK1/2 and PI3K pathways are independently activated and implicated in Ang II–mediated DNA synthesis and cell number increase in these 2 cell lines. In addition, a specific inhibitor of Akt inhibited Ang II–induced Akt phosphorylation, DNA synthesis and proliferation in CHO-AT1A or RASM cells. A dominant-negative mutant of Akt was also found to selectively block Ang II–induced proliferation of CHO-AT1A cells. To further elucidate the signaling events leading to Akt activation, we used an AT1 receptor mutant (AT1AD74E), deficient for Gq protein coupling, and the intracellular calcium chelator BAPTA-AM. Although altered Akt and ERK1/2 activation was observed in the CHO-AT1AD74E cell line, blockade of intracellular calcium elevation did not affect phosphorylation of these kinases. These results provide the first evidence of a specific and necessary role of Akt in Ang II–induced proliferation through a Gq protein–dependent calcium-independent pathway.


To examine and assess (1) the internal consistency and validity of a Danish translation of the Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS17) among adults with Type 1 diabetes mellitus, (2) the properties of the brief version of DDS17 and (3) cut points for the DDS17.


This paper presents an extended OpenFlow-based control plane for labeled optical burst switching networks to achieve application-aware burst assembly and scheduling, and experimental demonstration verifies its overall feasibility.


Academic institutions such as universities and technical colleges usually conduct paper-based examinations and reports for evaluating students' academic performance. Teachers must take considerable time for paper marking in the paper-based examinations. To reduce the paper marking burden of the teachers, we are developing an automatic paper marking system. To execute paper marking, handwritten character lines are extracted from examination papers, and then characters on those lines are recognized. In this paper, we mainly discuss about the character line extraction from handwritten examination papers without ruled line. The extraction of character lines from the non-ruled papers is difficult through image processing due to the writing characteristic of the students. Furthermore, extraction accuracy becomes an important factor for the character recognition performance. The conventional character line extraction algorithms for printed document does not show better performance for this problem. At the beginning of this study, we propose a method combining two conventional methods. But, it took a dozens of seconds to implementation. Thus, in this paper we develop a new method having better performance in character line extraction and processing time reduction.


MF01/P006 Plus Postage. 'Access tc Educa-iion; Adult Basic Education; *Bilingual Education Programs; Case Studies; English (Second Lan7uage); immigrants; *Labor Force Development; Language Proficiency; *Limited English Speaking; *Population Trends; Social Ser'ices; *Vocational Education A study estimated the size of the population of adults and out-of-school youth with limited English Proficiency (LEP) who need vocational education and related employment services and projected the size of this population from the time of the study to the year 2000. Research procedures included a literature review, an analysis of 1980 U.S. census data, and projections of the population. Two measures, constructed from census data to assist in the analysis, were used to categorize individuals as either limited English-proficient or as English-proficient and also to categorize them by poverty status. The following are among the findings reported: (1) the flow of immigrants has grown steadily since l 955 until now it is almost as high as it was in he 1900s, with the most recent immigrants being less educated and skilled than those whc entered 15-2E years ago; (2, the number of persons with LEF aged 1E-64 was estimated to be 4.8 million in 1980, which is about 4 percent of the U.S. population; (3) their number is projected to be 11.6 million by 1990 and about 17.4 million by 2000; (4) a projected 5.F. million could require services in 1990 and e million could need them by 200C; (5) over half of the adults with LEP speak Spanish; (6) the likelihood of becomc-: p_-cficient in English is highest within 10 years after arriving ih the ,Thited States; and (7) over 70 percent of the adults with LEI: living below the poverty level in 2006 will be Hispanics. (The documen.: o..ritans 59 tables and 46 references.) (CM1) 7 t 7 7= r= 7 7 7 7 7' 7! 7* 7* * 7. * r r ri * * '4, 7 . r x i* * r 7 7* * 17)(e ca:-: 1)e from the orl(7;]Lall d,x7umen:. 7. y * 7 ,1 77, 7 '7 '77 7 7* r. *I 7 *. 1 7 '1' 7: Y. 7 7 7. 7' 7 7 r, 7 7 Y * ^ 7 7 7 Yr Yr 7 * Yr ESTIMATES AND PROJECTIONS OF THE LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT ADULT POPULATION IN NEED OF EMPLOYMENT TRAINING JoAnne Willette DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATES, INC 2924 Columbia Pike Arlington, Virginia 22204 Carl Haub Stephen Tordella DECISION DEMOGRAPHICS 777 14th Street, N.W. Suite 850 4ashington, D.C. 20005 Submi-ted to: NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION U.S. Department of Education Washington, D.C.


