Context: Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs)-γ by thiazolidinediones (pioglitazone, rosiglitazone) and dual-acting PPARα/γ agonists (pargluva, ragaglitazar) is a widely used pharmacological principle to treat insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Clinically, however, fluid retention and edema are worrying side effects with these drugs. Objective: The objective of the present study was to investigate any variation in the PPARG and PPARA genes associated with the risk of fluid retention and development of peripheral edema in patients with type 2 diabetes treated with the dual-acting PPARα/γ agonist ragaglitazar. Design: Single-nucleotide polymorphism and haplotype analyses of the PPARA and PPARG genes were performed on DNA obtained from 345 type 2 diabetic patients randomized to 26-wk monotherapy with the dual-acting PPARα/γ agonist ragaglitazar. Results: At 26 wk, edema was recorded in 48 of the patients (14%) treated with ragaglitazar, and Cox regression analyses identified...


Sceintific review of S. Dobrzhanskyi book 'Municipal Administration of the Right-Bank Ukraine, Galicia and Bukovina: A Comparative Analysis of the Functioning of Government (the late 19th – early 20th Century)'.


We consider Gabor systems with compactly supported windows and rational sampling rate. Two modification techniques for tight frame Gabor windows, splitting for shorter support and smoothing for better smoothness, are introduced. As an illustration of such techniques, we construct multiwindow tight frame Gabor windows with smaller support and C∞ continuity from certain tight frame Gabor windows.


Studies have shown that disturbed thyroid states may predispose the gut to ulcer formation, suggesting that thyroid hormones play important roles in gastroprotection, It is not known however if the gland and its principal hormones affect the processes leading to the healing of already formed gastric ulcers. Therefore this study was designed to investigate the effects of thyroid hormones on healing of acetic acid induced gastric ulcer. Male albino rats (160 – 200g) were used. They were divided into four groups viz: control, thyroidectomised, thyroidectomised with thyroxine treatment (100µg/kg/day) and Sham operated animals treated with thyroxine. After 35 days of drug treatment and surgery, ulcer was induced in stomach of animals using acetic acid. Ulcer healing was assessed of days 3, 7 and 10 post ulcer induction. Ulcer area was measured by planimetry, blood cells were counted and tissue regeneration was studied using histology technique. Result showed that by day 10, thyroxine treatment significantly increased the rate of healing (0.81 ± 0.02mm 2 /day) (p < 0.001) as compared with control (0.46 ± 0.05 mm 2 /day) and thyroidectomy significantly reduced the rate of healing (0.28 ± 0.05mm 2 /day) (p < 0.05). Thyroxine treatment increased the rate of clearing of inflammatory cells, increased fibroblast proliferation, collagen deposition and epithelial cell proliferation while thyroidectomy delayed these processes. Thyroxine treatment significant increased white blood cell on day 7 (p<0.0001), while this response was delayed in thyroidectomised animals. We conclude that thyroid hormones accelerate gastric ulcer healing by accelerating inflammatory and proliferative phases of healing and increased white blood count during healing while thyroidectomy delayed these processes.


Presents a collection of slides covering the following topics: microscopic simulation model; air traffic; organized track system; North Atlantic airspace; flight level assignment; track assignment; OTS; fuel consumption; ATC routine; fuel efficiency; conflicts detection; aircraft simulation; 2D animation; and pilot routine.


The numerical solution of steady state equation of electron beam induced current under different acceleration voltages for Schottky barrier structure have been calculated. The diffusion length of GaAs have been measured by electron probe and SEM.


Abstract : The thrust roller bearing with tapered rollers, flangeless races and open rolling paths, is distinguished by the fact that for the purpose of increasing the reliability of operation, the load-capacity and the wear resistance, it is equipped with a rotating thrust collar, enveloping the roller faces from the outside. (Author)


Modelling user behaviour and its interaction with household systems is a challenge to reduce the gap between simulation and reality. The hypotheses of occupancy could have an important effect on energy and peak power estimation, making the validity of simulation limited. The paper aims to evaluate the influence of occupant behaviour on residential nZEB. Four different scenarios have been compared, varying occupancy and thermal supply system, through the implementation of three high-resolution sub-models in TRNSYS: stochastic occupancy, building performance model and PV generation model. The method can be expanded from building up to neighbourhood level for designing nearly Zero Communities.


According to the differences of metallogenic geological characteristics of gold deposits in Eastern Hebei and Western Liaoning,trace elements and rare earth elements(REE) of 20 gold ores samples from Jinchangyu,Yuerya,Erdaogou and Paishanlou gold deposits have been determined in order to discuss REE characteristics and mineralization.The close correlation between Au and Bi indicates that they formed in a medium-high hydrothermal environment.On the whole,the right deviation and light REE enrichment of chondrite-normalized REE(REEN) patterns imply that they have similar ore-forming material sources.However,the REEN patterns of some samples exhibit hump and leap style,which suggest that they are polygenetic compound gold deposits.The gradual reduction of total REE content with the increase of gold mineralization can act as a new evaluation index of ore potentiality.


(1) Epidemiology of sputum metaplasia In Taiwan, the annual mortality rate from lung cancer was approximately similar to the incidence rate of the disease in 1991~1993. Pulmonary diseases, including lung cancer, have been associated with the exposure to environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) and cooking oil fumes in addition to smoking. This study evaluated the detection of metaplsia in sputum and investigated corresponding prevalence and risk factors for metaplsia in sputum among general residents in Taipei areas. These associations were also evaluated for restaurant employees as separate sample. Study subjects being recruited in 2000~2001 received a pulmonary X-ray examination, completed a self-reported questionnaire for information on socio-demographic characteristics and life-style, and provided a specimen of the first sputum in the morning. This study included a total of 513 volunteer persons, recruited from Keelung City (158), Taipei City (130), and Taipei County (225). The results indicated that the subjects with metaplasia in sputum were younger than those without metaplasia in sputum, and had the best health status. The proportion of smokers among those with metaplasia in the sputum specimen was 35.7% or 1.4 times higher than that with no metaplasia in the sputum. After adjusting for age, gender, residential town and education, it was found that cooking and smoking history were significantly associated with developing metaplsia in sputum (p<0.05). Particularly, the odd ratio(OR) of metaplasia in sputum was 7.6 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.5-39.2)for smokers with cooking, compared with smokers with no cooking or rarely cooked. In addition, the risk of metaplsia for smokers was 1.7~1.9 times higher than ex-smokers and non-smokers. No difference was found in the risk of metaplsia between ex-smokers and non-smokers. These results implied that smoking was likely related to the development of metaplsia in sputum. Using cigarette filter and emphysema were also risk factors of metaplasia positive for smokers. This study recruited 59 restaurant employees and 126 community residents in Taipei city/county. Restaurant employees were younger, with larger portion of females and lower education level, and more prevalent in cooking oil fume exposure at home than community residents. The restaurant chefs had the highest prevalence rate (13.3%) of calcification at pulmonary X-ray and metaplasia (45.5%) in sputum examinations. The prevalence of metaplasia in sputum for restaurant chefs was 1.2 times higher than restaurant staff (36.4%) and 1.9 times higher than cook assistants (23.5%). The study results suggest that the development of metaplasia in sputum is likely associated with cooking and smoking. Improved ventilation while cooking and smoking cessation may reduce the likelihood of developing the metaplasia in sputum. (2) Hematological and Biochemical Factors in Predicting SARS Fatality in Taiwan Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has a high fatality rate (10.9%) worldwide. We examined the epidemiological and clinical patterns associated with deaths for all SARS patients. Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) is an important indicator of inflammation. We also investigated factors associated with the CRP concentration among SARS patients in Taiwan. Using initial data in medical records reported by hospitals to the Center for Disease Control in Taiwan, we analyzed whether hematological, biochemical and arterial blood gas measures for patients predict the fatality for 346 SARS patients. Both fatalities (n=73 or 21.1%) and survivors had elevated plasma concentration of initial CRP with higher average in fatalities (47.7±43.3 mg/L) than in survivors (24.6±28.2 mg/L), and low lymphocytes counts in both fatalities(814 /mL±378 /mL)and survivals(1019 /mL±480 /mL). After controlling for age and sex, the multivariate model showed that patients with neutrophils higher than 7000 /mL were at the highest risk of fatality (odds ratio [OR] = 6.4, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.1-36.0). Other significant conditions independently associated with deaths included CRP (OR=5.8) and lactic acid dehydrogenase (LDH, OR=4.2). This study also found SARS patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cerebrovascular accident and/or cardiac diseases had a higher average level of CRP approximately 61.5 mg/L. Compared with survivors with no dyspnea, the age-sex-adjusted odds ratios in patients with CRP levels greater than 47.5 mg/L were 6.0 (95% CI = 1.8-20.3) for fatalities with dyspnea, 3.5 (95% CI = 1.3-9.0) for survivors with dyspnea, and 2.8 (95% CI = 1.0-7.4) for fatalities with no dyspnea. Neutrophil counts, and CRP and LDH levels are important predictors of deaths from SARS. The initial CRP not only is a marker associated with the progress of SARS, but also can be used to predict the severity of the coronavirus infection.


Abstract Distribution. The Western half of Texas, southern borders of the following states: Fla., Okla., N. Mex., Arizona and Cal. Hosts. Domestic fowls, turkeys, geese, pigeons, ostriches and canaries. Life History. The eggs are deposited in cracks and crevices about the house, roosts, and under the bark of trees, fence posts, etc., in fact, in any place there is a place to secret themselves and deposit the eggs, the hatching period varies according to the season of the year, in summer it may be ten days to two weeks, and in winter it may extend over 2 or 3 months. Injury Produced.
 1. Through death of old and young. 2. Retarding the growth of the fowls infested. 3. By lowering the vitality, thus rendering fowl more subject to disease. 4. Reduction in egg production. 5. Irritation and annoyance to the fowls. Seed Ticks. When hatched the young seed ticks . . .


