Cancer is not a modern phenomenon – a bone tumour has been observed in a 14-year-old pharaoh who succumbed and was mummified, only to be accurately diagnosed three millennia later. Chinese and Arabic medical writings also document clinical cases so well that some can clearly be identified today as cancer from the descriptions. Cancer is a rapidly increasing problem in developing countries as statistics illustrate. Cases have risen from two million in 1985 to five million in 2000, and are projected to number 10 million in 2015. In developed countries, where there were five million cases in 1985 as well as in 2000, no increase is projected to 2015. Despite the high rates of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries, this rapid increase of cancer has spurred nations to recognize increasingly the need for guidance in clinical and medical physics aspects of radiation oncology to improve their standards of cancer care. No longer is cancer believed to be a disease of the affluent. The cancer rate in each age group, expressed as the number of cases in each 100,000 of that age group per year, is low in young persons, both affluent and poor. The rapid rise of cancer in developing countries is attributable mainly to increasing life expectancy. This more aged population group is more likely to develop cancer. The likelihood of getting cancer does vary between developed and developing countries but the variation is far less than is commonly perceived. (See graph, page 26.) What is observed is that the spectrum of cancers seen in the opulent differs from that seen in disadvantaged populations. Males in developing countries have liver and oesophagus tumours as the third and fourth most common cancers. These are relatively uncommon in developed countries, ranking lower than tenth. (See table, page 26.) Similarly, in women, breast cancer is the most common in both population groups. However cervical cancer in disadvantaged women is almost as common -accounting for 17% of all female cancers. In welldeveloped countries, cervical cancer accounts for only 4% of female cancers. Differing patterns of cancer have a profound influence on the need for specific radiotherapy resources. These differences, coupled with the more advanced stages of cancer present in developing countries, place different demands on the selection and use of equipment for radiotherapy. The treatment protocols and equipment modelled on the bestdeveloped countries seldom can be applied directly to developing countries owing to financial constraints and lack of qualified personnel. A comprehensive national cancer control programme -including preventative and early detection measures, coupled with a judicious mixture of treatment by surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy -now results in the cure of 45% of all cancers in advanced countries. That is a target to which developing countries also aspire.


Here, we report a case of adenomatoid odontogenic tumor in anterior maxilla in a young girl aged 14 years. Adenomatoid odontogenic tumor is a rare, benign, and distinct slow-growing odontogenic neoplasm which results in painless expansion of jaws. It usually occurs in the anterior maxilla followed by posterior maxilla and rarely in the mandible with an age range of 3 to 82 years and a relative frequency of 2.2% to 7.1% and showing a female predilection (1.9:1).


Turkish delight is a confectionery product that differs from the others with its characteristic soft and jelly-like consistency. The main ingredients used in its production are sugar, wheat starch and glucose syrup. In recent years, there has been a tendency to increase consumer interest in so-called functional foods. This encourages confectionery manufacturers to look for a suitable alternative for partial or complete replacement of sucrose in the composition. One of the newest alternatives to sucrose is isomaltulose. It differs from other sugars by its low glycemic index and its non-cariogenicity. The aim of the present study was to establish the influence of isomaltulose, as a substitute for sucrose in the composition of "Ordinary "and "Extra "Turkish delight, on their main physicochemical parameters and properties. Based on a comparative analysis, the main physicochemical parameters and properties of locum masses, obtained with sucrose and isomaltulose, were determined.


The effect of the stage of maturity and mode of conservation of Sudangrass on the level and efficiency of microbial proteosynthesis in rumen was assessed on 6 male lambs housed in individual digestibility cages provided with urine/feces separators. Twelve diets (representing 4 stages of plants maturity · 3 conservation modes) were fed ad libitum, without concentrate complementation. Coefficients of conversion of the ruminally available energy and nitrogen into microbial protein were highly sensitive to factors such as plant maturity and mode of conservation and were net inferior to the invariable theoretical values recommended by Romanian feeding system (P<0.01). Necessity of correcting the specific coefficients within the current feeding system is underlined.


We propose a theoretical model (cavityless pulsed solid-state-laser theory) to analyze the pulse characteristics of cavity-less solid-state lasers. A high gain Nd:YVO 4 end-pumped cavityless laser system is adopted to verify the theoretical model. It shows that the performance of output energy and pulse width achieved in cavityless configuration is better than that in resonator configuration when the small-signal gain reaches the saturated level. The simulation results calculated by our theoretical model agree very well with the experimental results. This agreement proves the validity of our theoretical model, which has great importance for theoretical analyses of high gain pulsed laser.


The pH electrode is an very precise detection element,and its sensitivity and stability will decrease after being contaminated.Some methods to clean pH electrode are introduced,such as ultrasonic cleaning,mechanical cleaning,water jet cleaning,chemical solution jet cleaning,compressed air jet cleaning,composite cleaning,manual cleaning,and so on.Methods to clean the ceramic core inside the electrode are also introduced.This paper can give some references to pratical production.


A systematic difference between the x-ray energies emitted by the daughter atom produced in electron-capture radioactive decay and the usual ``characteristic'' x-ray energies produced by electron bombardment or photoemission is noted. Particularly, enhanced differences are predicted for certain elements, and some measurements demonstrating this effect are presented.


In today's globalised world in which both communications and marketing experts struggle to attract public attention, in a world overloaded with information to such an extent that the apathy aspect is the response to advertisers' messages, branding is becoming one of the key factors in the success of companies, products and services, and they also include cultural content. The theme of this paper is linked to the importance of implementing the branding of traditional art as a cultural product on this market, taking the sole professional folklore ensemble in Croatia as an example.


Learning from demonstration (LfD) is considered as an efficient way to transfer skills from humans to robots. Traditionally, LfD has been used to transfer Cartesian and joint positions and forces from human demonstrations. The traditional approach works well for some robotic tasks, but for many tasks of interest it is necessary to learn skills such as orientation, impedance, and/or manipulability that have specific geometric characteristics. An effective encoding of such skills can be only achieved if the underlying geometric structure of the skill manifold is considered and the constrains arising from this structure are fulfilled during both learning and execution. However, typical learned skill models such as dynamic movement primitives (DMPs) are limited to Euclidean data and fail in correctly embedding quantities with geometric constraints. In this paper, we propose a novel and mathematically principled framework that uses concepts from Riemannian geometry to allow DMPs to properly embed geometric constrains. The resulting DMP formulation can deal with data sampled from any Riemannian manifold including, but not limited to, unit quaternions and symmetric and positive definite matrices. The proposed approach has been extensively evaluated both on simulated data and real robot experiments. The performed evaluation demonstrates that beneficial properties of DMPs, such as convergence to a given goal and the possibility to change the goal during operation, apply also to the proposed formulation.


The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill established what was possibly the first United States summer school in 1877. It enrolled 235 students in courses from 10 disciplines. Women were first admitted into University courses during this summer session. Students came from 42 North Carolina counties and several neighboring states. By 1925, 19,983 students had enrolled in Summer School. The University has continued annually to provide a wide offering of summer academic opportunities to the people of North Carolina and other residents from this country and abroad. From 1934 to 1987 the programs were administered by the Office of Summer Sessions. The traditional name of Summer School was reinstated in 1988.


The gene for adenylatecyclaseof E. colihas been cloned in the plasmidpBR322. The Cya- straintransformedwiththe isolatedplasmidsproducessignificant amountsof adenylate cyclaseand cAMP. Someof the Cya+plasmidswere shownto directthe synthesisof a 85,000daltonpolypeptidein a cellfreesystem. The directionof transcriptionand the location of the cya promoterincludingthe transcriptional startsite were determinedby an S1 digestionmethod. DNA sequencearound the promoterregionindicatesthata putativecodingregion foradenylatecyclasebeginsat +233. The 233bp leaderregion couldencodea potentialsmallpolypeptidecontaining30 amino acids. Two probableCRP bindingsiteswere foundin the leader region,suggestinga negativecontrolat the transcriptional levelby CRP-cAMP.


This study examines the effects of language proficiency on unfamiliar word processing in listening comprehension. Data were collected using the procedures of immediate retrospection without recall support and with stimulated recall. Twenty subjects of two proficiency levels participated in the procedures. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were made. The results indicate that language proficiency affects the subjects' use of strategies (inferencing and ignoring) and knowledge sources (e.g. semantics, morphology, and background knowledge) to infer word meaning. Proficient subjects used the inferencing strategy more frequently than less proficient subjects. Proficient subjects also displayed marked differences from less proficient subjects in the use of the knowledge sources. Noticeably, proficient subjects were more able to use their overall understanding of the texts to infer word meaning, whereas less proficient subjects more frequently used clues from the target words, and prosodically salient or heavily repeated words to infer word meaning. The pedagogical implications of these findings are then discussed.


The implementation of a successful ergonomic and medical intervention program designed to reduce the number and severity of injuries and illnesses and the associated levels of discomfort in the workplace is presented. Because of the recent activity concerning the on-again-off-again OSHA Ergonomic Program Standard questions have been raised as to the value and effectiveness of an organization's ergonomics program. In light of these concerns, the immense cost associated with work related injury/illness, and the related pain and suffering associated with such injuries/illnesses, it is important to present a workable and effective ergonomic and medical intervention program. The results of this applied study demonstrate that through the application of an ergonomic and medical intervention program, workplace related injuries and illnesses can be reduced and/or eliminated.


