In this paper, deformations of CANDU fuel elements under the influence of temperature gradients in pellets are investigated using the three-dimensional thermo-elastic theory and surface-surface contact theory. In obtaining a 3-D solution, all solid components are first modeled using the nine-node harmonic elements. The sub-structuring technique is then utilized to deduce a set of linear complementary equations for which a robust contact algorithm may be employed to obtain an accurate solution. The finite element, sub-structuring and contact procedures are implemented in a computer code FUEL3D. For testing purposes, four simple case studies were conducted in this paper using the code. The numerical results are compared with those obtained using the analytical solutions and ANSYS. Excellent agreement is achieved for all test cases.


We have investigated how the behavior of a transition shell atomic species (species A) with orbital magnetism, driven by hybridization‐mediated interactions via a sea of band electrons, is modified by the addition of a second parasite hybridizer (species B). Our approach involves a two‐stage procedure. First, we calculate the modification of the band electron sea by hybridization with B by using a slave boson formalism. Second, the modifications in the A‐A interionic interactions driving the orbital magnetic ordering are calculated by applying a Schrieffer–Wolff transformation on the renormalized Anderson lattice hamiltonian obtained from the first stage. The new A‐A interactions have a different radial dependence (range factor) which depends in a nonlinear way on the band‐B hybridization strength: and the consequences of this change on the magnetic ordering are studied using a mean‐field approximation. This enables us to model the reduction in the magnetic ordering caused by competing parasite hybridizat...


Combined with actual applications in finance and insurance industry,the paper introduces the selection of modem synchronous clock,clock settings of digital data network(DDN) ports,and maintenance of common trouble.It has good use for reference in the connection of DDN ports.


Temporal and probability discounting refer to the decrease in subjective value of rewards that are either delayed or uncertain. Comparatively high degrees of discounting have been linked to other indices of impulsivity in both animals and humans, but the study of human discounting has primarily relied on participant reports of preferences between hypothetical outcomes. A number studies to date have illustrated not only how sensitive these preferences are to manipulations within such hypothetical procedures, but also that tasks where each consequence is actually experienced are able to capture changes in behaviour that hypothetical tasks may not. The current thesis examined temporal and probability discounting using a novel experiential discounting task in the form of a computer game-based discounting task in which the delays or probabilities of the preferred outcomes were experienced following each choice. The game had participants collect points by skiing over jumps, and discounting choices between either immediate and delayed or certain and uncertain point outcomes provided additional opportunities for point gain. Discounting was examined across four samples primarily composed of university students. Experiment 1, a test of the newly created task in two parts, assessed the most appropriate descriptive model of both temporal and probability discounting, as well as examined the relation between the two, hypothetical discounting and self-report measures of impulsivity and risk taking. Experiment 2 examined the effect of magnitude manipulations on both temporal and probability discounting. Experiment 3 examined the effect on degree of temporal discounting of manipulations to post-reward delays and access to alternative reinforcement during this period. Lastly, Experiment 4 attempted to manipulate the association between delay and risk and examined the impact of this on discounting of delayed outcomes. Participants across all studies showed systematic decreases in subjective value of both delayed and uncertain point outcomes. However, the shape of this decrease in value differed across the two types of outcomes, as did the effect of the magnitude manipulations. Furthermore, neither post-reinforcement duration, access to alternative reinforcement, nor experience with risk influenced degree of temporal discounting. The results are discussed in terms of single process accounts of discounting, the implications for individual trait interpretations of discounting and the relevance of experiential and hypothetical discounting to the construct of impulsivity.


This paper aims at minimizing the torque ripples using variable switching frequency technique of PWM (VSFPWM) of the surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (SPMSM) for a high-performance operation of a motor-generator set. The proposed system was employed to drive the promising brushless doubly-fed reluctance generator (BDFRG) with a sensorless vector-control topology. Validity of the rotor-position/speed estimation critically affects most of the sensorless control strategies. Therefore, a simple estimation method is proposed for the positioning of rotor of the generator. The presented control strategies are confirmed with some of the obtained results to assure its controllability.


Fourteen healthy dogs were given 540 to 840 mg/kg of cefazedone (Refosporen®) intravenously for up to 4 months or until peripheral blood cell counts were depressed. Within 6 to 10 weeks treated dogs developed pancytopenia (5/14), thrombocytopenia (11/14), moderate to severe neutropenia (8/14), and/or normocytic anemia with erythroblastemia (8/14). Ultrastructural changes in bone marrow of severely cytopenic dogs included mitochondrial damage in hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic cells, thickening of endosteal bone lining layers, increased adventitial coverage of vascular sinuses, and an increased number of active macrophages. Swollen, ruptured mitochondria were in erythroid, granulocytic, and megakaryocyte cells, and, to a lesser extent, in macrophages, reticular endothelial, and bone lining cells. Maturation arrest was evident in both erythroid and granulocytic cell lines. There was also evidence of ineffective erythropoiesis and granulopoiesis. None of these changes were observed in bone marrow of controls, treated dogs that did not develop cytopenia, or dogs allowed to recover after cessation of dosing.


Bird song is thought to function primarily in same-sex competition, mate attraction, and reproductive stimulation of a partner. However, these conclusions are based largely on studies of the song of male birds in north-temperate species. We investigate female song in a Neotropical wren, Thryophilus pleurostictus, using observations and experiments to test the function of female song. Female banded wrens sang much less often than males, their songs were shorter, and their repertoire of song types was smaller. Females did not seem to sing for same-sex competition for resources or mates: female song rate did not increase in response to simulated intrusion, and females sang in response to less than one-third of playbacks simulating territorial intrusion by either unpaired or paired females. Territorial defense is important for both survival and reproduction in species that occupy all-purpose territories year-round, but female involvement in territorial defense was limited. Females were more likely to approach simulated intruders when their partner approached more closely, and were closer to their partner during playback simulating a pair of intruders, perhaps contributing to defense jointly with their partner. Females did not appear to use song to attract males for mating: only 25% of females sang in response to playback simulating an unpaired male during the nest-building period, and they were less likely to sing shortly before laying when they were more likely to be fertile. Female song in banded wrens seemed to be used primarily for communicating with their breeding partner: female songs overlapped or began within one second of a song by their partner more often than expected by chance, and male vocal behavior changed in response to song by their partner. However, the low rate of female song in banded wrens suggests this function does not select for song elaboration, consistent with the view that same-sex competition is the main driver of female song elaboration.


Measurement of the refractive index of transparent materials in the terahertz (THz) range required for the development of devices and systems that operate in this range. Submillimeter lasers are one of the most affordable sources of coherent THz radiation. They have features that allow you to measure the refractive index of transparent materials. The method for on-line measuring the refractive index of transparent materials in the terahertz range is represented. The measurable substance is placed in a quasioptical resonator. Measurements are performed by means of coherent terahertz electromagnetic radiation. Performed test measurements of the refractive index. Justification reducing error of measurement of the refractive index, taking into account the physics of the processes in the space of resonance submillimeter laser system, we conducted. It was shown that the accuracy of measurement of the refractive index can be greatly increased by placing the test substance in the resonator THz laser. Presented techniques for measuring the refractive index of transparent materials in the THz range can be used in various fields of science, technology and medicine


acceler acousti (1985) system animal Fristru transm describ of soun and treat high-frequency sound transmission in the atmosphere in terms of rays. Payne et al. (1986) were the first to document the use of lowfrequency sound or infrasound by elephants. Initial studies of elephants begun in zoos (Payne et al. 1986; Langbauer et al. 1989) were extended to the wild (Poole et al. 1988; Langbauer et al. 1991). These studies show that elephants use infrasound with fundamental frequencies from 14 to 35 Hz for longdistance communication at ranges up to 4 km. The apparent selection of lowover high-frequency sound by these animals may have been because the transmission of sound of higher frequency is limited in range by atmospheric attenuation. Evolutionary selection for long-range low-frequency communication would be further enhanced by the existence of a low-frequency sound channel. The sound channel would have to be relatively stable and contain relatively still air (low rwise


I am grateful to Marie Garibaldi and admire her greatly. I thank Marie because she was kind to me when I needed her help. I respect Marie because she is legally and politically astute. I remember, so many years ago, when I met Marie while campaigning in New Jersey. I was running for governor and was at least twenty points behind in the polls. Meeting her was very meaningful because, although I was the underdog, she supported me and introduced me to the members of her firm. Marie immediately impressed me. She expressed more than a passing interest in political issues. Many people feign an interest in politics, but few are actually knowledgeable. Marie was truly knowledgeable. She carefully followed the campaign, and fearlessly questioned me about my positions. Her political awareness impressed me, and gratified me. When I was elected, I was extraordinarily apprehensive about appointing judges because unlike Governors Byrne, Hughes, and Meyner, my three predecessors as Governor, I did not have a working relationship with members of the bar. I had no legal background, but I knew that New Jersey deserved the most qualified person in the legal profession to serve on its Supreme Court. I thought it a disgrace that in the long history of our state there had never been a woman on our Supreme Court. I wanted to appoint the ablest woman in the legal profession in the state of New Jersey. Period. Only one name came to mind: Marie Garibaldi. She was the president of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Everybody knew her. She was a top-flight attorney, one of the best in the state. My advisors agreed that


Treating acute affective episodes is usually much easier than preventing recurrences. In an industry-sponsored, 2-part study, researchers investigated the use of lamotrigine, an increasingly popular anticonvulsant, as a maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder.

