Background: AML is an aggressive malignancy with a median age of 67 yrs at diagnosis and an age-adjusted 5-yr survival of less than 25%. Most older patients (pts) with AML have poor risk cytogenetic/genetic features associated with suboptimal complete remission (CR) rates and overall survival (OS). Until recently, the anthracycline and cytarabine based induction remained unchanged for over 4 decades. Vosaroxin (Vos) is a first-in-class anticancer quinolone derivative which is thought to induce less cardiac toxicity than standard anthracycline therapy. Vos was previously administered in combination with intermediate dose cytarabine (IDAC) in relapsed/refractory (r/r) AML pts in a large randomized phase 3 trial (VALOR) and demonstrated significantly improved CR rates compared to IDAC alone but without improvement in OS. In the VITAL study, we investigated the combination of infusional cytarabine (iAC) with Vos ("7 + V") in newly diagnosed AML.
 Methods: VITAL (NCT02658487) is a single-arm, open-label, two-stage phase II study of 90 mg/m2, Vos on days 1 and 4 (reduced to 70 mg/m2, days 1 and 4 in the event of re-induction) and 100 mg/m2 continuous iAC on days 1-7. Oral cryotherapy was administered during Vos administration as prophylaxis for oral mucositis seen in prior studies. Enrollment in stage 1 was limited to 17 evaluable pts >55 yrs of any risk classification or pts 18-54 years with high-risk disease. The two-stage design required CR in more than 7 of the first 17 pts in order to proceed to stage 2. The operating characteristics of the study design provided a 64% probability of early termination if CR occurred in 7 or fewer pts suggesting that the true CR rate would be ≤ 40%. Stage 2 included an additional 24 pts (age 18-54 yrs with intermediate or high-risk disease, or 55 years or older with any risk disease). Response was assessed using the modified IWG-2003 criteria.
 Results: In total, 42 pts were enrolled and assessed for toxicity. One patient who achieved an aplastic marrow biopsy at day 14, succumbed to an AML-related sepsis event prior to formal response assessment was initially deemed unevaluable for response and replaced but was ultimately included in the response assessment. Baseline demographics of the 42 enrolled pts are seen in Table 1a. Median age was 63 yrs (range, 43-74) and 86% (36/42) were ≥ 55yrs at time of enrollment. Almost all, 40/42 (95%), had intermediate (11/40) or poor (29/40) risk AML. Adverse events (AEs) of special interest of any Grade (Gr) and Gr 3-5 AEs occurring in > 10% of pts are listed in Table 1b. Oral mucositis was observed in 16/42 (38%) pts with 12/42 (29%) having Gr 1-2 and only 4/42 (10%) having Gr 3 severity. Three Gr 5 events occurred (2-Infection/Sepsis; 1-neutropenic colitis). No acute cardiac toxicity was seen. CR was achieved in 20/42 (48%) pts, while 3 additional pts achieved CR with incomplete count recovery (CRi) for a CR/CRi rate of 55% (23/42). CR was observed in 100% (2/2) with favorable risk (both >65 yrs old). CR/CRi was seen in 73% (8/11) intermediate and 45% (13/29) poor risk pts. One poor risk pt with CRi converted to CR in the absence of additional therapy but did so outside of the protocol defined time period for response assessment (Day 57 +/- 3 days) and was recorded as CRi for this analysis. CR/CRi was noted in 40% (4/10) pts whose AML had TP53 mutations. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant was performed in 45% (19/42) of pts. Progression-free survival was 43% and OS was 48% for all pts at 1-year of follow-up (Figure 1).
 Conclusion: The combination of Vos and iAC in newly diagnosed AML pts appears safe. Mucocutaneous complications were observed as noted in previous studies with Vos. Administration of oral cryotherapy during Vos administration appeared to reduce occurrence of oral mucositis during induction, but > Gr 3 neutropenic enterocolitis occurred in 7/42 (17%) pts. Still, the combination appears to be tolerable with an adverse event profile analogous to conventional induction regimens. While the VALOR trial observed Gr 3-5 cardiac AEs in < 1% of the 705 r/r AML pts with prior anthracycline exposure, no attributable cardiac events were seen within the VITAL trial population. Vosaroxin and infusional cytarabine is a clinically active induction regimen which warrants further investigation based on response rates and toxicity profile at least similar to current anthracycline based induction strategies with an apparent absence of cardiac toxicity.