Nahum depicts in ii 8 Nineveh's desperate appeal to Ishtar to ward off its attackers by enacting her descent to the Netherworld to save her beloved Tammuz. In this context, the problematic words refer to the erection of Ishtar's statue in some public place and its denuding by Allatu (the Sumero-Babylonian goddess Ereŝki-gal), assuming that = "the Allatu."


Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Description Argentina's 2001 default was at the time the largest in history, with the Peronist government of Adolfo Rodriguez Saa declaring a cessation of payments on over 80 billion dollars in government bonds. Historically, the political science and economics literatures have emphasized the economic considerations surrounding the decision to default. Recent literature has explored the political motivations for default, but there has been little scholarship on the possible political consequences of default. Some authors have emphasized that default can have important audience costs for leaders, but other issues have been left unexplored. However, it is clear that Argentina's 2001 default had important consequences in the international political arena, departing as it did from the international norms surrounding default and serving as an important signal of Argentina's shifting international orientation. The International Bridge Course is a unique opportunity for Gettysburg students to engage in a faculty-mentored research project of their own design over a three-semester period. IBC scholars began their research in semester one, carry out continuing or comparative research while studying abroad in semester two, and complete their research and submit their final project in semester three. Credit is awarded in semester three via an independent study. In this way, students, under the continued mentorship of a faculty member, may truly integrate their study abroad experience with the coursework they have taken on campus. Abstract: Argentina's 2001 default was at the time the largest in history, as the Peronist government of Adolfo Rodriguez Saa declared a cessation of payments on over 80 billion dollars in government bonds. Historically, the political science and economics literatures have emphasized the economic considerations surrounding the decision to default. Recent literature has explored the political motivations for default, but there has been little scholarship on the possible political consequences of default. Some authors have emphasized that default can have important audience costs for leaders, but other issues have been left unexplored. This study argues that Argentina's 2001 default had important consequences in the international political arena, as it departed from the international norms surrounding default and served as a clear signal of Argentina's shifting international orientation.


To make the nodes equally distributing in every subset composed of some sensor nodes in the existing random scheduling algorithm of wireless sensor networks(WSN),a random scheduling algorithm based on the average degree of nodes is presented,which is on the basis of a probability sensing model.Taking advantage of information transmission between the neighbor nodes makes the neighbor nodes of every node distribute in different subsets averagely.The relationship between coverage intensity and the number of nodes is analyzed based on the probability sensing model,which resolves the problem of deploying nodes.Simulation verifies the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed algorithm.


Lycopene is a nature functional coloring matter it has a good effect on anticarcinogenic.In this article we determined the optimal condition, i.e. washing time temperature and the base's density ,about the base washing by using the method of the factor analysis and quadrate experiment. The results demonstrate that the optimized condition is to choose KOH (1 mol/L) to wash for 1 h at 40 ℃.


PURPOSE: A screen mirroring method and a device thereof are provided to be applicable for a mobile terminal by reducing the battery consumption of a device and improving the usability of the device. CONSTITUTION: A screen mirroring operation is performed in between a source device and a sync device (410,418). The source device confirms if a media content playing operation is required during the screen mirroring operation (420). The source device performs the streaming of media contents using the sync device when media content playing operation is required during the screen mirroring operation (420-438). The source device terminates the streaming operation of the media contents with the operation of a user or the completion of the playing of the media contents (441-448). [Reference numerals] (424) Match a contents format with a media profile; (427) Expose a switch button; (430) Select a button; (441) Select stop


Energy consumption through lighting around the world is an arising issue looking to be solved. Lighting accounts for 15% of the global electricity consumption and 5% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions [1]. This paper focuses on studying the energy consumption of the Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) employed in an educational labrotory in the Heriot Watt University Dubai Campus. The study takes into consideration energy consumption, performance, and thermal air conditioning load of CFL. Also to explore possible options of better fixtures using Light Emitting Diodes (LED) and their pay back period, for this specific case study. In order to obtain accurate figures experimental testing was carried out for the existing fixtures and compared to the DIALux simulation for lighting performance, which was found to be much lower than the nameplate rating. The DIALux model was simulated for multiple LED fixtures to conclude the best fixture for the case at hand. The simulated results show savings of 121 AED monthly and improvement in efficacy by 37 lm/W.


The terahertz radiation from the crystal of Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) can be achieved in difference frequency generation (DFG) experiment of 1064 nm nanosecond laser for collinear configuration. For the isotropic crystal CdTe, the exact phase matching could not be fulfilled by the two NIR lasers. However, if the interaction length is smaller than the coherent length, quasi-phase matching could be achieved. In order to understand the property of the coherent length in CdTe, the property of the refractive index and the absorption coefficient at the THz region is analyzed by two kinds of transmission spectra: one from Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (TDS) and the other from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIRS). From the transmission spectra of FTIRS, four absorption lines are detected: 2.1 Thz, 4.2 Thz, 7.4 Thz, and 8.6 Thz. Also additional two little absorption peaks occurred at 1.6 Thz and 1.8 Thz. This maybe explained by the phone mode LO-LA and LA-TA, respectively. Below 1.0 Thz, the absorption coefficient is small and constant (about 5cm-1). Based on the refractive index spectra of THz-TDS, the coherent length calculated increases linearly with the THz wavelength in the region of 200μm to 900μm, with its' value 3.6 mm at 300μm. Then interaction length can be long enough to satisfy the quasi-phase matching condition. A high power and compactable terahertz source can be obtained from CdTe under 1 Thz, which can be tuned continually and operated under room temperature.


The relative cell population kinetics of three transplantable murine colon tumor lines (Colon 26, 36 and 38) with different histological and metastatic characteristics were studied in relation to the response of each line to an S‐phase specific agent. The mean doubling times for the three lines between 0·1 and 1·0 g are similar (4·2 days) but marked differences are apparent in times to tumor appearance (0·1 g) and in median days to death. The length of the cell cycle is about one day and the length of the S‐phase 10–11 hr for Colon 36 and 38. The length of the cell cycle in Colon 26 is difficult to estimate by conventional methods but probably exceeds 24 hr and the S‐phase is 10–11 hr; [3H]TdR pulse labeling indices for Colon 36 and 38 decrease with time and tumor size from about 0·45 in 0·1 to 0·2 g tumors to about 0·33 at 3 g. The decrease in the [3H]TdR labeling index for Colon 26 is more pronounced (from about 0·38 at 0·1 g to 0·21 at 1·0 g). The shapes of the PLM curves and the [3H]TdR labeling index data are consistent with the observed sensitivity to an S‐phase specific agent (Palmo‐AraC, NSC 135962) in Colon 36 and the minimal response observed in Colon 26. Colon 38 is intermediate between Colon 36 and Colon 26 in kinetic properties and in response to the S‐phase agent.


the essay expounds the significance and feasibility of multimedia technology applied in English teaching and discusses about the technology of making courseware, the software available and the material resources.


In this paper, the problem of nonlinear multiagent system with reliable control is taken into account. The prescribed system consists of additive time‐varying delay, actuator faults with both linear and nonlinear functions. The main focus of this paper is to design a reliable control which guarantees the stability and consensus condition of the proposed system. Actuator faults with linear and nonlinear functions are considered in the control input. From the implementation of integral inequality, the linear matrix inequality format is derived by constructing the suitable Lyapunov Krasovskii functional for the specified system. Terminally numerical examples are furnished for the efficiency of the specified method.


An idealized description of scientific activity persists in law and legal literature. Social aspects of science are regularly acknowledged and then dismissed as temporary, irrelevant, or eliminable. A distinction should be made between eliminable and inevitable social aspects of science, and engagement with the latter would lead to a more accurate description of the scientific enterprise. After explaining how ethnomethodology is used to explore the inevitable social, institutional, and rhetorical aspects of science, I identify numerous social aspects and suggest how understanding their role in the production of scientific knowledge might help attorneys and judges in their evaluations of scientific validity.


The purpose of this study isto investigate and analyze the influence of principal leadership on student achievement at SMANegeri 1 Benai Singingi Kuantan District. This study was conducted at SMA Negeri 1 BenaiSingingi Kuantan District, where the population and the sample is the school committee, board ofeducation, teachers, school staff, parents and pupils. The data was collected by distributingquestionnaires and observation techniques, once the data is collected and then analyzed usingquantitative descriptive analysis. The result showed that the leadership of the principal SMANegeri 1 Benai was pretty good and held student achievement is quite good as well. While theinfluence exerted by the variable X (the leadership of principal) to variable Y (student achievement)is quite strong.


The social context chosen for this paper involves a group of Italian descendants in Cascavel. This group's own behavior toward their identity is a way of understanding whether the ethnic frontiers are preserved through celebrations, since this group is part of a multicultural community living with other descendants, as well as with Brazilians from other regions, such as the north of Parana State, Sao Paulo State, and Minas Gerais State. Nevertheless, Italian descendants continue to believe that the cultural expressions of ethnic celebration, such as feasts, associations, family gatherings and artistic and media movements are important to preserve the group's culture. In this sense, to demonstrate the behavior and perceptions of some Italian descendants in Cascavel toward the culture of their predecessors, we selected 18 Italian-descent respondents whose predecessors settled in the South, and that have been living in this region for over 30 years or were born in this town. They were distributed into two dimensions: the diagenerational dimension and the diasexual dimension. Based on that, we conducted one-to-one interviews, through a semi-guided questionnaire. Data enables the verification of their behavior toward the culture of the Italian-Brazilian community settled in the South, i.e., the community from Rio Grande do Sul State and/or Santa Catarina State. We concluded that depending on social factors, such as sex and age, as well as historical factors, the respondents' perceptions, beliefs and attitudes vary.


