OBJECTIVE
To study the basic pathogenesis of "asthenia of healthy energy and blood stasis" in liver cirrhosis studied by Chinese syndromes and serum proteomics.

METHODS
The information of four methods of examinations and serum samples were collected from 44 cases of male cirrhotic patients and 17 cases of healthy male volunteers. The different syndrome groups were summarized according to syndrome differentiation and frequency analysis using the patient's information of four methods of examinations. The serum proteins were isolated by magnetic beads and detected by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The proteins expressed differently between cirrhotic patients of different syndrome types and healthy volunteers were analyzed by statistical analysis software (product of Bruker Corporation ClinProTools 2.1 software). The diagnosis model was established by QC algorithm.

RESULTS
The liver cirrhosis syndrome with the appearance frequency of more than 30% was sequenced from high to low as fatigue, listlessness, spider telangiectasia, liver palms, anorexia, bleeding from the nose, the gum or the subcutaneous tissue, the abdominal distention, shortness of breath while moving, dim facial complexion, pricking pain of the flank, weak waist and knees, dull pain in the flank, burning sensation of five centers, or low fever, hectic fever, and night sweat. The cases belonging to Child-Pugh A in the seventeen patients of the Pi-qi asthenia syndrome group accounted for 64.7%. The cases belonging to Child-Pugh C in the twelve patients of the Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome group accounted for 66.7%. The cases belonging to Child-Pugh A were similar to the cases belonging to Child-Pugh C in the fifteen patients of the blood stasis syndrome group, being more than 40%. Such syndromes as spider telangiectasia, liver palms, shortness of breath while moving, burning sensation of five centers, or low fever, hectic fever, and night sweat, varicose vein of the abdominal wall, and edema of lower extremities appeared more frequently in Child-Pugh C than in Child-Pugh A (all P < 0.05). The characteristic protein expression peak with mass-to-charge ratio of 4642.81, 4963.91, 5247.8, 5805.95, 6305.27, and 12447.7 in the Pi-qi asthenia syndrome diagnosis model were chosen. The former five peaks could be found in Child-Pugh A and Child-Pugh C. The protein expression peak with mass-to-charge ratio of 9 290. 3 was the characteristic protein expression peak in the Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome diagnosis model. The protein expression peak with mass-to-charge ratio of 9290.06 and 7 768. 29 were down-regulated in the Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome group compared with the other two syndromes groups. The protein expression peaks 9290.3 and 7768.29 were included in the diagnosis model of hepatitis B cirrhosis. They did not appear in Child-Pugh A, while they were gradually down-regulated in Child-Pugh B and Child-Pugh C. Of the other seventeen protein expression peaks in patients of the Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome, eight expressed in Child-Pugh A. The protein expression peaks 4964.55 and 5806.83 that expressed both in Child-Pugh A and Child-Pugh C constituted the characteristic protein peaks of the hepatitis B cirrhosis blood stasis diagnosis model. The diagnosis model of the Pi-qi asthenia syndrome was established with the sensitivity of 100% and the specificity of 82.35%. The diagnosis model of the Gan-Shen yin deficiency syndrome was established with the sensitivity of 100% and the specificity of 94.12%. The diagnosis model of the blood stasis syndrome was established with the sensitivity of 100% and the specificity of 100%.

CONCLUSIONS
Asthenia of healthy energy and blood stasis was the basic pathogenesis during the whole process of liver cirrhosis. Asthenia of healthy energy covers Pi-qi asthenia and Gan-Shen yin deficiency. Gan-Shen yin deficiency was obvious in the compensation stage of liver cirrhosis, but it has manifested in this stage. So early treatment was necessary.


Poets have always sung the woman in their verses, in general or in particular, recreating her image that caught their eye for a while or forever, through their physical or moral beauty, inspiring them to write one of the most beautiful love poems.As in the case of many great poets, in writing his poems, the Romantic writer Heinrich Heine drew his inspiration from his own life experience. Heine's poetry ranged from Romantic lyrics about frustrated or bittersweet love to sharp political satire, but hereunder I will try to present the way the Romanian readers perceived the image of woman in Heinrich Heine's poetry through the translations made across the years.Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs) - the collection of verses published in 1827 that helped to establish his reputation - contains all Heine's youth poetry and features bittersweet and self-ironic verses about unrequited love. Skillfully employing Romantic sensibilities the poet manages to reproduce in his verses his view on love, sharing the Christian believe about the Eros based on the ascetic view of life.In Heine's poems from this cycle, the woman is not very accurately portrayed; however, we can grasp her image from the verses of the wellknown ballade Lorelei: a gorgeous girl, with long, golden hair and blue eyes.1 In this poem, Lorelei has not only the typical facial and physical features of the Northern European woman, but also fantastic features being described as a witch, a mermaid that lures the boatman sailing down the Rhine with her magic powerful rhymes, making him forget about the rocky reef and finally causing his death.In the lyrical poem Auf Flugeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song), from the Lyrical Intermezzo cycle, we note some oriental influences in the invitation the poet addresses his lover: he invites her to go with him to an oasis of tranquility, peace and happiness - the fields of the Ganges, where red-flowering gardens, and lotus flowers, and violets and roses sparkle in the serene moon light, while the gentle bright gazelles pass by listening to the murmur of the only stream.In most of his poems, Heine does not describe the woman's face or stature, but he never forgets her eyes2 or her marble white hands.3 Usually, the beloved one is compared to a flower.4In the poem Sie haben mich gequale (They Have Tormented Me)5 the German poet describes the behavior, the cold-shoulder and the indifference the woman opposes to the man's passionate feelings and touching love declarations.The woman is better described in the ballade Don Ramiro - deeply affected after breaking-up with her ex-lover, who comes, uninvited, to her wedding with Don Femando. Don Ramiro dances with the bride until, feeling dizzy, she faints, and, when she wakes up, she finds out that former lover, unable to face this situation, put an end to his life. In this poem, the ex-lover's profound feelings for his lost love and the pain he feels when assisting at the wedding prevail over the feelings of his lovelorn. In fact, this poem depicts an autobiographical moment: Heine's relation with Amalie, who turned him down for a rich husband, placing the financial matters above love matters, and thus destroying Heine's life forever.6From the Lyrisches Intermezzo (Lyrical Intermezzo) cycle the poem that caught the Romanian translators' attention was Sie sasen und tranken am Teetisch1 (Conversations Around the Tea-Table), where platonic and sensual love are presented together, as two sides of the same feeling, a situation that characterizes both Heine's love poems and personal life, if we take into consideration the fact that, in later years, not only did Heine preferred sensual love, but he also worshiped it, as reflected in the Verschiedene (Various) section.The section Various reflects the conceptions of the mature man, to whom love, even though requited, causes only disappointment, because all the women, in whose arms Heine sought comfort and consolation, represent only bits and fragments of the ideal woman he loved in his youth. …


Fertility levels and trend among women in Nigeria are discussed in this paper using both reported and adjusted current and life-time fertility measures. The Brass P/F ratio and Brass Relational Gompertz models were applied to obtain the adjusted ASFRs and TFRs used for the discussion from the 1991 Census PES, 1981/82 NFS, 1990, 1999 and 2003 NDHS data. The results of the analyses show that although fertility level in Nigeria is still high in relation to the levels in the developed and some developing countries, there are indications that it is declining, but at a very slow pace. Improved status of women and family planning services 4delivery, among others, have been recommended. Journal of the Nigerian Association of Mathematical Physics Vol. 9 2005: pp. 367-378


It was a warm spring Saturday in New York City, March 25, 1911. On the top three floors of the ten-story Asch Building just off of Washington Square, employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory began putting away their work as the 4:45 p.m. quitting time approached. Most of the several hundred Triangle Shirtwaist employees were teenage girls. Most were recent immigrants. Many spoke only a little English. Just then somebody on the eighth floor shouted, Fire! Flames leapt from discarded rags between the first and second rows of cutting tables in the hundred-foot-by-hundred-foot floor. Triangle employee William Bernstein grabbed pails of water and vainly attempted to put the fire out. As a line of hanging patterns began to burn, cries of fire erupted from all over the floor. In the thickening smoke, as several men continued to fling water at the fire, the fire spread everywhere - to the tables, the wooden floor trim, the partitions, the ceiling. A shipping clerk dragged a hose in the stairwell into the rapidly heating room, but nothing came - no pressure. Terrified and screaming, girls climbed through streamed down the narrow fire escape and Washington Place stairway or jammed into the single passenger elevator. In the hell of the ninth-floor, 145 employees, mostly young women, would die. Those that acted quickly made it through the Greene Street stairs, climbed down a rickety fire escape before it collapsed, or squeezed into the small Washington Place elevators before they stopped running. The last person on the last elevator to leave the ninth floor was Katie Weiner, who grabbed a cable that ran through the elevator and swung in, landing on the heads of other girls. A few other girls survived by jumping into the elevator shaft, and landing on the roof of the elevator compartment as it made its final descent. The weight of the girls caused the car to sink to the bottom of the shaft, leaving it immobile. For those left on the ninth floor, forced to choose between an advancing inferno and jumping to the sidewalks below, many would jump. Others, according to survivor Ethel Monick, became frozen with fear and never moved. Two weeks after the fire, a grand jury indicted Triangle Shirtwaist owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck on charges of manslaughter.


