The aim of this work was the exploration of a potential biocompatible membrane prepared from a modified polyetheretherketone (PEEK-WC). The physico-chemical properties of PEEK-WC were characterised by Differential Scanning Calorimetry and FT-Infrared Spectroscopy. The surface affinity of this membrane to human plasma and proteins such as albumin, fibrinogen and immunoglobulins G was evaluated and compared with that of commercial membranes. The wettability of all investigated membranes was established by water contact angle measurements. PEEK-WC membranes exhibited moderate wettability and low protein adsorption, differently from other commercial membranes such as cellulose acetate membrane. A preferential adsorption of hydrophilic proteins as albumin on the membrane surfaces was observed. Human plasma adsorption on membranes followed the same trend as individual protein solutions.


Plant community recovery (species richness, diversity and composition) of a post-fire Mediterranean shrubland was monitored over a seven year period (1998―2005) under experimental drought and warming that simulated the environmental conditions forecast for this area in the coming decades. Species richness and Shannon's index were positively correlated with accumulated precipitation in the growing season and both variables were negatively affected by reduced water availability in drought plots. The relative abundance of the different species in both treatments was linearly correlated with their relative abundance in control plots. Moreover, we found species-specific responses to treatments. Drought and warming treatment reduced the competitive ability of the obligate seeder tree Pinus balepensis against native resprouter shrubs and consequently, the transformation from shrub to pine tree dominated vegetation was slowed down. Conversely, the water use strategy of Globularia alypum may allow this species to maintain a dominant position in drought plots. Therefore, future drier and warmer conditions in Mediterranean areas may severely affect plant community recovery after a disturbance, due to the existence of both abundance-dependent and species-specific responses that may change inter-specific competitive relationships.


This study investigated the effect of air-conditioning system on the tem-perature and speed of automobile engine before and after the air-conditioning system was put to use, while the vehicle was at static position. A 16-valve Nissan engine was used for this study, the engine was first run for 20 minutes before the data are collected. In the first case, the temperatures (℃) of the engine were taken in the interval of 10 minutes before and after the air-conditioning system is run and in the second case, the speeds of the engine were taken under the same conditions. The research hypothesis was formulated for 20 observations to argue that neither temperature nor speed of the engine changes when the air-conditioning system is put on and Paired t-Test statistics were used. The obtained result of t-statistics analysis for temperature and speed were -4.0329 and -5.51832 respectively. These results when compared to their critical values at 5 percent significant level, t-Statcritical < -1.73 for temperature and speed, were discovered to be at the rejection region which indicates that the null hypothesis (Ht0 and Hs0) in each case is rejected and accept that the air-conditioning system changes the temperature of the engine. Also, changes in speed requirements of the engine are not immediate and it could be as a result of an increase in fuel consump-tion due to more load on the engine. The regression correlation coefficients of 0.999996066 and 0.999653453 were obtained for the temperatures and speeds respectively with their R2 values, 0.999992132 and 0.999307027. The coefficients in the analysis were used to formulate the regression equations; T2 = 135.640 1.025t 0.496T1 and N2 = 634.005 3.824t 0.270N1 which can be used to forecast the temperatures and speeds of the engine during air-conditioning usage giving the initial parameters.


Several studies have shown that the knowledge and technology transfer (KTT) performance of universities and research institutions can be explained by institutional differences. Some of the factors that influence performance include providing staff incentives and the establishment of a knowledge transfer office (KTO). However, only a few empirical studies have looked at the influence of institutional by-laws and practices on KTT performance, even though they might have strong impacts. We use 2010 and 2011 data for 224 European universities and 48 public research organisations to investigate the effects of KTO characteristics, staff incentives, and policies on three measures of KTT: the number of invention disclosures, patent applications and licenses. Using a negative binomial count model, we find that a written IP policy is correlated with an increase in all three outcomes, although open publication of policies has no effect. Rules on managing conflict are positively correlated with the number of invention disclosures and patent applications. The only incentive for researchers that has a consistent positive effect on all outcome measures is to give inventors a share of the revenues. Non-monetary rewards such as career enhancement or social rewards have no effect.


Background and objective: Interferon beta (IFNβ) is standard therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS). The efficacy of intramuscular (IM) IFNβ-1a (AVONEX®) was assessed in 25 Japanese patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS). Methods: Patients with RRMS not previously treated with IFNβ or other disease-modifying therapies were included in this 36-week study. The primary outcome was the average total number of gadolinium-enhanced lesions detected on four brain MRI scans during the last 12 weeks of 24 weeks' treatment with IM IFNβ-1a 30 μg once weekly compared with the number during the 12-week pre-treatment period. Lesions were counted by blinded investigators. Results: IM IFNβ-1a significantly decreased the median number of gadolinium-enhanced lesions from 2.5 to 0.3 (p < 0.0001) compared with pre-treatment values. The median number of new gadolinium-enhanced lesions also decreased significantly from 2.0 to 0.3 (p = 0.0002). Serum neopterin was induced in a manner similar to that observed previously in a Caucasian RRMS population. No new adverse events occurred during the study. Conclusion: This first study of IM IFNβ-1a in Japanese patients with RRMS demonstrated a level of efficacy similar to that reported in Caucasian patients based on an assessment of pre-treatment and post-treatment gadolinium-enhanced lesions.


Healthcare organisations, probably the world over but certainly in the UK, have aped corporate behaviour in other sectors in establishing statements of mission, vision, and values that purport to describe why they exist and set aspirational direction. Their statements can be found on websites in the "about us" section, in glossy annual reports, on posters staring at you as you wait in the emergency department, on headed paper, and maybe even on corporate mugs. Some if not all of these statements will have been the result of earnest and meaningful executive and non-executive soul searching on away days.

What is the primary purpose of a healthcare provider? Why does a healthcare provider exist? To coin a phrase, "To provide healthcare, stupid." Who provides that healthcare? "The clinicians, stupid." Do the clinicians need mission, vision, and values statements to remind them why they do what they do, why they come to work, and why they exist? Perhaps. After all, there seem to be enough examples of troubled services that would be served by a mission statement to remind staff why they are there.

A review of one region's collection of mission, vision, and values statements, filtered through a word cloud application, which gives …


This thesis is concerned with the Japanese Ceremonial Occasions industry, and in particular with contemporary Japanese weddings which are viewed as commercialized productions for a highly consumerist society. The study is mainly based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in an urban wedding parlour. The perspective offered diverges from those of previous studies in that its focus is on weddings, rather than marriage, and on the activities of the wedding producers, rather than those of its principal actors. The thesis shows how both 'traditional' and 'Western' traits found in commercial weddings are manipulated by the Ceremonial Occasions industry which is heavily involved in the 'invention of traditions'. Although such invention has hitherto and elsewhere been analysed in terms of political or national aims, the argument here is that traditions may also be created for economic, or business, purposes. Such a viewpoint enables me to reconsider ways in which Japanese social organization has previously been interpreted both by social anthropologists and by those contributing to what is known as studies of nihonjinron. Another major theme concerns Japanese women. The part women take in maintaining 'traditional' and 'feminine' pursuits such as kimono dressing, is examined against the background of the view of women as 'repositories of the past'. Gender distinctions are also considered in the context of the commercial wedding in which it is mainly women, or brides, who are 'objectified' and 'packaged' by the wedding industry. Another perspective on Japanese women pertains to various kinds of representations of women in the Ceremonial Occasions industry and in Japanese society. The thesis is also concerned with representation in general - at both practical and metaphorical levels. Photographs and other forms of visual representation are an essential part of the Ceremonial Occasions industry, and may be related to the emphasis on formality and form in general in Japanese ceremonies and social organization. Wedding representations of all kind are also regarded as part of a 'mirror' to a peculiar thing called 'Japaneseness' which is deliberately devised by the wedding producers and served, carefully packaged, to their customers.


Leakage and magnetizing inductances of a loosely coupled transformer are constantly changing due to the relative positions of the primary and secondary transformer windings in inductive power transfer systems. In order to counteract the nonnegligible inductances and extract desirable characteristics from the system, various compensation networks have been proposed to obtain unity input power factor and constant output voltage for minimum reactive power and ease of control for battery charging or other power electronic applications. However, most of the existing control methods with fixed compensation networks, which are usually designed for a specific coupling coefficient, have failed to fulfill both requirements simultaneously due to the mismatch between the resonant frequencies of the networks after the deviation of the designed coupling condition. In this article, a dynamic series/series–parallel compensation network based on a switch-controlled capacitor is proposed to rematch the series- and parallel-resonant frequencies of the network such that the magnetizing inductance can be adaptively compensated for different sizes of air gap/misalignment. By doing so, the requirements of load-independent output voltage and unity input power factor can be simultaneously fulfilled, while zero-voltage switching on the primary bridge is still maintained under different coupling conditions by a single-stage converter. An experimental prototype with the air gap ranging from 10–16 cm is built to verify the idea.


Vegetation cover and water resources play an important role in determining soil characteristics and serves as the energy source for the vast array of animal species. This study is focused in the investigation of the problem of vegetation cover and water resources depletion resulting from increased population pressure and its associated socio-economic activities. The study area is the Igunga District, in Tabora Region. The land area covered by the District is 6,788 Sq-km which is 8.9 per cent of the area covered by the region. The altitude varies from 1000m to 1800m above sea level, and annual rainfall ranges between 500mm and 800mm. Vegetation in this area consists of the grassland and acacia species; hence the District is semi-arid in nature. The objective of this study was to assess and model the vegetation cover and water resources changes that had occurred in between 1985-1990, 1990-1995, 1995-2000 and 2000- 2010 epochs, as the results of increased population pressure and the human socio-economic activities conducted in the study area. The data used for the research was Landsat Satellite Imageries of 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. The ERDAS Imagine 9.1 Software was used in the pre-processing and processing of the image data. The classification technique used was the Hybrid Classification method, which utilizes both features of unsupervised and supervised classifications. The Accuracy Assessment results for all classified image were above 80%. Change detection was applied to detect changes between the epochs. The findings show that the vegetation cover, especially the forest and woodland cover changed to bush-land vegetation cover type and to bareland This means that, forest and woodlands had a decreasing trend of change while the bushland and bareland had an increasing trend of change. The water resources showed a slight depletion.
Key words: Vegetation cover, water resources, sustainability, policy reform.