Abstract
Business schools are tasked with matching curriculum to techniques that industry practitioners rely on for profitability. Forecasting is a significant part of what many firms use to try to predict budgets and to provide guidance as to the direction the business is headed. This chapter focuses on forecasting and how well business schools match the requirements of industry professionals. Considering its importance to achieving successful business outcomes, forecasting is increasingly becoming a more complex endeavor. Firms must be able to forecast accurately to gain an understanding of the direction the business is taking and to prevent potential setbacks before they occur. Our results suggest that, although techniques vary, in large part business schools are introducing students to the forecasting tools that graduates will need to be successful in an industry setting. The balance of our chapter explores the forecasting tools used by business schools and firms, and the challenge of aligning the software learning curve between business school curriculum and industry expectations.


Daily vitamin D or calcium supplementation has no impact on mortality, vascular disease, cancer mortality, or cancer incidence, according to the results of a study published online November 23, 2011, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.


There exists a dynamic, interactive and mutual-confining relationship between small town development and fiscal institutionalization. In the under-developed regions in China, there are some typical problems, like the mismatch between the authoritative power and fiscal deficiency, chaotic management of budgetary funds, inappropriate structure of fiscal income and expenditure, large fiscal liabilities, which fundamentally hamper the positive interaction between fiscal institutionalization and sustainable development of small towns. This article makes an in-depth analysis, from the three dimensions of small town economic development level, financial management system and administrative management system, the reasons behind, pointing out the cause for negative interaction between small town development and fiscal institutionalization, and proposing reform solution for the positive interaction between small town development and fiscal institutionalization.


The systematic study of the defect structure evolution in single crystal specimens deformed in situ in the high voltage transmission electron microscope (HVTEM) was started around 1977 in the Baikov Metallurgy Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. All the experience gathered for the past 30 years has set up the basis for the determination of the way that metals adapt to the different physical factors inside the HVTEM column. In the present work the detailed phenomenology of the generation and propagation process of cracks in single crystals of Mo with different crystallographic orientations as well as the kinetics of opening of primary and secondary cracks and the tip evolution for cracks with different dislocation generation sources is presented.


This paper puts forward a remodel plan of the cracked old type elevator drum based on the causes of its cracking.This provides a new method for remaking similar type elevators.Taking 2σM3000/1511—2 type elevator as an example shows practical results.


This paper studies how private equity buyouts create value in the insurance industry, where decentralized regulation creates opportunities for aggressive tax and capital management. Using novel data on 57 large private equity deals in the insurance industry, we show that buyouts create value by decreasing insurers' tax liabilities; and by reaching-for-yield: PE firms tilt their subsidiaries' bond portfolios toward junk bonds while avoiding corresponding capital charges. Previous work on affiliated or "shadow" reinsurance and capital management misses the important role that private equity buyouts play as recent drivers of these phenomenon. The trend we document is of growing importance in the private equity industry, with insurance accounting for close to a tenth of all PE deals from 2010-2014. JEL Codes: G22, G24, G11, G28, G32 ∗We thank Itamar Drechsler, Shan Ge, Sabrian Howell, Victoria Ivashina, Andreas Jobst, Ralph Koijen, Benjamin Markowitz, Filippo Mezzanotti, Vladimir Mukharlyamov, David Scharfstein, Nobuyasu Sugimoto, and Motohiro Yogo for helpful comments and suggestions. We thank Annuities Rate Watch for sharing their data with us, Jai Thakker at SNL for helping with the Insurance Statutory Financials data, and Dalya Elmalt, James Palano, and Cole Scanlon for research assistance. A.M. Best Company owns the copyright to Best's Schedule S, which we use with permission. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. As part of its internal review process, the IMF requested that we anonymize the insurers and private equity firms in our sample.


This article explores the dystopian presence of Buenos Aires in Roberto Arlt's Los siete locos (The seven madmen) and its companion novel, Los lanzallamas (The flamethrowers). Both belong to a tradition of metropolitan narrative represented in Europe by authors such as Robert Musil, Alfred Doblin and James Joyce. Arlt's work, however, has a distinctive character, since it connects the expectations and anxieties unleashed by modernity with a dystopian imagination which has origins in nineteenth-century Argentina with its raison d'etre being profoundly linked to the formation of an Argentine national identity.


The combined use of two otter trawls efficiently samples snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and lobster (Homarus americanus) from a size ranging from early benthic stages to commercial size. A Bay of Biscay Bigouden Nephrops trawl is used in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence for snow crab stock assessments and a Devismes brown shrimp (Crangon crangon) trawl is used for sampling early benthic stages of lobster and snow crab. The technical specifications of the trawls are described.


We focus on the analysis of government expenditure in employment for its theoretical and legislative aspects. Define public expenditure in terms of their structure and breakdown. Highlights the importance of program budgeting public spending, which makes it easier to see what activities and services are used by public funds. Focus for the development of active and passive labor market policy since 1993 today. We'll track the spending of funds to the individual instruments of active and passive labor market policies. Look at the expenditure on labor market policies in the European Union. Analyze the European Social Fund and the main programming Document Sectoral Operational Program Human Resources.


Transformations are occurring in the structure of family relations, referring to matrimonial links; the new ways and patterns of behavior and relationship existing between sexes are tied to changes in the State, the society and in the community. Nowadays, violence has a great visibility and her presence is a confrontation with the Human Rights. The aim of this research was: a) to characterize the women that suffers domestic violence; b) The men that attack his women and c) The type of violence suffered and the relationship of the couple who have this situation at home. This is a descriptive, quantitative research, based on the analysis of documents registered at the DDM of Goiania, in 1999 and 2000, and the processes of domestic violence against women. It was studied the physic violence, with corporal lesions and threats. The results show the increase of denouncement from one year to the next, that the violence reasons the women perceive are the alcoholism and the husband jealousy, and that they use to evaluate negatively their relationship; what is discussed are the reasons why the majority of women few time after the denouncement, give it up and come back to their homes where the violence recommences.


Filmmaker Andy Sommer, along with the French professional vocal ensemble Accentus, created this film centered on transcriptions of primarily instrumental works, some composed specifically for the thirty-voice ensemble. The works are originally for piano, orchestra, solo voice, or small ensemble, with new text created for some. Sommer describes his film–concert in the program notes as an "a cappella musical" (although several works are accompanied), and attempts to highlight the choral performance of the ensemble by filming in architecturally diverse spaces, often bathing the singers and conductor in arty "noirlike" lighting or using other effects. The DVD is a visual response to Accentus' two popular audio CDs, Transcriptions 1 and Transcriptions 2. The audio is pre-recorded, as the film shifts abruptly between venues and scenes with the music remaining consistent; i.e., this is not a "live" performance. In fact, the video and music are not always synched up. There are three primary "scenes" used in Sommer's film: First, we hear excerpts from an interview with the ensemble's conductor, Laurence Equibey, discussing choral transcriptions, editing, marking, conferring with composers, and practice-conducting some of the music as she prepares for performance. All the while, the ensemble is periodically shown performing in various settings and in various formations Sommer calls the second "scene." The third "scene" is centered on a live performance by the ensemble, breaking away during each work to show various outdoor vistas, more footage of the ensemble in different spaces singing and rehearsing, and periodically returning to the concert performance. Between pieces, viewers are brought backstage for random pre-concert and intermission interactions between conductor and singers. All these scenes are intermingled throughout the film. Each work is performed beautifully with the transcriptions remaining true to the original work. "Winter" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, transcribed by Franck Krawczyk is an example of this. It is not a work one would normally associate with vocal music, but the ensemble is able to produce an almost instrumental sound while singing the Latin Requiem text. Among other works worth mentioning include two movements from Ravel's Ma mere l'oye whose texts match very well each particular tale, "The Field of the Dead" from Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky, and Barber's own transcription of the "Adagio" from his String Quartet, Op. 11. The only bothersome aspect of this video is that Sommer sometimes goes too far in his artistic filming and distracts from the music. There are only so many close-ups of lips, teeth, and eyebrows, or blurred and then focused scenes one can view while trying to concentrate on the remarkable artistry of this ensemble. If the music is what draws you to an ensemble like this in the first place then you might be well served to find their audio recordings to hear even more transcriptions. Program notes from several of the composer/transcribers, a short essay on "vocal art," by Vincent Borel, and texts of the works in English, French, and German, are included in a fifty-nine-page booklet.


By the application of the air permeability method to the specific surface measurement of materials ground in a steel ball mill the energy required for grinding and the new surface produced has been established for base materials (pitch cokes), baked and electro-graphitized carbon rod. It has been shown that for these materials the relationship between the energy and new specific surface may be represented by a convex curve (dS/dE>0).The results were as follows:Judging from the increase of the specific surface of ground materials only, (1) the cokes carbonized from binder tend to be ground more easily than the base materials (pitch cokes).(2) Final value of specific surface (S∞) and comminution coef.(K) were measured. It was found that K was constant for carbons, which was probably fixed according to inner structure and surface characteristics of the carbon.Final specific surface was discussed from the point of maximum impact stress produced in the pulverized materials.