This study investigated the removal of methyl parathion by cyanobacteria Microcystis novacekii in culture conditions and evaluated toxicity in terms of EC(50) of the pesticide for the species. This is the first report on the removal and toxicity of methyl parathion for the species that is abundant and easily accessible in Brazilian lakes. The results have shown that Microcystis novacekii is capable of removing methyl parathion, an organophosphorus pesticide, from the culture medium with an extraction rate higher than 90%. Spontaneous degradation was not significant, which indicates a high efficiency level of biological removal. No metabolites of methyl parathion were detected in the culture medium at the concentration levels evaluated (0.10 to 2.00 mg/dm(3)). The mechanisms proposed to explain pesticide removal are bioaccumulation and mineralization. EC(50) for 72 h was 17.60 mg/dm(3), which is much higher than the usual concentrations in surface waters. This indicates that M. novacekii is highly tolerant of this pesticide and may represent an important bioremediation agent of contaminated environments.


The propagation of radio waves is examined for communication paths that may be partly within a forest and partly in regions outside the vegetation. Analytic results are found for simple canonic geometries in which the fields can be described in terms of ray-trajectories. By viewing a realistic forest environment as a combination of such canonic cases, it is possible to evaluate radio losses in complex situations by using a ray-tracking approach. The pertinent fields can then be expressed in terms of relatively simple analytical expressions, which hold well for frequencies between 2 and 200 MHz.


The magnetic structures of ferromagnetic-film-coated carbon nanotube (CNT) probes and conventional pyramidal probes for a magnetic force microscope (MFM) were simulated using three-dimensional micromagnetic simulation. The CNT-MFM probes with a total probe diameter less than 60 nm are almost uniformly magnetized along the longitudinal direction of the CNT, which is the ideal magnetic structure for MFM observations. On the other hand, the pyramidal probes had a vortex structure around the point tip, which suggests that they require a greater thickness of the ferromagnetic film because only part of the magnetic moment participates in the detection of the z-component of the stray field from samples. The advantages of the CNT-MFM probe are uniform magnetization along the longitudinal direction and magnetic imaging ability using a smaller coating thickness.


Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto.fi Author Muhammad Imran Asghar Name of the doctoral dissertation Stability Issues of Dye Solar Cells Publisher School of Science Unit Department of Applied Physics Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 53/2012 Field of research New Energy Technologies Manuscript submitted 13 December 2011 Manuscript revised 1 February 2012 Date of the defence 18 May 2012 Language English Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Abstract The thesis discusses dye solar cells (DSCs) which are emerging as a potential candidate for many applications. The goal of the work was to find more stable and higher performing materials for flexible DSCs, improve understanding of the effects on the DSC stability, and to develop experimental methods that give improved resolution of the degradation mechanisms. First an intensive critical literature review was done to highlight the important degradation mechanisms in DSCs. It was concluded that techniques giving chemical information are needed to understand the degradation reactions and their effect on electrical performance. It would be advantageous to have methods that enable monitoring chemical changes in operating DSCs, or periodically over their lifetime during accelerated ageing tests. Here the focus was on new and advanced in-situ methods that allow continuous study of the aging of the cells. In this regard, optical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, newly introduced image processing method and recently introduced segmented cell method were employed to bridge the link between the chemical changes in the DSCs and the standard PV measurement methods. Here for instance the image processing was demonstrated to study the bleaching of electrolyte under ultraviolet and visible light at 85°C. The results obtained with the image processing method and the standard electrical measurements were in agreement and showed that the bleaching of electrolyte was initiated by TiO2 and slowed down by the presence of the dye. For the roll-to-roll production of DSCs cheap, flexible and stable substrates are required. In this work, a series of metals i.e. StS 304, StS 321, StS 316, StS 316L and Ti were successfully stabilized at the CE of a DSC by using a sputtered Pt catalyst layer that doubled also as a corrosion blocking layer. This work was an important step forward towards stable flexible DSCs. Finally, the degradation due to the manufacturing step related to the electrolyte filling in the DSC was studied. With the help of recently introduced segmented cell method, it was found the nanoporous film of TiO2 was acting as filter for some of the commonly used electrolyte additives i.e. tBP and NMBI. This resulted in spatial performance variation in the DSC which lead to significant losses in the overall performance (here up to 35 % losses in the up-scaling) and thus it has important implications for large area DSCs.The thesis discusses dye solar cells (DSCs) which are emerging as a potential candidate for many applications. The goal of the work was to find more stable and higher performing materials for flexible DSCs, improve understanding of the effects on the DSC stability, and to develop experimental methods that give improved resolution of the degradation mechanisms. First an intensive critical literature review was done to highlight the important degradation mechanisms in DSCs. It was concluded that techniques giving chemical information are needed to understand the degradation reactions and their effect on electrical performance. It would be advantageous to have methods that enable monitoring chemical changes in operating DSCs, or periodically over their lifetime during accelerated ageing tests. Here the focus was on new and advanced in-situ methods that allow continuous study of the aging of the cells. In this regard, optical techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, newly introduced image processing method and recently introduced segmented cell method were employed to bridge the link between the chemical changes in the DSCs and the standard PV measurement methods. Here for instance the image processing was demonstrated to study the bleaching of electrolyte under ultraviolet and visible light at 85°C. The results obtained with the image processing method and the standard electrical measurements were in agreement and showed that the bleaching of electrolyte was initiated by TiO2 and slowed down by the presence of the dye. For the roll-to-roll production of DSCs cheap, flexible and stable substrates are required. In this work, a series of metals i.e. StS 304, StS 321, StS 316, StS 316L and Ti were successfully stabilized at the CE of a DSC by using a sputtered Pt catalyst layer that doubled also as a corrosion blocking layer. This work was an important step forward towards stable flexible DSCs. Finally, the degradation due to the manufacturing step related to the electrolyte filling in the DSC was studied. With the help of recently introduced segmented cell method, it was found the nanoporous film of TiO2 was acting as filter for some of the commonly used electrolyte additives i.e. tBP and NMBI. This resulted in spatial performance variation in the DSC which lead to significant losses in the overall performance (here up to 35 % losses in the up-scaling) and thus it has important implications for large area DSCs.


At this critical point in its development as a burgeoning market economy ensconced within a socialist political system, China faces a dilemma in becoming a fully-fledged player in the copyright arena. Over the past two decades, China has made great strides in creating a legal and governmental framework for the administration and enforcement of copyright. But its implementation has left much to be desired, owing partly to inadequate resources of money and personnel, partly to insufficiently harsh penalties for infringement, partly to cumbersome procedures required to bring action against infringers, and partly to a general cultural tolerance for practices that run contrary to cultivating a broad-based respect for copyright. This article proposes that a balance of pressure and encouragement is likely to have the best chances of success in overcoming these problems and ensuring that China will become fully welcomed into the international publishing community.


We have carried out a soft X-ray survey of the sky using the ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter (PSPC) in a region of very low Galactic column density (N-H = 6-9 x 10(19) cm(-2)). The data consist of a deep > 70 ks pointing (the Deep Survey) and six pointings at lower sensitivity (13-20 ks; the Medium Survey). We detect a total of 141 sources over the 0.9 deg(2) of sky area used. The faintest source detected has a flux of 3.2 x 10(-15) erg cm(-2) s(-1) (0.5-2.0 keV). We present the source number-nux distribution, and we compare it with the distributions constructed from other ROSAT observations and from surveys carried out with X-ray instruments operating at higher energies. We estimate the contribution of the resolved sources to the soft X-ray background by direct comparison of their integrated spectrum with that of the diffuse background: 44 per cent of the extragalactic X-ray background between 0.5 and 2.0 keV is resolved directly into discrete sources whose average spectrum is steeper than that of the background. Integration of our number-flux relation to infinite flux produces a background resolved fraction of 44 +/- (56)(5) per cent (0.5-2.0 keV). Limits on the slope of the log N-log S curve at very faint fluxes are set by the measured value of the X-ray background.


Abstract Background Intestinal fibrosis is a common and serious complication of Crohn's disease characterized by the accumulation of fibroblasts, deposition of extracellular matrix, and formation of scar tissue. Although many factors including cytokines and proteases contribute to the development of intestinal fibrosis, the initiating mechanisms and the complex interplay between these factors remain unclear. Methods Chronic infection of mice with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium was used to induce intestinal fibrosis. A murine protease-specific CLIP-CHIP microarray analysis was employed to assess regulation of proteases and protease inhibitors. To confirm up- or downregulation during fibrosis, we performed quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunohistochemical stainings in mouse tissue and tissue from patients with inflammatory bowel disease. In vitro infections were used to demonstrate a direct effect of bacterial infection in the regulation of proteases. Results Mice develop severe and persistent intestinal fibrosis upon chronic infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, mimicking the pathology of human disease. Microarray analyses revealed 56 up- and 40 downregulated proteases and protease inhibitors in fibrotic cecal tissue. Various matrix metalloproteases, serine proteases, cysteine proteases, and protease inhibitors were regulated in the fibrotic tissue, 22 of which were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Proteases demonstrated site-specific staining patterns in intestinal fibrotic tissue from mice and in tissue from human inflammatory bowel disease patients. Finally, we show in vitro that Salmonella infection directly induces protease expression in macrophages and epithelial cells but not in fibroblasts. Conclusions In summary, we show that chronic Salmonella infection regulates proteases and protease inhibitors during tissue fibrosis in vivo and in vitro, and therefore this model is well suited to investigating the role of proteases in intestinal fibrosis.


