Accounting educators continuously seek ways to effectively integrate instructional technology into accounting coursework as a means to facilitate active learning environments and address the technology-driven learning preferences of the current generation of students. Most accounting textbook publishers now provide interactive, web-based learning systems as a supplement to their textbooks. However, there are critical differences across publishers with respect to the system's interface, functions, content, features, and support. These differences directly impact the effectiveness of a web-based learning system as an instructional tool and as a corollary, may impact the ultimate utility of the associated textbook as a pedagogical resource. As such, an evaluation of available webbased learning systems is an essential component of the textbook review process and should consist of a meticulous evaluation of the system's functionality and features in light of instructor and student needs and preferences. Unfortunately, given the functional intricacies and disparity in features across web-based learning systems, this can be a daunting task. The purpose of this paper is to offer accounting educators some practical guidance on evaluating web-based learning systems prior to adoption. This guidance is presented in the form of a framework based on key processes underlying the systems development life cycle (SDLC), a logical process model used by systems professionals to guide the acquisition and/or development of information systems.


It is imperative that wind turbine is a modern concept in our country for using free natural resources. Many earlier studies have been conducted on aerodynamic performance and geometric characteristics of large capacity Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) rotors between 3 MW to around 10 MW. The present study have been performed varying the key performance characteristic parameters like rated wind speed, blade tip speed, coefficient of performance, tip speed ratio and using winglet at


According to the data of mobile subscribers growth in the province,we raise a model to predict the growth of mobile subscribers.According to the data of utilization rate of mainframe's TPCC and CPU from BOSS in the province,we raise a model to construct the mainframe better.According to the data of communication detail records and storage form BOSS in the province,we raise a model to construct the storage better.


We show that parity-time symmetric Bragg grating structures, at the spontaneous PT-symmetry point, can act as unidirectional transparent media where the reflection from one side is suppressed while it is enhanced from the other.


The purpose of the investigation was to study changes in gastroduodenal zone in patients with bronchial asthma in terms of vegetative status.We examined 90 patients using fibrogastroduodenoscopy, daily intragastric pH metry and cardiorytmography. We observed vegetative dysbalance and changes in gastroduodenal zone depending on the severity of bronchial asthma.


General character and characteristics of punching forces of blanking, drawing and bending are analyzed. An universal method to determine the pressure center for multi-operation dies is put forward. By an instance, the process of fast 3D CAD determination for die pressure center in the method is described with the model analysis module in Pro/E. The method is simple to apply - It needs no complex calculation . It can substitute existing CAD method, calculating method (analytical method) and graphic method. It's a practical method.


In this paper the partitioning technique is applied to analyze a certain class of nonlinear physical systems whose dynamic behavior can be represented by a nonlinear differential equation having some linear time-varying terms, some nonlinear terms, and a forcing function. Also included here will be some applications to specific nonlinear differential equations. It was found that by placing certain restrictions on the system equations, a unique solution could be obtained which belongs to an L2 space. See Appendix I for an explanation of the L2 space. This solution is given as the sequence of Pickard's iterates, each of which is also an L2 function. In this paper, the well-known mean square error criterion is applied to find the number of iterates necessary to approximate the solution of this class of nonlinear equations.


Artificial intelligence enabled by neural networks has enabled applications in many fields (e.g. medicine, finance, autonomous vehicles). Software implementations of neural networks on conventional computers are limited in speed and energy efficiency. Neuromorphic engineering aims to build processors in which hardware mimic neurons and synapses in brain for distributed and parallel processing. Neuromorphic engineering enabled by silicon photonics can offer subnanosecond latencies, and can extend the domain of artificial intelligence applications to high-performance computing and ultrafast learning. We discuss current progress and challenges on these demonstrations to scale to practical systems for training and inference.


This paper introduced the process of researched of composite rubber sleeve chuck of ZYW-2000 mine-used,full hydraulic drilling machine and elaborated the basic structure,working principle and detailed design of the composite rubber sleeve chuck,and designed of improvement of important parts of composite rubber sleeve chuck combined with the field test.


The organization of martial arts competitions,communication activities,the association establishment,the website creation,etc.,and actively guide martial arts to develop in healthy and orderly direction.Practitioners of competitive martial arts should prepare well before exercise activities,practice in suitable venue,scientifically arrange the exercise amount,do good health education,focus on basic quality training,lay the groundwork for skills training of martial arts,and prevent industry.


In this paper we investigate where best to use forward error correction if one or more mobile radio links is included on a path. On one hand, if the errors are handled locally where they appear, ...


Data artifacts are a common occurrence in airborne lidar point clouds and their derivatives [e.g., intensity images and digital elevation models (DEMs)]. Defects, such as voids, holes, gaps, speckles, noise, and stripes, not only degrade lidar visual quality but also compromise subsequent data-driven analyses. Despite significant progress in understanding these defects, end users of lidar data confronted with artifacts are stymied by the scarcities of both resources for the dissemination of topical advances and analytic software tools. The situation is exacerbated by the wide-ranging array of potential internal and external factors, with examples including weather/atmospheric/Earth surface conditions, system settings, and laser receiver–transmitter axial alignment, that underlie most data artifact issues. In this article, we provide a unified overview of artifacts commonly found in airborne lidar point clouds and their derivatives and survey the existing literature for solutions to resolve these issues. The presentation is from an end-user perspective to facilitate rapid diagnoses of issues and efficient referrals to more specialized resources during data collection and processing stages. We hope that the article can also serve to promote coalescence of the scientific community, software developers, and system manufacturers for the ongoing development of a comprehensive airborne lidar point cloud processing bundle. Achieving this goal would further empower end users and move the field forward.


This research report provides preliminary results in terms of ERP system selection criteria across five European Union countries based on empirical studies. The paper provides a structured list of decision making criteria considered in ERP decisions and contrasts weights as well as achievement levels across countries. Research was guided by the Delone & McLean Information Systems (DM net benefits; project costs and time; and a vendor dimension. Especially the considered dimensions from the D&M IS success model, namely quality and net benefits varied across countries in terms of their initial weighting and satisfaction levels achieved after ERP implementation. However, a common global notion seems to be that quality and project related criteria are more important to the decision maker than potential benefits on the organisational or individual level.


This study aims to explore the level of cytokines and their function in serum of patients of hepatitis B.The levels of IL-17,IL-23,TGF-β and IL-10 were detected by ELISA,while HBV-DNA was detected by RT-PCR.We also tested the liver function of patients.We found that IL-10 was significantly increased in hepatitis B as compared with health control,but IL-7,IL-10 and TGF-β demonstrate no significant difference in the two groups;we also found that IL-17 and IL-10 were positively correlated with transaminase level,TGF-β was negatively correlated with transaminase level,and IL-10 was positively correlated with HBV-DNA.All this result indicate that IL-17,IL-10 and TGF-β are associated with the progress and development of hepatitis B,and IL-10 is associated with the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis.


Aimed at the secondary zinc powder produced after rotary kiln volatilization of zinc′s acid leaching residue,the concept of relative reducibility of the secondary zinc oxide powder is proposed for the first time in China.The effects of the contents of insoluble sulphur,iron,lead,indium and zinc in the secondary zinc oxide powder on the relative reducibility were researched.The reducibility results showed that the effects of the concents of zinc and indium on relative reducibility of the material are fluctant,and the effects of the contents of lead,iron and insolublesulphur are in the right proportion.Commercial-scale continuous experimental research indicate that when the relative reducibility of the material is lower,the contents of zinc in indium residue and lead residue are lower,the corresponding recoveries are higher.


Patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) are generally applied and have been proved to be effective in the increasing light extraction efficiency and crystal quality of GaN-based LEDs. The time evolution growth of GaN on triangle platform shaped PSS with an n-plane inclined surface and triangle cone shaped PSS with a part r-plane surface has been performed to research the nucleation and 3D growth mechanisms of GaN grown on the PSS. After the low temperature GaN growth process and high temperature ramping process, the small islands of GaN rotate and gather on the n-plane surface near the ridges of the triangle platform shaped PSS. Then the next 850 seconds high temperature growth process of GaN shows a 3D behavior. From the observations of SEM, it is believed that , and are the three preferred growth directions for GaN and the (1−10k) and (0001) planes are the two preferable planes during the GaN 3D growth.


Various therapeutic treatments have been prescribed for decreasing the bilirubin level. In this
study, the effects of massage on serum bilirubin levels in term infants with hyperbilirubinemia
undergoing phototherapy were evaluated. This clinical trial research was carried out on 34 fullterm
infants with hyperbilirubinemia undergoing phototherapy in 2009. The infants weighed
between 2500–4000 g at birth and had bilirubin levels 13–24 mg/dl. The 34 infants hospitalized
with hyperbilirubinemia were randomly assigned into a massage group comprising of 18 babies
and a control group of 16, among which a total of 25 infants remained till the completion of the
study. The mean bilirubin levels were monitored and compared in the two groups. A significant
decrease between mean rates of bilirubin levels in the two groups was observed. While the
bilirubin level was monitored at 17.89±2.12 mg/dl in the massage group on the day of admission
to the study, it stood at 17.87±2.46 mg/dl in the control group (P=0.98), which was not significant
statistically. However, the mean bilirubin level monitored on the fourth day of hospitalization
showed a meaningful difference standing at 9.92±1.3 mg/dl and 11.97±1.52 mg/dl in the massage
group and in the control group (P=0.001). The study has shown that massage therapy has a
significant effect in decreasing the bilirubin level of infants suffering from hyperbilirubinemia
undergoing phototherapy treatment.