The authors obtain the Raman, IR and NMR spectra of CH3-CO-CH3, CH3-CO-C2H5, C2H5-CO-C2H5, CH3-NH-CH3 and C2H5-NH-C2H5. The spectra have been analysed on the basis of a bent structure, but the present observations show that the obtained spectra can be explained on the basis of a non-rigid linear structure, in which CH2 group rotates freely with respect to the three hydrogen atoms of CH3 group. Because the observations are in good agreement with theoretical expectations for a nonrigid D3d model for R-CO-R and R-NH-R (R=CH3, C2H5) and for a non-rigid C3v model for CH3-CO-C2H5. A non-rigid structure is strongly supported by the NMR spectra. It seems to the authors sufficient evidence to justify a non-rigid linear model for C2H5-COC2H5 and CH3-CO-C2H5 that the both spectra are too simple to be explained on the basis of a bent model and that the coincidence between Raman and infrared frequencies which is the one of spectral features of C3v symmetry for CH3-CO-C2H5 occurs and the lack of coincidence between Raman and infrared frequencies which is the drastic one of spectral features of D3d symmetry with a symmetry center for C2H5-CO-C2H5 and C2H5-NH-C2H5 except in the frequencies due to CH2 group occurs.


The celestial dynasty system was a special mode of external relations. The British endeavored to alter it before the Opium War, 1840, but encountered unprecedented challenge. After W. J Napier's tyrannical way was thwarted, Elliont changed his way and got his official status affirmed by the celestial dynasty. Because what he had done did not conform to the British government, Elliont was caught into a dilemma of "complying this while violating that", and the lately-built governmental relationship broke off. In order to break the deadlock, Elliont explicitly put forward a brand-new proposition of reconciling Chinese system and Western system, which was not accepted by the celestial dynasty. When the campaigns against smoking were conducted in Guang-dong province, Elliont adjusted his proposition, so did Guang-dong authorities. Thus, Sino-Britain realized "the direct official communication", which was interrupted by the broke-off of the Opium War. Elliont, moderate and less power-consciousness, was destined to be relieved of his post. However, the mode he reconciled the East and the West, with its tendency revealed, offered some enlightenments to probing into the civilization conflicts.


We have studied anisotropic exchange interaction in (CdTe)0.5(Cd0.75Mn0.25Te)0.5 tilted superlattices fabricated by fractional monolayer growth onto a 1° off vicinal surface. The Zeeman shift in the Voigt configuration depends on the direction of the external magnetic field in the (001) plane. When applying the external magnetic field parallel to the wire direction, linear polarization of the magneto‐PL reveals reorientation of hole spins into the external field direction. Moreover, in the parallel magnetic field the valence‐band mixing occurs for fields larger than ∼3.5 T, which results in anisotropic Zeeman shifts.


BACKGROUND
Noise exposure remains one of the most ubiquitous of occupational hazards. Hearing conservation program legislation and the programs themselves were designed to lower risk of resulting occupational noise-induced hearing loss, but there has been no broad-based effort to assess the effectiveness of this policy.

METHODS
The incidence of a 10-dB standard threshold shift was examined in a group of Canadian lumber mill workers, using annual audiogram series obtained from the Workers' Compensation Board of British Columbia for the period 1979-1996 and using Cox proportional hazard models.

RESULTS
Mean cumulative noise exposure was 98.1 dB-years. The audiograms from 22,376 individuals, among whom there were 2,839 threshold shifts of 10 dB or greater (i.e., a "standard threshold shift"), were retained in multivariable analyses. After adjusting for potential confounders, continuous use of hearing protection, and initial hearing tests later in the study period, the risk for standard threshold shift was reduced by 30%. Risk increased sixfold, however, in those with the highest noise exposure.

CONCLUSIONS
Hearing conservation programs may be effective in reducing overall incidence of hearing loss. In the absence of noise control at source, however, highly exposed workers remain at unnecessary risk.


Open source optimizers are capable to solve mechanical engineering design optimization
problem which are solving the objective function of each optimization problem. A few
optimization problem was selected which are spring design, welded beam design and
pressure vessel design and this problem are benchmark problem which is commonly used
design problem from previous researchers. The aim of this study to investigate the
optimization problems and available open source optimizers, to determine the benchmark
problems and suitable optimizers to solve the benchmark problem and also to develop and
writing source code for optimizers for each benchmark problems. There are many type of
optimization software that can be used, but in this research focusing on open source
optimizers which is pyOpt.


Trade unionism has always involved the settlement of industrial disputes by negotiations between workers' representatives and employers. On occasions in the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries demands made by workers or employers were granted without question by the other side; at other times the demands were rejected out of hand and this was acquiesced in by the other side. In between these extremes lay a number of possible outcomes. Demands were sometimes conceded after strikes or lockouts or they were moderated and then accepted. The precise outcome depended upon the state of the labour market, and hence the degree of labour organization, and the cost position of the employers. These factors not only varied over time but differed in their intensity between industries and firms at any one point of time. The extreme situations occurred at high and low levels of employment. In the competition for labour, which a high level of employment implies, employers readily gave way to collective demands but as commodity markets deteriorated and the volume of production declined, they at first resisted claims which would have increased labour costs and then deliberately set out to cut wages, lengthen hours and intensify work. Workers commonly resisted initial attempts to reduce labour costs so that a spate of strikes and lockouts ensued. At the onset of the depression in 1819 and at the first suggestion of wage reductions the Lancashire miners, the North Staffordshire potters and the Nottingham framework knitters all responded by striking. The Glasgow cotton spinners resisted wage cuts in 1837 as did the London building workers and miners and textile workers in the midlands and north in 1841 and the typographical workers in 1846. Frequently, however, these disputes resulted in compromise settlements which were superseded by other compromises as trade conditions got worse.


Abstract. A study of the forest lines, tree lines and the structures of the sub-alpine forest was performed in Vallone Vallanta and in Aleve forest in the Varaita Valley (Cottian Alps, Piedmont, Italy). Forest- and tree lines were analysed over 1728 ha while forest structures were studied on six 3000-m2 plots located at the tree line (2), at the forest line (2) and inside the sub-alpine forest (2). Dendro-ecological analysis of living plants and stumps showed that Larix decidua was more abundant in the past than today and that Pinus cembra has expanded, both upwards and within sub-alpine forests. Age structure analysis revealed that the current sub-alpine forest stands were established 200–220 yr ago, probably following a clearcut. At the forest lines the tree density decreases, and some trees are more than 500 yr old, whereas at the tree lines most of the trees (almost exclusively Pinus cembra) are younger than 100 yr. Growth dynamics were investigated both by observing Basal Area Increment (BAI) in the old and dominant trees, and by comparing the BAIs of classes of trees with a given cambial age range in different time periods. The results showed that the growth rates of mature Pinus cembra and Larix decidua had increased. These increments are more substantial for Pinus than for Larix. The growth rate of young trees (< 100 yr) of both species has decreased over recent decades. This could be due to competition caused by increased tree densities that have resulted from a decrease in grazing.


An apparatus (and method) for forming a pattern on a workpiece, includes an optical phase contrast image sensor, and an imprint lithography system coupled to the optical phase contrast image sensor for laterally aligning an imprint template feature relative to the workpiece. Providing an optical phase contrast image sensor Coupling an imprint lithography system to the optical phase contrast image sensor Laterally aligning template features relative to the workpiece Patent Application Publication Jul. 6, 2006 Sheet 1 of 6 US 2006/014782.0 A1


I show that patents are pledged as collateral to raise significant debt financing, and that the pledgeability of patents contributes to the financing of innovation. In 2013, 38% of US patenting firms had previously pledged patents as collateral, and these firms performed 20% of research and development expense and patenting in Compustat. Employing court decisions as a source of exogenous variation in creditor rights, I show that patenting companies raised more debt, and spent more on R&D, when creditor rights to patents strengthened. Subsequently, these companies exhibited a gradual increase in patenting output and the use of patents as collateral.


The conformal integration of electronic systems with irregular, soft objects is essential for many emerging technologies. We report the design of van der Waals thin films consisting of staggered two-dimensional nanosheets with bond-free van der Waals interfaces. The films feature sliding and rotation degrees of freedom among the staggered nanosheets to ensure mechanical stretchability and malleability, as well as a percolating network of nanochannels to endow permeability and breathability. With an excellent mechanical match to soft biological tissues, the freestanding films can naturally adapt to local surface topographies and seamlessly merge with living organisms with highly conformal interfaces, rendering living organisms with electronic functions, including leaf-gate and skin-gate transistors. On-skin transistors allow high-fidelity monitoring and local amplification of skin potentials and electrophysiological signals. Description Weaker interfaces enable conformal films Rigid materials become more flexible when cast as thin sheets, but they will still bump and buckle when subjected to in-plane rotation or twisting motions and thus cannot conformally cover a curved and mobile surface. Yan et al. formed roughly 10-nanometer-thick freestanding sheets by spin coating films containing flakes of semiconducting materials. The flakes attract each other through bond-free van der Waals interfaces to enable mechanical stretchability and malleability as well as permeability and breathability. These properties make them suitable for bioelectronic membranes that can monitor and amplify a range of electrophysiological signals, including demonstrations of electrocardiography and electroencephalography. —MSL Freestanding nanosheet films show interlayer sliding and rotation and can conformally stretch and adapt to soft tissues.


