Abstract This article aims to publish unique specimens of Hellenistic toreutics – a pair of silver phalerae decorated with gilding and forming part of an horses' harness, which was found during excavation of the Volodarka-I Burial-ground on the west bank of the River Ural in western Kazakhstan in 1981. A detailed analysis is provided of the subject depicted on the phalerae – fighting between Bellerophon seated on the winged horse Pegasos and the monster Chimaira, of the iconography of the figures, of the details and decorative elements of the depictions and the techniques used. The phalerae from Volodarka are compared with other phalerae, similar with regard to their construction and the composition of the depictions, which were found in the lower reaches of the Volga (Novouzensk), on the bank of the River Ishim and on the east bank of the Irtysh (Sidorovka), and also with phalerae of unknown origin bearing depictions of elephants from the Hermitage collection. In this connection a detailed discussion on the question of the "Graeco-Bactrian style" in toreutics and the possibility of classifying of examples of Hellenistic artwork in silver follows. The author draws the conclusion that the given phalerae cannot be regarded as examples of one particular style of Hellenistic toreutics, as certain scholars would have us believe. The analysis we have carried out shows that a subject widespread in the Classical art of the 5th-4th centuries BC was taken as the basis of the composition for the Volodarka phalerae, albeit with minor innovations typical for the art of the Hellenistic era. Certain difficulties arise when it comes to determining their centre of production: these make it impossible to classify them unequivocally as examples of Graeco-Bactrian or Parthian toreutics. Observations regarding the style, dimensions and weight of the phalerae would appear rather to point to the first option. The fact that we possess documentary confirmation (Khorezmian inscriptions and a Parthian one on vessels from Isakovka) of the probable origin of at least some silver vessels found in Isakovka as being from Parthia and Khorezm, does not, however, give us grounds for ruling out the other option. The probable historical context (the movement of nomadic tribes in Central Asia, the fall of Graeco-Bactria, incursions into Parthia by nomads) does not contradict observations made during analysis of the phalerae and makes it possible to define the third quarter of the 2nd century BC as the terminus ante quem for the manufacture of the Volodarka phalerae, some of the most striking examples of Eastern toreutics from the Hellinistic period. The phalerae, found in a warrior's burial at Volodarka, were most likely acquired by their owner as war booty between 145 and 120 BC. There is every reason to link the appearance of the silver phalerae and of silverware found in nomads' burials across an enormous arc between the interfluve of the Lower Volga and the River Ural in the West and the east bank of the Irtysh in the East with the above mentioned historical events.


In this study, we estimate solar surface insolation (SSI) by using physical methods with MTSAT-1R data. SSI is regarded as crucial parameter when interpreting solar-earth energy system, climate change, and agricultural production predict application. Most of SSI estimation model mainly uses ground based-measurement such as pyranometer to tune the constructed model and to validate retrieved SSI data from optical channels. When compared estimated SSI with pyranometer measurements, there are some systemic differences between those instruments. The pyranometer data observed upward-looking hemispherical solid angle and distributed hourly measurements data which are averaged every 2 minute instantaneous observation. Whereas MTSAT-1R channels data are taken instantaneously images at fixed measurement time over scan area, and are pixel-based observation with a much smaller solid angle view. Those temporal discrepancies result from systemic differences can induce validation error. In this study, we adjust hour when estimate SSI to improve the retrieved accurate SSI.


ABSTRACT We conducted in-depth telephone interviews with a convenience sample of 20 South Asian women experiencing domestic violence in the United States. Utilizing the emotion-focused and problem-focused coping framework, the researchers analyzed the narratives of abused South Asian women. Emotion-focused coping strategies include (a) spirituality and/or religion and (b) the role of children. Problem-focused coping strategies include (c) informal and formal support and (d) strategies of resisting, pacifying, safety planning. Implications for practice and future research in the United States and internationally are discussed.


While there is much research aiming to assess the determinants of welfare state attitudes, there are not many studies focussing on how human values influence attitude formation. This thesis explores the relationship between values and welfare state attitudes across national contexts. In doing so, it focuses on the moderating influence of contextual factors on the values-attitudes link.In order to measure values properly, and to study their effects on welfare state attitudes, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multi-group structural equation modelling (MGSEM) is used. These methods enable testing for measurement equivalence across groups, a prerequisite for comparing the effects of human values across countries. The individual-level data used in this thesis comes from the European Social Survey (ESS) between 2002-08.The findings show that values can play an important role in welfare state attitude formation, but that the impact of values on attitudes differs considerably across national contexts. Several country-specific contextual factors such as the generosity of redistributive institutions, their framing and their distributive outcomes moderates the values-attitudes link. In more generous welfare states and where redistributive issues are more articulated in the political debate, the impact of, for instance, egalitarian values on redistributive attitudes is comparably strong. Moreover, in countries where lower social classes are more exposed to risks and lack resources to meet these risks, class differences in the values-attitudes link are greater. Finally, the results show that the particular values that underlie welfare state attitudes in Eastern Europe are fundamentally different to those in Western Europe.The results imply that the impact of values on welfare state attitudes mainly depends on (i) whether people perceive welfare state institutions to have important consequences for the extent to which their values are attained, and (ii) the presence of competing motives. Hence, it is not necessarily the case that people who support the welfare state do so, for example, due to holding egalitarian values. In contrast to previous research, which has been quite unsuccessful in confirming direct relationships between institutions and attitudes, the results in this thesis suggest that there are indeed clear and consistent macro-micro relationships, but that these are more complex. Rather, it is in the interplay between values, attitudes and institutions that this relationship can be found.


Garbage is a problem for every country in this world, including Indonesia that has large population and is related to the amount of garbage in Indonesia. To slove this problem Indonesia goverment need thecnology and good waste management in Indonesia. Denmark has good waste management and thecnology to turn waste become energy, because of that Indonesia coorperates with Denmark in waste management. This study aims to describe the coorperation between the Indonesia and Danish (Denmark) goverment in waste management in DKI Jakarta. The methedodology used is descriptive qualitative through secondary data which then answerd by using international cooperation theory and waste management concept. The results showed that in the collaboration carried out by Indonesia and Denmark, there were 8 points of cooperation but only 2 points were implemented in DKI Jakarta, namely pilot projects, planning, including technology transfer and regulations in certain provinces and cities or regencies, in this point of cooperation Indonesia and Denmark built PLTSa in DKI Jakarta,  precisely at TPST Bantargebang, this PLTSa waste management method uses waste and uses steam from its combustion to be used as electricity and capacity building through workshops, training, scholarships, internships and seminars, which are manifested in Information Transfer (ToI) to monitor the waste management system in Indonesia and the efficiency of energy use and utilization, which is carried out in two programs,  namely Capacity Building: Training for Jakarta Building and Energy Efficiency Seminar, in this program Denmark aims for Indonesia to conduct Business Par partnerships with partners energy company in Denmark.


Background and Objective: Despite the growing interest and the emergence of Euphorbia hirta -based commercial tea, drinks, and tablets as potential remedies for low-platelet count associated with dengue fever, no extensive characterization and toxicity testing were ever conducted on the different varieties found in the Philippines. The present study, therefore, investigated the morphological, molecular genetic, phytochemical, and antithrombocytopenic profile of the different varieties of Euphorbia hirta Linn, or snake weed, also known as taua-taua/tawa-tawa (Tag.). Methodology:Ten plant samples of taua-taua were collected from different locations namely: Los Banos (LBG), Cebu (CG), Tagaytay (TGB), Dipolog (two varieties: DPG and DPR), Zamboanga City (ZCG), Quezon City (QCG) and Pagadian (three varieties: PGRB, PGRS and PGG). The plant samples were photodocumented and air-dried voucher specimens were preserved and submitted for taxonomic identification. A total of 14 character traits were scored and utilized in the construction of morphology-based tree. Morphometrics and DNA analysis of rbcL gene were done to provide support for the morphology-based analysis. Cut stems and leaves were soaked in 20 mL methanol overnight, filtered and prepared for phytochemical profiling by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Anti-thrombocytopenia activity was determined using the cyclophosphamide-induced mouse model. The morphological traits of some varieties of taua-taua found in different parts of the Philippines were defined. Results: It was shown based on morphology, morphometrics and rbcL sequence analysis that there were two clades of putative taua-taua in a typical field collection area where these plants grow: the E. hirta clade and the E. lasiocarpa / E. prostrata clade. The HPLC analysis of the phytochemical signatures of these plants showed that taua-taua samples of the same species do not necessarily produce the same relevant compounds and this may be related to the environmental differences where these plants thrive. Conclusion: The biological activities claimed by previous studies may not necessarily hold true for all taua-taua  varieties. The anti-thrombocytopenic activity of taua-taua extracts could vary in terms of pattern where one elicits fluctuating pattern for its mean platelet count while the other exhibits stable mean platelet count followed by a late decline with corresponding effects on survival. Statistically significant anti-thrombocytopenic effect was demonstrated by the QCG extract. Further studies must be done to elucidate the cause of the mouse mortalities in the taua-taua fed mice and relate them with the components of the extract. Key words: E. hirta , taua-taua , anti-thrombocytopenia, morphological analysis, molecular genetics, HPLC profiling


Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) training was implemented with 5 nonspeaking adults with mental retardation who were not currently using any type of functional communication system. A modified ABAB, single-subject design was used to assess the effectiveness of PECS in enhancing the functional communication skills of these individuals. Three individuals progressed through 4 PECS training phases relatively quickly and developed functional skills that they were able to display in home and community settings. Two other individuals demonstrated limited progress, and the PECS training did not meaningfully alter their level of communicative competence. Implications for teaching functional communication skills to nonspeaking adults are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided.