 Strickland: Astellas: Consultancy; Jazz: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Sunesis: Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy. Podoltsev:Alexion: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Agios Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Blueprint Medicines: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Boehringer Ingelheim: Research Funding; Kartos Therapeutics: Research Funding; Astellas Pharma: Research Funding; Daiichi Sankyo: Research Funding; Sunesis Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Pfizer: Research Funding; Astex Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; CTI Biopharma: Research Funding; Celgene: Other: Grant funding, Research Funding; Genentech: Research Funding; AI Therapeutics: Research Funding; Samus Therapeutics: Research Funding; Arog Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Zeidan:Acceleron Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene Corporation: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Otsuka: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Medimmune/AstraZeneca: Research Funding; Boehringer-Ingelheim: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Trovagene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; ADC Therapeutics: Research Funding; Jazz: Honoraria; Ariad: Honoraria; Agios: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Astellas: Honoraria; Daiichi Sankyo: Honoraria; Cardinal Health: Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria; BeyondSpring: Honoraria. Byrne:Karyopharm: Research Funding. Gore:Celgene Corporation: Consultancy, Research Funding. Savona:Celgene Corporation: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Boehringer Ingelheim: Patents & Royalties; AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sunesis: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Selvita: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Consultancy, Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte Corporation: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding.


This chapter outlines the fiscal and administrative transformation of the Ottoman Empire during the course of the eighteenth century, a transformation that proved to be crucial in supplying the army with men and food. The new imperial administration proved to be a flexible system, in which contractual relations based on bargaining between centre and periphery gained an unprecedented significance. An extensive network of local ayan dynasties, who were located throughout the whole Ottoman world from the Balkans to North Africa, had gained a range of new powers relating to intermediation between the state and the citizens. The ayans became increasingly indispensable to the everyday functioning of the empire, and they also reduced, in wartime, the fiscal burden of the Sublime Porte, the centre of Ottoman bureaucracy in Istanbul. These local power-holders increasingly acted as military, fiscal and organizational entrepreneurs in a number of interrelated capacities. Keywords: eighteenth century; Istanbul; military entrepreneur; North Africa; Ottoman Empire


Patients with overactive bladder (OAB) refractory to first‐ and second‐line therapy may pursue third‐line therapies, including intradetrusor onabotulinum toxin‐A (BTX), peripheral tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS), and sacral neuromodulation (SNM). The factors that influence patient preference for each treatment modality have not yet been explored. This study sought to investigate the specific parameters that patients consider in choosing a third‐line therapy for OAB.


We report on the results from the analyses of {ital t}{ital {anti t}} decays in {ital dilepton} and {ital lepton+jets} modes with {approx}100 pb{sup -1} of {ital p}{ital {anti p}} Collider data at {radical}s = 1.8 TeV collected by the D{null} experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. We have observed 37 {ital t}{ital {anti t}} candidate events while the estimated background is 13.4 {+-} 3.0 events. The {ital t}{ital {anti t}} production cross section has been measured to be 5.2 {+-} 1.8 pb at a top quark mass of 170 GeV/c{sup 2}.


Medical diagnostics involves multiple levels of modern clinical diagnostic devices and the process of medical diagnostics confront different decision for data transitions among multiple layers. In this work we analyze the challenges of modern medical diagnostics, which is an important part of public healthcare, and formulate this complex process as service chain. Based on stochastic Petri net, a modeling and optimization method is proposed for the medical diagnostics service chain. The case study shows that the competition relationship in the medical diagnostic process can be resolve through adding dummy transitions into the Petri net, which reflects adding appropriate diagnostic nodes and data transmission in the medical diagnostic service chain in practice.


Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a visceral fat deposit within the pericardial sac which surrounds the heart myocardium and coronary arteries. EAT volume has been demonstrated to be strongly associated with the development and prognosis of cardiovascular diseases, but its measurement is subjective and challenging in practice.

 To develop a deep-learning approach for automated segmentation of EAT from routine CCTA scans, that could assist clinical interpretation of CCTA.

 A deep-learning method using a 3D Residual-U-Net neural network architecture for 3D volumetric segmentation of CCTA data was created. The network was trained on a diverse sample of 1900 CCTAs, each manually segmented by a single expert, drawn from the UK sites of the Oxford Risk Factors And Non-invasive imaging (ORFAN) Study. Three iterations of feedback learning were used to fine tune the algorithm for the segmentation of the whole heart within the bounds of the pericardium. In each iteration, the machine analysed sets of 100–250 unannotated CCTAs unseen by the machine which were then corrected by experts. EAT volumes were calculated by automated thresholding of adipose tissue (−190HU through −30HU) from within the bound of the pericardial segment (Figure 1). The network was then applied to 817 unseen CCTAs from US sites of the ORFAN Study. These scans were also segmented for ground truth by two experts blind to all other data. Comparisons between machine vs expert total pericardial volume and EAT volume were made using Lin's concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). The algorithm was then applied externally in 1588 CCTAs from the SCOTHEART trial (UK), and the EAT volume was automatically calculated for each case. Cross-sectional associations between standardised EAT volumes and prevalent AF and CAD were performed.