At present, the research on X100 steel was mainly focused on the manufacturing technology, mechanical properties and welding process, while the corrosion performance of X100 steel that experienced high temperature and then formed heat-affected zone in the welding process was less studied. Therefore, in this paper, the corrosion characteristics of X100 HAZ in acidic soil solution were studied by metallographic analysis and product film morphology observation, and electrochemical method was used to study the electrochemical corrosion behavior at different pH. The results showed that after immersion for 7 days, due to grain refinement effect, corrosion product film of X100 steel and ICHAZ generated more solid density compared to other organizations, enhanced the relative corrosion resistance. However, the product membranes of CGHAZ and IRCGHAZ were more micro defects, therefore in the late corrosion resistance decreased. The results of electrochemical experiments showed that the electrode reaction was controlled by cathode. The electrochemical reaction rate mainly depended on the film structure of corrosion products.


Archaic poesies and music were combined through interaction since they are created,their artistic forms trended to independency stage by stage in the course of development.However,they were still effecting and promoting mutually,finally both of them achieved flourish and development.


322 If you ask most economists what is the basic question that concerns them they will probably answer that it is to understand what the equilibrium of the economy or market that interests them is like, and whether it entails an efficient use of resources. Yet there is a prior problem that intrigues many people when they first come to economics. It is that of explaining how the myriad disparate individual economic activities, in a modern economy, come to be coordinated. Economic agents constantly interact with each other in different ways and for different purposes and somehow out of these individual interactions a certain coherence at the aggregate level develops. Disappointingly, economics has rather little to say about this. The reason is that the basic paradigm in economic theory is one in which individuals take decisions in isolation, using only the information received through some general market signals, such as prices, to make their decisions. The standard model does not deny that agents interact but, as Samuelson said, they only do so through the price system. Indeed, a way of characterizing the efficient markets hypothesis so pervasive in the financial markets literature is to say that all information private and public is aggregated in the price system. Thus no agent has any interest in searching for information other than from prices. Direct interaction is not an integral part of market behaviour according to this view. Yet agents do, in fact, communicate with each other and learn from each other. They also infer information from the actions of others and, most importantly, in most markets they trade with each other. There is of course an approach, the game theoretic one, which takes direct account of this. However this is at the opposite extreme. Every player takes account of what every other player does and moreover knows that the others do so. This leads to computational problems, which mean that only limited examples can be fully analysed, and also to basic logical problems. My position is that we need an approach which lies in between the standard model and the full-blown game theoretic model, but which allows for various forms of nonmarket interaction. There are moves in this direction but they are, as yet, few in number (see Glaeser and Sheinckman 2002). The economy as a complex system Perhaps the easiest description of this view is to think of the economy as a complex system where aggregate behaviour is determined by the complicated interaction between individuals at the micro level. The analogies with physical, chemical and biological systems are obvious. My idea is not, however, to develop a methodological position along these lines. I want rather to argue that there are important lessons about the way in which economies work which we can learn from the research in this area. There are economic phenomena, or structures, which emerge from these interactive models, which are not readily obtained with more standard analysis. Perhaps most importantly such models offer a useful way of looking at how market structure and organization emerge. This sort of argument has been made with force by Lesourne (1992). One important concept, once one allows for direct interaction among agents, is that macro behaviour cannot be thought of as reflecting the behaviour of a 'typical' or 'average'individual. There is no simple direct correspondence between individual and aggregate regularity. A simple empirical example of this is that of the behaviour of agents on a market for a perishable product, fish. In Haerdle and Kirman (1994) we showed that although the transactions of individuals, on this market, do not necessarily reveal any of the standard properties of a demand curve nevertheless in aggregate there is a nice downward sloping relationship between prices and quantities transacted. This is just an example, but it suggests an important idea. Aggregation may, as Werner Hildenbrand (1994) has suggested, generate structure and regularity. The individuals involved may have a very limited view of some part of the economy but in the main their activities may self-coordinate into well-defined aggregate behaviour. Without making invidious comparisons one has only to think of the way in which the activities of individual ants are coordinated into the organization of the colony. Economic agents may interact in many different ways. Certain individuals may only be able to trade with certain others; some agents may try to make inferences from the activities of others. Some economic actors may only communicate with Reflections on interaction and markets


Renewable energy, and more specifically, wind energy powered desalination, has been going through an upwards trend, especially during the last decade. Still, there is a domain that has not been much researched [1]; hence, this paper tries to address wind powered independent desalination systems. With its lower energy consumption and portability, Reverse Osmosis (RO) method has been chosen as the desalination technology that will be integrated with wind energy. In this work a MATLAB simulation is used to find out the effects of fluctuating wind energy on a system that is designed to operate under steady conditions. The results show that varying electrical power leads to extreme fluctuation in feed water pressure, beyond the operational range of the RO membranes. Still, this does not draw a cross on the wind and desalination combo; in fact, several methods exist to diminish the pressure variation, including wind turbine de-rating, or use of pressure stabilizers.


This paper aimed to measure the prevalence and outcomes of delirium for patients over 70 admitted to a general hospital for acute medical care and to assess the validity of the Delirium Rating Scale‐Revised‐98 (DRS‐R‐98) in this setting.


Early approaches to mathematically abstracting websurfing behavior were largely based on first-order Markov models. Most humans however do not surf in a "memoryless" fashion, rather they are guided by their timedependent situational context and associated information needs. This belief is corroborated by the non-exponential revisit times observed in many site-centric weblogs. In this paper, we propose a general framework for modeling users whose surfing behavior is dynamically governed by their current topic of interest. This allows a modeled surfer to behave differently on the same page, depending on his situational context. The proposed methodology involves mapping each visited page to a topic or concept, (conceptually) imposing a tree hierarchy on these topics, and then estimating the parameters of a semi-Markov process defined on this tree based on the observed transitions among the underlying visited pages. The semi-Markovian assumption imparts additional flexibility by allowing for non-exponential state re-visit times, and the concept hier archy provides a nice way of capturing context and user intent. Our approach is computationally much less demanding as compared to the alternative approach of using higher order Markov models for capturing history-sensitive surfing behavior. Several practical applications are describe d. The application of better predicting which outlink a surfer may take, is illustrated using web-log data from a rich community portal, www.sulekha.com as an example, though the focus of the paper is on forming a plausible generative model rather than solving any specific task.


The main issue of this thesis is to work out new Global Chassis MIMO controllers that enhance the overall dynamics of the vehicle while preserving the vehicle stability in critical driving situations. Many innovative strategies have been explored and finalized to deal with these problematics. Various solutions have been given to deal with the vehicle stability and performance objectives. Indeed, many works based on the LPV/Hinf approach have been developed to control simultaneously the braking, steering and suspension actuators. On the other hand, innovative road profile estimation strategies have been introduced and validated via experimental procedures, providing new cheap and easily implementable techniques to estimate the road profile characteristics. Then, the vehicle control is adapted, depending on the road roughness (since it influences greatly the behaviour and the stability of the car). Several fault tolerant control strategies have been also considered to handle the actuators failures while keeping the vehicle stability, safety and enhancing the dynamical behaviour of the car in dangerous and critical driving situations.The general content of this thesisis as follows :-PART I : Theoretical backgrounds and vehicle modeling.-PART II : Road adaptive control vehicle dynamics.-PART III : Global chassis control using several actuators.Also, during this thesis and using the previous works of the advisors and the thesis results, a Matlab ToolBox "Automotive" has been developed to provide a bench test for the different automotive control studies. Implementations on test beds and real vehicle are also achieved to prove the efficiency of the proposed strategies.


A method for the determination of trace chloride in sulphide ores by potentiometric titration was developed.S2-was oxidized to S6+ by roasting the samples mixed with zinc oxide-sodium carbonate in order to eliminate the interference from Ag2S precipitation on AgCl measurement.The influence from chromaticity and turbidity on the end point of titration was eliminated by confirming the end point of titration with the potential jump and using the second derivative potentiometric titration curve to calculate the titration end-point,which can avoid the problem from drawing the E-V curve or the ΔE/ΔV-V curve.Some important measurement parameters such as selection of mixed alkali and its dosage,roasting temperature,solution acidity,titration medium and the effects of sample matrix and coexisting elements on the measurements were studied.The recovery of the method was in the range of 94.1%~105.6% with precision of better than 6.83%RSD,8.70%RSD and 7.53%RSD for iron ores,copper concentrates and zinc concentrates respectively.The method was sensitive,accurate and simple.And good results were achieved for the analysis of trace chloride in sulphide ores.


FIELD: information technologies. SUBSTANCE: digital multimedia information recording medium comprises the first zone for recording of general information signals, the second zone for recording of signals from program of multimedia information reproduction control, and the third zone consisting of n marked elements of records of n signals of audio/video files of equal duration T s . Each segment includes area for recording of time marks following in the range from 0 to T s synchronised with signal of audio/video file recorded in this segment. EFFECT: provides for the possibility to change to other version of content during reproduction. 6 cl, 3 dwg


The extent to which large volumes of offshore wind can contribute to a secure and reliable electricity supply is the subject of much debate. Central to providing credible answers is a detailed understanding of the wind resource and its variability in time and space. Here, a mesoscale atmospheric model was employed to create a 10 year hindcast of British onshore and offshore wind speeds and simulate the output of a British offshore wind fleet. This enabled estimation of the capacity value of British wind fleets both on- and offshore during periods of high winter demand. It provides a credible estimate of the distinct long-term contribution of production from a future British offshore wind fleet and indicates substantial improvement over onshore wind. Furthermore, a first level analysis demonstrated that the availability of offshore wind farms had a modest negative impact on the capacity value of wind but that conventional generation and demand levels played a more significant role.


