Objective To explore the roles of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stromal cell derived factor-1 (SDF-1) in the mechanisms for fetal growth restriction (FGR). Methods The expression levels of VEGF and SDF-1 in third trimester placenta were detected in normal full-term pregnancies and abnormal pregnancies complicated with FGR by immunohistochemistry,so were the concentrations of VEGF and SDF-1 in serum. Results The expression levels of VEGF and SDF-1 in placental trophoblastic cells and the concentrations of VEGF and SDF-1 in serum were significantly higher in the normal pregnancy group than in the FGR group [0.25 ± 0.00 vs 0.20 ± 0.00 and 0.21 ± 0.00 vs 0.13 ± 0.00,(524.07 ± 43.51)pg / mL vs (257.46 ± 40.51) pg / mL and (289.12 ± 30.41)pg / mL vs (120.53 ± 32.58)pg / mL; respectively]. Conclusions Both VEGF and SDF-1 play an important role in normal pregnancy. Abnormal expressions of VEGF and SDF-1 may contribute to pathological pregnancy.


Abstract A new ground-dwelling species of treefrog in the genus Leptopelis is described from the Harenna Forest in south-eastern Ethiopia. The description is based on morphology and acoustics and is supported by molecular data. The new species has a small body size, and the digital discs on fingers and toes are significantly more conspicuous than in other semi-fossorial members of the L. gramineus complex. It occupies forest habitats at lower altitudes and is separated ecologically and geographically from high-altitude species of the complex. One of them, a parapatric cryptic species from Bale and Arsi Mountains, is resurrected from synonymy of L. gramineus and given a new name, L. montanus. Genetic barcoding of specimens from both populations showed that they belong to two distinct lineages that had been revealed by recent phylogenetic research. To confirm the geographic separation of the studied populations, the collection area of L. gramineus types was verified through analysis of the diary and the final report of the 2nd expedition of V. Bottego, and through matching of the route described in it with modern maps. The type locality of L. gramineus sensu stricto is restricted to Gamo Gofa, Ethiopia. Following the results of recent phylogenetic studies, the range of L. gramineus is limited to west of the Great Rift Valley. An identification key to the named Ethiopian species of the genus is provided.


Bundles of nerve fibers invade the early regenerating limb of the adult newt Triturus. These fibers are unmyelinated and are only partly enveloped by accompanying Schwann cells. Isolated fibers make intimate contact with mesenchymatous cells. The fine structure of such contact regions suggests possible functional nerve terminations.


One hundred and twenty-five CSF diversiorary shunt patency studies were carried out in children using 2 mu Ci/kg of /sup 111/In-DTPA. A total of four incorrect diagnoses occurred. The results were reproducible in 12 patients who had repeat studies without a change in clinical status. The radiopharmaceutical is considered safe since no reactions were observed and appears to be especially valuable for examining children because of the low radiation dose. As a result of the consistently reliable assessment of function of these shunts and a complete acceptance of the technique by our neurosurgeons, the number of air ventriculograms and surgical explorations for diagnosis in patients whose shunts were patent have been significantly reduced. (auth)


Some judges are born political, some seek out political power, and others have politics thrust upon them. This paper aims to show that the latter is the true description of developments in the constitutional role of senior British judges since 1960. The paper will outline the 'unintended politicisation of the judiciary thesis' which seeks to explain the increased political power of judges as a product of the increased enactment of ambiguous legislation by successive governments. This paper therefore adopts a historic institutionalist perspective, in order to move away from traditional accounts that explain changes in the institutional balance of British politics as being caused by the personal political ambitions of the judges themselves. The hypothesis tested for this paper is that legislation has become more ambiguous since 1960. A new methodology was required to test this hypothesis, with the result being a discourse analysis that has been used to objectively measure the ambiguity of legislative sections for a sample of 1,335 sections between 1960 and 2005. Results show with 95% confidence that legislation has become more ambiguous since 1960, with the 1980s and the 2000s showing the highest numbers of ambiguous legislative sections, at the time when strong Commons majorities allowed the government to pass a greater volume of legislation. However the 1990s showed the highest proportionate levels of ambiguity when government was hamstrung by a small Commons majority, and more had to be achieved from less legislation.


AIM
The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitude of Jordanian dentists towards the treatment of oral candidiasis and their current antifungal prescribing habits, shedding more light on the possible influence of their socio-professional factors on the pattern of prescribing and practice.

METHODS
A structured validated questionnaire was developed and tested; it was then emailed to a random sample of 600 Jordanian dental practitioners during the period of this cross-sectional survey. The questionnaire recorded practitioners' personal details and their attitude and prescribing of antifungal therapy for oral candidiasis. Statistical significance was based on probability values of <0.05 and was measured using the chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the influence of respondents' socio-professional factors on their attitude towards oral candidiasis.

RESULTS
Of the 423 questionnaires returned, only 330 were included. The attitude of respondents was significantly influenced by their experience [odds ratio (OR) = 0.14; P < 0.001] and workplace (OR = 4.70; P < 0.001). Nystatin was the most commonly prescribed antifungal agent (78.2%), followed by miconazole (62.4%), which was prescribed for topical use. Systemic antifungals were prescribed by 21.2% of respondents, with a significant (P < 0.05) association with the country in which their qualification was obtained.

CONCLUSION
The attitude towards the treatment of oral candidiasis is much better among the least-experienced dentists working in private practice. Nystatin and miconazole are the most popular choices of antifungal agents among Jordanian dentists.


This paper presents the architecture of ARM+MCU in hardware.Linux operating system and libraries of Qt were transplanted to ARM processor to develop human-machine interface,and on this basis,Web server and embedded database were transplanted to implement the remote monitoring of the on-site data.Microcontroller was applied to realize the control of the greenhouse.Cascade control algorithm was used to achieve precise control,and to eliminate the coupling effect,feed-forward was used on this system.At the same time,Smith predictor was added to the main regulator to overcome the effect of large delay and large lag.Filed results indicate that the novel intelligent control system for the control of greenhouse is reliable with high precision and good real-time,and that meets the requirements of greenhouse cultivation and has a high value of application.


Manfred Hoffmann starts from a twofold constatation. Erasmus rejected the scholastics' theological method, i.e. the deriving of cogent conclusions from metaphysical principles by syllogistic, dialectical reasoning. In his own "theology" Erasmus reverts to the literary hermeneutics of Classical and patristic "rhetoric". Hoffmann examines how Erasmus thus constructs a distinct theological framework and a distinct "rhetorical theology". The present article discusses Hoffmann's questions about such a theology, especially whether it is theology at all, and if so, at what level of the "systematic". The article argues that Erasmus ignores an intrinsic and essential element in ancient rhetoric: the systematic intellectual armature of Classical and patristic metaphysics, of which dialectic is the organon or method.


The Valley City Little League (VCLL) consists of players, parents, managers, coaches, assorted volunteers, a board of directors and a city worker who acts as a liaison between the city and the league. Its mandate as an organization affiliated with Little League International (LLI) is to uphold the principles and procedures of LLI. The Mission Statement of LLI explicitly mandates that the organization as a whole is founded on principles of human – rather than athletic – development:


In this issue of Blood, Garçon et al describe successful derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSs) from fibroblasts of Diamond Blackfan anemia (DBA) patients with 2 distinct ribosomal defects. Using these cells, the authors showed that they not only exhibit defective erythropoiesis but also globally impaired hematopoiesis affecting multipotent progenitors.


In the mobile edge computing environments, Quality of Service (QoS) prediction plays a crucial role in web service recommendation. Because of distinct features of mobile edge computing, i.e., the mobility of users and incomplete historical QoS data, traditional QoS prediction approaches may obtain less accurate results in the mobile edge computing environments. In this paper, we treat the historical QoS values at different time slots as a temporal sequence of QoS matrices. By incorporating the compressed matrices extracted from QoS matrices through truncated Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) with the classical ARIMA model, we extend the ARIMA model to predict multiple QoS values simultaneously and efficiently. Experimental results show that our proposed approach outperforms the other state-of-the-art approaches in accuracy and efficiency.


Fish sauce is a popular fermented product used in south Asian countries which is made from different small fishes in this research work it was attempted to produce fish sauce from kilka of the Caspian sea, the fish sauce was made from three models of kilka ,such as whole kilka , cooked whole kilka and dressed kilka , each of these models treated it four different fashions of fermentation such as:1- Traditional method, 2- Enzymatic method 3- Microbial method, 4- Mixture of enzyme and microb The results of this investigation showed that time of fermentation for the traditional method was six month, enzymatic method one month, microbial method 3 month and the mixture of enzyme and microb 1 month. The rate of fermentation was least for dressed Kilka, microbial and biochemical changes of Kilka fish sauce were evaluated, total bacterial count was 2.1-6.15 log cfu/ml total volatile nitrogen (TVN) in samples recorded was 250 mg /100g, the amount of protein varied between 10-13 percent, the name of commercial enzymes added was Protamex and Flavourzyme, the bacteria added was L act ob acillus and Pediococous, fish sauce containers fish and 20% salt, temperature of keeping for fermentation was 37 degree c for 6 month.


