As the United States' Army attempts to spiral future force technologies into the current force, realistic representations of network-centric warfare become a priority for modeling and simulation (M&S). Specifically, future communications systems will provide different performance and capabilities than current systems, and these new capabilities need to be represented by the Army's M&S. In order to enable realistic analysis, the new communications systems models will need to be loaded by realistic representations of traffic flows to ensure the accuracy of the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (C4ISR) analysis results. This paper will present a design approach and a series of algorithms to implement implicit traffic in the future combat systems (FCS) simulation environment (FSE). The paper will focus on a phased approach for the generation of implicit traffic that will realistically load the modeled communications networks as the level of explicit traffic within the simulation environment increases from a small percentage to a large percentage of overall traffic


For user convenience, processing of document images captured by a digital camera has been attracted much attention. However, most existing processing methods require an upright image such like captured by a scanner. Therefore, we have to cancel perspective distortion of a camera-captured image before processing. Although there are rectification methods of the distortion, most of them work under certain assumptions on the layout; the borders of a document are available, textlines are in parallel, a stereo camera or a video image is required and so on. In this paper, we propose a layout-free rectification method which requires none of the above assumptions. We confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method by experiments.


In this paper, we numerically demonstrate that an actively controllable electromagnetic induced transparency (EIT) behavior can be obtained in a hybrid terahertz metamaterial. A unit cell of the hybrid metamaterial consists of a metallic split-ring resonator surrounded by a concentric graphene close-ring resonator, serving as superradiant and subradiant modes, respectively. The EIT-like effect results from the destructive interference caused by strong near field coupling between superradiant and subradiant mode resonators. A classical two-particle model is employed to theoretically study EIT-like behavior in the hybrid metamaterial, and the analytic results agree excellently with our numerical results. More importantly, by tuning Fermi energy based on electrical doping, the hybrid metamaterial can realize switching, modulation, and slow-light capabilities. Therefore, these results would exhibit potential applications in light storage and compact devices.


OBJECTIVE
The authors examine the usefulness of population pharmacokinetics coupled with electronic compliance monitoring in evaluating consistency of exposure to pharmacotherapy. Adherence to pharmacotherapy can have a significant impact on drug response, especially in the treatment of schizophrenia and depression. Previous studies evaluating antipsychotics identified schizophrenic individuals with poor pharmacotherapy adherence as having a higher risk of rehospitalization. Other investigators have shown a relationship between pattern of taking selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and probability of a positive outcome. Therefore, it is important to measure adherence patterns in clinical trials evaluating these treatments and to incorporate this information into the research findings.

METHODS
Two multisite trials with atypical antipsychotics and antidepressants were simulated to evaluate, by use of population pharmacokinetic methods, the impact of electronic monitoring on measuring consistency of exposure to pharmacotherapy. One of the trials is ongoing and evaluates exposure to atypical antipsychotics, and the other is a proposed trial that examines exposure to an SSRI.

RESULTS
Erratic exposure patterns were detected with population pharmacokinetic techniques in the absence of Electronic Medication Event Monitoring (MEMS) data. In our simulations, the use of electronic monitoring improved the identification of atypical exposure by population pharmacokinetics both for the atypical antipsychotics and SSRIs.

CONCLUSION
Our simulations demonstrate the potential usefulness of the combination of population pharmacokinetics with electronic monitoring as a robust method for accurately and precisely capturing both magnitude and consistency of pharmacotherapy exposure.


This article aims to assess the current state of health and wellbeing in South Asia, identify the major challenges that are currently facing the region, and propose solutions for addressing these challenges and charting a path forward. The article begins by providing an overview of the current state of health and wellbeing in South Asia, highlighting the progress that has been made in recent years as well as the areas where progress has been slow. It then goes on to discuss the major challenges that are facing the region, such as inadequate healthcare infrastructure, lack of access to quality healthcare services, and high rates of maternal and child mortality. The article then proposes solutions for addressing these challenges, including increasing access to healthcare, improving maternal and child health, addressing non-communicable diseases, promoting universal access to sexual and reproductive health services and rights, strengthening health systems, increasing domestic resource allocation to health, and enhancing regional cooperation and coordination. Ultimately, this article serves as a call to action for policymakers, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of South Asia.


Fire disasters typically result in lot of loss to life and property. It is therefore imperative that precise, fast, and possibly portable solutions to detect fire be made readily available to the masses at reasonable prices. There have been several research attempts to design effective and appropriately priced fire detection systems with varying degrees of success. However, most of them demonstrate a trade-off between performance and model size (which decides the model's ability to be installed on portable devices). The work presented in this paper is an attempt to deal with both the performance and model size issues in one design. Toward that end, a `designed-from-scratch' neural network, named FireNet, is proposed which is worthy on both the counts: (i) it has better performance than existing counterparts, and (ii) it is lightweight enough to be deploy-able on embedded platforms like Raspberry Pi. Performance evaluations on a standard dataset, as well as our own newly introduced custom-compiled fire dataset, are extremely encouraging.


Infants, children and adolescents have specific needs reflected by their growth, activities and use of technology. We present their cognitive, emotional, physical, physiological, sensory, and social characteristics. Based on impacts on fundamental needs, we discuss dedicated systems exploiting wearable computers and the proper design of such systems. Our most significant contribution is to provide the first overview of young people's specific needs in wearable computing.


The subject of these proceedings was a nineteen year old severely mentally handicapped woman who had become pregnant, despite the close supervision of her mother and others. Her mother sought to have an abortion and sterilization performed since a psychiatrist found her daughter to have no comprehension of pregnancy and to be incapable of caring for a child. Unlike the case In re B (a Minor), the daughter had reached the age of majority and could not be made a ward of the court; thus there was no one to give consent to the operations. Nonetheless, the Court authorized the operations. It ruled that in exceptional cases when there was no one to consent and when a patient is suffering from a mental abnormality that prevents the giving of consent, a court can authorize operations consistent with good medical practice.


Research has included theoretical modeling of important plasma chemical effects such as: conductivity reductions due to condensed slag/electron interactions; conductivity and generator efficiency reductions due to the formation of slag-related negative ion species; and the loss of alkali seed due to chemical combination with condensed slag. A summary of the major conclusions in each of these areas is presented. A major output of the modeling effort has been the development of an MHD plasma chemistry core flow model. This model has been formulated into a computer program designated the PACKAGE code (Plasma Analysis, Chemical Kinetics, And Generator Efficiency). The PACKAGE code is designed to calculate the effect of coal rank, ash percentage, ash composition, air preheat temperatures, equivalence ratio, and various generator channel parameters on the overall efficiency of open-cycle, coal-fired MHD generators. A complete description of the PACKAGE code and a preliminary version of the PACKAGE user's manual are included. A laboratory measurements program involving direct, mass spectrometric sampling of the positive and negative ions formed in a one atmosphere coal combustion plasma was also completed during the contract's initial phase. The relative ion concentrations formed in a plasma due to the methane augmented combustion of pulverized Montana Rosebudmore » coal with potassium carbonate seed and preheated air are summarized. Positive ions measured include K/sup +/, KO/sup +/, Na/sup +/, Rb/sup +/, Cs/sup +/, and CsO/sup +/, while negative ions identified include PO/sub 3//sup -/, PO/sub 2//sup -/, BO/sub 2//sup -/, OH/sup -/, SH/sup -/, and probably HCrO/sub 3/, HMoO/sub 4//sup -/, and HWO/sub 3//sup -/. Comparison of the measurements with PACKAGE code predictions are presented. Preliminary design considerations for a mass spectrometric sampling probe capable of characterizing coal combustion plasmas from full scale combustors and flow trains are presented and discussed.« less


Objects likely to appear in a given real-world scene are frequently found to be easier to recognize. Two different sources of contextual information have been proposed as the basis for this effect: global scene background and individual companion objects. The present paper examines the relative importance of these two elements in explaining the context-sensitivity of object identification in full scenes. Specific sequences of object fixations were elicited during free scene exploration, while fixation times on designated target objects were recorded as a measure of ease of target identification. Episodic consistency between the target, the global scene background, and the object fixated just prior to the target (the prime), were manipulated orthogonally. Target fixation times were examined for effects of prime and background. Analyses show effects of both factors, which are modulated by the chronology and spatial extent of scene exploration. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for a model of visual object recognition in the context of real-world scenes.


Combined emission/absorption and reflection/transmission volume rendering is able to display poorly segmented structures from 3D medical image sequences. Visual cues such as shading and color let the user distinguish structures in the 3D display that are incompletely extracted by threshold segmentation. In order to be truly helpful, analyzed information needs to be quantified and transferred back into the data. We extend our previously presented scheme for such display be establishing a communication between visual analysis and the display process. The main tool is a selective 3D picking device. For being useful on a rather rough segmentation, the device itself and the display offer facilities for object selection. Selective intersection planes let the user discard information prior to choosing a tissue of interest. Subsequently, a picking is carried out on the 2D display by casting a ray into the volume. The picking device is made pre-selective using already existing segmentation information. Thus, objects can be picked that are visible behind semi-transparent surfaces of other structures. Information generated by a later connected- component analysis can then be integrated into the data. Data examination is continued on an improved display letting the user actively participate in the analysis process. Results of this display-and-interaction scheme proved to be very effective. The viewer's ability to extract relevant information form a complex scene is combined with the computer's ability to quantify this information. The approach introduces 3D computer graphics methods into user- guided image analysis creating an analysis-synthesis cycle for interactive 3D segmentation.