In this letter, we address the problem of forecasting the trajectory of an egocentric camera wearer (ego-person) in crowded spaces. The trajectory forecasting ability learned from the data of different camera wearers walking around in the real world can be transferred to assist visually impaired people in navigation, as well as to instill human navigation behaviours in mobile robots, enabling better human-robot interactions. To this end, a novel egocentric human trajectory forecasting dataset was constructed, containing real trajectories of people navigating in crowded spaces wearing a camera, as well as extracted rich contextual data. We extract and utilize three different modalities to forecast the trajectory of the camera wearer, i.e., his/her past trajectory, the past trajectories of nearby people, and the environment such as the scene semantics or the depth of the scene. A Transformer-based encoder-decoder neural network model, integrated with a novel cascaded cross-attention mechanism that fuses multiple modalities, has been designed to predict the future trajectory of the camera wearer. Extensive experiments have been conducted, with results showing that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in egocentric human trajectory forecasting.


This paper investigates the effects of regulatory constraints and their relaxation on managerial discretion and internal fit in the context of the U.S. airline industry. Our results suggest that when managers' discretion is limited in one realm of choice, they compensate by using their greater level of discretion in some other arena to achieve internal fit. We show that the pursuit of fit matters, in the sense of having measurable efficiency consequences, and that fit trumps 'best practice,' at least in this context. In this respect, our findings provide a validation of the contingency perspective on internal fit. The ability to achieve fit under changing conditions may express a dynamic managerial capability necessary for adaptive organizational change. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


To identify the genes responsible for yield related traits, and heterosis, massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS) libraries were constructed from leaves, roots and meristem tissues from the two parents, 'Nipponbare' and '93-11', and their F1 hybrid. From the MPSS libraries, 1–3 million signatures were obtained. Using cluster analysis, commonly and specifically expressed genes in the parents and their F1 hybrid were identified. To understand heterosis in the F1 hybrid, the differentially expressed genes in the F1 hybrid were mapped to yield related quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions using a linkage map constructed from 131 polymorphic simple sequence repeat markers with 266 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Nipponbare and 93-11. QTLs were identified for yield related traits including days to heading, plant height, plant type, number of tillers, main panicle length, number of primary branches per main panicle, number of kernels per main panicle, total kernel weight per main panicle, 1000 grain weight and total grain yield per plant. Seventy one QTLs for these traits were mapped, of which 3 QTLs were novel. Many highly expressed chromatin-related genes in the F1 hybrid encoding histone demethylases, histone deacetylases, argonaute-like proteins and polycomb proteins were located in these yield QTL regions. A total of 336 highly expressed transcription factor (TF) genes belonging to 50 TF families were identified in the yield QTL intervals. These findings provide the starting genomic materials to elucidate the molecular basis of yield related traits and heterosis in rice.


OBJECTIVE
To study bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) in patients with sarcoidosis.

METHODS
Twenty freshly diagnosed patients with sarcoidosis were evaluated. Progressively increasing concentrations of methacholine were administered using a standard five-breath dosimeter protocol, and spirometry performed after each challenge. BHR was expressed as PC20 (provocating concentration of methacholine resulting in 20% fall in forced expiratory volume in first second). All patients were nonsmokers, had no other concurrent cardiopulmonary disease, and were not on any specific treatment for sarcoidosis.

RESULTS
Borderline (PC20 4.0-16.0 mg/mL), mild (PC20 1.0-4.0 mg/mL) and moderate to severe (PC20 <1.0 mg/mL) BHR was documented in three (15%), one (5%) and five (25%) patients respectively. Patients with BHR were similar to those having normal reactivity in terms of age, gender, disease duration and results of pulmonary function testing. All patients with endobronchial disease had BHR.

CONCLUSION
BHR may be seen in several patients of sarcoidosis and could possibly contribute to decline in lung function.


We investigated the effect of nutritional therapy with an elemental diet (ED) for active Crohn's disease. One hundred and thirty-nine patients with Crohn's disease were enrolled in this study. Remission was judged to be present when the International Organization of Inflammatory Bowel Disease score was < or = 1 and the CRP and ESR values were within the respective normal ranges. An amount of 30kcal per 1kg of ideal body weight (IBW) per day was administered enterally, and the effect on the induction of remission in relation to various patient background factors, such as disease type, history of bowel resection, and the presence/absence of complications, was determined. An excellent remission rate was achieved in those patients to whom an adequate amount of ED could be administered. Remission rates were lower in the patient groups with any of the following complications: stenotic bowel lesions, abdominal masses, fistulas, and anal lesions. Even in those groups in which stenotic lesions or abdominal masses were present, when adequate amounts of ED could be administered, the remission rate did not differ from that in the groups without these complications. The remission rates in the groups with and without fistulas at any site, including fistulas in the anal region, were 40.0% and 82.5%, respectively, with remission being considerably easier to achieve in the patients without fistulas. Similarly, remission was difficult to achieve when anal lesions were present. These results suggest that, for active Crohn's disease, nutritional therapy with ED ( > or = 35kcal/kg IBW) should be enthusiastically administered, and in patients in whom the presence of complications necessitates therapy for 3 months or more, this point be considered to indicate a possible surgical approach.


The most common HVAC device in a residence, or in most other buildings for that matter, is the bathroom ventilation fan. Because these devices operate in close proximity to humans, the concept of loudness is particularly relevant to the acoustic performance of fans. In this regard, acoustic performance is an important component of indoor environmental quality, and the use of loudness as a method of achieving an acoustic rating is now widely accepted in codes and standards. Therefore, a long-term comparative study investigating changes in acoustic performances was performed for bathroom ventilation fans of the alternating current (AC) motor type, with a focus on fan loudness over an 11-year period from 2005 to 2015. Because of difference in performances and designs along with divisions created by testing standards and codes, the 1400 fans tested and analyzed were divided into low- and high-volume flow rate groups, namely below and above 42.5 L/s. In addition to specific conclusions reached from analyzing 11 years of fan performance measurements, major overall conclusions are that (1) the fan noise in terms of loudness has decreased, even to the point of being lower than typical human conversations in many cases, and (2) fan loudness has a weak relationship with volume flow rate and a more noticeable linear relationship with fan rotating speed. This study proves that acoustic performance improvements in bathroom ventilation fans have advanced acoustic-indoor environmental quality over the decade-long period of this study.


In this paper we provide explicit upper and lower bounds on the $L^2$ $n$-widths, i.e., the best constants in $L^2$ approximation. We further describe a numerical method to compute these $n$-widths approximately, and prove that this method is superconvergent. Based on our numerical results we formulate a conjecture on the asymptotic behaviour of the $n$-widths. Finally we describe how the numerical method can be used to compute the breakpoints of the optimal spline spaces of Melkman and Micchelli, which have recently received renewed attention in the field of Isogeometric Analysis.


The time dependent analysis of the normal mode 3S2 near 1102.8 μHz allows a precise determination of the frequency and reveals a surprising phase modulation. This phase flip was first observed with the 10S2 normal mode and, by careless use of FFT, it may be misinterpreted as a frequency splitting. The correct demodulation requires the very robust method of homodyn conversion. Introduction After earthquakes, the Earth vibrates like a bell and a set of different natural frequencies is recorded by various instruments. According to the theory, the mode 3S2 may be well suited as a probe to study certain properties of the Earth's inner core. In the drawing, the dashed curve shows the assumed value of shear energy depending on the distance from the center of the earth. In the liquid outer core (shown in gray), this value is zero. The measured inversions of the phase can not be explained by an isotropic model of the Earth and may even be caused by properties of the inner Earth's core. Perhaps it is consistent with simple axisymmetric models of anisotropy. The Preparation of the data records During the first hours after a strong earthquake, the amplitude of the spectral line near 1103 μHz exceeds clearly the noise and can be easily observed. Later, one has to filter a very narrow frequency band in order to discover these weak oscillations at all. With careless use of standard filtering software, the huge dynamic range of more than 100 dB generates intermodulation and numeric noise in standard math co-processors, whereby the SNR deteriorates noticeably. In a first step, the raw data (the most common sampling time is one second) of all available SG stations between 2004-12-26 and 2005-01-31 were made machine readable. The influence of atmosphere pressure variation on the gravity data was omitted because the air mass above the instruments changes much slower than the oscillation time of 3S2 (about 15 minutes). Extensive experiments have shown that any admixture of air pressure data deteriorates the SNR, regardless of the sign and value of the prefactor. The extremely strong tides are removed very easily with a feedforward comb filter. It has all the positive characteristics of an FIR filter, is extremly fast and does not generate nonlinear distortions of the data. The application is very simple: all samples are shifted by 454 seconds and subtracted from the original record. The ratio of this time difference to the period(s) of the oscillations produces the desired effect: The very intense amplitudes of the slow tides (T ≈ severals hours) are largely compensated, while the amplitude of the much faster 3S2 oscillations (T ≈ 15 minutes) is doubled. A low-pass filter (f < 4 ms), followed by a second "shift and subtract" procedure generates the final data string. A multiple application does not bring further improvement. After the comb filter has reduced the dynamic range of the data below 40 dB, the mean frequency of 3S2 is shifted to the intermediate frequency 200 μHz and the bandwidth is limited to 14 μHz or less, using the mixing method[]. The absolute frequency difference Δf between all spectral lines remains constant while the ratio Δf /f increases, facilitating the separation of adjacent spectral lines. This simplifies the data analysis and allows to prolong the sampling rate of the record to 540 seconds without altering the information content. After the very positive experience with this type of processing during the analysis of the 10S2 normal mode[], the comparison with the CORMIN data was omitted in this paper. IIR filters were not used in this study. a) 22. Mar 2016, email: email@example.com The Temporal Evolution of 3S2 The amplitudes of all normal modes decrease exponentially, leading to a substantial increase in spectral half width (as with any modulation). Compensating this amplitude change by a suitable time-dependent factor decreases the FWHM and allows the separation of adjacent spectral lines. By the way, this ensures a good time independence of color in the spectrogram. In the figure below, the exponential decay of the 3S2 amplitude was compensated in accordance with the Q-factor of 358. The optimal value is sometimes hard to find, because it depends on the SNR. The spectrogram is composed of 1321 individual spectra, each one generated from a sequence of 80 samples (zero-padded to a total length 4096) and whose start times advance in steps of 540 seconds. The representation within the shaded area on the very right must be ignored, because about 200 hours after the earthquake, the 3S2 oscillation disappears in the noise. Using the complex results of the FFT along a horizontal line at f = 1100 μHz, 1321 instantaneous phases can be calculated. The time derivative of this phase sequence provides the instantaneous frequency for each time point. The figure shows that near an amplitude minimum, the frequency is calculated incorrectly because of the bad SNR. Below we will see that the actual reason is a phase inversion. Ignoring these defects and confining to regions of high amplitude, the weighted average provides fmean ≈ 1103 μHz. From the Küpfmüller's uncertainty principle follows that the short sequence length of only 12 hours limits the frequency resolution to approximately 23 μHz. The comparison of three very widely separated stations CB, S1 and ST shows that the distinct amplitude maxima repeat at intervals of approximately 43 hours. Obviously, the absolute timing is determined by the geographical location of the recording SG station.