Acknowledgements PART 1: INVESTIGATION 1. State Investigation, State Publication and Ireland 2. The Poor Inquiry in Action: Questionnaires 3. The Poor Inquiry in Action: Oral Evidence PART 2: POPULAR BELIEF AND THE POOR INQUIRY 4. 'Lonesome Without Them': Charity and Reciprocity in Pre-Famine Ireland 5. Beggars and Boccoughs 6. The Catholic Church, the State, and Charity PART 3: DISSEMINATION 7. Publication, Circulation, and Reception Conclusion: The Poor Inquiry, State Reports, and Ireland Bibliography Index


The excavation area is about 160 m2 in the loess tunnel of Zhengzhou-Xi'an high-speed passenger railload, so it is necessary to study different application effect of the section steel and steel grid. It is of important significance to identify the application situation of the section steel and steel grid for the design and construction. Comparative tests are adopted. For the good comparability of the experimental results, the tunnel which has the similar experimental condition is chosen. The Hejiazhang Tunnel is taken as the experimental section in which the section steel and steel grid of 40 meters in length are set, respectively. The main comparison included the settlement of tunnel crown and arch foot, horizontal convergence, surrounding rock pressure, stress of initial supporting steel framework, etc. It is indicated: the section with the steel grid has more settlement and mostly equal horizontal convergence than the one with the section steel; there are less stresses in the steel grid than in the section steel and the former has relatively uniform distribution of stresses; the value of soil pressure is commonly small; but the soil pressure is much higher in the steel grid. After 4 steel frames (3.2 m) of the tunnel are excavated, the settlement of the steel frame reaches about 26 percent of the total settlement and the maximum stress is about 33 percent of the total stress. It is shown by the analysis that the steel grid and section steel are both applicable to the tunnel in the viscous old accumulation loess of degree IV, but steel grid is more advantageous.


Current United Kingdom (UK) government policy on pesticides is aimed at minimizing rather than arbitrarily reducing usage. It is to be achieved through a rigorous Approvals process, the setting of statutory maximum residue limits, regular monitoring, legislation on the safe use of pesticides on farms, and a core-funded research program on topics such as improved forecasting of pest infestations, more effective application techniques, alternative control strategies, integrated pest management and sustainable farming systems. Over the longer term these measures are expected to bring about substantial real decreases in pesticide usage, without the need to impose arbitrary reduction targets, such as have been implemented by several other European countries. Reductions in the usage of particular chemicals will also occur as a result of the implementation of European Community (EC) environmental legislation on pesticide levels in ground and drinking water and pesticide discharges into the North Sea. With herbicides, the tonnage of active ingredient applied in the UK declined substantially during the 1980s, due mainly to the increased use of products which were more biologically active at lower dosage rates than those they replaced. The actual percentage of crops sprayed remained at 95 to 100. Further reductions are likely in the 1990s, enhanced by factors such as dose-cutting by farmers in response to economic rather than environmental pressures and an increase in set-aside. Weed scientists are currently studying the long-term effects on weed population dynamics of reduced herbicide inputs in cereals, set-aside management, and more environmentally friendly, lower input rotations, as part of a wider program of research designed to provide government with scientifically based information upon which to decide future policies.


Objective To develop prototype foamy virus (PFV) detection method by loop-mediated isothermal amplification. Methods Three pairs of primers targeting core region of PFV integrase were designed in this study and Bst DNA polymerase was used to amplify target sequence at 63℃. The system was established with all the conditions optimized. Results The method was established with the plasmid containing target sequence as the template. This method could specifically detect PFV infectious clone, no crossreaction was observed with human immunodeficieney virus infectious clone, bovine immunodefieiency virus infectious clone and bovine foamy virus infectious clone as templates. The detection capability of this system was 50 copy, one order more sensitive than PCR. The amplification could be finished in 15 min and human genomic DNA did not adversely affect the amplification efficiency. Conclusion The PFV detection method by loop-mediated isothermal amplification was established and it had potential usefulness in PFV detection.

Key words:
Prototype foamy virus;  Loop-mediated isothermal amplification;  Detection


Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is the technology widely deployed worldwide, but its performance may be limited with respect to its intrinsic. The nature of the copper cable causes it to be more susceptible to signal degradation and faulty line. Common ADSL line faults are short-wired fault, open-wired fault, bridge taps, and uneven pair. However, ADSL technology is still one of the most established networks, and users in the suburban area still depend on the technology to access the internet service. This paper discussed and compared a machine learning algorithm based on Decision Trees (J48), K-Nearest Neighbor, Multi-level Perceptron, Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, and Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) for ADSL line impairment that affects the line operation performance concerning their percentage of accuracy. Resulting from classifications done using algorithms as mentioned above, the random forest algorithm gives the highest overall accuracy for the ADSL line impairment dataset. The best algorithm for classifying DSL line impairment is chosen based on the highest accuracy percentage. The accomplishment classification of fault type in the ADSL copper access network project may benefit the telecommunication network provider by remotely assessing the network condition rather than on-site.


The rapid development of telerobotic systems led to novel applications beyond the
nuclear and industrial domains. Medical telerobotics enabled surgeons to perform medical operations from remote places, far from their patient. Telesurgery systems allow great flexibility, improved performance in general, and support the creation of ideal surgical conditions. The first attempts to develop telesurgical systems borrowed the idea from space research, where the need of novel robots emerged for invasive treatment, even under extremesituations, such as weightlessness. Telesurgical instruments on Earth appeared following the same concept, aiming first for military, then onward for civilian applications. Today, more than 1.5 million patients are receiving telerobotic treatment annually, worldwide. As the surgical robotics domain grew from the initial concepts, it developed along three major concepts: telesurgery, cooperatively controlled robots and automated (image-guided) applications. These domains continue to develop into application specific systems with the goal of
reaching the specificity and versatility of conventional surgical instruments.


Submitted for the DFD09 Meeting of The American Physical Society Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of a Falling Droplet on a Rest Fluid Film1 YUEHONG QIAN, Shanghai University, KE ZHANG, XUESHENG CHU, KAI YAN, Ship Scientific Research Center of China, Wuxi, 214082 — A single-phase model based on lattice Boltzmann [1,2] method is used to investigate the motion of the free surface. To describe the topological deformation of the fluid interface, the cell in the single-phase free surface model is divided into three types: fluid cells, interface cells and the empty cells. The distinctive feature of the model is that the propagation and interaction processes are carried out only in the interface cell and the fluid cell. Numerical simulations of a droplet falling onto a resting fluid film [3] is presented. The Crown formation shown in figure 1 as well as the splashing droplets have been found at different dimensionless Reynolds and Weber numbers, Some comparison with experiment will be also made. REFERENCES [1] Y.H. Qian, D. D'Humières, P. Lallemand. Lattice BGK models for Navier-Stokes equation. Europhys. Lett 1992(17): 479-484. [2] N. Thurey, U. Rude. Interactive free surface fluids with the lattice Boltzmann method. Technical report 2005. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. [3] Z.Y. Shi, Y.H. Yan, F. Yang, Y.H. Qian and G.H. Hu. A lattice Boltzmann method for simulation of a three dimensional drop impact on a liquid film. Journal of Hydrodynamics 2008,20 (3):267-272. 1Supported by IRT0844, 10625210, 08ZZ43, 07PJ14041. YueHong Qian Shanghai University Date submitted: 10 Aug 2009 Electronic form version 1.4


Nolan Thind's poetry showed the happiness and sadness and revealed his poetry style of lingering and mild emotions through touching love and depressed separation between young males and females.By analyzing his love poetry creation,this article pried into the special worrying mentality towards the human life.


We present the creation of primordial continental crust (TTG rocks) using self-consistent and evolutionary thermochemical mantle convection models [1]. Formation of primordial continental crust happened by fractional melting and crystallisation in episodes of relatively rapid growth from late Archean to late Proterozoic eras (3-1 Ga) [2] and it has also been linked to the onset of plate tectonics around 3 Ga [3]. It takes several stages of differentiation to generate Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite (TTG) rocks or protocontinents. First, the basaltic magma is extracted from the pyrolitic mantle which is both erupted at the surface and intruded at the base of the crust. Second, it goes through eclogitic transformation and then partially melts to form TTGs [4, 5]. TTGs account for the majority of the Archean continental crust. Based on the melting conditions proposed by Moyen [6], we parameterize TTG formation. We vary the ratio of intrusive (plutonic) and extrusive (volcanic) magmatism [7] to study the relative volumes of three petrological TTG compositions as reported from field data [6]. Furthermore, we systematically vary parameters such as friction coefficient, initial core temperature and compositiondependent viscosity to investigate the global tectonic regime of early Earth. Continental crust can also be destroyed by subduction or delamination. We will investigate continental growth and destruction history in global compressible models spanning the age of the Earth.


With the constantly increasing of the market scale and the number of distribution enterprise, hidden risks of short-term financing bonds has become more obvious since its launch. But at present, credit rating results, revealing the credit risk, which are very concentrated can't distinguish between different credit conditions of short-term financing bonds. This text built credit rating index system of short-term financing bonds combined with the characteristics of short-term financing bonds and a new rating model-combining with Principal Component Analysis and Gray Relation Analysis. Meanwhile, we get the threshold of credit conditions of short-term financing bonds by credit evaluation, depending on short-term bonds issued by listed companies from July 1st, 2010 to June 30th, 2011. In the last part of this text, using Fisher discriminant analysis to inspect rating results which were obtained by the rating model of this text, the accuracy can reach 90.8% in overall.


This research aims at identifying factors affecting the sales and assets growth of listed firms on Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange. The data were collected from 130 firms during 2008-2013. The study results showed that factors affecting the firms growth includes return on equity, leverage, firm size, firm age and governmental ownership. The average growth rates of sales and assets are 17,4% and and 17,3% respectively.