The researchers enrolled 349 adults with current manic or hypomanic symptoms, a current or recent DSM-IV manic/hypomanic episode, and a history of at least one manic/hypomanic …


It is possible to realize a display panel having a high display quality. A drive circuit driving a display panel having a display area where sub-pixels as minimum display units are arranged in a matrix includes: a set of digital/analog conversion circuits for converting signal line data corresponding to the respective sub-pixels into analog values; a wiring pattern for giving gradation reference voltage to the set of digital/analog conversion circuits according to the corresponding colors; and a sample hold circuit for sample-holding the gradation reference voltage corresponding to the respective colors during a non-light-emission period of the display area and applying the gradation reference voltage to the corresponding wiring pattern during a light-emission period of the display area.


Lower electric field periodic poling of vapor transport equilibration preparing stoichiometric Mg∶LiNbO 3 crystal is reported for the first time. The coercive field of the crystal was found to be ~1 2kV/mm, only a twentieth of that of the congruent LiNbO 3. Homogeneous domain patterns with periods of 6.2~6.4μm was used for the second harmonic generation of green light. A normalized second harmonic generation efficiency 4 8%/W was obtained at room temperature.


High-frequency telematics applications require a different set of performance levels than traditional commercial RF applications in WLANs and cellular handsets.


Based on divides into database,PC administration and mobile telephone display three parts,this article introduced design principles and functions of the platform.According to the platform's applications,the maintenance and management of the system was taken into account fully.This design can satisfiy the times requirement so it will have a nice and widest future.


Membrane fouling is still a crucial problem, especially in applications for water treatment. When fouling takes place on membrane surfaces, it causes flux decline, leading to an increase in production cost due to increased energy demand. The selection of the right membrane material and a special treatment of the membrane are required to avoid membrane fouling. This article reports the fouling resistance of a poly(ether sulfone) (PES) hollow-fiber membrane modified with hydrophilic surfactant Tetronic 1307. Experiments on several methods of fouling were carried out to investigate the effect of the addition of nonionic surfactant Tetronic 1307 on membrane fouling. The effectiveness of a chemical agent [sodium hypochlorite (NaClO)] in the reduction of bovine serum albumin (BSA) deposition on the membrane surface was also evaluated. Permeation results showed that the fouling of a PES blend membrane with Tetronic 1307 was lower than that of the original PES membrane in the case of BSA filtration. A treatment with a 100 ppm NaClO solution was capable of removing BSA cake formation and effective at improving the relative permeability. The permeability of a PES blend membrane with Tetronic 1307 was almost 2 times higher than the original permeability when the membrane was treated with a 100 ppm NaClO solution because both BSA and Tetronic 1307 could be decomposed. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology for travel data collection has become of interest to address requirements regarding modern transport modelling. However, such use is associated with several practical limitations including, among others, a need for significant participant involvement and considerable cost of implementation. These limitations restrict large-scale deployment of GPS-assisted data collection methods. Recent developments of positioning and communication technologies in smartphones have provided opportunities to address some of these limitations. This paper evaluates potential advantages of using smartphones through an experimental travel data collection application. The results reveal some capabilities of smartphones in improving the spatiotemporal accuracy of collected data. The paper provides a series of recommendations for more efficient deployment of GPS-assisted travel data collection using smartphones.


Although Music Therapy, an allied health discipline, is often included in standard care for the treatment of children with mental health disorders, there is a lack of empirical evidence to support its contribution for the care of children and adolescents in mental health services. The goal of this retrospective research is to examine whether group music therapy affects mood states of adolescent inpatients in a psychiatric hospital service based within a large children's hospital. A secondary aim was to understand if specific patient demographic predictors influenced the mood outcome. Participants included 352 predominately white, non-Hispanic patients (12–21 years old, with a mean age of 15.13 ± 1.88 years) who completed 596 mood measures between August 2010 and March 2013. Participants completed the Fast Assessment of Children's Emotions (FACE) before and after a group music therapy session. Based on a binary outcome


Edited by D W Day, J R Jass, A B Price, et al . Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2003, £175.00, pp 692. ISBN 0-632-04204-4

Why do people buy s book such as this, which involves a not inconsiderable financial outlay (even if you box clever and make it tax deductible)? I think for two main reasons—firstly, for use as a bench book, and secondly, for information on the pathological basis of gastrointestinal disease for interest, teaching, or indeed …


The DNA f lanking the 5* sequence of the mouse 1a-hydroxylase gene has been cloned and sequenced. A TATA box has been located at 230 bp and aCCAAT box has been located at 279 bp. The gene's promoter activity has been demonstrated by using a luciferase reporter gene construct transfected into a modified pig kidney cell line, AOK-B50. Parathyroid hormone stimulates this promoter-directed syn- thesis of luciferase by 17-fold, whereas forskolin stimulates it by 3-fold. The action of parathyroid hormone is concentra- tion-dependent. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 does not suppress basal promoter activity and marginally suppresses parathy- roid hormone-driven luciferase reporter activity. The pro- moter has three potential cAMP-responsive element sites, and two perfect and one imperfect AP-1 sites, while no DR-3 was detected. These results indicate that parathyroid hormone stimulates 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-1a-hydroxylase by acting on the promoter of the 1a-hydroxylase gene.


Perinatal infection with human T‐lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV‐I) is considered a risk factor for adult T‐cell leukemia (ATL). Incidence of ATL in Japan is generally higher in males compared with females, perhaps partly due to an earlier average age of infection among males. We estimated sex‐specific ATL mortality among perinatally‐infected HTLV‐I carriers in the prospective Miyazaki Cohort Study in Japan. Based on the approximated proportion of perinatally‐infected carriers, the relative risk (RR) of ATL for males compared with females was calculated. Six ATL deaths (4 males, 2 females) occurred among the 550 HTLV‐I carriers in the cohort during 13 years of follow‐up. The overall ATL mortality was 190.5 (95% CI 51.9–487.7) per 105 person‐years for males and 51.7 (6.3–186.8) per 105 person‐years for females (age‐standardized RR = 3.9, p=0.02). By approximating the number of persons who acquired infection perinatally, the estimated mortality among those perinatally‐infected HTLV‐I carriers was 209.1 (57.0–535.2) per 105 person‐years for males and 60.9 (7.4–219.9) per 105 person‐years for females (age‐standardized RR = 3.7, p=0.02). The adjusted RR changed minimally from the unadjusted RR, suggesting that earlier age of infection alone is unlikely the explanation for the male predominance in ATL. Based on the small number of cases available for analysis, aspects of gender itself appear to play a role in the development of this malignancy. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A bar visibility representation of a planar graph G is a drawing of G where each vertex is drawn as a horizontal line segment called bars, each edge is drawn as a vertical line segment where the vertical line segment representing an edge must connect the horizontal line segments representing the end vertices. A bar 1-visibility representation is a drawing of G where each vertex is drawn as a horizontal line segment, each edge is drawn as a vertical line segment where the vertical line segment representing an edge must connect the horizontal line segments representing the end vertices and a vertical line segment corresponding to an edge intersects at most one bar which is not an end point of the edge. A graph is a bar 1-visibility graph if it admits a bar 1-visibility representation. A bar 1-visibility representation is a natural generalization of a visibility representation for a non-planar graph. However, complete characterizations of bar 1-visibility graphs are not known. In this thesis, we introduce "diagonal grid graphs" and "diagonal labeled graphs", which are non-planar graphs, as bar 1-visibility graphs. We first give a linear-time algorithm for finding a bar 1-visibility representation of a diagonal grid graph. We then modify the algorithm for finding a visibility representation on a compact area. We also give an algorithm for finding a bar 1-visibility representation of a diagonal labeled graph in linear time.


At only 37 years old, Vivek Murthy has a long list of accomplishments: valedictorian of his high school class, magna cum laude Harvard graduate, MD and MBA Yale graduate, cofounder of 3 nonprofit organizations and a successful software technology company, and Harvard Medical School instructor and researcher. Now, Murthy, who was born in the United Kingdom to Indian immigrants and movedwithhis family toMiami at theageof 3 years, has added a new job to his resume. He traded his white coat for the blue uniform of the surgeon general of the United States, aposition thatcarries the rankofvice admiral in the US Public Health Service (USPHS). As "America's doctor," Murthy's job is to communicate "the best available scientific information to the public regarding ways to improve personal health and the health of the nation," according to his official biography (http://1.usa.gov/1OaZ1bN). He also oversees the 6700 uniformed health officers of the USPHS. Murthy, who is quick to note that he is not the youngest surgeon general in history—he is a fewyearsolder than the first 2 surgeons general, appointed by presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, respectively—was narrowly confirmed in December,more than a year after President Obama nominated him. His nomination was strongly opposed by the National Rifle Association because he supported gun-control laws and by Republicans who questioned whether he was qualified for the job and criticized his political ties to Obama (http://politi.co /1DarKBT). Two days before his ceremonial swearing in on April 23, JAMA spoke with Murthy at his office in the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters at the foot of Capitol Hill. The following is an edited transcript of the interview.


The paper analyzes the characteristics of the seasonal development of Tulipa patens from two donor regions (Altai Krai, Republic of Kazakhstan) in the ex situ conditions of the recipient region, provides comparative in situ morphometric characteristics of these two groups of plants and a comparison with plants in situ . The following characteristics of the adaptation process, which distinguish the two groups from each other growing at the time of the experiment under the same ecological conditions, were revealed: 1) the Kazakhstan plants start the growing season 2–6 days before the Altai Krai plants and most of its phases have a longer duration; 2) for Kazakhstan plants, at the beginning of the regrowth and sprouting phenophase, less sums of temperatures above zero and the number of sunny days are needed; 3) there are significant morphometric differences between Kazakhstan and Altai Krai plants, in ex situ and in situ . Republic of Kazakhstan plants that grow on rocky steppes have more adaptive potential than Altai Krai plants that grow on rocky slopes. Based on the obtained results we can assume that plants of the species Tulipa patens have genetic polymorphisms.