What then is an image? A picture of a clock tower, for example, is an image. It may be made of ink and paper rather than bricks and mortar; it made be made of bytes; it may be smaller than the tower; it may be of somewhat different colour than the tower; but it qualifies as an image in so far as it has the same shape. An image is isomorphic to the original (iso = same; morphe = shape.) It may occasionally be useful to go beyond shape to other qualities: the aural image of a tune, for instance, can be said to have the same temporal shape as the tune. The central characteristic of an image is that it resembles the original by having the same relevant qualities. Plato seems to use the term this way: in his allegory of the cave, he contrasts the shadows cast on the wall with the real things. Presumably the shadows are images because they have the same shape (and maybe same movements) as the realities. In contemporary usage, the OED offers eight equally legitimate uses of the term "image", but its first use is, "an imitation or representation of the external form of an object ..." Once again, in this paper I will restrict myself exclusively to this, simple-minded and unequivocal meaning of "image:" An image is an object isomorphic to the original. It is these images that imagination -as I use the term -is concerned with.


The paper focuses on a critical determinant, not only of females participating in the labor market but also of continuing in it: the opportunity cost of women's participation in the labor market. It is believed that the opportunity cost for not working increases if the compensations consist of both wages and secured job conditions. The opportunity cost for not working decreases with the lack of secured conditions. Women with low compensations in terms of wages and secured conditions, their opportunity cost of not working decreases with marriage, which increases the probability of quitting the labor market. The target group in the paper is the males and females in Egypt aged between 18-64 years old, who have an intermediate or above educational degree, and are working as waged workers. The data used is from the 1998 ELMS (Egyptian labor market survey) and 2006 ELMPS (Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey), using the advantage of having subset panel sample in both years. The career mobility is measured, and the job-to-job turnover by gender is observed in the paper. Career development over eight years and the impact of different factors on the development are analyzed. Probit model with sample selection and Heckman selection model are used in the analyses. The importance of the results increases with the privatization trend in the Egyptian economy. Male and female private sector workers are in a more critical condition, and as the private sector expands and absorbs more of the new entrants, more attention should be paid to them. Those new entrants are challenged by the tradeoff between wages and job security. Those who fail in getting engaged in the public sector of all males and young females have a higher probability of ending up with low secured jobs. Low wages and low job security are the main reasons for a female to quit working, once she gets married.


The subject of multiobjective set-valued optimization is systemly introduced.The sur- vey involves (1 ) scalar problem;(2 ) the optimality conditions without derivatives;(3 ) the optimality conditions with derivatives;(4) the duality problems;(5) nonsmooth analysis;(6 ) the stability and sensitivity;(7) minimax theorem;(8) the multiobjective optimization of setto set,eight parts.More- over,gives some unsolved problems.


Introduction: Rapid eye movement (REM)-related obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) is still an area of debate. Aim: Evaluate the differences between patients with and without criteria for REM-related OSA. Methods: A retrospective review of all patients that performed polysomnography during 2017 in a Terciary Portuguese Hospital was made. It was included all patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index(AHI)≥5). REM-related OSA was defined by a ratio AHI REM/AHI non-REM> 2. Results: Identified 220 patients, 38.1% with REM-related OSA (n=84). The REM-related OSA group had a higher percentage of females (47.1% vs 33.8%; p=0.049), a lower score in Epworth Sleepiness Scale (9 vs 6; p=0.012) and a lower median AHI (11.4 vs 19.4; p=<0.001) (table 1). REM sleep time, percentage sleep time below 90% SaO2, body mass index, age and comorbidities (including cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, anxiety and depression) were not statistically different.
 There was a low agreement between the severity calculated with AHI-total and AHI-REM (K=0.179, p 30. Conclusion: In patients with REM-related OSA the agreement between the severity calculated with AHI-total and AHI-REM was low. This raise a problem: What should we treat? More studies about the prognosis of these patients are needed.


Background:  Side‐clamping of the ascending aorta during off‐pump coronary artery bypass surgery (OPCAB) may be associated with a significant increase in systemic blood pressure which may rarely result in aortic dissection. We evaluated whether topical application of lidocaine on the ascending aorta could reduce the rise in systemic blood pressure during side‐clamping of the aorta in OPCAB.


Iterative Intercolumnar Correlation Classification (IICC) computes the correlation coefficients for the entries of every column of a matrix with those of every other column of the matrix. The procedure is iterated until a matrix is generally realized of only two clusters. Every object of each cluster has an index of plus-one with every other object of its cluster. Indices of minus one only mediate between objects across clusters. IICC probably goes to an extreme. It disallows that any object of a cluster can be less than a perfect respresentative of that cluster. This extreme derives from the definition of a cluster by IICC. The stringency of the definition is reduced. This justifies discontinuing iteration earlier. Both initial indices and those of the middle iteration were clustered by four methods. Iteration increases the size and validity of indices, reduces errors in the indices, and increases homogeneity amongst them. Increased similarity in procedures ensues as at least some methods are adapted to middle-iteration indices. Both the validity of clusters and their similarity across methods are increased. Other sets of data, other methods, and other definitions need to be studied in the above fashion.


The author investigates the standardization/adaptation issue in international advertising from an organizational perspective, introducing two variables: knowledge of local market conditions at the center (exporter/headquarters level) and headquarters' influence on local marketing decisions. The author interviewed 150 Norwegian exporters by mail on their experience in this respect. The results reveal that the two dimensions indeed have some impact on how firms develop their international marketing strategies. Knowledge of local market conditions seems to play an overriding role, leading to a more standardized approach by firms. Not surprisingly, centralized decision power seems to lead to more negative reactions at the intermediary level. In contrast, firms that have a more relaxed stance on the standardization issue and leave the marketing decisions to the local representatives seem to have better relations with these representatives than do other firms. The author discusses implications for global brand management and research.


This paper discusses on the implementation of electromyogram sensor as the biofeedback of the improvised electrical muscle stimulation technology to improve the muscle strength. The paper explains some fundamental of muscle behavior followed by the muscle weakness issues. The techniques of muscle stimulation and the innovative solutions to overcome the problems encountered by the current muscle stimulation techniques are discussed. The project methodology is explained with proper circuit configurations and programming technique. Preliminary works and validation process on the wrist extensor muscle are presented. Finally, the project functionality is examined based on the simulation results that show the system behavior with respect to the muscle contraction reading.


This paper presents an encoder and decoder channel capacity study on the QR Code (Quick Response Code) and CQR Code-5 (5-color Colored Quick Response Code) transmission environment. Our work shows that the QR Code and CQR Code-5 data storage and retrieval is an asymmetric and no erasure channel of information transmission, where each two-dimensional barcode channel counts with a maximum number of distinguishable symbols. This channel capacity study uses mutual information theory and consider that the QR Code and CQR Code-5 input symbols are mapped into a sequence that produces the output sequence of each channel. The output sequence has a distribution that depends on the input sequence and the conditional probability of every input and output symbol, where is possible to reconstruct the input symbols at the output with low error probability in function of the software robustness of each two-dimensional barcodes.


In this paper, we performed a comparison of wind speed from synthetic aperture radar (SAR), scatterometer, moored buoys and numerical model. These comparisons were made in near U.S. coast regions. The results indicate that SAR-derived ocean surface wind speeds are as accurate as the scatterometer and model wind products.


Due to the problems of poor stability and falling into local minimum easily in routine nonlinear inversion,wavelet transform was used to decompose original problem to different scale and iterative inversion.Then,scale was reduced step by step with the great scale search as the beginning so as to fall to primitive scale of the objective function ultimately.Simultaneously,search boundaries were set up to stabilize the solutions.The results by the inversion of theoretical model and real seismic data show that the proposed method can effectively improve the stability and accuracy of the inversion.


Eight known compounds were isolated from the roots of"Potentilla anserina"L.(Rosaceous).These compounds included two steroids,β-sitosterol(1),daucosterol(2),and six triterpenoids,ursolic acid(3),pomolic acid(4),euscaphic acid(5),tormentic acid(6),rosamultin(7)andkaji-ichigoside F1(8).Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic analysis andchemical evidence.Except for β-sitosterol,the other seven compounds were isolated for the firsttime from this plant.


Electrospinning offers an avenue to produce small diameter tubes made out of nanofibres. However, to date, most tubes from electrospun fibres have been either random fibres or from sheets that were rolled into tubes. Although there have been suggestions of getting tubes made of circumferentially aligned fibres, this is the first time that a method used to create a tube made of diagonally aligned electrospun fibres has been described. This tube was formed by depositing fibres on a rotating tube during electrospinning to give a resultant tube with uniform thickness and superior all round mechanical strength without any line of weakness. A knife-edged auxiliary electrode was given a charge that was opposite to that of the charge given to the needle to create an electrostatic field that encouraged fibre alignment on a rotating tube collector. A tubular structure made of nanofibres aligned in a diagonal direction was produced through electrospinning.


We investigate the behaviour of the first variation under the Fourier-Feynman transform, and we show that the Wiener integral of the first variation behaves successfully under the L p -analytic Fourier-Feynman transform for 1≤p≤2 for cylinder functions of the form where f: R n →C∈L p (R n ), 1≤p≤2 and {h 1, h 2, …, h n } is the orthonormal class of elements in H and the L p -analytic Fourier-Feynman transform of the first variation can be perfectly expressed as the limit of Wiener integrals of the first variation.


We have studied the formation of self-organized InAs quantum dots (QDs) on patterned GaAs substrates. To enhance the migration of the atoms, the InAs QDs were grown by periodic supply epitaxy. For InAs growth on line patterns that were parallel to the [110] direction, the InAs QDs were selectively formed on the A-planes. Conversely, no selective formation of InAs QDs was observed on line patterns, that were parallel to the [110] direction. This can be explained by the stability of the In atoms on the A-steps; they are more stable because they have only one dangling bond, and the other three bonds are attached to As atoms below them. Therefore, accumulated InAs on the A-steps can form QDs at an early stage. The µ-photoluminescence properties of the InAs QDs were studied, and strong emissions from the InAs QDs on the patterned areas were observed even at room temperature. Further work on this issue may reveal possibilities for controlling the exact position of a few InAs QDs.