Commercial ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were used to concentrate the terpene, limonene, present in cold pressed oil centrifuge effluent and molasses evaporator condensate. UF membrane rejections were 78–97% for mixtures with initial limonene concentrations from 0.04–0.6%v/v. RO membrane rejection of limonene ranged from 87–99% for feed streams containing 0.06–0.23% limonene. Initial membrane flux rates for centrifuge effluents were in the range 10–100 kg/m2/hr. Evaporator condensate fluxes were higher, 25–400, while pure water rates ranged from 25 (RO) to 1000 kg/m2/hr (UF). Contact with limonene adversely affected membrane flux rates in decreasing order of severity: polysulfone > cellulose acetate > teflon-type.


Objective: Cardiovascular adaptation to sport training is influenced by many factors, including the intensity and the kind of sport practiced. The "Morganroth hypothesis" asserted that a static exercise characterized by a pressure load and dynamic (isotonic) exercise which involves a volume load to the heart lead to different myocardial adaptation patterns. More recent studies revisited this hypothesis, showing that left ventricular (LV) remodelling observed in both resistance and endurance trained athletes, presented similar aspects. Although morphological modifications secondary to exercise have been largely studied, less is known on myocardial systolic function in LV remodeling patterns in different elite athletes. Two-dimensional strain analysis allows a complete study of the contractile function in different myocardial regions of interest in both ventricles. In this study we aim to underline possible differences in contractile myocardial function with strain analysis in two groups of elite athletes, trained with different loads and playing different sports (football and cyclism) Design and method: We enrolled 47 male athletes: 23 football players and 24 cyclists, belonging to same football or cyclism team (mean age in both groups 18 ± 3 years old). The athletes were evaluated with echocardiography at the beginning of the sports season. We assessed LV contractile function using speckle-tracking echocardiographic global longitudinal strain (GLS) and global circumferential strain (GCS). We also analysed right ventricular function by strain echocardiography Results: Cyclists showed a significantly augmented indexed LV mass and TAPSE. No significant differences were found in GLS data between the two groups (−23.4 ± 0.02 in football players and −24.1 ± 0.02 in cyclists), whereas a significantly higher GCS was found in cyclists compared to football players (−31.2 ± 0.04 and −27.2 ± 0.05 respectively, p < 0.005). The cyclist group showed a significant increase in right ventricular strain compared to football players (−26.3 ± 0.04 and −23.2 ± 0.04, respectively, p < 0.05) Conclusions: Our preliminary data suggest that a dynamic exercise, which involves a volume load, like cyclism, leads to a sensible increase in systolic function in elite athletes especially in right ventricle contractility.


The article concerns the relationship between the Holy Scripture and the community of faith. The interaction of the community on the Scripture and that of the Scripture on the community are analyzed. First the elements of interaction during the period of formation of various scriptures are described. Already then we can talk about a kind of theological and existential dialogue between Scripture and community. Thanks to this dialogue both the community and the Scripture can develop. The same dialogue continues in the second period too, when the biblical canon is formed. At this stage a special role play so called 'criteria of canonicity', which operate within the community. Finally, we can recognize the contemporary modality of this never-ending dialogue in the process of actualization of Bible in the Church. What can be helpful in this contemporary process of actualization is the hermeneutical attitude identified in the previous stages of that dialogue.