To monitor human bioaging as a health integral index by blood plasma markers as a molar ratio for biochemically coupled monomers of intracellular lipofuscin, an intracellular polymeric aging pigment with free-radical crossed shifts, has been developed. Lipofuscin includes cell debris with catabolites of lipoperoxic cascade and lipid antioxidants. The latter were detected in the plasma samples of normal adults and children, as well as in Chernobyl clean-up workers (24-62 years old by 1990) with external total gamma-doses of 0.9-145 cSv for 4.2 years. Dynamics for bioaging markers as the molar ratio of blood levels of lipoperoxic catabolites to their antioxidants reflected normal physiologic peculiarities for the studied age periods: oxygen stress for newborns, adaptation during childhood, stability for the middle age and an increased lipoperoxidation (mainly for aging men) due to the age weakening of the antioxidant control. The ratio for the fractions of ma- lone dialdehyde (MDA), a lipoperoxic final catabolite, showed the increase of its binding by plasma proteins in proportions to calendar ages for the norm, as it is the case for lipofuscin; The graph of the age normal molar ratio of protein-bound MDA to the free one was pre-set for calibrations into the developed computer Program to calculate Relative Aging Velocities (Wrel) by bioage increments during the period of human exposure to radiation from the CAPS damage. Wrel were increasing logarithmically to the obtained doses if the total radiation exceeded 4 cSv and exceeded their normal velocities at 50 cSv 10 times or more. Slowing down of Wrel in relation to the calendar age increment was found if the sum doses were lower than 4 cSv. Levels of the studied plasma metabolites as their bioage Moles/Moles markers relative to their norms are dynamically stationary in contrast to the lipofuscin intracellular irreversible accumulation. Earlier it was shown that the decreased vitamin E and A levels with the increased lipoperoxic metabolite blood levels that indicate health consequences for the irradiated CAPS personell with related cytogenetic deviations, as well as for the adult population and children from radio-polluted regions, were restored to norms or corrected by adequate peroral therapy with bioantioxidants.


The distribution and development of angiotensin converting enzyme (EC 22.214.171.124) were studied in fetal and newborn rabbits, using fixed tissues embedded in paraffin and stained with a fluorescein-conjugated antibody specific for the enzyme. The enzyme was found at the luminal plasma membrane of endothelial cells from the second third of gestation to the neonatal period. In addition, two types of epithelial cells also contained the enzyme, renal tubular and intestinal. The vascular enzyme may play a role in the regulation of its vasoactive peptide substrates, angiotensin and bradykinin, at term.


Spiral catalyst substrate is one of the substrate types for catalytic converter and has
high geometric surface area. It is to provide support structure in which the washcoat
and the catalyst are applied. Currently, an issue of considerable interest in producing
the substrate from a thin sheet metal with a thickness O.l1mm and using FeCrAI
material has become a trend. Existing patented apparatus overseas use a complicated
system and specific details are scarce. Therefore, this research presents the works in
designing and developing an innovative apparatus based on a systematic approach of
Pahl and Beitz's model of design process. Furthermore, Finite Element Method
(Dynaform) was applied for the forming analysis of a trapezoid cell of corrugation on
a thin sheet metal and spiral shape of corrugated sheet metal. These works provide
the conceptual designs for the apparatus of Corrugated Tool for corrugation process
and Spiral Tool for spiral process. The selected conceptual design was established by
developing a model of the apparatus. A rule of thumb for requiring unloaded
diameter of corrugated sheet metal in spiral shape was derived. Forming Limit
Diagram (FLD) shows that the thin sheet metal was successfully formed without any
cracking and Thickness Diagram shows that the thickness of the formed thin sheet
metal was in safe thickness. The springback effect that occurs during the sheet metal
in spiral shape was solved using the developed casing. The designed apparatus of
Corrugated Tool and Spiral Tool were fabricated and optimization was performed by
producing the spiral catalyst substrate. The innovative apparatus for producing the
full scale of spiral catalyst substrate were successfully designed and developed.


Two lectins, RPA 1 and RPA 3, were purified from Robinia pseudoacacia seeds. These two lectins differ in their physicochemical and biological properties. By analytical ultracentrifugation the Mr values of RPA 1 and RPA 3 were estimated to be 59,000 and 105,000 respectively. From SDS/polyacrylamide-gel-electrophoresis data it was estimated that RPA 1 consisted of two subunits of Mr 34,000, and RPA 3 of two types of subunits (Mr 30,500 and 29,000). RPA 1 and RPA 3 were found to be glycoproteins of comparable amino acid composition. RPA 1 was the more highly glycosylated molecule (11.6% versus 4.3%). The carbohydrate-specificity of RPA 1 appears to be complex. RPA 3 was inhibited by N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and human alpha-glycoproteins. Both lectins exerted a mitogenic effect on human peripheral-blood lymphocytes. Concentrations between 0.5 and 1 microgram of RPA 3/ml gave optimal proliferative responses, whereas for RPA 1 concentrations higher than 10 micrograms/ml were needed for these responses.


Necropsy is only carried out in about 45% of perinatal deaths in the UK. There are several reasons for this, one of the major ones being the low level of acceptance of necropsy by parents for personal or religious reasons. Brookes and colleagues examined 20 fetuses by both post mortem scanning and necropsy and compared the diagnostic information obtained. In two fetuses necropsy provided more important diagnostic information than MRI. One of these was a fetus with cystomegaly and bladder wall hypertrophy which was not detected on MRI. In the other case there was ventriculomegaly diagnosed both at necropsy and on MRI, but only detailed histological examination showed the periaqueductal haemorrhage which caused it. This finding would have had importance in the genetic counselling of the family. In eight of the fetuses, comparable information was obtained by the two investigations. In eight, more detail was obtained by the necropsy but the MRI gave similar diagnostic results. In four cases, the MRI gave more information, particularly with respect to central nervous system structures. The fetal brain is very friable, even after preservation, and MRI scanning allows examination without disturbance. Musculoskeletal structures and cartilage were well seen in MRI scans. Two cases of hip dysplasia were diagnosed in this series; necropsy does not usually examine for this routinely. MRI scanning was also successful at showing body fluid abnormalities. The evidence presented suggests that in 90% of cases comparable diagnostic information is obtained by MRI as from necropsy. For many parents, MRI may prove acceptable where necropsy does not. Important information for genetic counselling could be obtained by using this novel approach to post mortem diagnosis. Support for the prion hypothesis for inheritance of a phenotypic trait in yeast Patino M, Liu J-J, Glover JR, Lindquist S. Science 1996;273:622-6.


Background: The optimal therapeutic approach for people suffering with unstable Charcot arthropathy of the midfoot is unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the cost-effectiveness of three competing treatment strategies for adults suffering with unstable, midfoot Charcot arthropathy. Methods: A Markov model was utilized to compare Charcot reconstruction (CR), primary transtibial amputation (TTA) and lifetime bracing in three progressively worsening clinical scenarios: no foot ulcer, uncomplicated ulcer, and infected ulcer. Data regarding costs and probabilities were obtained from available literature. Primary outcomes included long-term costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). Willingness-to-pay was set at $100,000 USD. Results: TTA failed to show cost-effectiveness in comparison to other strategies available. Lifetime bracing was cost-effective in all clinical scenarios, with ICERs ranging from $6,970 to $15,010. CR was also cost-effective in the non-ulcerated and ulcerated scenarios, and offered the greatest potential for maximal QALYs gained, but failed to show value in the infected ulcer scenario. For CR to be cost-effective in the infected ulcer scenario, costs of surgery would need to lessen to $40,000 or complication rates would need to remain under 50%. The results in the non-ulcerated and ulcerated cohorts were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: Bracing is a cost-effective option in all stages of Charcot arthropathy while CR appears to be only cost-effective when performed early (i.e., in the non-ulcerated and uncomplicated ulcerated patient). An opportunity for shared-decision making exists in the early stages of Charcot arthropathy, where patient goals and expectations may be assessed while multiple cost-effective options are still available. Disclosure A.E. Fleischer: None. R.H. Albright: None. D.G. Armstrong: None. D. Wukich: Consultant; Self; Orthofix, Wright Medical. Other Relationship; Self; Arthrex.


ABSTRACT Charing Cross Hospital—King's College Hospital —Sir Joseph Lister—The Spray—Sir James Paget— St. Bartholomew's Hospital—Ovariotomy—Antisepsis —Tarsotomy as it should not be done—Museum of the College of Surgeons—Professor Stewart.Dear Dr. Fenger: —My hospital visits in London began with Charing Cross Hospital. This institution is centrally located and was built in 1837. It contains nearly 200 beds, and affords a fair opportunity for studying accidental surgery, as the majority of cases treated here are recent injuries. Bloxam, Bellamy and Barwell are the surgeons in attendance. Although the spray is still in use and antiseptic dressings are applied, I found many of the wounds suppurating; the best possible proof that the essential and pedantic details of modern treatment of wounds are not fully carried out in practice. Carbolic acid is used as an antiseptic. Frequent changes of dressing undoubtedly are responsible, in many instances, for the numerous failures in securing primary union of


We describe a new strategy for the in situ growth of molecular wires predicated on the synthesis of a trifunctional "primed" contact formed from metal-carbon multiple bonds. The ruthenium-carbon π bond provides structural stability to the molecular linkages under ambient conditions, and density functional calculations indicate the formation of an efficient conduit for charge carriers to pass between the metal and the molecule. Moreover, the metal-carbon π bond provides a chemically reactive site from which a conjugated molecular wire can be grown in situ through an olefin metathesis reaction.