A case of a racehorse that suddenly developed acute laminitis after participation in a race and succeeding transport was studied. The horse had shown higher γ-GT levels since the preliminary examination two months prior to the crisis until the onset of the disease. However, the horse had been trained on a regular alimentary schedule until the race, because it was free from an abnormal level of biochemical items other than γ-GT and also showed no clinical signs. These pathological characteristics included the palmarly displacement of the distal phalanx (P.III) maintaining parallelism between the hoof wall and the P.III, conspicuous proliferation of a wide range of laminar layers, marked swelling of axillary and cubital lymph nodes, and mild mononuclear cell infiltration to the portal area. Accordingly, this case was considered to be sinker laminitis induced by stress attributable to race participation and transportation, possibly with mild hepatic anomaly laid at the root of the disease.


Suxamethonium, a depolarising muscle relaxant, was introduced into anaesthetic practice in 1951. Its action is normally rapidly terminated due to its destruction by an enzyme present in plasma-cholinesterase (acylcholine acyl hydrolase, E.C. 220.127.116.11.). Soon after its introduction cases were described where the drug had a prolonged action (Evans et al 1952). These patients had an abnormally low cholinesterase level due, usually, to an inherited defect. They appeared to have an abnormal recessive gene ,present and were homozygous. Heterozygous individuals had cholinesterase levels overlapping the normal and abnormal (low) plasma concentrations.


The injection-seeded terahertz parametric generator (is-TPG) is suitable for the non-destructive inspection of illicit drugs and explosives concealed in mail because of its high power generation and sensitive detectors. This study examined a terahertz (THz) spectrometry method suitable for the non-destructive detection of chemicals concealed in mail envelopes. We compared the transmission spectra of three saccharides in different covering materials using is-TPG and terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS).


AIM
Quality of life (QoL) is a critical issue for women with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Eribulin mesylate represents a novel and active drug for pretreated MBC. Regretfully, few data exploring health-related (HR) QoL are available in unselected populations.

PATIENTS & METHODS
A multicenter prospective observational study was conducted in 50 MBC patients treated with eribulin mesylate, in order to evaluate HRQoL and patients' well-being by using the Edmonton symptoms assessment scale (ESAS) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast questionnaires.

RESULTS
A significant ESAS score improvement was observed with a 10% median decrease. No differences were revealed for the QoL scores.

CONCLUSION
The analysis of ESAS and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy scores showed that eribulin mesylate contributes to preserve QoL in MBC patients.


SA is poised to become a major source of green power for the eastern states, and stands to reap rewards along the way. Paula Wallace reports on the state's progress.


Common-mode voltage (CMV) generated by pulse width modulated (PWM) inverters is the root cause for the premature bearing failures and electromagnetic interference in motor drives. This CMV can be eliminated by switching zero CMV states only. This paper proposes a carrier based method for the elimination of CMV for a 3-level inverter using open-end winding (OEW) configuration for induction motor. Switching sequences and timing signals for this method are derived from the two virtual PWM patterns. In this scheme only active switching states are used to control inverter. The proposed method is free from neutral point fluctuations and clamping diodes in comparison with CMV elimination methods for conventional 3-level inverter topologies.


Aqueduct, one kind of bridge structure overpassing a long space, is a significant structure for water delivery for the purpose of agricultural or domestic usage. Aqueduct has quite different loads from other forms of bridges, of which temperature effects due to the environment temperature change, such as seasonal weather or radiation from sunshine, are of great importance. With water flowing inside, the temperature boundary of aqueducts, especially for steel aqueducts, is much more complicated, and relevant researches are limited. In this paper, a 3D Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation process is presented to analyze temperature distribution on the cross-section of a new-type steel truss aqueduct, which belongs to the Water Transfer Project from Yangtze River to Huai River in China. ASHRAE clear-sky model is used to calculate the solar-radiation variation, including direct radiation, diffuse sky radiation, and ground reflected radiation on steel surfaces. The time-dependent sunshine radiation angle of incidence and shielding effect of steel trusses are considered. The water inside the aqueduct is also included in this model, which significantly influences the temperatures of the inner surfaces of the aqueduct. Several temperature distributions under critical conditions of winter and summer are shown in this study, and results of the empty aqueduct under the same circumstances are also provided as a comparison. The effects of wind speed, geographic latitude, and direction of the aqueduct are examined. The conclusions and approach provided by this study could serve as significant references for thermal design and control of similar steel truss aqueducts.


Bionic texturing is to produce a specific texture type on the surface of friction pairs based on biomimetic principle, to achieve expected surface properties. It has wide spread application prospects in mechanical friction under the harsh working conditions. Referring to the multi-scales groove textures of the earthworm head, the groove textures with different gradients were designed and manufactured by laser machining on the surface of ductile cast iron and gray cast iron, based on the basic structural parameters of groove textures: depth, width and interval. The experiment was carried out on the pin-plate module of the RTEC multi-functional friction and wear tester. The surface properties and function mechanisms were analyzed on the aspects of friction coefficient, wear volume, surface morphology, energy loss, SEM and element distribution. The experimental results show that the friction properties of the friction pair appear differences when the same texture is applied to different material surfaces. Material should be considered as one of the factors in designing texture parameters. The structural parameter of groove textures is one of the main elements that affects the wear resistance of the surface. The interval gradient groove texture has the better surface properties than other types of multi-scales groove textures due to its excellent ability of oil film formation, replenishment, stability and debris storage and scour.


The task of the package SANKO is to make forecast of the levels of cyclic total stresses and hatch deformations due to the action of the sea waves on longitudinal hull structure during the ship life. The current version of the package enables also an assessment of fatigue strength. The ship is regarded as a rigid body with certain hydrostatic and hydrodynamic characteristics. The stresses due to hydrostatic, hydrodynamic and inertial forces are determined in the longitudinal structures using a suitable structural model, which in the present case is the thin-wall beam. The functional relationship between ship response and encountered wave characteristics (transfer function) is therefore established. Knowing encounter probability of each sea state the response values relevant to each probability level can be calculated. This procedure leads to obtain groups of cumulative distribution values known as long-term forecast.


One of the important etiologic factors in acne is an increase in sebaceous gland activity, which is androgen dependent. Acne is a common manifestation of hyperandrogenemia. Therefore, acne may not only cause cosmetic concern but may also be a sign of underlying disease. In females, the most common cause of hyperandrogenemia is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The purpose of this study was to determine the hormonal profiles of women with acne and the prevalence of PCOS in women attending the dermatological clinic with acne problems.


Tremendous research effort was invested in audio browsers and machine learning techniques to decode the structure of Web pages in order to put them into an audio format. In this paper, we address a simpler and efficient solution for the creation of an audio browser of VOICEXML generated from RSS/Atom stream feeds. We developed a multimodal (audio and graphical) portal application that offers RSS/Atom feeds. By utilizing sing our system, the user can interact using voice or graphic commands, listen and watch digital content, such as news, blogs feeds, podcasts, and even access email and personal schedules. The portal system permits the use of security credentials (user/password authentication) to collect secure RSS/Atom stream in the multimodal browser to connect the user to specific personal services. A series experiments have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the RSS reader and navigator. Our system is extremely beneficial for a wide range of applications, from interfaces for the visual impaired users to browsers for mobile telephonic interfaces.


This brief review introduces the reader to the importance and conceptual aspects of microbial metal reduction by focusing on a single group of Mn(IV)- and Fe(III)-reducing organisms in the group Shewanella putrefaciens. While this group is abundant and of worldwide distribution, it is only the tip of a very large iceberg' of metal reducers. A good example of another metal reducer is the organism GS-15, an obligate anaerobe with substantial carbon versatility and an ability to tolerate very high concentrations of metals. In addition, the authors have now isolated over 200 strains of manganese reducers (MR-203 is their latest organism), consisting of a wide variety of different taxa, including Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., and many others. These isolates are from very diverse environments, including Lake Oneida, N.Y.; Lake Michigan; Green Bay, Wis.; the Black Sea; and Lake Baikal, USSR. A careful coupling of field and laboratory studies will be needed before the importance of these metal-reducing microbes, and their associated activities, are adequately understood.


This article explores rhetorical practices underlying productive deliberation about climate change. We analyze discussion of climate change on a Reddit subforum to demonstrate that good-faith deliberation---which is essential to deliberative democracy---exists online. Four rhetorical concepts describe variation among this subforum's comments: William Keith's distinction between 'discussion' and 'debate,' William Covino's distinction between good and bad magic, Kelly Oliver's notion of ethical response/ability, and Krista Ratcliffe's notion of rhetorical listening. Using a three-part taxonomy based on these concepts, we argue that collaborative climate change deliberation exists and that forum participation guidelines can promote productive styles of engagement.


In order to improve electric mileage of Electric Vehicles (EVs), the power train design need to improve. Hence there is a need to design and employ a optimize power train system for EVs. Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) is especially suitable, because it maintains the operating condition of electric motor being closer to the most efficient region even that vehicle speed is changing. The road can be characterized into three states such that flat road, inclined and declined road. In this electric mileage optimization technique of vehicles, the motor of EV is switches off, once it detects the slope on the road is declined and at the same time alternator becomes turn ON which subsequently charge the battery. Hence here we are not only saving the electric power of the battery but also battery gets recharge. This project is attempt to design the power train using accelerometer (ADXL345) to identifying the declined road surface which further turn off the motor and turn the alternator.