The method for determining the concentrations of the main functional groups in rigid polyisocyanurate (PIR) foams was developed using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. On the example of a series of rigid PIR foams of isocyanate indexes (II) from 150 to 400, the contents of isocyanate, allophanate and isocyanurate groups was determined. It has been shown that a significant amount of isocyanate groups is accumulated in PIR foams in the form of allophanate, without passing into the target product – isocyanurate; the bulk of the urethane groups is converted to allophanate at high isocyanate indexes. With an increase in the isocyanate index, the conversion degree of isocyanate to isocyanurate decreases and when a certain isocyanate index is attained, reaches the limiting value.


Study objective-The aim was to develop indices of the degree of collaboration between district nurses, general practitioners, and health visitors. Design-Semistructured interviews were conducted with each member of a pair of professionals who had patients in common. In each district a stratified random sample of six general practitioners and six community nurses was drawn, and for each a "partner" of the other profession was sampled. Setting-A stratified random sample of2O district health authorities in England. Participants-Complete interviews were obtained with 148 doctor-nurse and 161 doctor-health visitor pairs. Main results-Only 27% of general practitioners and district nurses with patients in common and 11% of general practitioners and health visitors collaborate. Stepwise logistic discriminant analysis was used to develop measures of collaboration between general practitioners and district nurses and between general practitioners and health visitors. The indices of collaboration were calculated from the responses of the community nurse to at most 10 questions. Conclusions-The indices developed here might be used as a measure of one aspect of the quality of service offered by a primary health care team or to assess the effect of changes in working patterns or the degree of collaboration within the organisation. Centre for Health Services Research, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA, United Kingdom B A Gregson A M Cartlidge J Bond Correspondence to: Dr Gregson Accepted for publication February 1991 In recent years there has been an increasing interest in how primary health care is delivered and in particular in the organisation of community nursing resources in relation to those of general practice. Much health care depends on cooperation and teamwork, and lack of adequate understanding between team members can lead to uncertainty and inefficiency in service provision. l In Promoting better health,2 the government set out its programme for improving primary health care, attaching "considerable importance to the strengthening of the primary health care team". They felt that primary care was at its best when provided by a range of professional staff, including district nurses, health visitors, and general practitioners, working together as members of a primary health care team. Although the Cumberlege report3 proposed a neighbourhood nursing approach to the organisation of community nursing services, it argued that nurses were at their most effective when they and general practitioners worked together in an active primary health care team. However, neither Promoting better health nor the Cumberlege report suggested any method for assessing how well a team was working together. The first approaches to teamwork were in the mid1950s when local health authorities in Britain began to move towards bringing district nurses and health visitors into closer working relationships with general practitioners. Nursing administrators were encouraged to develop experimental schemes such as "attachment" and "liaison" between community nursing and medical services.4 There was an assumption that "attachment" was synonymous with "teamwork". However, in practice "attachment" is not always successful and, even where it has appeared so, there is often doubt that the team is achieving its full potential. The increase in the number of health centres and larger group practices was also thought to encourage teamwork, but again their presence is not sufficient to guarantee the existence of collaboration. In 1981 the Harding Report5 received evidence a wide range of views about the existence and effects of teamwork. However, there have never been any realistic criteria by which joint working could be judged. In response to a growing need for information on the extent of joint working in primary health care organisations in England, the then Department ofHealth and Social Security funded us to conduct a survey of interprofessional collaboration in primary health care organisations. Our study had two main aims: (1) to investigate the existence and extent of collaboration in primary health care organisations in England; and (2) to develop indices of the degree of collaboration between district nurses, general practitioners, and health visitors. We have discussed our findings in relation to our first aim elsewhere.'9 This paper is concerned with the second aim-the development of indices of the degree of collaboration between a district nurse and a general practitioner and between a health visitor and a general practitioner. Such indices could be used as one measure ofquality ofprimary health care.


Pd doped SnO2 gas sensing films were prepared by DC-sputtering in oxygen and argon atmosphere,respectively.X-ray photoelectron spectrum(XPS) was employed to investigate the effects of sputtering atmosphere and aging treatment on the element contents on the surface of prepared gas sensing films.The results indicate that the sputtering atmosphere and the aging treatment show great effects on the contents of surface absorbing oxygen and other elements on the surface of prepared gas sensing films.For instance,the mole ratio of surface absorbing oxygen atom of Pd/SnO2 gas sensing films prepared in argon atmosphere before and after aging in air at 400 ℃ for 2 h is 11.632 9 to 4.341 6.The sensitivity of the Pd doped SnO2 gas sensing film is higher than that of pure SnO2 gas sensing films for several decade times.The gas sensing mechanism of the Pd doped gas sensors were also discussed.


In this study, we performed in vitro evaluation of the dark and light toxicity of a third-generation photosensitizer (PS), a biocompatible magnetic fluid (BMFs), and the BMF/PS complex using the J774-A cell line. The BMFs used is based on maghemite nanoparticles surface-coated with phosphate whereas for photosensitizer the Chlorine e/sub 6/ (Chl/sub e6/) was employed.


A TE-TM mode converter is fabricated in a single trench GaInAsP waveguide by a single-masking and etching process. A mode conversion efficiency of 76% is obtained in a 210-?m long trench section.


The elastic flexural-torsional buckling of simply supported stepped I-beams under a central concentrated load is examined theoretically and experimentally. The effects of the magnitude and position of steps on a beam's sectional properties are studied, and theoretical elastic critical load parameters are tabulated. Experimental studies are described and the results, which confirm the theoretical findings, are presented. A simple approximate method of predicting the elastic critical loads is proposed which appears to be either of close accuracy or conservative. The tabulated values and the approxmation should be of use in the design of laterally unsupported stepped I-beams.


Introduction This paper forms part of an extended argument that is concerned with ideas of origin and precedence among Austronesian-speaking populations (Fox 1988a, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995). It examines the way in which culturally specific ideas of origin give rise to different forms of social precedence in a number of societies in eastern Indonesia. As such, the paper is also concerned with comparison. It explores, within a particular region, the possibilities of comparison among societies that share a common heritage of ideas — in this case, expressed in terms of related concepts of origin.


To study independently the effects of moisture on the structure and the mechanical strength of the binder in green bodies, specimens of the system alumina/PVA were formed with spray-dried granules of various moisture contents. The structure and fracture strength of these specimens then were examined after their moisture contents had been adjusted to specified values. As moisture content increased in the granules during compaction, the density and strength of the green body also increased. The accompanying change in the fracture mode, from intergranular to transgranular, showed that the strength of the green bodies was affected more significantly by bonding between granules than by bonding between powder particles.


Photovoltaic power is a renewable source of energy which is highly used in industries. In economically struggling countries it can be a potential source of electric energy as other non-renewable resources are already exhausting. Now if installation of a photovoltaic cell in a region is done prior to research, it may not provide the desired energy output required for running that region. Hence forecasting is required which can elicit the output from a particular region considering its geometrical coordinates, solar parameter like GHI and weather parameters like temperature and wind speed etc. Our paper explores forecasting of solar irradiance on four such regions, out of which three is in West Bengal and one outside to depict with using stacked Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) models. We have checked that stateful stacked gated recurrent unit model improves the prediction accuracy significantly.


A 72-year-old man with a history of hypertension, dilated cardiomyopathy, and sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) underwent placement of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in 1995. The patient's ICD was interrogated as a result of an ICD shock delivered 24 hours earlier. The interrogation revealed 149 episodes of nonsustained VT, 9 episodes of sustained VT successfully terminated by antitachycardia pacing (ATP), and one episode of ventricular fibrillation (VF) terminated by a 22-J shock. All the episodes occurred in the past 48 hours. He was admitted to the hospital for further management and amiodarone loading. His ICD device was a Marquis DR 7274 (Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) programmed to DDDR mode at a rate 60 to 120 beats/min. The VT detection interval was set at 430–320 ms, FVT at 320–280 ms, and VF at <320 ms, with ventricular sensitivity of 0.3 mV. The VF detection duration was programmed to 18 of 24 beats, with redetection at 9 of 12 beats. VT detection was programmed to 40 beats, with redetection to 20 beats.


After describing the apparatus employed, and the process followed to determine the conductibility of metals and alloys, the authors give the chemical means by which they purified the metals used in the experiments. Taking silver, which is the best conductor, as 1000, they have obtained the relative conducting powers of the following metals:— The precision obtained by this process is such, that the authors were able to determine the different conducting powers of the same metal, when rolled or cast, as shown above. They were also able to appreciate the influence of crystallization on conductibility, for they found that the conducting power of a metal was different when it was cast horizontally or vertically, from the different directions which the axes of crystallization took under these circumstances.


: We herein report the rare case of a patient who developed cerebellar infarction due to vertebral artery dissection, initially suspected as a perilymph fistula, immediately after a bout of sneezing. A 61-year-old man developed spontaneous vertigo and tinnitus immediately after a bout of sneezing. Initially there were no obvious findings on head CT, and he was re-ferred to our department as a probable case of peripheral vestibular dysfunction. Since left hearing loss and rightward nystagmus were observed, we initially made the diagnosis of perilymph fistula. However, a repeat CT revealed cerebellar infarction of the region supplied by the posterior inferior cerebellar artery with vertebral artery dissection. This patient had com-plex mixed symptoms, including peripheral vestibular findings and central nervous system findings. We speculated that this patient might have had infarction of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery region, accompanied by decrease of the blood flow in the anterior inferior cerebellar artery, which caused hearing loss.