In this work, based on the thermodynamic prediction, the comprehensive studies of the influence of Cu for Fe substitution on the crystal structure and magnetic properties of the rapidly quenched Fe85B15 alloy in the ribbon form are performed. Using thermodynamic calculations, the parabolic shape dependence of the ΔGamoprh with a minimum value at 0.6% of Cu was predicted. The ΔGamoprh from the Cu content dependence shape is also asymmetric, and, for Cu = 0% and Cu = 1.5%, the same ΔGamoprh value is observed. The heat treatment optimization process of all alloys showed that the least lossy (with a minimum value of core power losses) is the nanocomposite state of nanocrystals immersed in an amorphous matrix obtained by annealing in the temperature range of 300–330 °C for 20 min. The minimum value of core power losses P10/50 (core power losses at 1T@50Hz) of optimally annealed Fe85-xCuxB15 x = 0,0.6,1.2% alloys come from completely different crystallization states of nanocomposite materials, but it strongly correlates with Cu content and, thus, a number of nucleation sites. The TEM observations showed that, for the Cu-free alloy, the least lossy crystal structure is related to 2–3 nm short-ordered clusters; for the Cu = 0.6% alloy, only the limited value of several α-Fe nanograins are found, while for the Cu-rich alloy with Cu = 1.2%, the average diameter of nanograins is about 26 nm, and they are randomly distributed in the amorphous matrix. The only high number of nucleation sites in the Cu = 1.2% alloy allows for a sufficient level of grains' coarsening of the α-Fe phase that strongly enhances the ferromagnetic exchange between the α-Fe nanocrystals, which is clearly seen with the increasing value of saturation induction up to 1.7T. The air-annealing process tested on studied alloys for optimal annealing conditions proves the possibility of its use for this type of material.


The effect of secretory group II phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) on the expression of the inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and the production of NO by macrophages was investigated. sPLA2 by itself barely stimulated nitrite production and iNOS expression in Raw264.7 cells. However, in combination with LPS, the effects were synergistic. This potentiation was shown for sPLA2 enzymes from sPLA2-transfected stable cells or for purified sPLA2 from human synovial fluid. The effect of PLA2 on iNOS induction appears to be specific for the secretory type of PLA2. LPS-stimulated activation of iNOS was inhibited by the well-known selective inhibitors of sPLA2 such as 12-epi-scalaradial and ρ-bromophenacyl bromide. In contrast, the cytosolic PLA2-specific inhibitors methyl arachidonyl fluorophosphate and arachidonyltrifluoromethyl ketone did not affect LPS-induced nitrite production and iNOS expression. Moreover, when we transfected cDNA-encoding type II sPLA2, we observed that the sPLA2-transfected cells produced two times more nitrites than the empty vector or cytosolic PLA2-transfected cells. The sPLA2-potentiated iNOS expression was associated with the activation of NF-κB. We found that the NF-κB inhibitor pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate prevented nitrite production, iNOS induction, and mRNA accumulation by sPLA2 plus LPS in Raw264.7 cells. Furthermore, EMSA analysis of the activation of the NF-κB involved in iNOS induction demonstrated that pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate prevented the NF-κB binding by sPLA2 plus LPS. Our findings indicated that sPLA2, in the presence of LPS, is a potent activator of macrophages. It stimulates iNOS expression and nitrite production by a mechanism that requires the activation of NF-κB.


This paper aims to put forward an original conceptual framework and a renewed perspective on monetary analysis applied to trans-national corporations based on some of the views of Bernard Schmitt developed over the last forty years. After reviewing the terminological principles of the theory of money emissions, we show that Bernard Schmitt's theoretical insights have enabled the successful integration of money and output at the conceptual level along the lines of a Keynesian monetary theory of production. We then examine the issue of the definition of the transnational corporation and its exponential rise in the world economy with regard to the globalisation process. Finally, the inclusion of trans-national corporations in the theory of money emissions allows us to redefine trans-national production as an additional conceptual level in monetary macroeconomics, with farreaching implications as far as the monetisation of trans-national production and the subsequent reform of international payments are concerned. Field of research: monetary macroeconomics Marc Pilkington (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com) obtained a MSc. in International Business from So uth Bank University London in 2001 and a PhD in Monetary Eco nomics from the University of Dijon in 2005. He is currently a permanent instructor of English for Specific Purpos es and Business Studies at the University of Nice S ophia Antipolis in France. This paper is presented at the 5th Inter na ional Business Research Conference in Dubai 26-2 7, April 2007. The usual disclaimer applies.


Crosslinking has been already used for about 80 years to enhance the longevity of polyethylene cables. The polymer alteration has been achieved with peroxide, silane or irradiation. The medical dev...


OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of pioglitazone on the nonalcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) induced by high fat diet and tentatively explore the mechanism.METHODS Thirty Wistar rats were randomly allocated to three groups(10 rats for each group): normal control group(NC group,fed with standard chow),insulin resistance group(IR group,fed with high fat diet) and pioglitazone treated group(PT group,fed with high fat diet).The pioglitazone-treated group was received pioglitazone administration 3 mg·(kg-1·d)-1 at the 7th weeks.After hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp was performed at the 16th week,all the rats were sacrificed.Weight of liver and body were measured to calculate liver mass index.Liver histology was detected by HE staining.Phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase(AMPK) levels were detected by Western blot technique.RESULTS Compared to NC group,liver mass index increased,but the Glucose infusion rate(GIR) decreased in IR group.Pathology observation by light microscope showed liver steatosis in IR group.Phosphorylation of AMPK level in IR group decreased to 45.8% of NC group.Pioglitazone administration greatly improved the liver mass index,GIR as well as liver steatosis compared to IR group.Phosphorylation of AMPK was also elevated to 82.5% of NC group in PT group.However,compared to NC group,liver mass index increased,while GIR and phosphorylation of AMPK level obviously decreased in PT group.CONCLUSION Pioglitazone administration markedly improved NAFLD induced by high-fat diet through elevating phosphorylation of AMPK in liver.


The paper postulates that Morgan's cycle is a particularly appropriate object of intertextual study as his poetry is rich with textual correspondences and cultural inter-relationships. Morgan's formal method of composition emulates in its intertextual propensity the general theme of the sequence: a multidimensional peregrination through space and time of Scotland's history and geography in search of its national identity. The intertextual correspondences in Morgan's Sonnets from Scotland are predominantly language-oriented or aesthetic. Morgan enhances the meaning of his sonnets with linguistic coloring which covers the whole spectrum of languages and their registers from slang and local Glaswegian dialects through modern languages like German, French or Arabic, to ancient Latin, Greek or even extinct Pictish. The second dominant variable which qualifies the senses of the entire cycle is broadly understood art, both in its verbal as well as visual form of representation. Synergic cross-fertilization of these dominant connotative fields of signification allows Morgan to create sonnets of unsurpassed dexterity in modern British poetry.


glancing fires an investigation into womens creativity is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library saves in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the glancing fires an investigation into womens creativity is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Abstract An experience sampling study with a large community sample (N = 3327) furnished data on trait and state self-control in everyday life. State measures were self-reports of ego-depleting events (restraining self, effortful decisions, and pushing self to do unwanted tasks) and feelings of depletion (emotional overreactions, difficulty making up mind, less mental energy). People with high trait self-control reported fewer such feelings and events than others. Poor sleep quality and interpersonal conflict were strong predictors of depleted feelings, and indeed the combination of very poor sleep and high interpersonal conflict led to a dramatic spike in reports of extremely depleted feelings. Depleted feelings were positively correlated with being young, female, politically non-extreme, and less well educated, and with finding life less meaningful, as well as with multitasking and hurrying. They increased across the day despite drops after meal times, thus attesting to the value of food and sleep. Pain and illness also raised them. Among other implications, the data suggest a composite picture of the daily life of someone with low trait self-control: frequently rushing and hurrying, not thinking about what they are doing, and just responding automatically to the current situation, as well as suffering aftereffects of interpersonal conflict and poor quality sleep.


Advances in diagnostic imaging have increased the recognition of coexisting transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR‐CA) and severe aortic stenosis (AS), with a reported prevalence between 8–16%. In this prospective study, we aimed to evaluate the implications of ATTR‐CA on outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).


Deviations from perfect icosahedral m35 point-group symmetry in icosahedral particles in rapidly solidified Al―3Cu―1•5Li―1Mg and Al―3Cu1•5Li―1Mg―0.1Zr have been investigated experimentally by a combination of conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The as-rapidly-solidified icosahedral particles are nearly spherical and are typically 0.1−0.2 μm in diameter


The National Geographic reported on November 20, 2002, that 11% of a sample of Americans aged 18-24 (that is, high school graduates, undergraduates, graduates, or working adults) could not find their own country on a map of the world. Is that embarrassment of geographic illiteracy behind the recent rash of Mapping reports from the National Intelligence Council of the US, in which largely unnamed experts avoid locating any country on the map but proceed without shame to offer what they admitted are fictional scenarios of the future? The only difference is that the authors pretended that what they wrote about Africa had no fictional scenarios but was completely factual. What do you make of a document that was issued by the National Intelligence Council with a disclaimer on every page Discussion paper does not represent the views of the US Government (a disclaimer that was not present in the Mapping Global Futures report)? Perhaps, the authors were just kidding around but after some African leaders took the report seriously and rushed to the national legislative assembly with a request for a national response to the document we cannot but weigh in on the discussion of the paper.