Purpose: The main aim of this article was to study the longitudinal correlation between the clinical, morphological appearance of filtering blebs with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) in the early postoperative period. Methods: Thirty eyes of 30 glaucoma patients scheduled for first-time trabeculectomy with 0.02% mitomycin-C were consecutively enrolled. The filtering blebs were evaluated clinically according to a grading system and with AS-OCT at day 1 and weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 12 following surgery. Bleb wall thickness (BWT) and bleb cavity height (BCH) were analyzed by means of horizontal and vertical AS-OCT scans. Results: Nineteen eyes (63%) had functioning blebs without any further surgical intervention. intraocular pressure changed from 18.4±1.3 mm Hg with preoperatively applied glaucoma medication to a mean of 9.75±1.4 mm Hg at all follow-ups postoperatively without medication. Mean BWT during follow-up was 575±47 &mgr;m; mean BCH was 295±72 &mgr;m. Nine filtering blebs (30%) showed encapsulation requiring a bleb needling. This was recognized clinically at week 3 in 4, and at week 4 in 5 cases. The tendency towards encapsulation was seen much earlier with AS-OCT, already showing a statistically thinner BWT (P=0.036) at week 1 and a higher BCH (P=0.005) at week 2 postsurgery, compared with the group with functioning blebs. As of week 3, intraocular pressure increased and was statistically significantly higher (P=0.016) compared with the group with functioning blebs. Two patients (7%) showed early scarring. Conclusion: AS-OCT allows an analysis of the clinically invisible deeper layers of the filtering bleb. Characteristics of encapsulation, like higher blebs with thinner bleb walls, are sooner recognized than the clinical appearance. This might benefit the management of the postoperative period after trabeculectomy and the long-term outcome.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging is a noninvasive technique, which is based on the phenomenon of NMR. The resonance frequencies of the nuclear spins can be made spatially dependent by introducing a magnetic-field gradient into the NMR experiment. The acquired NMR signal is thus spatially encoded and a spin-density image of the sample can be reconstructed.

While originally developed for medical applications, NMR imaging is now increasingly applied for materials investigations. The main advantages of the technique are its nondestructivity, which allows processes to be investigated in situ, and the possibility of introducing NMR spectroscopic information and relaxation contrast into the NMR images. The limitations, on the other hand, are the relatively low sensitivity and the broad NMR lines of polymers, both of which limit the spatial resolution. Whereas the latter can be dealt with by suitable methods, the sensitivity ultimately restricts the achievable spatial resolution of conventional NMR imaging techniques to about (10 µm)3. NMR imaging therefore must not be considered as a competitor of other microscopic techniques such as electron microscopy but as a characterization technique that provides supplementary information. Examples illustrating all these aspects are given in this article.


Collective states have been observed in inelastic deuteron scattering on a target of 226Ra. Spectra were measured at scattering angles of 90°, 125° and 140°. The reaction products were analyzed in a magnetic spectrograph and detected in photographic emulsions. The 2+ strength is found to be highly fragmented in 226Ra. The transition strengths deduced for the assigned 3− states at 320 and 1119 keV are compatible with both a vibrational and static octupole deformed model description for 226Ra.


Nanoparticles synthesis by miniemulsion polymerization produces materials that are not obtainable by means of other techniques such as conventional emulsion polymerization. The reason is that, in miniemulsion polymerization, particles are mainly formed by droplet nucleation (Asua, 2002). However, the high energy requirement for preparation of nanoemulsions by traditional methods (Mason et al., 2006; Solans et al., 2005) has precluded widespread use and commercialization.


Summary: We present the case of a 81-year-old patient with right facial palsy suffering from recurrent medial ectropion with lower lateral dislocation of the lacrimal punctum causing epiphora and photophobia. The patient was first treated for ectropion with lateral tarsal strip procedure. Unfortunately, this surgical procedure did not get the expected result. This was the reason we used the Mitek anchor system to fix the lower lateral dislocation of the punctum. We had no recurrence of symptoms during a follow-up period of 18 months.


We report the successful operation of a superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) finline mixer operating near the superconducting energy gap of Nb. The mixer employs a new type of Pickett-Potter horn-reflector (PPHR) antenna, which exhibits low sidelobes and low cross-polarization levels, and yet is easy to fabricate. The SIS tunnel junction and all of the integrated superconducting tuning circuits are fabricated from Nb using planar-circuit technology. The mixer employs an antipodal finline section, deposited on one side of a quartz substrate, which transforms the high impedance of the waveguide (/spl ap/300 /spl Omega/) to the low impedance of the microstrip line (/spl ap/20 /spl Omega/). The Nb/Al-oxide/Nb tunnel junction is fabricated at the same time as the finline circuit. In this paper, we describe the design and testing of the mixer, and pay particular attention to the electromagnetic design of the PPHR antenna. We investigate the noise temperature and gain of the mixer over 642-714 GHz, and analyze the experimental results using rigorous theories that were developed specifically for the purpose. Our investigation demonstrates that finline mixers have good performance both below and above the superconducting energy gap.


By making a distinction between public and private preferences, the paper presents a dual preference model depicting possible responses (i.e., exit, sincere voice and self-subversion) to social pressures from two opposing pressure groups. Exit is deserting the setting; sincere voice is publicly expressing dissatisfaction and self-subversion is the misrepresentation of one's private preference under social pressures. Exit and sincere voice involve prohibitive costs, making self-subversion the superior option. Massive self-subversion polarizes the society, harboring multiple social equilibria with oscillating public opinion. In an effort to dominate the public discourse, each rival pressure group opts for favorable corner equilibrium. The paper applies the dual preference model to Turkey where two kinds of selfsubversion appear in response to competing Islamist and secularist social projects. Islamist pressures lead to pro-Islamist self-subversion, and secularist pressures to pro-secularist self-subversion, resulting in the polarization of the Turkish public opinion along Islamists vs. Secularists. Three field experiments with 450 respondents provide empirical support for the model's conclusions. The paper ends with the discussion of the model's implications for new social equilibrium(s). JEL: D58, D70, D72, D79, D82, Z12


This paper proposes a blind channel estimation scheme for long code DS-CDMA systems with multipath fading channel. The Toeplitz displacement method is used to remove the effects of channel noise and interferences before the correlation matching approach is adopted to estimate the channel parameters. Simulation results show that the proposed method has better MSE performance and more robust against the near-far problem.


Economical regional orient has been investigated with considering an economical process forming and organization by the modern period. The role of leading link in this process is played by reproductive structures – regions – but not by industrial ones – enterprises. The very non-commercial structures are leading link in economic sustainable development. Regional orientaleconomical system is an element of state, macro regional and global economic spaces that has distinctly expressed hierarchical structure. The development of regional oriental economical system corresponds to cyclic law and undergoes to various influences. The supply of competitiveness of regions influenced by global tendencies supplying oriental unity, sustainability and management is the main challenge in oriental regional development. KEYWORDS


MRI-guided laser-interstitial thermal therapy (MRgLITT) is a minimally invasive therapeutic method in neurosurgery. Accelerating the data acquisition of thermometry for MRgLITT treatment is crucial in achieving high temporal-spatial resolution and large volume coverage. In this work, we suggest using the convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN) to achieve real-time reconstruction for accelerated temperature mapping, because CRNN is capable of utilizing the temporal correlations of dynamic data to resolve aliasing artifacts. Results demonstrate that 6-fold acceleration can be achieved in MRgLITT treatment using CRNN with clinically acceptable reconstruction time and temperature measurement errors.


With the increasing scale of the network, the power information system has many characteristics, such as large number of nodes, complicated structure, diverse network protocols and abundant data, which make the network intrusion detection system difficult to detect real alarms. The current security technologies cannot meet the actual power system network security operation and protection requirements. Based on the attacker ability, the vulnerability information and the existing security protection configuration, we construct the attack sub-graphs by using the parallel distributed computing method and combine them into the whole network attack graph. The vulnerability exploit degree, attacker knowledge, attack proficiency, attacker willingness and the confidence level of the attack evidence are used to construct the security evaluation index system of the power information network system to calculate the attack probability value of each node of the attack graph. According to the probability of occurrence of each node attack, the pre-order attack path will be formed and then the most likely attack path and attack targets will be got to achieve the identification of attack intent.


Gears are critical machine elements that transmit power and motion in diverse implementation fields. Over time, gears may produce a series of faults due to harsh operating conditions, fatigue, manufacturing errors, etc., leading to severe performance degradation. During the meshing process, the stiffness of a single tooth controls the load sharing, vibration, and noise characteristics of a geared system. An undetected fault could decrease the gear stiffness and thus may lead to a fatal breakdown, substantial economic losses, or even human casualties in safety-critical applications such as helicopters, high-speed trains, and wind turbines. Hence, the accurate quantification of the gear stiffness emerges as an important research area to obtain reliable gear designs. With this in mind, the asymmetric tooth concept offers superior bending strength, fatigue propagation life, and the ability to lessen vibration over the standard (symmetric) designs in applications where unidirectional loadings are predominant. This study investigates the influence of tooth root cracks on the single-tooth and meshing stiffness characteristics of the standard and asymmetric involute spur gears. To this end, the numerical crack propagation paths obtained in our previous works were introduced to the created 3D CAD geometries. Subsequently, the single tooth stiffness of both healthy and cracked (2 5%-50%-75%-100%) gears was calculated through the ANSYS® Workbench, and the time-varying mesh stiffness was obtained. The present study evaluated the effects of backup ratio and the tooth asymmetry on the spur gears' meshing stiffness characteristics simultaneously and further expanded the scope of the research work. The results indicated that the single tooth stiffness and mesh stiffness could be improved by 35% and 22%, respectively, as the drive side pressure angle increased from 20° to 35°. It has been noted that the gear stiffness decreased as the crack level increased, while the increment of the backup ratio further increased the reduction in the stiffness. The findings could provide significant outputs for a better understanding of the influence of tooth asymmetry on the gear dynamics characteristics, life prediction, and early fault diagnosis.


