(1) Clitoral epidermal cyst is a relatively common long-term complication of type I female genital mutilation (FGM) and is treated by excision of the epidermal cyst followed by approximation of the skin. (2) Despite the fact that over 10 000 women currently living in the United Kingdom have had FGM, its consequences remain unfamiliar to many health-care professionals. (3) It is important that health professionals develop an increasing awareness of the complications of FGM, as well as recognise the unique problems that these women face, so that satisfactory and comprehensive treatment can be offered.


A concentration factor of radioactive nuclides to the aquatic organisms is affected by various factors. This paper discusses the distribution and daily change of the concentration factors. The distribution of the concentration factor of individual organisms showed the logarithmic normal distribution or the Poisson distribution. The authors attempted to explain the dynamics of concentration of radioactive substances in the organisms using a Markov process. The phenomenon was well depicted with the stationary Markov process defined by the initial distribution of the concentration factor Qi(0) and the conditional probability Pij.


The economic and productive situation of the rural sector of La Mana canton needs agricultural alternatives that can be sustainable and profitable, the (Phaseolus vulgaris.), is typical of Central and South America and it is sowing in the provinces on the coast region even in the Ecuadorian mountainous area, it adapts to the majority of soils, their demand is fresh and dry that it contributes to a diet rich in protein and a low cost. This research RESPONSES OF TWO DOSES OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS (humus, manure) TWO LEAF FERTILIZER (Wuxal double naturamin) CROP PERFORMANCE OF BEANS (Phaseolus vulgaris L) IN CHIPE HAMBURGO No 2 VILLAGE LA MANA CANTON, COTOPAXI PROVINCE aimed to evaluate the response of two doses of organic fertilizer (humus, manure) and two foliar fertilizers (Wuxal double naturamin) on crop yield of beans where the following parameters were taken (plant height, number of flowers, number of pods....


In this study, 90 internal organ samples of poultry with symptoms of colibacillosis were obtained from Maragheh poultry farms in East Azerbaijan, Iran. In total, 70 bacterial isolates were confirmed as Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains using standard biochemical tests, and antibiotic sensitivity was determined by the disk diffusion method. Antibiotics used in this study included ampicillin, penicillin, nitrofurantoin, tetracycline, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid, and sulfamethoxazole (n=8). Ciprofloxacin showed the highest susceptibility, while the lowest susceptibility was observed with penicillin and amoxicillin. Among the bacterial isolates, 50% showed resistance to at least five antibiotics, and 10 isolates with multidrug resistance were selected for bacteriophage (phage) isolation against recent E. coli isolates using spot test and double-layer agar overlay technique. In addition, water samples for phage isolation were provided from rivers, poultry farm sewages, and an urban sewage treatment center. In total, eight phages were successfully isolated from the urban sewage treatment center (total: 10). After enrichment, purification and titration, phages were further concentrated by polyethylene glycol precipitation. Lowest and highest bacteriophage titers were determined to be 1.05×106 and 1.9×109 PFU/ml, respectively. Host range of the isolated phages was assayed by spot testing, and antibacterial effects against four E. coli isolates were observed in one of the isolated phage suspensions, which was introduced as the most potentiated agent for phage therapy. In the morphological analysis of the selected phage using an electron microscope, we observed a hexagonal head with a diameter of 95 nm and contractile tail length of 90 nm, which indicated its similarity to the Myoviridae family. In conclusion, results of this study showed that bacteriophages could be appropriate alternatives to combat pathogenic E. coli strains with antibiotic resistance in poultry. Considering the changeable antibacterial effects of bacteriophages against different isolates of extraintestinal avian pathogenic E. coli, it is suggested that future investigations be conducted regarding the efficacy of lytic phages against different bacterial strains for the effective control of the associated infections in this region of Iran.


semicore level asthe reference, we find that the VBM level of the FM stateis almost the same (only about 0.01 eV higher) as that ofthe AFM state. Therefore the CBM of the AFM state ismuch higher than that of the FM state. The reason why theAFM state has a higher CBM and thus a larger band gap isillustrated in Fig. 3(d). When the spins of two neighboringV ions have an FM coupling, the up-spin


The teaching and research about ASP application development course is discussed in this article.Through the knowledge of the curriculum,teaching methods and strategies,case analysis,summed up the emphasis and difficult of the course and how to break through the difficulties of traditional patterns and methods of teaching.Students in the learning process not only master the curriculum's knowledge as well as an integrated application of technology specific to the development of application systems.


Based on their unique resistance to various space parameters, bacterial spores (mainly spores of Bacillus subtilis) are one of the model systems used for astrobiological studies. More recently, spores of B. subtilis have been applied for experimental research on the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of life. Since its first postulation by Arrhenius in 1903, the panspermia hypothesis has been revisited many-times, e.g. after the discovery of several lunar and Martian meteorites on Earth. These information provided intriguing evidence that rocks may naturally be transferred between the terrestrial planets. The scenario of panspermia, now termed "lithopanspermia" involves three basic hypothetical steps: (i) the escape process, i.e. removal to space of biological material, which has survived being lifted from the surface to high altitudes; (ii) interim state in space, i.e., survival of the bio-logical material over time scales comparable with interplane-tary or interstellar passage; (iii) the entry process, i.e. nondestructive deposition of the biological material on another planet. In our research, spores of B. subtilis were used to study the effects of galactic cosmic radiation on spore survival and induced mutations. On an interplanetary journey, outside a protective magnetic field, sporecontaining rocks would be exposed to bombardment by high-energy charged particle radiation from galactic sources and from the sun, consisting of photons (X-rays, γ-rays), protons, elec-trons and heavy, highenergy charged (HZE) particles. Air-dried spore layers on three different host materials (i.e., non-porous igneous rocks (gabbro), quartz, and spacecraft analog material (aluminum)) were irradiated with accelerated heavy ions (Helium and Iron) in the LET (linear energy transfer) range of 2 and 200 keV/μm, as previously shown by Moeller et al. (2008). To simulate the interplanetary journey of a meteorite, stacks of spore-samples on gabbro slides in different depths were exposed. Spore survival and the rate of the induced mutations (i.e., sporulation-deficiency (Spo-)) depended on the LET of the applied species of ions and as well as on the location (and depth) of the irradiated spores in the artificial meteorite, whereas the exposure to high-energy charged particles, e.g. iron ions, led to a low level of spore survival and increased frequency of mutation to Spocompared to low-energy charged particles. In order to obtain insights on the role of DNA repair by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), homologous recombination (HR) and apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) endonucleases in B. subtilis spore resistance to high-energy charged particles has been studied in parallel. Spores deficient in NHEJ and AP endonucleases were significantly more sensitive to HZE particle bombardment than were the HR-mutant and wild-type spores, indicating that NHEJ and AP endonucleases provide DNA break repair pathways during spore germination. References: 1 Arrhenius, S. 1903. Die Verbreitung des Lebens im Weltenraum. Umschau 7:481-485. 2 Nicholson, W. L. 2009. Ancient micronauts: interplanetary transport of microbes by cosmic impacts. Trends Microbiol. 17:243-250. 3 Moeller, R., P. Setlow, G. Horneck, T. Berger, G. Reitz, P. Rettberg, A. J. Doherty, R. Okayasu, and W. L. Nicholson. 2008. Roles of the major, small, acid-soluble spore proteins and spore-specific and universal DNA repair mechanisms in resistance of Bacillus subtilis spores to ionizing radiation from X-rays and high-energy charged-particle bombardment. J. Bacteriol. 190:1134-1140. 5218.pdf Astrobiology Science Conference 2010 (2010)


The existence of words is usually taken for granted by the speakers of a language. The average speaker knows thousands of words, and new words enter our minds on a daily basis, thus, language is in a continuous process of development. The word is a speech unit used for the purposes of human communication, materially representing a group of sounds, possessing a meaning, susceptible to grammatical employment and characterised by formal and semantic unity. The term vocabulary is used to denote the system of words and word-groups that the language possesses. Vocabulary means the sum of all the words in the language. Good knowledge of the rules of word-formation, origin and history of words help us to discover the meaning of new-formed words, to master the standards of their usage, and to prevent mistakes.


Summary 1. In otherwise adequate diets complete or partial deficiency of riboflavin, pantothenic acid, thiamin or pyridoxin depresses the thymus weight of female albino rats below that of normally grown controls of corresponding body weight. 2. With complete deficiency of any one of the four factors mentioned, there is mild to marked atrophy of the thymus which may however be referable to losses in body weight. 3. On a diet partially deficient in thiamin which produces small but continuous body weight increases, thymus growth may be arrested for the four weeks duration of the experiment while under similar conditions partial pyridoxin deficiency produces marked atrophy. The observations all refer to an age range before "age involution" sets changes would be classed under the term "accidental involution". They occurred in rats each of which received 10 mg of choline hydrochloride per day.


Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) and sleep disturbance are highly prevalent in the perioperative period and intensive care unit (ICU). There has been a lack of individualized evaluation tools designed for the high‐risk NCDs in critically ill patients with sleep disturbance.


Case studies have been utilized frequently throughout business curricula. In the domain of accounting, however, cases have not been as proliferated. The aim of the paper is demonstrate the use of secondary case studies in the didactics of an undergraduate introductory accounting course. Authentic stories from professional journals and daily newspapers have been used for students to critically examine real-life accounting applications. Based on subsequent longitudinal student survey undertaken in two consecutive academic years, secondary case studies have been found effective in delivering real-life accounting applications, enabling greater understanding of accounting phenomena, and enhancing didactic approach in and above the accounting domain.