 Within both the internal (UK ORFAN sites) and external (USA ORFAN sites) validation cohorts correlation between human and machine segmented total pericardium and EAT was excellent, with CCC of 0.97 for both volumes (external validation cohort shown in Figure 2A). Utilising SCOTHEART CCTAs with automatically segmented EAT volumes, a multivariable-adjusted logistic regression model accounting for risk factors of age, sex, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, valvular disease, and previous heart surgery found that EAT volumes were significantly associated with prevalent AF, with odds ratio (OR) per 1 SD increase of EAT volume of 1.20 (95% CI, 1.06 to 1.44; P=0.03). A similar model for prevalent CAD, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, hypertension, non-HDL cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, and coronary artery calcium score resulted in an OR per 1 SD increase of EAT volume of 1.26 (95% CI, 1.10 to 1.45; P=0.001) (Figure 2B).

 Highly accurate, reproducible, and instantaneous EAT volume quantification is possible utilising deep-learning detection of the whole human heart within the pericardial sac.

 Type of funding sources: Public Institution(s). Main funding source(s): British Heart FoundationNational Institute for Health Research - Oxford University Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre Figure 1 Figure 2


By the photodetector manufactured using traditional semiconductor materials, such as HgCdTe and InGaAs, it is difficult to broaden the application range of such photodetectors due to their high cost and complex manufacturing process. PbSe colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) have the potential to shift the working range of photodetector from visible to infrared wavelength region, and it also has high photoresponsivity. Herein, we report the characterization of PbSe CQDs synthesized using a facile solution process, as well as the relationship between the size of nanocrystal and the reaction temperature. The films of PbSe CQDs are deposited using the layer-by-layer (LbL) spin-coating method, which is then used to fabricate the photoconductive device. The fabricated device is found to have an efficient response in a broad spectrum range of 400-2600 nm. The device maintains good responsivity of ~320 mA/W at room temperature. Its external quantum efficiency was quite high in the shorter wavelength infrared region, and it has approximately 14% external quantum efficiency (EQE) at 2520 nm. The device demonstrated excellent performance, confirming that PbSe colloidal quantum dots is a promising material for future broadband spectrum photodetectors.


Objective:To develop a HPLC method for the determination of ephedrine(E)and pseudoephdrine(PE)and to study the pharmacokinetics features of E and PE in SD rats.Methods:The plasma samples were extracted by ether.Phenylalanine hydrochloride(Phen)was used as the internal standard.The plasma concentrations of E and PE were measured by HPLC.The pharmacokinetic parameters were computed with 3P97 program.Results:A good linearity was obtained in E from 0.0152 to 1.52 μg/mL and in PE from 0.01485 to 1.485μg/mL.The limits of identification were 0.005μg/mL for E and 0.01μg/mL for PE.The recoveries were in the range of 93.1%to 102.8%and 110.4%to 95.57%for E and PE respectively.The inter-day RSD and intraday RSD of E and PE were both less than 6%.The E and PE plasma solutions were steady within 60 days.The main pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows.t1/2 of E and PE were 1.39 h and2.65 h;ke of E and PE were 0.50/h and 0.26/h;AUCof E and PE were 0.55 and 0.44(μg/Ml)×h respectively.Conclusions:To build a method for analyzing E and PE in the blood of human simultaneous,and to research pharmacokinetics of E and PE in Xiaoqinglong Granules in blood of rat,to lay a foundation for researching mechanism of chinese medicine compound by pharmacokinetics and for conducting rational administration of drug.


Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways regulate diverse processes ranging from proliferation and differentiation to apoptosis. Activated by an enormous array of stimuli, they phosphorylate numerous proteins, including transcription factors, cytoskeletal proteins, kinases and other enzymes


With the growing volume and demand for data a major concern for an Organization is to discover what data there actually is, what it contains and how it is being used and by who. The amount of data and the disparate systems used to handle this data increase in their number and complexity every year and unifying these systems becomes more and more complex. In this work we describe an Intelligent search engine system, specifically designed to tackle the problem of information retrieval and sharing in a large multifaceted organization, that already has many systems in place for each Department, which is an integral part of a joint Operational Data Platform(ODP) for data exploration and processing.


Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) has seen an explosion of interest over the last few years. Indeed, anywhere that there are problems of prediction, classification or control, neural networks are being introduced. Hence, the main objective of this paper is to develop a model to predict the response of the soil-structure interaction system without using the calculate code based on sophisticate numerical methods by the employment of a statistical approach based on an Artificial Neural Network model (ANN). In this study, a data base which relates the impedance functions to the geometrics characteristic of the foundation and the dynamic properties of the soil is implemented. This leads to develop a neural network model to predict impedances functions (all modes) of a rectangular surface foundation. Then the results are compared with unused data to check the ANN model's validity.


The multiple mutations of the Covid 19 virus worry people around the world, and the reason for this is very clear, as the last century witnessed four pandemics of influenza viruses, which are: H1N1 in 1918, H2N2 in 1957, H3N2 in 1968, and H1N1 in 2009 - which came in a second deadly wave In the fall and the beginning of winter. Covid-19 may behave in the same way, and the dangerous mutants of Covid have already seemed to sweep the world like the Indian strain. The worry that we might get a double overwhelming infection from the flu and the coronavirus is justified and could be very dangerous to humanity. That the effect of this double overwhelming infection may be dangerous is more closely related to human behavior than to virology: as there are many similar characteristics common to the two viruses in virus transmission, spread, symptoms, and so on. Where both Covid-19 and influenza are transmitted - in most cases - through respiratory droplets, so the same prevention strategies used to limit the spread of the first will also work to limit the spread of the second and the speed of dealing with the first for sure from the second and so on. The aim of this descriptive minireview, generally, is to shed light on the SARS-CoV-2 induced Covid 19 and Influenza Dual overwhelming infection and the Rising attention to Similarities between them.


Dwarf mistletoes (Arceuthobium species) influence many processes within forested ecosystems, but few studies have examined their distribution in relation to climate. An analysis of 1549 forested pl...


SHAHEEN SHARIFF. Sexting and Cyberbullying: Defining the Line for Digitally Empowered Kids. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. (2015). 219 pp. $32.95 (paperback). (ISBN 978-1-107-62517-4).


Abstract : Three sets of penetration experiments into limestone targets were conducted with geometrically similar, steel rod projectiles that had length-to-diameter ratios of 10- and 7.1-, 12.7-, and 23A-mm-diameters. Results from these penetration experiments and previously developed penetration models suggested that the limestone target exhibited strain-rate sensitivity. A modified split Hopkinson pressure bar facility (SHPB) was used to study the dynamic material responses of brittle materials, such as limestone, under a state of one-dimensional stress. The conventional split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus was modified by shaping the incident pulse such that the samples are in dynamic stress equilibrium and have nearly constant strain rate over most of the test duration. A thin disk of annealed or hard C11000 copper is placed on the impact surface of the incident bar in order to shape the incident pulse. An analytical model and data show that a wide variety of incident strain pulses can be produced by varying the geometry of the copper disks and the length and striking velocity of the striker bar. The pulse shaping model predictions are in good agreement with measurements. Thus, this work presents analytical models and experimental techniques that provide procedures to obtain dynamic, compressive stress-strain data for brittle materials.


Summary Weight for weight, strophanthidin-3-n-propionate is more potent than strophanthidin in cats, while strophanthidin-3-n-butyrate and -benzoate prove to be less active.


This paper presents a novel analytical model to characterize the degradation of the bit-error rate of differential phase-shift keyed (DPSK) signals impaired by cross-phase modulation (XPM) in mixed DPSK and amplitude shift keyed (ASK) transmission systems. The model is validated using Monte Carlo simulation and used to assess the dependence of the system performance on the dispersion pre-compensation of a 20 sections transmission system.


Evidence and knowledge translation tools are available for preventing and minimizing procedural pain in newborns, infants, and toddlers. Improving pain management practices for this population must be a priority. Abstract Introduction: Treatment of pain in preterm, sick, and healthy newborns and infants and toddlers (up to 2 years of age) is consistently reported to be inadequate, and effective strategies are poorly implemented. Objectives: To present existing evidence of effective pain treatment strategies during needle-related procedures and to highlight initiatives focused on translating evidence into practice. Methods: This Clinical Update focuses on the 2022 International Association for the Study of Pain Global Year for Translating Pain Knowledge to Practice in the specific population of newborns, infants, and toddlers. Best evidence is reviewed, and existing knowledge translation strategies and programs available to implement evidence into practice are presented. Results: Effective strategies for newborn and young infants during frequently occurring needle procedures include small volumes of sweet solutions, breastfeeding, or skin-to-skin care when feasible and culturally acceptable. In addition, strategies such as nonnutritive sucking, positioning, swaddling, gentle touch, facilitated tucking, and secure holding can be used. For toddlers, the evidence is less robust, and discerning between pain and distress is challenging. However, strategies recommended for needle-related procedures include upright secure comfort holding by parents/caregivers, age-appropriate distraction, and topical anesthetics. Translation of effective pain management needs to involve the family, who need to be supported and empowered to comfort their child during painful procedures. Organizational, nationwide, and global initiatives aimed at improving implementation of effective pain treatments exist. Conclusion: There is evidence of effective pain management strategies for newborns, infants, and toddlers, and a great deal of effort is being made to translate knowledge into action.