Over the past quarter-century, the pace of family change in most Western countries has been extremely rapid; we have witnessed the substantial erosion of the traditional male-breadwinner, two-parent family form. This change inherently makes obsolete those laws and policies that assume the breadwinner/homemaker family structure. Should We Worry about Family Change? unpacks the current controversies and larger issues surrounding family change: the nature of family change; the impact of family change on the lives of women; and the need for amendment to our social policies and laws to reflect today's diverse family patterns. Drawing on her vast understanding of the historical development of the family and the social policies that have attempted to meet familial concerns, Lewis comments on such pivotal topics as absent fathers, the increasing economic independence of women, and the effects of the rise of cohabitation. Lewis ultimately suggests that there are policy options available to increase the choices men and women make about their contributions to family life and to promote family responsibility. Drawing on a wide range of literature, cross-national data, and policy approaches, Lewis engages her readers in a highly public and timely debate.


SUMMARY: When cultures of Escherichia coli strain 15 were irradiated with ultraviolet radiation, the bacteria were induced to form a bactericidal material, colicin-15. Colicin-15 was released by the lysis of bacteria which underwent a residual growth without division. The only strains of bacteria sensitive to the action of colicin-15 were derivatives of strain 15. Three colicin-resistant strains were obtained, all of which became simultaneously sensitive to every T-phage, while the colicin-sensitive parental strains were lysed only by T2. By stepwise reversal of the phage sensitivity pattern, it was possible to revert colicin-resistant mutants to colicin sensitivity again. Only certain mutations conferring resistance in concert to phages T1, T3, T4, T5 and T7 seemed to result in colicin sensitivity. A model which will account for these phenomena is presented.


the technological tools requirements, used for micro-extrusion of metals in cold and warm conditions are presented. The constructive principles for the micro-tools are also described. The influence of the size effect in a workpiece and a tool top layers roughness form on extrusion processes in microscale are showed. The tool, designed to an experimental verification of the size effect influence, in a tool roughness form, on the metal rod forward extrusion are presented. This tool is made in the form of two halves, joined together by the pegs and screws. It has bored two dies profiles with the same dimensions, the only difference is a degree of the containers roughness. That solution gives a possibility to specify the influence of the tool roughness degree on the extrusion forces, deformation process and a product quality. Described tool was designed in such a way to manufacture it with using conventional machining equipment.


Bio-optical and phytoplankton pigment measurements were carried out at several transatlantic ship cruises (Table 1) to validate satellite derived biogeochemical properties in open ocean waters. The remote sensing reflectances were determined from hyperspectral above and below water radiometric measurements using TriOS-RAMSES radiometers in open ocean waters and used to validate MERIS and MODIS remote sensing reflectance data. From water samples pigment composition and particulateabsorption were determined by HPLC (Hoffmann et al. 2006) and filter pad method (Tassan and Ferrari 1995), respectively. The phytoplankton pigment and bio-optical data from stations of the cruise ANT-XXV/1 (2008) were analyzed using a cluster-based approach proposed in Torrecilla et al., 2010 with the aim ofidentifying different phytoplankton assemblages and biooptical provinces in open ocean waters.


The nonlinear interaction between an AFM tip and a sample gives rise to oscillations of the cantilever at integral multiples (harmonics) of the fundamental resonance frequency. The higher order harmonics have long been recognized to hold invaluable information on short range interactions but their utilization has thus far been relatively limited due to theoretical and experimental complexities. In particular, existing approximations of the interaction force in terms of higher harmonic amplitudes generally require simultaneous measurements of multiple harmonics to achieve satisfactory accuracy. In the present letter we address the mathematical challenge and derive accurate, explicit formulae for both conservative and dissipative forces in terms of an arbitrary single harmonic. Additionally, we show that in frequency modulation-AFM (FM-AFM) each harmonic carries complete information on the force, obviating the need for multi-harmonic analysis. Finally, we show that higher harmonics may indeed be used to reconstruct short range forces more accurately than the fundamental harmonic when the oscillation amplitude is small compared with the interaction range.


This study was conducted to find the potential of Thuja occidentalis (crude powder) in promoting the rate of recovery following the sciatic nerve injury in a mouse model. Thuja occidentalis was administered orally at a dosage of 2g/kg body weight. The motor functional recovery was measured using muscle grip force, sciatic functional index (SFI), and muscle weight. While the hotplate test and formalin test were performed to measure the recovery of sensory functions. Other biochemical tests were performed to analyze oxidative stress. We noted an early recovery of motor functions in the treatment group as determined by SFI (P<0.001) and grip strength test (P=0.01). Additionally, the mass of Gastrocnemius (P=0.04) and the Tibialis anterior (P=0.008) muscle was also recovered in response to the treatment. Similarly, it significantly expedites the recovery of sensory function as checked by the hotplate test (P=0.005). Moreover, the reduced oxidant status (P=0.03) and elevated antioxidants capacity (P=0.005) were also found in the treatment group. Collectively, all of these findings highlight that the Thuja occidentalis possesses the potential to accelerate functional recovery. The enhanced antioxidant capacity and reduced oxidants status of the biological system appears the possible reason for this improved functional regain after the sciatic nerve crush. Keywords: Peripheral nervous system, nerve injury, oxidative stress, sensorimotor functional regain, Thuja occidentalis.


Customer experience is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of products or services over the duration of their relationship. Customer experience management (CEM) represents a holistic concept combining both strategic and tactical customer retention management. In this research project, strategic customer retention research was conducted in an online survey with 600 consumers of garden and leisure products. Two main sub-groups - customers of garden centres and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) stores - were compared. The level of satisfaction for garden centre customers significantly exceeded the level of satisfaction for DIY store customers. Furthermore, customers' expectation and experience were higher for garden centres. Consequently, garden centres as specialist horticulture retail stores have profitable strengths and sustainable market opportunities compared to DIY stores. In a second study focused on tactical CEM and performance at customer touch points, a newly developed methodological concept and survey instrument for mystery shopping was tested in a study of 230 shop visits in a service sector. The most important competencies of a salesperson which impacted on customer experience were sales talent and the soft skills. The most important aspect of the selling process was the presentation and recommendation of a product. The mystery shopping instrument enabled retailers to zoom in on the critical moments of a service interaction, to identify basic problems and areas of improvement and to resolve them directly. It can be applied to all horticultural retailers such as garden centres, food stores, whole food shops and landscape designers.


We explain the concept of Suzuki type αT -admissible Z -contraction with respect to ζ in the setting of complete metric space in this paper. We investigated the existence and uniqueness of such mappings' common fixed points. We used an example to exemplify the effectiveness. Several existing results in the corresponding literature have been covered by our main conclusions.


c-erbB-3 and c-erbB-4 protein expression was analyzed using immunohistochemistry in 138 fresh-frozen thyroid tissue samples from 106 patients, including 56 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Increased expression of c-erbB-3 and c-erbB-4 proteins was observed in papillary carcinomas compared to nonneoplastic thyroid tissue. No amplifications of the c-erbB-3 and c-erbB-4 genes were detected. Coexisting overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor, c-erbB-2, c-erbB-3, and c-erbB-4 was demonstrated in 36 (64%) of 56 papillary thyroid carcinomas. These findings suggest a common regulatory mechanism for the type I (epidermal growth factor receptor-related) receptors in papillary thyroid carcinomas and provide numerous possibilities for functional receptor interactions.


The sliding mode existence and uniqueness problem is studied for a dynamic system with vector impulse control described by an infinite-dimensional differential equation in vector distribution with discontinuous regular functions in a right-hand side. A sliding mode equation is designed to maintain a trajectory on a discontinuity surface. The existence and uniqueness conditions are obtained for a solution to a sliding mode equation. The ellipsoidal filtering problem over discrete-continuous observations is considered as an illustrative example.


Soon after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the Russell Sage Foundation launched a three-year collaborative project to analyze the impact of the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) on the New York economy and the region's residents as well as to explore the challenges of rebuilding on the 16-acre site. This resulted in three books: Resilient City, edited by Howard Chernick; Wounded City, edited by Nancy Foner; and Contentious City, edited by John Mollenkopf. Contentious City, the volume under review here, concentrates on the politics of rebuilding and the effects that the terrorist attacks had on the city's immigrants and on local and state politics. When the two airplanes were flown into the twin towers, the deaths of over 2,700 people resulted. In addition, approximately 12 million square feet of office space and 500,000 square feet of retail space were destroyed. Various underground rail, subway, utility, and parking structures were severely damaged. The office space was owned by a development company, Silverstein Properties, the retail space by Westfield America, and the land underneath by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. From the beginning, Silverstein (the developer) vowed to rebuild. His commitment was echoed by the Port Authority, which had derived $120 million in annual rent from the buildings. The federal government contributed $21.5 billion in assistance and the state government established a development agency, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), to manage the process. Subsequently, plans were crafted, architects and engineers were hired, and rebuilding was begun. The construction goals were to replace the office and retail space, provide a memorial, create space for two cultural facilities, build a world-class rail station, and integrate the former super-block into the fabric of Lower Manhattan. The rebuilding process has been characterized by conflict, missteps, clashing egos, political posturing, bad judgment, and delay. Lynne Sagalyn hyperbolically labels it the "world's most visible urban redevelopment project" and this is certainly bad news since the project has been mainly a public embarrassment. The rebuilding story is told in five chapters, three of which target the period from the formation of the LMDC through to plan making and the early stages of implementation. Sagalyn provides a detailed overview, Susan Fainstein considers the role of the Port Authority—the entity that dictated the program for the site—and Mitchell Moss describes the involvement of a city government that initially had been marginalized. In fact, the site and the rebuilding have been almost wholly controlled by the bi-state Port Authority, Silverstein Properties, and the LMDC. Throughout, the authors' intent is to explain the decisions made by key actors. This is done so thoroughly that the three chapters overlap in their telling of the story. [Anyone interested in the rebuilding of the WTC site should also read Paul Goldberger's Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York (New York: Random House, 2004) and Philip Noble's Sixteen Acres: Architecture


We study the channel width scaling of back-gated MoS2 metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors from 2 μm down to 60 nm. We reveal that the channel conductance scales linearly with channel width, indicating no evident edge damage for MoS2 nanoribbons with widths down to 60 nm as defined by plasma dry etching. However, these transistors show a strong positive threshold voltage (VT) shift with narrow channel widths of less than 200 nm. Our results also show that transistors with thinner channel thicknesses have larger VT shifts associated with width scaling. Devices fabricated on a 6-nm-thick MoS2 crystal underwent the transition from depletion mode to enhancement mode.