Objective To explore the mechanism and clinical characteristics of brain tumor-associated hemorrhage induced by head injury, aiming at directing medical staff to avoid misdiagnosis. Methods 9 patients with brain tumor-associated hemorrhage induced by head injury, who were misdiagnosed as traumatic intracerebral hematoma, were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were inspected with CT preoperatively, which showed intracerebral hematomas in 8 cases and subdural hematoma in 1 case. Brain tumors in 5 cases were found and removed during the removal of hematoma, while ones in the other 4 cases were found in post-operative CT examination and removed in a second operation. Results Post-operative pathological diagnosis was astrocytomas in 5 cases and glioblastomas in 3. Follow-up showed that 4 patients died and 5 survived 6 months after the surgery. Conclusion The patients who were suspected of intracerebral tumor-associated hemorrhage should be paid more attention intraoperatively to the search for the bleeding source and observation of surrounding tissue changes in addition to complete information on health history and general body examination. Traumatic intracerebral hematoma should be distinguished carefully from the brain tumor-associated hemorrhage induced by head injury.


To a semiconductor element having a galvanic anti-corrosion (galvanic corrosion) pattern. Keep out zone; a substrate having a (keep out zone KOZ) is arranged. A number of the wiring is formed just off the keep-out zone (KOZ) on the substrate. It is formed in the keep-out zone (KOZ) with a through electrode (TSV) penetrating the substrate is disposed. The through-electrode (TSV) and being electrically insulated are formed in the keep-out zone (KOZ) a protective pattern having the through electrode (TSV) and the other conductive material is disposed. The lower end of the protective pattern is formed on a level above the lower end of the through electrode (TSV).


In this paper, in order to investigate an enhancement of flexural load-carrying capacity of the existing reinforced concrete (RC) members reinforced with near surface mounted (NSM) fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) rods and debonding behavior of those FRP rods, static four-point loading tests for RC beams reinforced with NSM Aramid FRP (AFRP) rods were conducted. For comparisons, RC beams reinforced in flexural with bonding AFRP sheet on the tension-side surface were also tested, in which axial stiffness EA between two reinforcing materials is similar to each other. In this study, the axial stiffness EA is varied in three levels of magnitude. The results obtained from this study are as follows: 1) It is experimentally observed that the similar reinforcing effects of AFRP rods/sheet can be expected if axial stiffness EA of reinforcing materials is similar to each other; and 2) The failure mode of the RC beams can be predicted using an empirical equation for the RC beams reinforced with bonding FRP sheet.


We have performed first-principles calculations for the mechanic and electric properties of pure Pt nanocontacts and a Pt contact with a single CO molecule adsorbed. For the pure Pt contacts we see a clear difference between point contacts and short chains in good agreement with experiments. We identify a tilted bridge configuration for the $\mathrm{Pt}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{CO}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Pt}$ contact, which is stable and has a conductance close to $0.5{G}_{0}$ $({G}_{0}=2\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{e}^{2}∕h)$, and we propose that this structure is responsible for an observed peak at $0.5{G}_{0}$ in the conductance histogram for Pt exposed to a CO gas. We explain the main features of the transmission function for the $\mathrm{Pt}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{CO}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{Pt}$ contact, and show that the conductance is largely determined by the local $d$ band at the Pt apex atoms.


This research discussed about readers response from Airlangga University Japanese Literature students toward Saga no Gabai Baachan novel by Shimada Yoshichi. The Saga no Gabai Bachaan novel was written based on true story which experienced by the auth


In the 1960s and 1970s there were two major issues facing Diaspora Jewry: the survival of Israel and the plight of Soviet Jewry. In regard to the latter, both the Israeli government and Jewish Diaspora communities promoted the campaign to permit Soviet Jews to have either freedom of religion or the right to emigrate. The 1960s saw the emerging promotion of emigration, represented by the slogan, "Let My People Go" which was taken up by members of the Australian Jewish community. The Australian government played a key role in the Soviet Jewry campaign in the 1960s, with Australian politicians at times acting against the advice of the civil service. So too did Australian Jewry's leadership with its efforts to shape government policy, demonstrating an emerging political awareness, especially from among the younger leaders such as Isi Leibler. Tension between the political leadership and the public service is a common phenomenon. The political leadership needs to take into consideration the voting public, as well as financial supporters of the party. Political figures can also be motivated by ideological factors. In contrast, civil (or public) servants tend to be more pragmatic, being concerned with what they see as their country's core interests in foreign policy and at times adopting a more conservative approach. Such a tension emerged in relation to Australian policies relating to the discrimination and abuse of human rights experienced by Soviet Jewry in the 1960s when there was a correlation between government policies in regard to Soviet Jewry and attitudes towards Israel. Drawing on a range of primary sources, this study examines these factors through the paradigm of three key events: Australia being the first country to raise the question of discrimination against Jews and abuse of human rights in the Soviet Union at the United Nations in November 1962, when Garfield Barwick served as Minister of External Affairs under Robert Menzies; the impact of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War in the


Material loss due to sand erosion can cause severe damage to oil and gas production facilities and lead to leaks and ruptures if left undetected. The design of oil and gas production equipment to safely withstand sand erosion and simultaneously optimize production requires a reliable erosion prediction tool. One of the key requirements for such a tool is that it correctly models both the erosion resistance of the exposed materials and the effects of the particle impact trajectories and velocities.


The implicit ideological and political education mechanism refers to the regular operation in the implicit ideological and political education,which constitutes the process mode of the elements between implicit ideological and political education and other elements,the reflection,selection and integration of education information,the internalization of these into the receivers' view of the world,view of life and value,as well as the externalization into their action.The implicit ideological and political education mechanism suggests that we should keep the goal and the process of education implicit,education medium selective,education methods diversified,and education process long-termed.


Human pancreatic α‐amylase (HPA) was expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris and two mutants (D197A and D197N) of a completely conserved active site carboxylic acid were generated. All recombinant proteins were shown by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI‐MS) to be glycosylated and the site of attachment was shown to be Asn461 by peptide mapping in conjunction with ESI‐MS. Treatment of these proteins with endoglycosidase F demonstrated that they contained a single N‐linked oligosaccharide and yielded a protein product with a single N‐acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc), which could be crystallized. Solution of the crystal structure to a resolution of 2.0 Å confirmed the location of the glycosyl group as Asn461 and showed that the recombinant protein had essentially the same conformation as the native enzyme. The kinetic parameters of the glycosylated and deglycosylated wild‐type proteins were the same while the kcat/Km values for D197A and D197N were 106–107 times lower than the wild‐type enzyme. The decreased kcat/Km values for the mutants confirm that D197 plays a crucial role in the hydrolytic activity of HPA, presumably as the catalytic nucleophile.


The field monitoring data of land subsidence in Yangtze River delta area demonstrates that the deformation in the aquifers accounts for a large proportion of the total settlement and develops with time.There are many parameters in the existing sand creep models;however,it is difficult to obtain relative accurate parameters.According to the creep characteristics of sand,the Singh′s soil creep model was adopted to calculate the long-term deformation of aquifers in this study.This model assumes that the creep rate and time present linear relationship in the double logarithmic coordinates.There is only one parameter m needed in this model,which stands for the line slope of the creep rate and time elapse in the double logarithmic coordinates.The statistical results of the existing sand creep test data show that,the values of m are 0.9–1.1.The sensitivity analysis of m shows that the different values of m in the range of 0.9–1.1 cannot affect the creep deformation significantly.Therefore,the value of m can be assumed as 1 when specific test data is not available.Two cases of Changzhou and Shanghai are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of Singh′s model and accuracy of the proposed method in long-term deformation of sand aquifers calculation.


To study the freezing of large diameter single wellbore wall grouting technology for large amount of leakage problems wellbore door grams celebrate mine shaft began to thaw vice combining technical features wellbore wall hydrogeological conditions and parameters of the wellbore after the walls,curtains and wall impermeable microcracks take phased,focused carried grouting.The results show that:the amount of leakage from the wellbore 233 m3/ h reduced to 4.5 m3/ h,reaching the amount of wellbore leakage specifications.


The purposes of this study are to and analyze the influence of intellectual, emotional and spiritual intelligence to the understanding of accounting either stimulantly or partially. This study focused on the influence of intellectual, emotional and spiritual intelligence to the understanding of accounting by using primary data obtained from the questionnaire. Population of the study was obtained from the accounting students at three different universities in Semarang namely UNIMUS Semarang, UNNES and UDINUS. Number of samples taken was 50 respondents. The type of data collected is primary data. Hypothesis testing result indicated that the intellectual, emotional, spiritual intelligence had possitive relationship with the understanding of accounting. This study was taken as one source of literature and reference. It can be concluded that intellectual, emotional and spiritual intelligence has a positive impact on the understanding of accounting at 21.346. The influnece of the three independent variables on understanding accounting can be seen from the score of adjusted coefficient of determination which is more than 50 percent; 0.55 or 55 percent. Keywords: Intellectual intelligence , emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, accounting understanding.


Over the last decade, ethnographic studies of the creative industries have emerged as a thriving area of interdisciplinary research. Yet studies dealing with the micro-processes of relations between management and creativity are still relatively rare. Based on 12 months of fieldwork in the Japanese animation industry, this article offers a detailed analysis of workplace relations between entry-level manager, or 'production operators', and two classes of key creative workers, animators and directors, at the shop-floor level. Elaborating analytical concepts of emotional labour and creative hierarchy, it shows how directors' and animators' capacity to create and manipulate animation drawings routinely subordinate the production operators in the workplace hierarchy. It argues that the structure of domination in commercial cultural production between management and creativity is more multi-dimensional and contingent than a one-sided subordination of artists by managers.