This paper is a literature review that covers 30 years of occurrence of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, 1843 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), in Brazil. The boll weevil is considered one of the most destructive pests in the agricultural system; the damage that it causes and the difficulties of its control in cotton is enormous. Originally from Mexico, this insect was first found in Brazil in 1983 and two seasons after the detection it was widespread in major cotton producing areas where it remains until today. When boll weevil is not controlled, it can completely destroy the economic cotton production; the losses range can vary from 3 to 75% of the expected productivity. The main damage caused by the boll weevil in cotton is promoted in the reproductive structures of the plant during feeding and oviposition of adult insects; the flower buds are preferentially attacked by the insect. The period of the weevil attack on cotton plants begins around 30 days after emergence, but it starts at the vegetative period; damage occurs at the flowering and fruiting period and reaches the maturation phase. During these periods several methods can be adopted aiming its control. To control A. grandis in Brazil the following methods are cited: behavioral control, cultural control, host plant resistance, biological control (predators, parasitoids, and pathogens), natural products, legislative control and integrated pest management, and program initiatives for suppression of the insect population. Chemical control is not discussed in this article.


Background  Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated in the development of digital squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Case reports in the literature mostly identify HPV type 16 present in tumors, but HPV types 2, 31, 34, 35, and 73 have also been isolated.


The invention discloses a dielectric composite material for an induction layer of a fingerprint sensor and a preparing method. The dielectric composite material is prepared from epoxy resin, phenolic resin, inorganic filler of first dielectric, inorganic filler of second dielectric, a curing agent, a bonding strength accelerator, a release agent and fire retardant. The dielectric composite material is high in dielectric constant, small in dielectric loss, very stable in dielectric performance, very small in change with test frequency, free of transparency and high in hardness, meets the requirements for reliability and stability while the thickness of the induction layer of the fingerprint sensor prepared from the dielectric composite material meets the requirement, and can be used in various portable electronic products. The dielectric composite material for the induction layer of the fingerprint sensor does not contain heavy metal lead and is environmentally friendly. The dielectric composite material has convenience and high safety, and therefore a terminal of the dielectric composite material can replace a current digital input type password recognition system and can also be used in any electronic parts and components needing to be kept secret.


The problem of estimating the dimension parameters of rectangular and circular cavities from scattering data is addressed in this paper. By incorporating the modal solutions of the waveguides in the Complex Phase History Signal model, the Maximum-Likelihood Estimation (MLE) criterion has been developed for the rectangular cavity. It is shown that the MLE is a multi-dimensional non-linear optimization problem and optimization techniques have been proposed to address this problem. The cavity detection problem has also been formulated within the multiple Hypotheses testing framework. The proposed ML estimation approaches have been verified with simulation studies.


The official document is the vehicle for both guiding principles transferred from higher authorities and criteria of handling affairs. The essence of reading it is to grasp its spirit and then implement the pertinent regulations in the document seriously, which requires that readers, especially the executive functionary, should have a good command of its gist and understand its meaning practically rather than elaborate it as one pleases.


Inter- and intralaboratory variability of results is still a serious issue in the comet assay. There are several technical conditions of procedure, which may critically affect the results and electrophoresis terms were identified as main. A comparative assessment of the expected and actual electric field strength in five electrophoretic tanks and the contribution of the revealed differences to the variability in DNA damage carried out. Only for one tank, the measured electric field strength coincided with the expected 1 V/cm, while for four it ranged from 0.6 to 2.0 V/cm. The values of DNA damage assessed in the same samples of mouse kidney cells differed between tanks up to 4.7-fold for induced and up to 10-fold for spontaneous DNA damage. High local variations in the electric field strength and solution temperature across the platform as well as in %DNA in the tail of identical cell samples within electrophoresis runs also revealed. These variations were reduced by recirculation of electrophoresis solution. The results show that discrepancy between the estimated and the actual electric field strength can be reason of inter-laboratory variation of the comet assay results. Recirculation of the solution during electrophoresis will be useful to control of intra-laboratory and intra-assay variations.


