It is expected that autonomous vehicles capable of driving without human supervision will be released to market within the next decade. For user acceptance, such vehicles should not only be safe and reliable, they should also provide a comfortable user experience. However, individual perception of comfort may vary considerably among users. Whereas some users might prefer sporty driving with high accelerations, others might prefer a more relaxed style. Typically, a large number of parameters such as acceleration profiles, distances to other cars, speed during lane changes, etc., characterize a human driver's style. Manual tuning of these parameters may be a tedious and error-prone task. Therefore, we propose a learning from demonstration approach that allows the user to simply demonstrate the desired style by driving the car manually. We model the individual style in terms of a cost function and use feature-based inverse reinforcement learning to find the model parameters that fit the observed style best. Once the model has been learned, it can be used to efficiently compute trajectories for the vehicle in autonomous mode. We show that our approach is capable of learning cost functions and reproducing different driving styles using data from real drivers.


As mental health systems respond to policy definitions of serious emotional disturbance and the need to prioritize and evaluate mental health services, there is an increasing need for multidimensional measures of children's mental health functioning. The Colorado Client Assessment Record (CCAR)is one of two multidimensional measures currently in use in state systems. The validity of the dimensional structure of the CCAR was assessed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with a sample of child mental health service recipients. The nine-dimension conceptual model that undergirds the CCAR was found to fit the data well. Key words: child mental health; confirmatory factor analysis; level of functioning; mental health Since the early 1980s public children's mental health services systems have focused on the development of a "system of care" (Stroul & Friedman, 1986) that can provide a continuum of services to children with mental health problems and their families. Some researchers have noted that development and implementation of systems of care have proceeded without adequate information on the outcomes achieved both by individual service components and by systems as a whole. They have identified the lack of child outcome information as a critical issue (Heflinger, 1992; Rugs & Kutash, 1994). Increased interest in managed care administrative structures has elevated the importance of documented client outcomes (Kane, Bartlett, & Potthoff, 1995), particularly measures that have been validated for child service recipients (Kutash, Duchnowski, Johnson, & Rugs, 1993). In this context, interest in measuring children's mental health functioning has become a critical issue for researchers and public mental health administrators (Charous & Carter, 1996; Dana, Conner, & Allen, 1996). Because federal definitions of children with serious emotional disturbance (SED) require an assessment of "functional impairment" (Federal Register, 1993), the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) recently commissioned a review of measures of impairment currently in use in the states (Hodges & Gust, 1995). Sixteen states, including Colorado, were found to be using at least one of five measures of impairment. Of these five measures, only two assessed multiple dimensions of functioning. Porkorny (1991), in a review of level of functioning measures used by state mental health agencies, has noted that although evidence of the utility of these measures for agency administrators is clear, evidence for the soundness of such measures (that is, their reliability and validity) is much less compelling. This need for increased attention to the psychometric properties of these instruments is echoed in Hodges and Gust's (1995) more recent review of children's level-of-functioning measures. The Colorado Client Assessment Record (CCAR) is a multidimensional level-of-functioning measure that has been gathered on all clients served in the Colorado mental health system for some 20 years. The CCAR is one of the two multidimensional measures of functioning currently in use in state systems (Porkorny, 1991). Although some analysis of the structure of the CCAR has been done for adult populations (Wackwitz, Foster, & Ellis, 1990), the instrument has not been examined for a population of children. This article reports the results of a preliminary instrument validation study in which both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine the factorial structure of the CCAR with a sample of child recipients of mental health services. SERIOUS EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE IN CHILDREN: IMPORTANCE OF FUNCTIONAL CRITERIA The importance of child level of functioning as a research construct has its origins in the evolving definitions of child mental health problems and in the evolution of assessment approaches. There is little consensus on the definition of SED in children and the resultant criteria for mental health services (Brandenberg, Friedman, & Silver, 1990; Lourie et al. …


sticker fig 3 a&b . DISCUSSION Nasal foreign bodies produce local inflammation which may result in pressure necrosis and damage to the nasal cavity and surrounding structures. Symptoms are mainly caused by inflammation, mucosal damage and extension into adjacent structures and could include sneezing, epistaxis, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, pain, and eventually rhino sinusitis 2,8 . Some foreign bodies are inert and may remain in the nose for years without mucosal changess. However, most inanimate foreign bodies in nose initiate congestion and swelling of the nasal mucosa, with the possibility of pressure necrosis producing ulceration, mucosal erosion, and epistaxis. The retained secretion, the decomposed foreign body, and the accompanying ulceration can result in foul fetor. These changes further impact the foreign body because of ABSTRACT Foreign bodies of the nose in adults are a rare entity and seldom encountered, although they are frequently encountered among children and mentally challenged patients. Here we present 3 unusual cases of foreign body nose, 1 adults and 2 childrens. They all predominantly presented with nasal symptoms and finally turned out to have foreign body lodged in their nasal cavity. Tooth in the nasal cavity of first adult case, polythene carry bag piece in nasal cavity of second children case .Company poythene sticker foreign body in the third children case .


Measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPT) have attracted increasing attention due to the rich phenomenology of entanglement structures and their relation with quantum information processing. Since physical systems are unavoidably coupled to environment, quantum noise needs be considered in analyzing a system with MIPT, which may qualitatively modify or even destroy certain entanglement structure of the system. In this Letter, we investigate the effect of quantum noise modeled by reset quantum channel acting on each site with probability $q$ on MIPT. Based on the numerical results from the Clifford circuits, we show that the quantum noise can qualitatively change the entanglement properties - the entanglement obeys ``area law'' instead of ``volume law'' with projective measurement rate $p<p_{c}$. In the quantum noise induced ``area law'' phase, the entanglement exhibits a novel $q^{-1/3}$ power-law scaling. Using an analytic mapping of the quantum model to a classical statistical model, we further show that the ``area law'' entanglement is the consequence of the noise-driven symmetry-breaking field and the $q^{-1/3}$ scaling can be understood as the result of Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) fluctuations of the directed polymer with an effective length scale $L_{\rm{eff}} \sim q^{-1}$ in a random environment.


Despite multidimensional efforts to improve road traffic safety in Kuwait, traffic violations and road accidents have increased steadily in recent years. Official statistics, although incomplete, indicate that the rates of road accident and accident fatalities in Kuwait are three to four times those in the United States. It is argued that the rapidly growing use of mobile phones by drivers has added a new dimension to the complexity of the driving task and further contributes to the deterioration of road safety, particularly in undisciplined driving environments like Kuwait's. A random sample of 2,000 drivers was surveyed. Data on socioeconomic traits and on mobile phone availability, frequency of use, and contribution to road accidents were obtained. Seventy-three percent ofthe sample drivers owned a mobile phone, had owned it for nearly 2.5 years, and had made 1.4 calls during an average daily trip. An average individual in the sample had been involved in 0.4 road accidents since acquiring a mobile phone; 0.21 accidents occurred while he or she or the other driver(s) was using a mobile phone. It is strongly recommended that driver mobile-phone use be banned while the driver's vehicle is in motion.


Abstract Helping students recognize the value of humanistic inquiry can be challenging, especially in required courses. This essay presents a solution: an assignment in which students were asked to pitch one of the required readings to Netflix for adaptation. Through close readings of student responses and an analysis of the "so what" component in a later literary analysis essay, I argue that this nontraditional assignment helped students develop disciplinary skills while articulating disciplinary value. This easily adaptable assignment can help instructors increase student motivation, particularly in courses that fulfill departmental and general education requirements.


Traditional water displacement volumetry, based on Archimedes' principle of buoyancy, is considered the gold-standard for limb volume measurement. However, the routine use of this technique is associated with a series of disadvantages: the method is cumbersome to the patient, messy and unhygienic, and it takes a great amount of the examiner's time. This article presents the prototype of a new piece of equipment designed according to Pascal's principle of communicating vases for the direct evaluation of hand volume.


Germany has a northern European welfare state. This means that social benefits are extensive compared not only to the American standards but compared to other European countries, such as Italy or Spain. In the early 2000s, both foreign observers and Germans themselves considered the country the "sick man of Europe." Its firms seemed increasingly uncompetitive, due especially to its costly labor. Economic growth in this period was stagnant. This "exporting giant" even had a slight current account deficit. A decade later, perceptions of the country changed; it is now perceived as the only economy that can keep Europe afloat during the storm of the euro crisis. Some in southern Europe complain that the Germans were the main beneficiaries of the euro, and they should therefore pay more to ensure the common currency's survival. The main argument behind tiffs assertion is that the German mark entered the euro at an undervalued rate. This argument ignores, however, the reforms that a center-left coalition in particular put in place that made the German economy more competitive. A telling statistic is unit labor costs while they remained roughly the same from 2001 to 2011 in Germany, average unit labor costs in the eurozone increased 20 percent. Rather than current account deficits, the country runs large current account surpluses. The unemployment rate, which approached 10 percent in 2005, now approaches 5 percent, well below even the United States. What changed during the 2000s set up the country to do well in the period after the global financial crisis? This article reviews Germany's major welfare reforms as well as some reasons why they were put in place. It also covers the period both before and after the global financial crisis, and it concludes with a few thoughts about the challenge of demographic change to the viability of the German welfare state. Reforming the Welfare State As Mike Hassel (2010) argues, the transformation of the German welfare state began after reunification in 1990, but it reached its peak with the Hartz IV reforms, which were named after Peter Hartz, the chairman of the commission that considered reform options. Those reforms, in turn, were embedded in Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's Agenda 2010 program. The chancellor had formed a Red-Green alliance composed of the Social Democrats and the Green party after his electoral victory in 1998. The state of the economy was an electoral issue in 2002. His perceived strong, and effective, leadership in the face of widespread floods in the eastern part of the country that summer, as well as his claim that economic troubles were due to problems abroad and not at home (September 11 in particular), meant that his coalition survived what at first looked like a difficult election in September 2002. Schroder had backed an initial set of reforms the Hartz Commission had already recommended before the election, the so-called Hartz I, II, and III reforms, which mostly reformed the administration of unemployment benefits and vocational training. But the economy did not improve after the election. Economic growth remained essentially at zero in 2003 as well, and the budget deficit crept above the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact limit of 3 percent of GDP, which normally would connote what the Union would label an "excessive deficit." Schroder then proposed the biggest set of reforms to date, Hartz IV. While his coalition held a majority in the lower house, approval required some compromises with the center-right-controlled upper house, the Bundesrat, but the reforms were significant. These reforms were also controversial, and they turned the main labor unions against a Social Democratic chancellor. After a state election loss in the largest state in Germany, Northrhine-Westfalia, Gerhard Schroder asked for new elections. While the results were certainly closer than anyone foresaw at the time, it is not an exaggeration to write that disillusionment among core Social Democratic voters was one reason why the coalition lost its electoral strength. …