Lund Municipality, just like many other municipalities, has recurring problems with rutting at their bus stops. There is a notable problem in Lund though and the rutting occurs regardless of whether the stops are placed at high, medium or low-volume roads. In this thesis, eleven of the most vulnerable coatings in Lund Municipality were investigated. This thesis is written in collaboration with road managers Lund municipality, and contractor Peab as well as Lund University. Surveys of the bus stops rut depth and rut width were carried out on the spot and further analysis was done on the underlying asphalt layers. What type of asphalt that was used in the construction or when these coatings were laid out has not been documented, which limited the analysis of this work. The tests on the drilled core samples from the bus stops were tested with Marshall Stability Test. From the Marshall Stability Test we extracted the maximum load that causes the test specimen to fracture when subjected to a certain load and the yield value, which is a measure of the impactor deformation. These are then recorded and analyzed. The results showed that there was very little correlation between the rut depth/rut width and number of buses that drove on the roads, which was the main problem. This tells us that the root cause of the problem in all likelihood lies in the composition of the coating and that the proposed measures should not solely depend on the number of buses at the bus stop. Another problem that was visible on the cores was that the old bitumen-rich wearing course had not been milled away, but instead wearing course after wearing course had been piled on top of each other. That is what has likely caused the huge agitator seen at bus stops. A wearing course is not suited to withstand the shear stresses that occur 20-80 mm down in the structure that are caused by the heavy bus traffic. This thesis therefore proposes that the bitumen-rich coating is milled away and replaced with bitumen poor coatings on the depth, such as a traditional ABb. The underlying layers showed better correlation between the values of the Marshall test and the measured values. This may partly be because there were so few specimens to compare with, but beyond that they showed a very good correlation. (Less)


Cooperative Learning Model in Fashion Analysis Study and it's Role in Increasing Student's Motivation and Study Result, was conducted using the Classroom Action Research (CAR) approach, going through four cycle in order to solve problem and until the problem is solved. The key in cooperative learning is learning to collaborate in a cooperative group. When students study in group, an open study atmosphere will be created in terms of partnership, because at that very exact moment a collaborative learning process will be born in a symbiotic personal relationship. And at that moment also, peer group and cooperative learning pattern will be developed. To experience happiness and sadness, failure and success together. Having responsible for everyone else in the group, besides the responsibility for themselves, in learning faced material. This situation will increase student's motivation in Fashion Model Analysis, particularly fashion pattern scattering.


Dendritic cells (DCs) are required for the initiation of primary immune responses. The pattern of Toll‐like receptor (TLR) expression on various subsets of these cells has been shown to differ, suggestive of distinct roles in influencing immune responses. We have examined here the responses of immature DCs derived from murine bone marrow (BMDCs) to a range of TLR ligands. BMDCs cultured for 6 days in the presence of granulocyte–macrophage colony‐stimulating factor were stimulated for 24 hr with ligands to TLR1‐2 [Pam3Cys‐Ser‐(Lys)4 (PAM)], TLR2‐6 (macrophage‐activating lipopeptide‐2 (MALP‐2); zymosan or peptidoglycan (PG)], TLR3 (polyinosinic‐polycytidylic acid), TLR4 [lipopolysaccharide R515 (LPS)], TLR5 (flagellin), TLR7 (polyuridylic acid) and TLR9 [CpG ODN2395 (CpG)]. DC activation was monitored using membrane marker expression and analysis of culture supernatants for cytokine/chemokine release. Ligands to TLR3 and TLR7 failed to activate BMDCs. All other TLR ligands caused elevated expression of membrane markers. PAM, MALP‐2 and LPS induced high‐level expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Treatment with CpG was associated with a preferential type 1 cytokine and chemokine profile. Zymosan and PG were proinflammatory but also skewed towards a type 2 pattern of cytokines and chemokines. In contrast, flagellin did not cause marked secretion by BMDCs of cytokines or chemokines. These data for BMDCs are largely consistent with the reported TLR repertoire of freshly isolated murine Langerhans cells. In addition, murine BMDCs show selective responses to TLR ligands with respect to general activation, with differentiated cytokine patterns suggestive of potential priming for divergent immune responses.


Tungsten carbide- (WC-) based hardmetals or cemented carbides represent an important class of materials used in a wide range of industrial applications which primarily include cutting/drilling tools and wear resistant components. The introduction and processing of nanostructured WC-based cemented carbides and their subsequent consolidation to produce dense components have been the subject of several investigations. One of the attractive means of producing this class of materials is bymechanical alloying technique. However, one of the challenging issues in obtaining the right end-product is the possible loss of the nanocrystallite sizes due to the undesirable grain growth during powder sintering step. Many research groups have engaged in multiple projects aiming at exploring the right path of consolidating the nanostructured WC-based powders without substantially loosing the attained nanostructure. The present paper highlights some key issues related to powder synthesis and sintering of WCbased nanostructured materials using mechanical alloying. The path of directly consolidating the powders using nonconventional consolidation techniques will be addressed and some light will be shed on the advantageous use of such techniques. Cobaltbonded hardmetals will be principally covered in this work along with an additional exposure of the use of other binders in the WCbased hardmetals.


Explosive activity often generates visible flashing arcs in the volcanic plume considered as the evidence of the shock‐front propagation induced by supersonic dynamics. High‐speed image processing is used to visualize the pressure wavefield associated with flashing arcs observed in strombolian explosions. Image luminance is converted in virtual acoustic signal compatible with the signal recorded by pressure transducer. Luminance variations are moving with a spherical front at a 344.7 m/s velocity. Flashing arcs travel at the sound speed already 14 m above the vent and are not necessarily the evidence of a supersonic explosive dynamics. However, seconds later, the velocity of small fragments increases, and the spherical acousto‐luminance wavefront becomes planar recalling the Mach wave radiation generated by large scale turbulence in high‐speed jet. This planar wavefront forms a Mach angle of 55° with the explosive jet axis, suggesting an explosive dynamics moving at Mo = 1.22 Mach number.


The hard, resistant, generally cliff-forming Pab Sandstone Formation of Maastrichtian age is well exposed in parts of the eastern Sulaiman Fold-Belt. Thin-section, XRD and SEM studies of 66 samples from seven outcrops extending 200 km along strike were made in order to assess the reservoir quality of this formation. Petrographic studies indicated that the sandstones, classified as quartz arenites (locally subarkose), are texturally and mineralogically mature. The proportion of potassium feldspar varied from trace to 16%, and this mineral was confined to certain stratigraphic zones. Alteration of feldspars to clay minerals was common, particularly in the south of the study area. Plagioclase, heavy minerals, and lithic fragments were present in minor amounts.


The design of reaction system is vital to ensure quality and reliability for electromagnetic relay (EMR). However, it is difficult to get perfect results using traditional design method, which costs excessive computation time. Thus the inverse design method is developed in this paper. Corresponding reduction equations, flexibility equations and dimension chain equations are established. Meanwhile dynamic specifications and stress intensity are checked. Experiment results verified the validity of the method. This inverse method can greatly improve the design efficiency and can be extended to similar structures.


Internet is widely used in various fields such as education, business and management. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Internet usage among the
Terengganu state civil servants. The study was carried out due to the lack of specific studies of the Internet usage in civil service. The high cost involved in preparing
information technology facilities made the study essential. The tool used in the survey was questionaires. About 268 sample was selected out of 863 populations.
Those were civil servants under the Terengganu state government from various categories. Some of the findings of this study show that young employees are more
interested in using Internet compared to the older employees. However, formal Internet training does not increase percentage used of Internet. Nevertheless, a
finding of this study shows that the percentage used of Internet at office slightly higher than at home. The study also highlights a positive perception regarding the
usage of Internet in offices that contributed towards increased efficiency and work performance. In addition, gender factor did not influence the level of Internet usage. Overall, among the government staff in Terengganu, the study found that the level of Internet usage was still low. Therefore, efforts should make to hightlight the real
capability of Internet. Besides, access to the Internet should be made easier to the staff.


Gedi Merah leaf (Abelmoschus manihot L.Medik) is a tropical plant used by the community as a traditional medicine to reduce cholesterol, hypertension, and antidiabetic levels. Diabetes mellitus is a disorder of carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism due to a lack of the hormone insulin so that glucose in the blood increases which is characterized by changes in the histopathological structure of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. The purpose of this study was to see the histopathological description of the pancreas in male white rats (Rattus norvegicus) Wistar strain model of type II diabetes mellitus by administering ethanol extract of red gedi leaves (Abelmoschus manihot L.Medik). Modeling of diabetes mellitus in experimental animals was carried out by administering a high-fat diet and intraperitoneal induction of streptozotocin 30 mg/kg. After modeling, male rats were grouped into 6 treatment groups, namely a normal control group, a positive control group, a negative control group, and a group that was given the ethanol extract of red gedi leaves at a dose of 75 mg/kg BW, 150 mg/kg BW 300 mg/kg BW. The results of the histopathological examination of the pancreas and the number of endocrine cells showed that the ethanolic extract of red gedi leaves (Abelmoschus manihot L.Medik) was effective in repairing pancreatic cells and regenerating endocrine cells in the islets of langerhans.


A few secondary sources for nursing were examined to see how Japanese nursing journals are covered in regard e. g., to time lag, average number of indexing terms and how they are indexed. The results were as follows: 1) International Nursing Index: The time lag was 8-9 months, the average number of indxing terms per article was 2.22 and indexing was almost satisfactory but some improper indexing terms were found. 2) Igaku Chuo Zasshi: The time lag was 8 months, the average number of indexing terms per article was 1.21, the present method for indexing had too many problems, and a number of articles had been omitted. 3) Other secondary sources also were not complete. No satisfactory domestic secondary source for nursing could be found.