Background Imaging of gliomas remains challenging. The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility of using 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT for imaging gliomas. Methods Fifteen patients with glioma from 2 centers were included in the study. Ten patients were treated cases of glioblastoma with suspected recurrence. Two patients were sent for assessing the nature (primary lesion/metastasis) of space-occupying lesion in the brain; 3 patients were imaged immediately after surgery and before radiotherapy. Target-to-background ratios (TBR) for the brain lesions were calculated using contralateral cerebellar uptake as background. Results Among the 10 cases with suspected recurrence, scan was positive in 9, subsequent surgery was done, and histopathology proved it to be true recurrence. In the scan-negative case on follow-up, no evidence of disease could be made clinically or radiologically. Among the other cases the presence or absence of disease could be unequivocally identified on the 68Ga-PSMA-11 brain scan and correlated with the histopathology or other imaging. Apart from the visual assessment quantitative assessment of the lesions with TBR also showed a significantly high TBR value for those with true disease compared with those with no disease. Conclusions In the evaluation of gliomas, 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT brain imaging is a potentially useful imaging tool. The use of 68Ga-PSMA-11 brain PET/CT in evaluation of recurrent glioma seems promising. Absence of physiological uptake of 68Ga-PSMA-11 in the normal brain parenchyma results in high TBR values and consequently better visualization of glioma lesions.


Disparities exist in the health, livelihood, and opportunities for the 46-60 million people living in America's rural communities. Rural communities across the United States need a new energy and focus concentrated around health and health care that allows for the designing capturing, and spreading of existing and new innovations. This paper aims to provide a framework for policy solutions to build a healthier rural America describing both the current state of rural health policy and the policies and practices in states that could be used as a national model for positive change.


This study aimed to develop an expository writing text module with an expository genre approach. The study used the 4D research and development method by Thiagarajan. The stages of this research method arecarried out at the stage of defining, designing, and developing without conducting the dissemination stage. The data consisted of primary and secondary data. The secondary data were taken from articles from relevant previous studies, and books. While the primary data are taken directly from expertsin the formo fan assessment of teaching material products. The study used the documentation techniques. The study used questionnaire to collect data. Then the collected data will be analyzed byusing the data analysis technique of Miles and Huberman. Through the assessmen to material experts, the resulting module received a final score of 3.88 as very validcriteria, and the overall average score of the product design assessment by design experts was 3.67 as very valid criteria. Based on these results, it is concluded that the prototype of the explanatory text writing module with visual media developed is valid and feasible to be tested for the next stage, namely the dissemination stage.


A high-Tc superconducting (HTS) magnetic levitation (Maglev) system consisted of bulk superconductors and T-shaped permanent magnet single-guideway is investigated for HTS Maglev vehicle. Using finite-element analysis method, magnetic field distribution and characteristics of T-shaped permanent magnetic guideway (PMG) are analysed. The results show that T-shaped PMG produces not only a strong periodic magnetic profile in its upper space but also a strong symmetrical magnetic field in its lateral spaces. Moreover, the proposed T-shaped PMG is evaluated for whether it has good performance as a non-contact guideway for this system. The results show that the system with T-shaped PMG can generate large guidance force and good stability which are helpful for the further HTS Maglev vehicle.


Background: Recurrent deletions and duplications of chromosome 7q11.23 copy number variants (CNVs) are associated with several psychiatric disorders. Previous works showed GTF2I associated with Williams-Beuren syndrome, but pathways affected by GTF2I are poorly defined. Although phenotypic abnormalities have been observed in patients and animal models, the targeted human brain regions, developmental stages, protein networks, and signaling pathways, influenced by this CNV remain unclear. Results: Topological changes were observed in protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks throughout different stages of brain development. Early and late fetal periods of development in the cortex, striatum, hippocampus, and amygdale were observed as the vital periods and regions for 7q11.23 CNV proteins. As a driver gene, GTF2I interacted with PRKDC and BRCA1 to involve in DNA Damaging Response (DDR) pathway. The physical interaction between GTF2I with PRKDC was confirmed experimentally by the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Conclusion: We identified that striatum, hippocampus, and amygdala are crucial regions for establishing connectivity between 7q11.23 proteins and their partners in early and late fetal periods. Our results suggested that GTF2I-PRKDC-DDR and GTF2I-BRCA1-DDR pathway is crucial for the 7q11.23 CNV genes to contribute to the pathogenesis of psychiatric diseases.


Firefighting protective clothing is designed to provide thermal protection for firefighters in fire extinguishing or rescuing operations. However, fabric deformation and stretching due to body movement and different postures could change the clothing's thermal protective performance. Current gaps in our knowledge with regard to fabric deformation often resulted in biased predictions of the thermal protective level that personal protective equipment (PPE) can provide, highlighting the need to improve our understanding in this field. In this study, we developed a device that can be connected to a cylindrical copper calorimeter to simulate fabric deformation due to body movement and different postures and simultaneously measure the fabric's thermal properties. Stretching forces of varying magnitudes (of 0, 1.2, 2.1, and 3.1 psi) were applied to study the effect of fabric deformation on the thermal protective performance of clothing under lowand high-intensity heat exposures. In addition, we analyzed skin burn times with different stretching forces and fabric properties. The selected fabrics were stretched by approximately 15 % under a stretching force of 3.1 psi. Fabric deformation led to a significant reduction of the predicted thermal protective performance of fabrics, mainly due to changes in fabric thickness, porosity, and mass per unit area. Predicted skin burn times decreased for increasing stretching forces, although the decrease was less pronounced under high-intensity heat exposure as a result of fabric shrinkage and degradation. The findings from this study further advance our current understanding of the thermal protective performance of clothing and may lead to the development of a new test to characterize clothing performance under more realistic usage situations.


The clothing industry is one of the most competitive and highly value-added sectors in the world; however, in recent years the industry has suffered difficult times. Logistics is a very important strategy to gain competitive advantages like time, cost and customer satisfaction. This paper presents logistics as a strategic solution and investigates important problems as well as necessary solutions according to the needs of the Turkish clothing industry. In the first section of the article, a profile of the clothing industry in Turkey and the world is presented. Then the situation of the logistics sector in Turkey and the world is explained. Finally, an evaluation of logistics as a global strategy in the clothing industry is presented. A profile of the clothing industry in Turkey and the World


This paper discusses the progress of work to model high-speed supersonic reacting flow. The purpose of the work is to improve the state of the art of CFD capabilities for predicting the flow in high-speed propulsion systems, particularly combustor flowpaths. The program has several components including the development of advanced algorithms and models for simulating engine flowpaths as well as a fundamental experimental and diagnostic development effort to support the formulation and validation of the mathematical models. The paper will provide details of current work on experiments that will provide data for the modeling efforts along with the associated nonintrusive diagnostics used to collect the data from the experimental flowfield. Simulation of a recent experiment to partially validate the accuracy of a combustion code is also described.


Many ruptures across many scales The period of seismic quiescence in Southern California was rudely interrupted by the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence in July 2019. Ross et al. mapped the slip sequences during the magnitude 6.4 and 7.1 earthquakes that shook the region. They found that ruptures of a few larger, but many smaller, faults occurred during both earthquakes. The Ridgecrest sequence calls for rethinking seismic hazard, as multifault ruptures are not usually considered when assessing seismic risk. Science, this issue p. 346 The Ridgecrest sequence involved rupturing of multiple sets of faults in Southern California. A nearly 20-year hiatus in major seismic activity in southern California ended on 4 July 2019 with a sequence of intersecting earthquakes near the city of Ridgecrest, California. This sequence included a foreshock with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 6.4 followed by a Mw 7.1 mainshock nearly 34 hours later. Geodetic, seismic, and seismicity data provided an integrative view of this sequence, which ruptured an unmapped multiscale network of interlaced orthogonal faults. This complex fault geometry persists over the entire seismogenic depth range. The rupture of the mainshock terminated only a few kilometers from the major regional Garlock fault, triggering shallow creep and a substantial earthquake swarm. The repeated occurrence of multifault ruptures, as revealed by modern instrumentation and analysis techniques, poses a formidable challenge in quantifying regional seismic hazards.


Speculative prefetching has been proposed to improve the response time of network access. Previous studies in speculative prefetching focus on building and evaluating access models for the purpose of access prediction. This paper investigates a complementary area which has been largely ignored, that of performance modeling. We analyze the performance of a prefetcher that has uncertain knowledge about future accesses. Our performance metric is the improvement in access time, for which we derive a formula in terms of resource parameters (time available and time required for prefetching) and speculative parameters (probabilities for next access). We develop a prefetch algorithm to maximize the improvement in access time. The algorithm is based on finding the best solution to a stretch knapsack problem, using theoretically proven apparatus to reduce the search space. An integration between speculative prefetching and caching is also investigated.


The overall aim of the article is to unpack some of the layers of motivation that inform and shape the relationship between technology and education. This aim is motivated by the need for a more nuanced perspective on the complex relationship between technology and education. The discussion of technology and education would be utilised as springboard to provide a platform for elaborating on the complex nature of technology as medium, its broader impact on society and the kind of life it creates. The article names a few of the external and internal imperatives for the integration of technology into education. The first part of the title refers to the name of a film about an unmanned, runaway train with serious consequences for the environment and humanity at large. The idea is to relate the pervasive, self-enforcing nature and role of technology with the theme of the film, a force that seems to be unstoppable. It is argued that the integration of technology into education cannot be reflected in isolation from an understanding of the complex nature of technology and the broader functioning of technology in other spheres of life. The socio-economic embeddedness of technology is unpacked by discussing the mediatisation theory, technological development as a revolution and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The final section describes the need for and possible processes to sharpen the focus on ethics in digital age.