Tools for constructing proofs of correctness of programs have a long history of development in the research community, but have often faced difficulty in being widely deployed in software development tools. In this paper, we demonstrate that the off-the-shelf Java type system is already powerful enough to encode non-trivial proofs of correctness using propositional Hoare preconditions and postconditions. We illustrate the power of this method by adapting Fahndrich and Leino's work on monotone typestates and Myers and Qi's closely related work on object initialization. Our approach is expressive enough to address phased initialization protocols and the creation of cyclic data structures, thus allowing for the elimination of null and the special status of constructors. To our knowledge, our system is the first that is able to statically validate standard one-pass traversal algorithms for cyclic graphs, such as those that underlie object deserialization. Our proof of correctness is mechanized using the Java type system, without any extensions to the Java language.


Device with a device (1) transmitting / receiving data and at least one support (2) Portable data for data transmission between the device (1) transmitting / receiving data and at least one support ( 2) portable data, whereby the device (1) sender / receiver data has - a device (4) emitter for generating a first signal having a predetermined frequency, - a device (5) receiver for receiving a signal with a predetermined frequency, - an antenna (6) transform impedance which is connected to the device (4) emitter and the device (5) emitting and - a feed (3) of energy, and thus the support (2) portable data presents - an antenna (8) of the data carrier to receive or send an induced signal and - a provision (7) circuit connected to the antenna (8) of the data carrier for processing the induced signal and generating a signal, which is sent to the antenna (6) of the device ( 1) transmitter / receptorde data, whereby the antenna (6) of the device (1) transmitting / receiving data presents a total impedance from a BF reactance than 0 and RF resistance ohmic loss if there is no support (2) portable data inductively connected with the antenna (6).


It is very popular in China that during the gas or nitrogen drilling operation,the gas come out of the well can only be discharged directly.Because the expensive gas can not be recycled,the corresponding drilling cost is very high.To solve this problem,the idea of gas circulation drilling system was put forward for the first time,which fills up domestic and overseas blank in drilling industry.The technical proposal and technological process have been studied in detail.The preliminary field test has shown that the new technology is feasible and the whole system is stable.The prospect of application and extension of the new system is great.It is beneficial to reduce the operation cost and improve the popularization of the gas drilling technology.


Anomaly detection methods require high-quality features. One way of obtaining strong features is to adapt pre-trained features to anomaly detection on the target distribution. Unfortunately, simple adaptation methods often result in catastrophic collapse (feature deterioration) and reduce performance. DeepSVDD combats collapse by removing biases from architectures, but this limits the adaptation performance gain. In this work, we propose two methods for combating collapse: i) a variant of early stopping that dynamically learns the stopping iteration ii) elastic regularization inspired by continual learning. In addition, we conduct a thorough investigation of Imagenet-pretrained features for one-class anomaly detection. Our method, PANDA, outperforms the state-of-the-art in the one-class and outlier exposure settings (CIFAR10: 96.2% vs. 90.1% and 98.9% vs. 95.6%).


Background: Palpable breast lumps are a common manifestation encountered by physicians during clinical practice. The use of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) method has proven to be quick, simple and cost-effective in the evaluation of these lumps for benign, atypical and malignant changes. This study aims to determine the type of breast lesions diagnosed by FNAC and to determine the age-wise distribution for such lesions. Methodology: A prospective study consisting of 291 females presenting with palpable breast lesions was carried out at Makerere College of Health Sciences (MakCHS) pathology laboratory from January 2019 to May 2019. FNAC results were grouped into tier five reporting categories as C1, C2, C3, C4 & C5 in accordance to the International Academy of Cytology (IAC). Results: Out of the 291 cases examined, 14 (4.8%) were insufficient (C1), 192 (66%) were benign (C2), 9 (3.0%) were atypical (C3), 15 (5.2%) were suspicious of malignancy (C4) & 61 (21%) were malignant (C5). In the benign category, lesions of fibroadenoma were the most commonly diagnosed constituting 110/192 (57.3%) whereas under the malignant category lesions of invasive ductal carcinoma were the most commonly diagnosed constituting 27/61(44.3%). The peak age group for benign lesions was 21-30 years whereas the peak age group for malignant lesions was 41-50 years. Conclusion: Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was found to be an effective diagnostic tool in the categorization of palpable breast lumps into benign, malignant, atypical, suspicious and inadequate categories.