Introduction: . We present our real life experience of 79 patients treated with nintedanib. Objectives: To evaluate the results of a cohort of IPF patients treated with Nintedanib in different hospitals in Spain. Methods: The collected data were: clinical, radiological, pulmonary function test and side effects related to the treatment with Nintedanib Results: 79 patients were included, male (74.6%). At diagnosis HRCT shows UIP pattern (34 %), POSIBLE UIP pattern (34%), combination with emphysema was observed in 24 patients (30%), 28 patients underwent a surgical lung biopsy ( 35%). Pulmonary function test baseline data were (mean ± SD) FVC 79.5 % predicted (±17.61); DLCO 44.82 % predicted (±14). 6MWT distance was 446 meters (±116), initial SpO2 95% (±2.6) and final SpO2 86%(±6,8) Most treatments were started between august 2011 and june 2016, 7 patients (35%) participated in INPULSIS trials and only 2 patients switched from pirfenidone. Only 14 patients interrupt treatment (17.9%), 8 due to side effects and 6 due to progression of IPF and death, there were dose reduction in 31 patients (39%) but 21 patients (26.9%) could be re titrated to full dose. Regarding side effects 42 (53%) patients had diarrhea, 12(15%) had nausea and 20 (25%) showed weight loss. 12 patients (15%) had elevated transaminases. Acute exacerbations were recorded in 7 patients (9%)and 6 died. Conclusions: The results of the real life experience in these cohort of IPF patients appears consistent with the data published so far in the clinical trials. Further monitoring is required to establish the efficacy and safety in clinical practice


Introduction: Intracapsular fracture of neck femur usually present with severe swelling, difficulty in walking reduced length of affected limb. The most common Risk factors are old age, osteoporosis, taking excessive medications, alcohol, smoking and cancer. Diagnosis can be done by using X-rays, CT scan and MRI. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective study consists of all the patients admitted to JSS hospital with intracapsular fracture neck femur treated with unipolar or bipolar endoprosthesis. Results: The selected patients were randomized and divided into two groups, Group one (I) and Group two (II). Patients were suction tube is used are categorized into Group I and in those were suction tube is not used are categorized into Group II. These two groups were studied and observed for the following, fall in haemoglobin and PCV at 48 hours post-operatively. Complications are Persistent discharge, serous discharge from the wound for more than 10 days. Discussion: When the doctors are in doubt, then they need to insert a drain was countered by Halsted (1898). Now days in orthopedic cases, closed suction drains are being commonly used to decrease the complications. Blood accumulation in and around the tissue site will raise the tissue tension and thereby reduces tissue perfusion in and around the surgical wound site. Conclusion: We consider that there is ample evidence that closed suction drains is of no benefit in primary uncomplicated hemiarthroplasty. The advantage of the drains in orthopaedic surgeries should be debated as non use of drains drastically reduces anemia and requirement of blood transfusion after surgery. In a developing and under-developing countries, the cost increases because of the blood transfusion needs and costs of drain device which will outweigh any advantages of putting a drain.


The purpose of this article - the analysis of one of the basic archetypes of world culture - "HOME". Despite the universatility of this unit the only constant is semantic core of the archetype, while the differential semes of this structure structures vary depending on the geography of "existence". The conclusion of the work becomes the assumption that in the context of ethnically heterogeneous society archetypes undergo contamination of the process of hybridization of different mental "layers". The material of the article is based on the texts by the Russian-speaking writers of Kazakhstan: I. Shukhov,Belger, A. Zhaksylykov and others.


Tomato plant (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is one of the horticultural commodities that have the potential to be developed because it has quite high economic value. One of the efforts made to increase the growth of tomato plants is by using organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizer is the best and natural soil repairer than artificial/synthetic. This study aims to determine the response of tomato plant growth to organic fertilizer by observing plant height, the number of leaves, and stem diameter. This study used an experimental method with a randomized block design consisting of 4 treatments, namely compost, manure, and green manure. The results of the observations were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and statistical data processing was performed using the F test at the level of α = 5%. The results showed that the growth of tomato plants for the highest plant measurement, the highest average number of leaves, and stem diameter were found in the compost (PK) treatment.


In this paper design considerations for six pulse and twelve pulse diode rectifier systems operating under utility voltage unbalance and pre-existing harmonic voltage distortion is discussed. For a six pulse diode rectifier system it is shown that voltage unbalance and pre-existing voltage distortion in the utility generates uncharacteristic harmonics in the line currents. The amplitude of these uncharacteristic harmonics are shown to be amplified if the diode rectifier is operating in discontinuous conduction mode. For a twelve pulse diode rectifier system connected in parallel to feed a common dc link via interphase reactor it is shown that a small amount of impedance mismatch, utility voltage unbalance or pre-existing voltage distortion drastically affects the current sharing capability of the rectifier bridges. This in turn generates additional uncharacteristic and characteristic harmonics thereby increasing the THD. In order to mitigate these effects and ensure proper operation of diode rectifiers, specially designed line reactors termed as Harmonic Blocking Reactors (HBR's) are introduced. The analysis and design procedure for the HBR 's are discussed. Simulation results illustrate improved performance. Experimental results @om a laboratory prototype system show close agreement with theoty.


We study X-ray spectra from the outburst rise of the accreting black hole binary MAXI J1820+070. We find that models having the disk inclinations within those of either the binary or the jet imply significant changes of the accretion disk inner radius during the luminous part of the hard spectral state, with that radius changing from >100 to ∼10 gravitational radii. The main trend is a decrease with the decreasing spectral hardness. Our analysis requires the accretion flow to be structured, with at least two components with different spectral slopes. The harder component dominates the bolometric luminosity and produces strong, narrow, X-ray reflection features. The softer component is responsible for the underlying broader reflection features. The data are compatible with the harder component having a large scale height, located downstream the disk truncation radius, and reflecting mostly from remote parts of the disk. The softer component forms a corona above the disk up to some transition radius. Our findings can explain the changes of the characteristic variability timescales, found in other works, as being driven by the changes of the disk characteristic radii.


Background: Nursing Research is one of the pillars for improving nursing care. Motivating nurses to contribute in research and evidence based practice will improve their productivity and satisfaction that will improve patient clinical outcome and satisfaction. Aim: This study was conducted to investigate the barriers among nurses in Saudi Arabia to contribute in nursing research and to provide some strategies or solutions for these barriers. Method: An electronic self-administered questionnaire was developed and distributed to nursing staff in Eastern Province Ministry of Health hospitals. Results: 480 surveys were collected and the data analyzed. The participants indicated that they value research and are willing to take part in it. However, several barriers were identified that limited their participation in research including lack of time, administration support and lack of research capacity and infrastructure. Affordable education opportunities, more funding resources, and access to databases and libraries were the most recommended solutions to increase nurses' participation in conducting research and utilizing Evidence Based Practice. Conclusion: Further efforts are needed from High Authority toward increasing nursing research. Nursing research must be on the top priorities of the Ministry of Health agenda and must be a senior management strategic goal. Further qualitative and quantitative research is needed to explore more barriers and provide more mechanisms in motivating nurses toward research.


Scant research to date has explored the possibility of context-specific variation in attachment security within a given relationship. In this paper, two cross-sectional studies were designed (1) to develop and validate context-specific attachment scales in Traditional-Chinese and (2) to explore variations in attachment security within a given parental relationship but between the contexts of sport and academics, relating them to global attachment patterns and indicators of psychological well-being. Results indicated that Taiwanese youth can and do perceive contextual variation within a given parental relationship. However, the relationship between such contextual variation and psychological outcomes was complex. Contextual variation may be a meaningful and useful way to explore and think about within-parent attachment fluctuation.


In an RFID network, the signal transmitted by a reader to query tags may interfere with the communication of other surrounding readers. As a consequence, the readers are not able to detect the weak reply from tags. The reader-to-reader interference affects readers located within a given distance, called interference range. This phenomenon can be estimated when deploying an RFID system, because the initial positions of the readers are known. It is also possible to completely avoid it by placing the readers far enough each other. However, if the readers are mobile, the distances among readers change and the probability of reader-to-reader interference dramatically increases. A theoretical analysis is conducted in this paper in order to estimate the probability of interference among static and mobile readers. The random waypoint model, one of the most common mobility models, is adopted to describe the movements of the readers. The theoretical results are validated with simulations.