For macroeconomic, the prosperity of the stock market has promoted the reasonable allocation of social resources and broaden the financing channels. For personal, the stock has provided investors with an excellent investment management approach. However, the investment of stock is the opportunity to achieve high returns with great investment risks. And how to avoid the disadvantages become the most concerned topics of broad investor. Based on company intrinsic value, the paper expounds the influence to share price according to company financial fundamentals. Using machine learning theory, this paper built a stock investment decision tree model through the ID3 algorithm. It can provide decision support for future investment through analysis current financial of the company and market situation.


VHDL is a programming language used for describing the behaviour and structure of large hardware systems. Due to the prohibitive cost of silicon fabrication, any code written in VHDL needs to be extensively simulated before synthesis. However, the simulation time can be extremely long because of the complexity of these designs. Parallel simulation can be used to speed up simulation run time (Meister, 1996)., and is particularly effective when simulations are demanding in terms of processing time. A new Time Warp distributed VHDL simulator has been developed using Jini, a Java and RMI-based API created for the development of distributed applications.


Vitamin A and beta-carotene concentrations in serum, liver and blubber fat were investigated in 65 grey seals of different age and sex in the pupping colony on Sable Island, Canada to determine the vitamin A status. In none of the investigated samples could beta-carotene be detected. There were no differences in the concentration of vitamin A in serum, liver and blubber between male (213 micrograms/l, 376 micrograms/g, 22 micrograms/g respectively) and female (205 micrograms/l, 319 micrograms/g, 19 micrograms/g respectively) juveniles. In adult males concentrations of vitamin A in serum, liver and blubber were higher (260 micrograms/l, 503 micrograms/g, 34 micrograms/g respectively) than in juveniles indicating an age dependent increase of vitamin A in liver and blubber. Contrary to this in lactating females concentrations of vitamin A in serum, liver and blubber were significantly different than in the other animals. While the level of vitamin A in serum and blubber was two times higher with 413 micrograms/1 and 62 micrograms/g respectively, the concentration of vitamin A in liver was much lower (265 micrograms/g) compared to juveniles and adult males. It is possible that the intensified lipid metabolism during lactation, necessary to match the energy requirements of the rapidly growing pup, causes these extreme differences in vitamin A concentrations in serum, liver and blubber of lactating females compared to juveniles and adult males. Due to high concentration of vitamin A in blubber and the high proportion in blubber to total body weight, the blubber represents approximately 40% of total body reserves of vitamin A.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: A phase I trial of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in combination with systemic pembrolizumab was conducted in patients with high grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer who had persistent or recurrent disease after failing treatment with at least 2 courses of intravesical therapy (one of which had to contain BCG) or BCG followed by maintenance BCG. The primary objective was to determine the safety of this combination. Secondary end points included response to treatment at 19 weeks (end of treatment) and 3 months post treatment. METHODS: A total of 12 patients were consented and 10 patients with recurrent/persistent high-grade non-muscle invasive bladder cancer after at least two courses of intravesical therapy or one course of BCG treatment followed by one course of maintenance BCG received treatment. Six doses of pembrolizumab (100 vs 200 mg) were given every 3 weeks over 16 weeks given concurrently with 6 weekly doses of BCG beginning at week 7. Patient safety was evaluated during and for 30 days following pembrolizumab treatment. Preliminary combination efficacy was determined at 19 weeks using cystoscopy. Bladder biopsy was performed in patients with suspicious lesions. RESULTS: The combination of BCG and pembrolizumab was well tolerated at both 100mg and 200mg fixed doses. Fatigue and dysuria, spasm, urgency, sensitivity, and frequency were the most common adverse events reported. All AE were grade 1 or 2. Two patients died during the trial period. One patient died due to progression of upper urinary tract urethelial carcinoma. The second patient died after cystectomy (for progressive disease) from a cardiovascular event. Of the first 9 patients, 7 (78%) had no evidence of disease in the bladder at 19 weeks, end of treatment. The tenth patient is still in treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of BCG and Pembrolizumab was well tolerated. Intravesical BCG and pembrolizumab may have clinical activity in non-muscle invasive bladder cancer recurring after repeated intravesical therapy. A phase III trial will soon open to test the clinical activity of this combination (KEYNOTE-676). Source of Funding: MERCK & CO


Small air driven alternators serve as a practical solution to be a power source for miniature electronic equipment. An air-breathing radial outflow turbine can be easily manufactured and implemented to a variety of terrestrial and aerial vehicles for auxiliary power generation. The flow characteristics of such turbines need to be understood in order to maximize the power output with a compact design. The present study aims to document a numerical optimization strategy to improve the performance characteristics of small radial outflow turbines. The geometry is parametrized such a way that it allows automatized geometry and grid generation depending on the decided geometrical variables. The optimization was then performed with in house tool of VKI. The optimum design provided 33% higher power output than the initial design at the same rotational speed and mass flow rate. The final turbine geometry is without the hub gap and has smaller and higher blades.


This report summarizes the results of a Small Business Innovative Research Phase II project to develop a modular, surface conforming respirator monitor to improve upon the manual survey techniques presently used by the nuclear industry. Research was performed with plastic scintillator and gas proportional modules in an effort to find the most conducive geometry for a surface conformal, position sensitive monitor. The respirator monitor prototype developed is a computer controlled, position-sensitive detection system employing 56 modular proportional counters mounted in molds conforming to the inner and outer surfaces of a commonly used respirator (Scott Model 801450-40). The molds are housed in separate enclosures and hinged to create a {open_quotes}waffle-iron{close_quotes} effect so that the closed monitor will simultaneously survey both surfaces of the respirator. The proportional counter prototype was also designed to incorporate Shonka Research Associates previously developed charge-division electronics. This research provided valuable experience into pixellated position sensitive detection systems. The technology developed can be adapted to other monitoring applications where there is a need for deployment of many traditional radiation detectors.


150 autopsies with multiple meyeloma were analysed. In about one third of the cases the multiple myeloma was diagnosed only at autopsy. Two thirds of the carriers of multiple myeloma were between 60 and 70 years old when they deceased. The osseous foci of multiple myeloma extended predominantly to the central parts of the skeletal system. In 120 patients the multiple myeloma was the cause of death. In half of these cases infections, particularly of the lung, had caused death. The second frequent cause of death was uraemia. 63 of the 150 multiple myeloma have been immunologically classified. The cases in question are 10 IgA-, 2 IgD-, and 42 IgG-multiple myeloma. Extraosseous foci of multiple myeloma appeared significantly more frequent in IgA-than in IgG-multiple myeloma. A haemorrhagic diathesis existed more frequent in IgA-multiple myeloma. Venous thromboses were more frequently to be found in IgG-multiple myeloma. Amyloid deposits and changes of the kidneys characteristic for the multiple myeloma appeared nearly in the same frequency in both types of multiple myeloma.


The subsurface of the western Gulf of Mexico is a complex geological environment that has been evoking recent strong interest from the petroleum industry. In an effort to image deeper structures, and to better understand the geological setting, long offset seismic and marine gravity data have recently been acquired throughout this area for the period mid 2003 to present. In the seismic processing of the initially acquired lines, 2 dimensional gravity data was used to improve seismic modeling and imaging of salt. This proved to be valuable in the Pre-Stack Depth Migration phase of processing, so that when a network of seismic and gravity lines had been acquired a 3 dimensional earth model was created for the area of interest. Thus such a model was used in assessing 3 dimensional shapes - particularly salt. The complex nature of this area encompasses sutured salt canopies, hidden salt roots and evacuated/welded basins. The ability to model these features using gravity, in both a forward modeling and inversion mode, prior to the Pre-Stack Depth Migration process saves valuable time and money in the seismic processing sequence. Insight is also gained into deeper features such as basement structure and crustal composition. Throughout the 3 dimensional modeling and the 2 dimensional seismic interpretation phases, geophysicists working on the project had access to both gravity and seismic data. Integration and interaction throughout the process was crucial in obtaining a better understanding of the Western Gulf.


Typical accretion disks around massive protostars are hot enough for water ice to sublimate. We here propose to utilize the massive protostellar disks for investigating the collisional evolution of silicate grains with no ice mantle, which is an essential process for the formation of rocky planetesimals in protoplanetary disks around lower-mass stars. We, for the first time, develop a model of massive protostellar disks that includes the coagulation, fragmentation, and radial drift of dust. We show that the maximum grain size in the disks is limited by collisional fragmentation rather than by radial drift. We derive analytic formulae that produce the radial distribution of the maximum grain size and dust surface density in the steady state. Applying the analytic formulae to the massive protostellar disk of GGD27-MM1, where the grain size is constrained from a millimeter polarimetric observation, we infer that the silicate grains in this disk fragment at collision velocities above ≈10 m s−1. The inferred fragmentation threshold velocity is lower than the maximum grain collision velocity in typical protoplanetary disks around low-mass stars, implying that coagulation alone may not lead to the formation of rocky planetesimals in those disks. With future measurements of grain sizes in massive protostellar disks, our model will provide more robust constraints on the sticking property of silicate grains.