The adaptive output-tracking problem of a class of nonlinear systems with uncontrollable unstable linearization was proposed. Using the modified adaptive adding a power integrator technique as a basic tool, a new smooth adaptive state feedback controller was designed. This controller can guarantee the global boundedness of all variables of the closed-loop systems and the output tracking error arbitrary small.


The world is becoming more and more a global marketplace and the global environment is forcing companies to take almost everything into consideration at the same time. Increase flexibility is needed to remain competitive and respond to rapidly changing markets. an effective supplier selection process is very important to the success of any organization. Supplier selection represents one of the most important decisions in a company to remain competitive,  In this context, supplier selection represents one of the most important functions to be performed by the purchasing department. The supplier selection is a multi-criterion problem which includes both qualitative and quantitative factors (criteria). In order to select the best supplier it is necessary to make a tradeoff between these tangible and intangible factors some of which may conflict. This report deals with the supplier selection where a state of the art is presented. The supplier selection process deploys a tremendous amount of a firm's financial resources. In return, firms expect significant benefits from contracting with suppliers offering high value.


The relationships among three basic parameters of traffic flow are analyzed in the article.In light of the problem of discontinuity of flowdensity curve,the author uses cusp catastrophe theory to describe the relationships among traffic flow parameters starting from the view of system theory,which is propitious to the study of traffic flow.


The variability of HD 239276 was suspected photometrically nearly twenty years ago, but was confirmed with new observations obtained in 2001 during a two-site photometric campaign carried out from Spain, in uvby β Stromgren-Crawford photometry, and China, using the Johnson  V  filter. Two low-dispersion spectra were also collected. The results establish this star as a new multiperiodic γ  Dor-type pulsator with deficiency in metallicity. Its possible λ  Boo nature is discussed. The frequency analysis shows three pulsational frequencies as significant, but some more are probably present among the residuals. The method based on phase shifts and amplitude ratios in multicolour photometry is used to identify the excited modes with non-adiabatic time-dependent convection models. A very good agreement between the theoretical and observed amplitude ratios is obtained and the two main modes are identified as $l=1$ modes. Nevertheless, our results do not allow us to discriminate between a solar abundance and a metal deficient nature for this star. The frequency ratio method is further used for the identification of the modes. The results suggest low metallicity for this star, but a λ  Boo nature may be not ruled out.


According to the status of basic physics experiments of general engineering colleges,taking cylindrical conductors as the example,the experiment principle to determine thermal coefficient is analyzed,some mistaken ideas in the experiments are probed into,a little misunderstanding is clarified,which help to correctly understand the connotation of the thermal coefficient and improve the experiment result accuracy.


The purpose of this research is to improve the product quality problem experienced by one of dry SLS manufacturing company in Indonesia. The high number of non conforming product during the past year makes the sales target to be unachievable and caused the loss due to many rework process. Tools are used in this research is to apply the seven tools approach. Flowchart, Pareto chart, and histogram are used to calculate and determine the problem to be fixed. Collection of improvement idea is done by brainstorming and improvement analysis is done by using Fishbone diagram. The results of the improvements made good results are marked by decreasing the number and percentage of non conforming product more than 50 percent of the amount of non conforming product on the previous condition prior to the improvement.


In order to improve the convenience of ocean temperature measurement and raise awareness of the marine environment, a design scheme of ship-based temperature measurement system based on LoRa was proposed. The characteristics such as low power consumption, low cost, longdistance transmission and so on of LoRa technology can meet the design requirements of data transmission. The system design idea was introduced, and the design of the temperature measurement node was focused on. The STM32f0 microcontroller and SX1278 chip were used as the core of the hardware. The hardware and software design ideas were briefly introduced. The communication distance and temperature acquisition of the system were tested. The results show that the system has the characteristics of stable working performance, long communication distance, high real-time performance, and can be widely applied to various temperature data collection system.


The subject of historical cognition is the battling, oppressed class itself. In Marx it steps forward as the final enslaved and avenging class, which carries out the work of emancipation in the name of generations of downtrodden to its conclusion. This consciousness, which for a short time made itself felt in the 'Spartacus', was objectionable to social democracy from the very beginning. In the course of three decades it succeeded in almost completely erasing the name of Blanqui, whose distant thunder [ Erzklang ] had made the preceding century tremble. It contented itself with assigning the working-class the role of the savior of future generations. It thereby severed the sinews of its greatest power. Through this schooling the class forgot its hate as much as its spirit of sacrifice. For both nourish themselves on the picture of enslaved forebears, not on the ideal of the emancipated heirs (Walter Benjamin, 1974: Thesis XII). Nothing will be done without class hatred: neither the elaboration of theory, nor practical organization. … Only one-sidedness, in science and in struggle, opens the way simultaneously to the understanding of everything and to its destruction (Tronti, 1966: 14, 84f).


who will assume responsibility for approving and disapproving research programs, and fighting for those approved. Such lines of authority should operate in an institutional setting which also provides for tapping of the best scientific minds for advice. Such advice should be free of governmentally imposed restraints except for overriding security considerations. Moreover, important sectors of research should be devolved or "federalized" by contract to private agencies. Criticism of existing policy is itself to be institutionalized, chiefly by maximizing its responsible freedom through such contractual relationships. The reviewer would call attention at this point to the role which the Congress plays in such criticism, especially now that its powers of investigation and criticism even to the point of formulation of alternative policies are strongly buttressed by staff experts. There is no better way to illustrate this than to note the recent report of the Riehlman Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations (House Report No. 2618, 83d Cong. 2d Sess.) and to note how closely it parallels the reasoning and the inquiries of this study, and how precisely it identifies its many and serious problems. The top nonpolitical administrative echelons of government must be greatly strengthened. At this level science should not dominate. Rather its findings are to be among the factors fed into the process of high formulation of high policy, policy which transcends science because it deals with objectives and values. These high administrators should be of three types: outsiders of ability recruited for specific tasks and doubtless somewhat limited periods, scientists promoted for the purpose, and career administrators. We shall hear more of this fruitful subject in the coming years, and we can ask no more than that the same urbanity, objectivity, and sense of statesmanship that appear in this book shall pervade these future discussions.


The PK merge dataset is a vital source dataset for PK statistical analysis. PK concentrations, sample collection, and dosing variables are merged and subsequently used as input for creating PK parameters. Because of the increasing complexity of clinical trial protocols, data issues, and the possible need of adding exclusion flags, one must carefully understand the study design, Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP), and specifications before building a merge dataset. This paper explains the merge data set structure and presents examples of the merge data set in different study designs and various scenarios of data exclusions. Finally, we discuss the interesting lessons learned from the programmer's point of view.


Purpose: To obtain the proper dynamic leaf gap (DLG) of a Millennium 120 MLC such that the calculated dose matches the measured. Methods: The DLG for round leaves is often measured via extrapolating the size of fields formed by sweeping synchronized MLC leaves to the size under which the measured dose equals the MLC transmission. In this situation, the tongue and groove effect would be minimal. However, practical IMRT fields are formed by non‐synchronized MLC leaves. Therefore, we measured doses from both synchronized and non‐synchronized dynamic fields. Each non‐synchronized field had fixed but different neighbouring leaf extensions (tongue‐and‐grove, T&G). The DLG was obtained for each set. Doses calculated with various values of DLG and transmission rate (TR) were compared with the measured dose. The relative discrepancies were put into a lookup table as function of gap and T&G. The table was used to estimate the pass rate of patient IMRT plans, in which each field was decomposed into sub‐fields. Each sub‐field was formed by a pair of opposite leaves. The T&G was calculated from the neighbouring leaves formed the sub‐field. Results: The extrapolated DLG was 1.8, 1.6, 1.7, 2.5 and 1.6mm for the T&G 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20mm, respectively. The MLC TR was 1.6%. For typical patient IMRT plans, the T&G values were broadly distributed from 0 to 20mm but with median around 15mm. From investigating many combinations of TR and T&G, we see the pass rate was extremely sensitive to the combination, and the highest pass rate went to the combination of transmission 1.6% and T&G 2.3mm. This Result excellently agreed with IMRT QA. Conclusion: The extrapolated DLG depends on the T&G. The proper value of DLG can be estimated from the study of non‐synchronized sweeping gaps and T&G distributions in typical patient IMRT plans.


Specialist and high‐risk drugs are increasingly being prescribed in the community due to a shift in services from secondary to primary care. This article describes the shared‐care arrange ments that need to be in place to ensure safe and effective treatment. Copyright © 2007 Wiley Interface Ltd


A square-wave amperometric detection(SWAD) method for capillary electrophoresis(CE) using end-column detection was investigated. An alternating square-wave potential instead of a constant potential previously used was adapted on the working electrode and the alternating current was sampled as the analytical signal. The effect of square-wave amplitude, frequency, initial voltage and the influence of high separation voltage on the S/N ratio were discussed in detail. The advantages of SWAD over the other reported methods using constant potential amperometric detection were of higher stability and reproducibility of the metal working microelectrode and remarkable sensitivity in the reversible electrode process. A detection limit of 1×10 -7 mol/L(S/N=3) was obtained for dapamine.


We present a detailed characterization of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet that produces the metastable oxygen states O(1S) and O (1 D) with emission of the 'auroral' green line. The device used 99.999 % pure argon as a working gas for the plasma generation. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to understand the active species present in the plasma jet and to infer the mechanism of O(1S) creation and destruction. The continuum spectrum was used in conjunction with a method based on machine learning for determining the arbitrary electron probability distribution function. Discharge and plasma properties were estimated from Lissajous plots and using calculations with the BOLSIG+ software. The metastable oxygen forms for all operating parameters of the plasma jet system in a linear electrode configuration. The camera images provided information of the overall plasma jet behavior as parameters were altered. While the metastable oxygen was produced for every iteration, the plasma jet behavior changed considerably when the powered and grounded electrodes are switched. Small admixtures of oxygen and nitrogen were introduced in the plasma jet to understand the kinetic processes of metastable oxygen destruction and the 557.7 nm auroral line. This behavior has implications for plasma reactive chemistry in fundamental areas such as auroral physics as well as technological applications of plasmas.