Transistor stack [1] is one of technique used to minimize the standby current in Nano-scale CMOS circuits. Experimentally we observed that drain current consumption by stacking of NMOS transistors in active mode is high as compared to single NMOS transistor operating in active mode. This paper describes novel circuit technique for reduction of drain current in active mode of operation for stack NMOS assembly. The effect of VGS, VDS, VSB and intermediates node voltages is also addressed. The proposed circuit is simulated for TSMC 0.18 μm technology using Spice© simulator.


The Silurian Kepingtage Formation in Tazhong area is regarded as an acid‐sensitive hydrocarbon reservoir. However, formation mechanism of acid‐sensitive of the reservoir cannot be interpreted by the existing acid‐sensitive evaluation criterion based on damage rate. The contents of acid ‐sensitive minerals illustrated by bulk‐rock XRD, scanning electron microscopy and clay mineral composition analysis exert the dominant control on acid‐sensitive flow testing of the reservoir. The iron‐ bearing minerals (including pyrite cements and chlorite cements) mainly deteriorate reservoir quality, while the iron‐free minerals (including calcite cements and dolomite cements) mainly improve permeability. The permeability variation of the tested samples is controlled by the relative content of two acid‐sensitive minerals. On the basis of newly established sensitivity mechanism and its influence on permeability, the corresponding ion (Fe2+) stabilizer was added to the acidizing fluids during the acidification reconstruction, which inhibited the negative factors of acid‐sensitive minerals and improved the target layer quality effectively.


Embodiments of the present disclosure, the user saves the document, and other data, open and / or one or more storage services to search (e.g., a cloud storage service or the local storage service) more easily to provide a user interface that can be used identify and. Embodiments identifies the user and identifies one or more storage services are available to users includes receiving user credentials from the user. In response to a request to save a document, a list of available service is provided to the user. In one embodiment, the list of services is provided via a user interface to the user. The user selects the storage service from the list, it is possible to save the document using the selected service.


Quantization noise effects in a digital implementation of the complex scalar LMS adaptive algorithm are analyzed by modelling the accumulator input quantizer as a memoryless nonlinearity. The probability density function of the quantizer input, conditioned on the weight, is derived. The density is applied to finding the first and second conditional moments at the quantizer output. These are used to derive difference equations that approximate the dynamical behavior of the first and second weight moments. These difference equations, when solved numerically, compare favorably with simulation results.


Abstract Background: The detection of multiple viruses is important for pathogenic diagnosis and disease control. Microarray detection is a good method, but requires complex procedures for multiple virus detection. Methods: We developed a novel PCR assay, the microarray-in-a-tube system, which integrates multiple PCR processes and DNA microarrays for multiple virus detection. A 5 × 5 oligonucleotide microarray for detecting 4 respiratory tract viruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome–associated coronavirus, influenza A virus, influenza B virus, and enterovirus) with inner controls was arranged on the inner surface of a specially designed Eppendorf cap with a flat, optically transparent window. Results: We were able to perform all detection processes in the encapsulated system without opening the cap. The 4 viruses were successfully amplified by one-step reverse transcription–PCR in the encapsulated tube. After the PCR process, the microarray-in-a-tube was inverted, and the fluorescence-labeled PCR products were directly hybridized on the microarray. Hybridization signals were obtained with an ordinary fluorescent microscope. The sensitivity of the system for virus detection reached 102 copies/μL. With the help of inner controls, the system provided reliable results without false negatives and false positives. Conclusions: The microarray-in-a-tube system is a rapid, labor-saving tool for multiple virus detection with several advantages, such as convenience, prevention of cross-contamination of the PCR products, and potential for multiple-gene detection.


Purpose - This paper investigates whether the effect of unemployment benefits (UB) on unemployment duration is the same for individuals belonging to different wealth groups. Design/methodology/approach - Using a sample of newly unemployed individuals from Italy in 2007, we perform estimations of semi-parametric and parametric Cox hazard models and finds a significant interaction between benefits and wealth. Findings - In particular, we show that the mitigating effect of benefits on liquidity constraints is less marked for individuals from richer households and therefore, for these individuals, benefits do not increase unemployment duration. Originality/value - The results also show that liquidity constraints are important in determining unemployment duration and that wealth has an important role in the actual effect of UB.


Abstract Strengthening the security protection of overseas Chinese is an important means for China to safeguard its overseas interests. The Middle East is in turmoil with frequent security incidents involving Chinese nationals and their assets. Ensuring the safety of Chinese natioanls is an important part of promoting the sound development of China and the Middle East relations. Drawing on the questionnaire survey, this paper examines the security threats and risks faced by Chinese nationals in some Middle Eastern states, and seeks to explore how China might enhance its security protection capability accordingly for Chinese nationals in the Middle East. It shows that the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals, by strengthening the top-level design and mechanism coordination, improving the consular protection system and overseas evacuation capabilities, and participating in security governance and non-traditional security cooperation in the Middle East.