Using a primary coil that induces eddy currents in a volume conductor, and a pair of secondary coils configured to form a differential transformer, it is possible to measure the conductivity of a volume conductor by the magnetic fields of the induced eddy currents. This method is especially favourable for measuring impedance of the brain, as the low conductance of the surrounding skull interferes only very slightly with the measuring process. In a simulation experiment a life-size skull model was filled with NaCl solutions of different concentrations in each half, so as to model the impedances of a normal and an oedematous hemisphere. The impedance differences could be clearly detected by a coil system of 25 mm diameter.


Objectives: It is interesting that the term "Tao" is seen in the Bible of Korean revised version, because Tao is the essential part of traditional Korean culture. Korean culture has 5000 years of history rooted in the humanitarian ideal that means devotion to the welfare of mankind. Such humanitarian ideal had accepted, digested, and finally recreated many religions and ideas without conflict. Because understanding the patient's culture is important in the psychiatric practice, it is worth while to compare the Tao in the Bible and in the traditional culture. That will lead us understand the Bible exactly, and understanding the Bible can broaden our view toward the traditional Korean culture. Methods: The authors searched the term "Tao" in the Bible of Korean Revised Version and compared it with the Biblia Hebrica Stuttgatensia, and Novum Testatum Graece to detect the original expressions of Tao. The meaning of Hebrew or Greek original expressions were compared with English expressions of The Holy Bible, the King James Version. Results: Tao was recorded 85 times in the Bible of Korean Revised Version. The majority of original expressions were "derek"(43 times) in Hebrew Old Testaments, and "hodos"(14 times) in Greek New Testament. The majority of English expressions corresponding to Tao were "way" or "ways"(59 times). "Derek" means the commandments of God. "Hodos" means the way of Jesus Christ. Conclusion: "Derek" and "hodos" commonly mean the righteousness, and sanctification required to human with the berith(testament) of God. Tao in the Bible of Korean Revised Version is similar to Tao in the traditional culture in the viewpoint of enlightenment. Korean psychotherapy can be elaborated further with the acceptance of Western psychotherapy on the basis of deep understanding of Korean traditional culture, such as Tao.


The Chinese HJ saterllite CCD sensor is similar to Landsat-5 TM with the same spatial resolution, but there are enormous advantages in space coverage and frequency of repeated observations. This paper focuses on the image quality evaluation of the four HJ CCD sensors by reference to Landsat TM data from near-synchronous images. The results are as follows: Mainly due to limited evel of radiation acceptance per unit area, there's a sharp quality gap between HJ-1A CCD data and TM data in radiometric resolution and image sharpness. This leads to decrease of image recognition ability, such as image interpretation, feature extraction, image measurement etc. No obvious difference has been found in image information entropy and power spectrum summation. This will guarantee the classification accuracy. We also conclude that standard false colour composition of band 4, 3, 2 is the best band combination choice. There's no significant difference between the four CCD sensors. Among the four bands, red and near-infrared shows the best quality while the blue shows the worst. The NDVI from HJ CCD data can achieve the similar accuracy of NDVI from TM data.


Gaze estimation systems use calibration procedures that require active subject participation to estimate the point-of-gaze accurately. In these procedures, subjects are required to fixate on a specific point or points in space at specific time instances. This paper describes a gaze estimation system that does not use calibration procedures that require active user participation. The system estimates the optical axes of both eyes using images from a stereo pair of video cameras without a personal calibration procedure. To estimate the point-of-gaze, which lies along the visual axis, the angles between the optical and visual axes are estimated by a novel automatic procedure that minimizes the distance between the intersections of the visual axes of the left and right eyes with the surface of a display while subjects look naturally at the display (e.g., watching a video clip). Experiments with four subjects demonstrate that the RMS error of this point-of-gaze estimation system is 1.3°.


The purpose of the study to examine a)To identity the prevalence of developmental delays involving physical development (specifically gross and fine motor skills); communication skills; and social and personal skills; b)Educate parents about the connection between brain growth and the normal stages of development, and the importance of the first three years of life to the overall development of the brain, c) Provide a means for early detection of children slipping behind in their milestone development d) Provide individualised developmental strategies based on the results of the extensive milestone checking in attempt to facilitate development in areas where the child may be slipping behind. Children (boys & girls) who referred by doctors for early intervention assessment and skill development, referred at NKPSIMS and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital central India Nagpur were included in the study (n=41 boys 20 and21 girls). An Analysis of variance showed early childhood intervention programmes in improving learning capacities for children with developmental delays are positive significant. Conclusion and recommend - Early intervention program parental involvement was significant component. Of particular importance is measures of social competence, motivation, family functioning, and problem-solving skills.


This study reveals a wide variability in the major parameters of the energy analysis applied to 44 four-year-long organic crop sequences. The intensification level of the systems in terms of the use or nonuse of organic fertilisation on cereals and of irrigation on summer crops (mainly pulses) is largely responsible for this variability. Average energy consumption ranges from 5 000 to 12 270 MJ/ha/year depending on the intensification level. Energy production varies from 35 500 to 43 950 MJ/ha/year. Since energy consumption and production both vary in the same direction with the degree of intensification, the energy gain is stable at an average value of 29300 MJ/ha/year. Energy efficiency decreases from 7.1 MJ/MJ for unfertilised and unirrigated crop sequences, to 3.5 MJ/MJ for fertilised and irrigated sequences, where soy and faba bean are among the major crops.


Borrelia hermsii causes a relapsing fever in humans and is one of several species of tick-borne spirochetes known to occur in the western United States. Spirochetes observed in the peripheral blood of patients acutely ill have been presumptively identified in the past by the geographic location of exposure and the probable species of tick vector. We describe a monoclonal antibody (H9826) that bound to the flagellar protein of B. hermsii but not to those of any of the other species tested, which included B. parkeri, B. turicatae, B. coriaceae, B. anserina, B. burgdorferi, and Leptospira interrogans serovar ballum. This antibody bound efficiently to B. hermsii in an indirect immunofluorescence assay and was used to rapidly detect and identify this spirochete in the peripheral blood of experimentally infected mice and in the central ganglia of Ornithodoros hermsi ticks. H9826 can rapidly confirm the identification of B. hermsii to increase our understanding concerning the geographic distribution, vector specificity, and epidemiological significance of this zoonotic human pathogen.


Systemic analysis of available large-scale biological and biomedical data is critical for developing novel and effective treatment approaches against both complex and infectious diseases. Owing to the fact that different sections of the biomedical data is produced by different organizations/institutions using various types of technologies, the data are scattered across individual computational resources, without any explicit relations/connections to each other, which greatly hinders the comprehensive multi-omics-based analysis of data. We aimed to address this issue by constructing a new biological and biomedical data resource, CROssBAR, a comprehensive system that integrates large-scale biomedical data from various resources and store them in a new NoSQL database, enrich these data with deep-learning-based prediction of relations between numerous biomedical entities, rigorously analyse the enriched data to obtain biologically meaningful modules and display them to users via easy-to-interpret, interactive and heterogenous knowledge graph (KG) representations within an open access, user-friendly and online web-service at https://crossbar.kansil.org. As a use-case study, we constructed CROssBAR COVID-19 KGs (available at: https://crossbar.kansil.org/covid_main.php) that incorporate relevant virus and host genes/proteins, interactions, pathways, phenotypes and other diseases, as well as known and completely new predicted drugs/compounds. Our COVID-19 graphs can be utilized for a systems-level evaluation of relevant virus-host protein interactions, mechanisms, phenotypic implications and potential interventions.


In order to gain more insights into the system depressurization and entrainment behavior after actuation of the fourth-stage (ADS-4) valves during a loss-of-coolant-accident, the ADS-4 Depressurization and Entrainment TEst Loop (ADETEL) scaled to AP1000 was constructed to simulate the accident scenario with air-water and steam-water. A brief scaling analysis with emphasis on related thermal hydraulic processes was presented. Entrainment phenomena at vertical up tee branch were observed and analyzed. Preliminary test data of onset of entrainment and entrainment rate were collected with air-water tests and relevant conclusions were obtained.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Introduction: Methotrexate, a folic acid antagonist is used as a first line drug for the treatment of a number of malignancies and immune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis. Due to hepatoxicity its dose needs to be monitored and sometimes it has to be stopped. In the present study we intend to do a detailed histopathological investigation after methotrexate toxicity on the relatively neglected organ i.e. kidney of rat. Subjects and Methods: Albino rats were divided into four groups (1, 2, 3, and 4) of six animals each. Control group 1 was given distilled water whereas experimental groups 2, 3, and 4 were given low, therapeutic and high doses of methotrexate orally for 28 days. Results: The results showed congestion and infiltration of the glomeruli and interstitial edema and tubular degeneration which were dose dependent. Conclusion: The degenerative changes necessitate extra precautions to be taken while using drug for prolonged period. The study merits due to great social impact.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
In order to address the current opioid crisis, research on treatment outcomes for persons with opioid use disorder (OUD) should account for biological factors that could influence individual treatment response. Women and men might have clinically meaningful differences in their experience in OUD treatment and might also have unique challenges in achieving successful, long-term recovery. This review summarizes and synthesizes the current literature on sex-based differences in OUD treatment outcomes.

METHODS
Relevant literature was identified via automated and manual searches using the terms "opioid treatment outcome sex [or gender] differences" and "opiate treatment outcome sex [or gender] differences." Search methodology was consistent with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), and were conducted within the PubMed electronic database during March and April of 2018.

RESULTS
The initial PubMed search yielded 241 manuscripts and 31 original research articles that met inclusion/exclusion criteria were synthesized in this review. Several important trends emerged, including findings that women are more likely than men to present to treatment with co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression, and that women might respond particularly well to buprenorphine maintenance.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
While much of the literature on this topic is subject to potential cohort effects, interventions that address co-occurring mental health conditions and psychosocial stress might improve treatment outcomes for women with OUD.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE
Funding agencies and researchers should focus attention toward human laboratory studies and clinical trials that are prospectively designed to assess sex-based differences in OUD recovery. (Am J Addict 2019;28:246-261).