In mangrove ecosystems, strong reciprocal interactions exist between plant and substrate. Under semi-arid climate, Rhizophora spp. are usually predominant, colonizing the seashore, and Avicennia marina develops at the edge of salt-flats, which is the highest zone in the intertidal range. Along this zonation, distribution and speciation of C, Fe, S, N, and P in sediments and pore-waters were investigated. From the land-side to the sea-side of the mangrove, sediments were characterized by I/ increase in: (i) water content; (ii) TOC; (iii) mangrove-derived OM; II/ and decrease in: (i) salinity; (ii) redox; (iii) pH; (iv) solid Fe and solid P. Beneath Avicennia and Rhizophora, TS accumulated at depth, probably as a result of reduction of iron oxides and sulfate. The loss of total Fe observed towards the sea-side may be related to sulfur oxidation and to more intense tidal flushing of dissolved components. Except the organic forms, dissolved N and P concentrations were very low beneath Avicennia and Rhizophora stands, probably as a result of their uptake by the root systems. However, in the unvegetated salt-flat, NH4+ can accumulate in organic rich and anoxic layers. This study shows: (i) the evolution of mangrove sediment biogeochemistry along the intertidal zone as a result of the different duration of tidal inundation and organic enrichment; and (ii) the strong links between the distribution and speciation of the different elements.


Aim: Terpene compounds were tentatively identified and quantified in musts and wines made from the non-aromatic grape variety 'Furmint' (Vitis vinifera L.) after individual treatments with seven different commercial enzyme preparations.Methods and results: The identification and quantification of the terpene compounds were carried out with headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The content of terpene compounds in the 'Furmint' grape pomace was below detectable level. After enzyme treatments [Lallzyme BETA (Lall), Rohavin VR-C (VRX), Rohapect VR-C (VRC), Rohavin MX (MX), Rohapect D5L (D5L), Endozym - Cultivar A (Cult. A) and β-glucosidase (Glucosidase)], only linalool was detected in semi-fermented musts, the must treated with β-glucosidase exhibiting the statistically highest linalool content (2.25 μg/L). 'Furmint' wine produced from must treated with Lall appeared to be the most aromatic (based on sensory analysis) as well as the one with the highest linalool content (2.14 μg/L).Conclusion: Wines produced from non-aromatic 'Furmint' grape pomace treated with different pectolytic enzyme preparations did not generally contain statistically higher levels of terpene compounds.Significance and impact of the study: This confirms the hypothesis that all enzyme preparations are not appropriate for every types of monovarietal grape pomace, especially regarding the increase of terpenic volatile compound contents.


Optical constants of amorphous hydrogenated Si1-xGex(H) films fabricated by radio frequency sputtering have been measured for 0<or=x<or=1 at wavelengths from 0.35 mu m to 2.65 mu m using both spectrally-resolved ellipsometry and spectrophotometry. The data include measurements on the refractive index in the high absorption region. The results show that the refractive index, the extinction coefficient, the loss factor and the optical band gap vary approximately linearly with x (the content of Ge). The refractive index and the extinction coefficient are dispersive and exhibit two peaks in their spectra, one above and the other below the optical absorption edge. The first peak is attributed to interband transitions and the second peak to transitions involving localised states in the mobility gap.


This paper is an ongoing research in the area of knowledge management (KM) and evidence-based practice (EBP). This study reveals that when health care organisations in the UK initiate a KM initiative, their success has been limited by undervaluing the importance of tacit clinical knowledge (non-codified) in practice to use them in their decision-making. This research advocates that one of the key failures of evidence-based health care has been instigated by clinicians who usually work not with explicit codified knowledge (such as guidelines) but directly with knowledge in practice (tacit-knowledge). This paper focuses on research evidence, drawing on the work of Nonaka knowledge creation framework that tacit into explicit knowledge contributes, as a matter of social interaction. However, the respective model has not granted high flexibility to adjust to changing conditions and has not placed enough clarity neither on evidence based policies or the requirements to lever the barriers and risks during the configuration of knowledge creation, which heavily impacts on knowledge transformation. By helping to explain the reasoning behind this, I would add that a fifth element is required onto the SECI model as a force to clarify the importance of those context, social, cultural and technological barriers. The extension supports the illumination and structure clustering of heterogeneous knowledge sources by determining the probable forces and barriers that may influence a KM gap in the organisation.


In vivo transcripts of the L (4.5 kb) and M (1.9 kb) dsRNA plasmids were examined in type I killers of Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Transcripts for both plasmids include full-length (l,m) and parti al-length (1 am ) single-stranded species. Both L-dsRNA transcripts (l,la) have in vitro mRNA activity for L- P1, previously shown to be identical to ScV-Pl, the 88,000 dalton major capsid protein of the virus-like particles containing L- and M -dsRNAs. 1, but not la, is bound to poly(U)-sepharose and may be polyadenylated. Other L-dsRNA gene products and their transcripts may exist. For M -dsRNA, both species (m, ma) have in vitro mRNA activity for M,-P1, the 32,000 dalton pre-protoxin encoded by M -dsRNA. Both m and ma are bound to poly(U)-Sepharose and ma is probably a 5 terminal fragment of m. A functional model for M1-dsRNA killer plasmid structure is presented.


This study is based on the phenomenon which is that many entrepreneurs, either new or
existing, of either small, medium, or large-sized level, experience business failure. Many
new entrepreneurs slowly realize that their business is wasting money and leads to
bankruptcy.
Ministry of Communication and Informatics of Republic of Indonesia has launched a
program called Gerakan Nasional 1.000 Startup Digital. The program launced on 17
June 2016 is expected to result in 1,000 startup businesses in Indonesia in 2020.
Since its launching, there are 16,500 registered participants who are from six cities in
Indonesia. In the first stage were 2,267 participants selected to continue to the next stage.
After assessment on ideas and formulated problems to solve, only 41 participants were
successfully chosen as prospective startup business. It indicates that most of startup
businesses have not been able to both formulate creative and innovative ideas and find
required business solutions.
The objective of this study is to explain how a startup business does not fail while
operating. Besides, it is also aimed to explain the importance of entrepreneurship
approach, customer development approach, and design thinking approach for providing a
guideline, skills, and effective belief to particularly new entrepreneurs to make their
business successful.


We explore the response of wintertime Arctic sea ice growth to strong cyclones and to large-scale circulation patterns on the daily scale using Earth system model output in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). A combined metrics ranking method selects three CMIP5 models that are successful in reproducing the wintertime Arctic dipole (AD) pattern. A cyclone identification method is applied to select strong cyclones in two subregions in the North Atlantic to examine their different impacts on sea ice growth. The total change of sea ice growth rate (SGR) is split into those respectively driven by the dynamic and thermodynamic atmospheric forcing. Three models reproduce the downward longwave radiation anomalies that generally match thermodynamic SGR anomalies in response to both strong cyclones and large-scale circulation patterns. For large-scale circulation patterns, the negative AD outweighs the positive Arctic Oscillation in thermodynamically inhibiting SGR in both impact area and magnitude. Despite the disagreement on the spatial distribution, the three CMIP5 models agree on the weaker response of dynamic SGR than thermodynamic SGR. As the Arctic warms, the thinner sea ice results in more ice production and smaller spatial heterogeneity of thickness, dampening the SGR response to the dynamic forcing. The higher temperature increases the specific heat of sea ice, thus dampening the SGR response to the thermodynamic forcing. In this way, the atmospheric forcing is projected to contribute less to change daily SGR in the future climate.


Published characteristics of a specific ground level enhancement (GLE), i.e. the solar cosmic ray (SCR) particle spectrum, anisotropy, and main flux arrival direction, derived from ground-based neutron monitor measurements, may vary considerably. As these characteristics are used e.g. as input parameters for the assessment of the radiation dosage at flight altitudes, significant differences in the radiation dose computations along specific flight paths may result. In this paper we compare published SCR characteristics for the GLEs on 15 April 2001 and 20 January 2005, and we demonstrate the effect of the discrepancies in these characteristics on flight dose calculations for selected flights. We discuss the various GLE analysis procedures and identify possible reasons for the differences in the results obtained.


Currently there are scarce studies focusing on student preferences as practitioners in adult business education. The aim of this article is to identify and evaluate factors of crucial to meet expectations in adult business education. The data for study were collected among distance university students at a private Czech university. The results are based on a quantitative survey using a questionnaire data collection of 2,265 students. The used indicators are based on students ́ satisfaction with the education process. Descriptive statistics, two and multi dimensional statistical methods were used to evaluate the quantitative results. The factor analysis was employed to identify responses related to the perception of the educational process. The analysis found three groups of students according to their main preferences – usefulnes orientation, business orientation, and output orientation. Half of adult already employed business studens have difficulties to adapt to new or different knowledge and skills presented by education process. They may have problems with teachers' authority. The second half of students– practitioners enjoy deepening their knowledge; they closely cooperate during education process, share their ideas and appreciate teaching techniques. Both groups expect education process to be linked with knowledge and skills needed in business. Support of employed students with study materials is necessary; it fulfills their expectations. Furthermore, significant differences in behaviour of male and female students regarding their expactations towards higher business education were found. A limitation of the study is a narrow focus on case study of one private university.