In today's society many children are struggling to exercise enough, this is especially the case for children with severe cerebral palsy, who often spend much time sedentary, which leads to several serious health risks. To mitigate these risks, the standard care in Sweden has been a static standing training (StS) regime. However, this training regime is no magic bullet, due to the relatively low intensity of the training and the question mark around whether all children profit from it due to the supportive equipment. Thus, dynamic standing training (DvS) has been developed and showed promising results in a small study. However, any larger study is yet to be carried out and such a study would need a rigorous statistical approach in order to draw maximal insights from data-sets that are often relatively modest in size due to the high costs and large difficulty of collecting good physiological data for children with severe cerebral palsy. This thesis has the ambition of developing a statistical approach to analyze physiological effects of two training regimes, by identifying statistical features that experience statistically significant changes due to different training regimes, propose a method for comparing the physiological changes of two different training regimes, and lastly propose a method for calculating the probability, that there on average, is no difference between the two training regimes. With the help of data provided by ˚ Asa Tornberg and Katarina Lauruschkus, it was found that, among others, the statistical features trimmed means of oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, breathing frequency and heart rate are interesting features, moreover from the small data size the author recognized the need for robust methods in identifying interesting statistical features with trimmed mean, and robust estimates of mean value and standard deviation with the help of sample mean absolute deviation. Moreover, due to approximate normality of data but a few outliers, the author found that Welch's t-test combined with the previously mentioned sample mean absolute deviation is a reasonable approach. Lastly, the author found a high linear correlation between many of the extracted statistical features in the data set, making robust principal component analysis possible, by which the dimensions can be reduced to two, while still carrying a majority of the information and making it possible to utilize the Modified Nel and van der Merwe Test in combination with the Stahel-Donoho estimator of location and covariance matrix, to calculate the probability of the Changes in statistical features is statistically significant different between two training methods (Less)


For a variety of historical and contemporary reasons, Czech public support of their own military has been lukewarm at best and hostile at worse. Hodný thoroughly documents these attitudes and explains why they are so. While doing so, he underscores the dilemmas faced by the Czech political and military leaders as they move the nation towards entry into NATO. He concludes that only thorough military reform and genuine military professionalization in terms of education and training will offer any escape from current dilemmas, and then only after a generation of effort and change.


A a half century has passed since the publication of  John King Fairbank's edited volume, The Chinese World Order.1 Since then, the tributary system has come to serve as something of a synecdoche for pre-1900 East Asian international relations. Briefly, the "institutional and textual complex" known as the tributary system describes the practices, norms, and structures of East Asian foreign relations.2 As an aspirational "Chinese world order," this hierarchical system cohered around the premise that China represented the apical center of civilization. The tributary system became a professional and canonical object of enquiry through Fairbank's work during the mid-twentieth century, but it has older origins.3 The tributary


Objective To investigate the pollution of indicator bacteria,intestinal pathogenic bacteria and the conditional pathogenic bacteria,and the correlation between the conventional water quality indexes and bacteria of surface water in Tianjin.Methods Water samples were collected respectively from three sampling points of each river(the North Canal,Ziya River,Haihe River and Yinluan Canal) in August 2012(high flow period) and December 2012(low flow period). Total number of bacteria, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Streptococcus faecalis, turbidity, pH and temperature of water samples were determined. Results The water quality of North Canal,Ziya River and Haihe River belonged to grade Ⅱ to grade Ⅲ,while the Yinluan River belonged to grade Ⅰ. The detection rate of indicator bacteria was significantly higher during period of high flow than low flow. Water temperature was positively correlated with total number of bacteria and total coliforms, turbidity was positively correlated with indicator bacteria and Salmonella. Salmonella was positively correlated with fecal coliforms. Conclusion The North Canal,Ziya River and Haihe River present seriously microbial contamination. The Yinluan Canal is suitable for drinking water resource with less microbial contamination. Water temperature and turbidity can indicate preliminary microbial contamination of surface water.


The increasing pressure of providing food to feed the geometrically growing population throughout the world is a challenge for farmers, scientists and policy makers alike. It can be met through the intensification of agriculture, which requires high yielding varieties, with high input of water and fertilizer and of late through biotechnology. The present paper deals with analysis of soil collected from three industrial areas and areas of heavy traffic regions in the city of Hyderabad. The heavy metals were estimated by DTPA extraction method. The results have revealed a very high levels of presence of toxic metals like Zn,Cu and Cd in the soil samples of the industrial areas. Their effect was further studied by carrying out the germination of seeds by applying chemical fertilizer, urea and a bio-fertilizer, vermicompost. Environment ethics suggest use of natural manures and organic farming may be a viable solution. The moot point is industrialization at what cost? Should there not be a focus on environmental ethics.


Strengthening of RC structures with externally bonded FRP (fiber reinforced polymers) has become an important challenge in civil engineering. Epoxy is the main bonding agent used so far, but in the case of a fire, it is subjected to complete loss of his bonding capabilities. Mineral based composites strengthening systems consist of FRPs and a cementitious bonding agent which form a repair or strengthening system that is more compatible with the concrete substrata, and roved its efficiency. The current research introduces the use of a special cementitious material "Grancrete" as a bonding agent. Test results of 32 T-section RC beams strengthened with various FRG (fiber reinforced Grancrete) strengthening systems are presented. The results demonstrated that most of the specimens were likely to fail by debonding of the FRP from the concrete either at the ends or at intermediate flexural cracks. This paper presents an in-depth study aimed at the development of a better understanding of debonding failures in RC beams strengthened with externally bonded FRP systems. Different analytical models, published in the literature for plate end debonding, are reviewed and compared to test results. The results also demonstrated that when using U-wraps, the specimens were likely to fail by FRP sheet rupture.


The objective of this research is to obtain information concerning to the effect ofcommunication and dysfunctional conflict toward job satisfaction of the teachers in JuniorHigh School in Wanea District Manado. The research was conducted by using survey methodwith path analysis in testing hyphotesis. In this research, 106 from 208 teacher of schoolsselected random sampling. The research was focused on three aspect; communication anddysfunctional conflict toward teachers job satisfaction. The data were collected withquestionnaire and analyzed with path analysis. Result on the analysis it is concluded that (1)there the positive direct effect of communication toward job satisfaction, (2) there is negativedirect effect of dysfunctional conflict toward job satisfaction and (3) there is negative directeffect of communication toward dysfunctional conflict.


We studied the optimal composition of EDTA-chelated biuret reagent for the determination of protein in serum. A reagent containing 18 mmol of EDTA, 15 mmol of Cu2+, and 1 mol of NaOH per liter exhibits a very low blank but about the same sensitivity as tartrate-chelated reagents. Maximum color intensity is attained within 25 min at room temperature, and adheres to Beer's law up to 120 g of protein per liter.


The rapid development of the internet has led to the creation of many online news. Competition between the publishers usually will lead to the making of interesting and often misleading titles that are not conveyed the content of the news itself. To overcome this problem, we have developed a text summarization that extracts the keyword from the content, then used that keyword to produce a summary. This research combines Maximal Marginal Relevance (MMR) and Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) to build automatic extractive text summarized. MMR used to summarize the text automatically and NMF is used to extract the keyword to form the query for MMR. Based on our experiment, the performance of the summarizer system that combines NMF as the keyword generator produce better performance in ROUGE-1 and ROUGE-2 compared to systems that only use a title with MMR. We also perform an experiment to see the impact on the number of a keyword in the summary result. We also found that 8 keywords are the ideal number of keywords to represents the idea of the main text.


A study on carbon fractions was undertaken in Rangapura micro watershed area under different land-use systems. Five land-use systems were selected viz, maize, ragi, arecanut, coconut, and fallow land for studying the dynamics of carbon. Among the different land-use systems, horticultural (Arecanut, coconut) land-use systems recorded significantly higher potassium permanganate oxidizable carbon (PPOC), cold water extractable carbon (CWEC), soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC), Total organic carbon (TOC), Total Carbon (TC), Humic acid (HA) and Fulvic acid (FA) at different depths followed by agricultural land-use systems (Maize, Ragi). The highest carbon stock mean values were recorded in the arecanut system (19.92 t c ha -1 ) followed by coconut system (16.27t c ha -1 ). The lowest was recorded in the ragi land-use system (7.68t c ha -1 ).


This thesis addresses the concept of atomically precise manufacturing and aims to examine some likely aspects of the necessary infrastructure and knowledge that will be required from a theoretical standpoint.

By way of introduction, I trace the history of Science Fiction's influence on scientific research and examine some examples that have specifically inspired the thinking behind nanoscience and nanotechnology. More serious speculation, both in favour of and arguing against the possibility of bottom-up manufacturing is also discussed. I look at two schools of thought; directed assembly, typified by the ambition to assemble molecular structures piece by piece and self assembly, where networks of molecules form into arrays on substrates, imparting novel properties.

Various methodologies and tools available to the nanotechnologist are examined. Density functional theory, as employed in the AIMpro code, and Molecular Mechanics are discussed, particularly in respect of their strengths and weaknesses for use in simulating the kind of nanoscale processes appropriate to nanomanufacturing. The theoretical basis behind scanning tunneling microscopes is also examined, with particular attention paid to their potential for upscaling in the future.