A comprehensive DES quality numerical analysis has been carried out for reacting flows in constant-area and divergent scramjet combustor configurations with and without a cavity. Transverse injection of hydrogen is considered over a broad range of injection pressure. The corresponding equivalence ratio of the overall fuel/air mixture ranges from 0.167 to 0.50. The work features detailed resolution of the flow and flame dynamics in the combustor, which was not typically available in most of the previous studies. In particular, the oscillatory flow characteristics are captured at a scale sufficient to identify the underlying physical mechanisms. Much of the flow unsteadiness is related not only to the cavity, but also to the intrinsic unsteadiness in the flowfield. The interactions between the unsteady flow and flame evolution may cause a large excursion of flow oscillation. The roles of the cavity, injection pressure, and heat release in determining the flow dynamics are examined systematically.


As an important role of supply chain, management impact deeply on the efficiency of the supply chain. This article first introduced the relational theory of rough set, then described the application on the customer risk management based on the analysis of a large number of historical transactions, gave the realization of computer program, and detailed the practical application. It has greatly proved the effective of the theory.


Introduction: There are substantive articles published within the last ten years describing the use of linear accelerator (Linac) based treatment of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). In this paper, we report a single case of a patient with classic TN successfully treated by radiosurgical rhizotomy using a modern image-guided linear accelerator with a high-definition multileaf collimator and an optically guided targeting system. The measurement of absolute dose prior to treatment greatly facilitated our confidence with radiosurgical lesioning. Materials and Methods: This 54-year-old patient had a six-year history of lancinating pain involving the lower third of the right face which dramatically intensified in December of 2012, shortly after beginning Vincristine. A treatment plan was generated using a nine-field dynamic arc technique. A target volume was placed at 2-3 mm from the root entry zone measuring 6 x 3 x 3 mm. The PTV dose was prescribed to 60 Gy to the 80% isodose line. Initial verification of absolute dose using Gafchromic film resulted in an increase of the planned MU's by 7.5%. Remeasurement improved the absolute dose to within ±2 % of the calculated dose. Results: The patient was evaluated two weeks and three months following treatment. Her trigeminal pain was 80% resolved after two weeks and 100% at the three-month evaluation. She required none of her chronic pre-treatment medications and demonstrated no clinically detected sensory deficits. Conclusions: Linear accelerator-based radiosurgery utilizing intrafraction motion management and image guidance offers an acceptable alternative for the radiation treatment of trigeminal neuralgia patients if absolute doses are measured prior to treatment.


Clinical significance of endometrial and peripheral blood natural killer (NK) and regulatory T cells (Tregs) during frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycles has not been well characterized.


Objective To characterize ouabain-like immunoreactivity in human urine Methods Sensitive radioimmunoassay for ouabain characterized by high- performance liquid chromatography Results Serial dilution of urinary immunoreactive ouabain paralleled the standard curve, but not so plasma immunoreactive ouabain. Intravenous administration of 86nmol (62.5 μg) ouabain caused a rapid rise in ouabain immunoreactivity in plasma of healthy volunteers with a maximum of 1.7nmol/l 8min after injection and returned to basal levels after 6 h. Ouabain immunoreactivity rose to 36 nmol/l in urine, suggesting that exogenously administered ouabain can be measured reliably in plasma and urine. Analytical reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (isopropanol-propanol biphasic gradient; linear acetonitrile gradient) of sample extracts before assay demonstrated measurable amounts of ouabain-related material only in native urine, but not in plasma. When plasma and urine were spiked with ouabain standard or normal volunteers were injected with ouabain, the assay reliably measured ouabain Conclusion: A substance closely related to ouabain can be detected in urine, but circulates, if at all, in small amounts in human plasma


This paper provides a brief overview of the Regional Economic Impact Model for Highway Systems (REIMHS), a description of the methodology's components, and a sample application for the 16-county Dallas/Fort Worth area. Relying on the Bureau of Economic Analysis' multipliers for regional industrial output, earnings of employees in those industries, and employment, the methodology takes standard highway data input and derives industrial output, earnings, and employment impacts of addressing or not addressing highway construction or rehabilitation needs on a variety of highway systems. For example, this prototype methodology and model showed that not addressing construction needs on a typical Interstate highway results in a loss in motorist benefits for the Dallas/Fort Worth area equivalent to $1.8 million in regional output, $580,000 in regional earnings, and 27 jobs. On the other hand, undertaking $10 million in Interstate improvements will stimulate $17.6 million in regional output, $4.6 million in earnings, and 203 jobs. These findings were compared with earlier studies and found to be reasonable. The highway data input consists of allocating highway investments to the various highway industries and estimating and allocating savings resulting from highway construction and rehabilitation improvements. The savings result from increased efficiency, mobility, and safety for vehicular traffic exposed to congestion. The authors conclude that the methodology is practical and workable and that the results are reasonable.


The fluidized bed reactor for preparing vinyl chloride through reaction between hydrogen chloride and acetylene and preparation process belongs to the field of chemical technology. The fluidized bed reactor includes fluidized bed, reactant material gas inlet, heat exchange pipes, member, cyclonic separator, reacted gas outlet, catalyst feeding port and catalyst removing port connected successively to the wall of the fluidized bed. After the catalyst in the molar ratio to the reactant material of 1.01-1.1 to 1 is fed, hydrogen chloride and acetylene are introduced are converted through reaction into vinyl chloride completely, and the reacted product is made to enter the post equipment through the gas outlet. The present invention has simple reaction member, high bubble crushing effect, low catalyst loss, greatly strengthened gas-solid contact, high vinyl chloride product purity and other advantages.


At present, the level of energy development and utilization continues to increase, but it is still difficult to meet the growing energy demand. Because different types of energy consume a lot, and there are some barriers between different energy markets. The construction of energy Internet market can strengthen the incentive role of market competition mechanism, make the market regulation ability play a greater role, and make the energy distribution more reasonable and efficient. Therefore, this paper constructs the energy Internet market trading system from the aspects of energy Internet market subject, market object, market structure and trading mode. It aims to provide a theoretical basis for the construction of the energy Internet market.


Quantitative phase field models have been extensively used to study the solidification behavior of alloys under different conditions. However, a longstanding challenge of phase field models is the directional bias caused by the discretization-induced lattice effects. In particular, widely used discretization methods may introduce significant spurious anisotropy for simulations of polycrystalline solidification. In this paper, we demonstrate a feasible 2D discretization strategy utilizing a hexagonal mesh to reduce the lattice-induced anisotropy of the phase field model. The leading differential terms of the 2D discretization methods are analyzed by using known methods in Fourier space. Using Taylor expansion of discrete Fourier Transform up to sixth order, we found that the proposed discretization strategy is more accurate and isotropic than other methods, including the isotropic discretization recently proposed by Ji et al.[1]. Additionally, the proposed 2D discretization method can be easily incorporated into a semi-implicit algorithm to solve phase field equations, thereby greatly reducing time step constraints and improving computational efficiency compared to explicit approaches. To prove the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed isotropic discretization with semi-implicit algorithm, 2D simulations of alloy solidification with different discretization schemes were performed and compared. We show that the proposed discretization using a hexagonal mesh can drastically reduce grid-induced anisotropy compared to conventional methods.


Purpose – In recent years a significant number of intellectual capital (IC) metrics has been developed and applied in many organizations. However, there is still a strong need to specify the relations among the different categories of intellectual assets that exist in the context of small to medium‐sized enterprises (SME), and to determine the way these assets affect financial performance. This paper has a dual scope; first, to specify these relations, and, second, to explore the impact of IC on corporate performance.Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses are tested through a survey conducted on Greek knowledge‐intensive SMEs of the service sector. Firms' perceptions regarding intellectual capital categories, which were measured through the answers given on a structured questionnaire, and accounting data gathered from financial databases were combined.Findings – The findings indicate that the interaction of certain categories of intellectual assets in SMEs is in some aspects different from the pattern e...


In this research work some mathematical models have been simulated to estimate the regression coefficients, which are also known as Angstrom coefficients, with monthly and daily average solar radiation on horizontal surface using bright sunshine hours. This study of solar energy, information on solar radiation and its components at a given location is very essential for scientists, engineers, architects, agriculturists and hydrologists for various applications such as measuring aerosol optical thickness, solar heating, cooking, drying and interior illumination of buildings. But, for developing countries like Bangladesh, we have limitation of sophisticated measuring instruments. So, we have used some latitude based empirical models to calculate an important solar radiation geometry parameter- Angstrom Coefficients for Bangladesh without any help of costly instruments. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ijns.v2i1.10882 International Journal of Natural Sciences (2012), 2(1): 38-42


Sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM), a common adult‐onset myositis, is characterized by an antigen‐driven inflammatory response and vacuolar degeneration. The cause is unknown. We report the association of sIBM with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and explore the clonality and viral specificity of the autoinvasive T cells.