The research on ZHOU Zuo-ren has become increasingly popular since the New Period; however, his life outlook was seldom touched upon. Superficially, ZHOU Zuo-ren's life outlook is divided into two different types. One is natural and simple life; the other is delicate and beautiful life. But, these two are not opposite but correlative. The former is only a foundation which is independent in his formation of the life outlook, while the latter is his ultimate life goal.


Purpose— to perform a comparative analysis of the clinical efficacy of intrastromal keratoplasty (ISKP) in patients with keratoconus during surgery with and without Verion digital marking device.Patients and methods. 37 patients (50 eyes) with corneal astigmatism up to -5.0 diopters were included in the study. These patients were operated with the femtolaser method of ISKP with implantation of corneal segments. The average age of the patients was 27.96 ± 3.40 years. The observation period is from 3 to 12 months. All patients were divided into two groups depending on the surgical technique: Verion-assisted, using a digital marking device and taking into account the angle of cyclotorsia, or standard, without taking into account the angle of cyclotorsia. The first main group included 28 eyes (56 %), the second control group included 22 eyes (44 %) accordingly.Results. The functional results after ISKP in both groups were quite good. Stabilization of functional parameters and keratometric data was noted in the postoperative period, by 3 months. Patients of the main group showed a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in average uncorrected visual acuity to 0.50 ± 0.16, and visual acuity with maximum correction to 0.70 ± 0.12 (p < 0.05). The average keratometry of the weak meridian decreased to 44.3 ± 1.4 diopters, the average keratometry of the strong meridian decreased to 50.8 ± 3.2 diopters. Patients in the control group showed a statistically significant (p < 0.05) increase in average uncorrected visual acuity to 0.45 ± 0.12, and visual acuity with maximum correction to 0.60 ± 0.17. The average values of keratometry of the weak meridian decreased to 45.3 ± 1.8 diopters, the average values of keratometry of the strong meridian decreased to 51.8 ± 2.2 diopters. The results of the vector analysis reliably indicate a significantly higher accuracy of the Verion-assisted ISKP. Which is confirmed by the achieved indicators of the "success" index, the calculated astigmatism vector close to the actual postoperative astigmatism vector, the smaller the magnitude of the astigmatism axis difference vector compared to the control.Conclusion. The use of the Verion-assisted intrastromal technique for keratoconus reduces the risk of erroneous positioning of the corneal segments in the tunnel during transferring diagnostic data to the operating room. Taking into account the angle of cyclotorsia during cutting into the intrastromal tunnel increases the effective correction of the cylindrical component of refraction, which is confirmed by the main coefficients of the vector analysis by N. Alpins.


This article sheds light on how synergies arise through mergers and acquisitions (MA however it was noticed that few of the cases investigated were proved to be effective. We presented a new application for multi-objective approach that can be used to assess mergers and acquisitions. The dualapplication of GPDEA provided a greater understanding of efficiency generation in synergy creation by means of M&A.


Online social networks (OSNs) have experienced tremendous growth in recent years and become a defect portal for hundreds of millions of Internet users. These OSNs offer attractive means for digital social interactions and information sharing, but also raise a number of security and privacy issues. While OSNs allow users to restrict access to shared data, they currently do not provide any mechanism to enforce privacy concerns over data associated with multiple users on.Data Provenance has achieved by comparison of packet header.


Significance Patients with small infarcts often demonstrate a poststroke acute dysexecutive syndrome resulting in failure to successfully re-integrate into society. The mechanism is poorly understood given that lesions are small and do not typically involve areas classically associated with cognitive decline. This knowledge gap makes designing treatment strategies difficult. We used MEG to evaluate changes in cerebral processing in individuals with small strokes. MEG showed a decrease in the amplitude of activation and temporal dispersion of activation peaks in areas responsible for visual word processing, along with an inability to modulate activity in response to task difficulty. These changes suggest disruption of network dynamics resulting in inefficient processing. Functional connectivity studies to isolate affected networks are the critical next step. Stroke patients with small central nervous system infarcts often demonstrate an acute dysexecutive syndrome characterized by difficulty with attention, concentration, and processing speed, independent of lesion size or location. We use magnetoencephalography (MEG) to show that disruption of network dynamics may be responsible. Nine patients with recent minor strokes and eight age-similar controls underwent cognitive screening using the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) and MEG to evaluate differences in cerebral activation patterns. During MEG, subjects participated in a visual picture–word matching task. Task complexity was increased as testing progressed. Cluster-based permutation tests determined differences in activation patterns within the visual cortex, fusiform gyrus, and lateral temporal lobe. At visit 1, MoCA scores were significantly lower for patients than controls (median [interquartile range] = 26.0 [4] versus 29.5 [3], P = 0.005), and patient reaction times were increased. The amplitude of activation was significantly lower after infarct and demonstrated a pattern of temporal dispersion independent of stroke location. Differences were prominent in the fusiform gyrus and lateral temporal lobe. The pattern suggests that distributed network dysfunction may be responsible. Additionally, controls were able to modulate their cerebral activity based on task difficulty. In contrast, stroke patients exhibited the same low-amplitude response to all stimuli. Group differences remained, to a lesser degree, 6 mo later; while MoCA scores and reaction times improved for patients. This study suggests that function is a globally distributed property beyond area-specific functionality and illustrates the need for longer-term follow-up studies to determine whether abnormal activation patterns ultimately resolve or another mechanism underlies continued recovery.


The results of the research on the vocabulary of Ossetian riddles are represented in the article: the correlation of objects in a riddle and their codified designators in its imagery part.


Alignment errors can arise during needle tip placement in deep-seated tissue structures. This can lead to undesired diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes. Path correction by means of needle steering has been investigated in scientific studies for the past decades. Several approaches exist, each of them with their own strengths and weaknesses. This paper describes the various needle-steering techniques, and discusses their applicability in terms of mechanical design choices in order to assess and guide on-going work in this research area. Included steering techniques apply needle base manipulations, bevel tips, precurved stylets, active cannulas, programmable bevels, and tendon actuated tips. Techniques are classified as either passive or active, based on how steering is achieved. Mechanical properties of developed needles differ largely. Flexural rigidity, for instance, was found to vary with a factor 106. Mechanical interactions, such as torsion and buckling, are described individually. Different research objectives have led to different steerable needle designs. Design criteria are typically based on these objectives, and not necessarily on clinical needs. However, the effectiveness of steering techniques depends heavily on this design, the navigation medium, and the intended task. In the proposed classification scheme, this dependence is quantified by the flexural rigidity.


AIMS
Prophylaxis against Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PJP) is currently recommended for patients receiving chemoradiation with temozolomide for newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme. At our institution, PJP prophylaxis during temozolomide treatment has not been routinely given because of the paucity of supporting data. We investigated the rate of PJP infections in our patients.

PATIENTS & METHODS
We conducted a retrospective chart review of 240 brain tumor patients treated between 1999 and 2012 with temozolomide and no PJP prophylaxis, 127 of which received concurrent chemoradiation.

RESULTS
One in 240 patients (0.4%; 95% CI: 0.01-2.00; median total dose: 7375 mg/m(2); interquartile range: 1300) were diagnosed with PJP.

CONCLUSION
There was a <1% rate of PJP for brain tumor patients treated with temozolomide until progression without PJP prophylaxis.


Effectiveness of concussion stunning in comparison to captive bolt stunning in routine slaughtering of cattle.

In this study, concussion stunning was examined during routine slaughter of 5552 cattle in a large EU approved slaughterhouse in southern Bavaria. In the course of the study two different pneumatic non-penetrating devices (Jarvis and EFA) were used. In a total of 83.3 % of the 5552 cattle concussion stunning resulted in an effective initial stun. The rate of successful initial stuns was higher when the Jarvis device was applied in comparison to the stun effectiveness determined with the EFA apparatus. In preliminary trials as well as the main study, restunning via concussion stunning frequently was not effective. During all stages of the study, bullocks were the category of slaughter animals with the highest restun rates. For a comparative evaluation of stun effectiveness 1130 animals were stunned with a cartridge activated captive bolt device. The initial stun rate of this established method was 93.5 %.

In approximately 60 % of 548 heads examined after skinning the surface of the head showed profound injuries of the frontal bone (exceeding mere impression) in the impact area of the bolt. The skulls of 80 cattle were split in a transversal direction after concussion stunning and the ensuing pathological-anatomical examination commonly revealed damages of the external and internal laminae of the frontal bone. In all of the 80 brains examined hemorrhages of varying extent were detected.

The dissemination of CNS tissue was examined via RIDASCREEN® Risk Material ELISA test. For this purpose, blood samples were directly taken from the sticking blood of 20 animals, 20 % of which showed a positive result. In addition, swab samples were taken from the right and left ventricle of the heart, the pulmonary trunk and the aorta of 33 concussion stunned animals. In merely 10 of these 33 cattle no CNS was detected in any of the four samples. The sample with the highest detection rate of 60 % was the aorta.
The most important conclusion of this study is the overall evaluation of concussion stunning as less suited for routine slaughter than captive bolt stunning as far as stun effectiveness is concerned. Furthermore, the positive CNS results showed that this non-penetrating stunning method does not lead to an improvement of consumer pro-tection with respect to the BSE risk. Only staff safety might be improved by application of concussion stunning as the apparatus is safer to handle, there is no stun hole with possibly exuding brain material and an effective stun results in a better immobilization of the animals after ejection onto the bleeding table.