The article reviewed that the modern scientific development advances new requirement for the experimental animal and animal laboratory. It probed into the basic principle and management to the clear experimental animal environmental installation building.


The structural and magnetic properties of Ni/sub 2/MnIn films deposited onto glass substrates were investigated. Two sets of films with distinct structural orders were prepared. The films deposited at an elevated temperature (730 K) have an ordered structure and are ferromagnetic, while those deposited at a low temperature (/spl sim/150 K) are quite disordered (or almost amorphous) and exhibit a nonmagnetic behavior down to 5 K. However, the disordered films can restore the ordered structure as well as the ferromagnetic behavior by annealing. The results of magnetization measurements are also presented.


Current tests of neorectal function after colectomy, mucosal rectectomy and ileal pouch-anal anastomosis are inadequate. The authors developed a new scintigraphic test that uses an artificial stool made of aluminium magnesium silicate gel (Veegum). Solutions of the gel were labeled with 1 mCi Tc-99m by stirring Veegum powder into water containing the isotope at 37/sup 0/C. Excellent binding was obtained with the sulfur colloid form of the isotope compared with the pertechnetate or ovalbumin forms (Table). The sulfur colloid isotope in 7.5% gel was used in subsequent tests. The volume given to the patients corresponded to the maximum capacity of the ileal pouch as measured manometrically; it averaged 300 ml. Ten patients have been studied to date with minimal patient discomfort. The gel was introduced over a 2 minute period via a 16Fr. transanal tube with the patient in the left lateral position. After 5 minutes AP standing and R lateral scans were taken. Then a dynamic scan was taken while the patient evacuated the gel into a commode. After evacuation AP and R lateral scans were repeated. Computer analysis was used to determine both the functional pouch capacity and the rates of emptying of the pouch and the moremore » proximal ileum. The test has proven useful in the assessment of neorectal anatomy and function after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis.« less


Oil shale, more precisely the organic components thereof, or the organic components extracted therefrom, is reacted with a resin or resin precursor reactive therewith, e.g., an epoxy resin, typically in the presence of a curing agent. The resulting composite product illustrates characteristics similar to that of the cured reactive resin or resin precursor. A process for forming such composites is also disclosed.


Background. Although clinical studies suggest that chronic administration of glitazones may exacerbate heart failure, the reasons are unclear. Using a swine model of hibernating myocardium, we test...


This article addresses salient features of gyrotactic microorganism and activation energy in flow of nanofluid by rotating disk. An exponential space dependent heat source (ESHS) process is implemented to examine the thermal transport characteristics. Additionally nanoparticles mass flux condition is considered. The solutions are numerically computed. Impacts of various physical variables appearing in the solutions of non-linear systems are carefully analyzed. The current work identifies that temperature distribution of nanoliquid enhances for higher values of thermophoresis and Brownian motion variables. Moreover activation energy and temperature difference parameters diminish the nanoparticles concentration. Comparative study is provided in order to validate our outcomes.


Since the modern times,the influence from foreign translated literature to Chinese literature,especially the new literature,is comprehensive and profound.It not only gives the rich nutrition to the modern vernacular literature but also pushes the establishment for many new genres,and in this process,the missionary novels play essential role.In the late 19th century,the native missionary concepts changed with the development of science and technology,the appearance of woman missionaries and the outbreak of the Opium War.The apparent transition of the novels by missionaries was found and the preset readers were transited from adults especially intelligentsia to children.