Ensiling forage from species‐rich mountain grasslands is challenging. Low concentrations of fermentable carbohydrates and the coarse morphological structure of the forage promote the activity of butyric acid forming bacteria. This is associated with the formation of ammonia from protein degradation, resulting in an insufficient pH decline. On the other hand, forage from species‐rich swards may contain tanniferous plant species which contain varying contents of condensed tannins (CT). Therefore, the silage quality of forage prepared from species‐rich mountain grasslands and the role CT may play in silage fermentation was studied. A set‐up of two long‐term mineral fertilization field experiments, located in the Jura mountains and the Alps in Switzerland were used to obtain forage with contrasting species and chemical composition. Collection was done during both the generative and vegetative growth stage from three differently fertilized swards: unfertilised ("0"), fertilized with phosphorus and potassium ("PK") or fertilized with PK and nitrogen ("NPK"). The forage was wilted to approximately 37% dry matter (DM), chopped to 2 cm lengths and ensiled for at least 65 days as laboratory‐scale silages. The wilted forage was characterized by concentrations of crude protein between 117 and 130 g/kg DM and water‐soluble carbohydrates varying from 84 to 148 g/kg DM. Concentrations of CT ranged from 6 g to 14 g/kg DM and those of soluble CT from 1.8 to 7.6 g/kg DM. All silages contained butyric acid, irrespective of the type of fertilization or harvest stage (range: 1.5 g to 16 g/kg DM). Concentrations of acetic and lactic acid ranged from 2.1 g to 15.0 g/kg DM and from 21.0 to 44.0 g/kg DM, respectively. Concentrations of unfermented sugar remained high and pH levels were above those expected. Formation of non‐protein‐N (NPN) increased in the range of 130 to 264 g/kg N from wilted to ensiled forage. The negative correlations of CT or soluble CT contents with ammonia‐N or NPN in silage were found in both forage from the generative and vegetative harvests indicating a possible relationship with protein degradation during ensiling.


A simple model for the production of ions that impinge on and sputter erode the accelerator grid of an ion thruster is presented. Charge-exchange and electron-impact ion production processes are considered, but initial experimental results suggest the charge-exchange process dominates. Additional experimental results show the effects of changes in thruster operating conditions on the length of the region from which these ions are drawn upstream into the grid. Results which show erosion patterns and indicate molybdenum accelerator grids erode more rapidly than graphite ones are also presented.


This paper describes the controller design of non linear system.The Non linear system taken up for the study is the Interacting Conical Tank Systems.In this paper, design of controllers based on Skogestad tuning is determined.For each stable operating region, a first order process model is identified using Process reaction curve method.The control is done and the responses for different operating regions are taken.Simulation is made by the MATLAB software.


This study compared the SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) images before and after applying an attenuation correction by using the CT (computed tomography) image in a SPECT/CT scan and examined depending of the change in image quality on the CT dose. A flangeless Esser PET (positron emission tomography) Phantom was used to evaluate the image quality for the Precedence 16 SPECT/CT system manufactured by Philips. The experimental method was to obtain a SPECT image and a CT image of a flangeless Esser PET Phantom to acquire an attenuation-corrected SPECT image. A ROI (region of interest) was then set up at a hot spot of the acquired image to measure the SNR (signal to noise ratio) and the FWHM (full width at half maximum) and to compare the image quality with that of an unattenuation-corrected SPECT image. To evaluate the quality of a SPECT image, we set the ROI as a cylinder diameter (25, 16, 12, and 8 mm) and the BKG (background) radioactivity of the phantom images was obtained when each CT condition was changed. Subsequently, the counts were compared to measure the SNR. The FWHM of the smallest cylinder (8 mm) was measured to compare the image quality. A comparison of the SPECT images with and without attenuation correction revealed 5.01-fold, 4.77 fold, 4.43-fold, 4.38-fold, and 5.13-fold differences in SNR for the 25-mm cylinder, 16-mm cylinder, 12-mm cylinder, 8-mm cylinder, and BKG, respectively. In the phantom image obtained when the CT dose was changed, the FWHM of the 8-mm cylinder showed almost no difference under each condition regardless of the changes in kVp and mAs.


We have investigated the quantum transport behaviour of Cu nanowires created by moving two macroscopic Cu wires into and out of contact. We have observed quantum conductance with steps of both e2/h and 2e2/h. We conclude that the spin degeneracy can be broken in non-magnetic Cu nanowires.


Background : The extracellular matrix is a complex three-dimensional network of proteins and glycosaminoglycans, which have important roles in cellular physiology and cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Any changes in the extracellular matrix of tumors may be implicated in cellular transformation and metastasis. The aim of the present study was to identify changes in the hyaluronic acid of the stroma of colonic carcinoma. Methods : Paraffin blocks of 30 patients with colon carcinoma ( 10 patients at each histological grade) were chosen from the pathology file of Khatam-Al-Anbia Hospital in Zahedan, Iran. Tissue sections ( 5-6 micrometers thick) were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and the alcian blue critical electrolyte concentration histochemical technique at p H=5.8 . The intensity of the staining in each section was graded as 1 , 2 or 3 , referring to low, moderate or severe staining reactivities, respectively. Statistical data was analyzed with nonparametric tests by SPSS (ver. 10 ) and histopathological reports were prepared. Results : The results of this study showed that there is a good correlation between histopathological grading and staining intensity of tumoral stroma for hyaluronic acid (p <0.005 ). Analysis using the Mann Whitney test revealed significant differences between staining grades 1 and 3 and grades 2 and 3 (p <0.005 and p <0.002 , respectively), although there was no significant difference between staining grades 1 and 2 for hyaluronic acid. Conclusions: The difference in staining intensity of the stroma in colon carcinoma is a result of different amounts of hyaluronic acid in stroma, indicating that increased levels of hyaluronic acid are associated with the invasion and metastasis of neoplastic cells.


Delivering new software features in a continuous fashion has become a competitive
advantage for organisations operating in the web domain. Being able to deliver new
features to customers on a regular basis allows organisations to rapidly respond to
change in customer requirements and to verify customer value. Software development
in the domain of web applications differ greatly in comparison to embedded,
cyber-physical systems which are tightly coupled to hardware, electronics and mechanics.
A cyber-physical system (CPS) can benefit from a platform that enables the
continuous deliver of new features. Virtual machines is a popular method for software
deployment where applications are sand-boxed and pre-installed in a highly
portable environment. This study contributes to the research community by understanding
the performance overhead of using virtual containers as a deployment
platform for CPSs which are highly sensitive to timing delays. Methods of experimentation
are used to understand the timing behaviour of two sample applications
realised with the development architecture for CPSs, OpenDaVINCI. Sample applications
are run in various deployment and execution environments where a real-time
enabled Linux kernel is used. Hypotheses testing and statistical analysis is performed
on timestamps extracted from the sample applications, where results show that the
virtual container manager Docker achieves near native performance when executing
applications in a virtual environment in comparison to native execution. The experiment
is executed in a controlled environment where the results are validated by
adapting the experiment on a self-driving vehicle that participated in the Grand Cooperative
Driving Challenge 2016 held in the Netherlands. This research concludes
that Docker together with a real-time enabled kernel is a deployment platform good
candidate for vehicular CPSs.


Sri Wulandari. Danudirja Setiabudis Educational Thought in the Netherlands Indies at 1912-1941 and the Relevance to Historical Learning Materials at Class IX of Senior High School. Thesis, Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Sebelas Maret University of Surakarta. Desember 2014 The purpose of this study were to describe: (1) a history of Danudirja Setiabudi, (2) the politics and education alstruggle of Danudirj aSetiabudi in the Dutch East Indies, (3) the effect of Setiabudi Danudirja struggle against the colonial government and Indieseducational policy, (4) the relevance of Danudirja Setiabudi seducational thought in 1912-1942 at Dutch East Indies towards material of historical learning at class XI Senior High School. In accordance with that objectives, this research used the historical method. This research took place in Monument Press, Rekso Pustaka Library Surakarta. Data were collected through literature study and analysis of primary sources such as books by Danudirja Setiabudi, newspapers and etc. Data analysis techniques in this research using historical analysis that is technical analysis emphasis on sharpness in the interpretation of historical data. Based on the results can be concluded: (1) Danudirja Setibudi born of the couple Auguste Henri Edouard Douwes Dekker, a Dutchman and his mother Louisa Margaretha Neumann.  This shows Danudirja Setiabudi are descendants of Indonesian or mixture included in group Indies. Danudirja Setiabudi as anIndis get a better education than the indigenous people. (2) Danudirja Setiabudi see gaps arise in him the desire transform and express his desire. The path chosen is journalism. Through newspapers Danudirja Setiabudi try express an opinion on the colonial government. Besides journalism Danudirja Setiabudi establish political parties with Ki Hajar Dewantoro and Tcipto Mangun Kusumo named Indische Partij. After this political field failed Danudirja Setiabudi continue his struggle in education by establishing Ksatrian Instituut School in Bandung. (3) As a result of the Setiabudi Danudirja struggle weremake the colonial government get a new provision that all organizations deemed not cooperative with the Dutch government then did not get the recognition of legal entities from the colonial government. His struggle in education give new color for education in the Dutch East Indies, where the school is formed Danudirja Setiabudi embed understand love of country which raised the understanding of nationalism in Ksatrian Instituut students. (4) Setiabudi Danudirja thinking in the field of education is still relevant to this day. Nasioanlisme is understood love of the homeland and a willing to sacrifice for the nation of Indonesia. It is closely related to classroom learning materials at class XI of Senior High School about the national movement.