Local knowledge of the Dayak Ngaju community in Gunung Mas regency, Central Kalimantan there were believed that many species of plants, animals and their surroundings can be used as an indicator of a particular environtment. The local people experience is one example of local knowledge which needs to be studied scientifically through ethnobiology. Study of ethnobiology was confined to the local community's knowledge about the medicinal plants (ethnobotany), local community knowledge about the utilization of existed nearby animals (ethnozoology) and knowledge of the local community in ecosystems around their living quarters (ethnoecology). Afterwards these studies was arranged into biology practical work material. The purposes of the study are (1) to study the ethnobiology of local knowledge of Dayak Ngaju communities in Gunung Mas regency, (2) to inventory and identify several species that are used in foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, industry and utilization of the environment for the practical work in high school. Research activities consists of two phases, the first phase is the study of ethnobiological research by using qualitative approaches. Data was collected after observation and in-depth interviews. The second phase is the development of research by using Hannafin and Peck development model. The results showed that the Dayak Ngaju in Gunung Mas have local knowledge about the uses of plants, animals and their environment for food, industrial materials, pharmaceuticals and mining. This should be well documented and to be taught to the next generations to avoid the extinction of local knowledges. Integrating the material ethnobiology into learning biology is one of the best ways to deliver local knowledge in formal education. It was suggested to teach ethnobiology in biology practical work, especially in high school who have forest environment as characteristic of their territory since ethnobiological material was very important.


The authors propose a visual environment for system design and prototyping with emphasis on human factors. Such environments comprise: (1) visual description of system specifications; (2) visual verification of system specifications; and (3) visual methodology for system design. The authors have developed a system sequence design method, SSDESIGN, reflecting these three factors. The features of SSDESIGN are explained in the context of these three factors.<<ETX>>


Zirconia and its application in dentistry
Zirconia is a ceramic material with high mechanical properties . This material is similar to metal in strength and is similar to tooth in color. it is a biocompatible material and resist against crack propagation due to its special crystalin form. because of its strength we can use it in posterior bridges. it has other application in dentistry such as dental implants, implant abutments, anterior and posterior crown, bridge frameworks and posts…. In this study we review some of the applications and characteristics , advantages and limitations of this material.
 Method: electronic search from scholar google and science direct data base was performed.
Conclusion : however zirconia appears successful in clinical studies , but there is some difficulties and limitations such as veneer pocelain chipping and opacity of this material . longterm clinical evaluations may be helpful to determine the clinical benefits and difficulties.


Background: The early oral feeding after the laparoscopic total gastrectomy contributes to the enhanced treatment efficiency and improved quality of life of gastric cancer patients. To evaluate the efficiency of early oral feeding after laparoscopic total gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients at the Nghe An General Friendship Hospital.
Methods: A retrospective observational study, performed in patients who underwent laparoscopic total gastrectomy from 2014 to 2020.
Results: 126 patients were recruited. The mean age was 60.6 ± 11.1 years. The male/female ratio was 2.8/1. 15.9% of patients had the tumor at the one-third upper stomach, 81.7% at the middle of the stomach. 70.6% of patients contracted adenocarcinoma and ductal carcinoma, 24.6% of patients had ring cell carcinoma. The percent of tumor at stages I, II, III were respectively 19.0%, 49.2%, 31.7%. There were 71.4% of cases underwent laparoscopic total gastrectomy and were made the anastomosis by linear staplers. No case presented complications relating to the anastomosis after the surgery. The mean oral feeding time was 4.4 ± 1.9 (2 – 8 days), 27.8% of cases started at the second postoperative date, 8.7% of cases at the third postoperative date, 29.4% of cases from the fourth and fifth date, and 34.1% of cases started from the sixth date and further. The later the oral feeding time was, the slower recovery of the peristalsis was and vice versa (p 0.05). The more early the feeding time was, the shorter duration of antibiotic therapy observed and vice versa (p < 0.05). The more early the feeding time was, the short duration of hospital stay was and vice versa (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The early oral feeding after laparoscopic total gastrectomy was safe and contributed to improving the efficiency of the treatment, the quality of life in gastric cancer patients.
Keywords: Early oral feeding, gastric cancer.


A 71-year-old man developed general fatigue, appetite loss, and headache. Two months later, he noticed diplopia. Examination demonstrated reduced visual acuity and complete ophthalmoplegia of the left eye. Brain MRI disclosed a mass that extended from bilateral cavernous sinus to the clivus. There were left cervical lymphadenopathy and a right abdominal mass. A needle biopsy of the abdominal mass revealed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Although malignant lymphoma at the cavernous sinus is not common, it should be an important consideration in the differential diagnosis of mass at the cavernous sinus.


GLOBAL CONSERVATION STATUS OF CROAKER AND DRUM (FAMILY: SCIAENIDAE) AND THE ROLE OF THE MAW TRADE Claire E. Gorman Old Dominion University, 2020 Director: Dr. Kent E. Carpenter Understanding threats and drivers of extinction risk is critical to conserving marine biodiversity. Although marine bony fishes are some of the most diverse and abundant vertebrates in the world, overexploitation is the major threat to these taxa. Species in the family Sciaenidae are important marine resources in many parts of the world, supporting smalland large-scale fisheries for consumption and the international maw (dried swimbladder) trade. Sciaenids exhibit a diverse array of life history characteristics, such as high fecundity, large body size, formation of spawning aggregations, and longevity. Some characteristics increase their susceptibility to anthropogenic stressors. Despite being ecologically and economically important, data regarding species' population status and ecology are limited. In this study, I evaluated extinction risk for the 286 valid sciaenid species using the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List methodology and explored impacts of the maw trade. About 10% of sciaenids overall are of elevated concern (EC). The majority were assessed as Least Concern, but data were insufficient to assign an appropriate Red List category for over 25% of species. Compared to non-maw trade species, those used in the trade have a larger proportion of EC species. Overexploitation was the major threat overall, impacting over 150 species. These results highlight the urgent need for additional research into the maw trade, specifically composition of species, status of Data Deficient species, and price data for maw products. This study completes the first comprehensive analysis of the conservation status of Sciaenidae and provides a foundation for future research


A mother with her 11 month old daughter attends the surgery. The child has gastroenteritis and is mildly dehydrated. Mum has been starving the child the past 24 hours as "everything comes back up". She has read this and also that milk feeds should be avoided, in her health manual at home. Having read a paper once on continuous milk feeding as opposed …


Abstract—Barium hexaferrite is a magnetic material that has been widely used in various applications as it is relatively more stable than other magnetic materials. Several previous efforts attempted to increase the magnetic properties of barium hexaferrite. In this report, barium hexaferrite was successfully substituted by Mn for Ba(Fe 1-x Mn x ) 12 O 19 via solid state reaction, where x was 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5. BaCO 3 , MnO 2, and Fe 2 O 3 precursors were stoichiometrically mixed on the basis of mass composition, and the mixture was milled for 24 h using a wet ball milling technique. The milled precursor was dried for 24 h in a 100°C oven and calcined at 1200°C for 2 h. The samples were characterized by XRD for their phase identification where the new phase barium hexaferrite, manganite oxide, and manganese ferrite was formed and no trace of the origin precursor phases were observed. For characterization of the magnetic properties, the samples were crushed and filtered prior to pressing up to 5 MPa under a magnetic field condition. The pressed samples were varied under different sintering temperatures of 1050, 1100, and 1150°C before further characterization by a phermagraph, a magnetization characteristic instrument. Based on the investigation, the remanence decreased to 0.025 T when the Mn concentration was increased to x = 0.5. The Mn atoms replaced Fe, resulting in an increase in the magnetic moment. Keywords — Barium hexaferrite substituted Mn, Solid State reaction, XRD Characterization, Magnetic Characterization


Abstract Background  Probiotics are often viewed as an immunity enhancing agent. The objective of this study was to investigate whether oral administration of Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 reduces the number of infections, their duration, and severity in the first 24 months after parturition in healthy neonates. Subjects and methods  This prospective, confirmatory, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolled 567 healthy neonates from four German and two Polish sites. Neonates received 10e8 viable E. coli Nissle (n=283) or placebo (n=284) daily in the first week and every second day in week 2 and 3. After 6 and 12 months, the subjects received additional instillations on ten subsequent days. The overall efficacy was assessed by the number of infections per observation period. Results  Incidence rates of infection, infection duration and severity showed no statistically significant difference between groups after 24 months. Post-hoc analyses, however, revealed a short-term benefit of E. coli Nissle four weeks after treatment start which became less pronounced after eight weeks. E. coli Nissle was safe and well tolerated. Conclusions  A long-term effect after colonising the healthy neonate´s gut with E. coli Nissle to protect against infections could not be shown. Additional studies are needed to confirm a transitory, yet clinically significant role of probiotics in the first four weeks after parturition.


The diffusion based distributed learning approaches have been found to be a viable solution for learning over linearly separable datasets over a network. However, approaches till date are suitable for linearly separable datasets and need to be extended to scenarios in which we need to learn a non-linearity. In such scenarios, the recently proposed diffusion kernel least mean squares (KLMS) has been found to be performing better than diffusion least mean squares (LMS). The drawback of diffusion KLMS is that it requires infinite storage for observations (also called dictionary). This paper formulates the diffusion KLMS in a fixed budget setting such that the storage requirement is curtailed while maintaining appreciable performance in terms of convergence. Simulations have been carried out to validate the two newly proposed algorithms named as quantised diffusion KLMS (QDKLMS) and fixed budget diffusion KLMS (FBDKLMS) against KLMS, which indicate that both the proposed algorithms deliver better performance as compared to the KLMS while reducing the dictionary size storage requirement.


The present research was aimed to investigate the relationship between critical thinking and reading comprehension ability among EFL learners at Payame Noor University (PNU) of Rasht. For this purpose, 125 PNU students were selected by employing Cambridge English Language Assessment Test as the sample of this research. Then Lauren Starkey Critical Thinking Test (2010) including 30-multiple choice item was conducted to the participants to distinguish critical and uncritical learners. Significant correlation found between these two major variables through employing Spearman Non-Parametric Correlation Coefficient. The findings of the current study can have theoretical and practical implications for improving EFL learners' ability in reading comprehension.