A most serious complication following replacement therapy in patients with hemophilia A or B is the development of inhibitors to factor VIII (F VIII) or factor IX (F IX). It occurs in 8 to 20% of patients with severe hemophilia A. and in 2.5 to 16% of patients with severe hemophilia B. The inhibitors are IgG antibodies, mostly of the IgG4 heavy chain subclass and kappa light chain class. Clinically. patients with inhibitors can be divided into "high-responders", who manifest a strong anamnestic response after exposure to F VIIIIF IX, and "low-responders". who exhibit little or no anamnestic response. Patients with inhibitors pose serious treatment problems since they are resistant to ordinary replacement therapy.


The famous max-flow min-cut theorem states that a source node s can send information through a network (V,E) to a sink node t at a data rate determined by the min-cut separating s and t. Recently it has been shown that this rate can also be achieved for multicasting to several sinks provided that the intermediate nodes are allowed to reencode the information they receive. In contrast, we present graphs where without coding the rate must be a factor Ω(log|V|) smaller. However, so far no fast algorithms for constructing appropriate coding schemes were known. Our main result are polynomial time algorithms for constructing coding schemes for multicasting at the maximal data rate.


An integral part of the communication system with unmanned aerial vehicles is the airborne antenna-feeder system. As a rule, a circular pattern is required in the horizontal plane. However, since omnidirectional antennas have a small gain, they switch to schemes of several directional switchable antennas. It is proposed to use an unbalanced antenna for such systems. Unbalanced antennas have limited substrate dimensions. The maximum gain is achieved not towards the horizon, but at some elevation angle. Proposes a design definition algorithm an unbalanced antenna wave channel with a given direction of maximum radiation. For example, a similar antenna is constructed using the algorithm. An antenna for operation in the frequency range of 2,3…2,7 GHz is taken as the initial data. The dimensions of the antenna elements are obtained from numerical experiments using an optimization module in CAD. A study of the directivity characteristics of an unbalanced wave channel of an antenna with a limited substrate and the dependence of the elevation angle of the maximum of the directivity pattern is carried out. The minimum size of the substrate at which the gain in the direction to the horizon stops growing is revealed. The range of values of the elevation angle of the maximum of the amplitude radiation pattern in the vertical plane is determined.


Blend films of hexanoyl chitosan (H-chitosan) and polylactide (PLA) were cast from corresponding blend solutions in chloroform, dichloromethane, or tetrahydrofuran. Thermal degradation behavior of the as-prepared blend films was intermediate to those of the pure components and no significant effect from the type of the casting solvent was observed. All of the blend films exhibited one composition-dependent glass transition temperature, but the results only suggested partial miscibility of the components in the amorphous phase at "low" contents of H-chitosan. As revealed by solvent etching technique, the as-prepared blend films prepared from the blend solutions in chloroform and dichloromethane showed extensive phase separation of the two components, with the minor phase forming into discrete domains throughout the matrix. Both thermal and X-ray analyses showed that the apparent degree of crystallinity of the PLA component in the blends decreased monotonically with increasing H-chitosan content and the choice of the casting solvent did not have an effect on the structure of PLA crystals. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007


This paper describes the revisions recently made in the
RTCM SC-104 standard on differential GNSS
broadcasts. A major contribution of the new RTCM
standard is to introduce several new messages that
support differential GLONASS operations. Specifically,
new GLONASS messages are provided: (1) differential
corrections, (2) reference station coordinates, (3)
satellite constellation health data, (4) radiobeacon
almanac, (5) null message, and (6) ASCII text that
accommodates languages other than English.
Other messages are defined as well. An important new
message indicates the datum employed by the reference
station, if it uses a datum other than WGS-84 (GPS) or
PE-90 (GLONASS). A second new message provides
time, so that users logging data can identify the day of
the week and determine UTC time. Another provides
the GPS/GLONASS offset, in order to support combined
GPS/GLONASS operation. A fourth new message
supports higher precision in the reference station
antenna phase center location.
In addition to the new messages, new material is
included that provides additional guidance to users of
differential GNSS services. The major issues are
discussed in this paper.