The oil/water interfacial properties and the stability of the emulsion of ASP flooding in Daqing Oilfield were investigated with the measurement of interfacial tension, interfacial shear viscosity,Zeta potential and turbidity of the oil/water system. The results show that, after NaOH has reacted with Daqing crude oil for a long time, the interfacial tension between the aqueous phase and Daqing model oil decreases. The absolute value of the Zeta potential of the surface of oil droplets increases. The changes of the interfacial shear viscosity between the aqueous phase and the oil phase do not appear to be obvious. The stability of O/W emulsion formed by Daqing model oil and the aqueous phase is enhanced. After NaOH has reacted with crude oil for 1d, the interfacial tension between oil phase and simulated water, Zeta potential and the stability of the oil/water emulsion become higher than that of the emulsion without NaOH. However, after NaOH has reacted with crude oil for 10 d and 30 d, respectively, the interfacial tension between oil phase and simulated water, Zeta potential and the stability of the O/W emulsion are lower than that of the emulsion with the same reaction for 1d.


Cosmetics industrial development status was introduced.In recent years,different development trend appeared in vaious parts of the world.The regional development in America and Europe has slowed down,though still maintained the leading position.Asia-Pacific was the rapidly growing region.Africa cosmetics industry was considered as optimistic in the future.Meanwhile,China cosmetic industry was analyzed mainly from such aspects as the scale of entire industry,the total output and the situation of improt and exprot.Finally,the development trends of global cosmetic industry was forecasted.


Recently, due to the potential applications, the developing of compact, portable, low cost, and tunable THz wave became a research focus of THz technology. The light source with a wavelength range from 600—2000 nm frequently serves as a pumped source of THz wave due to its property of compact size, low cost, tunable frequency and stable operation. In this paper, tunable dual-wavelength continuous-wave pumping source and THz generator with an internal-cavity optical parameter oscillator are overviewed and analyzed in detail. It is shown that pumping source in the near-infrared wave band is more advantageous than those in the mid-infrared wave band for compactness in size. It is also shown that the difference frequency and nonlinear cascade processes have become an important way to generate THz radiation for wide tuning merit in such a system.


Xiuyan is the settlement of the Manchus,as well as the place where the Manchu language has been spoken for a long period. Although the Manchu language was not spoken for a long time,it still affected the settlement for the Han nationality. In Xiuyan,the Manchu language's being used experienced the following stages:using the Manchu language——using both the Manchu language and the Chinese language—— using the Chinese language. The Xiuyan dialect in Chinese Absorbed a lot of words from the Manchu language. Nowadays,although the Manchus use Chinese,several Manchu words are still used in their daily life and have become their dialect,which mainly represent as the names of people and places,daily words,etc.


Dexamethasone is synthetic glucocorticoid that has wide application in veterinary and human medicine. It is intimately involved in regulating both glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism. Nonetheless dexamethasone has a potential for atherogenic effect, given that they cause dyslipidemia. However, species difference and physiological status in response to medication exist. The objective of this field study was to evaluate the effects of dexamethasone on lipid profiles in pregnant yankasa sheep and Sahel goats. Thirteen apparently healthy adult Sahel goats comprising 12 does and 1 buck and 13 yankasa sheep comprising of twelve ewes and one ram were used for this study. The animals were synchronized using cloprostenol and pregnancies were achieved through natural mating. They were treated with dexamethasone injection at 0.25mg/kg body weight on days 1, 3 and 5 during first trimester; day 51, 53 and 55 during second trimester, and day 101, 103 and 105 during the third trimester. Blood samples were collected biweekly for 5 months and were used for the analysis of plasma glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). Dexamethasone significantly increased plasma glucose concentrations in both pregnant sheep and goats compared to their respective control groups. On the other hand, prenatal dexamethasone had no discernible effect on serum TG, TC and lipoprotein fractions. It was concluded that dexamethasone treatment during pregnancy improves glucose metabolism during pregnancy in yankasa sheep and Sahel goats but had no effect on serum lipid profiles. Therefore dexamethasone may be given in lower doses to alleviate gestational hypoglycaemia commonly reported in late pregnancy in sheep and goats.


A method for making precise mutations in the Ralstonia solanacearum genome at frequencies high enough to allow direct identification of mutants by PCR or other screening methods rather than by selection was developed. This method utilized a novel pBR322-based gene replacement vector that acted as a donor plasmid carrying the desired mutation into the target cell. Single-crossover occurred resulting in efficient replacement of the wild type allele on the chromosome by the modified sequence. The precision of this method was demonstrated by making deletion mutants in sorbitol dehydrogenase gene of R. solanacearum. Sorbitol dehydrogenase (polS) of R. solanacearum biovar 3 race 1 was cloned and further mutated by site direct mutagenesis by overlapping PCR to eliminate NADP binding and active sites. The deleted polS construct (ΔpolS) was introduced to R. solanacearum by triparental mating. Homologous recombination mutants were screened based on antibiotic resistance and biochemical properties.


This chapter discusses the principle of cancer immunotherapy in children and adolescents, starting with the most common form of cellular immunotherapy: allogeneic haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT). It then discusses specific immunotherapy strategies based on the administration of classic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting tumour-associated antigens, novel bispecific antibodies that simultaneously target tumour-associated antigens and activate CD3+ T lymphocytes, and mAbs that block key inhibitory molecules of the immune system (checkpoint blockade). Finally, the chapter describes specific cellular immunotherapy approaches, such as tumour vaccine and adoptive transfer of immune cells. Although only a few immunotherapies have so far been incorporated into the standard practice for paediatric cancers, their role is enjoying a new revival, after the promising results obtained in recent clinical trials.


Two dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) attracted attention for use in applications. Using equilibrium molecular dynamics, we examine the phonon transport in few-layer h-BN encased by silica (SiO2). We report large interfacial thermal resistances, of about 2.2 × 10−8 m2 K W−1, which are not sensitive to the number of h-BN layers or the SiO2 crystallinity. The h-BN/SiO2 superlattices exhibit ultra-low thermal conductivities across layers, as low as 0.3 W/m K. They are structurally stable up to 2000 K while retaining the low-thermal conductivity attributes. Our simulations indicate that incorporation of h-BN layers and nanoparticles in silica could establish thermal barriers and heat spreading paths, useful for high performance coatings and electronic device applications.


—Recently, many deterministic mathematical model have been extended to fractional model, using some fractional differential equation. Numerous studies had shown that these fractional models are more realistic to represent the daily life phenomena. This paper focused on extending the model of a SIR epidemic to fractional model. More specifically, the study discussed the fractional SIR epidemic model with sub-optimal immunity, nonlinear incidence and saturated recovery rate. The fractional ordinary differential equations were defined in the sense of the Caputo derivative. Stability analysis of the equilibrium points of the models for the fractional models were presented. Furthermore, we investigated the Hopf bifurcation analysis. The result obtained showed that the model undergo Hopf bifurcation for some values, and further confirmed that choosing an appropriate figure of the fractional (cid:11) 2 (0 ; 1] increase the stability region of the equilibrium points.


Maximum-Likelihod Linear Regression (MLLR) transform coefficients have shown to be useful features for text-independent speaker recognition systems. These use MLLR coefficients computed on a Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition System (LVCSR) as features and Support Vector machines(SVM) classification. However, performance is limited by transcripts, which are often erroneous with high word error rates (WER) for spontaneous telephone speech applications. In this paper, we propose using lattice-based MLLR to overcome this issue. Using wordlattices instead of 1-best hypotheses, more hypotheses can be considered for MLLR estimation and, thus, better models are more likely to be used. As opposed to standard MLLR, language model probabilities are taken into account as well. We show how systems using lattice MLLR outperform standard MLLR systems in the Speaker Recognition Evaluation (SRE) 2006. Comparison to other standard acoustic systems is provided as well.


A J2EE web framework must have enough vivid to cater to various need,meanwhile,it must stabilize enough and be simple: Not try to provide the all-powerful solution.Just as it is,interceptor mechanism makes Webwork2 simple and vivid.Webwork2 is simple,which let developers use little work to complete a mission effectively;Webwork2 is vivid,which give developers enough freedom to combine other techniques,such as SiteMesh,velocity,spring etc.A thorough research of interceptor mechanism within Webwork2 is carried on,the spell of Webwork2's simpleness and vividity are announced to public.