Krimmel takes a stand against surrogate motherhood arrangements because of the many ethical issues raised by this method of reproduction. He argues that in surrogate motherhood, as in artificial insemination by donor (AID), the separation of the decision to create a child from the decision to parent it is ethically suspect. Disputes between parents caused by the birth of a handicapped infant or other unforeseen circumstances will only reinforce the idea of the child as a commodity. Krimmel concludes that legal acceptance of surrogate arrangements will increase stresses on family structure and on society's shared moral values.


The design and development of a suitable controller for controlling the position of a metallic body suspended freely in space under the influence of a magnetic field (from an electromagnet) are discussed. Since this system is dynamically very fast and unstable in nature, the controller structure is so designed that the stability conditions are satisfied. The controller is then realized using 8-bit microprocessor.


Treatment of wool with degradative shrinkproofing reagents or extraction with ethanol or formic acid does not prevent the occurrence of the Allworden reaction. Thus, the epicuticle is not disrupted by these treatments (as has been often stated) and this agrees well with its known chemical inertness. Treatment with anhydrous potassium t-hutoxide produces shrink-resistance and harsh handle but no appreciable loss of weight, change in mechanical properties, modification of the Allwörden reaction, or modification of the surface, as shown by scanning electron microscopy. We believe this to be the first documented example of a shrink-resist treatment which is due solely to modification of the surface of the epicuticle.


When the user drives the wheelchair on the road, the wheelchair receives the vibration brought by the road and transmits it to the human body. The vibration acts on the whole body of the human body and has an adverse effect on the comfort and physical and mental health of the human body. In order to efficiently evaluate the comfort of the human body when riding in a wheelchair, this study based on the existing wheelchair platform, established a wheelchair model through the multi-body dynamics software ADAMS, and used the biomechanical simulation plug-in Lifemod to establish a multi-degree-of-freedom(DOF) biomechanical model of the human body. Based on the above two Build a wheelchair-human multi-DOF simulation model. Through the simulation on the B-level standard road surface, the driving behavior of the system in this dynamic environment is analyzed, and the human comfort is evaluated. The results show that the wheelchair-human system has poor comfort on the lower back when driving on standard road surfaces, and is slightly uncomfortable, while the bottock and foot have good comfort. This method has certain advantages for quickly evaluating the riding comfort of the wheelchair-human system. It provides an effective method for predicting and evaluating human riding comfort in the design stage of wheelchair products.


Much attention has been focused on vortex cavitation bubbles because of their highly erosive power. In this study, vortex cavitation flow developing in the wake behind a circular cylinder with a typical separated vortex is experimentally examined to solve the process on collapse and impulse of cavitation bubble in the context of the cavitation erosion. From the comparison with the erosion pit distribution obtained in erosion tests due to vortex cavitation, it is experimentally proved that the collapsing process is classified into four patterns, using high-speed-video observations of vortex cavitation bubbles. As a result it is shown that the collapsing process has two different sequential stages so that a vortex cavity of large spatial scale does not collapse all at once.


This article sketches a re-conceptualization of sustainable development (SD) on the basis of Sen's capability approach (CA). The notion of sustainable development was developed as a compromise in a political process and has been reinterpreted (some say diluted) again and again over the last 20 years. When modelling the notion through the lenses of the capability approach, difficulties occur that are at the core of SD and of CA or that are due to their combination. This article shows why it is not easy to replace 'needs' in the Brundtland definition of SD with 'capabilities'. In our model, the differences between systemic and individual levels become clear and herewith the necessity to include both when dealing with issues of SD. The most salient difficulties relate to the multidimensionality and dynamics on both levels. Confronted with these difficulties, demanding individuals to consciously choose sustainable actions seems to be heroic. We propose two ways to alleviate the cognitive and moral burden on individuals by concentrating on the natural environment and by introducing collective institutions. Both alleviations are far from evident, however; this concerns their justification as well as their operationalization.


Liquid biopsy refers to the analyses of circulating tumor cells or circulating tumor DNA that mainly exist in the bloodstream and other body fluid. Liquid biopsy is a novel kind of non-invasive technique and has a wide prospect of clinical application in the molecular pathological field. This review presents the advances of liquid biopsy and its clinical application values in the field of colorectal cancer, including prognosis assessment, early cancer screening and prediction of treatment responses.

Key words:
Colorectal neoplasms; Therapeutic uses; Liquid biopsy; CTC; ctDNA


Classification is a technique to construct a function or set of functions to predict the class of instances whose class label is not known. Discovered knowledge is usually presented in the form of high level, easy to understand classification rules. There is various classification techniques used to classify the data, one of which is decision tree algorithms. This paper presents a comparative analysis of various decision tree based classification algorithms. In experiments, the effectiveness of algorithms is evaluated by comparing the results on 5 datasets from the UCI and KEEL repository. Keywords-classification; weka; decision tree; data mining __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________


THE interpretation of the larval characteristics of the fishes and amphibians in terms of systematics and evolution presents many challenging problems. For many years, studies on early developmental stages were guided by the idea that larval characters have an ancestral, recapitulative significance, or by the belief that they are secondary adaptations with little or no evolutionary importance. Neither theory is adequate from the standpoint of systematics, and together they have somewhat hampered effective use of larval data by taxonomists. A third and more significant concept, based on principles formulated by Von Baer in the 1800s, has gained prominence in recent years through the work of de Beer and others. It emphasizes comparative studies on equivalent growth stages of different species, and provides a much sounder basis for interpreting developmental characteristics in terms of systematics and evolution. The larval stage may serve different ecological functions in different animals. A suitably adapted larva may enable a species to succeed in a region that might otherwise be closed to it-a conspicuous factor in the distribution of many frogs. A pelagic larva may be the major dispersal stage in many marine fishes having sluggish or strongly territorial adults, paralleling a well-known life-history pattern in the invertebrates. It is often suggested that inadequate provision for embryonic nutrition is the primary factor governing the occurrence of a larval stage. Whatever the "reason" for its establishment in the ontogeny may be, the larva is subject to the operation of genetic evolutionary processes, like any other developmental stage, since all growth stages of the individual are under the control of a single genetic system. The same basic procedures of systematics are applied to both larval and adult stages. These procedures include the analysis of variation and the study of differences and of resemblances between species and groups; and the interpretation of the basic data in terms of the primary trends of phylogeny and of secondary phenomena of adaptive radiation, convergence, "rectilinear" trends, and other patterns of evolution, at all systematic levels.


THE introduction of the vaginal smear test on ovariectomised rats or mice for extracts containing the cestrus-producing hormone has led to its widespread use at the present time for the determination of the relative potency of different preparations. Doisy, Ralls, Allen and Johnston(l) have defined as a "Rat unit" the "quantity of material necessary to induce westrus as judged by the smear method in an ovariectomised, sexually mature rat weighing 140 ± 20 grm." It is evident that the value of their unit is dependent on the assumption that the smallest dose able to produce cestrus in one rat will not seriously differ from that required in another. Certain observations made by one of us in an attempt to determine the mouse unit of different preparations, suggested that for ovariectomised mice at least this assumption was incorrect. Three results, which were simultaneously obtained, appear in Table I. The results with all


TiO2-pillaring solution was prepared via sol-gel process by using Ti(OBu)4 as a precursor.The TiO2/Rectorite nanocomposites were produced by introducing the TiO2-pillaring solution into the rectorite suspensions.The obtained nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,diffuse reflection spectra,and N2 adsorbtion-desorbtion experiments.The absorption property and photoactivity of the obtained nanocomposites were investigated by using Rhodamine B(RB) as the simulation organic contamination.Experimental results indicated that TiO2/Rectorite nanocomposites included TiO2 pillared into the intergallery of layered structures and TiO2 nanoparticles adsorbed on the surface of composites,and the pillared TiO2 expanded the d-spaces of rectorite from 2.42-9.81nm.Moreover,this expanded intergallery regions lead to enlarge the special surface areas and pore volumes of the composites,consequently,improve the absorption property and photoactivity of the Rectorite.


In this paper we rigorously derive a strain-gradient theory for plasticity as the Γlimit of a nonlinear mesoscopic dislocation energy, without resorting to the introduction of an ad hoc cut-off radius. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to treat a nonlinear dislocation energy. The Γ-limit we obtain as the length of the Burgers vector tends to zero has the same form as the Γ-limit obtained by starting from a linear, semi-discrete dislocation energy. The nonlinearity, however, creates severe mathematical difficulties, which we tackled by proving suitable versions of the Rigidity Estimate in non-simply-connected domains and by performing a rigorous two-scale linearisation of the energy around an equilibrium configuration.