This letter highlights recent standardization efforts in the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) related to policy enforcement and management in mobile networks with Web-based interfaces. A prime objective of these efforts is to define specifications for a policy management capability that exposes service enablers in a controlled and manageable way to clients within the mobile services environment. We describe the functional concepts that are being considered by OMA for such a capability and outline an approach that may be used to unify these with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)-based policy concepts.


The processing technology and quality properties of steamed bread made by yeast and special flour were studied. The results showed that the optimal sterilization condition was microwave 150℃ for 70 s. During the storage of the long life steamed bread, its hardness increased by 0.9% while its chewness,springiness,cohesion,gumminess and resilience all decreased relatively;its chewness decreased by 28.6% and 10.7% respectively. On the whole,the properties of the long life steamed bread kept in 4℃ changed more than those kept at ambient temperature.


A two dimension tidal current numerical model was constructed,and the calculation field was the adjacent sea area from Longdongzui to Yangmadao.Based on the established model,the mass transport model was built and then the impact in water quality of the adja- cent sea area was simulated after sewage plant of Taozi Bay project were finished.And the prediction of environmental risk was also taken.The predictive results show that the area of exceeding the second standard was in the dilution zone and it has little effect on adjacent sea area when the plant was under normal running.But during accidents,the area might be con- taminated because of discharging inorganic nitrogen and active phosphate.So the manage- ment should be intensified and the measures should be taken previously in order to avoid the accident.


Purpose

The innovations in fundamentals coupled with noise traders induce co-movement in diverse markets. This co-movement in equity markets which is evidenced higher during the turmoil period influences economic fundamentals of a country dissimilar in nature. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether economic fundamentals or investors' behavior attributable to disturbances across the world are the rationale behind the crisis transmission, and thereby distinguish fundamental-based contagion from investor-induced contagion.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, the study investigates the role of macroeconomic fundamentals and stock returns on crisis occurrence using panel probit estimates. Additionally, ordinary least squares estimates controlling the influence of fundamentals on domestic return capture the discrete country effect measuring the influence of domestic as well as foreign economic fundamentals along with foreign returns on the domestic stock index.

Findings

The empirical results reveal that foreign country stock index returns are having a significant influence on domestic returns besides a prominent role in crisis occurrence. The binary probit model confirmed the influence of both macroeconomic factors and foreign returns in crisis occurrence. The OLS estimates found evidence for investor-induced contagion in the crisis period where the effects of economic fundamentals are small in comparison to foreign market returns that are mainly dominant in pre- and post-crisis period.

Research limitations/implications

The propagation of crisis from one market to other would enable the policy makers to make clear regulations at right time to control for the crisis in future. The results can help the policy makers as well as investors in reducing the impact of the crisis in future by clearly monitoring the behavior of the factors under study.

Originality/value

The current study addresses the role of macro fundamentals and investors influence in crisis propagation. Adopting subprime crisis of 2008-2009 as a reference point and separating the sample period into pre-crisis, crisis and post-crisis period, the study explains how badly the other 30 markets impacted the crisis that emerged in the USA.


This autoethnography describes my coming out as an atheist to my religious parents. The joy and freedom of outing oneself is contrasted with the diffi culty of the process. This moment of outing is one of joy, though a joy not absent of sorrow . The experience of freeing myself from the religious closet offers an opportunity to refl ect on what a complicated (and autoethnographic) version of joy might look like.


Metamaterial absorbers (MAs) consisting of subwavelength units offer flexible design freedom and prominent advantages over traditional absorbers. Here, it is found that narrow slits provide the MAs a significant passageway to control the absorption behavior and obtain an ultrasmall thickness. As narrowing the slits in an MA gradually, two effects appear in turn, of which the former is that the slits help the localized energy leak away from the resonant units to balance the material absorption and radiation leakage rates and sustain perfect absorption, and the latter is that acting as a capacitor, the slits red‐shift the absorption peak. A record ultrathin microwave MA with a thickness of only 1/474 of the working wavelength is demonstrated. Colossal electric field is excited inside ultranarrow slits by the assistance of localized resonance in collecting the incident wave. The finding can be extended to other frequencies, and is fascinating for some areas requiring ultrathin absorption structures or strong interaction between waves and matters.


The International Pulsar Timing Array project combines observations of pulsars from both northern and southern hemisphere observatories with the main aim of detecting ultra-low frequency (∼ 10−9–10−8 Hz) gravitational waves. Here we introduce the project, review the methods used to search for gravitational waves emitted from coalescing supermassive binary black-hole systems in the centres of merging galaxies and discuss the status of the project.


This paper focuses on the Investigation of stability analysis and control of synchronous generator integrated to infinite bus system. The stability of power system is analysis of taking different configurations for suppress the oscillations of various dynamic results by using proper facts devices and manages the gains of synchronous machine regulators for better results. However, increasing the stability of system when synchronous generator integrated to infinite bus system under fault conditions and Different oscillatory modes are obtained with their eigenvalues, and the results from eigenvalue analysis are presented to demonstrate the various configurations of system.


Abstract In this paper, lattice Boltzmann method is used for the simulation of two-dimensional flow over an immersed solid body using external boundary force. Fluid simulation is performed using the Eulerian grid for the entire computational domain, while the domain of solid body is discretized using a boundary-fitted Lagrangian grid, imposed on the uniform Eulerian grid. Fluid–solid interaction is modeled using external boundary force (EBF) technique. Two different methods of implementing boundary force are discussed including modification in (a) collision step of LBM and (b) both collision and computation of macroscopic velocity steps. Computations are performed for flow over a stationary circular object as well as particle sedimentation. Results of drag force and sedimentation velocity show good correspondence with previously published ones at Re =1.0 for both methods. No discrepancy in results was observed between two methods for higher Reynolds numbers. Results obtained for sedimentation of an elliptical object show that the type of implementation of boundary force has no significant effect on the predicted location and angular position of the elliptical object. Furthermore, it is observed that more accurate results are obtained by introducing a modification in EBF for which solutions were independent of the number of nodes on the surface boundary.


The aim of this paper is to investigate the extent to which factors determining the purchase of olive oil within Tunisian consumers also determine their choice of its place of purchase. Based on an exploratory survey carried out with Tunisian household heads, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to determine the principal dimensions of quality attributes and indicators. To evaluate factor determining olive oil purchase decision and its place of purchase choice, a binomial and a multinomial logistic regressions are respectively used. Consumer sensibility to brand and price have a negative impact on buying decision and on the choice of mills, relatives, and store retail, as suppliers of olive oil. Originating from a production area encourage consumers to buy olive oil from friends and relatives. Tunisian olive oil industry is therefore able to adopt product and distribution policies based on consumer expectations, to improve local market consumption.


In this work the program SIMULATEM is presented. Simulatem can calculate images and diffraction pattems from arbitrary objects using the multislice approach. The basic algorithm is presented, the user interface is shown and various examples are given


We have developed two types of devices—vertical and parallel—for incorporating a microfluidic channel into a gating nanopore. The vertical device consists of a single nanogap electrode with a nanopore perpendicular to the surface of a silicon substrate. The parallel device is similar, except the nanopore is parallel to the surface of the substrate. Furthermore, while the vertical device was fabricated using nanofabrication technologies, the parallel device was fabricated using a mechanically controllable break junction that enables atomic-level control of the electrode gap; hence, measurement of single atoms and molecules is possible. Both devices can identify single gold nanoparticles passing through them by measuring the strength of their electrical signals. The parallel device can also identify the individual nucleotides in a DNA molecule.© 2011 ASME


De fi cit of donor organs is the limiting factor in organ transplantation. One way of solving this problem is the use of donors with sudden irreversible circulatory arrest. Obtaining organs from this category of donors is pos- sible only through the use of normothermic extracorporal perfusion in situ (NECP) with oxygenation and leu- cocyte depletion. The article presents the implementation of NECP in 11 uncontrolled non heart beating donor (uNHBD) kidneys (age of 43,1 ± 2,98 years) and the results of transplantation in 22 recipients of such transplants in comparison with the results of the 20 recipients of kidney transplants from 20 donors to the death of the brain (age 45,65 ± 1,8 years). Despite the initially high rate of delayed function and more signi fi cant number of hemo- dialysis in uNHBD group (group of investigation), serum creatinine at 21st day was the same level as in BDD group (comparison group): 0,198 ± 0,002 mmol/L and 0,151 ± 0,002 mmol/L (p > 0,05). The use of NECP with oxygenation and leucocyte depletion is an effective practice for recovery kidney from donors with a sudden ir- reversible circulatory arrest with warm ischemic time one hour and more before the operation explantation.