This article explores efforts to attain feminist peace in Liberia by critically examining the implementation of gender-sensitive provisions in two national reforms that seek to transform the country after war: the Land Rights Act 2018 and the Local Government Act 2018. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, it argues that these reforms are sites of struggle between the goal of national transformation towards feminist peace and the reproduction of existing socio-political cleavages, with a particular focus on (certain) women's political, socio-economic and gender oppression. The article also demonstrates how despite implementation failures and lack of consultation, these legal reforms open new (in)formal spaces for building feminist peace. Attending to the ways in which women resist and mobilise in these newly (in)formal spaces, the article brings to light the peace work these women are doing for transforming post-war gender regimes that prevent women's representation and a more equitable redistribution of power and resources.Key messagesThis article explores efforts to attain feminist peace in Liberia by examining gender-sensitive provisions in two national reforms: the Land Rights Act 2018 and the Local Government Act 2018.National reforms are sites of struggle between the aspirations for national transformation and the reproduction of existing socio-political cleavages.Feminist peace takes social reproduction as a priority.


This paper is concerned with the formal representation of ab stract anaphora in French, i.e. anaphora involving events, situations, propositions and f acts. We examine the var- ious ways of representing entities of these kinds in DRT (on t he basis of their linguistic prop- erties), and the consequences of these representations on t he representation of the anaphoric link itself. After an inventory of the anaphoric material in volved, we survey the various possible anaphoric links, either direct or mixed.


With the virtual router redundancy protocol (VRRP),a virtual routercan be set up with a set of routers.The terminals of the campus network can get access to the data of the external network and transmit the data to the virtual router.Actually,the data are forwarded by the masterof the VRRP backup.If the masterhappens to fail,the backup router will,based on priority, choose a new master to take over the fault equipment and continue the process.To take advantage of the system controlled by the VRRP protocol can realize the routing redundancy and load balance of the campus network, which can ensure the reliability of the operation of the campus network.


Superscalar implementations of RISC architectures are emerging as the dominant high-performance microprocessor technology for the mid-1990's. This paper proposes and evaluates a split data cache memory design, a new memory system ehancement for superscalar processor architectures. This design allows floating-point and integer memory access to be executed in parallel. The configuration is well matched to the dual-path execution hardware of many current superscalar processors. It doubles peak bandwidth without the expense or complexity of multi-ported memory, and increases the processor's ability to exploit fine-grained parallelism. The reported simulation results show that by using this enhancement, a speedup of more than 1.5 over the traditional unified cache model can be achieved on some standard benchmarks. The speedup is not uniform among all programs. Several hypotheses are presented and experimentally validated to explain these results.<<ETX>>


. Connectivity is a topological notion for sets, often introduced by means of arcs. Classically, discrete geometry transposes to digital sets this arcwise appoach. An alternative, and non topological, axiomatics has been proposed by Serra. It lies on the idea that the union of connected components that intersect is still connected. Such an axiomatics enlarges the range of possible connections, and includes clusters of particles. The main output of this approach concerns (cid:12)lters. Very powerful new ones have been designed (levelings), and more classical ones have been provided with new properties (openings, strong alternated (cid:12)lters) The paper presents an overview of set connection and illustrates it by (cid:12)l-terings on gray tone images. It is emphazised that all notions introduced here apply equally to both discrete and continuous spaces.


Testing serial dependence is central to much of time series econometrics. A number of tests that have been developed and used to explore the dependence properties of various processes. This paper builds on recent work on nonparametric tests of independence. We consider a fact that characterises serially dependent processes using a generalisation of the autocorrelation function. Using this fact we build dependence tests that make use of neural network based approximations. We derive the theoretical properties of our tests and show that they have superior power properties. Our Monte Carlo evaluation supports the theoretical findings. An application to a large dataset of stock returns illustrates the usefulness of the proposed tests.


The invention discloses a protocol self-adapted quick electric-automobile wireless charging system which comprises a charging station power transmitting unit 1 and an automobile body power receiving unit 7. The charging station power transmitting unit 1 comprises a power supply module 2, an information demodulation module 3, a power control circuit 4, a power oscillation module 5 and an electromagnetic transmitting coil 6 which are connected in sequence. The automobile body power receiving unit 7 comprises an electromagnetic receiving coil 8, a battery information monitoring and information demodulation unit 9, a rectifying and voltage-stabilizing module 10 and a vehicle-mounted battery 11 which are connected in sequence. The charging station power transmitting unit 1 and the automobile body power receiving unit 7 are in coupling connection with the electromagnetic receiving coil 8 through the electromagnetic transmitting coil 6. The charging station of the system can automatically judge, recognize and adapt to the communication protocol used by the vehicle-mounted battery, the compatibility of the charging station and the vehicle-mounted battery is greatly improved, and the use rate of the charging station is effectively improved.


Three kinds of fundamental problems are visible in the literature on social disorganization theory by Shaw and McKay (Siegmunt, 2012: 28). First, the definitions of social disorganization and informal social control are not always used separately. Secondly, the operationalization of social disorganization and informal social control is mostly insufficient. Thirdly, the modelling of the mediated role of social disorganization and informal social control is also mostly insufficient.


The removal of phosphate from water has attracted increasing attention because of the dominant role of phosphate in eutrophication. In this study, a novel nanoscale hybridized adsorbent, NLC@213, w...


An electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) was assembled with the polymer hydrogel electrolyte prepared from cross-linked potassium poly(acrylate) (PAAK) and KOH aqueous solution, and the self-discharge characteristics were investigated. The EDLC cell with the polymer hydrogel electrolyte showed lower voltage decay on open circuit than that with a KOH aqueous solution. Moreover, it was found that the leakage current of the EDLC cell was markedly suppressed by using the polymer hydrogel electrolyte. The suppression was enhanced with increasing PAAK content in the electrolyte. These results strongly suggest that the PAAK plays an important role in the suppression of self-discharge.


The availability of digital technologies and internet development has promoted a proliferation of social networks. Due to the public awareness of privacy protection, the sharing potential of certain social networks may be seriously hampered by the need for a balance between the protection of sensitive content and public availability of data utility. So privacy preservation technologies should be exercised to protect social networks against various privacy leakages and attacks. Beyond the ongoing privacy preserving social network studies which mainly focus on node de-identification and link protection, this paper is written with the intention of preserving the privacy of link's affinities, or weights, in a finite and directed social network. To protect the weight privacy of edges, we define a privacy measurement, k-anonymous, over individual weighted edges. A k-anonymous weighted edge can make itself more indistinguishable from adjacent edges with respect to edge weights rather than node degrees. It is considered in this paper that modified weights of some edges should be released instead of the real ones to transform original weighted edges to k-anonymous edges, while preserving the shortest paths and the corresponding lengths between user-defined node pairs as much as possible. To achieve this goal, a probabilistic graph is used to model the weighted and directed social network. Based on this probabilistic graph, random walk, and matrix analysis, we present a modification algorithm on the weights of edges to accomplish a balance between the weight privacy preservation and the shortest path utilization. Finally, we give experimental results to support our theoretical analysis.


. - The thermodynamics of the dilute 1D Heisenberg ferromagnet in a field is investigated. The quantum free spin-wave theory is used to calculate the specific heat and analytical results are obtained for low temperatures and low concentration of impurities. The bulk, surface and size contributions to the free energy are evaluated by the classical transfer matrix method and analytical results for the surface one are given at low and high temperatures.


As part of the Geothermal Logging Instrumentation Development Program being conducted by Sandia Laboratories for the Department of Energy's Division of Geothermal Energy, high resolution, quartz crystal based, downhole pressure instruments are being developed. Under a joint no-cost contract, Sandia and Paroscientific, Inc., of Redmond, Washington, are working to upgrade a Paroscientific transducer for operation at 275/sup 0/C. In addition, Sandia Laboratories has been investigating various design configurations and fabrication techniques for high temperature quartz resonators and their associated electronic circuits. The goal of these efforts is to achieve a resolution of 0.01 psi in a 0 to 7000 psi range and in temperatures up to 275/sup 0/C. The progress and plans for this project will be reviewed and hardware samples will be displayed.


Qualitative properties of a second order elliptic equation from the anisotropic elasticity are investigated. Some explicit solutions for a disk are presented. Behaviour of these solutions in dependence of coefficients is investigated. The problem of presence of singularities of solutions at the origin of coordinates is discussed.