Many teachers have the tendency to look at only the standardized test scores of their students while ignoring how or why various dimensions of language proficiency has improved or not improved. Portfolio, however, reveals a clear picture of the student's growth and development. This study reflects that traditional approaches to assessment of student progress in EFL writing lack indicators of students' development of the skill and aims to answer the following questions: what are the learning gains of students who keep an e-portfolio as part of an elementary-level English course and what are student perceptions about the online course, using an e-portfolio and their learning gains? For this aim, the researchers worked with two groups of students: the e-portfolio group who kept an electronic portfolio in the online elementary level English language course and the traditional assessment group who did not keep an e-portfolio. Although there were not significant differences between the post-test scores of the two groups, there were significant learning gains in both groups. The perceptions of the students in the e-portfolio group reflected that they benefited from and enjoyed keeping a portfolio.


determination of the cause of death-without medical testimony? The consequence is, that by far the greater number of inquests take place without the slightest necessity for them (as seems to be well understood by county magistrates), to the loss of the money of the rate-payers, and the great inconvenience and loss of time of the jury; while the portal, through which the perpetrators of secret poisoning may escape undetected, still remains open and undefended. " The cart is before the horse. The remedy is obvious. Medical testimony should in all cases precede the legal inquiry. A medical officer should be appointed, whose duty should consist in inquiring into and reporting upon the cause of death in all cases where the cause of death has not been certified by a duly registered medical man; and in informing the coroner whenever legal investigation becomes necessary. By such means, the object of the coroner's inquest could be completely fulfilled, and the much needed security to society be insured." I am, etc., G. E. NICHOLAS. 4, Church Row, Wandsworth, October 29th, 1859.


Extending the proof of the cosmic no-hair theorem for Bianchi models in power-law inflation, the authors prove a more general cosmic no-hair theorem for all 0<or= lambda < square root 2, where lambda is the coupling constant of an exponential potential of an inflaton phi , exp(- lambda kappa phi ). For any initially expanding Bianchi-type model except type IX, they find that the isotropic inflationary solution is the unique attractor and that anisotropies always enhance inflation. For Bianchi IX, this conclusion is also true, if the initial ratio of the vacuum energy Lambda eff to the maximum 3-curvature (3)Rmax is larger than 1/(3(1- lambda 2/2)) and its time derivative is initially positive. It turns out that the sufficient condition for inflation in Bianchi type=IX spacetimes with cosmological constant Lambda , which is a special case of the theorem ( lambda =0) become less restrictive than Wald's one (1984). For type IX, they also show a recollapse theorem.


OBJECTIVE
To systematically determine the effect of Lianhua Qingwen Capsules on the early antiviral and anti-inflammatory action against COVID-19 (Coronavirus 2019) and its applicational value in the treatment of COVID-19.

METHODS
The clinical data of 66 early-mid-stage COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Guangzhou between January 2020 and April 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients receiving Lianhua Qingwen Capsule treatment were assigned to the observation group (n=33) and those given conventional therapy were included in the control group (n=33). The two groups were compared in terms of clinical effects and main symptom (fever, cough and fatigue) disappearance rate.

RESULTS
In comparison with the control group, 1) the total effective rate was significantly higher in the observation group (P<0.05); 2) the disappearance rates of fever, cough and fatigue were statistically higher in the observation group; 3) the treatment time was significantly shorter and patient recovery was significantly better in the observation group; 4) the laboratory index levels [white blood cell (WBC), interleukin-6 (IL-6), serum amyloid A (SAA)] were better in the observation group.

CONCLUSION
Lianhua Qingwen Capsules can significantly improve the total effective rate for COVID-19 patients, as well as shorten the hospital stay and treatment time, which is worth of promotion in the clinic.


The impact of PIDs on device yield was evaluated by detecting PIDs and performing a correlation analysis between the PID detection results and device yield of a probing test. It was consequently confirmed that PID can be detected sensitively with suitable wafer-surface inspection and SEM tools. It was also confirmed that PID correlates with device yield and that gate-dielectric defects are caused by PIDs. It is concluded that the PID is key factor in improving device yield, and we showed superior detection technology of PID.


The effects of FRP retrofitted concrete specimens with couple of notches on the fracture behavior have been investigated during an experimental and analytical test program in this study. This paper represents the fracture characteristics and parameters for three point bending tests on two distinguish retrofitted and plain condition for both intact and notched (couple notches) specimens. The experimental test results find out in the laboratory tests indicated that for intact concrete specimens, there would be approximately 285% increase in ultimate flexural strength tests. The experimental results also represents that for the tested couple notched concrete specimens, there might be approximately 318% increase in ultimate flexural strength. Based on the analytical study, it is found that the near failure behavior of the notched specimens have been significantly improved using FRP retrofit of such specimens. The system`s global energy balance and failure load prediction of FRP debonding are the couple of consideration by a developed fracture mechanics based model which made by energy dissipation major mechanisms characterizing while debonding. Model verification is provided using previous researches experimental data from literature. In addition, fracture mechanics parameters were found out for three point bending test in this paper for better understanding on fracture behavior and fracture properties of intended specimens.


This chapter presents the principle of high-resolution wide-swath synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a means for imaging wide areas at high resolution. The material covers the limitations of achieving wide-swath and high-resolution with a traditional SAR, the basic idea of using a multi-aperture SAR to overcome this limitation and current implementations where multi-aperture (or multiple antenna) systems collect data in an ideal configuration. Overviews of approaches to processing data collected in nonideal configurations, such as when the data are collected with non-uniform sampling and/or when they are collected with a squinted system, are then introduced. Armed with an overview, the chapter introduces the theory of multi-aperture SAR processing with the objective of generalizing the concept of high-resolution wide-swath to higher resolution, wider-swath SAR. This enables application of the added degrees of freedom to other modes such as spotlight and high-resolution stripmap. In order to present the theory and the generalizations, and in consideration of possible future systems, the theory is derived in the wavenumber domain for wideband and/or widebeam, space-based systems with special cases for narrowband systems presented as appropriate. In contrast to much of the current literature, the theory views the antenna patterns as the key provider of the additional degrees of freedom and proposes to utilize other pattern characteristics in addition to the phase-centre separation to improve imaging. For this reason, special care is taken in developing the antenna pattern dependence in the signal model. The approach for signal reconstruction focuses, mainly, on the minimum mean-square error method as it is quite general and includes, as special cases, the well-known projection approach as well as the space-time adaptive processing (STAP) approach. Further, it inherently, simultaneously improves the geometrical and radiometrical resolution due to favourable weighting by the antenna pattern and a less aggressive ambiguity prescription as compared to other techniques. The approach also naturally incorporates other more generalized system configurations where, for instance, the antenna patterns have, not only different phase-centres, but also different shapes or different pointing directions. As an added feature, the presented method is robust against matrix inversion problems which can render the projection approach intractable. The special case of a phased-array multi-aperture system is presented.


The South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) published two policies in 2013 and 2015 respectively, on professional qualifications for lecturers at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and at Adult and Community Education and Training (ACET) colleges. These policy frameworks require lecturers in TVET and ACET to complete work-integrated learning (WIL) in two settings: teaching (eg in classrooms, laboratories, workshops) and industry-based (eg factory, work sites, offices). Whereas the notion of industry and specialised workplace WIL for TVET and ACET lecturers was welcomed in certain circles, its inclusion in the ACET policy and the associated qualifications were not uniformly welcomed. Antagonism emerged primarily from some universities planning to offer ACET lecturer qualifications, ranging from insecurity about matters related to its implementation to outright rejection. This article draws on the theory of critical discourse analysis (CDA), reflecting on and debating the challenges that emerged during the development of the national curriculum frameworks for industry and the specialised workplace-based WIL component of the qualifications. Three discourses emerged: the first relates to a conflict between adult and community education with the discourse on industry-based WIL; a second relates to differences of opinion about what constitutes appropriate specialised workplace-based WIL for trainee ACET lecturers; and the third relates to the nature of ACET. It is argued that it differs from other forms of education and should not be subordinated to the 'dictates of the state and capital'.


Interactive and seamless access to video content is facilitated by technology that is able to annotate and retrieve media data efficiently and automatically with the minimal human interventions. Media should be accessible by intended users quickly and independent of the database size, regardless of the homogeneous or heterogeneous nature of the delivery channels or the user computing platform. These requirements are driving research and development efforts in the European project BUSMAN; in which a system for efficient annotation, seamless delivery of and access to video components across heterogeneous channels is being developed. The BUSMAN system architecture is based on the needs and expectations of two types of users: content providers and end users. In this paper an overview of the BUSMAN system is presented and its main functionalities are described.


A manager's personality has been demonstrated to have an influence on employees' level of trust. However, it has yet to be demonstrated whether trust levels are based, in part, on a manager's time perspective. In this study a between-subjects scenario-based experimental approach was employed, which involved administration of six different scenarios. Each described a hypothetical manager who exhibited one of six time perspectives: past positive, past negative, present hedonistic, present fatalistic, future oriented, and balanced. Participants (N = 630) rated the extent to which the manager could be trusted and what they believed their attitude would be if they were to work for the individual. Findings revealed that managers who exhibited a past positive, future oriented, or balanced time perspective were perceived to be more trustworthy and had higher ratings of trust than supervisors with a past negative or present fatalistic orientation. A path analysis model further demonstrated that employee perceptions of trustworthiness (an antecedent of trust) covary with time perspective, as did employee attitudes (a trust-linked outcome). This research contributes to the development of theory by shedding light on the way interpersonal perceptions shape employee attitudes. From an applied perspective, the findings suggest interpersonal perceptions influence workers' attitudes toward their manager and their job.