Ponderosa pine (PP) is the most common and widely distributed pine species in the western United States, spanning from southern Canada to the United States–Mexico border. PP can be found growing between sea level and 3000 meters elevation making them an ideal species to assess the effects of changing climatic conditions at a variety of elevations. Here we compare PP standardized and raw growth responses to climate conditions along an elevational transect spanning 1000 meters in western Montana, U.S.A., a region that experienced a 20th century warming trend and is expected to incur much warmer (3.1–4.5 °C) and slightly drier summers (~0.3 cm decrease per month) by the end on the 21st century. Specifically, we assess if there are climate/growth differences based on relative (i.e., site-specific) and absolute (i.e., combined sites) elevation between groups of trees growing in different elevational classes. We find that values of the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI) in July are most strongly related to radial growth and that within-site elevation differences are a poor predictor of the response of PP to either wet or dry climatic conditions (i.e., years with above or below average July PDSI values). These results suggest that any generalization that stands of PP occurring at their elevational margins are most vulnerable to changing climatic may not be operative at these sites in western Montana. Our results show that when using standardized ring widths, PP growing at the lowest and highest elevations within western Montana exhibit differential growth during extreme climatological conditions with lower-elevation trees outperforming higher-elevation trees during dry years and vice versa during wet years.


In this paper, MapReduce programming model is used to parallelize training and tagging proceess in Maximum Entropy part of speech tagging for Bahasa Indonesia. In training process, MapReduce model is implemented dictionary, tagtoken, and feature creation. In tagging process, MapReduce is implemented to tag lines of document in parallel. The training experiments showed that total training time using MapReduce is faster, but its result reading time inside the process slow down the total training time. The tagging experiments using different number of map and reduce process showed that MapReduce implementation could speedup the tagging process. The fastest tagging result is showed by tagging process using 1,000,000 word corpus and 30 map process.


Evidence connecting the action of an analogue with its parent growth factor is of three main types. I. Antagonism in action This can be the clearest of all types of evidence; it has been much discussed, classified, and subjected to mathematical expression. For that reason I will say most about other types of evidence, and make only two observations concerning this first category, (a) The antagonism can be observed at various levels: that of an overall biological effect such as growth, or at that of an individual enzymic.


Mechanical design of a humanoid robot head has always been the focus and difficulty.As the robot has small head space and many mechanical structures,it is needed to complete the complex structural design in a limited space,and also all the movements are not allowed to interfere with each other.Aiming at these problems,structural design of a humanoid robot head based on Pro/E was introduced.And the virtual assembly in accordance with the life-size and the static interference check were also accomplished.The kinematic form dynamically was simulated and analyzed,which may be valuable for engineering application.The results show that the research provides the data for the next robot production and lays the foundation for the driver selection.


This paper presents an overview of the extent to which the Byzantine Empire preserved the engineering traditions of the ancient world, passed them on to Islam and back to the West, and modified them to meet its own requirements. After about A.D. 600, expensive works of civil engineering became rare, but machines for military and agricultural purposes remained in constant and even increasing use, while fine technology saw some revival.


Experience shows that under unidirectional wind or certain terrain, the surface of post insulators is non-uniformly polluted between windward and leeward sides, which affects the flashover characteristics. In this paper, a formulation of residual pollution layer resistance was proposed under this non-uniformity and a typical post insulator was taken as an example to analyze and calculate its residual resistance. The theoretical resistance was verified by numerical simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics. The proposed resistance formulation was then implemented in a DC flashover dynamic model to determine the flashover voltage (Ucal), which was validated by artificial flashover tests. Then the factors affecting DC flashover voltage were analyzed. Research results indicate that: the residual resistance formulation agrees well with simulation results, especially when the arc length exceeds 70% of the leakage distance. The good concordance between theoretical and experimental flashover voltages with most relative error within ±10%, validates the flashover model and its residual resistance formulation. Ucal gets impaired under this non-uniformity. The degree of reduction is related to salt deposit density ratio (m) of windward to leeward side and leeward side area proportion (k).


Taking 240 students at random form grade one to grade four in Tongji University,this paper studies the present condion of the students excurricular sports activities and the influencital factors. The purposes are to provide theoretical bases for more scientific leisure sports.


NKRL is a semantic language expressly designed to deal with all sort of 'narratives', in particular with those ('non-fictional narratives') of an economic interest. From a knowledge representation point of view, its main characteristics consists in the use of two different sorts of ontologies, a standard, binary ontology of concepts, and an ontology of n-ary templates, where each template corresponds to the formal representation of a class of elementary events. Rules in NKRL correspond to high-level reasoning paradigms like the search for causal relationships or the use of analogical reasoning. Given i) the conceptual complexity of these paradigms, and ii) the sophistication of the underlying representation language, rules in NKRL cannot be implemented in a (weak) 'inference by inheritance' style but must follow a powerful 'inference by resolution' approach. After a short reminder about these two inference styles, and a quick introduction of the NKRL language, the chapter describes in some depth the main characteristics of the NKRL inference rules.


Epidemics have played a role in shaping human experiences of conflict among both soldiers and civilians. Prisoners of war, displaced populations, and confined refugees have experienced, and continue to experience, infectious disease dynamics exacerbated by physical, environmental, and psychological stressors unique to conflict situations. Observations of epidemics at the global, regional, or national level are often inadequate for understanding the unique health challenges of these wartime populations. This research develops and applies an agent-based model to more closely examine the interactions of individual and group behaviors in a high-population-density confined context, and their effect on the health outcomes of individuals in such a population. In particular, it tests the relationship between behavior, environmental contamination, and the dynamics of infection on a dysentery outbreak at Camp Douglas, Illinois, a 19th Century Civil War prison camp. The agent-based model used in this research represents a novel approach to simulating disease transmission, based on the feedback relationship between human movement and behavior and the resulting contamination of physical spaces with


Ultrafine grained microstructure seems difficult to be obtained in austenite stainless steel by hot rolling process because the steel has a high recrystallization temperature and high grain growth rate. Instead of severe plastic deformation at medium temperatures, anisothermal annealing of cold-rolled steel could be an effective way to obtain the ultrafine microstructure in the steel. In order to clarify the recrystallization and grain growth in SUS316L stainless steel in anisothermal annealing condition, variations of hardness and average grain size of the steel at annealing temperatures ranging from 1073 to 1223 K and heating rates in the range of 0.031–9.3 K/s were systematically investigated, and the results were summarized in contour maps. The recrystallization finish temperature was recognized by a hardness criterion, which shows a linear relationship with the logarithm of the heating rate. Moreover, the average grain size at the critical temperature is approximately 2.2 μm at low heating rates, but decreases quickly with the increase of heating rates above 1 K/s. A proposed grain growth kinetics equation for anisothermal annealing is applied in the present investigated SUS316L steel. The proportional term, i.e., Π=(Dn−D0n)/(Γf−Γi), in the equation is calculated and is found to follow the equation Π=K·exp(0.5/θ). Meanwhile, the grain growth exponent, n, for the anisothermally annealed SUS316L steel is also determined and is found to lie between 2.5 and 3.0. On the other hand, EBSD analysis of the evolved microstructure at different heating rates indicates that low heating rate caused partial recrystallization with preferred orientations at the recrystallization finish temperature, while high heating rates above 1 K/s induced the homogeneously nucleated recrystallization microstructure with random orientations and a lognormal type grain size distribution.


This paper explains the thought of people orientedness in Deng Xiaoping Theory and stresses that the people's interests are the fundamental standard used to judge whether the policy is right or wrong.


ABSTRACT This article examines the problem of an isotropic elastic half-space region that is reinforced with a rigid disc-shaped inhomogeneity and subjected to a uniform surface load of finite extent. The analysis of the axisymmetric problem is reduced to the solution of a set of integral equations that are solved numerically to obtain results of practical importance, particularly to geomechanics. * In Memoriam: Ian Naismith Sneddon, FRS (1919-2000)


Using literature,logic analysis,experts interviews and other methods.This paper explores the rural sports,and puts forward the idea and suggestion of budding a rural sports conform to the goal of building a new socialist countryside.


In this paper we define a family of tests for the Martingale Difference Hypothesis (MDH) based upon a shrinkage principle. Tests within this family are such that rejection of the null implies that forecasts from the alternative model, adjusted by a shrinkage factor, will display lower Mean Square Prediction Error (MSPE) than forecasts from the null model. This generalizes most previous tests which compare forecast errors of one model, the null, to errors of the plain alternative model, not allowing for shrinkage. We argue that tests derived from this shrinkage approach display in general better small sample properties than MSPE based tests of the MDH. This occurs because the shrinkage based tests implicitly consider the reduced variance benefits of shrinkage estimators. Finally, we illustrate the use of our tests in an empirical application within the exchange rate literature


The inhibition effects of chitosan on Phytophora capsici and Fusarium moniliforme were tested on PSA medium. The results showed that the inhibition effect of chitosan dilute solution (250~500 times) on the mycelial growth of P. capsici ranged from 59.1% to 91. 7%,while that on F. moniliforme ranged from 14.6% to 68.4%.