I one of the key moments of William Gardner Smith's 1963 novel The Stone Face, the African American expatriate Simeon Brown passes near the Odéon metro station in Paris when he is hailed by a man speaking in thickly accented English. "Hey," the stranger shouts, "How does it feel to be a white man?" (Stone Face 55). Simeon is startled at this outburst, and by the laughter of the shouter's companions. After all, he is visibly black, and the four men who are heckling him are light-skinned Algerians. However, although the label seems absurd to him, he recognizes almost instantly that it is true: here, in the Paris of the early 1960s, he is indeed enjoying, in spite of his skin color, the privileges of a white man, and it is the Algerian minority that takes the place of, as one of them puts it, "the niggers" (57). Simeon is deeply shocked at this realization, which at once destroys the illusion of a racial paradise with which Paris so far seemed to present him. The fate of the Algerians in France, he suddenly understands, is different but at the same time similar to the fate of African Americans in the segregated United States; while he himself, as a black American, might be safe and free in Paris, others are not. Simeon's painful recognition about the omnipresence of racism and oppression mirrors that of the novel's author, who made similar experiences and came to similar insights as a black American expatriate in France during the 1950s and '60s. Once believed to be on the verge of a great literary career, William Gardner Smith faded into obscurity after his death, and his work has received very little attention over the years from scholars of African American literature. His biographer LeRoy Hodges noted in 1985 that Smith was—unjustly—considered a "minor writer" with a "marginal" creative output (i), and despite Hodges's efforts, little has changed since then. However, Smith's work—and particularly his fourth and final novel The Stone Face—deserves more scholarly attention, as Michel Fabre, Paul Gilroy, and Tyler Stovall all have pointed out.1 Not only is the novel one of few African American texts dealing with the complicated relationship of the black U. S. community in Paris to the so-called Algerian question; it is also an impressive exploration of the difficulties and complexities of intercultural understanding, and of the ways that cosmopolitan sentiments and attitudes are produced and expressed. Smith's protagonist Simeon starts out as a man habituated to American patterns of racism, haunted by his memories of violence and abuse, and rather oblivious to French racialization and discrimination of Algerians. In the course of the story, however, and as a result of his encounters with people he learns to care for, Simeon comes to understand that the inhuman "stone face" of racism—which gives the novel its title—is universal, even if its colors and features vary as much as those of its victims. Simeon's reaction to this realization is to change his understanding of France as a racism-free space and to give up his privileged position as a "white man." Newly politicized, he begins to actively support the Algerian liberation struggle, and, at the end of the novel, decides to return to the U. S. to support the civil rights movement there. This final moment of "homecoming," Simeon's apparent abandonment of a political conflict in exile in favor of what seems to be a more "domestic" national struggle, is what Paul Gilroy, in Against Race (2000), has termed a "capitulation to the demands of a narrow version of cultural kinship" (323). In Gilroy's view,


Radiation therapy (RT) for women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) undergoing breast‐conserving surgery (BCS) may be overtreatment for some, especially for those in which DCIS is eradicated, and ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) risk approaches the contralateral breast cancer (CBC) level. The aim of this study was to clarify whether the polygon method, a new systematic method of en face (tangential, shaved) margin assessment, can identify a subset of DCIS that can be safely treated by BCS alone.


Appeasement is the hallmark of a weak state and dithering leadership. Once again, Pakistan is showing its helplessness in the face of those who carry guns and bombs. For a country alleged to have…


This paper is a follow-up to Dean and Russell[2] in which the formulation of our model of NAPL flow in heterogeneous porous media is based on the traditional argument of developing a Fokker-Planck equation for a diffusion process and then modifying this equation to handle the behavior of the fluid particle at an interface between sands of different permeabilities. Since the capillary diffusivity can change significantly across the interface, we call these changes jumps and incorporate them into the stochastic differential equation that describes the motion of the NAPL particle. Since this is a traditional approach that is modified to incorporate non-traditional behavior such as jumps, we call it a bottom-up approach. The modified stochastic differential equation can then model pooling and channeling that occurs at such interfaces. In this paper, an attempt is made to accomplish the same result starting with a theory of stochastic processes that allows jumps. We start with semimartingale processes which are c`adì ag. Since these processes allow jumps by definition, we call this approach the top-down approach.


One of the important factors in plant production is the use of substrates that increase the development speed of seedlings. This study aims to evaluate the i...


In the present study, the effect of Urea as an enhancer on transdermal absorption of 1% Diclofenac Diethylamine (Non-steroidal Antiinflammatory Drug) through hairless rabbit skin was evaluated in-vitro study at various concentrations to improve the skin permeability. From the data, Urea shows slightly large lag time gives a picture about its enhancing effect. The permeability rate constant is almost approaching to 1 in almost all the concentrations of urea. The permeability co-efficient of Diclofenac Diethylamine did not change under the influence of urea at concentration 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3% but it was increased by increasing the concentration of urea.


Preliminary results of MAGSAT data analysis are described. Regional anomaly maps (deviations from the MGST model field) for X,Y,Z, and F in the area of 115 to 155 deg E and 20 to 60 deg N were obtained. A similar map for the geomagnetic total force anomaly in the vicinity of Japan showed that the observed anomaly can be explained by the difference in crustal magnetization between the Japan Sea and the Japan Island, which reflects a difference of 25 km in the thickness of the magnetized layer. The MAGSAT record of a sudden commencement of a magnetic storm above the South Atlantic Ocean showed a reverse impulse particularly in the D-component. Results relating to toroidal currents in the ionosphere, transverse and parallel perturbations over the polar regions, the relationship between field aligned currents and precipitating electrons, and the calculation of the subsatellite electric field are also discussed.


Specialist mathematics, statistics and operational research (MSOR) programmes are recognised as intellectually demanding, and require students to formulate, abstract, and solve mathematical problems in a rigorous way. The process of developing the skills to do this well and communicate results can be challenging for learners as it requires a deep understanding of themes in mathematics as well as methods for solving problems. In this article we demonstrate how elements of Freudenthal's Realistic Mathematics Education can be applied to teaching problem solving in undergraduate mathematics programmes. We describe an approach that moves away from standard practices and goes beyond problem solving methods to develop an understanding of common themes in mathematics.


The present paper reports the development of a temperature data logger based on a temperature sensitive resistive film and an RFID tag. Thanks to its capability of wireless communication, the device is going to be used for a minimally invasive remote monitoring of the skin temperature under a bandage or a wound dressing.


EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS AND CONFIDENCE IN GOALKEEPERS by Amanda E. Laws University of New Hampshire, September, 2006 This study examined the relationships that exist between psychological skills and confidence. Analysis of the relationship took place with ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer goalkeepers. Participants (N = 1927) completed measures of psychological skills (ACSI-28) and confidence (CSCI) online. Participants deemed psychological skills as important, but rarely used them to enhance performance. Goalkeepers (N = 412) scored higher on both the personal coping resource score (M = 50.82, SD = 9.24) and confidence (M = 41.88, SD = 5.66) than non-goalkeepers on the personal coping resource score (M =47.48, SD = 9.60) and confidence(/W = 41.84, SD = 5.69). Multiple MANOVAS identified significant differences between goalkeeper and non-goalkeepers on five of seven ACSI-28 subscales. Goalkeepers scored significantly higher on the ACSI-28 subscales coping with adversity; peaking under pressure; goal setting/mental preparation; concentration; and confidence and achievement motivation. A correlational analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between personal coping resource and confidence scores. A significant correlation exists. This study indicates goalkeepers possess a different set of psychological skills and confidence level than their counterparts.


We consider the problem of testing if a given function $f : \F_q^n \right arrow \F_q$ is close to a $n$-variate degree $d$ polynomial over the finite field $\F_q$ of $q$elements. The natural, low-query, test for this property would be to pick the smallest dimension $t = t_{q,d}\approx d/q$ such that every function of degree greater than $d$reveals this aspect on {\em some} $t$-dimensional affine subspace of $\F_q^n$ and to test that $f$ when restricted to a {\em random} $t$-dimensional affine subspace is a polynomial of degree at most $d$ on this subspace. Such a test makes only $q^t$ queries, independent of $n$. Previous works, by Alon et al.~\cite{AKKLR}, and Kaufman and Ron~\cite{KaufmanRon06} and Jutla et al.~\cite{JPRZ04}, showed that this natural test rejected functions that were$\Omega(1)$-far from degree $d$-polynomials with probability at least $\Omega(q^{-t})$. (The initial work~\cite{AKKLR} considered only the case of $q=2$, while the work~\cite{JPRZ04}only considered the case of prime $q$. The results in \cite{KaufmanRon06} hold for all fields.) Thus to get a constant probability of detecting functions that are at constant distance from the space of degree $d$ polynomials, the tests made $q^{2t}$ queries. Kaufman and Ron also noted that when $q$ is prime, then $q^t$ queries are necessary. Thus these tests were off by at least a quadratic factor from known lower bounds. Bhattacharyya et al.~\cite{BKSSZ10} gave an optimal analysis of this test for the case of the binary field and showed that the natural test actually rejects functions that were $\Omega(1)$-far from degree $d$-polynomials with probability$\Omega(1)$. In this work we extend this result for all fields showing that the natural test does indeed reject functions that are $\Omega(1)$-far from degree $d$ polynomials with$\Omega(1)$-probability, where the constants depend only on $q$ the field size. Thus our analysis thus shows that this test is optimal (matches known lower bounds) when $q$ is prime. The main technical ingredient in our work is a tight analysis of the number of ``hyper planes'' (affine subspaces of co-dimension $1$) on which the restriction of a degree $d$polynomial has degree less than $d$. We show that the number of such hyper planes is at most $O(q^{t_{q,d}})$ -- which is tight to within constant factors.


Film formation substrate (200) is a target substrate that deposited in each of the plurality of vapor deposition zones which are arranged in a predetermined direction (24R · 24G) film (23R · 23G) is formed, deposited film (24R ) has an inclined side surface 23s which is tilted with respect to the normal direction of the film formation substrate (200), the predetermined width is, the predetermined width of the deposition region (24R) of the deposited film (23R) greater than the sum of the above the predetermined width of the region (29) between each vapor deposition zone (24R · 24G).