We present a statistical study which is aimed at understanding the fact that some flares (type I flare) are associated with sharp variations of the transport rate of magnetic helicity (dH/dt) while others are not (type II flare). The sample consists of 49 M-class and X-class flares which were produced by nine isolated active regions. Using high temporal magnetograms obtained by the Michelson Doppler Imager instrument on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, we calculate the temporal variation of dH/dt during the flaring time, and compare its profile with the soft X-ray flux. We find that type I flares have longer duration and higher peak flux in soft X-ray than type II flares. Furthermore, the ratio of the total unsigned magnetic flux of the host active region to that of the visible solar disk is also higher for type I flares, while the total flux itself is independent of the flare type. Our results show that whether the flare is associated with sharp variations of dH/dt depends on the properties of the flare and of its host active region. The relationship between dH/dt and microwave bursts is also discussed.


The principle of exact images recently developed by two of the present authors for the Sommerfeld problem is here applied for the classical impedance problem of antennas above the ground. In the present method, the effect of the ground is taken into account with an image source, which is located in complex space, leading to a modified Green function for the antenna current integral equation. The image of the antenna can be effectively determined through new expressions evaluated for the image current function. The stationary functional for the antenna impedance is extended to take into account the effect of the ground. As examples of the theory, impedance expressions for small dipoles and half-wave dipoles are formulated with numerical results calculated and compared with previous results. A simple method applicable for small microcomputers is suggested for calculating the impedance of wire antennas with finite thickness from that of infinitesimally thin antenna if the height of the antenna from the ground is not too small. Also, a practical method is suggested for the determination of ground parameters from horizontal \lambda/2 dipole minimum resistance and height measurements.


Introduction: Rates of caesarean section surgery are rising worldwide, but the determinants of this increase, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, are controversial. In this study, we aimed to analyze the contribution of specific obstetric populations to changes in caesarean section rates, by using the Robson classification in two WHO multi country surveys of deliveries in health-care facilities. The Robson system classifies all deliveries into one of ten groups on the basis of five parameters: obstetric history, onset of labor, fetal lie, number of neonates, and gestational age. Material and Method: This is a prospective and cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Tertiary care Teaching Hospital over a period of 1 year. The study population included all women who under-went CS in the hospital. Laparotomy for uterine rupture and files with missing information were excluded.


In this paper, we introduce a uniform invexity concept for non-smooth multiobjective program which synthesizes the invexity of functions involved in program, instead of using the invexity of every single function. The sufficient optimality conditions and Mond-Weir type dual model for the non-smooth multiobjective program are constructed. Several theorems on Mond-Weir duality are established.


In order to explore the scientific nature behind quality problem in engineering manufacturing industry, the research ideology of quality problem group was put forward, and the internal mechanism of quality problem group was analyzed, and the discrete dynamic model of quality problem group was established. At last, it was found that the quality problem group followed the mixed motion law composed of linear system and bilinear system.


The results of the investigations of the polarization
properties in thin layers of vitreous Ge28.5 Pb14.0Fe1.0S56.5 are
presented. A process of dipole-relaxation polarization was
discovered, the activation energy of which turned out to be equal to
Ea = (0.97 ± 0.14) eV. It has been determined that charge transfer
in the Ge28.5Pb14.0Fe1.0S56.5 hybrid system is a thermally activated
process with an activation energy of Ea = (0.54 ± 0.01) eV. The
calculation results allow us to conclude that the glass-forming ca-
pacity of the (Ge28.5 Pb15.0S56.5)100−x Fex system decreases linearly
with an increase in the proportion of metal in the glass structure.


The tensile strength of filled elastomers was studied as a function of the filler particles size proceeding from a hypothesis of the statistical character (with respect to both time and space) of the nucleation of every new damage in the sample. The hypothesis is based on the notions about damaging thermal fluctuations developed in the medium. The probability of appearance of the damage cluster in a given material was determined for the clusters of various dimensions and degrees of formation.


As a species becomes more rare and thus more endangered, its remaining individuals are likely to become confined to a few small and fragmented populations. Such small populations are vulnerable to epidemics of disease and, virtually by definition, small populations are unable to support in the long term species-specific pathogens that are a major threat to their viability (Dobson and Miller, 1989). Thus generalist pathogens such as rabies, which can infect a wide range of species, pose the greatest threat to endangered species. In recent years it has become apparent that rabies can be a real threat to endangered species, with mortality in African wild dogs (Alexander et al., 1993; Gascoyne et al., 1993) and Blandford's foxes (Macdonald 1993) which survive in small fragmented populations. This has given a new dimension to concerns about rabies as a conservation issue.


Much recent analysis of South Africa's outward-looking policy towards independent Africa has asserted that the implications of this are primarily economic in character: 'South Africa is thrusting out into Africa for a number of reasons. She needs markets for her manufactured goods. She wants to export capital.'1 Indeed, many observers carry the argument further, and suggest that she is seeking an economic and political role in Africa analogous to that of the United States in Latin America. In the words of Sean Gervasi:


Background: Osteoporotic tibial fractures may be a challenge both in diagnosis and treatment. The aim of treatment is obtaining joint congruity and normal alignment, joint stability, adequate soft tissue healing and functional range of motion. The goal is prevention of degenerative osteoarthritis. In the majority of cases the treatment of tibial plateau fractures consists of open reduction and internal fixation. Objectives: The presentation of two aspects of the osteoporotic fracture – the insufficiency fracture and fixation of the fractures by a more appropriate method. Patients: We present our experience with 7 cases treated during the past 2 years. Two of these cases presented with no story of trauma, normal X-rays and were diagnosed clinically and on CT and bone scanning. The other 5 cases resulted of minor trauma and operative treatment was in order, using a modified fixation technique – a small fragment plate. Results: The patients suffering from fractures with normal X-rays suffered from insufficiency fractures and were treated conservatively. The patients suffering from depressed, split or comminuted fractures were treated by open reduction and internal fixation with a small fragment plate. Discussion and Conclusion: Insufficiency fractures often are misdiagnosed as exacerbation of chronic metabolic or inflammatory diseases and a fracture is not suspected until intense augmentation of radionuclide is seen on bone scan. Screening of patients presenting wit non-traumatic knee pain has shown a prevalence insufficiency fractures of the tibial plateau between 3 to 8% of the cases. These cases may be much more common than we commonly presume. The fractures in need of reduction and fixation of the plateau fracture involve raising the depressed articular fragment, the possible addition of bone graft augmentation and buttressing of the osteochondral fragment with a plate. These buttress plates may hold the cortical rim of the plateau but many times fail in maintaining the reduction of the intra-articular surface of the plateau. This again results in degenerative changes in the joint and pain. Internal fixation of these fractures with small fragment plates may be a solution to this problem, as demonstrated by the 5 presented cases treated operatively. The plates are smaller in size and are held by more screws, which are more proximal to the articular surface. This way they allow better control and maintenance of the anatomic reduction and in combination with an a-traumatic dissection and less stress shielding effect, result in a low rate of local complications.


Reported visible light communication systems using organic light-emitting diode focus on two main modulation approaches: single carrier modulation with artificial neural networks and multi-carrier modulation. Due to differences in experimental conditions, there is no direct comparison between the two approaches. In this paper, the best modulation schemes from both approaches were experimentally tested on the same system. Experimental results showed advantages and disadvantages by direct comparison between approaches. Moreover, through rigorous training and testing, experimental results indicated that the same artificial neural networks structure could be re-used to greatly reduce testing time of similar systems. Last but not least, our system employed driving circuit with active equalizer, which expanded system frequency response by 45 times.


Safe overloads for transformers can be determined by a modification of the American Standards Association rule for overloading to permit the use of an equivalent ambient temperature, which will result in the same loss of life as for continous operation at 30 degrees centigrade ambient and full load.


We introduce the Fixed Cluster Repair System (FCRS) as a novel architecture for Distributed Storage Systems (DSS) that achieves a small repair bandwidth while guaranteeing a high availability. Specifically, we partition the set of servers in a DSS into ${s}$ clusters and allow a failed server to choose any cluster other than its own as its repair group. Thereby, we guarantee an availability of $s-1$. We characterize the repair bandwidth vs. storage trade-off for the FCRS under functional repair and show that the minimum repair bandwidth can be improved by an asymptotic multiplicative factor of 2/3 compared to the state of the art coding techniques that guarantee the same availability. Furthermore, we introduce cubic codes designed to minimize the repair bandwidth of the FCRS under the exact repair model. We prove an asymptotic multiplicative improvement of 0.79 in the minimum repair bandwidth compared to the existing exact repair coding techniques that achieve the same availability. We show that cubic codes are information-theoretically optimal for the FCRS with 2 and 3 complete clusters. A full version of this paper is accessible at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.02653.pdf


For the parameter back analysis problems in the field of rock mechanics,excessive computational costs and time-consuming grads calculation in grades optimization methods are often a great challenge. A concept of adjoint vector of grads vector is proposed and a variational adjoint method is developed to calculate the grades vector for the parameter back analysis. All grades vectors can be derived at the same time. The formulation for the presented method is simple and the computing time is short. It can be found from the results that the method is feasible and valid. A case study shows that the developed method is reasonable and applicable for practical problems.


Wall-bounded turbulence in pressure gradients is studied using a Poiseuille-Couette flow, and Direct Numerical Simulation at appreciable Reynolds numbers. The key motivation is to include adverse pressure gradients, unlike the favorable ones in the wellstudied Poiseuille flow. The central question is how the logarithmic law reacts to the gradient in the total shear stress, and ratios of "log region" stress to wall stress, τ, ranging from roughly 0.6 to 1.8 have been obtained. The normalized pressure gradients p ≡ dτ/dy at the two walls are −0.00056 and +0.034. The outcome is in agreement with the experimental findings in boundary layers by Head and Galbraith: the logarithmic velocity profile is vastly more resilient than two other, equally plausible assumptions, namely universality of the mixing length at l = κy and of the eddy viscosity νt = uτκy. This is with a unique Karman constant κ, of course. This appears new as a DNS result, and free of the experimental uncertainty over skin-friction. It is probably more remarkable in the adverse gradient, in that the wall shear stress is small and could be expected to be overwhelmed by the stress in the bulk of the flow. We view this finding as somewhat counter-intuitive, but also as quite well-established.