Connectionist methods are powerful what comes to modeling observation data, but they seem to be incapable of capturing conceptual , higher-level representations. This paper presents a knowledge representation formalism that can be transformed into lower-level categories and features in a straightforward manner. The knowledge structures span virtual data constructs.


In the chronological development of methods for the roentgen examination of the stomach, the older procedures consisted in the demonstration of filling defects, produced by large lesions, in an opaque medium. Later, more refined technics made it possible to outline the mucosal pattern with a thin layer of barium, under controlled compression, thus revealing involvement at an earlier stage. The different regions of the stomach, however, have not benefited equally from this improved technic. Whereas in the body of the stomach, the antrum, and pylorus, the mucosal folds are demonstrated with great clarity, in the region of the cardia dependence is still placed on the older procedures, which reveal only the more advanced lesions. The most important obstacle in the way of study of the mucosal relief in the cardiac portion of the stomach is its anatomical position, hidden behind the thoracic cage, where it is inaccessible to compression. In addition, since this part of the stomach forms a cavity of considerable...


Objective To observe histomorphology of neo-cartilage obtained with tissue-engineering by combining calcium alginate gel and in vitro cultrue of chondrocytes. Methods Articular chondrocytes from the knee joints of 2-week-old New Zealand white rabbits were harvested, expanded in cell culture, and following the second generation of the culture, the chondrocyte suspension was mixed with calcium alginate gel resulting in a cell density of 5× 10 6/ml. Finally the mixture, which contained 1% sodium alginate, 40 mmol/L calcium gluconate, 0.135 mol/L NaCl, 0.1 mol/L K 2HPO 4 and 5× 10 6 chondrocytes per milliliter, were injected into the dorsal subcutaneous tissue in rabbits of experimental groups (A and B). Animals of the control groups (C and D) were injected with calcium alginate without chondrocytes or chondrocytes without calcium alginate. Specimens were harvested at the 2nd and 4th week after injection, and stained with HE and toluidine blue. Results In the HE stained specimens in the experimental groups, proliferation of chondrocytes was demonstrated at the 2nd week and the formation of neo-cartilage at the 4th week after injection of calcium alginate chondrocyte-composite. Toluidine blue stained specimens showed positive staining of chondrocytes and cartilage matrix of neo-cartilage. In some animals injected with chondrocytes without calcium alginate, relative small amount of neo-cartilage was also formed and no neo-cartilage was observed in animals injected with calcium alginate without chondrocytes. Conclusion Injectable calcium alginate-chondrocyte-composite can induce tissue engineered neo-cartilage in allogenic animal.


The penetration level of renewable energy (RE) including distributed generation (DG) integrated in the distribution network has been increasing in many countries. This follows widespread encouragement to use renewable energy to minimize reliance on conventional power plants to achieve net zero emissions. Malaysian energy transition targets and carbon neutral goals set by the government, lower cost of ownership of solar PV systems, and more efficient government renewable energy initiatives including Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0, Green Investment Tax (GITA), Large Scale Solar (LSS), and most recently the Corporate Green Power Program (CGPP) have driven the rapid development of renewable energy in the country. However, the high penetration level of distributed generation including solar PV, mini- hydro, and bio-energy has introduced several technical impacts on the operation of the distribution network including increased fault levels, voltage limit violation, reverse power flow, distribution network losses, and transformer losses. This paper analyzes the technical impacts of the high penetration level of distributed generation in medium voltage (MV) substations of the distribution network using DigSILENT PowerFactory simulation software. From the results obtained through the simulation analysis, the impact factors of fault level, voltage limit violations, reverse power flow, distribution network losses, and transformer losses have been formulated. The optimal distributed generation penetration level in distribution networks is then determined based on the highest score value of the normalized impact factor from all penetration levels.