The following table amends and updates the summary table of mortality studies published in 1997 (Idler and Benyamini 1997). To locate additional studies, we searched Medline using the terms self-rated health, self-rating/s of health, self-assessment/s of health, self-assessed health, self-evaluated health, perception/s of health, perceived health, self-evaluation/s of health, subjective assessment/s of health, subjective health, selfreported health, and self-reports of health and crossed these terms with mortality, survival, and deaths. Additional studies not reporting these terms in their abstracts were identified through careful monitoring of the literature. Articles identified with this process were eliminated if they were not in English, if the study population was not a representative community sample, or if the estimate of the effect of self-rated health on mortality was not adjusted for a set of health status covariates. With these restrictions, we identified 19 additional studies for the period 1995 to 1998. The studies in Table 1 are presented chronologically. They report secondary analyses of large data sets, use increasingly sophisticated statistical methods, and adjust for comprehensive sets of health status covariates. The association of poor self-ratings of health with higher risk of mortality is consistent; in just 2 of the 19 studies there were no effects of self-rated health for either men or women. In most of its content, the table presented here is like the 1997 table. The data sources are international, 15 of the 19 have elderly samples, and the health status covariates almost always include activities of daily living


Heart rate variability (HRV) is a simple, non-invasive, real-time analyzable, and highly reproducible measurement that captures incidences for assessing a person's health and physical condition. Public security jobs are characterized by major exposure to risk factors known to influence the cardiovascular response to stimuli, e.g., night shifts, highly physically demanding activity, and acute stress activity. This study aimed to evaluate the HRV parameters in a population of 112 male personnel of the special forces and public order of the Carabinieri, aged 25–59, when engaged in several duty tasks, such as paratroopers, night shift police station officers, night shift patrol, dynamic precision shooting evaluative team, dynamic precision shooting non-evaluative team, and office clerks (used as control group). During the specific task of each participant, the HRV parameters were collected with wearable devices and processed. The HRV parameters in the time and frequency domains collected were average heart rate, standard deviation of all normal RR intervals, root mean square of successive differences in adjacent normal-to-normal (NN) intervals, very-low-frequency power, low-frequency power, high-frequency power, stress index, parasympathetic nervous system activity index, and sympathetic nervous system activity index. Parametric tests for independent series to compare the HRV parameters by subgroups within the study subjects were used. A multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between the HRV parameters and some personal and organizational factors. The comparison between different subgroups showed that activities with a high demand for concentration and precision, as is the case with paratroopers and dynamic precision shooters, differ significantly from activities that can be defined as routine, such as office work. Other activities, such as patrolling or remote management from operations centers, although including critical elements, did not deviate significantly from the control group. The study of HRV parameters is therefore a useful tool for occupational physicians, both for addressing work suitability assessments and for better targeting health promotion campaigns, to be considered as being aimed at monitoring the subject's physiological parameters, and not at the diagnosis of any pathological condition, which should always be carried out by the medical specialist.


Analyses of the results of the opinion poll by line «Kazakhstan» at the VI Astana Economic Forum (AEF). Representativeness of the AEF as an annual dialogue platform for discussion and address global challenges in scale and scope is unprecedented in the entire Eurasia-Soviet space. Revealed the positive attitude of respondents to the Republic of Kazakhstan, ensuring its attractiveness, of the political course, investment and export potential. But full confidence in the country prevented by corruption and bureaucracy, lack of respect for human rights, democratization and liberalization, knowledge of the history and culture of the country, the results of accelerated industrial – innovative development. As a methodological base of implementation of the goals and objectives are used methods such as analysis, synthesis, deduction and induction, expert assessment of the processes studied by comparing, comparison, and summarization.


Subjects ( N = 64) were shown a list of 66 personality traits, and indicated whether or not they possessed each one. Three weeks later, they were shown their trait list, another subject's trait list, a computerized personality profile derived from their traits, or a profile derived from another subject's traits. In each case they rated how well their personality was described by the trait list or profile, on three seven-point scales. It was found that the spurious personality descriptions (both traits and profiles) were rated as highly for accuracy as were the genuine descriptions. Interpretive personality profiles were rated no higher than simple lists of trait names. It is argued that these results should be attributed to general gullibility rather than, e.g., the impressiveness of psychological tests.


The construction of some without memory efficient sixth-order iterative schemes for solving univariate nonlinear equations is presented. Per iteration, the novel methods comprise four evaluations of the function, while they are free from derivative calculations. The application of such iterative methods is appeared, when the cost of derivative evaluation is expensive. We analytically show the sixth-order convergence of the contributed schemes and finally numerical examples are considered to confirm their rapid convergence. AMS classification: 65H05


Disclosed are a chicken feed and a preparation method thereof. The chicken feed is composed of, by weight part, 50-60 parts of dandelion, 30-40 parts of bean cake, 35-45 parts of corn, 25 parts of kelp, 10-15 parts of fish meal, 10-15 parts of bone meal, 3-5 parts of probiotics, 4-6 parts of vinasse, 2-4 parts of cottonseed meal, 1-3 parts of peanut meal, 1-2 parts of mountain flour, 5-10 parts of buckwheat flour, 3-5 parts of calcium hydrophosphate, 0.5-1 part of salt, 0.5-2 parts of methionine and 0.5-1 part of lysine. The preparation method of the chicken feed comprises uniformly mixing and stirring the materials above. The chicken feed is used for solving the problem of low immunity of chicken, chicken disease infectibility and low nutrition content due to utilization of common chicken feeds, improving the laying rate of chicken and achieving rich nutrition of eggs.


We study the Photometric Plane (PHP), namely the relation between the effective radius re, the mean surface brightness within that radius e, and the Sersic index n, in optical (R and I) and near-infrared (K) bands for a large sample of early-type galaxies (ETGs) in the rich cluster MS1008-1224 at z=0.306. The PHP relation has an intrinsic dispersion of ~32% in re, and turns out to be independent of waveband. This result is consistent with the fact that internal colour gradients of ETGs can have only a mild dependence on galaxy luminosity (mass). There is no evidence for a significant curvature in the PHP. We show that this can be explained if this relation origins from a systematic variation of the specific entropy of ETGs along the galaxy sequence, as was suggested from previous works. The intrinsic scatter of the PHP is significantly smaller than for other purely photometric relations, such as the Kormendy relation and the photometric Fundamental Plane, which is constructed by using colours in place of velocity dispersions. The scatter does not depend on the waveband and the residuals about the plane do not correlate with residuals of the colour-magnitude relation. Finally, we compare the coefficients of the PHP at z~0.3 with those of ETGs at z~0, showing that the PHP is a valuable tool to constrain the luminosity evolution of ETGs with redshift. The slopes of the PHP do not change significantly with redshift, while the zero-point is consistent with cosmological dimming of the surface brightness in an expanding universe plus the passive fading of galaxy stellar populations with a high formation redshift (z_f >1-2).


A 9-year-old severely retarded boy was presented two different treatment procedures in an attempt to decrease his disruptive and increase his productive behavior in a classroom for exceptional children. Timeout and positive reinforcement were first alternated with baseline conditions. Second, extinction and positive reinforcement alternated with baseline. Finally, there was a reinstitution of timeout and positive reinforcement. Timeout consisted of brief isolation contingent on the occurrence of one or more of 13 disruptive behaviors. Extinction involved turning away and ignoring the student. Positive reinforcement was administered for on-task and task completion. The timeout and positive reinforcement procedure was the more effective treatment. Language: en


A manifold compatibility omni axis, electronic human interface device comprises a controller operatively coupled to an omni axis steering device having one or more attachments for motion detection, and a stationary fitness device operatively coupled to the controller. The controller comprises a re-centerer for re-centering one or more axis of movement, and a ratio processor for interpreting, transmitting, and adjusting one or more ratios for speed and other axis of movement. The controller is operatively coupled to a computer via a standard interface. The computer is configured to play a virtual reality program based at least in part on input from the controller. The controller is configured to mimic natural steering movements, making a user's physical movements with respect to the omni axis steering device and the stationary fitness device closely resemble movements in the virtual reality program.


High-pressure grease guns using a shrouded nozzle were `fired' from varying distances at amputate lower limbs to determine the pressure at which penetration of the skin occurred. It was concluded that a shrouded nozzle would not normally give rise to injury if the grease pressure was below 7,000 lbf./sq. in (492 kgf./cm.2).


ABSTRACT This article uses critical race theory to engage with the phenomenon of international experiential learning. Based on fieldwork in Mysore, India, we argue that students must be more rigorously prepared for volunteer work in the Global South. We suggest that pre-departure training should integrate components of critical race theory in order to more adequately prepare students to grapple with systemic racism. Finally, we contend that critical race theory and the concept of white fragility are essential to understanding the impact of international experiential learning programmes on international development.


Polycrystalline and oriented films of barium disilicide (BaSi2) with a thickness of up to 100 nm were formed on silicon (111) substrates by high-temperature (800 ° C) solid-phase (single-stage and two-stage) annealing. The single phase of barium disilicide films and their semiconductor nature have been proven to be below 1.25 eV according to X-ray and optical spectroscopic methods. Two preferential orientations of the BaSi2 crystallites were detected and their orientation was determined in the films formed by two-stage annealing. According to the calculations of the parameters of the crystal structure of BaSi2 films, a compression of the unit cell volume from 2.7% to 5.13% was found, depending on the cooling time to room temperature. The stability of the films to laser radiation was studied by registering the Raman spectra with a variable power of laser radiation. The maximum power density of the laser beam (3⋅109 W/m2), which does not lead to the beginning of the destruction of these films, was determined.