Pretesting with Multiple-choice Questions Facilitates Learning Jeri L. Little (email@example.com) Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA Elizabeth Ligon Bjork (email@example.com) Department of Psychology, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563 Los Angeles, CA 90024 USA learned material. Thus, the observed improved recall of pretested information should reflect the consequence of processes other than successful retrieval. Pretesting may be beneficial because it encourages more active involvement in learning, perhaps by increasing general interest in the topic. Additionally, the pretest may help students to discern what information is most important or what type of information the teacher is likely to test later. Thus, a pretest may lead to better recall for the previously tested information because it directs attention to the need to encode that information when encountered again during subsequent study (Hamaker, 1986). Abstract Taking a test before study can improve subsequent learning of that pretested information. How the pretest affects subsequent learning of other information in the passage is less clear, however. In three experiments, we examined the consequences of taking a multiple-choice (MC) pretest on the later recall of both pretested and non-pretested related information, finding that pretesting improved recall of pretested information without impairing recall of non- pretested information. In addition, we compared a pretest condition to conditions in which subjects were told to memorize the questions and in which subjects studied facts prior to reading. Although taking a pretest was not significantly more effective than memorizing questions or studying facts for the pre-exposed information, it did not impair the learning of related information, whereas studying facts did. Thus, even when an MC pretest takes time away from study, that pretest appears to make subsequent study more effective than other types of activities that pre-expose students to to-be-tested information. Possible Negative Consequences of Pretesting with Multiple-choice (MC) Tests Answering a question incorrectly may strengthen the erroneous response and decrease one's ability to learn the correct information later (e.g., Fritz et al., 2000). A negative characteristic of MC tests, in particular, is that they expose students to incorrect, but often attractive, alternatives, which can lead students to intrude those incorrect alternatives on later cued-recall tests (e.g., Roediger & Marsh, 2005). Of particular concern when using MC pretests is the finding by Butler and Roediger (2008) that intrusions increase when participants take a test without having studied the relevant information beforehand. On the other hand, Butler and Roediger also found that students were likely to change erroneous responses made on the pretest—to correct answers on a later test—when feedback was given. Therefore, the intrusion of errors on a later test might be reduced or eliminated as a consequence of being able to read the passage after taking the MC pretest. Keywords: pretesting, testing effects, multiple-choice Introduction In addition to assessing learning, tests can enhance learning. Testing information after study improves later recall more than additional study (see, e.g., Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). Likewise, testing information before study (i.e., pretesting) has been shown to improve subsequent learning of the pretested information (e.g., Kornell, Hays, & Bjork, 2009; Richland, Kornell, & Kao; 2009; Rothkopf, 1966), although some evidence suggests that pretesting can have negative consequences (e.g., persistence of errors, Fritz, Morris, Bjork, Gelman, & Wickens, 2000). How pretest- taking affects subsequent learning of information not tested—in particular, related information—is less clear, but of concern for both practical and theoretical reasons. In the present work, we examine the effects of pretesting on the later recall of both tested and nontested related information. The Effect of Pretesting on Related Information The effect of pretesting on the subsequent learning of related information not tested on the pretest has been investigated in a variety of studies (e.g., see Anderson & Biddle, 1975; and Hamaker, 1986 for meta-analyses). Evidence suggests that pretesting directs attention towards the processing of pretested information. Pretesting appears to improve subsequent learning of information that is related to pretested information, but perhaps only when the tested and nontested information are related in certain ways (e.g., the related information aids in searching for the pretested information during subsequent study). To the extent that non-pretested information does not aid in the search task, The Effect of Pretesting on Pretested Information Testing information after study may improve its later recall because the act of retrieving information from memory modifies its representation in such a way as to make it more recallable in the future than it would have been otherwise (e.g., Bjork, 1975; Bjork & Bjork, 1992). When given a pretest, however, correct retrieval of answers is unlikely given that students have not yet been exposed to the to-be-


We report a study on Ge diffusion and its impact on the electrical properties of TaN∕HfO2∕Ge metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) device. It is found that Ge diffusion depends on the amount of GeO2 formed at the HfO2∕Ge interface and can be retarded by surface nitridation. It is speculated that Ge diffusion is in the form of GeO or Ge-riched HfGeO. Effective suppression of Ge diffusion by NH3 nitridation has resulted in improved electrical properties of TaN∕HfO2∕Ge MOS device, including equivalent oxide thickness (EOT), leakage current, hysteresis, and interface state density. The degradation of leakage current after high temperature post metallization anneal (PMA) is found to be due to Ge diffusion.


In order to improve the velocity estimation accuracy for multiple targets in distributed MIMO radar, this paper analyses the influence of transmitted power and signal effective time width on the estimation accuracy, and a joint resource allocation algorithm is proposed. Firstly, a criterion minimizing the maximum Cramer Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) on the mean square error in multiple targets velocity estimation is derived, and the corresponding optimization model with transmitted power and signal effective time width is solved by SPCA (Sequential Parametric Convex Approximation) algorithm. Finally, simulations demonstrate that the velocity estimation accuracy is improved by the proposed algorithm. The results also reveal that signal effective time width has a


Perspective camera calibration has been in the last decades a research subject for a large group of researchers and as a result several camera calibration methodologies can be found in the literature. However only a small number of those methods base their approaches on the use of monoplane calibration points. We developed one of those methodologies that uses monoplane calibration points to realize a full explicit 3D camera calibration. The methodology is based on a iterative multi-step approach. An important contribution to this method is the computation of the camera look angles (rotation matrix). The three camera look angles expressed in spherical coordinates, are obtained using only the 2D perspective projection of a rectangle of unknown size. Since no minimization procedure was used to compute the camera look angles the in uence of noisy data is not a subject of less concern. As a consequence a model for the expected stability of the camera look angles from noisy image data is presented. A stability analysis as a function of the pose of the camera is also presented, and the in uence of the camera pose is con rmed with simulated data. Camera pose view strategies for accurate camera orientation computation can be extracted from the pose view stability analysis. With the knowledge of the rotation matrix, the translation vector and all the intrinsic parameters can be obtained easily. The parameters are obtained explicitly based on a multi-step calculation, and the accuracy of the parameters is strongly increased when used on a iterative calibration. Experimental and simulated analyses are presented. Tests were performed using two di erent calibration setups: 1)using a perpendicular geometry between the camera optical axis and the calibration plane; 2) using a geometry presenting an incidence angle of at least 20 degrees. A comparative analysis between this new method and the Radial Alignment Constraint method presented by R. Tsai is presented. Several simulated tests were performed in the presence of random Gaussian noise. xiii xiv Explicit Monoplane Camera Calibration


PURPOSE: Epidemiologic data from various regions have shown familial correlations of cardiovascular risk factors and the metabolic syndrome (MES), but not spousal concordance that reflects shared environmental factors, which we now describe in a Korean general population. METHODS: We selected 3141 couples, where both partners had completed a national health examination. MES was determined according to NCEP ATP-III definitions, except for waist circumference where Asian cutoffs were used. Unadjusted and age-adjusted spousal correlations, and spousal concordance, using logistic regression analysis after adjustment for spousal ages, for each MES component were calculated. RESULTS: There were strong positive spousal correlations for each component of the MES, even after adjustment for age. Significant spousal concordance of MES was also observed. Men whose wives had MES had 1.29 (95%CI, 1.07-1.57) times higher risk of having MES, compared to those whose wives did not. Women whose husbands had MES were also at 1.32 (95%CI, 1.091.61) times higher risk of having the MES. CONCLUSIONS: There was significant spousal concordance of the MES in Koreans, which implies shared environmental factors contribute to the development of the MES. Targeting screening or disease prevention measures of partners of people with the MES may be beneficial.


A novel multistatic array topology and image reconstruction algorithm for fast 3D near field microwave imaging are presented. Together, the techniques allow for hardware efficient realization of an electrically large aperture and video-rate image reconstruction. The array topology samples the scene on a regular grid of phase centers, using a tiling of Boundary Arrays (BAs). Following a simple correction, the sampled data can then be processed with the well-known and highly efficient monostatic FFT imaging algorithm. In this work, the approach is described and validated experimentally with the formation of high quality microwave images. It is further shown that the scheme is more than two orders of magnitude more computationally efficient than the prevailing backprojection method, and that a cluster of four COTS GPUs can render a 3D image of a human-sized scene in 0.048sec− 0.101sec.


A coupler includes a first portion and a second portion, and defines a passageway configured to fixedly receive a proximal end portion of a transmission member. The first portion is configured to be coupled to an ultrasonic energy source. The coupler is configured to transfer at least a portion of an ultrasonic vibration produced by the ultrasonic energy source to the transmission member. Furthermore, the first portion and the second portion are collectively configured to adjust a resonant frequency of the transmission member to correspond to a vibrational frequency of the ultrasonic vibration produced by the ultrasonic energy source. In some embodiments, the portion of the ultrasonic vibration includes a linear component. In such embodiments, the first portion and the second portion are collectively configured to transform at least a portion of the linear component of the ultrasonic vibration into a torsional component within the transmission member.


of the twentieth century who are listed as still alive in 1994. The price for all this is high and probably beyond the means of many historians. Indeed, this looks like an ersatz work, cooked up by the Oxford University Press to milk the academic library market. If this charge is true, then both the Press and Roy Porter deserve the scorn of the academic community, which can no longer support such exploitation of its shrinking financial base.


We present monolithic cavity optomechanical transducers combining microdisk optical cavities with tuning fork mechanical resonators to achieve high mechanical frequency (fM ) and high quality factor (QM ), with a measured fMQM product of 6.35×1012 Hz.


Abstract Antiferroelectric liquid crystals are studied using the pyroelectric technique. The effects of temperature and applied voltage on the pyroelectric signal are examined. The pyroelectric signal can detect phase changes that occur due to temperature and bias voltage. A high temperature ferrielectric phase FiLC is found and the stability of this phase under different bias voltages is examined.


The present study has been undertaken to study the relationship of problem solving ability and academic achievement of higher secondary level students. The sample consisted of 100 students studying in class XI of different higher secondary school of Jabalpur. The collected data has been studied and subjected to statistical analysis. The result of the study revealed that relationship between problem solving ability and academic achievement is highly positive. This study also reveals that problem solving ability affects academic achievement of the higher secondary level students.


A new sensitive kinetic method has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of phenylhydrazine in the range of 1.08×10 - 7 to 1.08×10 - 6 g/cm 3 . The detection limit of this method is 0.008 μg/cm 3 , based on the 3Sb criterion. The method is based on the inhibitory effect of phenylhydrazine on the oxidation of Victoria Blue 4-R by KBrO 3 . The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically at 596.3 nm. The method development includes the optimization of the reagent concentration and temperature. The kinetic parameters of the reaction are reported and a rate equation is suggested. The effects of certain foreign ions upon the reaction rate were determined for the assessment of the selectivity of the method. The new developed method was found to have fairly good selectivity, sensitivity, simplicity and rapidity.