Some components found within scanning tunneling microscopes are simulated using Density Functional Theory. Models of pure tungsten tips are studied at various levels of complexity in order to decide upon a reasonable compromise between accuracy and ease of computation. The nature of the interlayer interaction in few layer graphenes is examined and pristine and defected graphitic surfaces, are studied with a view towards their use as nano-workbenches. Their images as produced in scanning tunneling microscopes are simulated. Density Functional Theory is applied to organic molecules self-assembling on metallic substrates. Specifically, tetracene on a clean copper surface and on an oxygen-terminated copper surface is studied.

Finally, I discuss the significance of the results of each section, taken individually and as a whole, and try to put it into perspective regarding the practicality of actually employing this paradigm realistically in the near future.


This study investigates the effect of an internal dynamic excitation of the traction system on the dynamic performance of a high-speed train. First, a dynamic model of the traction system is developed that considers various complex factors such as the time-varying stiffness of meshing teeth pairs and the gear transmission error. The internal exciting force of the gear is taken to be the result of multiplying its meshing stiffness by its transmission error. Then a multi-body dynamics model of the motor car that includes the driving system is established. Furthermore, a field experiment at a high-speed rail line is performed. Based on the test data, the dynamic characteristics of a high-speed train are analyzed. The obtained results show that the internal dynamic excitation of the traction system can significantly influence the vertical vibration of the frame and gearbox; however, it has little effect on their lateral vibration. The sampling frequency has a major effect on the vibration amplitude of the gearbox; frequency spectrum results show that when the train runs at a high speed, the main vibration frequencies of the gearbox are the meshing frequency and its harmonic frequencies. It is demonstrated that it is necessary to take the internal dynamic excitation into account when assessing the dynamic performance of the gear transmission system.


Objective To investigate the application situation of antibiotics on inpatients of ophthalmic hospital,so as to enhance the rational application of drugs. Methods By means of management information system,the application situation of antibiotics on inpatients of the hospital was collected. The drugs sales amount,DDDs and DDC were used as evaluating indicators. Results In the top 10 of antibiotics sales amount,Cephalosporins for injection was accounted for 85. 6%,and cephalosporins for oral tablet was 31%. Conclusion Application situation of antibiotics on inpatients of the hospital is rational,and cephalosporins antibiotics are dominant in ophthalmic clinical application.


The purpose of this study was to gather basic exploratory-descriptive data regarding the self-perceptions and behaviors of Puerto Rican gay youth (16 to 24 years old) during their gay identity development and coming out process. The study was conducted in Puerto Rico to eliminate ethnic minority influences that may be present in Puerto Rican gay youth who live in the continental United States where similar studies have been conducted. Further emphasis is placed in the Puerto Rican family, religion, and cultural values. The participants (N = 217) were selected by availability from the entire island of Puerto Rico. Results as to how Puerto Rican gay youth perceive themselves as well as how they behave during the coming out process (age of coming out, religious beliefs, and counseling needs) are presented in the findings.


Abstract : We sought to answer two questions via this exploratory study. First, we investigated whether or not individual differences in moral principle selection/preference existed in response to six moral dilemmas. Second, we sought to find out whether they were related to the demographic variables of sex and age. As part of a larger study on moral decision making, 64 participants read and reflected upon six ethical dilemmas, rated the extent to which 5 moral principles influenced their decisions regarding these dilemmas, and selected their preferred courses of action in response to each dilemma. Results of multilevel analyses suggest that there was significant within- and between-subjects variability in the extent to which the participants relied on various moral principles to resolve the dilemmas. That is, clear individual differences existed in the moral principles that the participants reported had guided their moral responses to the dilemmas. We also found that different moral principles were invoked to differing extents depending on the domain of the decision (non-moral, military moral and non-military moral). Of the individual difference variables assessed here, results revealed that age was a significant predictor of moral principle preference, with older adults being more likely to use virtue- and care-based principles than did younger adults. Sex was not significantly associated with moral principle selection. We discuss the potential implications of individual differences in the use of moral principles and offer directions for future research in this area.


Measurement invariance is a common consideration in the evaluation of the validity and fairness of test scores when the tested population contains distinct groups of examinees, such as examinees receiving different forms of a translated test. Measurement invariance in polytomous items has traditionally been evaluated at the item-level, corresponding to what is broadly referred to as differential item functioning. However, recent advances in the study of measurement invariance in polytomous items has documented the value in examining invariance at the level of each step of the polytomous item, referred to as differential step functioning. To date, little documentation exists of methodology that can simultaneously evaluate both item-level and step-level invariance effects using a common parametric model. In this article, we describe how to use the partial credit model to simultaneously evaluate item-level and step-level invariance effects. A simulation study as well as a large empirical example are presented to demonstrate the use of this methodology applied to a large-scale administration of a translated test.


OBJECTIVE
To revise and test a 34-item self-administered questionnaire that measures health practices important to pregnancy outcome.

DESIGN
Three studies were conducted: a content validity study with nurse experts, a content validity study with pregnant women, and a cross-sectional study using mailed surveys to test the reliability and construct validity of the Health Practices in Pregnancy Questionnaire-II (HPQ-II).

SETTINGS
Nurse-midwifery and obstetric physician practices.

PARTICIPANTS
Clinical experts (n = 8) and pregnant women (n = 10 for Study 2; n = 312 for Study 3).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
The HPQ-II, a self-report instrument that measures pregnancy health practices.

RESULTS
Content validity was established with two reviews of the HPQ-II conducted by clinical experts and pregnant women and by a satisfactory Content Validity Index. Construct validity was supported by statistically significant correlations with a measure of prepregnancy health practices, scores on individual prepregnancy health practice items, and a theoretically related measure of women's attitudes toward their pregnancies and babies. Reliability (internal consistency) was satisfactory.

CONCLUSIONS
This instrument promises to be useful in research and practice involving health practices during pregnancy.


The current research aims to find out how the European legal system may approach the challenges of the online social networking and their effects on the right to privacy in personal data protection of the European users.
Since the answer closely depends on the nature of the right in question (human right or property right), the thesis involves a comparative analysis of the American and European privacy models. Ruling on the human rights nature of personal data protection in Europe, as well as on the correspondent privacy abusing practices of the online social networking business on the European ground, the examination further concentrates on the Article 8 ECHR possibilities to protect the right to privacy in personal data. The analysis of the ECHR case law will lead to conclude on the matter of existence of positive obligations of the States parties to the Convention to ensure an effective enjoyment of the right to privacy of the European users of the SNSs, in a sense of a recognition of an indirect horizontal effect of the Convention's provisions on the relationships between the users of the services, from one hand, and the social networking companies, providing their services in Europe, - on the other (irrespective of the territories of the countries from which such services are provided – be they within the European borders, or, as is the case with Facebook and other the most popular social networking platforms, - within the borders of the USA).

At the European level, the Council of Europe's Member States are under a positive obligation to act in a proactive manner with a view to securing the effective enjoyment of protected rights. The failure to do so may render a State liable under the ECHR, if it can be established that the State has failed to take appropriate measures within its power to protect the individuals under its jurisdiction from the right to privacy violations on the part of, inter alia, American social networking companies.

Thus, when considering the emerging trends in online social networking and in anticipation of potential (as well as of already existing) human rights violations in connection with its use, the Council of Europe Member States need to prepare themselves to deal with situations related to Article 8 with regard to the practices of treating the other people's personal data by online business.


R(. ) denotes the set of zeros of det( .I. .. . fiwuenoy charecteri5ation for the eristence eation of the corresponding defMtions given in [ 1 ] He note that the definition given'here is a generaof fixed modes of a linear system described in differen- and c21. tial operator form are presented. It is shown that some well-known results are special oases given in this note. ing are introduced. In order to obtain the desired results, the follow


DRA's design of the Phola coal preparation plant, a classic two-stage plant producing a prime 27.5 mj/kg export product and a 21.5-23 mj/kg middlings for the nearby Kendal power station, fully met its specification requirements.


S ince Pope Leo XIII addressed the problem of labor and capital in Rerum Novarum (1891) more than a hundred years have passed, the global economy has not only come into being it has increased on incredible orders of magnitude, and the world has been—it is not an exaggeration to say it—transformed by technological capitalism. Some would say that the world of that Pope, and of Rerum Novarum, separated from our own by rockets and moon landings, nuclear bombs and microchips, bears little resemblance to us. On the face of it, there is every reason to believe the bracing historicaleconomic thesis of Karl Polanyi, that we have indeed witnessed The Great Transformation. Yet, at least 90 years later, when Pope John Paul II penned Laborem Exercens (1981) we find Rerum Novarum at its very foundation, urgently contemporary, for what would soon become the post-Soviet world. Much of this remains true even today. In this article it is my argument that Rerum Novarum provides a spiritual blueprint, in the phraseology of Bob Goudzwaard (1979), for the revitalization of organized labor in North America. That blueprint has three essential elements that are especially pressing of labor in the present day. First, in what Pope Leo XIII calls the "marvelous and manifold" efficacy of Christian institutions [RN, 19], Rerum Novarm recovers for us both authentic post-secular engagement with resurgent global religion (including inside North America), and a perspective on institutions and organizations which unsettles the typical atomized, secular account of volunteerism. In its recovery of amoral vocabulary for labor, Rerum Novarum suggests a way to think beyond the false dichotomy of individualist association, and compulsory collectivism. Second, Rerum Novarum helps us recover labor unions as essentially economic institutions, that is to say, organizations whose primary purpose is to steward the dignity of human work, and not—as Laborem Exercens argues—to "play politics" [LE, 20]. While union activity undoubtedly enters into politics insofar as it has a "prudent concern for the common good" its limited role is "first of all not to be about human rights, redistribution, or social support" but rather "about stewarding human capital and