Liane Davis, a social work scholar, educator, and member of the Editorial Board of Affilia, died on October 18,1995. Liane was a woman of conviction, courage, and integrity, willing to articulate her thoughts and analysis of women's lives and experiences with oppression, even when her views were not well received. And it was with her fighting, courageous spirit that she met her diagnosis of terminal cancer and lived her remaining year, energetically and fully invested in work, family, and friends. It was these qualities and her zest for life that infused her various roles-wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, scholar, teacher, mentor, and friend-and through which she fashioned her meaningful, fulfilling life that enriched the lives of many others. To her scholarship and teaching, Liane brought a strong commitment to social work and social justice, a theoretical and research foundation based in social psychology, a deep concern for women's issues, and an ability to frame problems and issues from women's perspectives. In addition to being a scholar, she was an advocate and activist, who linked her scholarship with social action. For example, Liane not only conducted research on battered women but she was instrumental in establishing the first shelter for battered women in Albany. Liane also made significant contributions to the institutions in which she pursued her academic career. While at the School of Social Welfare, State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, she chaired the direct-practice concentration and helped shape the undergraduate and MSW curricula. Later, at the School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas, Liane was the associate dean and a mentor to doctoral students, encour-


Objective:To explore the nursing points for caring patient with lung carcinoma treated by cool-tip radiofrequency ablation.Methods:40 patients with lung carcinoma treated by cool-tip radiofrequency ablation under the guide of CT scan were given health education and psychological nursing before operation,illness state and careful cooperation during operation and corresponding nursing after operation.Results:All patients were treated smoothly,others expect on case burned the incision of operation and had no serious complication.Conclusion:It is important for nurses to give patients pertinent psychological nursing before operation,to act in close cordination during operation and to observe carefully after operation to increase the success rate of operations and reduce complications.


Nowadays, Citizen of one country is traveling to another country to settle their various needs through widespread modern transportation system. However, Passport is a worldly recognized indispensable identity document which is required for travelling internationally. Moreover, Citizen of many countries is strictly prohibited from travelling to other certain countries. So, Passport inspection is a key responsibility for immigration officers in order to confirm the identity of traveler. In addition to that it is a laborious and time-consuming task for immigration officers to check all passports meticulously. Hence, automatic country recognition from passport cover image can save a lot of time and physical labour by identifying those unauthorized travelers. Thus in this paper, we have investigated an automatic system using Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) based on transfer learning with Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to analyze passport cover for country identification. Here, the Inception-ResNet-v2 DCNN architecture has been retrained with 80% of image dataset which includes ten classes of passport cover of ten countries using transfer learning method for feature extraction and the extracted feature were then used to train SVM. The proposed model achieved an accuracy level around of 98.75% on the test image dataset.


The purpose of this study is twofold: to investigate into general characteristics of the abstracting services in Korea and to discuss general directions of development of the abstracting services in the country. This study is designed to achieve the purpose by gathering and analysing data related to the abstracting journals published in the past ten years and by comparing the results with similar data gathered by the investigator in 1984. The major conclusions made in this study is summarised as follows. (1) Researchers and professionals working in limited numbers of subject fields are benefited by abstracting services of recent achievements in research and development in Korea. Those in most of the fields have essentially no abstracting services of such achievements. Even many researchers and professionals in the limited numbers of the fields that have some elementary abstracting services are not informed of research results in their fields because the abstracting journals are scattered in many narrow subjects and in many cases, the abstracting journals only cover publications in some specific forms and kinds. (2) Abstracting journals of general subjects, which are supposed to be of more or less help to the researchers in the subject fields that have no abstracting journals of their own, have rapidly increased in number in the past ten years. Most of such abstracting journals carry thesis and dissertation abstracts, and the rest those of research papers published in specific places, in specific forms, by specific institutes, and of reports of research projects sponsored by specific foundations. These abstracting journals are not of the kind that comprehensively provide general readers with current awareness of publications of research results in Korea. (3) Most of the abstracting journals existing in Korea are published by institutions of higher education and research institutes, and the rest by commercial publishers, industrial firms, libraries, information centers, government agencies, research foundations, learned societies, etc. Those which publish many titles are small in number and those publish one or two titles are large in number. The former is largely made up of institutions of higher education and research institutes. (4) Ten years ago, there was not a single publishing house that produced abstracting journals. Three commercial publishing houses now produce abstracting journals. As this change occurs, centers of excellence are founded and competitive elements are introduced in abstracting services. This change, in turn, is expected to improve quality of the other abstracting journals in Korea. (5) The abstracting journals published in Korea are classified by type into those of dissertations, research papers, journal articles, patent specifications in that descending order. The fact that Master's and doctoral dissertation abstracts are dominating in Korea is due to the irrational practice of publishing those abstracts at many institutions. (6) Most of the abstracting journals existing in Korea are published by national or government-supported research institutes in order to publicise their own research outputs. Their coverage of literature is normally narrow, and naturally their value to users is limited. (7) The abstracting journals published in Korea increased in number at the rate of every five years in the past twenty-five years. Most of the abstracting journals that ceased to be published during the period survived for two years. (8) Korean is the desirable language for the abstracting journals designed to be distributed within Korea. About half of the abstracting journals published in Korea is printed in Korean and the other half in foreign languages, and in Korean with foreign languages. All the abstracting journals in foreign languages are printed in English xcept one, which is printed in Japanese. (9) Some twenty percent of the abstracting journals in Korea is published monthly, bimonthly, and quarterly. Others are published annually, biannually, and irregularly. The latter may not function properly as a current-awareness tool due to long intervals between their issues. It is particularly undesirable that about half of the abstracting journals in Korea is published irregularly. Most of the abstracting journals published in Korea are distributed freely to individuals and institutions selected by the publishers. (10) The abstracting journals published by the use of computers increased drastically in the past ten years. The abstracting journals produced by the conventional type-setting method will probably disappear In Korea in another ten years to come. Automation of the production of abstracting journals does not simply mean technical, economic improvement of publishing processes but availability of machine-readable databases that can be used for other purposes, including the generation of other publications and the provision of machine literature searching capabilities. Necessary steps should be taken for this important development that is occurring in the abstracting services in Korea.


Background: Society and in turn students have a misconception towards the use of medications to enhance performance. The constant abuse of these drugs is suspected to create complications with the nutritional status of individuals. The problem is that little research is available for students in the East African region. This research aims to determine the correlation between abuse of over-the-counter medications and the nutritional status of students at the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. The study shall assist in filling the information gap. Methods: The aim of the study was to obtain insight on the abuse of prescription medication and the effect that it has on dietary patterns. It was a cross-sectional survey study design and was done at the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton with a population of 3124 students in total. A sample size of 377 was formulated using Cochran's formula. 51% of the sample population being female. The study spanned over 3 months and online questionnaires were used. Results were analyzed using SPSS. Results: 62% abused over-the-counter medications; 66% falling in the normal BMI range. It was found that while the student body heavily participated in the abuse of over-the-counter medications; however, there was no significant correlation with poor nutritional status. This was due to the BMI Vs. prescribed medication p value being at 0.103 when the CI is at 0.05. The correlation between appetite and over-the- counter medications is statistically significant at the 5% level of significance (p-value 0.00114). Discussion: The implication is that while appetite is affected by these medications, the nutritional status of the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton students remains unscaved. There were several limitations including recall bias and non-returning of questionnaires which may have affected the overall results. An East African perspective has effectively been added to the research pool. Conclusion: The students are affected by the abuse of OTC medications, but the effect is miniscule on their nutrition status.


In this paper, we address the design of wide-operand addition units in the context of the emerging Through-Silicon Vias (TSV) based 3D Stacked IC (3D-SIC) technology. To this end we first identify and classify the potential of the direct folding approach on existing fast prefix adders, and then discuss the cost and performance of each strategy. Our analysis identifies as a major direct folding drawback the utilization of different structures on each tier. Thus, in order to alleviate this, we propose a novel 3D Stacked Hybrid Prefix/Carry-Select Adder with identical tier structure, which potentially makes the manufacturing of hardware wide-operand adders a reality. Such an N-bit carry select adder can be implemented with K identical tier stacked ICs, where each tier contains two N/K-bit fast prefix adders operating in parallel according to the computation anticipation principle. Their carry-out signals are cascaded through TSVs in order to perform the selection of the sums accordingly, which results in a delay with the asymptotic notation of O(log(N/K) + K). To evaluate the practical implications of direct folding and of the hybrid prefix/carry-select approaches we perform a thorough case study of 65 nm CMOS 3D adder implementations for different operand sizes and number of tiers, and analyze various possible design tradeoffs. Our simulations indicate the hybrid prefix/carry-select approach can achieve speed gains over 3D folding based designs of between 29% and 54%, for 512-bit up to 4096-bit adders, respectively. Even though 3D folding requires less real estate, when considering a more appropriate metric for 3D design, i.e., delay-footprint-cost product, the hybrid prefix/carry-select approach substantially outperforms the folding one and provides delay-footprint-cost reductions between 17.97% and 94.05%.


Secure wireless communications typically rely on secret keys, which are hard to establish in a mobile setting without a key management infrastructure. In this paper, we propose a channel hopping protocol that lets two stations agree on a secret key over an open wireless channel and without use of any pre-existing key. It is secure against an adversary with typical consumer radio hardware that only allows receiving on a single (or a few) channel at a time. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that this approach can generate a 128-bit key in 0.3 seconds. This is significantly faster than prior techniques that extract key material from the wireless channel.


The formation of power pools for the coordination of capacity expansion and system operation is well known. The coordination of day-to-day operation of power systems in the context of economic dispatch is examined. This coordination raises questions that go to the very concept of electric utilities as natural monopolists in the generation, as opposed to the transmission and distribution, of electrical energy. While the principle of economic dispatch has been known to utility managers for at least 45 years and has been practiced nearly as long by individual firms and power pools - only through technological progress in the development of sophisticated communication and computer systems has its full benefits become available on a poolwide basis. Only recently has poolwide completely automated economic dispatch been implemented for the first time in the United States on the New York Power Pool (NYPP) system. The concept of natural monopolist is reviewed, and the basic principles of economic dispatch are outlined. This is followed by a description of the practical operation of automated dispatch on the NYPP system. The discussion is concluded with an examination of the contradiction between poolwide economic dispatch and the concept of individual utilities as natural monopolists.