As a general practitioner to whom patients presumably look for a source of disinterested information about their health, I have difficulty knowing what to make of the latest recommendations in the osteoporosis clinical practice guidelines and accompanying commentary. Contained therein is an expanded list of indications for testing and drug treatment for osteoporosis as recommended by a group of 13 Canadian academics, bolstered by an endorsement from an international expert. The now standard list of competing interests in those articles reveals that of the 13 academics, 10 list a total of 131 pharmaceutical corporate sponsors (an average of 13 each). The author of the supporting commentary lists 47 national divisions of 32 pharmaceutical corporate sponsors, in addition to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. If nothing else, this revelation suggests that, as bone density goes down, medical profits go up. But are patients receiving good value for their investment? We continue to look forward to an independent cost–benefit analysis as our publicly funded health system groans under the collective weight of screening orthodoxy. Perhaps the three independent academics on the panel could be invited to write a minority opinion. Presumably it is only a matter of time until governments add osteoporosis screening to the list of conditions for which general practitioners are paid search-and-destroy screening incentive bonuses — at which point we will all stop asking questions and instead be content that the public is being well served through the continuing wholesale adoption of pharmaceutical industry guidelines.


BACKGROUND
Studies of alcohol withdrawal syndrome indicate a higher prevalence in men than in women. However, it is unknown how the condition differs between the sexes.

OBJECTIVE
To assess alcohol withdrawal syndrome in women versus men at a single site.

METHODS
All cases of alcohol withdrawal syndrome at a public hospital from 2010 to 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. For all 1496 episodes, age, sex, and admission to a general care unit (ward) versus the medical intensive care unit were ascertained, along with patient survival. A detailed analysis was performed of 437 cases: all 239 patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit, all 99 female patients admitted to the ward, and 99 randomly selected male patients admitted to the ward. Also analyzed were administration of benzodiazepines, disease course, length of stay, and complications.

RESULTS
Men accounted for 92% of all cases (1378 of 1496; P < .001) and medical intensive care unit admissions (220 of 239; P < .05). Sixteen percent of both men and women were admitted to the medical intensive care unit. Men were older (mean age, 45.6 vs 43.9 years; P < .01), and women required more benzodiazepines. Similar rates of complications occurred in both sexes, although women had a higher rate of pancreatitis and men had higher rates of pneumonia, higher rates of sepsis, and longer stays.

CONCLUSIONS
Men and women with alcohol withdrawal syndrome have similar complications, courses, and intensive care unit admission rates, although men are more prone to pneumonia and have longer stays.


A structure for adaptively separating, enhancing and tracking uncorrelated sources with an electromagnetic vector sensor (EMVS) is presented. The structure consists of a set of parallel spatial processors, one for each individual source. Two stages of processing are involved in each spatial processor. The first preprocessing stage rejects all other sources except the one of interest, while the second stage is an adaptive one for maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and tracking the desired source. The preprocessings are designed using the latest source parameter estimates obtained from the source trackers, and a redesign is activated periodically or whenever any source has been detected by the source trackers to have made significant movement. Compared with conventional adaptive beamforming, the algorithm has the advantage that no a priori information on any desired signal location is needed, the sources are separated at maximum SNR, and their locations are available. The structure is also well suited for parallel implementation. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the capability and performance of the algorithm.


ABSTRACT The article connects the fields of work/non-work research with the research on social integration of migrants. It is based on in-depth interviews with foreign physicians in the south of Sweden which explored their work/non-work experiences and their subjective perceptions of managing work, family, social and private domains of life. Based on individual reflections of social life as experienced in the workplace, in the locations of everyday life and transnationally, the analysis does not pursue the existence and composition of social networks but focuses on non-instrumental aspects of social life and explores their significance for high-skilled migrants' own sense of integration. The findings suggest that migrants who are privileged in terms of education and employment still face extensive challenges in the social domain of life, especially with regard to close friendships. The findings furthermore suggest that social integration is a process that is influenced by place, time and individual life trajectories and therefore cannot be truthfully accounted for by looking at the numbers and ethnic composition of a migrant's social relations. It is the quality of relations – notably friendships – that matters most.


BackgroundEndothelin (ET)-1 plays an important role in the pathogenesis of deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt–induced hypertension. We evaluated the pathological role of ETB receptors in DOCA-salt–induced hypertension, cardiovascular hypertrophy, and renal damage by using the spotting-lethal (sl) rat, which carries a naturally occurring deletion in the ETB receptor gene. Methods and ResultsHomozygous (sl/ sl) rats exhibit abnormal development of neural crest–derived epidermal melanocytes and the enteric nervous system, and they do not live beyond 1 month because of intestinal aganglionosis and intestinal obstruction. The dopamine &bgr;-hydroxylase (D&bgr;H) promoter was used to direct ETB transgene expression in sl/ sl rats to support normal enteric nervous system development. D&bgr;H-ETBsl/sl rats live into adulthood and are healthy, expressing ETB receptors in adrenal glands and other adrenergic neurons. When homozygous (sl/ sl) and wild-type (+/+) rats, all of which were transgenic, were treated with DOCA-salt, homozygous rats exhibited earlier and higher increases in systolic blood pressure than did wild-type rats. Chronic treatment with ABT-627, an ETA receptor antagonist, completely suppressed DOCA-salt–induced hypertension in both groups. Renal dysfunction and histological damage were more severe in homozygous than in wild-type rats. Marked vascular hypertrophy was observed in homozygous rats than in wild-type rats. Renal and vascular injuries were significantly improved by ABT-627. In DOCA-salt–treated homozygous rats, there were notable increases in renal, urinary, and aortic ET-1, all of which were normalized by ABT-627. ConclusionsETB-mediated actions are protective in the pathogenesis of DOCA-salt–induced hypertension. Enhanced ET-1 production and ETA-mediated actions are responsible for the increased susceptibility to DOCA-salt hypertension and tissue injuries in ETB receptor–deficient rats.


There is incontrovertible evidence that early learning opportunities shape long-term development and health. Nevertheless, early childhood care and education (ECCE) is not expressly mentioned as part of the right to education in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This paper argues that the right to education can nevertheless be regarded as including ECCE. We examine the treaties, General Comments, and 264 Concluding Observations by relevant UN monitoring bodies, covering 152 countries from 2015 to 2020, to determine whether the right to ECCE is regarded as part of States' obligations and the content of the duty. These demonstrate consistently that States must provide affordable, accessible, quality, inclusive ECCE, with adequate resources. We argue that monitoring committees should draw these obligations together in one General Comment, thereby improving States' accountability and guiding the delivery of ECCE.


Library Resources and Assignment Support for Chemistry 2B students In this exercise you need to search Combined Chemical Dictionary Online, CRC Handbook of Chemistry & Physics and Merck Index. Write each of the exercises in separate sheet


The use of air containment systems has been a growing trend in the data center industry and is an important energy saving strategy for data center optimization. Cold Aisle Containment (CAC) is one of the most effective passive cooling solutions for high density heat load applications. Cold Aisle Containment provides a physical separation between the cold air and the hot exhaust air by enclosing the cold aisle, preventing hot air recirculation and cold air bypass. This separation provides uniform inlet air temperatures to the servers, which can further contribute to overall data center efficiency.This paper includes the thermal test data for a data center lab with and without a CAC set up. The paper quantifies the thermal impact of implementing a CAC system over an open Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle (HA/CA) arrangement for three different cabinet heat load conditions at two different CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioner) return air set point conditions. It studies the advantages of CAC over standard HA/CA arrangement. A case study has been presented showing a cooling energy savings of 22% with the use of a CAC system over a standard HA/CA arrangement.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


This study assessed the speed of recognition of facial emotional expressions (happy and angry) as a function of violent media consumption. Color photos of calm facial expressions morphed to either an angry or a happy facial expression. Participants were asked to make a speeded identification of the emotion (happiness or anger) during the morph. Results indicated that, independent of trait aggressiveness, participants high in violent media consumption responded slower to depictions of happiness and faster to depictions of anger than participants low in violent media consumption. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to current models of aggressive behavior.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of therapeutic innovation on the interpersonal style of physicians by using the historical example of the treatment of general paralysis of the insane by malaria fever therapy.

METHOD
The study employed historical qualitative and descriptive methods to analyze medical and popular literature and medical records. These medical records were from a single institution and contained verbatim transcripts of patient interviews and doctors' conferences. The author examined records of patients diagnosed with neurosyphilis from the periods before (1910-1928) and after (1928-1950) the introduction of malaria fever therapy.

RESULTS
Before the introduction of malaria fever therapy, physicians saw their neurosyphilitic patients as "hopeless," "immoral," and "stupid" paretics--objects to be acted upon, a view consistent with the cultural belief that syphilitic patients were sinful and depraved. After the introduction of malaria fever therapy, doctors wrote more positively and empathically about their neurosyphilitic patients, allowing patients to become active participants in their therapeutic regimens. Patients with neurosyphilis voluntarily sought admission specifically for fever therapy, seeing the asylum as a place of cure rather than as an institution of confinement.