Introduction In response to the rapid changes in the international environment of financial systems, the Universal Banking System has recently attracted attention. A considerable amount of research on the nature, merit, and disadvantage of the Universal Banking System have been produced since the 1980s, when major countries started financial reforms. However, the univesal banks as an individual firm has not been sufficiently explored through scholarship. This study explores the univessal banks as a firm, particularly the performance of universal banks. Faced with radical changes in the international financial environment, every government is carrying out active deregulation to cope up with the situation. As we can see in France's new banking law of 1984, U.K.'s Big Bang in 1986 and Canada's amendment of banking law in 1987, leading countries in the world have already initiated financial reforms. In the 1990s, Japan and Korea began to reorganize their banking sectors and in the U.S.A. there has been debate on the universal banking system. In particular, leading countries seek to strength the competitiveness of their banking industry through deregulation regarding financial institutions' activities. There has also been some discussion about the universal banking system as an alternative. We can classify the leading countries' financial systems into either universal banking system or specialized banking system, but recently, the trend has been moving toward universal banking system. None of the leading countries maintains a specialized banking system in its full meaning any longer. Countries which have traditionally stuck to specialized banking system such as U.S.A., Japan, and Korea are turning to the blended system which partly reflects the characteristics of the universal banking system. Therefore, the more important issue is when to follow which country's model at what speed in transforming to universal banking system. There have been relatively many studies pertaining to the nature of and the pros and cons of the universal banking system, but little has been studied about banks as a firm. Partly, it may have been caused by the difficulties of data collection and methodological problems. However, regarding the current situation in which the world's banking system is changing to universal banking system, the importance of studying bank as a firm is getting a high priority. From this viewpoint, this study focuses on universal banks, especially the performance of universal banks. The purpose of this study is to raise questions and answer them as follows : Do universal banks have a performance premium? If so, what is the source of this premium? Numerous studies in the past have argued that universal banking can improve performance as a result of the economies of scale, but little has been proved empirically. In this study we intend to test empirically whether universal banks can surpass specialized banks in performance. Universal Banking System and Universal Banks The financial system is a framework which is comprised of a financial structure and is the concept that names all practices and systems of financial transactions. There are two types of financial systems: Universal Banking System and Specialized Banking System. Generally, these two can be divided by the criterion of whether a commercial bank can provide securities-related services. Many previous studies about universal banks have classified universal banks and specialized banks according to the parent country's financial system. If a country chooses the universal banking system, all the banks in that country would be considered as universal banks, But, this is not a good classification. For example, even Germany, a country with the most typical universal banking system, also has specialized banks* which carry limited activities. The reason that many studies have used incorrect criterion which depend on a country's financial system is because we do not have a conclusive definition for universal banks. …


The silane grafting and moisture crosslinking of different grades of polyethylene have been investigated. Three types of polyethylene (HDPE, LLDPE, and LDPE) with different molecular structures and similar melt flow indices were selected. The initiator was dicumyl peroxide (DCP), and the silane was vinyltrimethoxysilane. The grafting reaction was carried out in an internal mixer. The extent of grafting and the degree of crosslinking were determined, and hot‐set tests were carried out to evaluate the crosslink structure of the different polyethylenes. The LLDPE had the highest degree of grafting, while the LDPE had the least. The rate of crosslinking for LDPE was higher than that of HDPE and LLDPE. The gel content of LDPE was higher than that of HDPE and LLDPE. Hot‐set elongation and the number‐average molecular weight between crosslinks (Mc) were lower for LLDPE and LDPE than for HDPE. Increasing the silane/DCP percentage led to peroxide crosslinking, thereby decreasing the Mc and hot‐set elongation. The number‐average molecular weight (Mn), molecular weight distribution, and number of chain branches were the most important parameters affecting the silane grafting and moisture crosslinking. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 2009. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers


The effect of soil temperature, soil moisture con- tent, and soil bulk density on the diffusion of atrazine (2- chloro-4-(ethylamino)-6-(isopropyl amino)-s-triazine), propa- chlor (2-chloro-N-isopropylacetanilide), and diazinon (0,0- diethyl 0-(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl) phosphorothio- ate) in Ida silt loam soil was studied in the laboratory. Diffusion coefficients of 1.90, 1.36, and 0.63 mm2/ day at 27 C for propachlor, atrazine, and diazinon, respectivelv, show in a relative way the expected movement of these chemicals in Ida silt loam soil. The greatest amount of move- ment occurred with high temperatures and high moisture contents. Soil moisture had more effect on atrazine move- ment than on propachlor movement, and very little effect on diazinon movement. Movement for all chemicals decreased with an increase in bulk density.


ABSTRACT Chungshan Great Hall, founded in 1965 under the request of President Chiang Kai-shek to commemorate the centenary of Dr Sun Yat-sen's birth, also for the reason to revive traditional Chinese culture. Until the end of 2005, this was the site of National Assembly meetings. Besides, the architecture serves as a location for hosting ceremonies by the President for state visits, conferences, receiving distinguished foreign guests or hosting state banquets and was off limits to the general public until 2005. The government has designated the Chungshan Great Hall as a historical monument. It was also on the first 20 of do_co, mo.mo_Taiwan's list, because of its significance on both architectural and historic value. In spite of its conveying as a strong national symbol in essence, the architectural work of the Chungshan Great Hall might be said to be a splendid combination and demonstration of traditional crafts and modern design. However, after the lifting of martial law, and the abolishment of the National Assembly, how to reuse the historic building with its difficult history became a paradox issue. Namely, how should we reuse it wisely and interpret the once national glory, without mentioning the authoritarian rule? How should we appreciate the beauty and magnificent of the architecture, yet forgetting the negative memory of White Terror? The article, by reviewing the long process of how the central and local government tried to find different methods to reuse the monument, dismantles the challenge and dilemma of the heritage management of this kind of architecture as a post-national symbol.


Sentiment analysis research area is a part of opinion mining in which emotional information are extracted from the texts. In this paper the task of sentiment analysis on text data is proposed. The sentiment expression is used to classify the polarity of the text review on a scale of negative to positive using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) deep learning algorithm. This paper is based on lexicon features of the text reviews.The research methodology is performed in four steps. In the first step lexicons are extracted from the review and their Part-Of-Speech (POS) are tagged. In the second step the extracted part of speech tags occurrence are extracted. In third step, each POS tag's sentiment score s calculated by referring to the SentiWordNet (SWN) dictionary. Subsequently, in the last step, the extracted features are fed into LSTM deep learning classifier to classify the review into either positive and negative type of review.For the result analysis, the dataset is prepared by collecting reviews from tripadvisor website and performance is analyzed using classifiers such as support vector machine (SVM), k nearest neighbor (KNN) and LSTM deep network. The simulation gives output (accuracy) for SVM about 84%, k-NN about 90% and LSTM about 98% respectively. This represents that LSTM classifier gives best result to classify reviews into positive and negative review with POS tagged lexicon features.


Abstrcat Taking the boundary element method as a tool of stress analysis, this paper carried out a theoretical inquiry on issues of shape optimization of 3D elastic contacting body and developed the corresponding computer programs. Analysis and verification were made on several calculational examples and satisfactory results were obtained.


The author introduces the ultrasound technique and the description of the sonoanatomy of brachial nerve block different blocks For one year ultrasound was introduced in our department as a tool for regional anesthesia and pain management. We would like to share our limited experience with our colleagues. The author introduces the ultrasound technique and the description of the sonoanatomy of brachial nerve block different blocks.. For peripheral blocks, the commonly used techniques at present are peripheral nerve stimulation and paraesthesia. These technique are essentially blinded techniques relying on anatomical landmarks to identify a needle entry point and guide the needle close enough to the nerve (within 0.5 cm) to allow either paraesthesia or electrical stimulation to confirm nerve location and identity.(1) Many techniques have been tried in the past including fluoroscopy (2), CT and MRI, although useful as a tool for research to investigate and modify existing techniques, they have impractical limitations for routine clinical application (3). Newer techniques such as percutaneous electrical guidance (PEG) and ultrasound may offer a real advance in both nerve location and identification. The use of ultrasound allows real time visualization of the nerves and the surrounding structures with real time guidance of the needle to the nerve and visual confirmation of the local anesthetic spreading around the nerve. Initial studies and results suggest that ultrasound guidance may decrease latency, improve success rates, eliminating or reducing serious complications (4,5). Any technique should ideally be able to fulfill the following criteria: Give information about the location of the target nerve and its relationship to neighboring structures (vascular structures, lung) Estimate or measure skin to nerve distance (depth of needle insertion) Help to determine angle and path that the needle needs to take. Supply real time visual and/or audio signals to show needle and guide to target nerve. Offer some indication of success of technique – ideally visualization of spread of local anesthesia. The principle of ultrasound imaging: US is sound wave with frequency greater than 20,000 cycles per second (20 kHz). US can direct as a beam, obeys the laws of reflection and refraction and is reflected by objects of small size. However, the amount of ultrasound reflected depends on the acoustic mismatch. Propagation through dense objects e.g. bone is poor with nearly the entire ultrasound beam reflected. As a result, bone generates a hyper echoic (bright) image as strong signal is returned to the emitting transducer. On the contrary, fat and tendon have low reflectivity thus they form hypo echoic (dark) images. The outline of an object is generally best delineated when the ultrasound beam is at 90 degrees. Generally speaking, nerves appear in the transverse (cross sectional) view as round to oval shaped structures that are nodular and they can be hypo echoic or hyper echoic depending on location. On the transverse view, peripheral nerves in cross section often appear to have an internal Introduction to the Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia 2 of 5 honey comb texture. This corresponds to the parallel fascicular pattern noted on the longitudinal view. Figure 1 Figure 1a: Axillary approache to Brachial regional block The Probe and Needle. Figure 2 Figure 1b: Axillary sonography with mapping. Figure 3 Figure 2a: Supraclavicular Probe Introduction to the Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia 3 of 5 Figure 4 Figure 2b: Supraclavicular sonogram. Figure 5 Figure 2c: Supraclavicular anesthetic spread. Figure 6 Figure 3a: Infraclavicular Probe and Needle placement Figure 7 Figure 3b: Infraclavicular sonography Introduction to the Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia 4 of 5 CORRESPONDENCE TO Prof. Kamel Romdhane Consultant Anesthetist, ICU Pain Management Anesthesia Department Security Forces Hospital Program Email: email@example.com Mobile # 0502892391 References 1. Chan Vw: Nerve localization seek but not so easy to find? Reg. Anesth Pain Med 2002; 27: 245-8 2. Nishiyama M. Naganuma K, Amaki Y: A new approach for brachial plexus block under fluoroscopic guidance. Anesth. Anoly 1999; 88:91-7 3. Mu Kherji SK, Wagle A, Armeo DM: Brachial plexus nerve block with CT Guidance for regional pain management: Radiology 2000; 216: 886-90 4. Peterson MK, Millar FA: Ulttrasound-guided nerve blocks Br. J. Anesth. 2002; 886-90 5. Marhover P, Kapral S: Ultrasound guidance in regional anesthesia. Br. J. Anesth. 2005; 94:7-17 Introduction to the Ultrasound Guided Regional Anesthesia 5 of 5 Author Information Kamel Romdhane, M.D. Professor, Consultant anesthesiologist, Security Forces Hospital Program Adel El Zorkani, M.D. Anesthesiologist, Anesthesia department, Security Forces Hospital Program Maizar Al Khalaf, M.D., A.B.A. Consultant, Anesthesia department, Security Forces Hospital Program Safwan Torki El Jandali, M.D. Consultant, Chairman, Security Forces Hospital Program