This research mainly studied the fermentation technology of the olive wine,with the fresh olive as the main material and the rice wine as the liquor base.The results showed that the fermentation temperature had significant effect on the sensory evaluation of the olive wine.The optimum fermentation technology of the olive wine was: immersion under 24 ℃ for 7 days with 0.3 % for the addition of the yeast and 28 % for the addition of the olive.An Olive wine was obtained by the optimization of response surface methodology,which was yellow-green,clear and transparent,and has a particular flavor of the olive.


Background: To ensure patient safety, it is important to regularly assess the knowledge and practical skills of anesthesia trainees. This study was conducted to evaluate the competency of the residents and the impact of various corrective measures in the form of didactic lectures and clinical skill demonstrations on the conduct of various procedural skills by the residents. Materials and Methods: Ninety-five junior residents were enrolled in this study. Assessment of competency of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year residents in performing various procedure skills of anesthesia was done in two stages using procedure specific checklist (PSC) and Global Rating Scales (GRSs). Preliminary results of the first assessment (Score 1) were discussed with the residents; deficiencies were identified and corrective measures suggested by didactic lectures and clinical skill demonstrations which were followed by a subsequent assessment after 3 months (Score 2). Results: There was a statistically significant improvement in the PSC and GRS scores after corrective measures for all the procedural interventions studied. Percentage increase in scores was maximum in 1st year (42.98 ± 6.62) followed by 2nd year (34.62 ± 5.49) and minimum in 3rd year residents (18.06 ± 3.69). The percentage increase of scores was almost similar for all subset of procedural skills; low, intermediate, and high skill anesthetic procedures. Conclusion: For assessment of procedural skills of residents, use of PSC and GRS scores should be incorporated and the same should be used to monitor the impact of various corrective measures (didactic lectures and clinical skill demonstrations) on the conduct of various procedural skills by the resident.


Background: The Company sells many of its products through
external sales channels. Two important goals for the
Company are to increase the sales of components
and decrease the cost of sales by making the ordering
processes more effective. The Company is today
vending a limited number of components and
products through e-commerce to the sales channels.
One of these products, in this report referred to as the
Product, is however not sold through e-commerce.
Neither are its components. One step in increasing
the total component sales and decrease the costs of
order expediting is to launch a new e-commerce
platform that is customer oriented and that will
enable sales of more types of products, models and
components.
Problem description: In the new e-commerce platform the components of
the Product will be sold to the sales channels. The
Product, and its components, has not previously
been sold through e-commerce and there is no tool in
place in order to be able to do so. The Company
acknowledge the opportunity of tying its sales
channels closer to the Company through the new ecommerce
platform. How this could be done has not
been investigated.
Purpose: The purpose of the project is to explore the external
sales channels needs regarding how to find the right
component on the new e-commerce platform. It is to
also investigate how to tie the external channels
closer to the Company by use of the new e-commerce
platform. Correspondingly, benchmarks will be
performed in order to investigate how other firms
VI
enable their customers to find the right component
and how they use their e-commerce platforms as a
means to strengthen the relationship to their
customers.
Deliverables: The main deliverable is a developed and tested
project process for establishing a platform for
extended e-commerce. Three process documents
have been delivered to the company. The first
process document of the project is a functional
specification of a component finder that meets the
needs of the sales channels when searching for
components. The second process document is a
conceptual specification of features that are aimed at
strengthening the relationship between the Company
and its sales channels. The third process document is
an executive summary of the project in its entirety,
used in the stakeholders' evaluation of the project
process.
Method: The project is approached with a qualitative study
aimed at exploring the sales channels needs and
today's ordering processes. Benchmarks are
performed to other firms with similar processes to the
Company. A literature study gives the authors the
relevant theory in order to approach the project in a
scientific manner. Grounded theory is used as a
means of analysis. The output from the analysis of
data will be used further in a problem solving study,
aimed at finding a solution well suited for the
Company.
Conclusion: The authors see that the multi-faceted needs of the
sales channel must be tended to in different ways.
The benchmarks regarding component finding have
revealed that seven out of eight means of searching
for components could be suitable for the Company's
channels, at least with some modification to the data
input. By enhancing different relational variables
determined to be of great importance in the stages of
the relational life cycle that the partnership is in, and
by also taking consideration to the values explicitly
expressed by the channels, the channels different
needs will be tended to. The component finding and
the relationship building conclusions can generate a
complete platform solution that the channels need in
order to perform their business and hence grow with
the Company.


The data of Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar onboard Global Precipitation Measurement satellite is used to retrieve near surface wind speed. The radar operates in scanning mode. At nadir correlation of normalized cross section and wind speed is high, but at particular incidence angles tends to zero. To solve this problem, the following methodology is used. First normalised radar cross section at nadir is obtained for all the wide radar swath, second, wind speed is retrieved from this data. The algorithm was inspired by radar altimeter wind speed algorithm, but here we suggest a simpler parametrization. The wind speed model was built using National Data Buoy Center data on wind speed. Verification using ASCAT scatterometer data showed good results.


Along with the complication of project,the methods of traditional,simple objective and definite optimization have not been able to satisfy the design request.Takes a simple question for example to discuss how to apply the genetic algorithms to solve the multi-objectives and fuzzy problems.


Abstract All-optical modulators avoid the conversion from external electronic signals to optical signals and thus have the potential to achieve an energy-efficient high-speed photonic system. Phosphorene recently debuted as an attractive material that exhibits outstanding high electron mobility, strong light-matter interaction and modifiable bandgap, making it ideal for all-optical modulators. In this paper, by incorporating a phosphorene and silicon-based micro-ring resonator (MRR), we first propose and experimentally demonstrate a unique phosphorene-integrated all-optical modulator in telecommunications. By utilizing a phosphorene thin film with an average thickness of 22 nm as the absorption material, the rise time of only 479 ns and decay time of 113 ns are achieved, which is the fastest reported response time in the family of phosphorene modulators. The corresponding 3 dB bandwidth is larger than 2.5 MHz, and it exhibits a low-loss performance benefited from its finite bandgap. The proposed phosphorene/MRR hybrid modulator may have potential in the applications of all-optical interconnections.


The commentor provides an example that illustrates the use of the equations in the subject paper to do a preliminary design of a transformer for a forward converter. The assumed input voltage is 150 VDC, the output voltage is 12 VDC at 100 watts; the switching frequency is 40 khz. The core is chosen from the Ferroxcube family of EC cores using 3C8 ferrite material, for which catalog data are tabulated.


Synchrotron nano-diffraction coupled with electron diffraction and spectroscopic techniques revealed the crystal structure of zeolite erionite from Cappadocia. These results fill in the gap for precise modelling of the carcinogenicity of this killer fibre.


German medicine has been the object of much national pride and popular concern. German medical sciences reigned supreme in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with many brilliant discoveries which have laid the foundations of modem medicine. But health and medicine were not just the concerns of a scientific elite. There is a popular politics of health, of antiestablishment beliefs against medical interventionism (like the anti-vaccination movement), and a range of therapeutic or democratically inspired alternatives. I Changes in personal hygiene, in nutrition, and in the development of welfare have been the product of a complex range of economic and political factors. Levels of health and of the incidence of disease provide a sensitive index of social inequalities. There has already been a generation of historical research inspired by the Annales approach to the study of mentalities, behaviour, sexuality and the universals of birth, childhood, marriage, disease and death. My aim here will be to indicate some trends in the research on the problems of health and medicine in the modernization of German society. A process of the extension of rational, scientific values in medicine to a wide range of social activities ('medicalization') has been linked to professionalization, bureaucratization and in the final analysis to industrialization. It is necessary to ask whether the construction ofwhat amounts to a new historical sociology of the role of death and disease in social change still omits dimensions of the social impact of diseases and disabilities and the experiences of patients. That the understanding of social factors in health and disease has been obscured has itself historical causes, associated with the interaction of scientific advance and industrialization in the nineteenth century. Military and state authorities increasingly supported scientific medical research and hygiene. These were to alleviate ill-health which was an indicator of social inequality and aggravated political conflicts. Socialists demanded free state medical services, and the state supported the extension of public health measures on the basis of the new science of bacteriology. Medicine in this sense became part of a technocratic strategy of curing social ills. Great discoveries


KMWorld Supplement to Premium Sponsor Andy Moore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Social Business: Delivering the Promise of KM? As we all know, KM has been an uphill sell for a long time. Failed projects. Misdirected strategies. Lack of adoption. Expensive and ineffective technologies. These are the kinds of things that put a bad taste in the mouth of executives and investors.What KM really needed was a killer app—a no-brainer, value-creating, business-improving reason to adopt and support a knowledge-based strategy in the fast-moving and diverse organizations that are common today.We might have stumbled onto it. In shorthand, we call it "social business." More drawn out, it is the application of social technologies as they are applied to operational and mission-critical business functions. More on that later. . . . Tim Zonca, Jive Software. . . . . . . . . . 4 Five Ways Social Intranets Solve CIO Problems So every CIO is supposed to have a social strategy because social is taking over the universe. It's the preferred way people communicate at work or at the office.