Signal denoising based on the adaptive Fourier decomposition (AFD) is investigated and an approach, termed Jaya-based AFD combined with Savitzky-Golay filter, is offered to reconstruct the original signal under white Gaussian noise (WGN). Using the AFD, an analytic signal can be expressed via the summation of mono-components (MCs) whose energies are in decreasing order. Its ability to decompose signals according to their energy distributions makes the AFD useful for the signal reconstruction from noisy measurements with signal-to-noise ratios greater than zero in decibels. In every decomposition level, the conventional AFD requires an over-complete dictionary to determine the MCs. Without requiring such a dictionary, a metaheuristic optimization algorithm, termed Jaya, is used for determining the MCs. Savitzky-Golay filtering is then applied to the summation of MCs, which are obtained in every decomposition level of the noisy signal. Simulations performed on real-world signals show that the proposed approach provides satisfactory denoising performance.


DNA encoding is a problem of designing initial solutions in DNA computing,and the quality of the DNA codes can determine whether the DNA computing is successful or not.In this paper,we propose the method which takes a DNA code as a language formed by some grammar and prove the existence of the DNA encoding grammar.Then,by simplifying the alphabet of the grammar,we make the design of DNA encoding be equal to that of the binary grammar.Synchronously,we contrive a grammar which can produce a concrete DNA encoding.Finally,we get two properties of the DNA encoding grammar.


Special purpose simulators, including the appropriate Artificial Intelligence tools to acquire transparency and flexibility, are needed for the balanced development and the efficient use of the robotized manufacturing plants. The principal characteristics of the XS-SIFIP program are presented, which is specifically established for investigating the governing attributes of the transport systems in the flexible manufacturing shops. Its modular structure is particularly suitable for expanding the dimensionality of the giustification reference knowledge, embedding the critical developments of the robotized factories in the area of the dynamical scheduling.


Failures rates of Information Technology (I.T.) projects remain high, even after decades of efforts to reduce them. However, most efforts to improve project success have focused on variations within the traditional project management paradigm. We argue that a root cause of high I.T. project failure rates is the traditional paradigm itself, as promulgated by, e.g., PMBOK. Discussions with an expert panel resulted in the formulation of a new paradigm described in this paper: Value-Driven Change Leadership (VDCL). This paper proposes empirical research to ascertain the role of the new paradigm in reducing I.T. project failure rates. The initial phase of our research, reported in this paper, resulted in a survey questionnaire and pilot data from several I.T. projects. The paper describes the research methodology for an empirical study to investigate the role of VDCL in reducing I.T. project failure rates.


The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of different packages and storage environments in maintainace of physiological quality of Erythrina velutina Willd seeds. The experiment was carried out in the Laboratory of Seed Analysis of Seeds in Department of Phytotecny in the Center of Agriculture Sciences at Federal University of Paraiba (CCA-UFPB), located in Areia, northeastern Brazil. The seeds of Erythrina velutina were collected under the matrix trees in the same city and taken to the laboratory, where it was carried out homogenization and packing in paper, cloth and glass packages and, posterior storage in non-controlled laboratory conditions (±25oC), refrigerator (6 ± 2oC) and cold chamber (4 ± 2oC), for a period of 225 days. Before and after the 45- day intervals, samples were removed from each package and storage environment for evaluation of the following characteristics: water content, emergency test (percentage and speed rate); length and dry mass of epicotyle, hipocotyle and root of normal seedlings. The experimental design used was completely randomized with four replicates of 25 seeds for each test. E. velutina seeds are orthodox and by packing them in paper, cloth or glass packages, they can be stored in environments of laboratory, refrigerator and cold chamber for 225 days without significant loss in seedling emergency.


A watermarking system can be implemented with either in software or hardware. There are numerous software based watermarking schemes available in literature. There is a gap between image capture and transmission in the way watermarking is used presently. Once the images are acquired watermarks are inserted in them offline and then images are made available. The objective of this work is to implement hardware based invisible watermarking scheme so as to bridge that gap, so that watermarking is done in real time while capturing the image. In this paper, VLSI architecture for implementing invisible watermarking scheme based upon Haar [1]wavelet transformation is proposed. This technique uses a 2D DWT to decompose an image into various frequency channels. A scaled image is used as the watermark and inserted into mid frequency wavelet channel. Taking 2D IDWT of the altered wavelet decomposition produces the watermark embedded image. In order to reduce the complexities of the design, linear algebra view of DWT and IDWT has been use in this paper.


Steviol glycosides are highly sweet diterpene glycosides found in the Paragyan shrub, Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. Steviol glycosides, mainly stevioside and rebaudioside, principal components of Stevia rebaudiana leaf, has become well known for their sweetness and are used as non-caloric sweeteners in several countries due to their nutritional and pharmacological benefits. Hence, craving for sweetness led man to discover several forms of alternative sweeteners. In this study, different polar and non-polar solvents were used for extracting glycosides from stevia leaves and the components isolated through column chromatography were characterized as steviolmonoside, stevioside and rebaudioside B on the basis of spectral (IR and 1H-NMR data), physical and chemical characteristics.


............................................................................................................................................. vi ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................................... vii 1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem statement and rationale ....................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Objectives of the study ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Overall objective ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.3.2 The specific objectives are: ........................................................................................................ 3 1.4 Structure of the dissertation ............................................................................................................... 3 2. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW..................................................................................... 5 2.1 Beekeeping as a livelihood strategy and its contribution at household level .................................... 5 2.2 Adoption of beekeeping as an economic activity .............................................................................. 8 2.3 Factors influencing honey production in beekeeping ...................................................................... 10 2.4 The major beekeeping constraints ................................................................................................... 12 3. CHAPTER THREE: DATA ............................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Beekeeping in Uganda ..................................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Description of the study area ........................................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 Geographic relief, climate and economic activities in the area of study .................................. 15 3.2 Research design and data collection ................................................................................................ 17 3.3 Data management ............................................................................................................................ 18 4. CHAPTER FOUR: METHODS ........................................................................................................ 19 4.1 Methods of analysis ......................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Variable construction....................................................................................................................... 22 5. CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS ............................................................................................................ 23 5.1 Description of the farming households ............................................................................................ 23 5.1.2 Characteristics of the beekeepers ............................................................................................. 25 5.2 Economic contribution of beekeeping to the rural households ....................................................... 26 5.2.1 Bee products and their incomes ................................................................................................ 26


Mullerian duct fusion anomalies resulting in uterine malformations have prevalence of 3-4%. Among this, bicornuate uterus has a rare incidence of 0.4%. Uterine malformations pose significant threat in terms of obstetric outcomes. We report an extremely rare case of spontaneous conception of twin pregnancy with the fetus occupying each horn of a bicornuate uterus (bicornis unicollis), in a woman with a history of previous caesarean section. She was booked at our hospital and the pregnancy remained uneventful. At 35 weeks she went into spontaneous labour and delivered vaginally without any maternal-fetal complications. The case is unique and the management is worth discussing as till date no protocols or guidelines have been proposed for the mode of delivery of bicornuate uterus with twins with previous cesarean.  Only 12 cases of twins with bicornuate uterus have been reported till date. This is the first case in literature in which a successful VBAC has been conducted in a woman with bicornuate uterus with twins with previous caesarean.


One kind of compound heat preservation heat insulation concrete shearing force wall structure system and the job practice, in the concrete foundation connect the prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation wall template, the prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation wall template interconnection has the steel bar skeleton, outside the prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation wall template the side permanent connection cement tile, the prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation wall template compound constructs with the cast-in-place concrete wall is a body; Floor by prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation trough plate and cast-in-place the steel bar layer of concrete duplicate synthesizes a body, in each prefabricated polystyrene heat preservation grooved template trough sets has the dense rib Liang steel bar, with the shearing force wall in steel bar, the polystyrene wall shell body template inside steel lumber forms the whole together the steel bar skeleton, with cast-in-place the steel bar layer of concrete constructs is a body. The invention provides a kind of new energy conservation construction system, reduced the construction working procedure, reduced the time limit for a project, reduced the construction cost, has solved the energy conservation construction craft complex problem. Is suitable for the multilayer and the small high-rise construction.


Abstract Computer based mathematical models describing the aircraft evacuation process have a vital role to play in the design and development of safer aircraft, the implementation of safer and more rigorous certification criteria, in cabin crew training and post-mortem accident investigation. As the risk of personal injury and the costs involved in performing large-scale evacuation experiments for the next generation ultra high capacity aircraft (UHCA) are expected to be high, the development and use of these evacuation modelling tools may become essential if these aircraft are to prove a viable reality. This paper describes the capabilities and limitations of the airEXODUS evacuation model and some attempts at validation, including its successful application to the prediction of a recent certification trial, prior to the actual trial taking place. Also described is a newly defined performance parameter known as OPS that can be used as a measure of evacuation trial optimality. In addition, sample evacuation simulations in the presence of fire atmospheres are described.