Backup is cumbersome. To be effective, backups have to be made at regular intervals, forcing users to organize and store a growing collection of backup media. In this paper we propose a novel peer-to-peer backup system, PeerStore, that allows the user to store his backups on other people's computers instead. PeerStore is an adaptive, cost-effective system suitable for all types of networks ranging from LAN, WAN to large unstable networks like the Internet. The system consists of two layers: metadata layer and symmetric trading layer. Locating blocks and duplicate checking is accomplished by the metadata layer while the actual data distribution is done between pairs of peers after they have established a symmetric data trade. By decoupling the metadata management from data storage, the system offers a significant reduction of the maintenance cost and preserves fairness among peers. Results show that PeerStore has a reduced maintenance cost comparing to pStore. PeerStore also realizes fairness because of the symmetric nature of the trades.


The causes of edge defects on container strips produced by FTSR thin slab casting machine in Tonghua Iron and Steel Co.,Ltd.were analyzed.The edge defects ratio of container strips was effectively controlled by optimization of second cooling water,changing the segments with fail rollers on time,removing scale between segment rollers to decrease torsion of pinch rolls,reducing the soft reduction roller gaps by multiple steps,and controlling w() and w([N]) in the molten steel.


The case is about ESAF, a non-government organization (NGO) based in India, which was helping the underprivileged sections of the society to earn a livelihood by helping them produce and market hand-crafted articles and services. One of the weak links had been the access to the markets which was controlled by distribution channel intermediaries who appropriated larger than their fair share of profits. ESAF management proactively considered the ways and means to make the beneficiaries become independent and self-sustaining. They commenced an initiative to bypass the existing trade channels to reach consumers directly by opening up retail outlets. The challenges were manifold and one of the main decisions taken by them was to sell bought out items to acquire the necessary product assortment. The operation seemed to make some profits and the management was evaluating what would be its best course of action to take the products to end consumers which benefited the artisans the most in a sustainable manner. The case provides a backdrop to such decision making situations and its dilemmas.


The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of raw cow's milk during hot season in Eastern Taiwan. Milk samples were collected from a dairy farm of Holstein at Hua Lien, Taiwan in July and August, 2007. Gross compositions, titratable acidity (T A), ethanol stability (ES), pH, total calcium (tCa), and ionic calcium (iCa) concentrations in milk were measured. All data were statistically analyzed as 3 categories, which were low ethanol stability (LES, 74%), respectivel y. The percentages of LES, MES, and HES milk samples were 20.2%, 17.2%, and 62.6% of total 1,24 8 samples, respectively. Results showed that TA, total (iCa) and ionic calcium (tCa) concentrations of LES milk samples were significantly higher than other treatments, but pH value was significantly lower in LES milk. The fat, protein and solids-not-fat contents of LES milk were significantly higher than other treatments; however, milk yield of LES was lower. There was a negative correlation between ionic calcium concentration and ethanol stability. Therefore 20% LES milk was unstable in less than 70% ethanol solution, in summer milk in Eastern Taiwan. The LES milk also showed poor physic ochemical properties with high ionic calcium concentration.


A temperature and humidity controller is used for controlling operating and stopping of a fan and a heater so as to control temperature and humidity by detecting the environmental temperature and humidity, thereby electrical elements can be guaranteed to operate in a controllable range of the temperature and the humidity, and an ideal temperature and humidity can be guaranteed.


A linear eigenvalue problem is constructed for the gradients of the eigenvalue of the Wadati-Konno-Ichikawa (WKI) spectral problem. This in turn leads to a compatible pair of Hamiltonian operators, which endows the WKI hierarchy with a bi-Hamiltonian structure. Furthermore, a proper recombination of these two Hamiltonian operators, or the duality of this bi-Hamiltonian structure, generates a coupled system of Camassa-Holm type, which is nothing but a system proposed by Song, Qu, and Qiao [J. Math. Phys. 52, 013503 (2011)]10.1063/1.3530865 recently.


Campbell and Vuolteenaho (CV, 2004) empirically decompose the S&P 500's dividend yield from 1927 to 2002 to derive a measure of residual mispricing attributed to inflation illusion. They argue that the strong positive correlation between the mispricing component and inflation is strong evidence for the inflation illusion hypothesis. We find evidence for structural instability in their prediction equation for the excess return. We apply the same decomposition approach to the data before and after 1952, and find that the correlation between inflation and the mispricing component is close to zero in the post-war period, when inflation and the dividend yield are strongly positively correlated. The post-war data do not support the inflation illusion hypothesis as the explanation for the positive correlation between inflation and dividend yields.


Pharmaceuticals are chemical substances which are used to treat and prevent disease in human and in animals. In farming they are also used as additives to feedstock in order to promote growth in animals. The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment raises a big concern due to their continuous input in the environment via different pathways. They pose a toxicological risk to different non-target organisms and in that sense they can lead to development of antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria [1, 2]. Sulfonamides are widely used because of their low cost and relative efficiency against many common bacterial infections. They are highly soluble in water and due to that they are present in different aquatic systems which has been confirmed in many researches [3]. Advanced oxidation processes have been effective in the degradation of organic pollutants and accordingly they can be applied for removal of antibiotics during the waste water treatment. In this work sulfamethazine was chosen as the representative of the group of sulfonamides. Aqueous solution of sulfamethazine was photolytically and photocatalytically degraded by UV light with different predominant wavelengths (254 and 365 nm) and by nanostructured sol – gel TiO2 film. As a photoreactor a borosilicate glass tube with immobilized TiO2 film was used. HPLC-ESI(+)-MS Agilent 1200 was used to monitor degradation of sulfamethazine and the appearance of degradation products. For chromatographic analysis polar embedded C18 Synergy Fusion column (4 μm, 150 x 2.0 mm, Phenomenex) was used. The analysis was performed using 0.1% formic acid in water and 0.1% formic acid in acetonitrile in gradient elution mode. Structural formulas of the degradation products were also proposed based on spectral analysis obtained on mass spectrometer.


In this study, a total of 92 soybean cultivars or lines from Heilongjiang Province were used to evaluate the seed protein and oil contents in 2011 and 2012. SSR molecular markers were used to analyze genetic relationship of the tested soybean accessions and detect allelic variation associated with the two target traits. The results showed that the protein and oil contents of tested accessions were relative stable in different years. A total of 121 allelic variations were identified in 53 SSR markers. The similarity of accessions was ranged from 12% to 77% indicating that the relationship between these accessions was near. The total samples were divided into two groups by the critical value(44%) for protein content and(20%) for oil content. The allele that Satt564- 250 was found to associate with protein content and Satt428-242 was found to associate with oil content. These markers will be useful for germplasm identification of high protein and oil content and for molecular assisted breeding for soybean quality traits.


A CMOS process that is compatible with silicon p-i-n radiation detectors has been developed and characterized. Twelve mask layers are used in the process. The NMOS device is formed in a retrograde well while the PMOS device is fabricated directly in the high-resistivity silicon. Isolation characteristics are similar to a standard boundary CMOS process. Circuit performance using 3- mu m design rules has been evaluated. The measured propagation delay and power-delay product for a 51-stage ring oscillator were 1.5 ns and 43 fJ, respectively. Measurements on a simple cascade amplifier show a gain-bandwidth product of 200 MHz at a bias current of 15 mu A. The input-referred noise of the cascade amplifier is 20 nV/ square root Hz at 1 MHz.<<ETX>>


Anomalous diffusion occurs in many physical and biological phenomena, when the growth of the mean squared displacement with time has an exponent different from one and can be due to different mechanisms. We show that recurrent neural networks (RNNs) efficiently characterize anomalous diffusion by identifying the mechanism causing it and determining the anomalous exponent from a single short trajectory.
This method outperforms standard techniques and advanced ones when the available data points are limited, as is often the case in experiments. Furthermore, RNNs can handle more complex tasks where there are no standard approaches, such as determining the anomalous diffusion exponent from a trajectory sampled at irregular times, and measuring intermittent systems that switch between different kinds of anomalous diffusion. The method is validated on experimental data obtained from subdiffusive colloids trapped in speckle light fields and superdiffusive microswimmers.


© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2022. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. DESCRIPTION A woman in her early 20s with history of intravenous substance use disorder was admitted with sepsis. Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) demonstrated severe tricuspid valve (TV) regurgitation and multiple large vegetations encompassing all three leaflets. Blood cultures revealed Streptococcus mitis and S. gordonae. CT angiography (CTA) of the chest revealed a large right ventricular filling defect attached to the posterior TV leaflet measuring over 3 cm in length (figure 1A,B), consistent with a valvular vegetation. Following treatment with intravenous ceftriaxone, sepsis resolved, and blood cultures cleared by day 2. She was discharged with plan for outpatient intravenous ceftriaxone and close followup. Three weeks later, she returned to the hospital with sudden onset of dyspnoea and was found to have hypoxaemic respiratory failure with stable blood pressure. Directly prior to the patient's second admission, she was noted to be afebrile and with associated elevated C reactive protein of 11.7 mg/ dL (ref 0–0.5 mg/dL) and leucocytosis to 21.98 K/


The concept of "element substitution" was put forward based on the studies of many teaching materials of "graphic creation",using induction method,and combining examples of graphic creation.It was pointed out that the graphic creation is an important method.The advantages and application of "element substitution" was discussed with examples.


This paper summarized the Frac-packing job in Bohai Bay.The Frac Packing experience is good for petroleum engineers to complete the thick oil wells.Frac-Packing,as one of the well stimulation methods,is not like hydraulic fracturing which is used in hard rock formation.On the contrary,Frac-Packing is used in unconsolidated formation.The width of the fracture is the utmost goal to make skin factor smaller as possible.It creates a short but wide fracture to penetrate near-wellbore zone and connects high permeability formation.This paper presents how Frac-Packing is implemented in Bohai bay.Frac-Packing software and calculations are not discussed in this paper.