"In Georgia, the fables of Panchatantra are well-known through the book of Kalila and Dimna. However, some rare examples of direct parallels with the fables of Panchatantra appeared in Georgian literary sources and folk oral narratives. Next to the brief history of Panchatantras's journey through centuries, and an overview of Georgian historical chronicles Kartlis Tskhovreba (The Life of Kartli), A Book of Wisdom and Lies by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, and Georgian folktales outline the transformations of some fables from Panchatantra in Georgia. The paper examines the role of animals in the fables in general, and shows the ways of interpretations on the example of the theme of ingratitude in context of European and Oriental narrative traditions. "


Recent development in the field of prosthodontics has led to the advancement in technology with fabrication of complete dentures through computer-aided designing and computer-aided machining (CAD/CAM). Usually for the fabrication of conventional complete dentures, five clinical appointments are necessary, but the CAD/CAM systems generally need two appointments. In the first appointment, impressions, interocclusal records, and tooth selection can be completed; and in the second appointment, the dentures are fabricated using CAD/CAM technology and placed in oral cavity.1 Conventional complete dentures have been used since more than 100 years but the conformity between denture-bearing tissues and denture base was always obstructed by the polymerization shrinkage of the resin. The shrinkage causes distortions of the denture base and has a negative effect on fit and retention of the dentures. Current CAD/CAM dentures had some important benefits over it. The CAD/CAM dentures have improved denture fit with reduced processing errors, due to the reduction in residual monomers and improved physical properties of the acrylic resin denture base with less adhesion of Candida albicans to the denture base. The number of times patient visiting the clinic is also reduced, and the remanufacturing of a broken or lost denture is more simplified due to the digital storage of denture data.1,2 Elder had stated that record bases should adapt to the basal seat area as the finished denture base and should have the border form similar to the finished denture and rigid enough to withstand the masticatory forces. They should be dimensionally stable, may be used as bases for setting up teeth, should be inexpensive, can be fabricated easily and quickly, and have no undesirable color.3 The fabrication of CAD/CAM dentures follows the subtractive manufacturing process with the milling of the denture bases from fully polymerized acrylic resin pucks, with more accurate denture bases with reduced shrinkage or distortion. Steinmass et al. had generated CAD/CAM dentures provided by four different manufacturers (AvaDent, Merz Dental, Whole You, and Wieland/ Ivoclar) from 10 different master casts. Denture fabricated from conventional technique was kept as the control. They found that CAD/CAM dentures had significantly higher tissue congruence compared to the conventional dentures.4 Kanazawa et al. in 2011 evaluated the denture fabrication with CAD/CAM system and found it to be more accurate with an average deviation of 0.10 mm for the mucosal surface and 0.50 mm for the occlusal surface.5 The first clinical report of the fabrication of CAD/ CAM denture was published by Goodacre et al.6 Srinivasan et al. had compared the time spent clinically and the costs incurred in constructing complete dentures using CAD/CAM and conventional method. They found that digital denture fabrication is less costly as compared to the conventional complete dentures. Although the material cost in fabrication of CAD/CAM denture was higher but other costs such as expenditure for clinical chairside time, laboratory, and the overall costs were significantly lower.7 The limitations with CAD/CAM dentures are challenges involved while making impressions, difficulty in establishing occlusal vertical dimension and in transferring maxillomandibular relation, and inability to define the mandibular occlusal plane. Some systems had no provision of trial dentures, due to which it is difficult to validate function, esthetics, comfort, and patient acceptance before the final denture.8 The other drawbacks are balanced dentures are difficult to achieve with the digital software due to which a clinical remount is required to balance the denture teeth.9 It can be anticipated that the denture fabricated digitally may show better clinical retention with reduced traumatic ulcers due to denture trauma, which may be highly beneficial to the elderly and the compromised edentulous patients. The clinical procedures will be definitely more comfortable with less number of clinical visits in affordable costs. Further clinical research are required to overcome the drawbacks of the CAD/CAM dentures which is a must to validate this treatment modality prosthodontically.


[Objective] In order to improve the quality of upper leaf,so as to increase the utilization rate of upper leaf in the high-end cigarette brand.[Method] Field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of harvesting way on chlorophyll content,moisture content of fresh tobacco,exterior quality,contents of chemical components,sensory quality.[Result] The results showed that compared with two times harvested,the exterior quality,sensory quality and the proportion of the middle grades leaves increased of top six leaves harvesting one time,and the chemical compositions were coordinated;The chlorophyll contents decreased compared with two times harvested,and the chlorophyll contents would decreased more with the increasing of the part of flue-cured tobacco leaf;The finest grades leaves and the yield decreased compared with two times harvested;The harvesting way had little or no effect on moisture content of fresh tobacco and average value.[Conclusion] The way of top six leaves harvested one time can increase the quality of upper leaf,whereas,the economic benefits declined.


One of the ways to enhance thermal stability and reduce the flammability of polymers is the introduction of fillers with flame retardant properties. The paper studies the effect of natural zeolites of the Sakhaptinsk and Shivyrtuysk deposits on the thermal stability and flame retardancy of epoxy composites. The thermal stability of epoxy composites was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis in oxidizing (air) and inert (argon) atmospheres. The parameters of thermo-oxidative degradation and thermal degradation of the samples with a filler concentration of 0, 1, 5, and 10 wt% were studied. Flame retardancy of epoxy composites filled with zeolite was evaluated using the limiting oxygen index. The limiting oxygen index increases with increasing concentration of natural zeolites in the epoxy matrix. The study revealed some differences in the first and second stages of heating the epoxy composites depending on zeolite type and did not reveal significant difference in the thermal behavior of the epoxy composites in the third stage of the heating. Thermal stability and flame retardant properties are more dependent on the zeolite content in the epoxy matrix than zeolite type.


The principle,advantage and insufficiency of Thermal Dye Sublimation printing technology are described.The performance of Thermal Dye Sublimation printers made by several manufacturers and the structure of printing paper are elucidated.The market perspective is forecasted too.


Exploratory modeling in California's Central Valley indicates that evaluating the costs, benefits, and risks to individual providers is necessary to ensure the viability of future water projects.


Abstract For several decades family theorists, researchers, and clinicians have attempted to describe healthy and dysfunctional family functioning. The numerous articles and studies with this focus have been reviewed elsewhere (Riskin & Faunce, 1972; Jacob, 1975). Until recently a disproportionate amount of attention has been given to pathology. Several volumes in the past few years have tried to redress this bias by focusing primarily on healthy family functioning (Kantor & Lehr, 1976; Lewis, Beavers, Gossett & Phillips, 1976).


The invention concerns a transfer print capable of being vitrified comprising an image layer (1) produced in the form of a dry thin film and comprising a film-forming substance (2) capable of thermal sublimation, forming a binder for at least one colour capable of being vitrified (3). The film can be cut out to form a pattern to be applied on a glass or ceramic object, or an object made of another material having a crystalline structure.


Under the background of cultural turn in translation studies,the combination of aesthetics and translation has become a new orientation in translation studies.Application of aesthetic analysis to translation practice helps to find out the aesthetic equivalence between the source and target text.After a brief historical retrospect about the relations between aesthetics and translation studies,the paper has mainly discussed the aesthetic problems in translation from one language to another,hoping that it will be a supporting point for establishing translation theories.


Skin ulcers are a serious threat to public health system, and, although wound healing is a natural process, a proper dressing can improve the healing process. In this work, platelet rich plasma (PRP) coated polycaprolactone (PCL) wound dressings have been designed by means of electrospinning. PCL is a biocompatible and biodegradable synthetic polymer. PRP, in turn, offers growth factors to the dressing, which are significant in the healing. To enable an effective addition of PRP, functionalization of PCL fibre meshes has been carried out by immersing them in alkaline dissolution of different concentrations. In this way, a novel wound dressing that aids in the regeneration of damaged skin layers has been developed.


The high precipitation around Southeast Asia results in abundant freshwater outflow, which transports terrestrial dissolved and particulate material to the world's largest marginal sea, namely, the South China Sea (SCS). To estimate the riverine carbon flux to the SCS, carbonate data from 42 rivers were collected. These results, combined with literature data for 13 rivers, indicate that the concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) are positively correlated with the cation exchange capacity and the bulk density, except for the Low Discharge category. The highest DIC concentration and flux are in the Low and Medium Discharge categories. Negative correlations exist between dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and the base saturation in the Low and High Discharge categories and between DOC and bulk density in the Low and Medium Discharge categories. However, the correlation between the DOC concentration and the organic carbon content in the soil is only significant in the Medium Discharge category. Once the negative exponential relationships between the particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) or the particulate organic carbon (POC) and the total suspended matter are determined, these can be used to estimate the PIC and POC carbon fluxes. Of the annual riverine carbon flux, 83.0 ± 8.1 Tg C, 40.14 ± 6.11 Tg is DIC, 25.03 ± 4.54 Tg is DOC, 1.83 ± 0.35 Tg is PIC, and 16.03 ± 2.87 Tg is POC. The total discharge amounts to 6.2–10.3% of the global riverine discharge for a sea covering only 1% of the world's ocean surface area and for watersheds covering only 2.2% of the global land mass.


A heat-labile enterotoxin of E. coli detoxified (LT) for use in treating allergy airway in a subject by administering an intranasal effective to induce an antiallergic response in the subject, wherein the detoxified LT is LTS61K containing a mutated a subunit containing a mutation of serine to lysine at position 61 corresponding in position SEQ ID NO: 1 and wherein LTS61K induces antiallergic response.