CONCLUSIONS
This history illustrates that biological therapies can powerfully affect physicians' perceptions of patients and need not remove them from patients' subjective experiences. Instead, biological treatments may enhance physicians' ability to empathize with their patients' suffering.


PCT No. PCT/US95/02635 Sec. 371 Date Jul. 11, 1995 Sec. 102(e) Date Jul. 11, 1995 PCT Filed Mar. 2, 1995 PCT Pub. No. WO95/23558 PCT Pub. Date Sep. 8, 1995This invention is a method for ensuring for endovascular occlusion through the formation of thrombi in arteries, veins, aneurysms, vascular malformations, and arteriovenous fistulas. In particular, it deals with a method to predictably determine the instant of electrolytic detachment of an embolic device which is introduced to and is intended to remain at the desired thrombus formation site. The invention further includes a method for delivering an embolic device and detecting its electrolytic separation. According to the present invention, DC power with AC superposition is delivered to the sacrificial link that couples a delivery member (e.g., a guidewire) to an occlusion device. The impedance (as measured by the amplitude of the superposed AC) is monitored. When a predetermined change in that impedance (or amplitude occurs), which indicates coil detachment, the DC power is interrupted to minimize or avoid further electrolysis.


: Inhibitory effect of Zhuling (Grifola umbellata pilat) on urinary bladder cancer was determined experimentally and clinically. The results showed that zhuling inhibited significantly the induction of bladder cancer in rats exposed to N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN), decreasing from 100% (18/18) in control group to 61.1% (11/18) in zhuling (P less than 0.01). Zhuling was given to 22 patients with recurrent bladder cancer after TUR or partial cystectomy. The patients were followed up for 12 to 38 months (average 26.5 months). Bladder cancer recurred in seven of the patients with a longer recurrence interval (19.2 months) after medication than before medication (P less than 0.05). The remaining 15 patients had no recurrence. The mechanism of Zhuling is discussed.


AIMS
An association has been described between death from arrhythmia and early repolarization, an electrocardiogram pattern characterized by elevation of the QRS-ST junction (J-point). Little is known about this relationship in non-white populations. This study examines the relationship between J-point elevation (JPE) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and whether this relationship differs by race or sex.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A total of 15 141 middle-aged subjects from the prospective, population-based Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study were included in this analysis. The primary endpoint was physician-adjudicated SCD occurring from baseline (1987-1989) through December 2002, secondary endpoints were fatal and non-fatal coronary events and all-cause mortality occurring through December 2007. J-point elevation was defined as J-point amplitude ≥ 0.1 mV. Pre-specified subgroup analyses by sex and race were conducted. J-point elevation in any lead was present in 1866 subjects (12.3%). After adjustment for demographic, clinical, lifestyle, and laboratory variables, JPE was not significantly related to SCD in the overall sample [adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 1.23; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.87-1.75]. However, significant interactions were present between race and JPE (P = 0.006) and between sex and JPE (P = 0.020). J-point elevation was significantly predictive of SCD in whites (adjusted HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.28-3.21) and in females (adjusted HR, 2.54; 95% CI, 1.34-4.82).

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that JPE is associated with an increased risk of SCD in whites and in females, but not in blacks or males. Further studies are needed to clarify which subgroups of individuals with JPE are at increased risk for adverse cardiac events.


Objective: To determine the accuracy of contrast enema (CE) in diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease (HD) in infants. Methods: A total of 23 CE films of infants with suspected HD were collected in a period of two years. Of those, 11 cases had histological confirmed diagnosis of HD, and 12 cases had HD excluded. The radiographs were reviewed independently by three pediatric radiologists without knowing the histological diagnosis. Radiological signs of HD, including transition zone, spastic colon and reversed recto-sigmoid index were commented by the radiologists in all radiographs. Also, they need to commit the overall impression for or against the radiological diagnosis of HD in each case at the end of examination. Results: For transition zone sign, the mean false positive and false negative rates were 23.1% and 40.6% respectively. For spastic colon sign, the false positive and false negative rates were 15.3% and 59.1% respectively. Reversed recto-sigmoid index gave false positive and false negatives rates of 18.1% and 57.6% respectively. For overall impression of radiological diagnosis of HD, the false positive and false negative rates were 18.8% and 44.3% respectively. Among all three radiologists, concordant and correct radiological diagnosis occurred in 11 out of 23 cases (47.8%). Conclusions: Radiological signs shown in CE have high false positive and high negative rates in diagnosis of HD. There is significant discordance among different radiologists in reading CE radiographs. Diagnosis of HD should not be relied on CE alone.


Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a very common functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort and altered bowel habits. The disease affects a large part of the world population. The clinical course is mostly characterized by a cyclic recurrence of symptoms. Therefore, IBS patients should receive, as an initial therapeutic approach, a short course of treatment, and long-term treatment should be reserved for those patients with recurrent symptoms. The available clinical trials show that significant improvement of the symptoms over placebo could be achieved with various drugs, although this improvement is frequently time dependent and with high relapse rates after the cessation of the treatment. In a proportion of patients, clinically obvious relapse could appear long after stopping the treatment. Some of the available pharmacologic agents, including otilonium bromide (OB), are able to significantly prolong the time to the appearance of relapse, compared with placebo. As a consequence, some authors suggest that a cyclic treatment could be of benefit. Antispasmodic drugs have been used for many years in an effort to control the symptoms of IBS. OB is a poorly absorbed spasmolytic drug, exerting significantly greater control of the symptoms of IBS compared with placebo. Recent data suggest that the drug could effectively be used for the long-term management of patients with IBS. The aim of this review is to provide the reader with an evidence-based overview of the efficacy and tolerability of OB in the long-term management of IBS patients, based on the results of the clinical trials published so far.


Students in a U.S. university (n = 187) and a South Korean university (n = 201) responded to a sociopolitical questionnaire that included measures of militarism, nationalism, internationalism, patriotism, respect for civil liberties, and tolerance of dissent. Most correlations between militarism and the comparison sociopolitical variables proved significant in both samples but tended to be stronger in the U.S. sample. Militarism correlated positively with nationalism and patriotism but negatively with internationalism, respect for civil liberties, and tolerance of dissent. The strongest relationships were between militarism and both respect for civil liberties and tolerance of dissent. In the U.S. sample, relationships between militarism and the sociopolitical variables were stronger for males than females.


In the transitional phase of Nepal, attaining peoples' democracy in the 1950, the tourism and hospitality sector witnessed dynamism. The isolated Nepal was on the way of opening for tourism. This paper tries to frame a picture of the era of 1950s in Nepal when commercial tourism was introduced. An overlooked pioneer, Boris Lissanevitch, who established the international-standard Royal Hotel in Kathmandu in 1954, assisted in making key changes in the progression of tourism as visa issuance, hospitality modernization, management of royal events, sightseeing activities, accomplishing inter-continental land cruise, and introduction of European vegetables and dishes. His vision of tourism as an economic sector led Nepal attaining its golden age (of tourism) thus paving the way for other tourism and hospitality enthusiasts to establish similar businesses. This paper aims at interpreting and appreciating the efforts Boris made in the development of tourism in Nepal among tourism scholars and stakeholders


In June 2008 Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Reviews along with other leading journals in the field was invited to review developments in the Philadelphia region as a model for co-operation between the academic researchers in the Life Sciences and Medicine and the Industrial Biotechnology Sector. This report summarises the impressions made from a "European" viewpoint based on selected site visits.


Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) are separatrices that delineate dynamically distinct regions in general dynamical systems and can be viewed as the extensions of stable and unstable manifolds to general time-dependent systems. Identifying LCS in dynamical systems is useful for many applications, including oceanography and weather prediction. In this paper, we present a collaborative robotic control strategy that is designed to track stable and unstable manifolds in dynamical systems, including ocean flows. The technique does not require global information about the dynamics, and is based on local sensing, prediction, and correction. The collaborative control strategy is implemented with a team of three robots to track coherent structures and manifolds on static flows, a time-dependent model of a wind-driven double-gyre flow often seen in the ocean, experimental data that are generated by a flow tank, and actual ocean data. We present simulation results and discuss theoretical guarantees of the collaborative tracking strategy.


Background: Utilization of the transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) approach for scoliosis offers the patients deformity correction and interbody fusion without the additional morbidity associated with more invasive reconstructive techniques. Published reports on complications associated with these surgical procedures are limited. The purpose of this study was to quantify the intra- and postoperative complications associated with the TLIF surgical approach in patients undergoing surgery for spinal stenosis and degenerative scoliosis correction. Methods: This study included patients undergoing TLIF for degenerative scoliosis with neurogenic claudication and painful lumbar degenerative disc disease. The TLIF technique was performed along with posterior pedicle screw instrumentation. The average follow-up time was 30 months (range, 15–47). Results: A total of 29 patients with an average age of 65.9 years (range, 49–83) were evaluated. TLIFs were performed at 2.2 levels on average (range, 1–4) in addition to 6.0 (range, 4–9) levels of posterolateral instrumented fusion. The preoperative mean lumbar lordosis was 37.6° (range, 16°–55°) compared to 40.5° (range, 26°–59.2°) postoperatively. The preoperative mean coronal Cobb angle was 32.3° (range, 15°–55°) compared to 15.4° (range, 1°–49°) postoperatively. The mean operative time was 528 min (range, 276–906), estimated blood loss was 1091.7 mL (range, 150–2500), and hospitalization time was 8.0 days (range, 3–28). A baseline mean Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score of 7.6 (range, 4–10) decreased to 3.6 (range, 0–8) postoperatively. There were a total of 14 (49%) hardware and/or surgical technique related complications, and 8 (28%) patients required additional surgeries. Five (17%) patients developed pseudoarthrosis. The systemic complications (31%) included death (1), cardiopulmonary arrest with resuscitation (1), myocardial infarction (1), pneumonia (5), and pulmonary embolism (1). Conclusion: This study suggests that although the TLIF approach is a feasible and effective method to treat degenerative adult scoliosis, it is associated with a high rate of intra- and postoperative complications and a long recovery process.