If a laser beam illuminates a continual deformation object surface, it will lead to a temporal speckle pattern on the observation plane. Recording this time dependent speckle pattern the surface deformation of the object can be obtained. In this paper, the new developed methods in temporal speckle pattern interferometry (TSPI) have been introduced and their performance in temporal measurements is investigated. Finally, the applications of different measurement methods in TSPI are also presented.


Recall form last lectures that in prediction with expert advise, at each time t, the player plays at ∈ {e1, . . . , ek} and the adversary plays zt such that l(at, zt) ≤ 1 for some loss function. One example of such loss function is linear function l(at, zt) = a T t zt where |zt|∞ ≤ 1. Linear bandits are a more general setting where the player selects an action at ∈ A ⊂ Rk, where A is a convex set and the adversary selects zt ∈ Z such that |zT t at| ≤ 1. Similar to the prediction with expert advise, the regret is defined as


PURPOSE
The introduction of the TrueBeam linac platform provides access to an in-air target assembly making it possible to apply novel treatments using multiple target designs. One such novel treatment uses multiple low-Z targets to enhance surface dose replacing the use of synthetic tissue equivalent material (bolus). This treatment technique will decrease the common dosimetric and set up errors prevalent in using physical treatment accessories like bolus. The groundwork for a novel treatment beam used to enhance surface dose to within 80-100% of the dose at dmax by utilizing low-Z (Carbon) targets of various percent CSDA range thickness operated at 2.5-4 MeV used in conjunction with a clinical 6 MV beam is presented herein.

METHODS
A standard Monte Carlo model of a Varian Clinac accelerator was developed to manufacturers specifications. Simulations were performed using Be, C, AL, and C, as potential low-Z targets, placed in the secondary target position. The results determined C to be the target material of choice. Simulations of 15, 30 and 60% CSDA range C beams were propagated through slab phantoms. The resulting PDDs were weighted and combined with a standard 6 MV treatment beam. Versions of the experimental targets were installed into a 2100C Clinac and the models were validated.

RESULTS
Carbon was shown to be the low-Z material of choice for this project. Using combinations of 15, 30, 60% CSDA beams operated at 2.5 and 4 MeV in combination with a standard 6 MV treatment beam the surface dose was shown to be enhanced to within 80-100% the dose at dmax.

CONCLUSION
The modeled low-Z beams were successfully validated using machined versions of the targets. Water phantom measurements and slab phantom simulations show excellent correlation. Patient simulations are now underway to compare the use of bolus with the proposed novel beams. NSERC.


This case-control study was conducted in Khartoum hospital, Sudan to investigate the levels of antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) in erythrocytes and plasma antioxidant vitamins (retinol and α-tocopherol) in Sudanese women with pre-eclampsia (37), in comparison with well-matched pregnant controls women with normal pregnancy (38). Enzymes were measured using ELISA and vitamins were measured using HPLC. There were no significant differences in the levels of these three antioxidant enzymes in pre-eclamptic women compared with the controls. Women with mild pre-eclampsia (diastolic blood pressure, DBP < 110) have slightly higher levels of erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase, and lower levels of catalase and superoxide dismutase compared with women with severe pre-eclampsia (DBP ≥ 110). A significantly negative correlation was observed between the levels of glutathione peroxidase and DBP, r = −0.371, p = 0.02. There was no significant correlation between catalase (r = −0.033, p = 0.840) or superoxide dismutase levels (r = 0.067, p = 0.6) and DBP. While retinol levels were not different, levels of α-tocopherol were significantly higher in women with pre-eclampsia than the control group, p = 0.026. The plasma levels of both vitamins were not statistically significantly different when women with mild and severe pre-eclampsia were compared.


ABSTRACT This article identifies the way systems and services are designed to help disabled people simply act to increase dependency. It argues that unless service provision is based upon our needs as we interpret them then we will continue to be excluded from the labour market. It is the summary of presentation given Simon Brisenden at an employment conference organised by Southampton Centre for Independent Living.


Disclosed is a plant-based seamless capsule produced by using a coating liquid including carrageenan, glycerol, and dextrin. The contents of the respective components with respect to the total solid content in the coating liquid are: 8.0-10.0 mass% carrageenan; 10.0-20.0 mass% glycerol; and 70.0-85.0 mass% dextrin.


This paper introduces a novel electrochemical detection method for measuring the formation of an immunological complex. The described electrochemical immunoassay consists of several consecutive steps. First the sample is mixed with silver colloid and magnetic particles both previously conjugated to appropriate antibodies. The analyte from the sample binds to both silver and magnetic beads forming a sandwich immunocomplex: magnetic particle - analyte - silver nanoparticle (Fig. 1). That complex is separated from the sample with the use of magnetic field and then washed to remove any unbound silver nanoparticle. The bound silver nanoparticles are dissolved electrochemically into silver ions. This process is extensively investigated and the detailed mechanism of nanoparticles dissolution is presented. After the silver dissolution the released silver ions Ag + are detected with anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) and the ASV signal of silver oxidation is proportional to the analyte concentration. This approach allows for fast detection of cardiac markers like myoglobin and troponin in low volume, turbid samples with the detection limit of 200 and 150 pg/mL respectively.


A novel technique of candidate block selection and spatial sub sampling of pixels is presented. Although FSBMA gives an optimal solution and low control overhead, its hardware implementation will not be feasible in terms of power dissipation, speed of processing, compression ratio and real estate. In FSBMA, for a 16/spl times/16 block, with a search range of -p to p, totally (2p+1)/sup 2/ number of candidate blocks are to be searched. In this paper, we have constructed an N-queen lattice of candidate blocks, to characterize spatial information in all directions. This arrangement reduces the number of candidate blocks to be searched to 5(2p+1). The total computational complexity is found to be reduced to 7.35% compared to FSBMA. The loss in SNR is very negligible and at the worst case comes to an average of less than 0.23 dB in both low motion and medium motion video sequences.


In this paper is presented a step-up five level inverter with reduced number of components. Only one dc voltage source, six active switches, two diodes and one capacitor are required. The problems of voltage balancing and numerous active switches are avoided. Two-pulse width modulation (PWM) control methods are investigated for the proposed inverter: phase disposition PWM (PD-PWM) and phase shift PWM (PS-PWM). For these methods it has been studied how the number of the carrier signals affects total harmonic distortion factor (THD) and the harmonic distribution.


An increased risk of breast cancer in women with a family history of breast cancer has been demonstrated by many studies using a variety of study designs. However, the extent of this risk varies according to the nature of the family history (type of relative affected, age at which relative developed breast cancer and number of relatives affected) and may also vary according to age of the individual. The aim of our study was to identify all the published studies which have quantified the risk of breast cancer associated with a family history of the disease, and to summarise the evidence from these studies, with particular emphasis on age‐specific risks according to subject and relative age. Seventy‐four published studies were identified. The pooled estimate of relative risk (RR) associated with various family histories was as follows: any relative, RR = 1.9 (95% CI, 1.7‐2.0); a first‐degree relative, RR = 2.1 (CI = 2.0, 2.2); mother, RR = 2.0 (CI = 1.8, 2.1); sister, RR = 2.3 (CI = 2.1, 2.4); daughter, RR = 1.8 (CI = 1.6, 2.0); mother and sister, RR = 3.6 (CI = 2.5, 5.0); and a second‐degree relative, RR = 1.5 (CI = 1.4, 1.6). Risks were increased in subjects under age 50 and when the relative had been diagnosed before age 50. Int. J. Cancer 71: 800‐809, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.


Asset management of transmission system is an essential issue for smart grid and condition monitoring system, especially maintenance planning. Maintenance scheduling is the most important part of asset management. The scheduling affects the reliability of equipment, the reliability of substation system and life cycle cost (LCC). Since the equipment in substation hardly fails to operate, the information about failure is not yet systematically recorded. This paper focuses on long term maintenance based on available data of historical planning and operation data. In particular, the Weibull distribution model is used to estimate reliability function of equipment. A maintenance planning may lead to different final condition of effective age of equipment. We propose the optimal maintenance planning in conjunction with the specified final condition of equipment and compare the LCC and reliability. By using dynamic programming (DP), the algorithm gives the minimum LCC while satisfying reliability and final condition. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the DP approach. Comparing with the results using the genetic algorithm, the DP method provides the maintenance planning with less LCC.