Sinusitis is an inflammation of the sinus wall, a small cavity interconnected through the airways in the skull bones. It is located on the back of the forehead, inside the cheek bone structure, on both sides of the nose, and behind the eyes. Chronic sinusitis is caused by infection, growth of nasal polyps, or irregularities of the nasal septum. This condition can affect teenagers, adults, and even children. To classify sinusitis we use Kernel Based Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) Clustering Algorithm, which is the development of Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) Algorithm. FCM is one of the widely used clustering technique. FCM algorithm comprises of sample points used to make whole and sub vector spaces according to the size of the distance. However, when non-linear data is separated, the convergence is inaccurate and slow. To overcome this problem, a Kernel-Based Fuzzy C-Means algorithm that makes use of kernel functions as a substitute for Euclidean distance utilized. It maps out samples to high-dimensional space to increase the differences between cluster centres, so they can overcome FCM deficiencies and improve linear machine capabilities. Data was obtained from the laboratory of Radiology at Cipto Mangunkusumo National General Hospital, Indonesia, with a 100% accuracy.


The authors describe the computer control system of a large hydroelectric power plant and the reliability improvements made to the automatic generation control (AGC) and automatic voltage control (AVC) programs. Hardware and software modifications were required to improve the interface between the power plant and the regional load dispatch office. These modifications and their impact on the AGC and AVC reliability are discussed. >


Measurements of the susceptibility and magnetization of an unconventional superconductor PrOs4Sb12 have been performed in order to study the vortex dynamics. This type of superconductor contains multi-component order parameter. Our results sheds light on the interplay between superconductivity and nuclear magnetism of Pr. These measurements have been performed down to a sub mK. We have not found out any indication of the nuclear ordering. We have observed two small decrease of susceptibility around 560mK, 300mK and a large dia-magnetization at Tc. The magnetization hysteresis loop is measured at cycling fields of ±700Oe. Avalanche-like anomalies appear around zero field below 150mK. These avalanches become frequent as decreasing temperature. Based on the property of domain wall in time-reversal symmetry(TRS) breaking superconductors, possible origins of these avalanches are discussed.


Splenic tumors are very rare. In Japan only 42 cases of splenic angiosarcoma have been reported. We encountered a case of spontaneous rupture of a splenic angiosarcoma and liver metastasis. A 60-year-old woman who suddenly went into hemorrhagic shock presented at our hospital. Then acute spontaneously ruptured spleen and hepatic tumors were diagnosed by abdominal CT. After emergency TAE, the patient was hemodynamically stable, but died of liver failure 13 days after admission. The pathological diagnosis was primary splenic angiosarcoma with multiple organ metastasis on autopsy. Splenic angiosarcoma should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of splenomegaly or splenic tumor. TAE can be effective in primary hemostasis for angiosarcoma with intraperitoneal hemorrhage from multiple tumors.


The present study was designed to answer the following questions: (a) Can a child with Down syndrome (DS) increase speech intelligibility using a pacing board through a modified Core Vocabulary Approach (CVA)? (b) What are the effects of the pacing board as an intervention tool on the speech skills of children with DS? (c) What is a valid measurement of improved speech intelligibility? In this case study, the pacing board was used as an intervention tool in conjunction with a modified CVA with one child with DS to examine whether a child with limited speech skills could increase her speech intelligibility to enhance communicative competence. Data was collected on the child's speech production output patterns in order to provide information on the pacing board's efficacy. Results indicated that the pacing board was an effective intervention tool for this child. Increases on various speech intelligibility metrics were evident. The child's improvements on indices examined in this study were slow but significant, relative to her previous speech and language status.


Normal water structures are maintained largely by interactions with bi-omacromolecular surfaces and weak electromagnetic fields, which enable extended networks for electron and proton conductivity. All standard chemistry is totally reliant on electrostatics and avoids all mention of elec-trodynamics and the consequent radiation field, which is supporting the notion of water as a primary mediator of biological effects induced via electromagnetic means into living systems. Quantum Electrodynamic (QED) field theory have produced a vision of water in a liquid state as a medium, which for a peculiarity of its molecular electronic spectrum reveals itself as an essential tool for long-range communications, being able to change its supra-molecular organization in function of the interaction with the environment. This paper draws attention to the fact that interfacial water (nanoscale confined water) has been shown, independently by Emilio Del Giudice et al. and by Gerald Pollack et al., to contain respectively Coherence Domains (CDs) and Exclusion Zones (EZs), which may be regarded as long-range ensembles of CDs, dynamic aqueous structures, which uses the special properties of water, such as its electron/proton dynamics and organized response to electromagnetic fields, to receive electromagnetically encoded signals endowed with coherence (negentropy) at a low frequency, and sum the resultant excitations, so as to foster the redistribution of that coherence at frequencies which may affect biological systems. The phase transition of water from the ordinary coherence of its liquid state (bulk water) to the semi-crystalline or glassy and super-coherent state of interfacial water and its role in living organisms is discussed. The link between interfacial and intracellular water of the living and 1) the thermodynamic correlation between electron and proton transfer responsible for the redox potential of chemical species, 2) the Grotthuss mechanism and the H eightfold path, 3) superconductivity and superfluidity (dissipationless quantum states), 4) the proton motive force and protons role in biological liquid-flow systems, and 5) two possible explanations to as many non-ordinary phenomena, one related to the mind-body severely stressful condition due to a Near Death State (NDS) or to a Near Death Like State (NDLS), namely the Electromagnetic Hyper Sensitivity (EHS) or Electromagnetic After-Effect (EAE), the other related to the harmful consequences avoided during the so-called fire walking (ceremony), are discussed.


Abstract : We proposed to identify peptides that home to the vasculature of prostate. Peptides capable of homing to the prostate vasculature may allow imaging of the prostate for diagnostic purposes. They will also make it possible to direct into the prostate treatments that can reduce the prostate's size and, therefore, reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer. Over the course of this grant, we identified a peptide that homes specifically to mouse prostate tissue (SMSIARL) and we synthesized a chimeric peptide comprised of an anti-bacterial pep tide (KLAKLAK)2 in a D-amino acid configuration coupled to SMSIARL. We have shown in other work that, when targeted to tumor angiogenesis, the proapoptotic peptide triggers apoptosis in the angiogenic endothelial cells in tumor vasculature suppressing tumor growth (Ellerby et al., 1999). The prostate-targeted proapoptotic peptide chimera has a similar effect in the prostate. We are continuing this work by attempting to show that reducing the size of the prostate can reduce or delay the incidence of prostate cancer in the prostate-cancer prone transgenic TRAMP mice. In sum, we have discovered an effective prostate-homing pep tide. It is specific for the prostate vasculature, and it can direct a therapeutic compound (a proapoptotic peptide) into the prostate and effect the organ's shrinkage.


The measurement of evoked potentials (EPs) may be particularly useful in clinical neuropharmacology for investigation of drug effects of afferent nerve conduction within CNS. The study aims at estimating the long term effects of conventional or slow release formulation (CR) of carbamazepine (CBZ) and valproid acid (VPA) on visual (VPA) and brainstem auditory (BAEP) evoked potentials. Investigation covered 125 patients 8 to 18 years old to whom both formulations of CBZ or VPA were administered in monotherapy. Everyone received a drug dosage which gave an adequate therapeutic plasma concentration and satisfactory seizure control. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) plasma levels were measured by means of fluorescence polarization immunoassay method aided of TDx Analyzer (Abbott, Diagnostic). EPs were registered by means of Multiliner (Toennies, Germany). A pattern of reversal stimulation for VEP was used. The latencies of N75, P100, N145 as well as interpeak amplitudes of N75/P100, P100/N145 were evaluated. The following BAEP parameters were considered: morphology of the potential, absolute latencies of waves I, III, V and I-III, III-V, I-V. EP were always performed in the same conditions and with the same equipment for the epileptic and control groups. The obtained values were compared with age-matched control group. The following BAEP abnormalities were observed: prolonged absolute latencies of waves I, III, V as well as prolonged IPLs I-III. The BAEP V/I amplitude ratio and morphology of the waves were normal in all patients. The VEPs abnormalities manifested as prolongation of P100 or N145 latencies and reduction of amplitudes N75/P100, P100/N145. Results of these electrophysiological studies with CBZ and VPA demonstrate that EP are sensitive, noninvasive reflectors of AEDs effects within the CNS.


Non-verbal communication (NVC) plays a major role in various aspects of human life (Andersen, 2004; Cameron, 2001; Johnstone, 2008). Children learning their first language come to realize non-verbal communication as their socialization process takes place (Fletcher & German, 1990; Ingram, 1996; Owens, 2001). However, most EFL learners may have little exposure to these nonverbal aspects of communication (Jungheim, 2001). This study attempts to make language teachers aware of this often neglected aspect of communicative competence by investigating how NVC has been conceptualized in existing models of communicative competence (e.g., Bachman, 1990; Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Canale, 1983; Canale & Swain, 1980) using a three dimensional framework proposed by the researchers. This paper also attempts to identify the effect of construct-irrelevant NVC features on teachers' assessment of language learners' speaking ability. The results indicate that some construct-irrelevant nonverbal features do in fact affect teachers' ratings and these effects are surfaced differently depending on the gender of the raters.