The metabolic breakdown of hemoglobin consists, in its first phase, in an oxidative cleavage of the protoporphyrin ring, through the elimination of the methine group situated between the two pyrrole rings carrying the vinyl substituents (a-methine group). The product formed, choleglobin, is then easily split into globin, ferric ions and a green pigment, biliverdin (I) which is an open chain conjugated totrapyrrole. The further metabolic transformations consist in a chain of reductions: biliverdin is reduced to bilirubin (II), a pigment of orange color and possibly also to a dark brown pigment, called urobilin (III), through the conversion of, respectively, the central or the two terminal methine groups, -CH=-, to methylene groups -CH2-. Further reductions lead through the hydrogenation of all the methine and the vinyl groups to urobilinogen, and through the complementary partial hydrogenation of the two terminal pyrrole rings to stercobilin. Biliverdin and bilirubin are the principal bile The unusual property of possessing a bonding lowest empty molecular orbital appears to be de-pendent on the number of pyrrole rings in the polypyrrole chain: it is not present in the dipyr- role chain but manifests itself in the tetrapyrrole chain. (In the unsubstituted tetrapyrrole analog of biliverdin the bonding character of this orbital should be even more pronounced than in biliverdin itself: its K, = 0.064.) We are investigating, at present, the general conditions necessary for the appearance of this unusual property.


The optimum conditions for extraction and determination of flavonoids in Fuzhuan tea were investigated with 95% ethanol as solvent,and flavonoids in Fuzhuan tea was extracted by heating reflux method.The content of flavonoids was determined by spectrophotometry,and the extraction rate of flavonoids was the highest under the optimal conditions that were as follows:the solid-liquid ratio was 1∶20(g/mL),heating reflux time was 60min.The absorbance was maximum,when conditions were as follows:wavelength was 416nm,added the volume ratio of HAc-NaAc(pH=4.0)to 0.1mol/L AlCl3-methanol solution was 1∶1,coloration time was 15min.The linear regression equation of control sample was A=0.0203+0.0176C(μg/mL)(r=0.9997) in the range of 10—50μg/mL with the detection limit of 2.5μg/mL.The obtained flavonoids content of Fuzhuan tea was 1.80%.The average recoveries were form 99.0% to 102.8%,the RSD(n=5) was 1.27%.The method is simple,rapid and accurate,and can meet the requests of extraction and detection of flavonoids in Fuzhuan tea.


Helicobacter pylori infection is an important factor in the pathogenesis of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and primary gastric B-cell lymphoma. The efficacy of treatment depends on the susceptibility of H. pylori to the antibiotics provided in the therapy, and the resistance of H. pylori isolates to the antibiotics causes eradication treatment failure. A clarithromycin-based eradication regimen is still recommended as the first-line therapy in European regions with low clarithromycin primary resistance. Antibiotic resistance varies greatly between countries and geographical regions and is an increasing problem worldwide. Therefore, it is important to know the local data about the primary resistance of H. pylori isolates to most commonly used antibiotics in the eradication treatment, because therapy is still often started with antibiotics chosen on an empiric basis despite current guidelines. Therefore, recent consensus conference has recommended first-line treatment based primarily on local primary resistance to clarithromycin. This paper aims to establish best practice first-line eradication therapy in the region of Southern Croatia based on the prospective monitoring of local primary antibiotic resistance. H. pylori strains were isolated from gastric mucosal biopsy specimens obtained from 345 adult patients with ulcer disease and nonulcer dyspepsia in the period of 2008–2010 in the Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Split. Specimens were streaked on Columbia agar (Becton Dickinson, Cockeysville, MD, USA) with 7% horse blood and an H. pylori selective supplement (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK). Plates were incubated for 3–7 days at 37uC in a microaerophillic atmosphere (5% O2, 10% CO2 and 85% N2). Isolates were identified by Gram staining, and positive catalase, oxidase and urease tests. The susceptibility of H. pylori isolates to amoxicillin, tetracycline, clarithromycin, levofloxacin, and metronidazole was determined by Etest (AB Biodisk, Solna, Sweden). H. pylori isolates were subcultured and Etests were performed on Columbia agar plates with 7% horse blood without a supplement. Plates were inoculated with a bacterial suspension (turbidity of 3 McFarland) and incubated at 37uC for 72 hours under the same microaerophillic atmosphere. The antibiotic breakpoints employed for the Etest were >4 mg/l for amoxicillin, >1 mg/l for clarithromycin, >8 mg/l for metronidazole, >1 mg/l for levofloksacin, and >1 mg/l for tetracycline. The Chi-squared test was used to evaluate the differences between proportions. All differences in which the probability of the null hypothesis was P,0.05 were considered statistically significant. During the survey period (January 2008–December 2010) a total of 345 adult patients were included in this study. The overall resistance of H. pylori strains to clarithromycin was 21.2% (73 strains out of 345) (Table 1). We found that the prevalence of primary clarithromycin resistance significantly decreased during study period when compared with the period of 2006–2007 (P,0.05), but it is still high and it exceeds 20% (Fig. 1). The resistance rate for metronidazole was 10.2% (37 strains out of 345) (Table 1). It was lower than in the period of 2006–2007, when it was 11.4%, the difference being not significant (P.0.05) (Fig. 1). The primary antibiotic resistance to levofloxacin is relatively low (eight strains out of 175), and now stands at 4.6% (Table 1). No isolates were resistant to amoxicillin and tetracycline in this study. Despite intensive clinical research over the last 20 years, current treatment standards for H. pylori eradication still represent a clinical challenge. In Europe, based on the Maastricht III Consensus Report, in regions with a low primary resistance of H. pylori strains to macrolides, clarithromycin-based Correspondence to: A. Tonkic, Internal Clinic, Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Split, Spinciceva 1, 21 000 Split, Croatia. Email: email@example.com


The application of the problem based learning model to increase creativity and integrated thematic learning outcomes based on the results of initial research observations. The purpose of this study is to describe an effort for student learning and learning in an integrated thematic based on the Problem Based Learning model. The research carried out is classroom action research with qualitative and quantitative approaches. The research stages are preceded by planning, implementation, observation and reflection. The technique used in data collection is in the form of observations, field notes, interviews and test results. The research was conducted in Semester I of the 2021/2022 Academic Year. The research subjects were colleagues at SDN 06 Kampung Baru Padusunan as observers, researchers and fifth grade students collected 21 people consisting of 14 male students and 7 female students. The results of the first stage of the study in the lesson plan averaged 79.16% (enough), increased in stage II to 84.72% (good) and increased again in stage III to 91.67% (very good). The implementation of stage I in creativity argues that the average student is 75% (often), increasing in stage II to 85% (always) and increasing again in stage III to 90% (always). The average student learning outcomes in stage I were 73.51 (enough), increased in stage II to 81.80 (good) and increased again in stage III to 85.36 (good). Therefore, it can be concluded that the Problem Based Learning model is able to increase creativity and student learning outcomes in integrated thematic learning in class V Elementary School.


M. H. Gough illustrated the technique oflymphangio- graphy with a film. General anaesthesia was necessary in children, and the lymphatics in the limbs were out- lined by injecting 0-1 ml. 10% Patent Blue into a web space. Normal lymphatics were filled within a few minutes, but abnormal lymphatics in children may be difficult to identify, and an operating microscope may be of great assistance. In the foot or hand it may well be necessary to make an incision across the whole dorsum to identify the lymphatics. The lymphatics were then outlined by using a lipiodol in oily solution, the dose being restricted to 0-2 ml./kg. as a maximum, because deaths from pulmonary emboli have been reported with higher dosages. Screening with an image intensifier was carried out during the injection. In children the lower limbs is described according to the findings on lymphangio- graphy. The lymphatics may be described as follows.


Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome(PRRS)is currently thought of as the most important infectious disease of swine.This paper sums up the PRRSV positive-strand RNA genome that encodes a replicase polyprotein and six structural proteins.


Dear Editor, We read with interest article ''Variation of Intraocular Pressure with Age and Gender'' by Jeelani et al and we would like to highlight few facts. All intraocular pressure measurements as was stated in the article were carried on only in the sitting position during day, only once. Numbers of studies that measure night-time intraocular pressure in recumbent positions generally find higher mean IOPS. Articles of Liu et al showed that there is significant elevation of intraocular pressure during night. We believe that a material and methods in the article should have been written with more specific data. The authors should have mentioned if all IOP measurements were taken by same trained person or several trained. Also authors should have reported what were exclusion criteria for glaucoma. In our opinion the authors should have mentioned if the direct or indirect fundoscopies were performed. That way authors could have detected lesions due arterial hypertension or diabetes mellitus. In article of Sakata et al is written that IOP values increase progressively from the hypertensive patients without retinopathy, to the hypertensive with retinopathy and diabetic hypertensive with retinopathy. We would like to suggest authors to make a bigger sample and try to identify a relationship between intraocular pressure and systemic health parameters not only age and sex but also blood and obesity index. Apart of this we would like to suggest authors to try to include in next article also all patients older than 20 years. They could make then seven age groups, divided by decades ranging from 20 to 29 years to 80+years. Also interested study would be if the authors could investigate relationship between corneal diameter, central corneal curvature, central corneal thickness.


The traditional reflective parallel optical tube has a small field of view and a large off-axis aberration, so it is difficult to meet the high precision requirements of wide field of view and wide band. The design adopts the initial structure of wide-field eyepiece, and is optimized by the optical design software.The focal length of the system is 307mm, the field of view Angle is ±12°, the full field of view has no halo, the working wavelength is 450nm~900nm, and the transfer function is almost close to the diffraction limit, meeting the design requirements of large field of view, wide band and small distortion.