Photovoltaic (PV) power data are a valuable but as yet under-utilised resource that could be used to characterise global irradiance with unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. The resulting knowledge of atmospheric conditions can then be fed back into weather models and will ultimately serve to improve forecasts of PV power itself. This provides a data-driven alternative to statistical methods that use post-processing to overcome inconsistencies between ground-based irradiance measurements and the corresponding predictions of regional weather models (see for instance Frank et al., 2018). This work reports first results from an algorithm developed to infer global horizontal irradiance as well as atmospheric optical properties such as aerosol or cloud optical depth from PV power measurements.


Abstract Using the example of the administrative use of mobile services, which go by the term 'mobile government' (M-Government), this article examines innovative solutions in the public service of the 21st century. The regional focus of the analysis is on the German administration. It is shown that the innovative potential of adopting mobile services in public administration lies in the fact that they break up and at the same time modify the contact structure in the administration and between the administration and citizens or companies by replacing the office with a dynamic network of virtual relationships between administrative employees and administrative addressees. M-Government does not mean saying goodbye to the static office model, but it does add a new, qualitatively different dimension to administration. The concept of mobility on which this article is based is based on a spatial understanding, but detaches it from its originally traffic-related context. Mobile administration is intended to express the fact that administration and its interaction contexts become location-independent through the use of mobile services.


A team of experienced distance educators, from three separate faculties at the University of New Brunswick, conducted a two- stage study that examined learners/participants' perceptions of factors affecting their learning in courses offered by audio- conferencing, audio-graphic conferencing, and video- conferencing. Study findings determined that, regardless of the technology used, learners were most influenced by instructor teaching style. These findings underscore the importance of maintaining and refining the more relational and interactive aspects of effective pedagogical practice within the contexts of adult learning and distance education.


Human collaboration with systems within the Computational Creativity (CC) field is often restricted to shallow interactions, where the creative processes, of systems and humans alike, are carried out in isolation, without any (or little) intervention from the user, and without any discussion about how the unfolding decisions are taking place. Fruitful co-creation requires a sustained ongoing interaction that can include discussions of ideas, comparisons to previous/other works, incremental improvements and revisions, etc. For these interactions, communication is an intrinsic factor. This means giving a voice to CC systems and enabling two-way communication channels between them and their users so that they can: explain their processes and decisions, support their ideas so that these are given serious consideration by their creative collaborators, and learn from these discussions to further improve their creative processes. For this, we propose a set of design principles for CC systems that aim at supporting greater co-creation and collaboration with their human collaborators.


The primary objective of the current study is to investigate whether there is any manipulation of accounting earnings through discretionary accrual choices by acquiring firms in the period preceding the announcement and completion of acquisitions. 125 sample of share acquiring firms and 158 cash acquiring firms were analysed over the period 1991-2000. In addition, 125 industry and size-matched control companies are also selected from the population of non-acquiring firms in that particular year. The control group is used to provide information on how comparable firms, not involved in acquisition from the sample share-acquiring firms. The results in the current study provide evidence that in the year prior to the acquisition, acquiring firms in share for share acquisitions manage earnings upward. The result indicates that acquiring firms in Malaysia use accounting†† procedures in an attempt to increase their share price to share for share acquisition.


The Afghanistan National Education Strategic Plan (2017-2021) is the third strategic plan for education development issued by the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan since its establishment. The Ministry of Education of Afghanistan, in accordance with the Constitution of Afghanistan and the provisions of various sectors, provides an in-depth analysis of the current situation of education in Afghanistan and sets the direction for the development of education in Afghanistan from 2017 to 2021. The Afghanistan National Education Strategic Plan (2017-2021) is divided into three main parts:quality and relevance, equitable access, and efficient and transparent management. The goal of Afghanistan's National Education Strategic Plan (2017-2021) is to develop skilled and capable Afghan citizens through the Afghan education system to sustain Afghanistan's socio-economic development and social cohesion.


Adult social reinforcement and access to materials in the preschool were made contingent on the verbalizations of a 4-yr-old Negro girl with an extremely low frequency of talking. Though the teachers' social attention was always given immediately for all spontaneous speech, if the child's spontaneous verbalizations were requests for materials, those materials were withheld until she had responded to the teachers' questions about those materials. When she was silent, the teachers withheld their attention and the materials. A high frequency of verbal behavior was quickly established. When both teacher attention and materials were provided only when the child was not verbalizing, the child's frequency of talking immediately decreased. When social attention and materials were again made contingent upon spontaneous speech and answering questions, the child's frequency of talking quickly increased to its previous high level. The content of the child's verbal behavior which increased was primarily a repetition of requests to the teachers with little change noted in the non-request verbalizations, or verbalizations to other children. A further experimental analysis demonstrated that social interaction per se was not the reinforcer which maintained the increased verbalization; rather, for this child, the material reinforcers which accompanied the social interaction appeared to be the effective components of teacher attention.


For the most part, philosophical discussion of the senses has been concerned with what distinguishes them from one another, following Grice's treatment of this issue in his 'Remarks on the senses' (1962). But this is one of two questions which Grice raises in this influential paper. The other, the question of what distinguishes senses from faculties that are not senses, is the question I address in this thesis. Though there are good reasons to think that the awareness we have of our bodies is perceptual, we do not usually think of bodily awareness as a sense. So in particular, I try to give an account of what it is that is distinctive about the five familiar modalities that they do not share with bodily awareness.
I argue that what is distinctive about vision, touch, hearing, taste and smell, is that perception in all these modalities has enabling and disabling conditions of a certain kind. These enabling and disabling conditions are manifest in the conscious character of experience in these modalities, and exploited in active perceptual attention— in looking, listening, and so on. Bodily awareness has no such enabling conditions. The five familiar senses having this distinctive feature, and bodily awareness lacking it is not a merely incidental difference between them.
Nevertheless, I do not claim that having these enabling conditions is necessary and sufficient for counting some faculty as a sense, or, correlatively, for something being an instance of sense-perception. Rather, we can see why it would serve certain (contingent) human interests for us to think of the faculties that involve these enabling conditions as instances of a single kind of thing, of which bodily awareness is not an instance.


While some observers have claimed that the European Council has become the key institution in European Union politics, others have argued that the Council's role has remained relatively stable over time. In this article, we argue that an analysis of agenda formation dynamics in the European Council may help us understand better how the European Council works and how its role has evolved over time. Building on theories of agenda‐setting, we identify two ideal‐typical modes of agenda formation: selective targeting and routine monitoring. Based on a comprehensive dataset of coded European Council Conclusions in the period 1975–2011, we show that the substantive content of the European Council agenda shows little change over time. However, in terms of agenda formation dynamics, we find a marked shift toward routine monitoring of issues. This supports the claim that the European Council is developing into the EU's de facto government.


Approximately 42 billion checks were written and collected in the United States in 2000. The vast majority of noncash transactions continue to be settled with paper checks, which despite gains in efficiency and speed, still require costly and time-consuming sorting and transportation. An alternative-electronic check presentment-could save time and money. Yet, electronic services have been slow to take off, possibly because of the way the Federal Reserve prices them. If the pricing structure were revised, there might be more demand from banks for electronic services, and a higher level of efficiency, theoretically, might be obtained. ; This paper uses data on purchases of the Federal Reserve's electronic check services by individual banks and tests whether demand for these services varies among depository institutions. We find that small and large banks use the services differently-large commercial banks are more likely to use MICR Information and Image than are small or medium banks, but the opposite is true for the other electronic check services. Demand elasticities may vary as well, although few of our estimated elasticities are statistically significant, suggesting that demand for the Federal Reserve's electronic check services does not adjust with price shifts, probably because other factors (besides the Federal Reserve's prices) can influence banks' decisions on how much to buy. We find that small and medium banks have more elastic demand for MICR Information than the large banks. However, data matching limited our sample and prevented us from drawing definite conclusions. Our results presented in this article are not conclusive enough to make policy recommendations, and should not be construed as such. Instead, this article is intended to raise the issue of differentiated pricing for electronic check products.


Many agonist ligands are known experimentally to display a range of efficacies and potencies in different tissues and preparations. To analyze the role of the levels of receptor expression and availability in the intrinsic activities and potencies of agonists, the function of a number of beta-adrenoceptor ligands was examined in clones of neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid NG108-15 cells transfected to express differing levels of the human beta 2-adrenoceptor, as well as after treatment of these cell lines with the irreversible beta-adrenoceptor antagonist bromoacetyl alprenolol menthane (BAAM). Clone beta N22 expressed approximately 10-fold higher levels of the receptor than did clone beta N17. In measurements of agonist stimulation of adenylyl cyclase activity in membranes of these cells or agonist stimulation of the formation of the complex of Gs alpha and adenylyl cyclase, which acts as the high affinity binding site for [3H]forskolin in whole cells, a series of beta-adrenoceptor agonists, including dichloroisoprenaline, ephedrine, dobutamine, and salbutamol, displayed higher intrinsic activity and showed concentration-response curves that were substantially to the left (lower EC50 values) in clone beta N22, compared with clone beta N17. Treatment of clone beta N22 cells with varying concentrations of BAAM reduced the intrinsic activity of these ligands and shifted the concentration-response curves for these agents to the right. In clone beta N22 cells and membranes, reduction in the observed intrinsic activity for ephedrine required elimination of a smaller fraction of the beta 2-adrenoceptor reserve than for salbutamol and reduction in the effect of the full agonists isoprenaline and epinephrine was noted only with high fractional elimination of the receptor pool. The effect of isoprenaline was substantially reduced, however, by BAAM treatment of clone beta N17 cells, where the beta 2-adrenoceptor number approached extremely low levels. Analysis of the data using the formalisms of Whaley et al. [Mol. Pharmacol. 45:481-489 (1994)] showed that prediction of alterations in agonist potency with receptor number for full agonists can be adequately extended to partial agonists.