A reliable and low cost sensor that can measure soil moisture at or near the soil surface is currently not available. The objectives of this study were: (i) to evaluate the possibility of modifying an impedance probe (IP) to measure soil moisture content at a very shallow depth (2–5 cm); and (ii) to compare the soil moisture values obtained using the IP to the values obtained using the traditional gravimetric method. The research was conducted at the Winfred A. Thomas Agricultural Research Station (WTARS) Hazel Green, Alabama. The standard IP that is capable of measuring soil moisture content at 6-cm soil depth was modified to measure soil moisture at 2-, 3-, and 5-cm depths. Using a site and depth-specific calibration technique it provided results that were comparable to the values that were obtained following the traditional gravimetric water content determination protocol. We found that the instrument was very sensitive to changes in soil moisture content and has great potential as a replacement for th...


For Backward Stochastic Differential Equation with jumps and an increasing predictable RCLL process as its penalization term,we have defined g-supersolution for such a BSDE and obtained the limit theorem.As an application of the limit theorem,the existence and uniqueness of the smallest supersolution for BSDE with jumps and constraints on(Y,Z,q)is proved.


six months after delivery for full serological investigation (including prepapainised enzyme technique). An 80%/0 return rate is achieved at this clinic and 10 of the 12 failures were identified at this time, the other two being identified only at the next pregnancy. Seven of the 12 patients have had subsequent pregnancies; one was terminated, another aborted, and the remaining five pregnancies produced three mildly affected infants, of which one required exchange transfusion and another received an intrauterine transfusion. There were no deaths. These figures contrast with those from the Royal Samaritan Hospital for the period from May 1972 to June 1977 (this series had to be discontinued because of area reorganisation). A similar follow-up system was adopted and all Rh-negative patients receiving 50 ug of Rh immunoglobulin following abortion, termination, or ectopic pregnancy were asked to return six months later for serological testing. In all, 362 women received injections and four failures were identified, two abortions and two terminations, giving a failure rate of 11%-three times higher than that of the postnatal series. This figure is probably even higher, for in this group the return rate at six months was only 63 50o and it was not practicable to follow future pregnancies in these women. Of the 362 women in the Royal Samaritan series, 99 had spontaneous abortions, four ectopic pregnancies, and the remaining 259 terminations. For spontaneous abortion the failure rate actually stands at 20o, or six times higher than the postpartum series. Obviously this is the group we should be looking at more closely. Many of the women were bleeding at home for several days before admission to hospital. Even after admission conservative treatment was often prescribed and it was only when the abortion became inevitable that anti-D immunoglobulin was given. Such a high failure rate can only mean that the immunoglobulin is not being given early enough and it would seem advisable that it should be administered at the first sign of bleeding. This could be repeated either when the patient aborts or in a further 2-3 weeks' time if the pregnancy appears to be continuing. Anti-D levels in a patient's serum would indicate when the next injection should be given and follow-up studies on a larger series of patients would give some indication of the optimum interval between injections.


The starch content of the bulb scales and the ethanol-soluble sugars of the bulblets and bulb scales of Tulipa gesneriana L. cv. Preludium declined with development. In contrast, the starch content of the bulblets increased rapidly. Calculations indicated that the total soluble sugars initially in the bulb scales could account for all the soluble sugars in the bulblets at harvest. However, the initial starch content of the bulb scales could account for only 17% of the starch present in the matured bulblets. It was surmised that the remaining 83% of the starch in the matured bulblets was derived from photosynthesis.