PurposeThe current determination is committed to characterize the boundary layer flow of Williamson nanofluid prompted by nonlinear strained superficial under heat and mass transport mechanisms. Buongiorno model is presented to view the influence of nanoparticles in fluid flow. Scrutiny has been conceded under the action of the transversely smeared magnetic field. Heat and mass relocation exploration are conducted in the companionship of radiation effects and actinic compensation.Design/methodology/approachSimilarity variable is designated to transmute nonlinear partial differential equations of conservation laws of mass, momentum, energy and species into ordinary dimensional expressions. These constitutive and complicated ordinary differential expressions assessing the flow situation are handled efficaciously by manipulating Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg procedure (RK-5) with shooting routine.FindingsThe graphical demonstration is deliberated to scrutinize the variation in velocity, temperature and concentration profiles with respect to flow regulating parameters. Numerical data are displayed through tables in order to surmise variation in skin friction coefficient and Nusselt number. The augmenting values of fluid parameter and magnetic parameter reduces the horizontal fluid velocity, whereas normal velocity upsurges for mounting values of stretching ratio parameter. Moreover, mounting values of radiation parameter and thermophoresis parameter upsurges the temperature profile, whereas, growing values of Prandtl number lessen the temperature field.Practical implicationsThe current exploration is used in many industrial and engineering applications in order to discuss the transport phenomenon.Originality/valueFlow over a nonlinear stretched surface has numerous applications in the industry. The present attempt examines the combined influence of various physical characteristics for the flow of Williamson fluid and no such attempt exist in the available literature.


A generalization of the class of completely convex functions, those functions in $C^\infty [0,1]$ whose even derivatives alternate in sign, is developed by means of the Sturm–Liouville differential operator $Lf = - (Pf')' + Qf$. The functions obtained are called $LB$-positive functions. A series expansion associated with the operator is introduced and used to represent $LB$-positive functions. For special choices of P and Q, the representation reduces to the classical relationship between completely convex functions and Lidstone series.


This paper intends to analyse and elucidate the impact of fair value accounting on the banking industry in general and Indian banking in particular in the light of the move towards convergence to international financial reporting standards across the globe. In the light of criticism against fair value accounting for amplifying the subprime crisis and for causing a financial meltdown, the article has analysed the nature and impact of fair value accounting in view of the recent announcement of the Indian version of IFRS i.e., Ind AS by the regulators in India and its impact in relation to the contentious issues like; systemic risk, contagion and its impact on investors. Further, the article highlights the areas in which Indian banking industry is required to focus before and after the implementation of fair value accounting and their consequences on the financial statements of the bank.


AbstractThis research applies basic parameters of sustainable architecture to study the social housing neighborhoods in the city of Palmira (Colombia) in order to identify their main problems relat...


Abstract Jerry Fodor has claimed to have a solution to the traditional problem of what comes first, thought or language. Compositionality, he says, will give us the answer, for at least one must be compositional, and if only one of them is, that is the one that has underived semantic content. He argues that natural languages are not compositional, and therefore that the content of language is derived from the content of thought. I will argue that the idea that language is not compositional conflicts with his productivity and systematicity arguments for the existence of a language of thought. I will also show that Fodor's solution to the problem fails, as his main argument is circular. Finally, I suggest that Fodor's argument against the compositionality of language is not decisive, and that we can still attribute at least some degree of compositionality to language.


The (complex) conjugation on quantum states and on unitary quantum gates, if implemented, result in quantum information applications. We construct a universal quantum algorithm that invokes multiple but finite uses of the input unitary gate, provided as a quantum gate oracle, and deterministically implements a conjugated unitary gate. The multiple uses are necessary for dimensions larger than 2. Interpreted in terms of particle-hole nomenclature, the algorithm identifies a sufficient information theoretic resource to simulate hole dynamics. We discuss how to measure a class of conjugation-based quantities of (unknown) states including entanglement measures such as concurrence with and without the conjugated state clones, while avoiding full state tomography. The universal state conjugation, however, is shown to be impossible from finite clones, even probabilistically. We introduce an equivalent method based on "nonlinear" observables without requiring the conjugated clones. The equivalence implies that the $G$-concurrence and the other family members of the concurrence monotones have a conjugation-based expression.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:To record the effect of Holmium laser power, time of laser activation, and the use of ureteral access sheath (UAS) and the UAS size on the maximal temperature (Tmax) in t...


The electrochemical behavior and the electrocatalytic activity for the NADH oxidation at glassy carbon paste electrodes (GCPEs) modified with Meldola Blue (MB) adsorbed onto acidic cc-zirconium phosphate (ZP*) have been investigated. Cyclic voltammetry and rotating disc electrode measurements, performed in Tris buffer solution (pH 7) in absence and in presence of different NADH concentrations, showed that: (i) the formal standard potential (E degrees') of NIB was found pH dependent, according to the equation E = E degrees (c)-0.059pH + 0.029log(1 + 10(pH-pKa)), where the best fitting value for pK(a) Was estimated to be 4.3 +/- 0.4; (ii) the best electrocatalytic response was obtained for MB-ZP*-modified GCPEs having a ratio between the glassy carbon powder (Sigradur K) and MB-ZP* of 19:1; (iii) the presence of polyethyleneimine in the paste has a significant beneficial effect on the electrocatalytic activity of the investigated modified electrodes. As a general conclusion, it was stated that the particular features of the MB-ZP*-GCPEs are related to the ZP* crystallinity. (Less)


Bardoxolone methyl is an electrophilic agent that induces Nrf2 activation by irreversibly and covalently binding to the cysteine residue of Keap1. Ongoing clinical trials of Bardoxolone methyl show promising effects for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, irreversible Keap1 inhibitors such as Bardoxolone methyl may covalently bind to other proteins in a non-specific manner and induce side effects due to off-target activities. In this study, we developed a reversible Keap1 inhibitor UBE-1099, which highly selectively and non-covalently inhibits Keap1-Nrf2 protein-protein interaction (PPI) and induces Nrf2 activation. We evaluated its efficacy on glomerulosclerosis in mouse model of CKD (Alport syndrome: Col4a5-G5X). Similar to Bardoxolone methyl, UBE-1099 transiently increased proteinuria and reduced plasma creatinine in CKD model mice. Importantly, UBE-1099 improved the glomerulosclerosis, renal inflammation and fibrosis, and prolonged the lifespan of CKD model mice. Moreover, transcriptome analysis in glomerulus showed that UBE-1099 induced the expression of genes associated with cell cycle and cytoskeleton, which may explain its unique mechanism of improvement such as glomerular morphological change. Thus, our results firstly revealed the efficacy of Keap1-Nrf2 PPI inhibitor for glomerulosclerosis and CKD.


Wishbone is one of System-on-Chip(SOC) bus standards which is used in sensor control system.In this paper,a reconfigurable low density parity check code(LDPC) encoder based on Wishbone standard is proposed,and it can be used in wireless communication of sensor network.The RU algorithm is applied to decreasing the encode complexity,and the pipeline structure is applied to designing the circuit.The encoder is in response to bus signal according to its working state.The decoders with a code rate of 1/2,and a message code length of 255,510 and 1 023 have been carried out in Xilinx Virtex2P series FPGA chip successfully,and the corresponding frequency is 158 MHz,160 MHz and 166 MHz.The results show that this design can increase the system throughput.


A 71-year-old Japanese woman consulted to our hospital because of left submandibular mass. She did not suffer from Sjogren syndrome and other connective tissue diseases. Physical examination and imaging modalities including CT and MRI revealed a left submandibular gland tumor measuring 6 × 6 × 5 cm (Figure 1). Clinical diagnosis was malignant pleomorphic adenoma. A large biopsy was performed. It revealed severe diffuse proliferation of atypical round cells (Figure 2A). No follicular structures were recognized. The atypical cells invaded the surrounding smooth muscle cells. Higher power viewer showed the atypical round cells are relatively large lymphoid cells with hyperchromatic nuclei and nucleoli (Figure 2B). Mitotic figures and apoptotic cells were scattered. Features of Burkitt lymphoma were not seen. An immunohistochemical study was performed with the use of Dako Envision method, as previously described [2, 3]. The atypical cells were positive for CD45 (Figure 3A), CD20 (Figure 3B), p53 protein (100%) (Figure 3C). The Ki-67 labeling was 100% (Figure 3D). In contrast, they were negative for various types of cytokeratins, epithelial membrane antigen, CD3, CD30, CD45RO, and TdT. Light chain restriction was present; the tumor cells were positive for λchain (Figure 3E), but almost negative for κchain. The pathological diagnosis was DLBCL of the left submandibular gland. After the pathological diagnosis, systemic imaging study was performed, which revealed no other tumors. Lymph node swelling was not seen by these techniques. The patient underwent R-CHOP chemotherapy and radiation. The tumor markedly reduced in size 4 months after the diagnosis.


Summary.

Previously it was found that the chloride as well as the sodium ions could be absorbed against a concentration gradient in the colon and the distal part of the small intestine of rats when pure sodium chloride solutions were infused. In this paper it is demonstrated that the chloride ion is still absorbed against a concentration gradient in the colon when sodium is replaced by potassium, calcium, magnesium or ammonium, and that sodium, too, is absorbed against a concentration gradient in the colon as well as the distal part of the small intestine when the chloride ion is replaced by acetate, nitrate, bicarbonate or sulphate ions.


In the photoelectric conversion element having a plurality of stacked unit elements a pn or pin structure is formed of a non-monocrystalline semiconductor material such as silicon lines were provided in the vicinity of the p / n interface between the plurality of unit elements, oxygen atom concentration and / or carbon photoelectric conversion elements the atomic concentration peak maxima. Thus stabilize the structure to provide p / n interface, membrane properties and improve the interfacial adhesion, high photoelectric conversion efficiency of the photoelectric conversion element.