Abstract:
Background & Aim: Q fever is an important zoonotic disease caused by infection with Coxiella burnetii, a Gram negative, obligate intracellular bacterium classified within the order Legionellales. Farmers, veterinarians, abattoir workers and laboratory personnel are among persons at risk of Q fever. The aim of this study was to determine frequency of IgM anti-Coxiella burnetii antibodies in slaughterhouse workers in Kerman city/ Iran.
Method: In this survey, 64 sera samples were gathered during May - June 2011 from slaughterhouse workers to evaluate the presence of phase II IgM antibodies against Q fever, using a commercial indirect ELISA test (Virion/Sermon, Germany).
Results: Among all sera samples tested, only 5 samples (7.8%) were positive for the presence of IgM antibodies.
Conclusion: Since chronic Q fever leads to more complex conditions like endocarditics, chronic fatigue syndrome and recurrent abortion, preventive measures like using mask or available vaccines are recommended. Moreover, early diagnosis of Q fever followed by appropriate treatment is necessary.

Keywords: Q fever, Abattoirs, Workers, Serology, ELISA


The structural , optical and electrical properties of vacuum-evaporated CdTe thin films were investigated as a function of post-deposition annealing without and with CdCl2 treatment at 300 ˚C for 15min . X-Ray diffraction studies of the as- deposited films revealed polycrystalline in nature with cubic structure . The intensity of the (111) peak increased with the CdCl2 annealing treatment , and there is an increasing in the grain sizes after the CdCl2 annealing treatment with voids around the grain boundaries from the surface morphologies after the CdCl2 annealing treatment . The optical band gap values , Eg , were 1.56, 1.54 and 1.38 eV for film deposited at room temperature and after annealing without and with CdCl2 treatment at 300 ˚C for 15min respectively . Furthermore , the activation energy decreases after heat treatment without and with CdCl2 for CdTe thin films. CdTe


We estimate the effects of class-size reduction by exploiting exogenous variation caused by Maimonides' rule, which requires that the maximum class size be 40 students and classes be split when 41 or more students are enrolled. Our data cover all fourth to ninth graders in 1,064 public schools in an anonymous prefecture for three years. We find that the effects of class-size reduction on academic test scores are small on average, but slightly stronger for students not going to a private tutoring school. We find no evidence that small class size improves non-cognitive skills. Our substantive conclusion does not change when controlling for school fixed effects.


This work presents a novel approach using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2 ) to selectively extract poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) porogen from a poly(methylsilsesquioxane) (PMSSQ) matrix, which results in the formation of nanopores. Nanoporous thin films were prepared by spin-casting a solution containing appropriate quantities of PPG porogen and PMSSQ dissolved in PM acetate. The as-spun films were thermally cured at temperatures well below the thermal degradation temperature of the organic polymer to form a cross-linked organic/inorganic polymer hybrid. By selectively removing the CO 2 soluble PPG porogen, open and closed pore structures are possible depending upon the porogen load and its distribution in the matrix before extraction. In the present work, two different loadings of PPG namely 25 wt.% and 55 wt.% were used. Both static SCCO 2 and pulsed SCCO 2 /cosolvent treatments were used for PPG extraction. The initial results indicate that the pulsed SCCO 2 /cosolovent treatment was more efficient. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and refractive index measurements further corroborate the successful extraction of the porogens at relatively low temperatures (2000C). For the pure PMSSQ film, the k value is 3.1, whereas it is 1.46 and 2.27 for the open and closed pore compositions respectively after the static SCCO 2 extraction and 430°C subsequent annealing. The reduction in the k-value is attributed to the formation of nanopores. The pore structure was verified from transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and from small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements, the pore size was determined to be 1-3 nm for these films.


Chemical reactions in microscale require good mixing at a relatively low flowrate. However, mixing in microscale faces the major challenge of stable laminar flow associated with the low Reynolds number, the relative ratio between inertial force and viscous force. For low Reynolds numbers of less than unity, mixing occurs due to molecular diffusion. For high Reynolds number of more than several tens, chaotic advection enhances mixing. However, in the intermediate regime, mixing is not efficient. This paper reports a stretchable micromixer with dynamically tuneable channel dimensions. Periodically stretching the device changes the channel geometry and the curvature induced secondary Dean flows. The dynamically evolving secondary and main flows in the mixing channel result in chaotic advection and enhance mixing. The concept was demonstrated in a stretchable micromixer with a serpentine channel. We evaluated the performance of this stretchable micromixer both experimentally and numerically. At the intermediate range of Reynolds numbers from 4 to 17, the periodically stretched micromixer showed a better mixing efficiency than the non-stretched counterpart. Therefore, our stretchable micromixer is a potential candidate for applications where precious reagents need to be mixed at relatively low flow rate conditions.


Spontaneous waves of bursts of action potentials propagate across the ganglion-cell surface of developing retinas. A recent biophysical model postulated that this propagation is mediated by an increase in extracellular K+, following its ejection from ganglion cells during action potentials. Moreover, the model hypothesized that bursts might terminate due to the accumulation of intracellular Ca2+ and the subsequent activation of a Ca(2+)-dependent K+ conductance in the cells' dendrites. Finally, the model proposed that an excitatory synaptic drive causes a neuromodulation of the waves' properties. To test the feasibility of the model, we performed computer simulations of the network of developing ganglion cells under control and pharmacological-manipulation conditions. In particular, we simulated the effects of neostigmine, Cs+ and TEA, low Ca2+ concentrations, and Co2+. A comparison of the simulations with electrophysiological and pharmacological experimental data recently obtained in turtles (Sernagor and Grzywacz, 1993a), and cats and ferrets (Meister et al., 1991; Wong et al., 1993), showed that the model for the most part is consistent with the behavior of developing retinas. Moreover, modifications of the model to allow for GABAergic inputs onto ganglion cells (Sernagor and Grzywacz, 1994) and poor [K+]out buffering (Connors et al., 1982) improved the model's fits. These results lent further support to important roles of extracellular K+ concentration and synaptic drive for the propagation of waves.


THE JOURNAL OF FAMILY PRACTICE | JUNE 2018 | VOL 67, NO 6 By practicing in a way that prioritizes what really matters to patients, we begin to take health care reform into our own hands. Restoring healing to the patient-provider conversation This country continues to struggle with the issue of how to pay for health care. But regardless of the source of payment, primary care usually gets caught in the middle. Squeezed between volume and value, family physicians know all too well the gap that exists between what our patients need and what our training and health care system allow us to provide. This knowledge prompted me to change how I conduct my day-to-day office visits. To routinely restore healing to the patientprovider conversation, I developed a tool called the HOPE (Healing Oriented Practices and Environments) Note. It consists of a set of questions to ask during a routine office visit that are specifically geared toward uncovering and addressing patients' personal determinants of health and healing. During a HOPE consultation, I seek to reframe the orientation from one that focuses only on disease treatment to one that emphasizes self-healing. Example questions include: What matters to you? What brings you joy? How is your social support? What do you eat? How is your sleep? What is your home like? Do you feel safe? How do you manage stress? From there, I develop a personalized health promotion plan adjusted to the patient's needs, personality, readiness, resources, and circumstances. Usually, patients benefit from additional assistance, such as health coaching and ways to measure and track progress. I have created a HOPE Note Checklist to teach students and residents about this approach, and a patient guide to help prepare patients for the visit ahead of time. (To access the guide and other free HOPE Note tools, see www.drwaynejonas. com/hope.) Of course, these tools won't singlehandedly solve the issue of health care costs. But by practicing in a way that prioritizes what really matters to patients, we begin to take health care reform into our own hands.


The thermoelastic problem of a heat flux over a region with a crack near a rigid inclusion is studied. The inclusion is assumed fixed, which implies the translation and the rotation are restrained. The crack faces are assumed free of stress. Both of the inclusion and the crack are under thermal adiabatic condition. In the analysis, the original problem was reduced to a series of displacement boundary value problems by using the principle of superposition. The Green's function method is used to obtain the solution of the prescribed problem in the forms of integral equations. The basic problems therefore become those for an edge dislocation, and for a heat source couple, as well as the problem of a plane containing the inclusion under a uniform heat flux. These problems are solved using the complex variable method along with the rational mapping function technique. The variations of the stress intensity factors at the crack tips with various crack lengths and heat flux angles are shown. The effects of the inclusion shape and size are also investigated.


This paper presents the experimental evaluation of the Structure-Based Connectionist Network (SBCN) fault diagnostic system introduced in the preceding article (Jammu et al., 1998). For this, vibration data from two different helicopter gearboxes: OH-58A and S-61, are used. A salient feature of SBCN is its reliance on the knowledge of the gearbox structure and the type of features obtained from processed vibration signals as a substitute to training. To formulate this knowledge, approximate vibration transfer models are developed for the two gearboxes and utilized to derive the connection weights representing the influence of component faults on vibration features. The validity of the structural influences is evaluated by comparing them with those obtained from experimental RMS values. These influences are also evaluated by comparing them with the weights of a connectionist network trained through supervised leaning. The results indicate general agreement between the modeled and experimentally obtained influences. The vibration data from the two gearboxes are also used to evaluate the performance of SBCN in fault diagnosis. The diagnostic results indicate that the SBCN is effective in detecting the presence of faults and isolating them within gearbox subsystems based on structural influences, but its performance is not as good in isolating faulty components, mainly due to lack of appropriate vibration features.