One hundred eighty yearling steers (743 lb) were blocked by weight; implanted with Synovex® (S), Synovex plus Finaplix® (SF), or not implanted (C); and fed diets containing 11.75% (L), 13.0% (M), or 14.25% (H) crude protein with all supplemental protein above 11.75% being supplied by corn gluten meal and blood meal in a 50:50 ratio (crude protein basis). An addition al protein level fed to S and SF implanted cattle was H for the first 70 days on feed and L thereafter (H-L). Animals were reimplanted on day 70. Steers treated with SF gained faster and more efficiently than non-implanted cattle. Differences in protein level had no effect on fat deposition in control steers, but cattle receiving SF and consuming M had more back fat and kidney, pelvic, heart (KPH) fat than those fed either H or L and also had more marbling than those fed H. Also, no apparent differences occurred between cattle fed M throughout the trial and those switched from H to L at 70 days.


The thermal decomposition of SO2 and of the primary dissociation product SO have been studied in shock waves by the uv absorption technique. The controversy about SO2 dissociation data from uv absorption signals was resolved and attributed to the extensive overlap of SO2 and SO uv absorption spectra. The derived rate coefficients are k1/[Ar] = 1015.6 exp(-420 kJmol−1/RT) cm3mol−1 s−1 (temperature range 3000–5000 K) for SO2 dissociation, and k3/[Ar] = 1014.6 exp(-448 kJmol−1/RT) cm3 mol−1 s−1 (temperature range 4000–6000 K) for SO dissociation. Anomalously high values of the apparent collision efficiencies βc in SO2 dissociation are attributed to marked contributions from excited electronic states.


Abstract Using data from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, students' use of calculators in the learning of high school mathematics was profiled based on their family background, curriculum background, and advanced mathematics coursework. A statistical method new to educational research – classification and regression trees – was applied to analyses of type-specific, function-specific, and test-specific calculator use. Type-specific calculator use was related to Algebra II and pre-calculus. Timing of mathematics coursework was important to type-specific and test-specific calculator use. Other main characteristics of the profiles included that (a) female students who avoided Algebra II used calculators more frequently for checking mathematics homework than their male peers, and (b) White students used calculators for mathematics tests and quizzes more frequently than non-White students.


This paper presents a brief review of research made by the authors to determine feasibility of using a titanium-based bilayer material in industrial applications. One layer, corrosion preventive, is formed by surface alloying with highly corrosion-resistant doping elements, in particular, Ta, Nb and Zr. These elements have significantly higher corrosion resistance than titanium. Applying them on the titanium substrate allows formation of a coating resistant, in particular, to boiling strong acids. Resistance of obtained coatings in said media is many times higher than that of titanium or stainless steel. The coatings are formed using a high-penetration electron beam ejected to the atmosphere. This article contains references to findings of previous works and offers some new data.


History since Last Exam: Family did not keep scheduled follow-up exam. Mother returns with child 16 months later (child is now almost 2 years old). Mother reports that she did fill the prescription for glasses given at the last visit, and the child wore the glasses well until "about two weeks ago, when she broke them." Mother also reports that the crossing has been getting worse and she "would rather have surgery done than to try glasses again."


While the academy continues to remain interested in documenting the quality and extent of a faculty member's teaching and research activities, the documentation and assessment of faculty service activities and the scholarship of service is an arena that has not received extensive consideration in higher education, particularly in the health sciences. Through indirect and direct mechanisms, faculty members are given the message that teaching, research and service continue to be the stated central goals of higher education. 1 Over the last two decades, there have been numerous resources, approaches and methods developed that allow faculty members and administrators to work collaboratively in documenting professional activities associated with teaching and research. However, faculty service and the scholarship of faculty service apparently has suffered from a "middle child" syndrome, and consequently may have been lost in our efforts to evaluate faculty workload and its effectiveness.


One country's geopolitical strategy is closely related to the frontier security of its neighbors. This paper first expounds the origin of Modi government's geopolitical strategic thought, then analyzes Modi government geopolitical environment, then explains the content and characteristics of Modi government's geopolitical strategy, finally discusses the impact of Modi government's geopolitical strategy on China's frontier security, then puts forward China's countermeasures.