The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a Drug Safety Communication requiring Boxed Warning updating and other changes in order to improve the safe use of the benzodiazepine drug class. These changes were prompted because 'The current prescribing information for benzodiazepines does not provide adequate warnings about [the] serious risks and harms associated with these medicines so they may be prescribed and used inappropriately'.


This dissertation aims to investigate empirical evidence on the importance and influence of attractiveness of nations in global competition. The notion of country attractiveness, which has been widely developed in the research areas of international business, tourism and migration, is a multi-dimensional construct to measure a country's characteristics with regard to its market or destination that attract international investors, tourists and migrants. This analytical concept provides an account of the mechanism as to how potential stakeholders evaluate more attractive countries based on certain criteria. Thus, in the field of international sport-event bidding, do international sport event owners also have specific country attractiveness for their sport event hosts? The dissertation attempts to address this research question by statistically assessing the effects of country attractiveness on the success of strategy for hosting international sports events. Based on theories of signaling and soft power, country attractiveness is defined and measured as the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. This thesis proceeds to examine the concept of sport-event-hosting strategy and explore multi-level factors affecting the success in international sport-event bidding. By exploring past history of the Olympic Movement from theoretical perspectives, the thesis proposes and tests the hypotheses that economic, social and environmental attractiveness of a country may be correlated with its bid wins or the success of sport-event-hosting strategy. Quantitative analytical methods with various robustness checks are employed with using collected data on bidding results of major events in Olympic sports during the period from 1990 to 2012. The analysis results reveal that event owners of international Olympic sports are likely to prefer countries that have higher economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. The empirical assessment of this thesis suggests that high country attractiveness can be an essential element of prerequisites for a city/country to secure in order to bid with an increased chance of success.


" I have some bitter disappointments as President, reflected Harry Truman after leaving office, but the one that has troubled me the most in a personal way, has been the failure to defeat organized opposition to a national compulsory health-insurance program. ""Harry S. Truman versus the Medical Lobby" by Monte M. Poen examines proposals for national health insurance from 1914 to 1965 focusing on Truman s efforts during his presidency."


Social stability is a premise and basis for the social development and advancement.This report,based on the survey in Zhejiang Province,analyzes the status quo of social stability in our country.It is argued that the people have a relatively high evaluation on the present situation of social stability and have a comparatively optimistic expectation on the future condition of social stability.Meanwhile,there are significant differences in the degrees of their support for some typical behaviors threatening the social stability.Besides,the people think that the corruption of officials,the polarization between the rich and the poor,and the social safety are three factors influencing the social stability.Based on such analyses,some suggestions are brought forward in this report in the hope of further promoting the social stability and harmony.


THE NEW THEORY OF RAISING FOR DOUBLE ACTING RAISING MACHINE. By Masaki Kato It is said that the magnitude of raising power depends upon the magnitude of relative velocity between the cloth and the point of raising wire of the counter pile roller, and then the cloths are raised by this sliding action. In the practical raising operation, however, I cannot recognize that there is the sliding action and the magnitude of raising power is equal to the magnitude of raising effect. The writer concludes that by the differential motion, the counter pile rollers are rotated with the cloth and with the belt band, then the difference of rotation counts reduce to the raising power and the counter pile rollers drive on the cloth without sliding, when the points of the raising wire leave for the cloth, the fibres are digged upon. Moreover, the raising effect depends upon the contact times of the wire point on the definite length of the cloth. Further, it is not discussed yet how the running direction of the raised pile arises in the practical application. If we considered it merely by the relative velocity between the cloth and the poin of wire, it should be the reverse of the practical raising result. (Received 22. 7.1955)


We detected a strong upregulation of the mutated transketolase transcript (TKTL1) in human hepatoma cell line HepG2, whereas transketolase (TKT) and transketolase-like-2 (TKTL2) transcripts were not upregulated. We inhibited the expression of TKTL1 by RNAi in HepG2 cells. It was found that total transketolase activity was dramatically downregulated and the proliferation of cancer cells was significantly inhibited in HepG2 cells. These results indicate that TKTL1 gene influences total transketolase activity and cell proliferation in human hepatoma cells, suggesting that TKTL1 gene plays an important role on glycometabolism in tumors and it might become a novel target for tumor gene therapy. 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.


In this paper we consider some bounds for lower previsions that are either coherent or, more generally, centered convex. We focus on bounds concerning the classical product and Bayes' rules, discussing first weak product rules and some of their implications for coherent lower previsions. We then generalise a well-known lower bound, which is a (weak) version for events and coherent lower probabilities of Bayes' theorem, to the case of random variables and (centered) convex previsions. We obtain a family of bounds and show that one of them is undominated in all cases. Some applications are outlined, and it is shown that 2-monotonicity, which ensures that the bound is sharp in the case of events, plays a much more limited role in this general framework.


At the time of the incendiary Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings on Capitol Hill, professor John H. Bracey made a startlingly ironic pronouncement: "Poor George Bush got the wrong Thomas! He went looking for 'Uncle' but came back with 'Bigger"' (qtd. in Thelwell 86). By juxtaposing the images of Harriet Beecher Stowe's servile but quintessentially agreeable "black Christ" figure, and Richard Wright's personification of twentieth-century racial hunger, it becomes apparent that modern black masculinity as a notional category has rarely been static or unproblematic. Other (stereo)types have particular emotional and cultural currency when addressing the construction of black masculinity in Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987). For instance, the bestial rapist limned in D. W. Griffiths's The Birth of a Nation (1915) schematizes white sexual terror-or in Fanonian parlance, offers proof that the phallic Negro is a "phobogenic object, a stimulus to anxiety" (Fanon 151). In contrast, there surges the "Herculean cultural heroism" of Michael Jordan in the popular imagination, a figure who has literallyflown his way to stardom in a delightful reinscription of the mythic "flying African" utilized in Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977). Jordan has become a cultural lodestar through the Ur-athleticism of the black male body (Dyson 408). Between the representational zenith and nadir, an opportunity exists for meditations upon a more expansive spectrum of assumptions and schemas that alternately diminish or aggrandize Afro-American male personae. A relative dearth of critical material explores the matrifocal Beloved as a masculinist text, or conversely, one informed by highly misandric (or androphobic) impulses. As Deborah Horvitz summarizes, the novel is about "matrilineal ancestry and the relationships among enslaved, freed, alive, and dead mothers and daughters" (Horvitz 93). Bernard W. Bell seconds this reading, declaring that the novel is "Toni Morrison's most extraordinary and spellbinding womanist remembrance of things past" (emphasis added; 166). This discussion seeks to interrogate the possibility of a misandric impulse that accompanies the novel's well-documented engagement with specifically woman-centered issues like motherhood. It is important not to mistake the purported anti-male sentiments as those of Morrison herself, an author whose similarly haunted Song of Solomon could be construed as a celebratory exploration of Afro-American masculinity in transition. Also vital is the recognition that a thematics of misandry does not necessarily imply a bald figuration of hatred directed against males. Morrison's writing style in Beloved, a historiographical structure simulta


Microstrip antennas are relatively inexpensive to manufacture and design because of the simple 2D (2Dimentional) physical geometry. They are usually designed to operate at UHF and higher frequencies because the size of the antenna is directly tied to the wavelength at resonance frequency. In this paper, a S-shaped patch antenna array is designed for GPS application. The antenna array is designed to enhance the overall performance characteristics of a radiating system at 1.6 GHz. Simulation models are developed for S-patch antenna and S-patch antenna array using High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS). Finally, a comparison among the developed simulation models is performed and conclusions are extracted.


Along with the transformation of labor management to the labor governance in China,labor soft law will become the new law of the labor governance mode. Labor soft law is the law that regulates the labor relations and the related social relations,and its implementation does not directly depend on the coercive power of the state. In the sources of law,labor soft law mainly includes labor policy,non compulsory labor standards,autonomy labor rules, execution labor rules, international labor protection rules etc. the function of labor soft law is to promote the flexible governance of labor relations,to make up for the shortage of labor hard law,and to push to build multiple mesh labor management model. The effect of labor soft law mainly depends on the multiple mechanisms other than the national force,including the self- discipline of the members,the autonomous force of the social labor organizations,the external social pressure,the supervision lf the market and the self- regulation of the state organs. To ensure the effectiveness of labor soft law,we should precisely design the mechanism of the labor soft law in accordance with the social restrictions of the labor governance during the period of transition,and meanwhile always adhere to the synchronous establishment of some basic systems,such as the civil society,the public reason,the hard law authority and the plural labor governance mode.


Introduction: Clinical research participants' perceptions regarding their experiences during research protocols provide outcome‐based insights into the effectiveness of efforts to protect rights and safety, and opportunities to enhance participants' clinical research experiences. Use of validated surveys measuring patient‐centered outcomes is standard in hospitals, yet no instruments exist to assess outcomes of clinical research processes.


A methodology to generate calibrated maps of soil moisture from C-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images processed by SAR interferometry (InSAR) technique is presented. The proposed methodology uses atmospheric phase delay (APD) maps obtained from a time series of Sentinel-1 interferograms, to disentangle the APD and soil moisture contributions to Sentinel-1 interferograms. We show how the high spatial resolution and short temporal baseline of Sentinel-1 image can help to estimate soil moisture using a daisy chain InSAR processing. The estimated soil moisture maps are compared with in situ data collected by five soil moisture sensors installed in an experimental field, characterized by bare soil, located close to Lisbon, Portugal. Results show that after removing the APD effects in SAR interferogram, there is a correction of the bias in the soil moisture estimation and an improvement in the correlation coefficient with the soil moisture measurements, from 0.38 to 0.78. Soil moisture changes were measured during a sequence of rain events in the winter season. A root-mean-square (rms) error less than 0.04 m³/m³ was found over a variety of meteorological conditions.