The stomach is considered a sterile organ for a long time due to anatomical and physiological features, till the discovery of Helicobacter pylori in 1982, which demolished the conception of sterile stomach. The pathogenicity of Helicobacter pylori is enhanced by several virulence factors. Initially, with the aid of culture-based techniques which were later followed by advanced culture-independent molecular techniques, whereby the complexity and biodiversity of gastric microbiota were revealed. Commensals, as well as pathogenic microbes have developed mechanisms to ensure successful colonization in the gastric environment. A number of published literature suggests the correlation of these bacteria with gastric diseases including gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease as well as the beneficial relationships like probiotics. This review summarizes current information on the correlation of complexity and diversity of gastric microbiota and host in health and disease.


helpful. In an introductory text it is difficult to be comprehensive, but, the chapter on opioids contains many practical tables: nondrug treatments of pain are included in later chapters. The bulk of the book is taken up with physical symptoms and clinical problems in the different body systems. I particularly liked Woodruff's approach that at all times the treatment must be appropriate to the patient's disease stage and prognosis. Each management section concludes with a helpful short paragraph, entitled 'terminal care' which reminds us to recognize when interventional medicine should give way to comfort. The final chapters of the book include psychological aspects of care, an informative chapter on alternative therapies and a brief description of HIV and AIDS management. Although not referenced, this book contains a useful bibliography and is well indexed. It is concise and informative and would be a worthwhile


In vision and graphics, there is a sustained interest in capturing accurate 3D shape with various scanning devices. However, the resulting geometric representation is only part of the story. Surface texture of real objects is also an important component of the representation and fine-scale surface geometry such as surface markings, roughness, and imprints, are essential in highly realistic rendering and accurate prediction. We present a novel approach for measuring the fine-scale surface shape of specular surfaces using a curved mirror to view multiple angles in a single image. A distinguishing aspect of our method is that it is designed for specular surfaces, unlike many methods (e.g. laser scanning) which cannot handle highly specular objects. Also, the spatial resolution is very high so that it can resolve very small surface details that are beyond the resolution of standard devices. Furthermore, our approach incorporates the simultaneous use of a bidirectional texture measurement method, so that spatially varying bidirectional reflectance is measured at the same time as surface shape.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is commonly seen in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We sought to examine the relationship between pulmonary function tests (PFTs), including the percentage of predicted FVC (FVC%), percentage of predicted total lung capacity, percentage of predicted diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (Dlco%), the composite physiologic index (CPI), and PH. The ability of FVC%, Dlco%, and FVC%/Dlco% ratio to predict underlying PH was assessed.

METHODS
Retrospective review of IPF patients seen at a tertiary referral center over an 8-year interval in whom both PFT and right-heart catheterization data were available.

RESULTS
The study cohort consisted of 118 patients, of whom 48 patients (40.7%) had PH. There was no correlation between measures of lung volumes or the CPI with underlying PH. There was a modest association between Dlco% and PH, with Dlco% < 30 having a twofold-higher prevalence of PH (56.4%) compared to Dlco% >/= 30 (28.6%). Cardiac dysfunction might have played a small role, since 16.1% of the patients had an associated elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. There was a trend to a higher prevalence and greater severity of PH in those patients with FVC% > 70 compared to the group with FVC% < 40.

CONCLUSION
PH is common in patients with IPF. There is a poor correlation between lung function measures and PH, suggesting that factors other than fibrosis may play a role in the etiology. The unexpected high prevalence and severity of PH in patients with well-maintained lung function have implications for the prognosis and management of the disease.


Texture measurements are used to determine the orientation distribution of crystalline grains in a polycrystalline sample. A material is termed textured if the grains are aligned in a preferred orientation along certain lattice planes. The texture is usually introduced in the fabrication process (e.g. rolling of thin sheet metal, deposition, etc.) and affects the material properties by introducing structural anisotropy. The pole figure is the starting point of neutron texture analysis. Texture properties in an non-standard austenite Fe-Ni low carbon alloywere measured by the neutron diffraction method with the PD/Residual Stress Diffractometer DN3 apparatus in BATAN. In this paper, effects of hot rolling on the texture are studied using ODF plots generated by MAUD application code developed by Lutteroti. It was found that The ODF plots for the A1 as cast and 1200 °C hot rolled specimens show typical patterns for recrystallized and rolled cubic structure. The pole figures for this plate are consistent with Face Centered Cubic (FCC) rolling textures. Keywords: Neutron, Pole figures, ODF, Low carbon alloy, Fe-Ni based alloy.


Nitrogen and fluorine co-doped carbon black (BP-NF) was prepared via the direct pyrolysis of a mixture of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and BP-2000 under an ammonium atmosphere for high efficient ORR electrocatalysis in the air-cathode of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). The electrocatalytic activity of BP-NF is higher than that of single nitrogen or fluorine doped carbon materials (BP-N, BP-F), with an onset potential of E = 0.2 V (BP-NF), E = 0.1 V (BP-N), and a limiting current density of I = 4.5 mA cm−2 (BP-NF), I = 0.31 mA cm−2 (BP-F), respectively. The results demonstrated a synergistic ORR catalytic effect in N and F co-doping carbon material. The maximum power density of MFC with BP-NF as the cathode catalyst (672 mA cm−2) was higher than that with commercial Pt/C (572 mA cm−2).


Suzanne recently described a new technique of axillary lymphadenectomy in breast cancer to reduce post surgical morbidity. It combines liposuction and endoscopic dissection. To determine whether this technique induces lymph node alterations, we examined retrospectively 111 lymphadenectomies done by this new method and compared them to 41 lymphadenectomies performed by conventional surgery. The percentage of altered lymph nodes, with or without metastasis, was approximately the same with both techniques (about 19%). Lymph nodes removed by conventional surgical lymphadenectomy had a detached capsule more frequently. Cellular crush was more frequent after liposuction and endoscopic dissection. Liposuction altered more frequently large lymph nodes, which represented, however, the minority of the lymph nodes removed by this technique. No specific alteration was detected in relation to either of the two technics.


This research deals with role playing (RP) aimed at assisting learners to optimize their managerial style. While RP is often used in training sessions, contributions on its evaluations have decreased since the beginning of the 1980s. Although RP as a training method had been criticized for several reasons, RP has the advantage to conciliate theoretical knowledge and practical construction of meaning, based on the learners' experiences, games and the group as a place of creation and growth. In this research - based on the analysis of a reflexive exercise led by a trainer during 17 years of experiencing RP – it is argued that the socio-constructivist approach, by promoting awareness in the training process, allows trainers to develop relational skills and to gain behavioural flexibility in their sessions. The main results of our study indicate the need for learners to co-determine the parameters of the RP process (rules and security) in close collaboration with the trainer, in order to make this method effective.


Background Integrating a chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer with an organic fertilizer and using slow-release mechanism are important N management strategies to increase the N utilization efficiency (NUE) and grain yield of rice. However, the performances of both N management strategies on the productivity, the nutrient absorption and utilization efficiency, and the economic benefits of rice have not yet been comprehensively evaluated. Methods A 2-year field experiment was conducted with seven N management strategies without fertilizer (control), 100% conventional N fertilizer (conventional compound fertilizer and urea) (N100), 75% conventional N fertilizer with 25% organic–inorganic compound fertilizer (N75+OICF25), 50% conventional N fertilizer with 50% organic–inorganic compound fertilizer (N50+OICF50), 100% organic–inorganic compound fertilizer (OICF100), slow-release compound fertilizer with urea (SRCF+U), compound fertilizer with sulfur-coated urea (CF+SCU). The responses of the productivity, the nutrient absorption and utilization efficiency, and the economic benefits of rice to the different N management strategies were evaluated. Results CF+SCU performed comparably or better than N100, judging by the grain yield (GY), the N, phosphate (P) and potassium (K) agronomic efficiency (NAE, PAE and KAE), and the apparent N, P and K recovery efficiency (ANRE, APRE and AKRE). SRCF+U significantly increased the GY by an average of 7.7%, the NAE and the ANRE by 23.8 and 26.7%, the PAE and the APRE by 90.6 and 109.3%, and the KAE and the AKRE by 74.2 and 57.7%. The higher GY and nutrient utilization efficiency when using SRCF+U were attributed to the higher total biomass and total nutrient absorption. N75+OICF25 and N50+OICF50 produced a comparable grain yield than N100, whereas a significant yield reduction was observed when using OICF100. Compared with N100, N75+OICF25 resulted in a comparable or higher fertilizer use efficiency (0.3 and 4.7% for NAE and ANRE, 0.3 and 3.2% for PAE and APRE, 0.3 and −2.8% for KAE and AKRE). However, the fertilizer use efficiency when using N50+OICF50 and OICF100 were lower than with N100. The highest net return (NR) (5,845.03 yuan ha−1) and benefit to cost (B:C) ratio (0.34) were obtained when using SRCF+U. The NR and the B:C ratio when using N75+OICF25 were slightly higher than when using N100. However, N50+OICF50 and OICF100 significantly decreased the NR and the B:C ratio compared with N100 by 14.5 and 12.1% and by 35.1 and 29.0%, respectively. Conclusions SRCF+U and CF+SCU enhanced the crop productivity, the nutrient uptake and utilization efficiency, and the economic benefits compared with N100. The comprehensive performance of SRCF+U was better than that of CF+SCU. N75+OICF25 produced almost similar productivity, nutrient uptake and use efficiency compared with N100. It demonstrated that N75+OICF25 stabilized the grain yield production of rice and reduced the input of chemical N fertilizer.


This research focuses on MTO strategy in fragrance division of PT GI which has a number of workstations with multiple tools, resources and products profile. The aims are developing a mathematic model of capacity planning system and analyzing the maximum production capacity and flexibility of resources to meet demand. The method is using RCCP technique that consists of product-load profiles, bills of capacity and labors. Cluster technical of sampling and probability plot are used for measuring and analyzing the output of each process and validating the mathematic model of capacity plan in order to establish certain specific sources, especially those expected to be a potential barrier (potential bottleneck), is sufficient to cover the expected demand till one year ahead.