Dr Rimell and his colleagues 1 deserve accolades for their exemplary research on childhood choking, which appears in this issue of JAMA . It is valuable to have suggestions for changes in regulations based on specific data and to have evidence that long objects with round components are hazardous even when they meet current standards. A staff report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in 1987 identified as hazardous not only round (spherical) but also teardrop-shaped objects and cones and pointed out that many objects involved in chokings were too large to fit into the test cylinder, 2 suggesting a need to increase the minimum size specified in the regulations. Rimell et al also found 14 objects that met current standards but caused choking deaths and suggest increasing minimal size standards. Long objects with round components could also be tested using the test fixture for rattles, which is larger in


Deep learning (DL)-based specific emitter identification (SEI) technique can automatically extract radio frequency (RF) fingerprint features in RF signals to distinguish between legal and illegal devices and enhance the security of wireless network. However, deep neural network (DNN) can easily be fooled by adversarial examples or perturbations of the input data. If a malicious device emits signals containing a specially designed adversarial samples, will the DL-based SEI still work stably to correctly identify the malicious device? To the best of our knowledge, this research is still blank, let alone the corresponding defense methods. Therefore, this paper designs two scenarios of attack and defense and proposes the corresponding implementation methods to specializes in the robustness of DL-based SEI under adversarial attacks. On this basis, detailed experiments are carried out based on the real-world data and simulation data. The attack scenario is that the malicious device adds an adversarial perturbation signal specially designed to the original signal, misleading the original system to make a misjudgment. Experiments based on three different attack generation methods show that DL-based SEI is very vulnerability. Even if the intensity is very low, without affecting the probability density distribution of the original signal, the performance can be reduced to about 50%, and at −22 dB it is completely invalid. In the defense scenario, the adversarial training (AT) of DL-based SEI is added, which can significantly improve the system's performance under adversarial attacks, with ≥60% improvement in the recognition rate compared to the network without AT. Further, AT has a more robust effect on white noise. This study fills the relevant gaps and provides guidance for future research. In the future research, the impact of adversarial attacks must be considered, and it is necessary to add adversarial training in the training process.


Photothermal imaging is commonly used for the characterization of material properties, the determination of layer thicknesses or the detection of inhomogeneities such as voids or cracks. For this purpose, the solid specimen is externally heated, e.g. by using a light source. The resulting transient heat flows interact with the inner structures of the specimen, which in turn is measured as a transient temperature distribution at the surface.
Novel array-shaped, high-power laser light sources allow to control the heating of the surface arbitrarily, both temporally and spatially. This enables us to shape the heat flows within the material in a very specific way. In a first application, we demonstrate how to apply destructively interfering thermal wave fields in order to detect subsurface defects with a very high sensitivity. A similar technique, although originating from a very different physical domain, is already in use for medical 3D imaging showing the high potential of this approach.


In this work, we study the Biclique-Free Vertex Deletion problem: Given a graph $G$ and integers $k$ and $i \le j$, find a set of at most $k$ vertices that intersects every (not necessarily induced) biclique $K_{i, j}$ in $G$. This is a natural generalization of the Bounded-Degree Deletion problem, wherein one asks whether there is a set of at most $k$ vertices whose deletion results in a graph of a given maximum degree $r$. The two problems coincide when $i = 1$ and $j = r + 1$. We show that Biclique-Free Vertex Deletion is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to $k + d$ for the degeneracy $d$ by developing a $2^{O(d k^2)} \cdot n^{O(1)}$-time algorithm. We also show that it can be solved in $2^{O(f k)} \cdot n^{O(1)}$ time for the feedback vertex number $f$ when $i \ge 2$. In contrast, we find that it is W[1]-hard for the treedepth for any integer $i \ge 1$. Finally, we show that Biclique-Free Vertex Deletion has a polynomial kernel for every $i \ge 1$ when parameterized by the feedback edge number. Previously, for this parameter, its fixed-parameter tractability for $i = 1$ was known [Betzler et al., DAM '12] but the existence of polynomial kernel was open.


In the last three decades of the twentieth century, quality management has represented a rebirth in organisation management with an emphasis on excellence. However, although this course might suggest a promising scenario for the quality function, significant controversy surrounds its managerial scope and its position within the organisation, for several reasons: doubts over the real contribution it makes to value creation; confusion arising from the interminable succession of approaches, models and techniques for quality management; and the risks associated with a vision as a new paradigm and a pattern for cultural change in pursuit of excellence. These factors have been linked to the constitution of the function as a staff unit and the decentralisation of responsibility for quality to all organisational members and units. This study aims to respond to current concerns about the quality function and the direction it might take in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The study is based on the vie...


Statistics anxiety, which is experienced by as many as 80% of graduate students, has been found to debilitate performance in statistics and research methodology courses. As such, it is likely that statistics anxiety is, in part, responsible for many students delaying enrollment in these courses for as long as possible. Moreover, it is possible that, once enrolled in these courses, students with high levels of statistics anxiety tend to procrastinate on assignments. Thus, the purpose of this study was: (a) to examine the prevalence of procrastination among graduate students, and (b) to investigate the relationship between academic procrastination and six dimensions of statistics anxiety. Participants were 135 graduate students enrolled in three sections of a required introductory-level educational research course at a university in the southeastern part of the USA. Findings revealed that a high percentage of students reported problems with procrastination on writing term papers, studying for examinations, and completing weekly reading assignments. A canonical correlation analysis (R c1 =.51) revealed that academic procrastination resulting from both fear of failure and task aversiveness was related significantly to worth of statistics, interpretation anxiety, test and class anxiety, computational self-concept, fear of asking for help, and fear of the statistics instructor. Implications for statistics anxiety reduction as a procrastination intervention are discussed.


Objective of the study was to assess the current epizootic settings along the border part of KharkhiraTurgensky natural plague focus betweenRussia andMongolia.Materials and methods. Epizootiological survey covered 2715.5 km2. 213 samples of field material were tested (90 specimens of mammals, 102 specimens of ectoparasites, 17 samples of leftover food of predatory birds and dry skeletal remnants of marmots, 4 regurgitates of birds of prey). Laboratory works were carried out in "Microbiological laboratory for express diagnostics" mounted on the platform of the minibus "GAZelle". Tests of field material were performed using immune-chromatographic (IC) assay and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR and IC positive samples were further investigated applying bacteriological method. Epizootiological surveyed deployed GIS instruments. All the results obtained were plotted on the electronic maps using QGIS 2.18.26 software.Results and discussion. Capsular antigen (F1) of Yersinia pestis was detected in three (1.4 %) studied samples (n=213), DNA of plague microbe – in eight samples (3.7 %). Bacteriological investigation of positive samples revealed one sample (leftover food of predatory birds – Mongolian marmot) from which plague agent culture was isolated. The culture belonged to Y. pestis of the main subspecies. Geographical positioning of the epizootiological survey sites was conducted, as well as positive findings of immunological and molecular-genetic assays. Results of epizootiological survey are indicative of active phase of plague agent circulation (main subspecies) in Kharkhira-Turgensky natural focus in Mongolia.


This article offers a short introduction to the contributions of John Sutton to the analysis of market structure, with particular reference to the Bounds Approach. The article offers a presentation of a recent work of John Sutton, reproduced in this issue of Investigaciones Regionales, which examines the evolution of market shares to address debates regarding the "persistence of dominance" question.


This exploratory study charts the transformation of the tourism sector caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The article dissects five key domains of industry transformation: accelerated digitalisation, business model flexibility, human resources, travel restrictions, and risk perception and crisis management. It delineates the industry's changes, adaptations, and associated challenges in each domain. A review and content analysis of 240 publicly available online documents was conducted. The results provide managerial implications and avenues for future research in tourism, including the hybridisation of tourism products, transformation of the service encounter style, adaptation to a shifting travel mode, and increased risk awareness and preparedness.


Retinol‐binding protein 4 (RBP4) is the sole specific transport protein for vitamin A (retinol), but it is also an adipokine with retinol‐independent, proinflammatory activity associated with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy (DR). Most previous studies focused on the relationship between elevated serum RBP4 levels and DR. Since serum RBP4 cannot cross the blood‐retinal barrier, the level of retinal RBP4 is independent of serum RBP4, and the change of retinal RBP4 and its potential pathogenic mechanism in DR has not been studied. We showed that the retinal RBP4 levels were raised in Streptozotocin‐induced diabetic mice though the serum RBP4 levels were decreased. Intravitreal injection of RBP4 protein in mice results in activation of microglia, loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and bipolar cells. Minocycline (MC) can reverse the activation of microglia induced by RBP4, protecting RGCs and bipolar cells. These findings suggest that retinal RBP4 levels were raised in diabetic mice, and RBP4 can directly induce retinal neurodegeneration in mice through microglia.


Agricultural production is increasingly combined with other economic and noneconomic activities. This leads to complex interactions taking place within rural systems. The recent policy shift towards a more holistic approach in terms of integrated and sustainable models of rural development emphasises these developments. In this context the role of 'noneconomic' determinants of behaviour is placed to the fore. The orthodox economic approach stresses (almost) instantaneous adjustments to prices and other 'economic' factors. This is at odds with idealised images of the 'efficient' market, which is characterised by a great deal of uncertainty. In such a volatile environment, routines-based behaviour, such as following institutional rules and/or socially acceptable types of behaviour, usually described in term of 'social capital', is advantageous and creates a more stable environment. The stable environment is a pre-requisite for workability of the purely 'economic' arrangements. This intuitive argument is developed using a simple mathematical model, incorporating 'social' and 'economic' factors. The social dimension enhances the impact of economic factors, slowing the speed of adjustment to the equilibrium state. Some conditions under which the social and institutional infrastructure are beneficial or detrimental for economic development are outlined. An important by-product of our model is the conclusion that social and economic factors are closely entangled and their separate influences are purely analytical devices. Ignoring this entanglement may lead to serious biases in quantitative analysis. Some examples of these potential pitfalls are presented.