The purposes of this study were: (1) to establish the rank ordering of a set of general objectives for secondary school mathematics by trade school mathematics instructors and university mathematics instructors; (2) to determine the relative importance of each objective for the mathematics program of Newfoundland High Schools, as perceived by each group; and (3) to analyze and-compare these perceptions in an effort to-determine any trend in the way these objectives are perceived by each group relative to the other. -- The instrument used for collecting the data was derived from a survey and an analysis of literature relating to the needs and abilities of high school mathematics students. The objectives used in the instrument, which were formulated in consultation with a group of mathematics educators, represented nine different content areas and two behavioral levels. The final form of the instrument consisted of all the possible distinct combinations, in pairs, of 18 objectives (153 pairs). -- Twenty instructors from the faculty of the department of Mathematics at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a similar number from the mathematics staffs of the various trade schools throughout the province of Newfoundland were selected randomly. These individuals were to complete the instrument by selecting from each pair the objective which was considered more important to the secondary school mathematics program. -- The results of the data collected were analyzed using several procedures. It was found that there were areas of agreement as well as disagreement in the rankings of the objectives. On the basis of the findings of the study the following conclusions were drawn: -- 1. Trade school mathematics instructors indicated that the objectives dealing with applications and measurement were of the highest relative importance, while the university mathematics instructors indicated that the objectives dealing with algebra were of the highest relative importance. Both groups indicated that objectives dealing with probability and statistics were of the least relative importance. -- 2. There was no significant difference attached to the importance of the cognitive level of the objectives by either group; that is, both the trade school and university mathematics instructors indicated that there was no significant difference in relative importance between the objectives of high cognitive behavior and those of low cognitive behavior. -- 3. There was a significant interaction effect between group membership and the content area of the objectives. The trade schools mathematics instructors indicated that, the objectives for all content areas differed in relative importance, with-the exception of those for logic and relations, geometry and graphs, and algebra and number systems. The university mathematics instructors indicated significant differences in relative importance of the objectives for all content areas except of those objectives for measurement, geometry, graphs and applications. Furthermore, the university mathematics instructors, when compared with the trade school, mathematics instructors attached more relative-importance to the objectives dealing with geometry, graphs, algebra, relations and functions, probability and statistics, and logic. However, in the case of objectives dealing with applications and measurement the trade school mathematics instructors indicated a higher degree of relative importance than did the university mathematics instructors. -- 4. There was a significant, inconisistency in the rankings of university mathematics instructors. -- The study concluded with several implications of the results and suggestions for further research.


A model of rod-like cholesteric liquid crystals subjected to slow steady simple shear and low frequency small amplitude oscillatory shear flow is formulated and applied to permeation flow, also known as Helfrich permeation flow [Helfrich (1969, 1970)], when the cholesteric helix is oriented along the velocity direction and the orientation distortions retain the original planar chiral structure. In permeation flow the elastic forces exactly balance viscous forces. The presence of a small internal length scale (pitch of the helix) leads to boundary layer behavior in the velocity and orientation fields at any shear rate and at any driving frequency. The thickness of the boundary layer region is of the order of the pitch. The apparent viscosity is larger than typical nematic viscosities by a factor proportional to the ratio of the gap thickness to the pitch length. The effect is due to the Ericksen elastic stress. The response of cholesterics to small amplitude oscillatory shear corresponds to a purely viscou...


The main purpose of this book is to apply the basic tools of economic analysis to the economy of the Peoples' Republic of China. It is written for students of economics who would like to understand China, for students of China who would like to understand economics, and for professional economists and lay readers who would like to understand the Chinese economy.The study of the Chinese economy is interesting to economists for several reasons. First, China has a different cultural background and a different set of social and political institutions from the Western countries, in which most of the tools of economic analysis have been developed. It is therefore interesting to see how these tools can be applied to China and how they ought to be further developed or modified in the Chinese context. Second, many drastic changes in economic policy and economic institutions have taken place since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Such important experiments in economics provide rare opportunities to study their results. Third, since the later 1970s much more information on the Chinese economy has become available. It is time for us to digest, to scrutinize, and possibly to help improve the economic data on China.


There is no doubt that exorcism of demons is a central feature in the synoptic presentation of the works of the earthly Jesus. This central issue among the synoptic writers is absent in the gospel according to John and in the writings of St Paul. This article argues that a plausible explanation of this absence is that the issue of demonic possession was not important to the communities founded among the Hellenistic Christians of Asia Minor. Instead of presenting the encounters between Jesus and the demons, Paul presents the incorporation into Christ as a definitive victory over the forces of sin and evil. The Christian incorporated "in Christ" has won the battle over the devil. Understanding and implementing this Pauline vision among African Christians is a better missionary approach than the current chasing after demons that characterize contemporary Christianity in Africa.


Objective To establish a new clinical model of prenatal diagnosis of birth defects by impr oving the antenatal care process. Methods The core of new model was that the specialists from associated departments took part in a meeting and worked together to make a scheme of diagnosis and treatmen t for the high-risk fetuses. The strategy included abortion for fetuses with fat al diseases, while monitoring directions and therapeutic strategies for those su rvivors. The efficiency of this new model was assessed with the accurate rates o f prenatal diagnosis, the compliances of pregnancy women, and benefits for the s pecialists. Results One hundred and nine pregnant women with high-risk fetuses of birth defects were treated with this new model of prenatal health care. Thirty-eight cases of them were registered in this institution and the other 71 cases were introduced from other hospitals. The fetal abnormalities were mainly found in the first or seco nd trimester of pregnancy. Six cases were intervened during perinatal period aft er the abnormalities were identified, 4 of them got the good prognosis. Conclusions The new model of antenatal care of birth defects could simplify the progress of health care for pregnant women, and increase the effectiveness of prenatal diagn osis.


Though a majority of engineering PhD students begin their doctoral career shortly after completing an undergraduate degree, what we call direct-pathway students, a significant minority of students are "returners," students who pursue a PhD after working outside of academia for five or more years. In the first phase of a three year NSF-funded study to characterize the population of returning engineering PhD students, we developed a nationallydistributed survey to compare experiences and perspectives of returners and direct-pathway students. The survey development was grounded in Eccles' Expectancy Value Theory (EVT), as well as literature on returning students and a pilot study. The survey included questions about students' motivation for returning, their previous work and school experience, their future career plans, the challenges of graduate school, and their strategies for adapting to these challenges. This paper presents the development of the survey, in which we highlight best practices from the literature that informed the development and refinement process. We show iterations of the survey and data from the advisory board and our cognitive interviews that informed the final version of the instrument.


Stigma against those living with HIV can undermine efforts to prevent the spread of the disease, but it has traditionally been hard to measure or to assess the efficacy of antistigma educational efforts. Using a framed field experiment involving adult participants in rural Kenya, this research measures HIV stigma as the amount of compensation demanded through a second-price auction to complete tasks involving objects handled by an HIV-positive person. By varying educational messages, we show that both perceived transmission risk and negative judgment of those with the disease underlie this stigma. Messages that overcome fear of transmission and that disassociate people living with HIV/AIDS from behaviors considered immoral are both effective, reducing avoidance behavior by up to 50%.


The Blockchain technology has attracted a huge attention from both industry and academia. Despite the fact that there are great potentials of the blockchain, it is facing a number of technical chal ...


PURPOSE: To provide a method for preventing or minimizing the autodegradation of an activated protein C. CONSTITUTION: An activated protein C is maintained in a solution having a pH between pH about 6.3 and about 7.0 to minimize the degradation of the activated protein C. In order to maintain the pH of the solution, a buffer solution base containing tris-acetate, sodium citrate, citrate-glycine and sodium phosphate is used. The solution is effective when the solution has an extreme salt concentration, namely lower than 0.050 M, especially 0.0010 M or higher than 0.40 M or a modifier (e.g. 3M urea) exists in the solution. COPYRIGHT: (C)1995,JPO


High-temperature weather conditions induce geometrical distortions in images which can adversely affect the performance of a computer vision model performing downstream tasks such as semantic segmentation. The performance of such models has been shown to improve by adding a restoration network before a semantic segmentation network. The restoration network removes the geometrical distortions from the images and shows improved segmentation results. However, this approach suffers from a major architectural drawback that is the restoration network does not learn directly from the errors of the segmentation network. In other words, the restoration network is not task aware. In this work, we propose a semantic feedback learning approach, which improves the task of semantic segmentation giving a feedback response into the restoration network. This response works as an attend and fix mechanism by focusing on those areas of an image where restoration needs improvement. Also, we proposed loss functions: Iterative Focal Loss (iFL) and Class-Balanced Iterative Focal Loss (CB-iFL), which are specifically designed to improve the performance of the feedback network. These losses focus more on those samples that are continuously miss-classified over successive iterations. Our approach gives a gain of 17.41 mIoU over the standard segmentation model, including the additional gain of 1.9 mIoU with CB-iFL on the Cityscapes dataset.


How to define the concept of crime in scientific term is the precondition and the basis of the noumenal theory of the criminology. Due to the limitation of the object and the method in research formed by the historical task and the academic property of the criminology, the concept of crime only means what the criminologists research and how criminologists research it. As a result, it is unnecessary and impossible to lift the concept to the ontological term. To the criminology,the whole meanings of the concept of crime is "Crime is one kind of the fact we can explain.