Over the last 100 years traditional culturing techniques have shaped our understanding of the oral microflora. However it is generally accepted that around 50% of the oral microbiota is unculturable. Recent advances in molecular biology have given rise to numerous techniques which form the basis of a number of strategies that can be used to detect and identify micro-organisms to levels and specificities unattainable by conventional culture techniques. The molecular biology basis of these techniques can be conveniently split in to two broad groups. (1) DNA hybridization techniques: these are used for slot blot and checkerboard analysis and when combined with microscopy form a powerful visualization technique – fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). (2) PCR based approach: development of the PCR concept has lead to techniques such as global PCR, specific PCR, nested PCR, PCR-cloning, reverse transcriptase PCR, real time PCR and PCR-DGGE. The above techniques can usually be used on their own however they provide even more power when used in conjunction with each other. For example PCR-cloning or PCR-DGGE can be used to analyse a whole community. From this, un-named or unculturable taxa can be 'identified' and targeted for further characterisation. This may involve the use of PCR specific for the taxon in question, to survey a large number of samples to obtain some prevalence data or in a real time setting to quantify the taxon. Indeed, a fluorescently labelled probe could be synthesized and used to visualize the taxon in an appropriate environmental sample or microcosm using confocal laser scanning microscopy. All the above techniques add up to a powerful set of tools which if selected appropriately have the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the microbial world.


BACKGROUND: Incidence rates (IRs) for viral infections may vary with the frequency of donation among repeat, community, whole‐blood (WB) donors, with IRs thought to be lower among donors with higher frequency of donation.


This paper reports the findings from three case studies of building projects where a conscious decision was taken to incorporate appropriate technologies into the structure of the buildings. The paper describes each project, documents any problems encountered in the implementation process, and assesses the success of the technologies in meeting client expectations in terms of time, cost and quality. The broader economic implications of the use of these technologies are also examined. The conclusion emerges that the benefits to the economy from the use of appropriate technologies may be greater than the benefits to individual clients.


In this article, a new design of the state observer is proposed to reduce the unstable low-speed region of the adaptive full-order observer (AFO) based speed sensorless speed control of induction motors (IM). The proposed state observer is designed in z-domain rather than in s-domain following the pole-placement approach. The convergence rate of the proposed observer can be made faster than that of the IM poles without extra oscillation effects and the unstable low-speed region of AFO can be reduced to the zero-synchronous-frequency (ZSF) line. Also, a modified adaptation law of the AFO is derived to estimate the rotor speed. Based on the modified AFO, a continuous control set model predictive control (CCS-MPC) is designed for the inner-loop torque control. The cost function of the CCS-MPC is made of the predicted tracking errors on the state and control input. Finally, the dual-loop speed sensorless speed control using the modified AFO and CCS-MPC is presented in simulations and experiments.


We propose a geometric approach to the design of a look-up table-based two-level quantized soft-output (SO) demodulator for coded schemes with quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals with Gray bit labeling. This allows to derive quantized bit logarithmic likelihood ratios (LLRs) directly from the observables, without requiring the actual computation, followed by quantization, of LLRs at the output of the demodulator. The proposed approach is applied to a bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) scheme. The obtained results show a limited performance loss with respect to unquantized SO demodulation.


Several formalisms have been defined to represent combined continuous and discrete event simulation models. In the "Theory of Modeling and Simulation" the DEV&DESS formalism was shown to have the properties expected from a universal representation of such models. Also it was shown that DEVS can provide accurate simulations of DESS (Differential Equation Specified System) models. In this paper, we elucidate the characteristic primitives needed to express hybrid or combined continuous/discrete event models.


The multi-channel semiconductor device is disclosed. Such multi-channel semiconductor devices, the first channel and has an independent second channel to serve as a first die and a second chip having a first channel in order to function as the first chip, the storage capacity and the size of the first and a die and the second die same. The first die and the second internal interface for communicating information for controlling the internal operation of the first and second die to the second die being between the chips relative to each other are arranged in the same package. The information is transmitted to a counterpart die through the internal interface in accordance with the present invention. Therefore, a manufacturing yield is improved.


The photoluminescence and spin properties of ensembles of color centers in silicon carbide are enhanced by fabricating optically isolated slab waveguide structures and carefully controlling annealing and cooling conditions. We find that the photoluminescence signal of an ensemble of implanted defects is enhanced in slab waveguides by an order of magnitude over identically implanted bulk defects. The slab waveguide-enhanced photoluminescence of several defect species is used to study recombination and diffusion in the presence of thermal annealing with both rapid quench cooling and a longer return to ambient conditions. The confined mechanical geometry of a thin film is exploited to measure the spin-strain coupling of the negatively charged silicon monovacancy. The methods in this work can be used to exercise greater control on near-surface emitters in silicon carbide and better understand and control the effects of strain on spin measurements of silicon carbide based color centers.


Energy disposal in the CN(X) product of the H+HCN reaction has been studied by the method of time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. Translationally hot H atoms were formed by photodissociation of H 2 S and HBr at 193 nm, leading to center-of-mass collision energies of 53 and 58 kcal mol -1 . The rotational distributions for CN(X,υ=0,1) can be well described by single Boltzmann temperatures of 1400 and 1600 K, respectively, and correspond to 12% of the H atom energy above an apparent threshold of about 30 kcal mol -1


【Task】 Providing a sensor device having high sensitivity while a robust for the measurement of the deformation of the surface receiving the force. A In the sensor device for measuring deformation of the surface caused by the forces, on the surface M, the first strip S1 and the second strip S2 in the same plane, arranged to form a tunnel junction, these first and at least the first strip S1 of the second strip is arranged on the movable in the plane M, thereby, when the deformation of the surface caused by the action of the force, the interval of the two strips S1, S2 is enlarged to each other It was adapted.


The Australian outback is a place of isolation. Harsh and uninviting, it seems to hold with
in it
the ghosts of past crimes
and a will to destroy anyone who dare try to colonise and contain it.
Yet, for the past two hundred years many hav
e sought to dominate this land
and in Australian
horror cinema
the
land is beginning to take its revenge.
'Ozploitation' films such as
Wake i
n
Fright
(1971)
,
Long Weekend
(1978)
, Roadg
ames
(1981)
, Razorback
(1984),
Fair
Game
(1986), and
Dark Age
(1987), as well as post
-
2000
horror films such as
Black Water
(2007),
Rogue
(2007)
,
and
Dying Breed
(2008), often have
characters batt
ling against the
unforgiving
environment and its inhabitants
.
In
retaliation against the exploitation and abuse perpetrated
by
these white settlers, these films present nature as a presence that s
eeks to avenge and
punish
past wrongs.
T
hrough the analysis of several key fi
lms from Oz
ploitation past and present, this article will
investigate how
these films subvert many common Australian stereotypes and question
Australian's national identity as one that is predominantly white, male and rural
,
demonstrating that nonhuman
an
imals and landscape play an important role in commenting
on, and embodying, national history and identity.


The intent of this paper is twofold: first, to comment on the general properties of the UNIX∗ operating system as a tool for software product development and as a basis for such products; and second, to introduce the remaining papers of this issue.


The electromagnetic properties of a metal ground plane can be altered by including a periodic surface texture. Such surface textures can have high surface impedances, which consist of an array of metal patches with periodicity of patches less than the free space wavelength. The proposed high impedance surface eliminates the propagation of surface waves and thereby reducing the unwanted mutual coupling effect. In this paper the design of such high impedance surface is proposed for beam steering applications. The surface can steer in four corners with beam angle of 62' and generates a tilted beam with maximum peak gain of 8dBi. This proposed electromagnetic surface offers a low cost alternative for beam steering antennas.


This article is made to present the formulation of a marketing plan to the Company "PRODESEIN LTDA". In Bogota city, to develop the home sector and thus achieve a new market, therefore an increase in sales of the company and a brand remembrance or recall. For this, it was made an internal and external diagnosis of the company, strategies and tactics were developed, management indicators to measure marketing objectives are raised and the execution budget is developed to determine the viability of the project and the positioning in the new market


Most conflicts between countries, originate from issues regarding the quantity and quality of shared water resources. During the last decades, many tools and models for river basin management have been developed according to the international and European law, conventions and other agreements. The proposed methodology is a quantitative outlook of the popular SWOT analysis. The technique suggested in this article has been empirically tested and contributes in strengthening the present highly subjective technique. This method, inspired by marketing management, has been shaped to be used for measuring Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat in a transboundary river system and can be a useful tool for cooperation between the countries that share a river, in the framework of an adaptive management.


Objective:To discuss the infection problem of obstetrics and gynecology nursing.Method:945 patients were surveyed and analyzed in our hospital.Result:The infection rates of obstetrics and gynecology were 4.5% and 3.8%;Hospitalization time of obstetrics infection patients was longer than non infected patients(P0.05).Conclusion:Obstetrics infection problem in patients is a complex issue,we need to strengthen the nursing staff training,so as to reduce the rate of infection during the nursing process,and make patients recover as soon as possible.