Introduction: Intracranial haemorrhage is a redoubtable complication during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy. The underlying mechanisms of haemorrhagic diathesis are still not completely understood. This study was performed to evaluate a coagulation protocol for the regular analysis of acquired coagulation disorders and the systematic substitution of coagulation factors to reach predefined target values. We hypothesised that using this strategy would lead to the identification of acquired bleeding disorders which cannot be monitored with standard coagulation tests and that substitution of the respective factors in a target-controlled approach could have an impact on the incidence and severity of intracranial haemorrhage. Methods: A protocol for the analysis of acquired coagulation disorders and the subsequent administration of associated factor concentrates was introduced. Previously, coagulation management was mainly based on clinical bleeding signs as the trigger for the administration of blood products. In this investigation, nineteen consecutive patients before (control group) and twenty consecutive patients after the implementation of the protocol (intervention group) have been included in the study. Results: Eighty-eight percent of the patients developed factor XIII deficiency, 79% acquired von Willebrand syndrome, 40% fibrinogen deficiency and 54% of the patients showed a decline in platelet count >20% within the first 24 hours of ECMO therapy. In 6 out of 19 (31%) patients in the control group and in 2 patients out of 20 (10%) in the intervention group, intracranial haemorrhage was detected. Whilst 5 of 6 patients in the control group died because of fatal bleeding, both of the patients in the intervention group recovered with a favourable neurologic outcome. Conclusions: Veno-venous ECMO therapy leads to thrombocytopenia, factor XIII and fibrinogen deficiency as well as acquired von Willebrand syndrome. The implementation of a coagulation protocol including a standardized determination and target-controlled substitution of coagulation factors may have a beneficial impact on the incidence and severity of intracranial haemorrhage.


The prominent external ornamentation of the entomozoacean shells arises from the thin outer layer. The much thicker and structurally complicated inner layer is rarely well preserved. Three microstructural types of the inner layer are recognized: (1) poorly calcified with residual remnants of the original organic matter, (2) better calcified with oval in transverse section cavities that possibly were originally empty, or filled with an organic matter, longitudinal canals, (3) heavily calcified, in some specimens with sparite-filled remnants of cavities, which may represent only artifacts of recrystallization. The outer layer may correspond to the epicuticle and the inner layer to the endocuticle of Recent ostracodes. A hinge, slight left over right valve overlap, and marginal sculpture are identified for the first time in Famennian entomozoaceans. The mode of life remain unknown. Richterina (Fossirichterlna) uffenordeae sp. n. and R. (R.) goodayi sp. n. are proposed.


Abstract We study the Hausdorff dimension and measures of full Hausdorff dimension for a compact invariant set of an expanding non-conformal map on the torus given by an integer-valued diagonal matrix. The Hausdorff dimension of a 'general Sierpiński carpet' was found by McMullen and Bedford and the uniqueness of the measure of full Hausdorff dimension in some cases was proved by Kenyon and Peres. We extend these results by using compensation functions to study a general Sierpiński carpet represented by a shift of finite type. We give some conditions under which a general Sierpiński carpet has a unique measure of full Hausdorff dimension and study the properties of the unique measure.


Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of carbamazepinein the supplementary treatment of irritable bowel syndrome.Methods 100 cases were randomly divided into two groups.50 cases in the treatment group were given carbamazepine as the supplement of conventional treatment and the other 50 cases in the control group were given the conventional treatment.The therapeutic effect was evaluated after 8 weeks of treatment.Results In the treatment group:markedly effective in 36 cases,effective in 9 cases and invalid 5 cases;in the control group:markedly effective in 21 cases,effective in 22 cases and invalid 7 cases.Compare the two groups,the difference had statistical significance(P0.05).Conclusion Carbamazepine adjuvant therapy group has better therapeutic effect than the control group for treating irritable bowel syndrome.


Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a correlated electron system that features a metal-insulator phase transition (MIT) above room temperature and is of interest in high speed switching devices. Here, we integrate VO2 into two-terminal coplanar waveguides and demonstrate a large resistance modulation of the same magnitude (>103) in both electrically (i.e., by bias voltage, referred to as E-MIT) and thermally (T-MIT) driven transitions. We examine transient switching characteristics of the E-MIT and observe two distinguishable time scales for switching. We find an abrupt jump in conductivity with a rise time of the order of 10 ns followed by an oscillatory damping to steady state on the order of several μs. We characterize the RF power response in the On state and find that high RF input power drives VO2 further into the metallic phase, indicating that electromagnetic radiation-switching of the phase transition may be possible. We measure S-parameter RF properties up to 13.5 GHz. Insertion loss is markedly flat at 2.95 dB across the frequency range in the On state, and sufficient isolation of over 25 dB is observed in the Off state. We are able to simulate the RF response accurately using both lumped element and 3D electromagnetic models. Extrapolation of our results suggests that optimizing device geometry can reduce insertion loss further and maintain broadband flatness up to 40 GHz.


The invention relates to a mineral processing technology for recycling tin metal from high sulphide ore. The mineral processing technology for recycling the tin metal from the high sulphide ore is characterized in that desulfuration floatation is firstly conducted on tinstone polymetallic sulphide ore, tin valuable mineral is recycled from the sulphide ore, and sulphide ore collector agents and foaming agents are applied to floatation. Preferably, ferric sulfide in the sulphide ore are separated and floated through floatation, enrichment of valuable mineral entering reselection is improved, and separation is conducted on valuable tin-containing mineral. Preferably, floatation equipment comprises a roughing floatation machine, a scavenging floatation machine and a concentration floatation machine; reselection equipment comprises a roughing shaking table and a scavenging shaking table. Preferably, a settling pond or a concentration pond is arranged at the front end of a mill. Preferably, sulphide ore pulp with the concentration ranging from nine percent to twenty percent is sedimented and concentrated to the sulphide ore with the concentration ranging from sixty percent to eighty percent through the concentration pond. Preferably, the sulphide ore collector agents are butyal xanthate, and the foaming agents is 2# oil. The mineral processing technology for recycling the tin metal from the high sulphide ore can improve the recycle utilization rate of the tin metal, and the environmental friendliness is high.


Let K be a field of characteristic p > 0. It is proved that the group Aut ord (D(L n )) of order preserving automorphisms of the ring D(L n ) of differential operators on a Laurent polynomial algebra L n := K[x ±1 1 ,..., x ±1 n ] is isomorphic to a skew direct product of groups Z n p × Aut K (L n ), where Zp is the ring of p-adic integers. Moreover, the group Aut ord (D(L n )) is found explicitly. Similarly, Aut ord (D(P n )) ≃ Aut K (P n ), where P n := K[x 1 ,...x n ] is a polynomial algebra.


In areas with agricultural activity, the excessive use of pesticides can contaminate water resources. That is why a multi-residue method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography analysis coupled to mass spectrometry (GS-MS) was used to determine eleven pesticides and five degradation products in surface water of Central Chile. The parameters that can affect the efficiency of the SPE process were optimized considering the information available in bibliography. As in other studies, the best results were obtained when 500 mL of water was pre-concentrated using Oasis HLB polymer cartridges and acetone and acetonitrile were used as solvents for the elution. To ensure good quantification, matrix-matched standards were used, providing good linearity in the studied concentration range (0.10-1.5 μg L-1), with recovery percentages > 60%, precisions 87% of the pesticides analyzed in this research were detected in more than one sampled site in both seasons. The most ubiquitous compounds were desethylterbuthylazine (DET), pyrimethanil, cyprodinil and diazinon, and the compounds detected in highest concentration were simazine and degradation products derived from triazines. Las Cabras and Tahuilla irrigation canals presented the highest concentrations of pesticides. Significant differences were found in the total concentration of pesticides for sites sampled at the end of the summer and winter season.


Abstract In cats receiving continuous intravenous infusion of histamine dihydrochloride (160 μg kg-1 hr-1; 40 mg kg-1 of aspirin was given as a bolus injection either intravenously or intragastrically. When the animals were killed either 1 or 4 hr later, all cats in both groups had ulcers of the antral part of the stomach extending through the mucosa. The mean area occupied by the ulcers was not significantly different in the two groups. Plasma and mucosal salicylate concentrations at the end of the study were not significantly different in the two groups. We conclude that, in cats receiving an intravenous infusion of histamine, intravenous and intragastric aspirin are equally effective in producing antral gastric ulcers.


Beach tourism is often the most important source of revenue for coastal communities, and surveys have shown that the foremost requirements for beachgoers are clean sand and clean water. Beach litter is harmful and costly in many ways, and the No. 1 form of litter on U.S. beaches is cigarette butts. Campaigns for smoke-free beaches have been based largely on environmental issues and aesthetics, but there are other important reasons. Hawaii was the first state to ban smoking on beaches. This paper presents the rationale for Florida cities and counties to adopt smoke-free policies for one of their most important natural resources and recreational destinations.


OBJECTIVE
To report the authors' own experience in the treatment of spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) with targeted epidural blood patch after locating the CSF leaks with CT myelography (CTM) and to discuss the mechanism and value of this method.

METHODS
Six patients with SIH (3 males and 3 females aged 33-66 years) were included. All patients met the diagnostic criteria of 2nd edition of International Classification of Headache Disorders (2004). CT myelography revealed the CSF leak sites in all 6 patients. Autologous blood mixed with Omnipaque (300 mg/ml) was injected after selective puncture at the leak site indicated by CTM.