CN− and Hg2+ ions are harmful to both the environment and human health, even at trace levels. Thus, alternative methods for their detection and quantification are highly desirable given that the traditional monitoring systems are expensive and require qualified personnel. Optical chemosensors (probes) have revolutionized the sensing of different species due to their high specificity and sensitivity, corresponding with their modular design. They have also been used in aqueous media and different pH ranges, facilitating their applications in various samples. The design of molecular probes is based on organic dyes, where the key species are N-heterocyclic compounds (NHCs) due to their proven photophysical properties, biocompatibility, and synthetic versatility, which favor diverse applications. Accordingly, this review aims to provide an overview of the reports from 2016 to 2021, in which fluorescent probes based on five- and six-membered N-heterocycles are used for the detection of CN− and Hg2+ ions.


Background. International standard ISO 15189 promotes the implementation of an effective quality assessment program and recognizes the importance of the post-analytical phase. The sub clause 5.8 is divided into three main parts: the appearance and content of the laboratory findings, validation and the way of reporting laboratory Results. In order to harmonize the way of reporting laboratory results in Croatian medical biochemistry laboratories the Croatian Chamber of Medical Biochemists (CCMB) issued the document based on ISO 15189 requirements, recommendation of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). The implementation of those requirements was evaluated through External quality assessment (EQA) scheme in post-analytical phase. Methods. EAQ program in Croatia has been continuously performed since 1973 by the Committee for EQA Schemes under the auspices of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemists but the new scheme in post-analytical phase started in 2009. The comparability analysis of received laboratory reports and the mandatory requirements based on the CCMB requirements was done. Results. From 210 medical biochemistry laboratories in Croatia 140 sent their laboratory reports (70%). According to the obtained results a small number of laboratories did not use the recommended names, abbreviations, units or recommended reference intervals on their laboratory reports. Conclusions. Further improving in post-analytical phase especially in harmonization of reporting the patient samples results is a prerequisite for accreditation of medical biochemistry laboratories in Croatia according to ISO 15189.


My thesis focuses on the incorporation of Hyperboreans, a mythical classical race, into the prevailing Gothic or Geatic narrative of national history in seventeenth and eighteenth century Swedish historiography. The beatific Hyperboreans were identified with ancient Swedes to emphasise that the Gothic ancestors of Sweden's rulers had not been mere mediaeval barbarians. The most extreme proponents of this Hyperborean research tradition claimed that a high culture had thrived in Sweden before classical antiquity. They asserted that traces of this highly-developed northern civilisation could be found in the Bible, classical writings and mediaeval historiography, as well as the domestic antiquities such as runestones and Old Norse writings. By close-reading published and unpublished writings of historians and antiquaries, I examined the overarching and shared distinctive features within this Hyperborean research tradition. This involved an analysis of the main content of this research tradition in its learned, mostly Western European historiographical setting. I focused especially on understanding the Hyperborean research tradition within the intellectual traditions of constructing fabulous pasts. The seventeenth century was a period of institutionalisation of historical and antiquarian research in Sweden and Europe. Hence, I also studied the role of specific politico-historical and institutional conditions in the emergence, development and decline of the Hyperborean research tradition. By combining these two approaches, I attempted to strike a balance between research on longterm intellectual traditions and short-term immediate situations in which the ideas about the Hyperboreans were developed and used. Ultimately my thesis illustrates that the Hyperborean research tradition was a fairly coherent tradition of research. It arose in the early seventeenth century as part of the political pursuits and problems of Swedish monarchs in the domestic front and the Baltics. The tradition dominated Swedish historiography during the period of Swedish absolutism (1690–1720), before gradually crumbling from 1730s onwards. The emergence, development and decline of the Hyperborean research tradition were all a result of complex historiographical and politico-institutional factors.


Necrotizing fasciitis is a rapidly progressive inflammation and necrosis of soft tissues and fascia, accompanied by severe systemic toxicity. In some cases early diagnosis is challenging. Objective of this study is to identify basic investigations that will aid in early diagnosis in such equivocal cases. This is a prospective study. Patients who underwent wound debridement for clinically diagnosed necrotizing fasciitis and suspected necrotizing fasciitis at a level 2 hospital in Sri Lanka were included in the study. All together there were 24 patients who were diagnosed to have necrotizing fasciitis with intraoperative findings. In all patients we did full blood count [FBC], C-reactive protein [CRP], random blood sugar [RBS], Arterial blood gas analysis [ABG], plain x-ray films of affected area and wound swab culture and ABST before surgical intervention. Mean age was 67.2 [range: 38-85] years. Diabetes mellitus was a co‐morbidity in 67% of patients. Commonest affected area was the lower limbs. Out of all patients 62% of patients had a history of muddy water contact. All the patients had WBC more than 15,000 where as 58% of patients had WBC more than 25,000. CRP was more than 150 in 83% patients. Among all 54% of patients' plain x-rays were positive for soft tissue gas. Majority of wound swab cultures were poly microbial. Commonest organisms were Streptococcus species, Staphylococcus and enterobac-teriaceae. Overall death rate was 42% in this study.  Among 14 patients who were diagnosed on admission, 3 patients died. Death rate was 21%.  Among 10 patients whose diagnoses got delayed, 7 patients died. Death rate was 70%. A high clinical suspicion of necrotizing fasciitis is needed in an elderly patient presenting with cutaneous infection causing swelling, pain and erythema, with co‐morbidity of diabetes. High WBC, High CRP and presence of soft tissue gas in plain x-rays are highly suggestive for underline necrotizing fasciitis. Diagnostic score for Necrotising fasciitis can be made using these basic investigations and x-ray findings which need to be validated in further studies.


Discloses an apparatus and method for displaying three-dimensional images. On the display panel, red, green and blue sub-pixels are alternately arranged in the row direction, the sub-pixel having the same color in the column direction are arranged. Three-dimensional image filter is arranged in front of the display panel, and comprising alternately arranged transparent areas and opaque areas. Opaque areas defining the edge width with respect to the vertical axis of the display panel is inclined. The controller according to the inclination of the edge to assign to the viewpoint image displayed on the sub-pixel of the display panel.


Neuropathic pain (NP) is defined as "pain arising because of a lesion or disease of the somatosensory system" (Jensen et al. 2011). NP is characterized by spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia (an augmented response to a stimulus which is normally painful) and allodynia (pain as a result of a stimulus which does not normally provoke pain) etc. The molecular mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain are not yet clearly understood. However, various mechanisms such as damage to the sensory neurons resulting in adaptive changes in the density, distribution and functional activities of several voltage & ligand gated ion channels, receptors and enzymes in the damaged DRG including spinal neurons (Rasband et al. 2001; Waxman and Zamponi 2014) have been proposed. These mechanistic changes in part have been demonstrated to be responsible for the state of hyperexcitability (Abdulla and Smith 2001; Abdulla and Smith 2002).


General anesthethesia (GA) is a technique that makes patients unconscious and paralyzed before surgical operation. One of the complications of GA was pressure sore because of tissure ischemia and dead. Pressure sore indicated the low quality of nursing care. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of pressure sore prevention of a gel-ring innovation used to fix the head of patients under genral anesthesia, compared to that of the ordinary rubber–ring. It was conducted Buddachinaraj Hospital, Phitsanulok, during the period from February to March 2016. Thirty surgical cases were enrolled in the study. They were redomly devided into 2 groups, 30 patients each. The study instruments were (1) the gel-ring, (2) the anesthetic record, (3) pressure sore record, and (4) satisfaction assessment form to be filled by the anesthetist team. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statics, Chi-squares and Fisher, s Exact test. It was found that there was no significant difference between two gropes with regard to demographic characteristics, underlying illnesses and surgical times. The occurrence of pressure sore was significantly lower in the gel-ring group (p<0.05). In addition, the anesthetist team expressed high satisfaction on the use of the gel-ring. In conclusion, the gel–ring innovention could effectively prevent pressure sore. It should be promoted and adapted for other patients with different surgical position. Key words: gel-ring, pressure sore, general anesthesia


Let μ be a positive measure on the real line, with associated orthogonal polynomials {p n } and leading coefficients {γ n }. Let h ∈ L 1 (R). We prove that for n ≥ 1 and all polynomials P of degree ≤ 2n ― 2, ∫ ∞ ―∞ P(t) p 2 n (t)h (p n―1 p n (t)) dt = γn―1 γn (∫ ∞ ―∞ h(t)dt)(∫P(t) dμ(t)). As a consequence, we establish weak convergence of the measures on the lefthand side.


IN her study of Robert of Sicily, Lillian Herlands Hornstein has commented that 'curiously enough, the poem has aroused almost no interest among English scholars, although the medieval English version achieved a well-merited popularity in its own day." Critics usually describe Robert of Sicily as 'a pious legend, told to edify rather than to amuse,'2 and they argue that it is organized around the religious theme 'des Siinders, der in leidvollem Erleben-als Bewaihrung oder Strafe-zu demiitiger Reue und beispielhafter Busse vordringt und schliesslich Gottes Vergebung.'3 In contrast, Hornstein points out that Robert of Sicily synthesizes 'themes from folklore, Biblical commentary, and history' (p. 13), although she concentrates on analyzing the way in which it 'provides fresh evidence of the process by which Biblical exegesis was


Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a revolutionary medical advancement to prevent HIV infection upon exposure. However, since its introduction in 2012, PrEP largely remains inaccessible to adolescents who do not wish to disclose their PrEP usage through an explanation of benefits (EOBs) and who are covered under a parent/guardian insurance. This literature review uniquely documents the concept of insurance as a barrier to PrEP access because of EOBs and how non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including community-based organizations (CBOs), have addressed this insurance policy problem. Based on the results of this review, a new approach to resolving EOBs as a barrier to PrEP access for adolescents has the potential to be implemented at the state level across the country. The approach focuses on clarifying the definition of "endanger" under HIPAA to grant adolescents the privilege of medical disclosure as it relates to EOBs.