Geographic information and standardization has gained increased interest in the last decades due to the increased use and exchange of digital data describing geographic and administrative features. Standards and related documents, such as technical reports, play an important part in this for private and public organizations. However, the role and motivation of the individual participants in the standardization process has been less researched. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study on participants' personal meaningful goals for participating in formal standardization work at the Swedish Standards Institute, SIS. The study focus on production of national standards and related documents, for example national guidelines and other publications. The research question is how project team members are motivated in the standardization project. One or more participants in each of the technical committees, TCs, working with geographic information standardization, have been interviewed in regard to how they perceive their individual involvement in the standardization work and the personal meaningful goals making them to do so. A phenomenological method, Meaning Constitution Analysis (MCA) , was used for analyzing the interviewee's experiences of the projects. The organizational motive behind the project and the personal meaningful goals for the individuals were focused on in the analysis of each interview. The study concluded that the investigated private companies and public organizations' fulfil their obligations concerning financing the TCs work, but that some companies and organizations do not allow sufficient time for their employees to engage in standardization work, due to prioritization of other day-to-day tasks to be done. That is, standardization was not the organization's main motive. This may lead, apart from poor work environment for the individual participants and concerns about how to prioritize their daily work, which may result in delayed standardization projects. The interviewed participants were mainly motivated by their individual curiosity for the subject. That is, learning was a main personal meaningful goal. However, participants with frequent contacts with stakeholders had a significant motivation for participating, with the long-term goal to satisfy the stakeholders' needs.


A model for spatial prediction of landslide hazard was applied to a watershed affected by landslide events that occurred during the winter of 1995-96, following heavy rains, and snowmelt. Digital elevation data with 22.86 m x 22.86 m resolution was used for deriving topographic attributes used for modeling. The model is based on the combination of logistic regression and principal component analysis (PCA) of road related landslides and assumes that the meteorologic factors which caused failures in the past will cause failures in the future. This model was intended to provide forest land managers with additional information on landslide hazards associated with roads. The advantage of the model is that it allows rapid assessment of spatial correlation of the topographic attributes on large areas. A Geographic Information Systems derived map using the principal component analysis model delineates areas with relatively high probabilities of failure in the basin.


The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) is an important protein target for anti-tumor drug discovery. To identify potential EGFR inhibitors, we conducted a quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) study on the inhibitory activity of a series of quinazoline derivatives against EGFR tyrosine kinase. Two 2D-QSAR models were developed based on the best multi-linear regression (BMLR) and grid-search assisted projection pursuit regression (GS-PPR) methods. The results demonstrate that the inhibitory activity of quinazoline derivatives is strongly correlated with their polarizability, activation energy, mass distribution, connectivity, and branching information. Although the present investigation focused on EGFR, the approach provides a general avenue in the structure-based drug development of different protein receptor inhibitors.


Reactions of the alkyl isocyanide fac-[Tc(CO)3(CNR)2Cl] complexes (2) (CNR = CNnBu or CNtBu) with the sterically encumbered isocyanide CNp-FArDarF2 [DArF = 3,5-(CF3)2C6H3] allow a selective exchange of the carbonyl ligands of 2 and the isolation of the mixed-isocyanide complexes mer,trans-[Tc(CNp-FArDarF2)3(CNR)2Cl] (3). Depending on the steric requirements of the residues R, the remaining chlorido ligand can be replaced by another isocyanide ligand. Cationic complexes such as mer-[Tc(CNp-FArDarF2)3(CNnBu)3]+ (4a) or mer,trans-[Tc(CNp-FArDarF2)3(CNnBu)2(CNtBu)]+ (6) have been prepared in this way and isolated as their PF6- salts. mer,trans-[Tc(CNp-FArDarF2)3(CNnBu)2(CNtBu)](PF6) represents to the best of our knowledge the first transition-metal complex with three different isocyanides in its coordination sphere. Since the degree of the ligand exchange seems to be controlled both by the electronic and steric measures of the incoming isocyanides, we undertook similar reactions with the sterically less demanding p-fluorophenyl isocyanide, CNPhpF, which indeed readily led to the hexakis(isocyanide)technetium(I) cation through an exchange of all ligands in the staring materials [Tc2(CO)6(μ-Cl)3]- or fac-[Tc(CO)3(CNR)2Cl]. The influence of the substituents at the isocyanide ligands in such reactions has been reasoned with the density functional theory-derived electrostatic potential at the accessible surface of the corresponding isocyanide carbon atoms.


We report observation of hexatic order in Abrikosov flux lattices in very clean crystals of the high T, superconductor Biz., Srl.9Cao,9Cuz0,4 (BSCCO). Our experiments consist of in situ magnetic decoration of the flux lattice at 4.2 K. Analysis of the decoration images shows that the positional order decays exponentially with a correlation length of a few lattice constants while the orientational order persists for hundreds of lattice constants and decays algebraically with an exponent q6=0.06-+0.01. Our results confirm recent theoretical speculation that the positional order should be far more sensitive to disorder than the orientational order and that the low temperature ordered phase of the flux lines in these systems might be an hexatic glass.


The educational rights of the children is quite often violated in the conflict affected areas. They are deprived from the basic fundamental right that is guaranteed by the constitution, and an important covenant of the United Nations CRC article. Children living in these areas are at risk they often forced to drop their education and engaged in the economic activities. Quite often they also become a part of child soldier and work as a helper which creates wastage in terms of educational year. UNESCO (1990) declared that "No country can use the benefits of science and technology on the scale necessary for is development if population includes a high percentage of illiterates".


In recent years, FDA has placed more emphasis on a dissolution profile comparison in the area of post-approval changes and biowaivers. A dissolution profile comparison between pre-change and post-change products, or regarding different strengths, helps assure similarity in product performance and signals bioinequivalence. This work aims to evaluate the impact caused by the change of the tablet compression machine in the manufacturing of 50 mg cyproterone acetate tablets, by examining the comparative dissolution profile between different batches of the drug. For this purpose, the following method was used: the dissolution medium was composed of sodium dodecyl sulfate 0.07 % in 0.01 M hydrochloric acid, apparatus II (paddle), paddle rotation at 100 revolutions per minute, 900 mL volume of medium in each vessel, 37.5 ± 0.5 0C of medium temperature. Aliquots of 5.0 mL of sample were collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 45 minutes. Then, the solutions of the sample and the standard (50.5 μg /mL) were evaluated using a spectrophotometer with wavelength adjusted to 285 nm. From this the comparative dissolution profile was plotted considering the drug percentage dissolved for each batch in study as a function of the dissolution time. The two drug lots tested were manufactured in the same industry using different compression machines in the production line. Statistical analysis of data was performed and the similarity ATINER CONFERENCE PAPER SERIES No: PHA2014-0916 6 factor (f2) was calculated. For this study, 12 different tablet batches were used, in a total of 12 cyproterone acetate determinations per batch for each collected time reported. The results, calculated in the percentage of cyproterone dissolved in the medium, indicated that both lots of drugs tested showed values greater than 85% (Q> 70 %) in the first 15 minutes of analysis. The mean final results (45 minutes) were equivalent to 107.73 % (RSD = 2.98 %) and 108.58 % (RSD = 1.44 %), respectively, independently of the changes on the compression machine used in the manufacturing line. The statistical analysis was used to evaluate result variability and to determine the similarity factor among the different batches of drugs tested (f2 = 57.64), what allowed to conclude that the drugs tested showed similar dissolution profile. The results of dissolution efficiency calculation are: 83.14 % (RSD = 1.89) to dissolution profiles obtained to the cyproterone tablets manufactured with compression machine 1 and 79.83 % (RSD = 1.93) to the cyproterone tablets manufactured with compression machine 2. Statistical analysis showed that the differences observed between the results The results based on the statistical calculations of f2 showed equivalence in the dissolution profile, and different performances based on calculation of the dissolution efficiency (D.E.). However, the dissolution method could be reevaluated to analyze properly the product in study, fast dissolving formulation, using discriminative conditions.


The dormant Commerce Clause concept of tax nexus is best understood as a rough, but serviceable, proxy for the taxpayer's standing in the political process. This perspective leads me to defend Quill Corporation v. North Dakota and the much maligned physical presence test for tax nexus. As a matter of legislative policy, the critics of this test may be correct. However, as a matter of constitutional law, the courts should adhere to an expanded physical presence standard as Congress crafts for the long term broader nexus rules based on economic presence. Taxation is an inherently and irreducibly political matter. An expanded notion of physical presence is a rough, but serviceable, proxy for taxpayers' practical abilities to protect themselves in the political process of the taxing state. A physical presence test for tax nexus thereby protects, albeit imperfectly, against the modern version of taxation without effective representation. In similar fashion, the dormant Commerce Clause rule of tax apportionment serves four functions. First, apportionment constrains a state from exporting taxes by targeting immobile taxpayers who lack practical exit options to leave the state. Second, apportionment minimizes the out-of-state disruption stemming from taxpayer exit, by ameliorating the mobile taxpayer's need to depart the taxing jurisdiction. Third, the constitutional principle of apportionment, by minimizing interstate actors' state tax burdens, encourages entry by such actors and thus facilitates the interstate mobility of persons and capital. Finally, by curtailing the exit of the most tax-sensitive persons, apportionment bolsters the voices for tax-restraint within the taxing state's political process.