RESULTS
All patients responded well to the treatment and achieved a complete resolution of symptoms. Nerve root irritation occurred in 2 patients. Three patients suffered from a temporary back pain.

CONCLUSION
With the location of leak sites by CTM, targeted epidural blood patch is an effective way to treat spontaneous intracranial hypotension.


Background : Overactive Bladder Syndrome(OAB) is not an uncommon problem. Although exact incidence of this disease in our country is not known but a significant number of people suffering from this disease seek treatment at the Urology department of different hospitals. At present two common antimuscarinic drug Solifenacin Succinate and Tolterodine are available in our country for the treatment of OAB. Objective : To compare the efficacy of Solifenacin Succinate and Tolterodine to treat OAB. Methodology : This hospital based randomized control trial was conducted in the Department of Urology, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka and a private hospital from January 2009 to December 2010 to compare the efficacy of two new generation antimuscarinics, Solifenacin succinate and Tolterodine at their recommended doses for the treatment of OAB. Results : After 3 months of treatment it has clearly shown that Solifenacin is more effective in reducing OAB symptoms compared with extended release preparation of Tolterodine. This include statistically significant reduction in episodes of frequency, urgency, urge incontinence, nocturia and significant improvement of voided volume. Northern International Medical College Journal Vol.8(2) January 2017: 231-234


With the growing number of aging infrastructure across the world, there is a high demand for a more effective inspection method to assess its conditions. Routine assessment of structural conditions is a necessity to ensure the safety and operation of critical infrastructure. However, the current practice to detect structural damages, such as cracks, depends on human visual observation methods, which are prone to efficiency, cost, and safety concerns. In this article, we present an automated detection method, which is based on convolutional neural network models and a non-overlapping window-based approach, to detect crack/non-crack conditions of concrete structures from images. To this end, we construct a data set of crack/non-crack concrete structures, comprising 32,704 training patches, 2074 validation patches, and 6032 test patches. We evaluate the performance of our approach using 15 state-of-the-art convolutional neural network models in terms of number of parameters required to train the models, area under the curve, and inference time. Our approach provides over 95% accuracy and over 87% precision in detecting the cracks for most of the convolutional neural network models. We also show that our approach outperforms existing models in literature in terms of accuracy and inference time. The best performance in terms of area under the curve was achieved by visual geometry group-16 model (area under the curve = 0.9805) and best inference time was provided by AlexNet (0.32 s per image in size of 256 × 256 × 3). Our evaluation shows that deeper convolutional neural network models have higher detection accuracies; however, they also require more parameters and have higher inference time. We believe that this study would act as a benchmark for real-time, automated crack detection for condition assessment of infrastructure.


Software simulation has become a effective means for tactical communications network validation,analysis and evaluation,but the complex tactical communication networks and many of its own proprietary make it difficult to ensure the accuracy of the simulation modeling and the reliability of the results.In this paper,based on HLA and OPNET a semi-physical simulation model is provided,where the hardware devices is effectively introduced into software simulation and effectively improve the tactical communication network for the accuracy of simulation and modeling the reliability of the simulation results.


Purpose – This paper aims to shed light on the potential of ethnography to provide a dialectical approach to modeling the process of branding as its focus widens from managerial to social.Design/methodology/approach – A critical approach to ethnography is adopted and implemented in light of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's ethnographic modeling technique of "participant objectification".Findings – The paper demonstrates from the customer standpoint, of a case of a grocery retailer, the ability of critical ethnography to dialectically model the branding process as an organic cultural whole, which envelops an intricate set of different, yet interdependent, social and managerial systems, functioning in a coherent and complementary manner.Research limitations/implications – The empirical evidence is limited to the area of grocery retailing. Thus, widening the application of the technique in other areas would be desirable.Practical implications – The dialectical nature of the critical approach to model...


The utility model discloses a mobile phone shell with a pepper sprayer, which comprises a shell, a key port, a spray can, a button and a spray nozzle, wherein the side surface of the shell is provided with the key port, the spray can is arranged at the reverse side of the shell, one end of the spray can is provided with the button, the spray nozzle is arranged on the surface at the end, which is close to the button, of the spray can, the shell is provided with a sliding slot, and the spray can is movably connected with the shell through the sliding slot. The mobile phone shell disclosed by the utility model is simple in structure and convenient to use. The sprayer can be used while using a mobile phone, thereby saving the time spent on taking the sprayer from a bag and avoiding the dangerousness, and providing higher guarantee for the personal safety of women.


Transmitting electricity a long distance at high voltage and then reducing it to a lower voltage for lighting became a recognized engineering roadblock to electric power distribution with many, not very satisfactory solutions tested by lighting companies. The mid-1880s saw a breakthrough with the development of functional transformers that allowed the AC voltage to be "stepped up" to much higher transmission voltages and then dropped down to a lower end user voltage[1-3] Transformer is an ac machine that transfer electrical energy from one electric circuit to another and does so without a change of frequency. This can be done by principle of electromagnetic induction. It has electric circuit that is linked by common electric circuit[4,5]. Primary distribution voltages range from 4 kV to 35 kV phase-to-phase (2.4 kV to 20 kV phase-to-neutral)[6] In our country, electrical energy is usually generated at 6.6 or 11 or 33kv, stepped up to 132, 220 or 330kv with the help of stepup transformer for transmission and then stepped down to 66kv or 33kv at grid substations for feeding distribution transformers, stepping down the voltage further to 440/230v for consumer uses[7,8]. The basic construction of transformer requires no moving parts, so it is often called static transformer and it is rugged machine requiring the minimum maintenance [9,10]. It has no moving part, therefore there are not friction and windage losses. The other losses are relatively low so that the efficiency of a transformer is high. Typical transformer at full load lies between 96% and 97%. When the primary of a transformer is connected to the source of ac supply, and the secondary is open, the transformer is said to be at no load. When the secondary circuit of a transformer is completed through an impedance or load, the transformer is said to be loaded and current flows through secondary and load The magnitude and phase of secondary current I2 with respect to secondary terminal voltage will depend upon the characteristic of load. That is current will be in phase, lag behind and lead the terminal voltage respectively when the load is non inductive and capacitive. Abstract: This paper presents the analysis of two winding, single phase distribution transformer. The model of the two winding transformer was derived and used to build simulation model of the transformer. From the simulation result, the operational condition of transformer was examined when the secondary terminal is connected to load. The effect of core saturation on the primary current was ascertained using look-up table.


Simple Summary To warrant food security and nutrition, more sustainable aquafeeds should be used in fish farming, and the content of fish meal (FM) in fish diets should be reduced. Soybean meal (SBM) is one of the most commonly used alternative raw materials to replace FM in commercial diets, although a high SBM dietary content can affect fish growth, physiology, and wellbeing. Although these effects are known to be produced by several antinutritional factors (ANFs), the underlying mechanisms are still not fully understood. Deeper characterization of how SBM dietary content alters fish physiology will allow the development of more integrative fish physiology monitoring. In the present work, the expression of six microRNAs (miRs) in blood plasma was associated with a high SBM dietary content and related physiological consequences. Circulating miRs can be used as a less invasive procedure to monitor fish physiology without the need of animal sacrifice, allowing the development of more sustainable aquafeeds with the use of fewer animals in experimentation. Abstract High dietary SBM content is known to induce important physiological alterations, hampering its use as a major FM alternative. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) juveniles were fed two experimental diets during 9 weeks: (i) a FM diet containing 12% FM; and (ii) a vegetable meal (VM) diet totally devoid of FM and based on SBM (26%). Fish fed the VM diet did not show reduced growth performance when compared with fish fed the FM diet. Nevertheless, fish fed the VM diet had an increased viscerosomatic index, lower apparent fat digestibility, higher aminopeptidase enzyme activity and number of villi fusions, and lower α-amylase enzyme activity and brush border integrity. Small RNA-Seq analysis identified six miRs (omy-miR-730a-5p, omy-miR-135c-5p, omy-miR-93a-3p, omy-miR-152-5p, omy-miR-133a-5p, and omy-miR-196a-3p) with higher expression in blood plasma from fish fed the VM diet. Bioinformatic prediction of target mRNAs identified several overrepresented biological processes known to be associated with high dietary SBM content (e.g., lipid metabolism, epithelial integrity disruption, and bile acid status). The present research work increases our understanding of how SBM dietary content has a physiological impact in farmed fish and suggests circulating miRs might be suitable, integrative, and less invasive biomarkers in fish.


In this article we consider features of intensity distribution of the Raman scattering by non-ordinary polaritons in the frequency - wavevector coordinates. The most simple instances of scattering in the crystallographic symmetry plane of an orthorhomibic crystal are described to illustrate the main different between nonordinary polaritons spectra and ordinary ones. It is supposed that a polariton wavevector orientation is constant for each spectrum. We discuss also the actual experimental situation with scattering by polaritons in (alpha) -iodic acid crystal near the frequency of the valency OH-bond taken as an example.


Vibration damping on a protected mechanism resonance frequencies is best carried out by hydromounts with managed damping ratio. Such hydromounts have a magnetorheological transformer. The magnetorheological transformer working pattern is controlled by semiconductor converter.


A scientific coordination group devoted to intelligent transportation systems has been set up in the Brittany region, called "GIS ITS Bretagne". This group federates research projects as well as innovative actions and experiments. The objectives of this group are described in this paper, as well as two first projects: CAPTIV an LoCoSS which are respectively devoted to intelligent signaling infrastructures and vehicles and geolocation and transmission services for terrestrial and maritime rescue applications


The Marxism philosophy is defined as the systematization and theorization of the world outlook. If this kind of annotation is not grasped properly the loopholes may appear: (1) The epistology is indulged in. But Marx opened a new road about practice. (2) It is not a reverie outside the world since the Marxism takes the whole world as a study object. (3) If the systematization and theorization is emphasized excessively the theory may become rigid. The philosophy created by Marx is a philosophy of self-criticism and fight against the real world.