A simply gold plate electrode(GPE) based on 1,4-dithiothreitol(DTT),which was self-assembled on a surface of flat gold film with a thickness of 100 nm,was developed to construct a novel selective electrode method for rapid detection of mercury ion.Through electrochemical impedance analysis and cyclic voltammetric method,the response mechanism of the electrode for selective recognition of Hg2 +was investigated,that the other terminal sulfhydryl group of DTT binding to Au surface can coordinate with Hg2 +due to their strong complexing interaction,resulting in change of membrane potential of the electrode surface.The proposed electrode possesses good potential performance responding to Hg2 +with a linear range of 1.0 × 10-8—1.0 ×10-3mol/L,a Nernst slope of(29.62 ± 0.2) mV/-pc(25 ℃),and a detection limit of 5.1 × 10-9mol/L in Tris-HCl buffer solution(pH = 6.0).The electrode has short response time(20 s),good reproducibility and stability.No interference can be observed from most common ions like Cu2 +,Fe2 +,Na+,K+,Mg2 +,Ba2 +,Ca2 +,Zn2 +,Sn2 +,Pb2 +,Ag+,Al3 +,Fe3 +,Ni2 +,NO-2,IO-3,BrO-3and ClO-3.Compared with spectrophotometric method with dithizone,the proposed electrode can be well utilized to the determination of trace amount of Hg2 +in real water samples with a recovery rate of 98.20% —101.75%,showing promising application in environmental and other fields.


Sir .—Much to our disappointment, we discovered an error in our article "What Physicians Know About the Prognosis of Preterm Newborns" (Journal1983;137:551-554). We want to draw to the attention of the readers of the AJDC the response noted to question 2 in Table 2 (p 552). The correct response to this questionnaire item, "Most children born weighing less than 1,500 g will not experience some form of developmental handicaps," should have been "A" (agree), and the data from our study were analyzed with this as the correct response.


Objective Through health education on the ureter-abdomen ostomy,in order to perform the treatment plan easily,prolong the life of patients,and raise the life quality.Method The suitable health education processes were formulated,according to different links of diagnosis and treatment,including diseases-self understanding,basic nursing,personality definition,and discharge guidance.Results Twenty-three cases all underwent ureter-abdomen ostomy.The survival time ranged from 6 months to 7 years,average 5.33 years.Three cases got retrograde infection in urinary system,and 5 cases died of metastasis of carcinoma.When left the hospital,23 cases all could wear bag collecting urine correctly,implement routine nursing and further consultation.Conclusion Health education on the ureter-abdomen ostomy reflects the new whole nursing model,and is an important means for raising nursing standard.


Aims: 1) To determine the predictive value of a simple stability test in children's wrist fractures treated with simple manipulation and plaster of Paris (PoP) cast immobilisation. 2) To determine the effect of cast quality as reflected in the skin cast distance (distance between the cast and the skin in the plane of major displacement or angulation) and the cast index (the inside diameter of the cast in the sagittal plane divided by the inside diameter in the coronal plane) on re-displacement rates in children's wrist fractures treated with simple manipulation and plaster of Paris (PoP) cast immobilisation. Methods: This is a prospective study of 57 children aged 4 to 15 with metaphyseal and Salter-Harris II wrist fractures treated with simple manipulation. Under fluoroscopic imaging, a simple stability test involving moving the hand at the wrist in the dorsopalmar, and radioulnar planes was performed following reduction, and x-ray images were saved. We recorded and compared the displacement and angulation on the initial x-rays, during the test, and at one-and 6-week follow-up. We also recorded the skin-cast distance (SCD), and the cast index (CI). Results: 38 patients had isolated radius fractures and 19 had radius and ulna fractures. Four patients needed remanipulation with K-wire fixation. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant correlation between percentage loss of reduction on testing and subsequent re-displacement (relationship between the two sets of values r = 0.6167, (p Conclusion: Stable reduction on stability testing in wrist fractures in children immobilised in a good cast (reflected in a low SCD, and CI) is associated with a good outcome. Isolated radius and ulna fractures are more likely to re-displace than radius and ulna fractures. There is a relationship between instability and loss of position at the 1-week follow-up. Potentially unstable fractures can be prevented from slipping by a good cast. A stable fracture on our stability test rarely slips. We therefore feel that stability test is a useful adjunct in decision-making.


It has been reported that infants born to morphine or heroin addicted women have high incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome and abnormal neuropsychological performance. Preventing of neonatal abstinence syndrome and defining the neurotoxicity of morphine in the developing brain are important works. Our previous studies found that dam rat injection of dextromethorphan can attenuate the naloxone induced withdrawal syndrome. We also found that ontogenic expression of the NMDA receptor in this rats is different to that of control rat by lacking an overshooting of NMDAreceptor density on PND14. It is possible that this transient change is due to decrease in the subtype of the NMDA receptor or a decrease in the numbers of the synapse that containing the NMDA receptor. We used the same morphine treatment animal modal to further explore(1)whether prenatal treatment with dextromethorphan on the dam rats could prevent the morphine withdrawal syndrome in their off springs.(2)whether morphine treatment could induce a change in the NMDA receptor subunits in the developing rat brain(3)whether morphine treatment will change the the expression and degradation of the spectrin in the developing rat brain. We found that pre-treatment with dextromethorphan on the dam rats can prevent morphine withdrawal syndrome in the neonatal rat born to morphine treated dam rat. The expression of NMDA receptor subunit in the cortex, hippocampus and striatum of morphine group rats is decreased at PND14 as compare to that of control group. In the cortex, NR1A, NR2A, NR2B, NR2C are decreased on PND7 and PND14; in the hippocampus, NR2A, NR2B, NR2C are decreased on the PND7 ; in the striatum, NR1A, NR2A, NR2B, NR2C are decreased on PND7 and PND14. We also found that the expression of spectrin in the rat brain of morphine rats is decreased as compare to that of control group. In cortex α-spectrin decreased on PND7, PND14, PND30, andβ-spectrin decreased on PND7, PND14. In the hippocampus the α-spectrin decreased on PND7 andβ-spectrin on PND7. In the striatum the α-spectrin decreased on PND7 andβ-spectrin decrease on PND7, PND14, PND60.


Excerpt To the editor: A recent article by Bass (1) on the neurologic complications of cardiopulmonary arrest briefly discussed the problem of post-anoxic seizures. Seizures develop in 30% of the s...


Strategic spatial planning plays a pivotal role in effectively providing solutions for urban issues. In 2000, Guangzhou took the pioneering step of formulating China's first strategic spatial plan, known as the Guangzhou Strategic Plan. However, existing research has predominantly focused on the content of the "Guangzhou Strategic Spatial Plan" while lacking attention to its implementation effects. To address this empirical gap, this paper analyzes Guangzhou's current spatial structure from the perspectives of facilities, population, and industry. The results reveal that: (1) the effectiveness of the "Southern Expansion" strategy outlined in the Guangzhou Strategic Spatial Plan has been limited. It has not achieved the expected results in terms of facility construction, population attraction, industrial clustering, and value-added growth; (2) due to inherent limitations and a lack of planning support, the development of the new town presents a dilemma. Considering the current spatial structure, this paper reflects on the reasons for the failure of Guangzhou's strategic spatial planning, aiming to provide insights for the implementation of a new round of strategic spatial planning.


The multiferroic Bi0.8Gd0.1M0.1Fe0.9Ti0.1O3, (where M = Ba (DB), La (DL) and Pb (DP)) has been synthesized by using solid-state reaction technique. Effects of Ba, La and Pb substitution on the structure, electrical and ferroelectric properties of Bi0.8Gd0.1M0.1Fe0.9Ti0.1O3 samples have been studied by performing X-ray diffraction, dielectric and magnetic measurements. The crystal structures of the ceramic samples have a tetragonal phase. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement shows a significant change in the magnetic properties of Ba-doped Bi0.8Gd0.1M0.1Fe0.9Ti0.1O3 as compared to La- and Pb-doped ceramics. It is seen that coercive field (HC) and remanent magnetization (MR) increases with Ba-doped ceramics but decreases for La- and Pb-doped ceramics.


We estimated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine effectiveness against onward transmission by comparing secondary attack rates among household members for vaccinated and unvaccinated index cases, based on source and contact tracing data collected when the Delta variant was dominant. Effectiveness of full vaccination of the index case against transmission to unvaccinated and fully vaccinated household contacts, respectively, was 63% (95% confidence interval (CI): 46–75) and 40% (95% CI: 20–54), in addition to the direct protection of vaccination of contacts against infection.