Open Source Software (OSS) is increasing in popularity. Proponents argue that OSS leads to a higher rate of innovation, is less prone to bugs, and has a faster adoption rate than proprietary software. However, within OSS a company cannot rely on traditional means of exclusive ownership of particular resources in order to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, it is important for a firm to have a good understanding of what resources it can afford to share to Open Source projects, and which resources should be kept within the firm. The purpose of this research was to answer the following question: "What variables influence organizations to choose Open Source activities over proprietary development?".


Newly synthesized membrane proteins are sorted in the trans-Golgi network (TGN) on the basis of sorting signals carried in their cytoplasmic domains and delivered to their final destinations in the secretory and endocytic pathways. Although previous studies have suggested the involvement of early endosomes in the biosynthetic pathway of transmembrane proteins, the precise trafficking routes followed by the newly synthesized plasma membrane proteins, such as transferrin receptors (TfRs), after exit from the TGN remain unclear. In this report, first, we demonstrated the advantages of photoactivating PA-GFP, a variant of the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein (GFP), with multiphoton laser light rather than single-photon laser light, in terms of photoactivation efficiency and spatial resolution. We then applied the multiphoton photoactivation technique to selectively photoactivate the TfR tagged with PA-GFP (PA-GFP-TfR) at the TGN, and monitored the movement of the photoactivated PA-GFP-TfR in live cells. We observed that the PA-GFP-TfR photoactivated at the TGN are transported to the Tfn(+)EEA1(+) endosomal compartments after exiting the TGN. These data support the notion that early endosomes can serve as a sorting station for not only internalized plasma membrane proteins in the endocytic pathway but also newly synthesized membrane proteins in the post-Golgi secretory pathway.


OBJECTIVE
Patient frailty is associated with poorer perioperative outcomes for several neurosurgical procedures. However, comparative accuracy between different frailty metrics for cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) outcomes is poorly understood and existing frailty metrics studied in the literature are constrained by poor specificity to neurosurgery. This aim of this paper was to compare the predictive ability of 3 frailty scores for AVM microsurgical admissions and generate a custom risk stratification score.

METHODS
All adult AVM microsurgical admissions in the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample (2002-2017) were identified. Three frailty measures were analyzed: 5-factor modified frailty index (mFI-5; range 0-5), 11-factor modified frailty index (mFI-11; range 0-11), and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) (range 0-29). Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to compare accuracy between metrics. The analyzed endpoints included in-hospital mortality, routine discharge, complications, length of stay (LOS), and hospitalization costs. Survey-weighted multivariate regression assessed frailty-outcome associations, adjusting for 13 confounders, including patient demographics, hospital characteristics, rupture status, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, and treatment modality. Subsequently, k-fold cross-validation and Akaike information criterion-based model selection were used to generate a custom 5-variable risk stratification score called the AVM-5. This score was validated in the main study population and a pseudoprospective cohort (2018-2019).

RESULTS
The authors analyzed 16,271 total AVM microsurgical admissions nationwide, with 21.0% being ruptured. The mFI-5, mFI-11, and CCI were all predictive of lower rates of routine discharge disposition, increased perioperative complications, and longer LOS (all p < 0.001). Their AVM-5 risk stratification score was calculated from 5 variables: age, hydrocephalus, paralysis, diabetes, and hypertension. The AVM-5 was predictive of decreased rates of routine hospital discharge (OR 0.26, p < 0.001) and increased perioperative complications (OR 2.42, p < 0.001), postoperative LOS (+49%, p < 0.001), total LOS (+47%, p < 0.001), and hospitalization costs (+22%, p < 0.001). This score outperformed age, mFI-5, mFI-11, and CCI for both ruptured and unruptured AVMs (area under the curve [AUC] 0.78, all p < 0.001). In a pseudoprospective cohort of 2005 admissions from 2018 to 2019, the AVM-5 remained significantly associated with all outcomes except for mortality and exhibited higher accuracy than all 3 earlier scores (AUC 0.79, all p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Patient frailty is predictive of poorer disposition and elevated complications, LOS, and costs for AVM microsurgical admissions. The authors' custom AVM-5 risk score outperformed age, mFI-5, mFI-11, and CCI while using threefold less variables than the CCI. This score may complement existing AVM grading scales for optimization of surgical candidates and identification of patients at risk of postoperative medical and surgical morbidity.


Background: Studies of the relation between family caregivers and care-receivers have identified large divergences between their perspectives. It has been suggested that these divergences may adversely affect the care relationship. However, there has been little research examining the source of these divergences. Aims: The reported mixed-method study aimed to examine the relationship between people with aphasia and their family caregivers in order to identify the sources of observed divergences of perspective. Methods & Procedures: A total of 20 people with aphasia and their main family caregivers, living in the UK, completed an adapted version of the Interpersonal Perception Method questionnaire, which yielded both rating data and qualitative data. Participants rated themselves, each other, and how they thought the other would rate them, on issues regarding communication ability and identity. Outcomes & Results: As expected on the basis of existing research, divergences clustered around the provision of communication support and issues of confidence, independence, embarrassment, and overprotection. A qualitative analysis of the participants' talk during the rating task suggested that a source of these discrepancies is in the conflicting demands which characterise the care relationship, specifically, caregivers' desire to support independence on the one hand but feeling compelled to be protective on the other hand. In response to these demands, caregivers try to create the impression that the disability has less impact than it has, and that they are more in control than they feel they are. Conclusions: We conclude by suggesting that some divergences of perspective may not be adverse overall, but rather may be a result of caregivers' creative adaptations to seemingly irreconcilable demands.


PURPOSE
Overweight and obese subjects often perceive increased breathlessness during minor exertion and therefore avoid exercise. Respiratory muscle endurance training (RMET) can reduce the perception of breathlessness. We hypothesized that RMET 1 month before and during a 6-month (3 months supervised + 3 months unsupervised) exercise and nutrition counseling program (EN) would improve the benefits of EN.

METHODS
Twenty-six overweight and obese subjects with significant perception of breathlessness during exercise (age = 33 ± 9 yr, body mass index (BMI) = 31.3 ± 4.9 kg·m(-2)) were randomized to RMET+EN (R+EN) or EN alone. R+EN performed 30 min of normocapnic hyperpnea 5 wk(-1) before and 2 wk(-1) during EN. EN consisted of two strength and three endurance training sessions per week, as well as prescribed nutritional composition and a 2.1-kJ (500-kcal) energy deficit per day. Both groups had an equal number of laboratory visits during the 7 months. Before and after 4 and 7 months, subjects performed a 12-min time trial (TT; 6 + 6 min, 2-min pause) and an incremental cycling test (ICT) to exhaustion, and blood lipids were assessed.

RESULTS
Weight loss was significant and similar in both groups (-4.2 vs -3.7 kg; both P < 0.05). During the first 4 months, distance covered in 12 min improved more (P < 0.05) with R+EN (1678 vs 1824 m; P < 0.001) than with EN alone (1638 vs 1698 m; P < 0.05), whereas after R+EN, breathlessness during the ICT was reduced. Blood lipids of the pooled group improved in those subjects with pathologic values before the study. Despite reduced training compliance during the unsupervised period, subjects of both groups maintained the benefits attained during the supervised period.

CONCLUSIONS
R+EN improved TT performance more than EN alone, despite similar weight loss, possibly owing to the reduced perception of breathlessness.


BACKGROUND

Fucoxanthin is a carotenoid that exerts multiple beneficial effects on human health, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-obesity activity. In this study, the partition behavior of fucoxanthin in aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS) composed of ethanol and potassium phosphate was evaluated. This evaluation was performed 'en route' to establishing an ATPS extraction system for the recovery of fucoxanthin from microalgae cultures. System parameters including tie-line length (TLL), volume ratio (VR) and product concentration were studied using model (purified fucoxanthin) and complex systems (microalgae extracts).

RESULTS

ATPS comprising high TLL (70% w/w) and high VR (>1) provided the best recovery of fucoxanthin in model systems. For complex systems, the best results were observed in systems with TLL 50% w/w and VR=1 for Phaeodactylum tricornutum methanolic extracts (95.36% recovery and 66.01% purity), and systems with TLL 60% w/w and VR=3 for Isochrysis galbana methanolic extracts (89.18% recovery and 78.74% purity).

CONCLUSION

the findings suggest that the nature of sample solution, the hydrophobicity of the system, and the salting out effect have significant impacts on fucoxanthin partition. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry


The current use of traditional educational methods leaves apart many persons, especially those suffering from dyslexia. Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disabilities. Learning disabilities affect the brain's ability to receive, process, analyze, or store information. Also called specific reading disability, dyslexia is a common reading and language disorder. It is not linked to any kind of deficit in intelligence overall, educational opportunity, or motivational factors. It affects 5-10% of alphabetic language speakers and 1 in 10 children is dyslexic.
Blended learning is a formal educational paradigm which combines, at least in part, face-to-face delivery of content and instruction assisted by digital and online media with some degree of student control over time, place or path. In a "brick-and-mortar" context, traditional teaching methods are combined with computer-mediated activities with a huge potential in education of dyslexic children.
Our research was focused on improvement of education for dyslexic children through develop new approach with support of blended learning environment. Because dyslexic children learns best through observation, demonstrations, diagrams, hands-on or experimentation we want to explore the potential of this type of learning to boost the learning process. While the traditional learning methods have failed in special education, we believe that the development of a curriculum that involves a blended learning environment for education of dyslexic children would largely contribute to their rehabilitation progress and to relieve their difficulties in adapting to the demands of present society and to the strong competition for jobs on the employment market.