Sudden cardiac death is a common and tragic occurrence that typically occurs in the prime of life and has far-reaching effects for the individual's family. Out-of-hospital sudden cardiac mortality accounts for more than 60% of all deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, the world's leading cause of death. Shocking progress has been made in our understanding of sudden cardiac death, as well as its prevention and management, over the last few decades. With the growing popularity of smart wearable gadgets, there has never been a better time to give a solution. Heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature values, and blood oxygen levels are all crucial signs that must be measured on a regular basis for those with heart disease. An android-based application is being developed to realize this healthcare service, which can monitor these parameters for cardiovascular patients who should be under constant supervision. Wearable sensors are used in the monitoring system to continuously measure various characteristics. If the predetermined parameters for the patients, such as heart rate, heart rate variability, blood oxygen level, and body temperature, are exceeded, an e-mail or message is sent to family members and the doctor. The information gathered by the heart rate module can be preserved and accessed for future medical applications. Patients can be mobile in their own social context as a result of this wearable technology, allowing them to live their lives with confidence.


With the rapid development of mobile Internet,the form and variety of media have changed a lot. The emergency of new media,such as smart terminals,microblog and We Chat,increasingly integrates media with personal life,making media become "Extension of Man". Meanwhile,We Media has realized the seamless connection between man and media,which further verifies Mcluhan's prediction. Based on communication theories,the communication ecology,communicators,channels and receivers of current We Media are analyzed,and the future development trend of We Media is discussed as well.


In order to solve the low backfill rate problem occurred in the open type backfill mining process with the ultrahigh water material when the inclination of the seam was low,the theoretical analysis and the site practices method were applied to optimize the traditional open type backfill technique with the ultra high water material.With the site observation,the measures to lift the backfill liquid level were conducted to improve the backfill rate and the gateway retained along the mining gateway and the regional backfill technical measures were applied to improve the backfill rate secondly.With the mine strata pressure observation of the coal mining face,the mine gateway deformation observation and the surface ground subsidence observation conducted,the technique could release the mine strata pressure behavior intensity and could highly reduce the surface ground subsidence and the gateway deformation.


This research tries to reorient the Chilean debate about constitutional judicial review against international treaties. The author argues that most of the claims have a formalist and literalist structure, and there is a lack of arguments inspired in relevant values associated with a healthy democratic approach.


We study the nonlinear evolution of the axisymmetric centrifugal instability developing on a columnar anticyclone with a Gaussian angular velocity using a semilinear approach. The model consists of two coupled equations: one for the linear evolution of the most unstable perturbation on the axially averaged mean flow and another for the evolution of the mean flow under the effect of the axially averaged Reynolds stresses due to the perturbation. Such a model is similar to the self-consistent model of Mantič-Lugo et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett, vol. 113, 2014, 084501) except that the time averaging is replaced by a spatial averaging. The nonlinear evolutions of the mean flow and the perturbations predicted by this semilinear model are in very good agreement with direct numerical simulations for the Rossby number $Ro=-4$ and both values of the Reynolds numbers investigated: $Re=800$ and $2000$ (based on the initial maximum angular velocity and radius of the vortex). An improved model, taking into account the second-harmonic perturbations, is also considered. The results show that the angular momentum of the mean flow is homogenized towards a centrifugally stable profile via the action of the Reynolds stresses of the fluctuations. The final velocity profile predicted by Kloosterziel et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 583, 2007, pp. 379–412) in the inviscid limit is extended to finite high Reynolds numbers. It is in good agreement with the numerical simulations.


In recent years, partly because of the current political resonance of the relationship between Islam and the West, significant attention has been paid to the disturbing portrait of the prophet Muhammad in Inferno 28 and, more broadly, to the issue of Dante and Islam. In this essay I analyze Dante's depiction of Muhammad in relation to its theological framework, arguing that the Muslims' rejection of the dogma of the Trinity, which constitutes the central source of doctrinal dissension between Islam and Christianity, allows us to establish a link between Muhammad and Bertran de Born, the other main character in the gallery of sowers of discord presented in Inferno 28. As both sinners severed the tie between father and son, the former breached the principle upon which the unity of the Church is founded, whereas the latter violated the norm that undergirds the dynastic legitimacy of a kingdom. In contrast with Bertran's and Muhammad's language of division, Dante conceives his work as a vessel for peace and reconciliation between secular and spiritual authorities.


Dramatic evolution in the medical and surgical care of children with congenital heart disease (CHD) has led to a growing number of adults with late-onset complications, including heart failure (HF).1 In parallel with an overall increase in hospital admissions for adults with CHD (ACHD) and HF,2 CHD complexity has increased substantially in survivors over the past 2 decades.3 Heart transplant (HTx) specialists face the challenge of determining eligibility for advanced HF treatments among an increasingly complex population of CHD patients in whom guidelines for HTx and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) are scant. The purpose of this review is to provide a state-of-the-art update on HTx and MCS in CHD.

HTx remains the surgical procedure of choice for eligible patients with severe advanced HF,4,5 with little change in the number of transplants performed yearly over the past decade. The body of information related to transplantation for CHD is derived almost entirely from registry and single-center–based outcome data; no randomized clinical trial or meta-analysis data are available.

CHD presents additional challenges to successful HTx compared with HTx in patients with acquired HF. Many CHD patients require complex vascular reconstruction at the time of transplantation. The presence of antibodies to human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and ABO blood group sensitization are also impediments to timely transplantation. The ability of patients with single-ventricle physiology to survive during the waiting period is also limited by the additional burden of "outgrowing" their pulmonary blood flow and the resultant cyanosis. It is not surprising that CHD remains a risk factor during the waiting period and after transplantation. Therefore, although the management of the CHD patient with end-stage HF must include the option of HTx, its indication and timing are very different from that for acquired HF.

Patients with ACHD represent an increasing …


The article presents a historical and cultural analysis of the phenomenon of the University, designates the essence of the main problems are related to the modernization of the education system and the formation of a new model of higher education. Concept of a new image of the University based on accumulated experiences of education reform carried out in the Republic of Tatarstan. The Republic of Tatarstan is experimental «playground», where is created optimization model of the University through traditional and innovational, national and foreign, general federal and regional combinations. Innovative features of the new model of higher education schools are University complex centers, national research Universities and Kazan Federal University.


Emotion, Personality. ABSTRACT: Recognizing and managing emotion in oneself and in those under ones command is an important component of leadership training. Most computational models of emotion have focused on the problem of identifying emotional features of the physical environment and mapping that into motivations to act in the world. But emotions also influence how we perceive the world and how we communicate that perception to others. This paper outlines an initial computational foray into this more vexing problem.


Lake water storage changes are important factors that influence the climate, hydrological cycle, and environments. However, long‐term estimation of global lake storage changes is challenging because historical in‐situ hydrological observations worldwide are rarely available. Benefiting from the laser altimeter ICESat and ICESat‐2, we comprehensively assessed water level and volume changes in global natural lakes larger than 10 km2 during 2003–2020. The 6,567 lakes observable by ICESat/ICESat‐2, which account for ∼94% of the total global lake volume, showed a total water storage increase of 10.88 ± 16.45 Gt/yr during 2003–2020, and the estimate reaches 16.12 ± 20.41 Gt/yr when also taking account of the remaining unobserved lakes. Despite water gains in most natural lakes, large lakes under dry and high water‐stress conditions experienced dramatic water loss in general. Presumably, these drying lakes may continue to shrink with a warming climate and continuously increasing water demands in the future without further action.


This paper analyzed the problems in the application of "task-oriented method" in China's higher vocational education,put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions.


" Ideally suited for courses in economic development or Asian studies, this is a clear, concise presentation of the economic problems facing the developing nations of South Asia-India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. " Interdisciplinary in approach, examines economic problems within the social and cultural context of these societies. " The text is enhanced by over fifty charts, graphs, and tables and an extensive bibliography.


In his book, Teaching the Elephant to Dance, Jim Belasco (1990) describes how trainers shackle young elephants with heavy chains attached to deeply embedded stakes. The elephants pull and tug at the chains, but remain attached, fixed. They learn that they cannot move away. "An older elephant never tries to move father, even though it has enough strength to pull up the stakes. Its conditioning limits its movement even though it has only a small metal bracelet around its foot, sometimes attached to nothing."


This paper addresses the consensus of a class of nonlinear fractional-order multi-agent systems (FOMASs) with positive real uncertainty. First, a fractional non-fragile dynamic output feedback controller is put forward via the output measurements of neighboring agents, then appropriate state transformation reduced the consensus problem to a stability one. A sufficient condition based on direct Lyapunov approach, for the robust asymptotic stability of the transformed system and subsequently for the consensus of the main system is presented. In addition, utilizing S-procedure and Schur complement, the systematic stabilization design algorithm is proposed for fractional-order system with and without nonlinear terms. The results are formulated as an optimization problem with linear matrix inequality constraints. Simulation results are given to verify the effectiveness of the theoretical results.


The recovery rates of cytomegalovirus from mucolysed induced sputum samples and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid obtained from individuals at risk for or with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome were compared. It was demonstrated that cytomegalovirus could be reliably recovered from mucolysed induced sputum, and such recovery was highly predictive of recovery from bronchoalveolar lavage samples obtained from the same individual.


John Fox, An R and S-Plus Companion to Applied Regression (2002, Sage Publications, London, bibliography, function index, author index, 312 pp., isbn 0 77619 2280 6, £31) includes eight chapters on: I. Introducing R and S-Plus; IT. Reading and Manipulating Data; III. Exploring and Transforming Data; IV. Fitting Linear Models; V. Fitting Generalized Linear Models; VI. Diagnosing Problems in Linear and Generalized Linear Models; VII. Drawing Graphs; and VIII. Writing Programs. R and S-Plus are statistical-computing environments, incorporating implementations of the S programing language developed by Bell Labs. The intention of this book is to teach the use of R and S-Plus in the context of applied regression analysis and should be considered a companion to a text or course on