Purpose To assess the left atrial function of patients with postoperative mitral valvuloplasty by using two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging(2D-STI)and real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT3DT),and to determine the efficacy of surgery.Materials and Methods Forty-one patients who were expected to undertake mitral valvuloplasty(valvuloplasty group)underwent 2D and 3D images in one week before operation,one week after operation and six months after operation.The maximum volume of the left atrium(LAVmax),the minimum volume of the left atrium(LAVmin),the left atrial volume pre-contraction(LAVpreA),the left atrial global ejection fraction(LAEF),the left atrial passive empty fraction(LAEFpassive),and the initiative ejection fraction(LAEFactive)were measured.STI was used to measure strain ratio of left atrial anterior wall,posterior wall,side wall,inferior wall and atrial septal.The mean value was calculated.Twenty-five healthy volunteers were enrolled as controls.Results Preoperative mean systolic peak strain ratio(mSR S),peak early diastolic strain ration(mSR E),and peak late diastolic strain ratio(mSR A)decreased in valvuloplasty group when compared with those of the control group(P0.05).Postoperative mSR S and mSR E were significantly higher than those preoperative(P0.01)and mSR A was slightly higher(P0.05).Preoperative LAVmax,LAVmin and LAVpreA of valvuloplasty group were higher than those of the control group(P0.01).Left atrial volume was significantly reduced after valvuloplasty(P0.05).Both LAEF and LAEFpassive were significantly increased after valvuloplasty(P0.01).mSR E of valvuloplasty group was positively correlated with LAEFpassive,mSR A was positively correlated with LAEFactive in one week before surgery,one week after surgery and six months after surgery,respectively(r=0.957,0.787;r=0.993,0.806;r=0.992,0.723;P0.01).Conclusion Both SRI and RT3DE have ability to evaluate left atrial function and are valuable to assess the efficacy of mitral valvuloplasty.


The integrated and comprehensive real-time on-line decision support system, RODOS, for off-site emergency management of nuclear accidents is being developed under the auspices of the European Commission's Radiation Protection Research Action. A large number of both West and East European institutes are involved in the further development of the existing prototype versions to operational use with significant contributions coming from the partner institutes in the CIS Republics. This paper summarises the structure, the main functions and the status of the RODOS system.


.............................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... VII PUBLICATIONS RESULTING FROM THIS THESIS ........................................ VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... IX FIGURES ................................................................................................................. XII APPENDIX FIGURES ......................................................................................... XVII TABLES ............................................................................................................... XVIII APPENDIX TABLES ............................................................................................. XIX NOMENCLATURE ................................................................................................. XX GREEK SYMBOLS ............................................................................................. XXII CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................


Abstract In the first part of this review [62] we described the characteristics of semiconductor manufacturing environments and reviewed research on system performance evaluation and production planning. In this paper we focus on shop-floor control problems. We classify research to date by the solution techniques used, and discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches. We discuss the relationship between shop-floor control and production planning and suggest future research directions.


Invasive species are a major ecological and management concern in natural ecosystems and pose a threat to many habitats. Invasive plant species compete with native species phasing them out of their niches and times leads to loss of ecosystem services such as water filtration, soil stabilization, and pest control. They may also result in reduction of wildlife forage, death of wild animals due to lack of food or at times death of wild animals when they feed on poisonous invasive plant species. Invasion of native plant habitats change the macro-nutrients and the micro-nutrients by invasive plant and this changes soil chemicals. The aim of this study was to establish whether the invasive plant Lantana camara changes the soil chemical properties. The key objective was to evaluate the soil nutrient composition in areas invaded by Lantana camara L. and how these differ from areas without Lantana camara.


Purpose: This study aims to empirically test the proposition that high narcissistic consumers are more likely to perform donation-related behavior, such as the intention to donate and to share the donation link, compared to low narcissistic consumers when the organization's reputation is high. Built upon the evolutionary psychology theory, this study proposes that narcissism activates the status motive, and the relationship between narcissism, organization reputation and donation-related behavior can be explained by status motive. Design/methodology/approach: The current research comprises two between-subject experimental studies that use both measured and manipulated narcissism subsequently, whereas the organization's reputation was manipulated in both studies. Findings: The results demonstrate that narcissistic consumers are more likely to donate and to share the donation advertisement when the donation organization is perceived as having a high (vs low) prestige. Further, the status motive mediates the effect of narcissism on donation decisions only when the donation organization is perceived as having high (vs low) prestige. Research limitations/implications: This research's main limitation is that it only examines two alternate ways to improve perceived organization's reputation (e.g. highlight the organization's reputational features and link to reputable entities such as celebrities), although organizational literature suggests that perceived organization reputation can be improved in many ways. Practical implications: From a practical perspective, social marketers and donation organizations potentially benefit from this research because it demonstrates that high narcissistic consumers potentially involve in donation-related behaviors more than consumers with low narcissism when the organization is perceived as highly reputable. Originality/value: The current research contributes to the narcissism literature and adds to the evolutionary psychology theory by providing empirical evidence that narcissism, whether manifesting as a trait or a state, can activate a status motive that leads to prosocial behavior, but only when the donation organization is perceived as prestigious.


None of the procedures currently used for producing cell-free filtrates provided preparations containing all of the extracellular products that the culture was able to produce. Even the membrane-fi...


Interior tomography is a typical strategy for radiation dose reduction in computed tomography, where only a certain region-of-interest (ROI) is scanned. However, given the truncated projection data, ROI reconstruction by conventional analytical algorithms may suffer from severe cupping artifacts. In this paper, we proposed a new extraction-based deep learning method for the reconstruction of interior tomography. Our approach works in dual domains where a sinogram-domain network (SDNet) estimates the contribution of the exterior region to the truncated projection and an image-domain network (IDNet) further mitigates artifacts. Unlike the previous extrapolation-based methods, SDNet is intended to obtain a complete ROI-only sinogram via extraction instead of a fully non-truncated sinogram for both the ROI and exterior regions. Our experiments validated the proposed method and the results indicate that the proposed method can disclose more reliable structures. It achieved better image quality with better generalization performance than extrapolation-based methods.


Six young people have now been voted to represent North Yorkshire during 2013/14 at regional and national events. The winners were announced at County ...


Overview 1 Regular exercise is essential for healthy ageing, and all older adults should be encouraged to be physically active. 2 Exercise has a role in prevention, treatment and management of cardiovascular disease, congestive heart failure, respiratory disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, and mood and sleep disorders, to name a few. 3 Exercise programs should be multi-component and include aerobic, strength, balance and flexibility training. 4 Exercise programs are safe for older adults. The risk of inactivity poses a greater health risk than exercise. Even frail elderly people are able to safely participate in exercise programs and achieve benefits. Studies have shown that serious adverse effects are uncommon. 5 The evidence suggests that exercise interventions in older adults are cost-effective. 6 Physical activity can increase longevity. Studies have shown this effect occurs in people who commence exercise late in life as well as those who exercise throughout life. 7 Beneficial effects of exercise have been observed with regard to prevention of cognitive decline and reduction in the rate thereof. People with cognitive impairment should be encouraged to exercise. There is a growing body of evidence for the benefits of exercise in people with dementia. 8 Exercise can reduce the risk of falls in older adults. Effective programs target people at risk for falling, are individually tailored, and include balance and strength training. 9 The evidence suggests that exercise can delay or prevent disability in older adults. Identification of older adults with preclinical disability is key, as is the development of intervention strategies to prevent functional decline. 10 Exercise programs can be successfully carried out at home or in group settings and should include some amount of instruction. 11 Older adults are more likely to adhere to an exercise program if they have social support and feel safe to exercise, have mutually agreed-upon goals and are confident in their ability to succeed. 12 Regular physician advice about exercise encourages participation in older adults. 13 Identification of barriers to participation is essential; physical, psychological, cultural and environmental barriers must be addressed. 14 There is a lack of consensus about the type of medical assessment and screening tests required before advising an older person to commence an exercise program. An activity plan that includes a strategy for risk management and prevention of injury should be developed. 15 Research to determine the most effective type, intensity, frequency and duration of exercise programs to optimise physical function in all older adults is needed. Exercise interventions must involve standardised functional assessments and include well-defined disability outcome measures.


In order to obtain data on blood pressure (BP), heart rate, height, weight and body mass index (BMI) distribution in prepubertal children of small city, we prospectively recruited the cohort of 516 boys, 8 and 9 years old. Percentiles for abovementioned factors were calculated. BP rises with age, and both systolic and diastolic BP showed a positive correlation with heart rate, height, weight and BMI. Heart rate decreases with age and height and rises with BMI. Additionally percentiles of BP in depends on different percentiles of height were calculated. 90th and 95th centiles of BP slightly differs from US, Russian and other international standards. Genetic, ethnic, life-style and environmental factors were suggested to be responsible for this variation. Prospective study of cohort of 516 Chapaevsk boys is ongoing.