The distribution of fluorine activity in various tissues of rats was investigated using NaF/sup 18/ in the presence of EDTA, zirconium, scandium, and yttrium ions. The patterns of fluorine distribution and excretion were found to be altered by cations which form stable fluorocomplexes and by EDTA. Application of the results in bone pathology is discussed. (auth)


Objective This study is set out to determine the relationship between IL-32 and radiosensitivity of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods Western blot was adopted for measuring IL-32 expression in Eca-109 and TE-10 cells. Eca-109 and TE-10 cells with interference or overexpression of IL-32 were treated with the presence or absence of X-ray irradiation. Then, the use of CCK8 assay was to detect proliferation ability, and effects of IL-32 expression on radiosensitivity of ESCC were tested by colony formation assay. The cell apoptosis was detected using flow cytometry. STAT3 and p-STAT expression, and apoptotic protein Bax were detected by western blot. Results Colony formation assay and CCK8 assay showed that compared with the NC group without treatment, the growth of the ESCC cells, that is Eca-109 and TE-10, was significantly inhibited in the OE+IR group with highly expressed IL-32 and irradiation. In flow cytometry analysis, in Eca-109 and TE-10 cells, highly expressed IL-32 combined with irradiation significantly increased apoptosis compared with the control group. Highly expressed IL-32 has a synergistic effect with irradiation, inhibiting STAT3 and p-STAT3 expression and increasing apoptotic protein Bax expression. Conclusion IL-32 can improve the radiosensitivity of ESCC cells by inhibiting the STAT3 pathway. Therefore, IL-32 can be used as a new therapeutic target to provide a new attempt for radiotherapy of ESCC.


The present study in BALB/c mice was conducted to compare immunogenicity and protective efficacy of several candidate vaccines based on homologous and heterologous strains after challenge with the highly pathogenic avian influenza strain A/Chicken/Kurgan/3/2005. The experimental vaccine composed of an inactivated split A/Vietnam/1194/2004 (H5N1) strain and a plant derived adjuvant has demonstrated better immunogenic properties versus the variant of the vaccine with aluminum hydroxide. Interestingly, the heterosubtypic H1N1 live attenuated vaccine candidate administered intranasally protected 93% of the subject against their challenge with HPIV HSN1.


Now I climb down the landscape believing that in another direction the central gate remains open There birds flock together, betrothed deer follow the single man returning homeward At sunset, woods at the sharp bend stand staunchly erect, behind them brilliant mountain peaks. Atop Mount Santa Cruz rises a Korean pine, its tip glittering with light, but the entire trunk caught in that deep and vast darkness up there


Purpose: The study seeks to evaluate the present functions of Government and Government aided engineering & technological institute libraries in West Bengal in terms of their resources, finance, staff, house-keeping operations, ICT application, pros and cons, etc. and services through outsourcing. Methodology: Survey method is carried out to Library and Information Science (LIS) professionals and users of libraries. Out of two sets of structured questionnaires, one set was prepared to collect data from LIS professionals for the study and in another set, Stratified Random Sampling technique was used to gather responses of users. Approximately 2, 43,527 average yearly users were there during the period from 2011-'12 to 2015-'16. Out of which .5% users have been chosen as the sample frame. Findings: The study suggests that outsourcing can be used as an alternative tool for the effective managerial decision to the processing work and/or services of technical libraries in West Bengal. Originality: Based on the findings of the study, it develops a LIPO model for future guidance.


Televisions – centers and peripheries

"Boogiepop Phantom" as an example of progressive anime
Japanese animation (anime) is one of the most important phenomena of contemporary popular culture. Inspirations from anime can be seen in Asian and Western feature cinema, Western animation, Western comic books and both Asian and Western video games, cultural and ideological aspects of anime and anime fandom ("otakus") become objects of intense studies. However, as scholarly interest in anime grows, various technical and terminological difficulties become apparent, not least among them the problem of genre. Is anime a film genre or a form of animated medium, are characteristic types of anime (such as "magical girl" or "mecha") genres, sub-genres or simply "types"? And what about classic film genres that appear in Japanese animation, like science fiction, horror, crime drama, where do they fit? These questions multiply in case of a unique and special type of Japanese animation known as "progressive anime", paradoxical and imprecise group of works distinguished by breaking conventions, artistic, aesthetic and intellectual innovations, by turning familiar tropes and cliches on their head and, at least sometimes, presenting ideologically subversive and progressive message.
In this paper I try to show the complexity and diversity of Japanese animation by analyzing one of the less known, but very interesting examples of progressive anime – short television series called "Boogiepop Phantom". I show three main aspects that make this series different, original and innovative enough to warrant a progressive anime label. Firstly, multimedia strategy: "Boogiepop Phantom" is part of "Boogiepop" franchise started with series of novels by Kohei Kadono, however unlike most franchises that went from the paper to the screen, it is far from being simply adaptation of any particular novel, being instead not only direct continuation of the first and fourth books of the cycle, but also expansion of philosophical ideas on which all franchise is based. The result is a very peculiar relationship between television series and its written source material, kind of symbiosis in which both are fully understood and appreciated only in correlation. Secondly, narrative innovation based on disjointed chronology, stream of consciousness and repetition of events from various points of view. Apart from making the series intellectually demanding, unusual storytelling is connected with strange ontology of Boogiepop world and with its themes of memory, time, loss and change. Thirdly, the discourse of gender manifested in most of the protagonists being female characters, often independent, strong willed, even heroic. Not only there is no hint of sexual objectification common in popular anime shows, but one of the episodes directly criticizes and deconstructs objectification that forms the basis of popular video-games, and damage they can cause to normal human relations. But the most interesting part of the series' gender discourse is the central character, Boogiepop, a being that identifies itself as male but has a body of a girl, twisting and playing with usual notions of gender identity and of the classical figure of the superheroine, especially in its Japanese, highly patriarchal context.


Ag. dlatrlbutlon of pallanll and out_ Intervertebral disc disorders present an appreciable work load to the hospital service, accounting annually for some 13,000 hospital admissions and over 250,000bed-days of stay in England and Wales (Annual Statistics Report, 1971); the majority of these admissions will be due to lumbar disc pathology. A minority of these cases is submitted to surgery with, in the main, satisfactory results but all reviewsof such cases contain a "poor result" group. While differences in surgical techniques will undoubtedly be a contributory factor to variations in results, it is also likely that inadequate selection of cases will be perhaps an even more common cause of poor results. Gartland (1971) stresses the need for accurate preoperative evaluation to minimize poor results. In the present study, a consecutive and unselected series of patients receiving surgery for disc disorders in the lumbar spine were subject to a clinical review, particularly in an attempt to identify factors associated with a disappointing outcome. <:35 >35


This paper presents a Computer Aided Synthesis and Sensitivity Analysis Tool (CASSAT) for the realization of a network function matrix and to study the sensitivity of the realized network. The development of the CASSAT is based on the state-variable approach, the reactance extraction principle and the graph theory. The CASSAT realizes any real rational network function T(s), of order q x p as an active RC-multiport network and also facilitates the study of the sensitivity of the realized network. The network is realized as an interconnection of an n-port grounded capacitor sub-network, Nc, a (p+n)-port grounded resistive sub-network, NR and at the most (p+2n) inverting grounded voltage amplifier, where n equals the degree of T(s). All the capacitors and ports of the realized network share the common terminal, which is particularly attractive from the point of view of Integrated Circuit (IC) fabrication.


the interaction between peptides of different lengths (N6–N10) and charges with an engineered Mycobacterium smegmatis porin A nanopore are systematically studied, and two types blockage events can be identified by quantifying their dwell times and amplitude of blockades. The findings are further applied to the label-free and real-time quantification of protease activity of caseinolytic protease P at nanomolar concentration in 14 min. The protease activity with inhibitor can also be monitored real time by nanopore assay. In summary, this nanopore-based sensing platform shows promising capacity for peptide detection, protease activities assay, and inhibitor screening. 6 m of peptides and 40 × 10 − 9 m ClpP under nanopore detecting conditions. Samples with the peptide LYLYW as the endogenous control (20 µ L) were separated on a Venusil XBP C18 column (Agela Technologies) for HPLC analysis. The chromatographic analyses of LC-MS were performed using a C18 analytical column (XBridge BEH C18, 75 × 2.1 mm, 2.5 µ m) and the same type of a guard column (XBridge BEH C18, 10 × 2.1 mm, 2.5 µ m). The peptide PO 42 − -TYLYW and fragment PO 42 − -TYL were eluted with a 21–41% acetonitrile gradient in 0.1% trifluoracetic acid, and 3–15% acetonitrile gradient in 0.1% formic acid for YW. A flow rate of 0.3 mL min − 1 , injection volume of 10 µ L, and a column temperature of 30 ° C were used for this analysis. The peptides were detected by the UV–vis detection range (PDA): 210–600 nm and their m / z values were determined by a selected ion monitor. MS analysis was carried out with a capillary temperature of 350 ° C, a curtain gas flow of 10 arbitrary units, a collision energy of 30 arbitrary units, and a capillary voltage of 3.0 kV in full-scan mode in the m / z range from 200 to 1000.


In this article metaphors used by Tongans when talking about social relationships are analyzed. A number of types of metaphors are identified and their source domains highlighted. Many of these metaphors involve the concept of 'ofa 'love' and related concepts like faka'apa'apa 'respect'. The metaphor analysis reveals a comprehensive organizational structure for the domain of social relationships―a cultural model. This structure replicates the organization present in other domains of Tongan knowledge, providing further support for the hypothesis that a cultural model of radiality is the basis of the preferred Tongan way of mentally organizing knowledge.


The optimal grain size and proper charged quantity of the solid fuel in the No.1 Sintering Plant are studied and the problems existing in the actual production investigated and proposals of great significance for future production in the Plant are advanced.