OBJECTIVE To carry out a critical evaluation of the international literature on the neuropsychology of epilepsy. The variables which lead to cognitive deterioration in epilepsy and the effect on cognition of different treatments available (pharmacological and surgical). DEVELOPMENT We evaluate the influence of different neurological variables on the higher functions (aetiology, age of onset, type of crises, duration of illness, frequency and anti-epileptic drugs). We also describe the cognitive functions most affected in epilepsy (memory, attention, executive function, language). Studies of the surgery of epilepsy show that this may lead to both beneficial and undesirable effects on cognition. CONCLUSIONS The variables which in general most affect higher functions are the duration of the illness and the frequency and types of crises. The commonest neuropsychological effects are those of memory deficit. These studies show that neuropsychological studies should be done from the time of onset of the disorder. Finally, from the surgical point of view, young patients with considerable crisis reduction or free of crises, with moderate preoperative deterioration of memory have the greatest possibility of post-operative improvement in cognition. Older persons with intact cognitive function and major surgical resection have more possibilities of post-surgical deterioration.


The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation problem is considered for an amplitude modulated known signal in Gaussian noise. The benchmark method is the maximum-likelihood estimator (MLE), whose merits are well-documented in the literature. In this work, an affinely modified version of the MLE (AMMLE) that uniformly outperforms, over all SNR values, the traditional MLE in terms of the mean-square error (MSE) is obtained in closed-form. However, construction of an AMMLE whose MSE is lower, at every SNR, than the unbiased Cramér-Rao bound (UCRB), is shown to be infeasible. In light of this result, the AMMLE construction rule is modified to provision for an a priori known set S, where the SNR lies, and the MSE enhancement target is pursued within S. The latter is realized through proper extension of an existing framework, due to Eldar, which settles the design problem by solving a semidefinite program. The analysis is further extended to the general case of vector signal models. Numerical results show that the proposed design demonstrates enhancement of the MSE for all the considered cases.


We report resistivity and thermo-electric power measurements of the anatase phase of TiO2 under pressure up to 2.3 GPa. Despite its transparent appearance, the single crystal of anatase exhibits a metallic-like resistivity above 60 K, at all pressures. The rather high value of the thermo-electric power at room temperature points to complex transport mechanism in this phase.


We describe glacial-geological observations and cosmogenic-nuclide exposure ages from the vicinity of the present grounding line of Tucker Glacier, a large alpine glacier flowing from the mountains of northern Victoria Land, East Antarctica, into the outer Ross Sea. These data are relevant for constraining the extent of ice sheet expansion and retreat in the Ross Sea, and associated eustatic sea level impact, between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the present. In addition, a terrestrial geological record of ice thickness change from this region could provide evidence for or against the hypothesis that rapid eustatic sea-level rise during meltwater pulse 1A ("MWP-1A") at 14.6 ka was in part the result of rapid, large-scale thinning or breakup of a marine-based portion of the LGM ice sheet in the outer Ross Sea. Glacial-geological observations, exposure ages on glacial deposits, and a novel application of in-situ-produced cosmogenic 14C in quartz-bearing bedrock to identify the limits of LGM ice cover in the absence of direct geomorphic evidence, show that Tucker Glacier near its present grounding line was 300 to 350 m thicker than present during the LGM and thinned steadily between 17 to 5 ka. The largest possible rapid thickness change in the time period 14 to 15 ka that could be accommodated by the exposure-age data is ∼50 m, which is a small fraction of that predicted for the western Ross Sea by model simulations of the Antarctic contribution to MWP-1A. There do exist possible scenarios in which hypothesized marine ice sheet collapse in the outer Ross Sea during MWP-1A might not be recorded by ice thickness changes at Tucker Glacier. However, our record of ice thickness changes spanning this time period is the closest such record to the outer Ross Sea that is likely to exist, and it agrees with all exposure-age deglaciation chronologies from other regions of the Ross embayment in providing no evidence for such an event.


Social adjustment plays a critical role in student persistence at college. Social media such as Facebook, used widely by this population, have the potential to positively enhance students' transition to college by encouraging connection and interaction among peers. The present study examines the role Facebook plays in students' social adjustment during their first year of college using survey data (N = 338) collected from students at a private, liberal arts college in the Midwest. We develop and test a model that includes both traditional and Facebook-specific predictors of social support and social adjustment, as well as explore the role that these factors play in predicting students' enrollment status the following year. Results indicate positive relationships between two Facebook variables the number of Facebook Friends students have at the college and their engagement in collaborative behaviors with classmates through the site and measures of social support and social adjustment, as well as a positive relationship between social adjustment and persistence at the university.


Background. Neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis caused by citrin deficiency (NICCD) is a Mendelian disorder arising from biallelic SLC25A13 mutations, and SLC25A13 genetic analysis was indispensable for its definite diagnosis. However, conventional SLC25A13 analysis could not detect all mutations, especially obscure large insertions/deletions. This paper aimed to explore the obscure SLC25A13 mutation in an NICCD infant. Methods. Genomic DNA was extracted to screen for 4 high-frequency SLC25A13 mutations, and then all 18 exons and their flanking sequences were analyzed by Sanger sequencing. Subsequently, cDNA cloning, SNP analyses, and semiquantitative PCR were performed to identify the obscure mutation. Results. A maternally inherited mutation IVS16ins3kb was screened out, and then cDNA cloning unveiled paternally inherited alternative splicing variants (ASVs) featuring exon 5 skipping. Ultimately, a large deletion c.329-1687_c.468+3865del5692bp, which has never been described in any other references, was identified via intensive study on the genomic DNA around exon 5 of SLC25A13 gene. Conclusions. An NICCD patient was definitely diagnosed as a compound heterozygote of IVS16ins3kb and c.329-1687_c.468+3865del5692bp. The large deletion enriched the SLC25A13 mutation spectrum, and its identification supported the concept that cDNA cloning analysis, along with other molecular tools such as semiquantitative PCR, could provide valuable clues, facilitating the identification of obscure SLC25A13 deletions.


This paper presents a methodology for a convenient modification of induction motor equivalent circuit parameters, taking into consideration switching frequency iron losses in case of inverter supply. The method is based on the determination of harmonic iron losses in laminated iron cores under nonsinusoidal excitation by using a particular three-dimensional (3-D) finite-element model adopting a reduced scalar potential formulation. Eddy currents in iron laminations are considered by means of convenient surface current densities. Experimental verification is performed in case of a 20-kW experimental setup.


The Revolution of 1905 forced the Russian autocracy to accept the convocation of the State Duma. After the Revolution's defeat, the Duma belonged to a new political system in which the Tsar conserved a very great power. The promulgation of the Law of March 8th 1906 imposed a significant restriction on the budgetary prerogatives of the Duma and allowed the Administration to maintain a real control over the financial field. In the facts, the political confrontation between tsarist power and liberal members of the Parliament did not make possible to engage the needed thorough reform of the structures and management practices of the Russian finances. This paper aims to clarify the stakes and reality of the changes as a result of the Revolution of 1905 and the formation of parliamentarism in the public finances development of the imperial Russia.


The grade of the crude hematite-limonite ore is 39.79%. The main metallic minerals are hematite-limonite. Hematite has disseminated structure distributed in the gangue. Limonite was inlayed as stars in hematite. Due to their fine dissemination and close association with gangue minerals, the hematite and limonite particles are hard to be fully liberated, bringing difficulty in their separation. Staged grinding-separation process consisting of high intensity magnetic separation and reverse floatation wag adopted in the beneficiation test on the regionally representative hematite—limonite ore resource. At a grind of 70.0% -200 mesh for the primary grinding and 98.7% -200 mesh for the secondary grinding, the final iron concentrate grade 58.26% and having an iron recovery of 8.33% can be achieved after reverse flotation process test on magnetic concentrate.


OBJECTIVE
The goal was to develop a low-cost, national, neurosurgical emergency teleconsulting system that is independent of vendor computed tomographic (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner type.

METHODS
Charge-coupled device scanners are used to digitize hard copies of CT and MRI scans. An enhanced optical density range is achieved by using an algorithm to fuse data from multiple exposures at different integration periods. The system is based on personal computers using Microsoft Windows 3.11. Data are transmitted on a wide-area network at 128 kilobits/s, over Integrated Systems Digital Network lines. The network connects both neurosurgical departments in Ireland to all major hospitals with CT/MRI scanners.

RESULTS
The scanner optical density is 0.05 to 3.0, with 2.24 to 2.5 line pairs/mm. Five-megabyte images are transmitted uncompressed in 6 minutes. To date, more than 750 CT and MRI scans have been transmitted. The system is completely automated, and operator acceptance has been very high. Images are automatically stored and displayed at the receiving workstation, where the images can be viewed and manipulated on-screen. This system has significantly enhanced acute neurosurgical patient care.

CONCLUSION
The system is cost effective and simple to use, has gained widespread physician acceptance, and delivers an image quality superior to that of many commercially available systems.


This study deals with the design of a robust fault estimation and fault-tolerant control for vehicle lateral dynamics subject to external disturbance and unknown sensor faults. Firstly, a descriptor state and fault observer is designed to achieve the system state and sensor fault estimates simultaneously. Secondly, based on the information of on-line fault estimates, a robust fault-tolerant controller based on static output-feedback controller (SOFC) design approach is developed. To provide linear matrix inequalities of less conservatism, the results are conducted in the non-quadratic framework dealing with unmeasurable premise variables case. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control approach when the vehicle road adhesion conditions change and the sideslip angle is unavailable for measurement.