A LTHOUGH THE LAST PERIOD of Samuel L. Clemens's literary work has been regarded as one of despair, there has recently been an increasing recognition of complexities in the later writings. It is true that there is still a rather prevalent notion that Clemens arrived at despair and then, during his last ten or twelve years, substantially remained there-though he was seldom consistent for very long in much else. And it has often been said that the later writings lack significance because their author had lost his belief in the dignity of man and the value of human life.' One is likely to find allusions to The Mysterious Stranger and to What Is Man?, such words as "pessimism" and "despair," and perhaps the phrase "the damned human race" (a phrase, incidentally, that no one seems able to document in the writings), and then a rounding off with a facile finis, ringing down the curtain on a supposedly finished Mark Twain. But this notion of a sustained despair is beginning to look like a disposable myth of Mark Twain criticism. Louis J. Budd has observed that Clemens "was less consistent than ever during his last years,"2 and that while he had "his nihilistic moods," he "kept adding to the confusion with occasional statements of faith."3 Coleman 0. Parsons has noted that Clemens liked to have two final words, "a hopeful and a hopeless one."4 And it may be added that these expressions of faith and of hope were something more than occasional and random ones. In Clemens's thought they were philosophically based, even as were his more despairing views. For he had not one but two philosophies; or one might say more par-


Objective: Glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) reduces aortic pulse pressure (aPP).The conventional mechanism is attributed principally to reduced wave reflection. However, recent studies reviving windkessel theory suggest a dominant role of aortic storage capacity, with wave reflection playing a minor role. This study aims to determine whether changes in aortic compliance alone can account for effects of GTN on aPP. Methods: A 3 element windkessel model was used with characteristic impedance (Zo), aortic compliance (C) and peripheral resistance (R) with parameters determined from physiological values of mean pressure (MP), cardiac output and heart rate. Data on effect of GTN on aPP were obtained from previous studies (Kelly et al. Eur Heart J, 1990;11:138–144). Effects of GTN on MP and aPP were calculated with constant Zo (0.25 mmHg/ml/sec) and stroke volume (SV, 100 ml). A 10% reduction in MP was simulated by 10% reduction in (SV) or in R (1mmHg/ml/sec) Change in C was calculated to achieve a reduction of aPP of 30% as seen in experiments. Results: Relations for aPP (mmHg) and C(ml/mmHg) for (i) constant SV and change in R: aPP = - 0.38/C2+7.9/C+26.8 and (ii) constant R and change in SV: aPP = - 0.32/C2+7.2/C+23.6. Therefore, a 33% reduction in aPP would require an average of 3.9 ± 1.1(SD) fold increase in C over a starting aPP range of 45–72 mmHg. For a simple uniform tube representation of the aorta of length L, radius r, Elastic modulus E and wall thickness h, equivalent compliance C = 3π.r2L/2E(h/r). Hence for constant L and h/r, 3.9 fold change in C would entail non-physiological changes in r (2.0 fold increase) and E (3.9 fold decrease). Conclusions: Due to the strong non-linear relation between C and aPP, effects of GTN on aPP would require changes in aortic storage capacity of non-physiological magnitudes. Hence change in aortic windkessel effect, and so windkessel pressure, is not the dominant mechanism to explain the reduction of aPP obtained with sublingual GTN.


The historical evolution of the rhetorical interrogative question pronoun "na 那 ",which is often used to introduce a question and especially to indicate negation,has caught the attention of many linguists of classical Chinese.But so far no conclusive judgment has been reached.Based on the corpus database specific to the Han-Wei-Six Dynasties time and on systematic analysis of interrogative question pronouns,this paper considers and traces the evolution of Na 那 from the angles of syntactic position,function extension,word replacement,etc.This paper finds that the rhetorical interrogative question pronoun na 那 in modern Chinese did not originate from the sound-assimilation of naihe 奈何,nor did it result from the shortened sound mutation of naihe,but was a new coinage emerging from the end of Han to the Wei-Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties period that absorbed the syntactic functions of an 安,wu 恶,and yan 焉 in the natural progress of language development and replacement.


The conventional normal‐moveout (NMO) and common‐midpoint (CMP) stacking process enhances reflections having a particular moveout velocity, while attenuating events (such as multiple reflections) having different moveout velocities. Unfortunately, this process also acts as a dip filter applied to the CMP stack. In other words, NMO and stacking enhances reflections having a particular slope in the CMP stack, while attenuating reflections having different slopes. NMO and stacking, like any dip filter, degrades lateral resolution. Fortunately, this dip‐filtering action can be suppressed by applying, in addition to NMO, a prestack process known variously as DEVILISH, prestack partial migration, and dip‐moveout. As the latter term implies, this process is a dip‐dependent moveout correction that enables reflections from both horizontal and dipping reflectors to be stacked with the same NMO velocity. Stated another way, NMO velocities estimated from dip‐moveout‐corrected seismograms are independent of the dips o...


The study was a survey to investigate whether there exists a need for intermediary hospices among the patients in the hospital for the mentally ill at Warm Springs, Montana. The data were collected by patient interview of the population selected. The selection of the population was determined by a random sampling of the entire patient population. The random sampling was made of one-tenth of the population. The results of the study indicated that there were a total of 82 out of the 150 patient population considered (55 per cent, or 880 of the total population of 1,601) who could be cared for in partial psychiatric care facilities. The group of patients who had been hospitalized two years or less had the greatest proportion of patients who could be cared for in partial psychiatric care facilities. Because of his removal from the normal stream of society and subsequent loss of relatives, friends, funds and visitors, a need for intermediary facilities does exist among the patients in the hospital for the mentally ill at Warm Springs, Montana. Mentally ill patients do remain in the state mental hospital longer than it would be necessary for them to do so were intermediary facilities available. •'


The behaviors of superconducting transition temperature Tc and upper critical field Hc2 as a function of different superconductor thicknesses have been investigated in Cu50Ni50∕Nb trilayers and multilayers. We deduced superconductor critical thickness, below which superconductivity vanishes, by analyzing the data in terms of proximity theory. The temperature dependence of Hc2 measurement reveals the spatial dimensional crossover and the flux pinning mechanism in the superconductor. A strong pair-breaking effect was observed in the weak ferromagnetic Cu50Ni50 layers from both measurements. We attribute our observation to the high interface transparency between Cu50Ni50 and Nb.


In order to discuss the resistance transitive principle of the gathering zone in compact spinning with suction groove system caused by spinning tension,the change discipline of speed and dynamic friction coefficient in the gathering zone were analyzed.Then the transitive process of spinning tension was analyzed.The research result indicated that the component of normal velocity was reduced gradually from yarn output point to the contact point of fiber bundle and the groove.The tangential component of friction coefficient was decided by the central angle of interval period surrounded arc.The changes of spinning tension were affected by dynamic friction coefficient,spinning tension in snail wire,air suction hole spacing and air force.


SUMMARY This paper deals with the study of k characters of a finite or an infinite population on each of the h occasions under a specified pattern of correlation; when a suitable scheme of sampling is used on the h occasions. The scheme of sampling is essentially that of multiphase sampling with a suitable replacement scheme on different occasions super-imposed on it. First the results for k = 2 are presented in detail and then the general treatment of the subject is given in brief. The minimum variance linear unbiased estimators of the population means for different characters on different occasions are obtained. It is noted that the variances of the various estimators increase by the quantity a2/N when sampling from an infinite population instead of a finite population; and that the addition or deletion on all occasions prior to the occasion of interest, of certain characters occuring after a particular set of characters does not affect the estimators and their variances on that occasion for the set. Finally for k - 2, the efficiencies of various estimators are discussed in the paper and optimum matching of units on different occasions is worked out.


Banded iron-formations (BIFs) are relatively frequent rocks in the Earth's crust and in the geological time but, after decades of research, their genesis remains controversial. Although ancient, with ca . 2,75 Ga, the BIFs of the Carajas formation are adequate to litho-geochemical studies since unlike the majority of other worldwide deposits, they were not affected by metamorphic transformations, and their chemical composition remain unchanged. These BIFs are jaspilites of the oxide facies and occur interlayered in volcanic rocks of the Grao Para group. Whole rocks chemical analyses for major, trace, rare earth elements and loss-on-ignition (PF) as related to the original stratigraphic positions are presented together with analyses from separated iron and silica bands. The study involved a qualitative survey using optical-emission-spectrography and chemical analyses by classical methods, ICP-MS, XRF, AAS and INAA. The BIFs of the Carajas Formation have average contents as follow (62 samples): Fe 2 O 3 T= 53,65%; SiO 2 = 44,60 %; Al 2 O 3 = 0,63%; FeO= 1,31%; MnO= 0,06%; MgO= 0,1%; CaO= 0,04%; Na 2 O= 0,04%; K 2 O= 0,02%; P 2 O 5 = 0,01% and PF= 0,73%. The samplig with stratigraphic control was very important to establish that from base to top of the BIFs there is Si enrichment with a proportional decrease in Fe (correlation coefficient=-0,99). The REE presents very low abundances ( S REEmean = 5,27 ppm), when compared with others BIFs and these abundances are higher in the iron-rich bands and at the base of the BIFs. From base to top of the package there is a relative enrichment in HREE and a less pronounced Eu positive anomaly, indicating a gradual reduction on the contribution of the hydrothermal sources to the jaspilite genesis. These results indicate that at circa 2.750 Ma the jaspilites of the Carajas formation were deposited in a wide and tectonically stable shallow marine platform. The foremost contribution of hydrothermal sources in the jaspilite genesis at the base of the sedimentary package and the absence of associated clastics points out to a depositional site away from the coastline. However, while the BIFs were deposited, the contribution of these hydrothermal sources decreased while the Si contents were increased.


In this paper the computational results of numerical simulations for newly proposed structures combining two quarter wavelength (QW) slabs in one dimensional are presented. The combinational shuffling arrangement of the new QW plate is composed of two different QW slabs that are made of non-magnetic dielectric materials A and B, respectively characterized by dielectric constants εrA and εrB which abide by the relation (εrA)2 = εrB > 1 in order to minimize reflection from structures. Slab A and slab B are in theory uniformly sliced into N+1 and N pieces, or vice versa. They are then respectively shuffled into two different structures: A(BA)N and B(AB)N that are numerically proved to function as QW plates. When compared with the traditional anti-reflection coating techniques, the newly proposed structures have the advantages that every component of each type of material is identical in thickness and that they are easy to assemble. The idea of the proposed structures is numerically supported by the simulation results obtained through the application of the method of characteristics (MOC). The wavelength of interest is set to 550 nm corresponding to the visible color yellow light. The numerical results demonstrated are in both time and frequency domains exhibiting the proposed structures function as anti-reflective plates.