ABSTRACT: The problem of lateral load induced on piles under earthquake has been plaguing professional engineers, geo-technical investigators and researchers alike for quite some time. The normal practice is to ensure that the fixed base shear of column does not exceed the static shear load capacity of piles. The inertial and stiffness effect of pile is usually ignored in dynamic earthquake analysis. The present paper proposes a method where based on modal response or time history analysis pile load may be estimated under earthquake, considering its stiffness, inertia and effect of material and geometric damping properties. The results are then compared with the conventional methods. The effect of partial embedment, a situation that may develop under soil liquefaction during earthquake has also been derived. The pile loads are estimated for two cases: 1) When the structure is a lumped mass having infinite stiffness: like a machine foundation or a heavy short vessel supported directly on pile cap. 2) The superstructure has a finite stiffness and mass like a frame (building /pipe rack etc) The paper also suggests a way of how a geo-technical investigator can estimate rationally the dynamic pile loading with minimum information available at the outset of a project. One of the major advantages of the method is that it does not warrant sophisticated software to be developed for this analysis. A simple spread sheet is sufficient to produce an accurate result.


This paper deals with the design of control cabinet based on safety PLC for Contra] Hod Control System(CRCS). The CRCS controls the operation of the CRDMs(Control Rod Drive Mechanisms). The CRDM moves the control rods which regulate the reactor power. vertically in the reactor core. The Control Cabinet in CRCS makes and conveys control signals to the power cabinet which provides power to the CRDM. We designed the Control Cabinet, based on POSAFE-Q. safety PLC. The application programs working in PLC can be programmed by pSET(POSAFE-Q Software Engineering Tool). Identified Development Environment.


Peritonitis is a serious complication of Peritoneal Dialysis (PD). At our hospital, PD- related peritonitis is treated empirically with intraperitoneal cefazolin plus ceftazidime.


OBJECTIVE
To review the latest development of amniotic membrane and its application.

METHODS
Related literatures on the development of amniotic membrane and its application were extensively reviewed and summarized.

RESULTS
There were amniotic epithelial cells and many growth factors in the outer layer of amniotic membrane and there were many kinds of collagen in the basement. The special structure promoted the growth of many kinds of cells. It was widely used in ophthalmology.

CONCLUSION
As it is easily available, compatible, cheap in price, low in antigenicity, and able to promote the growth of many kinds of cells, with few ethical problems involved, amniotic membrane will be more and more widely applied.


ABSTRACT The objective of this review was to estimate the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. A systematic online literature search was conducted for articles on strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. Meta-analysis was performed, using the Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation, to estimate the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia in Africa. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to age, gender, study year, and type of amblyopia. Meta-regression was used to evaluate the influence of predetermined factors on the prevalence of amblyopia. 8 (1 population-based & 7 school-based) and 21 (3 population-based & 18 school-based) studies on strabismus and amblyopia with sample sizes of 22,355 and 46,841, respectively, were included in the review. Overall prevalence of strabismus in Africa was estimated to be 0.8% (95% CI: 0.4% − 1.4%); exotropia was 0.2% (95% CI: 0.1% − 0.5%) and esotropia was 0.5% (95% CI: 0.1% − 1.2%). Overall prevalence of amblyopia was estimated to be 0.6% (95% CI: 0.3% − 0.9%); refractive and strabismic amblyopia were 1.1% (95% CI: 0.2% − 2.5%) and 0.4% (95% CI: 0.2% − 0.6%), respectively. Prevalence estimate of amblyopia in males was 1.8% (95% CI: 0.7% − 3.3%) and in females was 1.3% (95% CI: 0.4% − 2.6%). There was a significant association between the prevalence of amblyopia and the type of amblyopia (p = .007) and the study year (p = .006). Although there appears to be a relatively low prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia in Africa, there is a dearth of well-designed population-based studies on strabismus and amblyopia in Africa, resulting in the lack of epidemiological information on strabismus and amblyopia within the general African population. Information about the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia across Africa can inform policy making and design and implementation of public health intervention program.


OBJECTIVE
to describe the construction and transition phases undertaken in the development of a virtual learning environment named Plataforma PEnsinar® (PEnsinar Platform®). This platform aims at teaching the nursing process and the nursing classifications NANDA International, NIC, NOC and ICNP®.

METHOD
this is a methodological and technological development research that used construction and transition phases of the software development process named Rational Unified Process.

RESULTS
the software was developed in the construction phase. Unit and integration tests of components of interfaces were held. In the transition phase, the complete system was showed to the users. It was completely working considering the applicability and employment, under conditions to be implemented and evaluated.

CONCLUSION
the study showed how the construction and transition phases of the Plataforma PEnsinar® were developed. It was based on a proposal that inserts the student as an active agent in the nursing process and the professor as a mediator, providing tools that will contribute to a better learning.


Saputra AW, Yuda P. 2020. Low genetic diversity and no genetic differentiation between maleo hatched at coastal and inland nesting grounds in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 21: 4772-4777. Maleo Senkawor (Macrocephalon maleo), an endemic and endangered bird of Sulawesi (Indonesia), is burrow-nesting megapodes that incubate its eggs in communal nesting sites in soils heated by sun on beaches and by volcanic activity in inland. The aims of this study were to assess genetic diversity of the Maleo and examine whether those which have different nesting sites have become genetically differentiated. In total, 24 eggshell membranes of Maleo were collected from Tanjung Binerean (coastal nesting ground) and Tambun (inland nesting ground), and the DNA was extracted using silica spin-column kit. PCR was applied to amplify the hypervariable region 1 (HV1) and partial mtDNA control region of HV2 using a specific primer set designed for Maleo. The PCR products were sequenced, resulted in 612 bp, and showed 9 polymorphic sites and 9 haplotypes (H). Further sequences analysis suggested that there was no genetic differentiation between coastal nesting population and inland nesting population (Fst = 0.0009; P = 0.431). As expected, the genetic diversity of Maleo was relatively low (coastal nesting population, Hd: 0.727270, π: 0.002377 and inland nesting population Hd: 0.848480, π: 0.002203).


Abstract : Results from a wind tunnel. test of a delta wing UAV behind a KC-135R are presented and compared with predictions from a planar vortex lattice code. Both the predictions and data show wake interference effects on the UAV that vary significantly with relative lateral and vertical position, and weakly with relative longitudinal position. Predicted trends are excellent for all force and moments except for drag, and magnitudes are reasonably well predicted. The distribution of lift between the tanker wing and tail is shown to have a strong effect on the receiver aerodynamics.


Abstract Objective: To determine the impact of the duration of fetal exposure to inflammation on the neurological outcome of pups. Method: Time-pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats (n = 32) received intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharides (LPS; 500 µg/kg), or an equivalent volume of vehicle 3, 6, 12 and 24 h before C-section. Maternal serum and amniotic fluid were tested for cytokines. Motor activity of resuscitated pups (n = 58) was analyzed using the open-field test (20 d). Brains were collected for histopathological examination. Results: Perinatal mortality increased with the duration of fetal exposure to LPS. All parameters tested with the open-field test were lower in the LPS 12 h exposure group compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) was statistically increased in maternal blood after 3, 6 and 12 h of LPS injection (p < 0.05 versus control). Conclusion: A threshold of duration of exposure to inflammation is demonstrated, before which delivery should be performed in order to prevent brain damage.


AIM: To make a quantitative appraisal of rural households' ability to pay for cooperative medical system(CMS).METHODS: The model of extended linear expenditure system(ELES) was used to analyze the data from the third health service investigation in the city of Ningbo.RESULTS: Rural households' basic expenditure averaged $2692 and the basic expenditure of food averaged $1554.Five percent families had no ability to pay for CMS and about 12% families had the ability to pay for CMS when their expenditure structure was readjusted.Eighty-three percent families had the ability to pay for CMS completely.CONCLUSION: The rural households' quota for CMS can be increased properly.The government should do more publicity work for CMS and increase the financial support for rural households that have no ability to pay for CMS.Multilayer medical security system should be established in order to satisfy the rural households' diversified needs.


A 19-year-old man who participated in the thalassemia screening program was found to have a normal hematological parameter with a slightly elevated mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and RDW (CV). The high-performance liquid chromatography also shows normal hemoglobin (Hb) F and Hb A2, but falls within the α-thalassemia trait and became suspected in the presence of a Hb variant. Hb electrophoresis was performed and molecular characterization was done with Sanger sequencing, and then identified the variant as Hb J-Meerut. Proper identification of such variant Hb could avoid mismanagement of diabetic patients as it is earlier reported to show a falsely lower level of HbA1c than expected.


ABSTRACT A physical description of the formation and propagation of working surfaces insidethe relativistic jet of the Blazar PKS 1510-089 are used to model its γ-ray variabilitylight curve using FERMI-LAT data from 2008 to 2012. The physical model is basedon conservation laws of mass and momentum at the working surface as explainedby Mendoza et al. (2009). The hydrodynamical description of a working surface isparametrised by the initial velocity and mass injection rate at the base of the jet. Weshow that periodic variations on the injected velocity profiles are able to account forthe observed luminosity, fixing model parameters such as mass ejection rates of thecentral engine injected at the base of the jet, oscillation frequencies of the flow andmaximum Lorentz factors of the bulk flow during a particular burst.Keywords: Blazars– PKS 1510-089– Relativistic Jets – Relativistic Hydrodynamics 1 INTRODUCTIONAmong all types of AGN, Blazars (Blazar class is defined asradio loud sources conformed by the BL Lac objects and theFlat Spectrum Radio Quasars -FSRQ, see e.g. Fossati et al.1997; Ghisellini et al. 1998, and references therein) repre-sent the most energetic class. They are known to have themost powerful jets (e.g. Lister et al. 2009) and also showa highly variable Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) fromthe radio to the γ-rays wavelengths (see Abdo et al. 2010b;D'Ammando et al. 2011, and references therein).The FSRQ PKS 1510-089 is known to be one ofthe most powerful astrophysical objects with a highlycollimated relativistic jet that has shown apparent superlu-minal velocities between 20c to 46c and with a semi-angleaperture for the jet ∼ 0.2


In case of topology Optimization) the unknown optimal or satisfying structure is a (proper) substructure of an initial topology, called ground structure [l]. A ground structure is given by a set of nodal points, where at some of these nodes external loads apply and support conditions are defined, and n potential bars, connecting two of the nodal points. Different ground structures can be defined e.g. by connecting the direct neighbours only (Fig.3) or connecting nodes in a larger vicinity (Fig.4-6) up to connecting all nodes (Fig.7), without considering overlapping bars.