Starting from the inhomogeneous Helmholtz equation, we obtain the exact rotating Cosh-Gaussian vector potential solution oriented along the propagation axis (i.e., the z axis). The electric and the magnetic fields are both expressed in terms of rotating Cosh-Gaussian beams (RCGBs) that are rigorous solutions to Maxwell's equations. The paraxial and the nonparaxial RCGBs have an inherent rotating property in that the angular velocity decreases with increasing the propagation distance. The evolution of the Poynting vector of the RCGBs is analyzed as they propagate in free space.


Lactiplantibacillus plantarum CCFM8724 is a probiotic with the potential to prevent dental caries in vitro and in vivo. To explore the effects of this probiotic at inhibiting Streptococcus mutans-Candida albicans mixed-species biofilm and preventing dental caries, multi-omics, including metabolomics and transcriptomics, was used to investigate the regulation of small-molecule metabolism during biofilm formation and the gene expression in the mixed-species biofilm. Metabolomic analysis revealed that some carbohydrates related to biofilm formation, such as sucrose, was detected at lower levels due to the treatment with the L. plantarum supernatant. Some sugar alcohols, such as xylitol and sorbitol, were detected at higher levels, which may have inhibited the growth of S. mutans. In transcriptomic analysis, the expression of the virulence genes of C. albicans, such as those that code agglutinin-like sequence (Als) proteins, was affected. In addition, metabolomics coupled with a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis and RNA-seq revealed that the L. plantarum supernatant had an active role in sugar metabolism during the formation of the S. mutans-C. albicans mixed-species biofilm, and the L. plantarum supernatant was also related to carbohydrate utilization, glucan biosynthesis, and mycelium formation. Hence, L. plantarum CCFM8724 decreased the mixed-species biofilm mass from the perspective of gene expression and metabolic reprogramming. Our results provide a rationale for evaluating L. plantarum CCFM8724 as a potential oral probiotic for inhibiting cariogenic pathogen biofilm formation and improving dental caries.


Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at increased risk of atherothrombotic events, underscoring the importance of effective platelet inhibiting therapies. Prasugrel and ticagrelor reduce thrombotic complications to a greater extent than clopidogrel. Subgroup analyses of pivotal clinical trials testing prasugrel and ticagrelor versus clopidogrel showed DM patients to have benefits that were consistent with the overall trial populations, although the magnitude of the ischemic risk reduction appeared to be enhanced with prasugrel. Whether these findings may be attributed to differences in the pharmacodynamic profiles of these drugs in DM patients remains poorly explored and represented the aim of this study. Methods: In this prospective, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, crossover pharmacodynamic study, aspirin-treated DM patients (n=50) with coronary artery disease were randomly assigned to receive prasugrel (60 mg loading dose [LD]/10 mg maintenance dose once daily) or ticagrelor (180 mg LD/90 mg maintenance dose twice daily) for 1 week. Pharmacodynamic assessments were conducted using 4 different assays, including VerifyNow P2Y12, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, light transmittance aggregometry, and Multiplate, which allowed us to explore ADP- and non–ADP-induced (arachidonic acid-, collagen-, thrombin receptor-activating, peptide-induced) platelet signaling pathways. The acute (baseline, 30 minutes, and 2 hours post-LD) and maintenance (1 week) effects of therapy were assessed. The primary end point of the study was the comparison of P2Y12 reaction units determined by VerifyNow P2Y12 at 1 week between prasugrel and ticagrelor. Results: ADP- and non–ADP-induced measures of platelet reactivity reduced significantly with both prasugrel and ticagrelor LD and maintenance dose. P2Y12 reaction units defined by VerifyNow were similar between prasugrel and ticagrelor at 30 minutes and 2 hours post-LD. At 1 week, P2Y12 reaction units were significantly lower with ticagrelor than with prasugrel (52 [32–72] versus 83 [63–103]; least-square means difference: –31; 95% confidence interval, –57 to –4; P=0.022; primary end point). Pharmacodynamic assessments measured by vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, light transmittance aggregometry, and Multiplate were similar between prasugrel and ticagrelor at each time point, including at 1 week. Rates of high on-treatment platelet reactivity were similar between groups with all assays at all time points. Conclusions: In DM patients with coronary artery disease, ticagrelor exerts similar or greater inhibition of ADP-induced platelet reactivity in comparison with prasugrel in the acute and chronic phases of treatment, whereas the inhibition of measures of non–ADP-induced platelet reactivity was not significantly different between the 2 agents. Clinical Trial Registration: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01852214.


This paper examines how the learning biography of Jack (pseudonym), an experienced track and field athletics coach, shaped his thoughts about coaching practice. Data were collected through seven in-depth, semi-structured, narrative-biographical interviews that formed part of a cyclical and iterative data analysis process. Our analysis of Jack's narrative revealed how his understanding of two distinct features of his coaching practice (i.e. implementation of periodization and pedagogical delivery style) developed in contrasting ways. Jack's story was primarily, although not exclusively, interpreted using Alheit's concepts of biographical learning and biographicity, Biesta and Tedder's writings on agency and learning in the life-course, and Jarvis' discussion of learning as a process of becoming. The findings of this study raise significant questions for how the field of sports coaching seeks to understand coach learning.


Abstract Ozone content in the atmospheric column above Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, was determined in experiments by measuring the attenuation of sunlight in the visible spectrum Chappuis bands (500 nm<λ<700 nm wavelength). The dominant source of uncertainty in such determinations is the accuracy with which the magnitude of the published Chappuis-band absorption coefficients are known. Values of ozone (for 42 clear days) obtained by using Vigroux's absorption coefficients differed systematically, and were 17.6% smaller than those derived simultaneously in time and space with a Dobson spectrophotometer. The agreement with the Dobson values improves, but is not perfect, when Inn and Tanaka's absorption coefficients are used in the data analysis. Until more accurate information becomes available on ozone absorption coefficients, spectrophotometric-derived values of atmospheric ozone must be considered uncertain to 10–20%.


Improvements in power electronics are basically the result of research in two main fields, namely: 1) new topologies and 2) new devices. Researchers' efforts to achieve improved topologies are necessarily limited by the characteristics of the devices. As a result, both topologies and devices must move forward jointly and at same time. This letter studies the impact of silicon carbide diodes on a classic structure of power-factor correction-the boost converter.


Recent advancement on reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms shows that effective learning of parametric action- selection policies can often be achieved through direct opti- mization of a performance lower bound subject to pre-defined policy behavioral constraints. Driven by this understanding, this paper seeks to develop new policy search techniques where RL is achieved through maximizing a performance lower bound ob- tained originally based on an Expectation-Maximization method. For reliable RL, our new learning techniques must also simul- taneously guarantee constrained policy behavioral changes mea- sured through KL divergence. Two separate approaches will be pursued to tackle our constrained policy optimization problems, resulting in two new RL algorithms. The first algorithm utilizes a conjugate gradient technique and a Bayesian learning method for approximate optimization. The second algorithm focuses on minimizing a loss function derived from solving the Lagrangian for constrained policy search. Both algorithms have been experi- mentally examined on several benchmark problems provided by OpenAI GYM. The experiment results clearly demonstrate that our algorithms can be highly effective in comparison to several well-known RL algorithms.


Adrenergic drugs exert effects on the processes of potassium ions transmembrane distribution between the intra- and extracellular spaces. Drug-induced hypokalemia is the result of beta (predominantly beta-2) adrenergic stimulation. Arrhythmias in myocardial ischemia occur at the combination of hypercatecholaminemia and rapid transmembrane distribution of potassium ions between the intra- and extracellular spaces. The distribution results in the association of the increased local extracellular potassium concentration in the myocardium and rapidly developing hypokalemia.


Mental disorders in diabetes mellitus, depending on the contingent of examined patients occur in 1.3-100% of cases. The prevalence of these disorders among the elderly reaches almost 100%. The aim of this study was to study the structure of mental disorders in diabetes. 42 patients with type II diabetes mellitus aged 40 to 78 years were examined (mean age 59.5 years). All patients had mental disorders of varying severity. A combination of instenon, actovegin and glycised was used to treat neurosis-like disorders and dementia in patients with diabetes. The average duration of the combined course of treatment was 4 weeks. The main research methods were clinical-psychopathological, clinical-anamnestic, experimental-psychological.


Ten cases of malignant lymphoma of the faucial tonsil treated in the R.U.H., Bath, during 1965--1975 are reviewed. Dysphagia and irritation in the throat are predominant symptoms. Enlarged tonsil is the commonest feature. Radiotherapy is the treatment of choice and the prognosis has improved considerably with modern supervoltage radiotherapy.


Considering different industrial applications an experimental investigation has been carried out for turbulent flow in a circular tube with perforated x-shaped inserts with perforations of 0.0%, 5.7%, 10.15% and 15.87%. Air velocities, air temperatures, tube wall temperatures were collected to analyze the surface or wall temperature and the bulk temperature distribution for the plain tube as well as for the tube with inserts. Temperature distribution profile is a dominant factor for overall heat transfer performance and to alter that profile inserts with different perforations were used. The results indicated that local surface temperature decreases with the increasing Reynolds number at corresponding point on each tube surface and the average surface temperature for tubes with perforated inserts is 1.03-1.25 times lower than smooth tube and about 1.15 times lower than the tube with imperforated insert and it is much lower for insert with porosity, Rp=15.87%. For tubes with perforated insert, local bulk temperature at each corresponding point is about 1.01- 1.18 fold compared to smooth tube and about 1.01-1.05 fold compared to the tube with imperforated insert and local bulk temperature distribution along the length of test section is higher for insert with porosity, Rp=15.87%.