: Patients with HBsAg-positive hepatitis were screened for antibodies to HDV and HCV. The incidence of anti-HDV was 12.5% in a sample of 265 patients. The values differed appreciably in men and women, patients with chronic and acute hepatitis, narcomaniacs and subjects taking no narcotics. Antibodies to HDV were more incident in anti-HCV-positive than in anti-HCV-negative patients. The age-specific structure of the sampling has been analyzed and the distribution of HDV, HCV, narcomania, and chronic hepatitis markers for age groups has been determined. A high incidence of mixed (double and triple) infections with hepatotropic viruses has been revealed.


The thermo-mechanical reliability of integrated circuits (ICs) gains importance due to the reducing feature sizes and the application of new materials. This paper focuses on the delamination in the stacked back-end structure underneath bond pads. Current simulation tools predict this failure mode following a linear elastic fracture mechanics approach; whereas an interface damage mechanics (IDM) approach would be more appropriate to our opinion. The basics of IDM by cohesive zone modeling are outlined. The cohesive zone finite element under consideration is a two-dimensional (2D) linear element for small deformations with an exponential traction separation law. A 2D plane strain model represents a simplified microstructure underneath a bond pad. Several finite element (FE) meshes are constructed with gradually decreasing mesh sizes along the interfaces. Furthermore, two cohesive zone parameter sets are considered, one for 'weak' adhesion between the material layers and one for 'strong' adhesion. The simulations with the FE models demonstrate the capability of IDM to simulate the damage evolution, where several interfacial cracks develop simultaneously. The effect of mesh refinement is illustrated. It improves the convergence of the applied nonlinear solution procedure. Furthermore, the correlation between the adhesion strength and the complexity of the equilibrium path is shown. Finally the conclusions are drawn for the current research and recommendations are given for the further development of IDM applied to delamination prediction in IC back-end structures


This report describes a patient admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with extreme hypomagnesaemia (0.03 mmol/l). Profound weakness and rhythm disturbances were the most pronounced symptoms. This patient exhibited six risk factors for hypomagnesaemia: chronic dysphagia, acute diarrhoea and vomiting, high alcohol intake, use of a proton pump inhibitor and a diuretic. Despite this extreme hypomagnesaemia, he survived hospital admission. In order to determine the incidence of severe hypomagnesaemia (< 0.40 mmol/l) and its risk factors and manifestations, we searched our ICU patient database which included 21,296 patients. The incidence of severe hypomagnesaemia on ICU admission was 0.24%. Patients with severe hypomagnesaemia had a 44% incidence of sepsis and arrhythmia; 23% presented with a recent history of alcohol abuse, 36.5% had used a proton pomp inhibitor, half had acidosis and hyponatraemia, and 97% had low ionised calcium. Mortality lower than predicted. Although the literature reports that hypomagnesaemia occurs in up to 60% of ICU patients, severe hypomagnesaemia (< 0.40 mmol/l) was rare in the present population. Despite the seemingly crucial metabolic role of magnesium, severe hypomagnesaemia was not significantly associated with mortality in our unit.


OBJECTIVES
To define the risk factors for delayed graft function and study the impact of such delays on renal function and long-term allograft survival in renal transplant recipients.

DESIGN
Single-centre retrospective study.

SETTING
Regional hospital, Hong Kong.

PATIENTS
Records of 118 Chinese renal transplant recipients from 1 July 1997 to 31 July 2005 were reviewed, and categorised into delayed and immediate graft function groups.

RESULTS
Delayed graft function was observed in about 19% of patients, for which cold ischaemic time was an important independent predictor. For each additional hour of cold ischaemic time, the odds ratio increased for delayed function by 0.002 (95% confidence interval, 0.001-0.003; P=0.03). Multivariate analysis revealed that neither cold ischaemic time nor delayed graft function was associated with acute rejection. On the other hand, at 1 year both delayed graft function (odds ratio=18.5; 95% confidence interval, 2.6-130.5; P=0.003) and donor age (1.2; 1.1-1.3; P=0.003) were related to a glomerular filtration rate of less than 30 mL/min. When renal function between patients with and without delayed graft function during the first 3 years was compared, it was significantly better in those without delayed graft function. However, there was no significant difference in death-censored graft survival between delayed graft function and immediate graft function groups.

CONCLUSIONS
Delayed graft function has a significant adverse effect on graft function at 1 year. Limiting cold ischaemic time is important as it is an independent predictor of delayed graft function.


Lisianthus was introduced into the U.S. floricultural trade in the early 1980s. Although evaluated as a potential cut flower and potted plant (Halevy and Kofranek, 1984), introduced cultivars primarily were developed for use as cut flowers. They required high rates of plant growth retardants to make them suitable as potted plants (Starman, 1991; Tjia and Sheehan, 1986; Whipker et al., 1994). In the early 1990s, the dwarf cultivars Little Belle Blue, Blue Lisa, and Mermaid Blue were released to U.S. markets. These dwarf cultivars can be grown as potted plants without growth retardants. Although breeding efforts were successful in developing shorter plants, problems with heat-induced rosetting were similar to those with taller cultivars. Dwarf cultivars also rosette when grown at 25 to 28 °C (Harbaugh et al., 1992; Ohkawa et al., 1991). Rosetted plants have a basal cluster of leaves and very short internodes typical of biennials, and they do not bolt or flower for 3 to 6 months without exposure at ≤18 °C for 3 to 4 weeks to reverse heatinduced rosetting (Ohkawa et al., 1994; Pergola, 1992). Semirosetted plants develop when seedlings are grown at a constant 22 to 25 °C or at 28 °C days. Semirosetted plants have one or more side shoots that may elongate and flower, but plants flower unpredictably and are of poor quality. Thus, commercial production of lisianthus for late spring or summer sales as cut flowers or as potted plants is limited by high temperatures in many areas of the United States and other countries. Fall plug production, to produce flowering plants for early spring sales, is also impossible due to rosetting of plugs caused by the interaction of high temperatures and short days (Harbaugh, 1995). 'Florida Blue' is a heat-tolerant, semi-dwarf lisianthus developed at the Univ. of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Bradenton. Seedlings have been produced at 28 to 31 °C without rosetting.


Sengon (Falcataria moluccana) is fast growing species mostly planted by farmers due to its high productivity. Sengon originating from Solomon Island has been known with the high productivity eventhough susceptible to gall rust attack; on the other hand, sengon originating from Wamena is known to be more tolerant to gall rust attack. There is no previous study in terms of stem xylem structures comparing sengon from those seed origins. Therefore, this study was undertaken to identify the differences in anatomical structure of sengon stem; and to compare the xylem cell based on proportions and dimensions of the stems between the two provenances. Six stem samples of tolerant Wamena provenance and six samples of susceptible Solomon provenance were used in this study. Samples were collected from progeny trial of sengon in Lumajang, Jawa Timur. The observations include the anatomical structures and vessel element, parenchyma apotracheal cell, parenchyma paratracheal cell, xylem fiber, fiber length, and fiber diameter. The result showed that there was no difference in terms of anatomical structures between sengon Wamena (tolerant) and Solomon (susceptible) stem in cross section, tangential and radial section of periderm, phloem, secondary xylem (vessel cell, xylem fiber, and parenchyma xylem) and pith. However, in one of susceptible stem sample, a black reaction zone on the secondary xylem was found. Analysis of variance showed that parenchyma paratracheal cell, apotracheal cell, number of xylem fibers, xylem fiber diameter and length were not significantly different between stem of sengon Wamena (tolerant) and Solomon (susceptible).


This article presents a counter-argument to Sauerland's (2002) claim that the present tense is vacuous. Sauerland's conclusion is based on the premise that one cannot account for the felicity conditions of sentences like Every Tuesday this month, I fast if one assumes that the present tense denotes the time of utterance, or presupposes that its reference overlaps with the time of utterance. In a first step of the counter-argument, I show that Sauerland's anti-presuppositional analysis of the present tense makes incorrect predictions with simple present sentences in certain contexts of utterance. In a second step of the counter-argument, I show that this premise is false: a non-vacuous analysis of the present tense in Sauerland's examples is possible, once we acknowledge that they are interpreted either as futurates or as habituals. I conclude that the nonvacuous analysis of the present has the upper-hand. Incidentally, I propose a modal analysis of futurates that derives their temporal orientation from Condoravdi's (2002) Diversity Condition on metaphysical modality and that is argued to be superior to existing analyses of futurity.


We introduce Gödel numbering algorithms that encode/decode elements of term algebras with infinite and finite signatures as unique natural numbers. In contrast with Gödel's original encoding and various alternatives in the literature, our encodings are bijective and ensure that natural numbers always decode to syntactically valid terms. At the same time, our algorithms work in low polynomial time in the bitsize of the representations and the bitsize of our encodings is within a constant factor of the the syntactic representation of the input. Our encodings rely in an essential way on a novel algorithms for size-proportionate encodings of finite sequences and the fast computation of an inverse of the generalized Cantor tupling function, conjectured to be (up to a permutation of arguments) the only bijection between N and N based on a polynomial formula. As applications, the algorithms provide compact serialized representations for various formal system and programming language constructs. In the special case of finite signature algebras applications to circuit synthesis and genetic programming are possible. The paper is organized as a literate Haskell program available from http://logic.cse.unt.edu/tarau/research/2013/cgoedel.hs. Keywords-natural number encodings of terms, bijective Gödel numberings, ranking/unranking functions for tuples, bijective base-k encodings, generalized Cantor tupling/untupling bijection, combinatorial numbers system


Finding a focal liver lesion during screening may not uncommonly lead to a misinterpretation of the results of radiological diagnostics. Based on the consolidation of our wide experience (more than 1000 cases) of surgical treatment of patients with various focal liver diseases, we analyzed the main causes of diagnostic pitfalls and, as a consequence, errors in the treatment of these patients. The most typical objective and subjective diagnostic pitfalls that may lead to a wrong treatment strategy are discussed with clinical cases taken as examples. The objective factors are related to the rarity of disease, absence of pathognomonic semiotics, as well as limitations in the resolution power of imaging methods. In addition, a misinterpretation of results of ultrasound examination, magnetic resonance imaging and multiaxial computed tomography may be explained by identical properties of images in different tumors related to similar physical and chemical properties of a  lesion. The subjective factors are related to a wrong interpretation of clinical and instrumental assessment data, or insufficient evaluation needed in an individual patient. The number of diagnostic and treatment errors could be decreased by a multidisciplinary approach taking into account the opinions of various profile experts.