This paper considers an extension to the private network-to network interface (PNNI) for the support of host/terminal mobility. It provides an introduction and the background. Different concepts are then introduced, and an implementation of PNNI mobility support signalling, based on Java/CORBA, is presented. Finally, we present performance figures and base line results for Java/CORBA based signalling systems.


An Elman network model was trained using Fletcher-Reeves Update training algorithm, and used to predict the tensile strength of cotton yarns. The cotton yarn samples (consisting of rotor and ring spun yarns) were collected from four textile factories in Kenya. The inputs of the network were the HVI characteristics of the cotton lint used to spin the yarns together with the fineness (Tex) and Twist per Inch (TPI) of the yarn samples. The output of the network was yarn tensile strength. The Elman network predicted the yarn tensile strength with a mean squared error (mse) of 0.0156 and a correlation coefficient between the network outputs and the targeted values (R-value) of 0.974.


The reinforced soil wall construction has gained momentum with advent of geosynthetic reinforcement, particularly in the approaches of bridges and flyovers. The stability and performance of reinforced soil walls depend mainly on fill material and its interaction with reinforcing material. Frictional fills are used as they are free draining and have good frictional characteristics. The commonly used fills in reinforced soil walls are sand and moorum. Due to scarcity and high cost of sand and moorum, alternate fill materials are to be identified to enable construction of reinforced soil walls. Rock flour, produced as waste material at stone crushing plants, is accepted as an alternate to sand in concrete making as the material has particles of sand size. So, in the present study, reinforced soil retaining walls with rock flour and sand as fill materials are designed and their relative economy is assessed over the conventional retaining walls. The retaining wall designs are carried out for silty sand backfill with uniform surcharge of 20 kN/m2, for backfill heights of 4 to 10 m. The reinforced soil retaining walls are designed considering geotextile and geogrid reinforcements. The study revealed that usage of Rock flour fill in reinforced soil walls results in savings up to 30 to 50 percent in comparison to conventional retaining walls.


In the process of Chinese development,it is important to speed up the economic development of China's west and reduce the disparity between the west and the east.This paper studies the economic growth there from the angle of industrial organization.It analyzes the economic growth quality,pointing out that some problems in the industrial organization structure are the main barrier against the local economic intensive growth,and proposes some countermeasures to improve the industrial organization structure as well as the intensive economic growth.


This research investigates the determinants of green supply chain management (GSCM) adoption and its impact on organizational performance, while considering the potential moderating factors influencing GSCM adoption. Despite the growing prevalence of GSCM practices among Korean firms, the factors driving their adoption have not received sufficient attention. To bridge this gap, the study uses structural equation modeling, integrating stakeholder theory and resource-based theory to explore how green entrepreneurial orientation (GEO), institutional pressure, and relational capital affect GSCM adoption. Additionally, the study explores the effects of GSCM implementation on competitiveness and economic performance. Drawing data from a sample of 213 Korean manufacturing firms, the PLS-SEM analysis highlights the significant influence of GEO, institutional pressure, and relational capital on GSCM adoption. Additionally, the study emphasizes the positive impact of GSCM implementation on firm competitiveness. These findings provide valuable insights for enhancing sustainability in supply chain management and are applicable to similar context countries such as Taiwan, China, Japan, and the Netherlands.


This paper describes how one important aspect of wet-weather runway operations is the risk of aircraft hydroplaning during taking off and landing. Past approaches in determining aircraft hydroplaning speed are empirical and cannot offer any mechanistic understanding on the occurrence of hydroplaning. This paper therefore presents a numerical simulation model that can model aircraft hydroplaning. The computer simulation model is based on fundamental structural mechanics and fluid dynamics theories, with considerations to both fluid-structure interaction and contact modeling. The model is then applied to study how aircraft characteristics (wander, aircraft load and tire inflation pressure), runway characteristics (pavement surface texture and cross-slope), operational characteristics (landing or take-off speed) and environmental factors (water-film accumulated on runway) can affect hydroplaning. It is demonstrated in the paper that the developed mechanistic model can provide useful insights to the phenomenon of aircraft hydroplaning – previously not possible from traditional empirical modeling approaches.


The present work underlines the importance of an objective evaluation in the study of constituent materials and execution techniques, as well as an examination of the state of conservation of some paintings, performed during the corresponding restoration procedures. These observations, supported by analytical tests and art-historical evaluations, constitute an essential phase of the interdisciplinary research aimed at determining the attribution of a work of art. The study revolves around Pietro Novelli, the leading figurative artist of the 1600s in Sicily, who stood out amongst his peers and experienced growing fame in the centuries to follow. The interest in Monrealese is triggered by the current lack of research into recognizing his characteristic traits, accompanied by the existence of a relevant number of paintings of uncertain attribution and artifacts made by his followers or copyists. The research consists in the application of a technological investigative methodology on two examples of paintings from the 1600s, featuring David with the Head of Goliath and Our Lady of Sorrows. During their recent restoration, a study was conducted of the techniques used for their execution, accompanied by appropriate comparisons with artifacts of certain attribution. In both cases, it was possible to relate them directly to Novelli and identify the works of art respectively as replica and attributed.


The widespread adoption of new forms of digital communication platforms such as micro-blogging sites presents both an opportunity and a challenge for researchers interested in understanding people's attitudes and behaviours, especially in the context of unfolding crises and the need for government agencies such as the police to inform the public and act swiftly to ensure public order and safety. In this paper, we use a study of a recent public order crisis in England to explore how the police, other organisations and individuals used Twitter as they responded to this event.


Because whether hepatitis B virus infection increases the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus has been a controversial topic, pair‐wise and network meta‐analyses of published literature were carried out to accurately evaluate the association between different phases of hepatitis B virus infection and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.


In a research project, committed by industrial partners, a new method for the study of machining, particularly adapted to precious metals, was developed. The method is based on both the identification of minimum specific energy and the minimisation of machining costs. The kinds of machining considered in our study are milling and drilling. Nevertheless, the methodology can be adopted for the study of any form of machining by chip removal. The method involves the utilisation of some new software packages especially developed: a mechanistic model for the prediction of forces, specific energies and algorithms enabling research for economical optimisation.


We present a novel technology for spatial light modulators based on electrostatic deformation of viscoelastic layers. To fabricate the modulator structure, we bond two silicon chips using an intermediate viscoelastic layer and then etch away the top chip. This results in a very high optical quality viscoelastic layer deposited directly on top of the bottom chip. Light modulation is achieved by deforming the deposited viscoelastic layer using electrodes integrated into the bottom chip. Before bonding, the top chip is coated with a 80nm layer of aluminum and 50nm layer of nitride, that serves as the etch stop and reflector at the silicon. The thin nitride layer functions as the etch stop. Special technology was developed for low-stress side and back etch protection of contact pads of the devices. The continuous reflective membrane results in a 100% optical fill factor, enabling the modulator to handle relatively high optical loads. Also, given a sufficient bias voltage, the voltages on the electrodes should be in the range of 15-30V, making integrated solutions possible. Applications lie in the field of optical communication networks and projection displays.


Objective:To verify whether tibolone is preferentially prescribed to women at an increased risk for endometrial and breast cancer compared with women who were prescribed combined estrogen + progestogen therapies, including sequential conjugated equine estrogens/norgestrel, sequential conjugated equine estrogens/medroxyprogesterone acetate, continuous conjugated equine estrogens/medroxyprogesterone acetate, or continuous 17&bgr;-estradiol/norethisterone acetate. Design:This was a descriptive study using the General Practice Research Database, a UK primary care database. A total of 16,746 women who, between July 1, 1999, and June 30, 2001, were prescribed either tibolone or one of the estrogen + progestogen regimens listed above were included. The main outcome measures were risk factors associated with endometrial cancer and breast cancer. Results:The clinical background of women who were prescribed tibolone differed from that of women who were prescribed combination products. More frequently than expected, women who were most recently prescribed tibolone had a history of chronic breast disease, a personal history of breast cancer, or a history of (long-term) estrogen-only therapy. Furthermore, medical records of this group of women showed more frequent reports of hypertension and previous uterine procedures. Conclusion:This study confirms previous findings that in the United Kingdom, general practitioners seem to prescribe tibolone preferentially to women with increased risks of breast and endometrial cancer as compared with women who are prescribed estrogen + progestogen products.


In this note we identify and illustrate some shortcomings of the poisson command in STATA. Specifically, we point out that the command fails to check for the existence of the estimates and show that it is very sensitive to numerical problems. While these are serious problems that may prevent users from obtaining estimates, or even produce spurious and misleading results, we show that the informed user often has available simple work-arounds for these problems.


This paper reformulates the problem using term rewriting rules on abstract structures representing the binary encoding of numbers. The abstract structures and the rules reveal some regularities in the function that are not obvious in the usual numeric formulation.