The invention discloses a method and a device for power down reset control. The device for the power down reset control comprises a power supply circuit, an interference isolating circuit, a reset signal generation circuit and a control signal output circuit, wherein the power supply circuit is used for supplying a power supply to the device; the interference isolating circuit is used for realizing the interference isolation between a control circuit and the reset signal generation circuit; the reset signal generation circuit is used for generating a reset signal; and the control signal output circuit is used for outputting a reset control signal of the power supply of a product. The method for the power down reset control comprises the following steps of: inputting a monitoring end control signal; performing interference isolation on the monitoring end control signal and triggering the monitoring end control signal to generate a power down reset signal; and converting the power down reset signal, and outputting the reset control signal of the power supply of the product to realize automatic power down reset of the product. The method and the device realize pure hardware reset and self repair of the product in a control mode, and realize the automation of the operating process.


RATIONALE:
Loss of DNA mismatch repair function has long been known in various malignancies, particularly colorectal cancer. However, microsatellite instability (MSI) testing was rarely requested in Thailand. Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved pembrolizumab, an antibody to PD-1 receptor, as an alternative treatment for high MSI (MSI-H) and/or MMR (mismatch repair)-deficient solid tumors. We report our recent observation on MSI testing in Thailand.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Data was collected from Chulalongkorn GenePRO Center, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, during July 2013 and July 2017. MSI testing was performed, using 5 microsatellite markers (BAT-25, BAT-26, D2S123, D5S346 and D17S250). The number, source, and result of samples underwent MSI assay were analyzed.

RESULTS:
Requests for MSI testing have increased significantly in recent years. The shift started in 2015 when the MMR status was found to predict clinical benefit with the immune checkpoint blockade. There were 118 (75.2%) colorectal, 11 (7%) gastric, and 28 (17.8%) other cancers tested. MSI-H, MSI-L, and microsatellite stable (MSS) tumors were detected in 18 (11.5%), 11 (7%), and 128 (81.5%) patients, respectively. Of the 18 MSI-H cancers; 13 (72.2%), 4 (22.2%), and 1 (5.6%) were colorectal, gastric, and gynecologic malignancy, respectively. BAT25 and BAT26 markers were unstable in all MSI-H tumors.

CONCLUSION:
We have experienced increasing demand for MSI testing in Thai patients at Chulalongkorn GenePRO Center. Colorectal cancers were most frequently tested, and accounted for the highest percentage among the MSI-H cancers.

Keywords:
microsatellite instability, mismatch repair, immunotherapy, cancers

Address Correspondence to author:
Chinachote Teerapakpinyo, PhD
Chulalongkorn GenePRO Center,Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University 1873, Rama 4 Rd., Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com

Received: May 28, 2018
Revision received: June 1, 2018
Accepted after revision: July 17, 2018
BKK Med J 2018;14(2): 1-5.

DOI: 10.31524/bkkmedj.2018.09.001


A nuciferous graph is a simple graph with a non-singular 0 - 1 adjacency matrix A such that all the diagonal entries of A  − 1 are zero and all the off-diagonal entries of A  − 1 are non-zero. Sciriha et al. conjectured that except K 2 , no nuciferous graph exists. We disprove this conjecture. Moreover, we conjecture that there are infinitely many nuciferous Cayley graphs.


We examined the measurement characteristics and cross-cultural measurement invariance of growth mindset, mastery orientation, and grit among Indonesian (N=55,964) and US (N =440) adolescents. We found support for strong invariance across males and females for all factors in both contexts. Indonesian females reported higher growth mindset and mastery orientation latent means than Indonesian males. We found mixed evidence for cross-cultural measurement invariance using two approaches. A Bayesian approach supported measurement invariance for mastery orientation and grit, whereas each factor achieved only configural or weak invariance using subsampling approach based in frequentist estimation. Notably, higher levels of each construct were associated with higher grades in Indonesia and in the US. We conclude that while some measurement issues warrant future investigation, growth mindset, mastery orientation, and grit conceptually translate to the Indonesian context and are promising targets for academic achievement interventions for Indonesian youth and perhaps youth in the broader Global South.