A review is given of a number of approaches to discrete quantum gravity, with a restriction to those likely to be relevant in four dimensions. This paper is dedicated to Rafael Sorkin on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.


We show that the main result of algebraic Morse theory can be obtained as a consequence of the perturbation lemma of Brown and Gugenheim.


Enterobius vermicularis associated appendiceal colic and acute appendicitis are rarely encountered in the United States. The 9-year-old patient described in this case presented with right lower quadrant abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting consistent with acute appendicitis and was brought to the operating room for an appendectomy. Intraoperatively a pinworm, E. vermicularis, was visualized and the presumptive diagnosis of acute appendicitis was revised to E. vermicularis associated appendiceal colic. Retrospective review of the preoperative imaging demonstrates the first reported ultrasonographic image of pinworm inhabitance within the appendiceal lumen. The patient was treated postoperatively with a course of albendazole and recovered appropriately. This article reviews the geographic epidemiology, pathophysiology, surgical, and medical treatment recommendations in the management of E. vermicularis diseases of the appendix. Through dissemination of this ultrasonographic imaging, the authors hope to inform other providers about E. vermicularis associated appendiceal colic and reduce the incidence of avoidable surgeries.


The in-plane behaviour of tetrachiral lattices should be characterized by bi-dimensional orthotropic material owing to the existence of two orthogonal axes of rotational symmetry. Moreover, the constitutive model must also represent the chirality inherent in the lattices. To this end, a bi-dimensional orthotropic chiral micropolar model is developed based on the theory of irreducible orthogonal tensor decomposition. The obtained constitutive tensors display a hierarchy structure depending on the symmetry of the underlying microstructure. Eight additional material constants, in addition to five for the hemitropic case, are introduced to characterize the anisotropy under Z2 invariance. The developed continuum model is then applied to a tetrachiral lattice, and the material constants of the continuum model are analytically derived by a homogenization process. By comparing with numerical simulations for the discrete lattice, it is found that the proposed continuum model can correctly characterize the static and wave properties of the tetrachiral lattice.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study to test the applicability of the discrete choice experiment (DCE) method to assess the preferences of carers of people with dementia. The focus of enquiry was home care provision.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-method approach was adopted for this pilot study. A literature review identified key characteristics of home care for dementia. This informed consultations with lay representatives. Key attributes of home care for the DCE were identified and formed the basis for the schedule. In all, 28 carers were recruited by two voluntary organisations to complete the DCE. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to analyse the data.

Findings

Seven attributes of home care for people with dementia were identified from the consultation. The use of the DCE approach permitted the identification of those most important to carers. Despite the modest sample, statistically significant findings were reported in relation to five of the attributes indicating their relevance. A lay involvement in the identification of attributes contributed to the ease of administration of the schedule and relevance of the findings.

Originality/value

This study demonstrated the utility of a DCE to capture the preferences of carers of people with dementia and thereby gather information from carers to inform policy, practice and service development. Their involvement in the design of the schedule was critical to this process.


The twentieth-century history of few countries has been so profoundly marked by breaks, discontinuities, and ruptures as has Germany's--the radical breaks between the Wilhelmine empire, the Weimar Republic, and the National Socialist period; the end of history in 1945 and the dual reconstruction from Year Zero, followed by the reunification of post-1989 German. This special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly focuses on the many dimensions of these discontinuities--social, political, cultural, aesthetic, psychological, and physical--as well as the continuities that are equally, if less apparently, implied by them.The contributions presented here include Fredric Jameson's Ramblings in Old Berlin, Gunter Grass's Lonesome Capitalism, and Peter Weiss's Aesthetics of Resistance. Among the topics discussed in the volume are the debate over Holocaust memorials in Germany and the significance of their connections to the German past, the problematic continuity that identifies the new unified Germany with the former Federal Republic; the dangers to women posed by the neoliberal project; the legacy of the avant-garde in today's media theory; Ars nova and Doktor Faustus; nostalgia for the old German Democratic Republic; and reflections on traumatic memory and history as trauma.Contributors. Ulrich Baer, Michael Geyer, Gunter Grass, Frigga Haug, Julia Hell, Fredric Jameson, Juliet Koss, Andreas Michel, Martin Morris, Arkady Plotnitsky, Pierra Vidal-Naquet, Peter Weiss, James E. Young


Variation in the nature and extent of division of the hypoglossal canal can be classified by a simple scoring scheme. Applied to three series of crania of differing provenance, the results indicate a continuity in expression of the trait rather than the dichotomous character utilized in previous studies. The similarity in results in these three populations, of widely differing environment, suggests fairly strict canalization of development.


Mental health services for older people tend to be neglected by policy in favour of general adult mental health services. Inadequate staffing, lack of capacity and insufficient intermediate care are all contributing factors. Salford and Trafford trust now has accredited training for primary care nurses in the identification and initial management of mental health problems in older people.


Audio effects are used by all individuals involved in the generation of musical signals and start with special playing techniques by musicians, merge to the use of special microphone techniques and migrate to effect processors for synthesizing, recording, production and broadcasting of musical signals. This book will cover several categories of sound or audio effects and their impact on sound modifications. Digital audio effects – as an acronym we use DAFX – are boxes or software tools with input audio signals or sounds which are modified according to some sound control parameters and deliver output signals or sounds (see Figure 1.1). The input and output signals are monitored by loudspeakers or headphones and some kind of visual representation of the signal, such as the time signal, the signal level and its spectrum. According to acoustical criteria the sound engineer or musician sets his control parameters for the sound effect he would like to achieve. Both input and output signals are in digital format and represent analog audio signals. Modification of the sound characteristic of the input signal is the main goal of digital audio effects. The settings of the control parameters are often done by sound engineers, musicians (performers, composers, or digital instrument makers) or simply the music listener, but can also be part of one specific level in the signal processing chain of the digital audio effect. The aim of this book is the description of digital audio effects with regard to:


Objective:To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a thyroid cartilage window resection(TCWR) technique for transoral CO₂ laser resection of early glottic cancer with involvement of the anterior commissure. Methods:Twenty-one patient who underwent a TCWR technique for transoral CO₂ laser resection early glottic carcinoma involving the anterior commissure, were retrospectively analyzed. Indices including margin status, perioperative comorbidities, voice outcomes, local control rate and recurrence free survival, were assessed. Results:All 21 patients underwent a TCWR technique for resection, the organ preservation rate and negative margin achieved 100%. The local control rate achieved 100%. For two patients with subglottic involvement(9.5%), regional recurrence with confirmation of a positive pre-laryngeal lymph node was subsequently observed; and the 5 years recurrence free survival was 90.5%. Postoperative granulomas were detected in all 21 patients in 4 weeks postoperatively, 13 of which(61.9%) spontaneously disappeared; whereas the remaining 8 patients(38.1%) demonstrated consistent presence of granuloma more than 12 weeks and underwent an additional surgical extirpation under topical anesthesia. Despite the laryngeal web developed in all 21 patients, no dyspnea and laryngeal stenosis occurred at the time of analysis. By comparison with preoperative baseline, postoperative self-assessment voice demonstrated a significant improvement(P=0.01), while objective voice indices were not significantly altered(P>0.05). Conclusion:TCWR technique is a valuable means for transoral CO₂ laser resection of early glottic laryngeal cancer involving the anterior commissure, with favorable voice quality and seemingly low comorbidities, which can effectively improve the safety of the anterior resection margin.


Phase noise in the offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM) multicarrier system results in not only constellation rotation but also crosstalk from the unique intrinsic imaginary interference (IMI). Therefore, the method for phase and residual frequency offset (RFO) compensation should be designed specifically to address this. In this article, we exploit the statistical difference of the OQAM signal and the IMI, and propose a novel independent component analysis (ICA) based method for phase and RFO compensation. It is proved that the signal exhibits the minimal entropy with the probability distribution deviating from the Gaussian one the most when the phase is correctly compensated. Several metrics and a recursive algorithm are proposed to separate the signal and the IMI. Simulations and experiments are performed to verify the proposed theory and to compare the ICA method with modified blind phase search (M-BPS), constellation classification (CC), and Kalman filtering (KL). It is shown that the ICA method exhibits significantly better tolerance to the laser linewidth and RFO than CC and KL, and greatly reduces the complexity compared to M-BPS. Therefore, the proposed ICA method can be the most promising solution for phase and RFO compensation in OQAM multicarrier systems.


A novel current-mode CMOS RMS-to-DC converter using translinear techniques is introduced. It is based on a squarer/divider cell that is implemented using an electronically simulated loop with a novel biasing scheme that allows its operation in two quadrants. The cell is designed using a differential input current and a small signal first order filter to implement the voltage averaging, leading to a compact solution that can be used with low voltage supplies. The converter has been fabricated in a standard 130-nm CMOS process, and measurement results are provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the system.