UNLABELLED
In this study, the occurrence of persistent environmental contaminants room air samples from 59 apartments and 74 kindergartens in Berlin were tested in 2000 and 2001 for the presence of phthalates and musk fragrances (polycyclic musks in particular). These substances were also measured in household dust from 30 apartments. The aim of the study was to measure exposure levels in typical central borough apartments, kindergartens and estimate their effects on health. Of phthalates, dibutyl phthalate had the highest concentrations in room air, with median values of 1083 ng/m(3) in apartments and 1188 ng/m(3) in kindergartens. With around 80% of all values, the main phthalate in house dust was diethylhexyl phthalate, with median values of 703 mg/kg (range: 231-1763 mg/kg). No statistically significant correlation could be found between air and dust concentration. Musk compounds were detected in the indoor air of kindergartens with median values of 101 ng/m(3) [1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8- hexamethylcyclopenta-(g) 2-benzopyrane (HHCB)] and 44 ng/m(3) [7-acetyl-1,1,3,4,4,6-hexamethyl-tetraline (AHTN)] and maximum concentrations of up to 299 and 107 ng/m(3) respectively. In household dust HHCB and AHTN were detected in 63 and 83% of the samples with median values of 0.7 and 0.9 mg/kg (Maximum: 11.4 and 3.1 mg/kg) each. On comparing the above phthalate concentrations with presently acceptable tolerable daily intake values (TDI), we are talking about only a small average intake [di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and diethyl phthalate less than 1 and 8% of the TDI] by indoor air for children. The dominant intake path was the ingestion of foodstuffs. For certain subsets of the population, notably premature infants (through migration from soft polyvinyl chloride products), children and other patients undergoing medical treatment like dialysis, exchange transfusion, an important additional intake of phthalates must taken into account.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
The phthalate and musk compounds load in a sample of apartments and kindergartens were low with a typical distribution pattern in air and household dust, but without a significant correlation between air and dust concentration. The largest source of general population exposure to phthalates is dietary. For certain subsets of the general population non-dietary ingestion (medical and occupational) is important.


The Classical-trajectory Monte-Carlo (CTMC) model provides an excellent description of the electron capture to the continuum (ECC) cusp in atomic ionization collisions whenever the electron-projectile interaction is of a Coulomb or even of a dipolar type. However, in this communication we show that this description fails for the case of a polarizability potential, such as in the one produced by a neutral He (21S) outgoing projectile. Actually the CTMC calculation predicts an ECC peak that is much broader and smaller than for a Coulomb interaction, a result that differs from experimental data and quantum-mechanical calculations.


In this paper a study of some microwave microstrip bandpass filters (BPF) using defected ground structures (DOS) is presented. This technique allows designs of tight couplings without the necessity of using very narrow coupling gaps. Based on the results of the study, four-pole cross-coupled planar microwave bandpass filters were designed, with a single or with two ground slots. Compared to similar microstrip filters without defected ground, the simulated performances of these novel structures indicate some technological advantages


ABSTRACT While technological developments can replace some aspects of live performance, they have also opened a new dimension of musical structure: that of liveness and mediation, which requires live performance in order to be meaningful. Liveness itself can be used and manipulated as a distinct musical element. The author describes these concepts at work in his compositions that explore mediatization as a device of intermedial imitative counterpoint and formal structure.


Megakaryocyte (MK) progenitors, CD34+CD41+ cells, were isolated from human bone marrow with a purity greater than 98% and a viability of 95%, using affinity techniques with magnetic beads followed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. These cells were incubated in synthetic media containing the cytokines thrombopoietin (TPO), interleukin-3 (IL-3), stem cell factor (SCF), and IL-6, obviating the confounding effects of serum growth factors or cytokine secretions of non-MK cells on MK maturation. MK number, MK colony-forming units (CFU-MK), and MK ploidy and phenotype were examined during 7 days in culture. TPO in serum-free cultures without any other exogenously added cytokine supported MK growth and maturation. SCF synergized with TPO to augment MK production and maturation and could partially replace it under some conditions. Both TPO and IL-3 alone increased MK number (12- and 5-fold, respectively) and CFU-MK (approximately 15-fold each). SCF alone had no effect on MK proliferation in the absence of TPO, but increased both MK number and CFU-MK by 1.5- to 2.0-fold in the presence of TPO. When combined with IL-3, SCF increased both MK number and CFU-MK by 15- to 20-fold in the absence of TPO. In the presence of TPO, the combination of IL-3 and SCF produced only modest increases (1.5- to 2.0-fold) in both MK number and CFU-MK. The proportion of polyploid MK increased greater than fivefold in the presence of TPO. SCF had little effect on MK ploidy in the presence of TPO, but enhanced ploidy twofold to threefold in the absence of TPO. IL-3 alone never increased the level of polyploidization. Rather, it consistently inhibited TPO- and SCF-induced polyploidization of MK. This inhibition was observed in cultures with or without SCF or IL-6. Although IL-3 also supported the proliferation of CD41+ cells and CFU-MK production, the cells that developed under the influence of IL-3 were phenotypically unusual (CD41dim, CD42dim) and of relatively low ploidy. Mature MK were not produced. When added with TPO, IL-3 suppressed polyploidization. Therefore, TPO stimulates MK growth and maturation, whereas IL-3 stimulates growth without maturation and may serve to conserve the immature MK compartment.


In the present investigation, nine (09) unicellular microgreen algae of freshwater habitats of Manipur were characterized for total lipid content and fatty acid composition. Nile red fluorescence indicated more number of lipid bodies at stationary growth phase. Maximum lipid content was observed in Chlorella sp. (BTA-3110).  Profiling of fatty acid composition showed that palmitic acid (16:0) and linolenic acid (C18:3n3) were the predominant components. Chlorococcum sp. (BTA-3112) and Korshikoviella sp. (BTA-3019) showed high palmitic acid as 54.25% and 49.68% respectively. Arachidic acid (C20:0) was maximum in Chlorella sp. (BTA-3110) as 21.57%. Among the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), linolenic acid (C18:3n3) was maximum in Chlorella sp. (BTA-3063) as 37.37%. High amount of linoleic acid (C18:2n6) was observed in Chlorella sp. (BTA-3101) as 12.62%. One of the pharmaceutically potential component, eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5n3) occurred maximum amount in Chlorella sp. (BTA-3086). Oleic acid (C18:1n9) was the most abundant monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) in all the strains ranging between 0.70% to 15.79%. The levels of erucic acid (C22:1n9) and palmitoleic acid (C16:1) were also present but in low quantity in most strains. Furthermore, these potent strains which showed best lipid profile may be beneficial for use in value added products and biodiesel purpose and is appropriate for exploitation for higher scale studies.


Beryllium, beryllium alloys, beryllium carbide, and carbon are the ingredients of a class of nanophase Be/Be2C/C composite materials that can be formulated and functionally graded to suit a variety of applications. In a typical case, such a composite consists of a first layer of either pure beryllium or a beryllium alloy, a second layer of B2C, and a third layer of nanophase sintered carbon derived from fullerenes and nanotubes. The three layers are interconnected through interpenetrating spongelike structures. These Be/Be2C/C composite materials are similar to Co/WC/diamond functionally graded composite materials, except that (1) W and Co are replaced by Be and alloys thereof and (2) diamond is replaced by sintered carbon derived from fullerenes and nanotubes. (Optionally, one could form a Be/Be2C/diamond composite.) Because Be is lighter than W and Co, the present Be/Be2C/C composites weigh less than do the corresponding Co/WC/diamond composites. The nanophase carbon is almost as hard as diamond. WC/Co is the toughest material. It is widely used for drilling, digging, and machining. However, the fact that W is a heavy element (that is, has high atomic mass and mass density) makes W unattractive for applications in which weight is a severe disadvantage. Be is the lightest tough element, but its toughness is less than that of WC/Co alloy. Be strengthened by nanophase carbon is much tougher than pure or alloy Be. The nanophase carbon has an unsurpassed strength-to-weight ratio. The Be/Be2C/C composite materials are especially attractive for terrestrial and aerospace applications in which there are requirements for light weight along with the high strength and toughness of the denser Co/WC/diamond materials. These materials could be incorporated into diverse components, including cutting tools, bearings, rocket nozzles, and shields. Moreover, because Be and C are effective as neutron moderators, Be/Be2C/C composites could be attractive for some nuclear applications.


Left atrial myxoma could be a rare cause of cardiac arrest as this mass could impinge on the mitral orifice causing left ventricular inflow tract obstruction.


Abstract With this work, we present a publicly available data set of the history of all the references (more than 55 million) ever used in the English Wikipedia until June 2019. We have applied a new method for identifying and monitoring references in Wikipedia, so that for each reference we can provide data about associated actions: creation, modifications, deletions, and reinsertions. The high accuracy of this method and the resulting data set was confirmed via a comprehensive crowdworker labeling campaign. We use the data set to study the temporal evolution of Wikipedia references as well as users' editing behavior. We find evidence of a mostly productive and continuous effort to improve the quality of references: There is a persistent increase of reference and document identifiers (DOI, PubMedID, PMC, ISBN, ISSN, ArXiv ID) and most of the reference curation work is done by registered humans (not bots or anonymous editors). We conclude that the evolution of Wikipedia references, including the dynamics of the community processes that tend to them, should be leveraged in the design of relevance indexes for altmetrics, and our data set can be pivotal for such an effort.