Abstract Background: Anoxic brain injury is the primary cause of death after resuscitation from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and prognostication is challenging. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of two fragments of tau as serum biomarkers for neurological outcome. Methods: Single-center sub-study of 171 patients included in the Target Temperature Management (TTM) Trial randomly assigned to TTM at 33 °C or TTM at 36 °C for 24 h after OHCA. Fragments (tau-A and tau-C) of the neuronal protein tau were measured in serum 24, 48 and 72 h after OHCA. The primary endpoint was neurological outcome. Results: Median (quartile 1 – quartile 3) tau-A (ng/ml) values were 58 (43–71) versus 51 (43–67), 72 (57–84) versus 71 (59–82) and 76 (61–92) versus 75 (64–89) for good versus unfavourable outcome at 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively (pgroup = 0.95). Median tau C (ng/ml) values were 38 (29–50) versus 36 (29–49), 49 (38–58) versus 48 (33–59) and 48 (39–59) versus 48 (36–62) (pgroup = 0.95). Tau-A and tau-C did not predict neurological outcome (area under the receiver-operating curve at 48 h; tau-A: 0.51 and tau-C: 0.51). Conclusions: Serum levels of tau fragments were unable to predict neurological outcome after OHCA. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01020916.


Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg (quoted in New Scientist 7 March 2012) said: "One Higgs would be very sad ... If all we see at the LHC is one Higgs, it's not going to help us ... see clearly what the road ahead is ..." ...". My view of the data from Tevatron and LHC presented at Moriond (7 Mar 2012 and (in version 2 of this paper) 11 Mar 2012) is that Steven Weinberg should be Very Happy. Instead of a single Standard Model Higgs at 125 GeV, I think the data indicates the following phenomena: 125 GeV - pion-type meson T0 (low-mass Tquark-antiUpquark); 126.5 GeV - pion-type meson T0c (low-mass Tquark-antiCharmquark); 136 GeV - SM Higgs (low state of 3-state Higgs); 195 GeV - SM Higgs (middle state of 3-state Higgs); 244 GeV - SM Higgs state near Higgs VEV (high state of 3-state Higgs). Matt Strassler in his 6 Dec 2011 guest post on Cosmic Variance proposed a flow chart for two phases in the LHC Hunt for Higgs: Phase 1 being Search for a Single Standard Model Higgs; Phase 2 including Search for 2 or more Higgs. My view is that Phase 1 has failed to clearly find a Single Standard Model Higgs so that the LHC should now in 2012 begin the Phase 2 Hunt for Multi-Higgs. Version 2 incorporates material from 11 Mar 2012 Moriond presentations. (References are included in the body of the paper and in linked material.)


A complex scaled Siegert method in a harmonic oscillator representation is investigated to solve broad nuclear resonance states. In this method, the asymptotic wave function of the complex scaled resonance states is employed as an additional basis state, which is constructed by using a simple recurrence relation in the harmonic oscillator bases. It is also shown that this method is very powerful in cases of the Coulomb potential and in coupled channel systems.


An efficient frame interpolation method for 3D video is proposed in this paper. First, the motion vector field (MVF) of the interpolated frame is estimated using bidirectional motion estimation method. Then, the blocks in the interpolated frame are classified into occlusion and normal blocks according to the depth information. After that, the motion vector (MV) outliers of the normal blocks are detected and corrected. Furthermore, the MVs of the occlusion blocks are post-processed using a foreground matching method, and one occlusion block is segmented into foreground and background parts, which will be interpolated discriminatively. Simulation results show that the proposed method achieves higher PSNR and SSIM values than traditional motion-compensated frame interpolation (MCFI) methods, and moreover, the visual quality of the interpolated frames using the proposed method is better.


In this paper, we study the local well-posedness of two types of generalized kinetic Cucker-Smale (in short C-S) equations. We consider two different communication weights in space with nonlinear coupling of the velocities, v | v | β − 2 for β > 3-d/2, where singularities are present either in space or in velocity. For the singular communication weight in space, ψ 1 (x ) = 1 / | x | α with α ∈ (0,d − 1), d ≥ 1, we consider smooth velocity coupling, β ≥ 2. For the regular one, we assume ψ2 (x) ∈ (Lloc ∞ ∩ Liploc ) (Rd ) but with a singular velocity coupling β ∈ (3-d/2, 2). We also present the various dynamics of the generalized C-S particle system with the communication weights ψ i ,i = 1,2 when β ∈ (0,3). We provide sufficient conditions of the initial data depending on the exponent β leading to finite-time alignment or to no collisions between particles in finite time.


Universidad del Norte is a private institution located in Barranquilla, Colombia. As part of the institutional development plan, the engineering college has defined many strategies for internationalization. These strategies include impelling cooperation and exchange of faculty, promoting participation in international congresses, promoting faculty short term mobility in universities abroad and encouraging student mobility in the same way. Establishing alliances with universities in the State of Florida to define options for dual degree program is a way to stimulate and promote mobility of students, but also it is a recognition of quality equivalencies of the engineering programs in Universidad del Norte with programs in the US. This process has not been easy. The paper will mention the difficulties we have experienced and how they were solved. It shows how the dual degree program works and explains how the students take some courses in Colombia the first four years and later they go to the US and take courses during two semesters and a summer. When the students pass their courses, Universidad del Norte give them the Engineering degree in Colombia and the Universities in Florida give them the equivalent diploma. In addition, the paper shows the advantage for the student of this kind of programs and includes student opinion about it.


Electron micrographs of five species of ferns for the study of spore morphology collected from Dehradun district are being given. These are Adiantum venestum D.Don, Onychium cryptogrammoides Christ, Gymnopteris vestita (Hook.) Underw., Microsorum membranaecum (D.Don) Ching


This historical exploration denotes the uneasy alliance between black soldiers and white officers who, divided by racial tension and ideology, were united by the trials and bonds of the war they fought side by side.


This research is prompted by the lack of understanding of science subject students within the chapter of Characteristics of Living Things in grade IV of 064955 Medan primary school in the academic year of 2022/2023, which consists of 26 students. At the pre-cycle stage, the learning method used was traditional and not engaging. The aim of the research is to improve the students' natural science learning through the application of the natural environment approach, students learn outside the classroom by observing plants and animals in the environment around the school. Implementation of remedial research carried out over 2 cycles. Each cycle found an increase in the improvement of science learning. The increase in the improvement of science learning in each cycle can be seen from the attitude of students who are active, diligent and able to do assignments well and on time. Study results show an increase in the average value of each cycle, at pre-cycle at 63.23, cycle 1 at 67.3 and cycle 2 at 76.5. In terms of completeness, it can be seen from the increase in percent, in pre-cycle it achieved 30.7%, cycle 1 achieved 61.5% and cycle 2 reached 100%. The conclusion of this study through the application of an environmental approach can improve student learning in the subject of Characteristics of Living Things in grade 4


Our role in this special edition is not to discuss each of the papers. Instead we have been asked to write a self-reflective article about our own academic careers. Kecia Thomas and Karen Proudford asked us to share our experiences as foremothers. As the editors of this special issue, they represent the second significant cohort of Black women to enter the field of organization studies. We are two Black women along with a handful of others who represent the first cohort to break into the exceptionally White male dominated world of the managerial sciences. Until we sat down to write this article, we had not thought of ourselves as foremothers for several reasons. We consider ourselves to be relatively young scholars, although this may be our denial related to growing older. Stella completed her doctoral degree 15 years ago, and Ella completed her degree 11 years ago. In our minds, we are just reaching the middle stage of our academic careers. Looking ahead we see ourselves being active for at least another decade or so in academic life. Perhaps another underlying reason for not seeing ourselves as foremothers is the feeling we are still in the midst of building our careers. We continue to struggle. Thriving in the academy has not been a simple endeavor. We were two Black women concentrating our research in the area of women in management, a speciality area of the managerial sciences not considered by many of our White male colleagues to be mainstream. Within this marginal speciality, we were determined to carve out a niche and


This brief response to an essay by Monroe Freedman primarily addresses the question of whether Lord Brougham reconsidered his famous statement about aggressive, client-oriented advocacy late in his career. The article suggests that there is indeed a basis for concluding that such reconsideration took place, but that the more important issue is not Lord Brougham's actual views, but rather their impact upon modern conceptualizations of advocacy ethics. The authors conclude that a middle ground approach to advocacy ethics that recognizes obligations of "professional conscience" that might be inconsistent with client desires both makes sense and is consistent with modern professional regulation.


The Box-Wilson central composite design (CCD) based on response surface methodology (RSM) was used for ethanol fermentation using very high gravity (VHG) finger millet hydrolysate. Optimized process variables were namely, concentrations of yeast extract, magnesium sulphate and pH of the medium. High gravity mashes (>300 g dissolved solids per liter) were prepared by a thermo-stable α-amylase, followed by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) at 30oC for 60 h. Ethanol concentration as high as 13.66% (v/v) was obtained after optimizing the variables. The coefficient of determination (R 2 ) value of 0.9808 indicates the goodness of fit for regression model. The predicted values for optimization process conditions were in good agreement with experimental data. The optimum values for tested variables were yeast extract 7.13 (g/l) magnesium sulphate 23.32 mM and pH 4.8. Verification of the model indicated no significant difference between predicted and observed values.