Digitalisation in the public sector has attracted the attention of political and administrative leaders as well as researchers. Empirical studies suggest that most of the digitalisation efforts fail to achieve the intended efficiency, transparency, and responsiveness of the public sector. While digitalisation is a hot research agenda, only a few studies explored the issue in public organisations. This study, therefore, attempts to address the gap in the literature and identify the factors influencing digitalisation in the public sector. A case study is conducted at one of the largest state-owned enterprises in Liberia, the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP). The data collected through interviews and examination of internal documents were analysed thematically. The study resulted in the identification of 13 factors influencing digitalisation in the public sector, which are related to technology, organisation as well as the environment. The contribution of the study to research and practice is presented along with the potential future research opportunities.


Background: Preserving the quality and safety of fish and its products is a critical concern for food industry. In the present study, the effect of green tea extract and olive leaves extract-based preservative coatings on chemical, microbial, and sensory quality of wild type Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) was determined during pre-freezing ice and subsequent frozen storage.
Methods: Forty-eight ponds raised tilapia, freshly caught in April, 2021, which were divided into three groups: group CT with no coating, group GTE with green tea extract- based coating, and group OLE with olive leaves extract-based coating. Fish samples in all groups were kept in ice for five days (1±2 °C) and then subjected to freezing (-18±2 °C) for 105 days. Chemical (moisture, ash, protein, fat, Total Volatile Basic-Nitrogen (TVB- N), pH) and microbial (Aerobic Plate Count (APC), Total Coliform (TC), Faecal Coliform (FC), Escherichia coli) parameters as well as sensory attributes (appearance, odour, acceptability, flesh color, Total Quality Index (TQI)) of tilapia in all groups were analysed after five days of ice storage and 15, 45, 75, and 105 days of frozen storage.
Results: APC of tilapia treated with preservative coatings remained below the permissible limit (<5×105 Colony Forming Unit (CFU)/g) throughout the storage period. After five days, content of TVB-N in untreated samples of tilapia was 32.94±2.30 mg/100 g compared to 5.05±2.19 and 7.24±2.89 mg/100 g in tilapia treated with green tea and olive leaves extract-based coating, respectively. Fat content of untreated tilapia was significantly (p<0.05) reduced to 0.05±0.01% at the end of the study period from the the initial content of 0.24±0.04%. However, the tilapia treated with preservative coatings achieved significantly (p<0.05) lower scores of TQI compared with the untreated one owing to the coloration of fish with extract solution.
Conclusion: Green tea extract and olive leaves extract-based coatings can, therefore, be used to improve fish quality and safety during storage. However, there is a need to change consumer's perception about the sensory attributes of fish.


The steady emergence in the post-9/11 environment of controversial national security policies has brought to the surface the issue of legal interpretation by the executive branch of the constitutional or statutory authority justifying government actions. This interpretive activity is performed by general counsels in agencies and departments, but, most often, the primary responsibility falls to the Office of Legal Counsel (or OLC) in the Department of Justice (or DOJ). It is easy to recall the searing national debate that occurred after the public gained access to John Yoo's "torture memo" and other similar OLC opinions from 2001 to 2008 that interpreted executive authority in unprecedented ways, amounting to claims of exclusive and absolute presidential power in the national security realm (U.S. Department of Justice 2002). These episodes made clear the immense significance of the classic question of "who interprets the law," where interpretation drives and controls executive branch policy making. At the same time, an even greater issue was brewing, as the public came to realize that these legal opinions had been prepared in secret: thus, actions taken by the U.S. government in its efforts to combat counterterrorism had been given a legal "green light" through a decision-making process occurring outside of public view and without accountability. Congressional statutes and international treaties had been interpreted by the executive branch in ways that either stretched their meaning well beyond their intent or bypassed them altogether. But, unless and until the public was able to read the legal opinions firsthand, it lacked the ability to judge the quality of the legal analysis that guided the executive branch's actions. After those legal opinions finally came to light, DOJ officials, in the waning days of the Bush administration and the first month of the Obama administration, officially discredited and withdrew them because it judged them legally deficient and of poor quality (U.S. Department of Justice 2013d; see, especially, Bradbury 2009). Fast forward to 2011 and to the increasing demands to make public the legal analysis that justified the government's targeted killing of an American citizen in Yemen, Anwar al-Aulaki, or its larger program of such killings in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia through drone strikes (Savage 2011). Then, in spring and summer 2013, pressure began to build for the legal opinions relied upon by the administration to justify domestic warrantless surveillance programs (Savage and Shane 2013). With each new revelation of ever-greater government surveillance of electronic communication undertaken in apparent contradiction to existing law, the drumbeat for the government to provide legal justification for its actions grows increasingly more intense. Cases are already starting to build in the federal courts that will require the executive branch to lay bare the legal arguments that underlie its policy positions in these matters. Understanding those legal arguments can provide a useful "window" into executive branch policy making: just as the eventual disclosure of the Bush administration OLC memos was necessary to reveal shoddy legal analysis that supported highly questionable government counter-terrorism practices that ran counter to law, there is reason for the informed public to want to learn the legal thinking that underlies the controversial practices of the current administration. Targeted killings, especially of American citizens, and domestic warrantless electronic surveillance would likely rank at the top of the list of such practices that the public would want to probe. Two cases making their way currently through the federal courts provide a first glimpse into some of the postures the executive branch is using to shield from public view the official legal opinions that justify its policies (NYT 2013a; Electronic Frontier Foundation v. Department of Justice 2013a). …


The aim of the study is to assess the dynamics of pathological processes in prostate and suggest the management of patients with various pathological processes against the background of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Materials and methods. 53 patients after histologically confirmed prostatic intraepithelial neoplasias (PIN) of the 1st and the 2nd degree and BPH were reoperated, 23 of them were initially taken prostate biopsy due to cancer suspected, and 30 patients were performed diavesical adenomectomy and transurethral resection. Conclusion. Obligate prostate precancer is PIN of the 2nd degree. 1st degree neoplasias are malignization suspected in case of the increase of prostate-specific antigen level. Chronic inflammation (prostatitis) and severe prostatic fibrosis can also be considered as precancer processes. There was suggested patients management based on the analysis of histological changes in original surgeries and reoperations.


This paper outlines solutions for problems encountered due to scale deposits in Marcellus Shale wells, including approaches taken to remediate scale buildup. As wells in the Marcellus Shale produce over time, scale deposits in tubing form and have proven to be difficult to treat. These scale restrictions can cause well performance issues which limit options for artificial lift. Through sampling and lab analysis, the primary types of scale found are calcium carbonate and iron sulfide. After several years of evaluation, plunger lift equipment was unable to be installed in 25-30% of prospective wells due to scale buildup greater than tubing drift or 1.90″ in 2.375″ J-55 tubing.
 Calcium carbonate and iron sulfide scale tend to become very hard when they deposit on tubing walls and, as a result, they do not broach or scrape away easily. Throughout this remediation process, several types of broaches were trialed with minimal success. The most effective method for scale remediation was found to be hydrochloric acid (HCl), however, HCl introduces safety and operational concerns. From an operational perspective, the hydrostatic pressure exerted by a column of acid in the tubing can be difficult for an older well to unload. Volume and pressure calculations help prevent reservoir damage by not killing the well and corrosion inhibitors added to hydrochloric acid reduce risk of tubular degradation. The reaction between calcium carbonate and iron sulfide with HCl can produce an elevated amount of CO2 and H2S, respectively which are not present in normal operations. Additional safety measures taken in these operationally induced sour conditions are detailed in this paper.
 Through engineering efforts, along with computational fluid dynamics and field trials, several iterations of acid plungers designed specifically for scale remediation have been developed and successfully implemented. The role of the acid plunger is to provide temporary liquid holdup of the acid while simultaneously gauging the tubing walls as the acid column leaks by. The liquid holdup from the acid plunger provides sufficient contact time between the acid and scale buildup, especially in the vertical section of the well. The development of this process has resulted in the successful remediation of 62 wells to date. This includes using variations of this technique to free downhole tools stuck in scale. Additionally, there has not been reoccurring scaling deposits detected that would impede plunger lift operations.
 Further research for this project included trialing a corrosion-resistant stainless-steel slickline containing large amounts of nickel. This line, in conjunction with acid, provides additional versatility and more efficient means of scale removal. Future methods of scale remediation involve utilizing synthetic "green" acids and large volume lateral acid batches


Global covariance pooling (GCP) as an effective alternative to global average pooling has shown good capacity to improve deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in a variety of vision tasks. Although promising performance, it is still an open problem on how GCP (especially its post-normalization) works in deep learning. In this paper, we make the effort towards understanding the effect of GCP on deep learning from an optimization perspective. Specifically, we first analyze behavior of GCP with matrix power normalization on optimization loss and gradient computation of deep architectures. Our findings show that GCP can improve Lipschitzness of optimization loss and achieve flatter local minima, while improving gradient predictiveness and functioning as a special pre-conditioner on gradients. Then, we explore the effect of post-normalization on GCP from the model optimization perspective, which encourages us to propose a simple yet effective normalization, namely DropCov. Based on above findings, we point out several merits of deep GCP that have not been recognized previously or fully explored, including faster convergence, stronger model robustness and better generalization across tasks. Extensive experimental results using both CNNs and vision transformers on diversified vision tasks provide strong support to our findings while verifying the effectiveness of our method.


A bit-level pipelined 12 b*12 b two's complement multiplier with a 27 b accumulator has been designed and fabricated in 1.0 mu m p-well CMOS technology. A new quasi N-P domino logic structure has been adopted to increase the throughput rate, and special pipeline structures were used in the accumulator to reduce the total latency. The chip complexity is approximately 10000 transistors and the die area is 2.5 mm*3.7 mm. The measured maximum clock rate is 200 MHz (i.e. 200 million multiply-accumulate operations per second), and the power-speed ratio is 6.5 mW/MHz. A unique output buffer design was also adopted to achieve 200 MHz off-chip communication while maintaining full CMOS logic levels. >