Hydraulic tomography inverse problems, which are solved to estimate aquifer hydraulic properties between wells, are known to be ill‐conditioned and a priori information is often added to regularize numerical inversion of head data. Because both head data and a priori information have effects on the inversed solution, assessing the meaningful information contained in head data alone is required to ensure comprehensive interpretation of inverse solutions, whether they are regularized or not. This study thus aims to assess the amount of information contained in tomographic slug tests head data to resolve heterogeneity in Kh, Kv/Kh, and Ss. Therefore, a resolution analysis based on truncated singular value decomposition of the sensitivity matrix with a noise level representative of field measurements is applied using synthetic data reflecting a known littoral aquifer. As an approximation of the hydraulic behavior of a real aquifer system, synthetic tomographic experiments and associated sensitivity matrices are generated using a radial flow model accounting for wellbore storage to simulate slug tests in a plane encompassing a stressed well and an observation well. Although fine‐scale resolution of heterogeneities is limited by the diffusive nature of the groundwater flow equations, inversion of tomographic slug tests head data holds the potential to uniquely resolve coarse‐scale heterogeneity in Kh, Kv/Kh, and Ss, as inscribed in the resolution matrix. This implies that tomographic head data can provide key information on aquifer heterogeneity and anisotropy, but that fine‐scale information must be supplied by a priori information to obtain finer details.


In this study, we present the negotiation between a student – Maria Estela – and the teacher about what it means to be "developing a mathematical modelling project". It was the first time that Maria Estela was taking part in such an activity. The study arises from qualitative analyses of empirical data collected during a meeting of Maria Estela's group with the teacher, to develop the modelling project. The subjects of the study were undergraduate students of the Public Management program at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil. The mathematical modelling project was one of the activities developed in the Mathematics course, which is one of the disciplines of the program. The theme of the project, chosen by the group in focus, was "Polemics of health accounts in the state [1] of Minas Gerais". Maria Estela proposed the theme and the group agreed. She had particular interest in it. As a journalist, she had been studying the issue of public accounts of health in the state of Minas Gerais for a long time. She had collected a lot of information, including numerical data. For Maria Estela, all the numeric data about the theme of the project had already been collected and, to conclude the modelling project, they had just "to find […] the mathematical relationship among them". The teacher, from her viewpoint, insisted that "just taking data, putting them in a graphic and comparing them, […] is not a work in the style that was proposed […]. The proposal was to investigate the situation." We analysed how the level of certainty that Maria Estela had about what she had proposed to study had influenced her to use mathematics just to validate her arguments, corroborating what Skovsmose and Borba (1987) call the ideology of certainty in mathematics. On the other hand, the teacher had invited the group to develop what Alro and  Skovsmose (2002) call landscapes of investigation. Such landscapes have, as one of their main objectives, to destabilise the certainty established on mathematical arguments. In our analysis, we could verify how much the negotiation between Maria Estela and the teacher was a determinant of the continuing of the project. References Alro, H., & Skovsmose, O. (2002). Dialogue and learning in mathematics education: Intention, reflection, critique . Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Borba, M. C. & Skovsmose, O. (1997). The ideology of certainty in mathematics education. For the Learning of Mathematics, 17 (3), 17-23. [1] Brazil is a federative republic formed of 26 states plus the Federal District, and Minas Gerais is one of the states.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Intravesical therapy is critical for bladder cancer and a secondary option for interstitial cystitis and overactive bladder patient's refractory to oral treatment. Althou...


Abstract:This article takes Shanghai as a case study to look at the home life of what the Chinese Communist Party officially categorized as "national capitalists" in China from 1949 to 1966. Contrary to the long-standing perception in both academia and popular writings that former capitalists were purely victims of the revolution, this study shows that as far as material comfort was concerned, the old rich still lived an infinitely better life than most Chinese at the time, despite the constant political campaigns against them. The persistence of bourgeois lifestyles under communism was an outcome of the Chinese Communist Party's united front policy, as well as an ingenious use of government policy and programs by capitalists to preserve a way of life that was politically condemned. "Bourgeois comfort" under Mao represented a deviant and dissident undercurrent that helped prepared the way for the remarkable return of opulent lifestyles in post-Mao China.


ABS TRACT Ob jec ti ve: To de ter mi ne the ef fect of va gi nal slow-re le a se di nop ros to ne in wo men with prema tu re rup tu re of mem bra nes (PROM) and un fa vo rab le cer vi ces. Ma te ri al and Met hods: Wo men inc lu ded in the study met the fol lo wing cri te ri a: a li ve sing le ton fe tus at term (37-41 we eks of ges ta ti on) in cep ha lic pre sen ta ti on, a re ac ti ve nons tress test wit ho ut any con trac ti ons, pre sen ting PROM con fir med by de mons tra ti on of po o ling of am ni o tic flu id in va gi nal va ult, a Bis hop sco re of 4 or less be fo re the on set of la bor and no ute ri ne con trac ti ons for a pe ri od of 4 ho urs af ter PROM. Par ti ci pants we re com pa red in to 2 gro ups. In the first gro up, one di nop ros to ne va gi nal ovu le (10 mg) was pla ced in the pos te ri or for nix. The wo men in the se cond gro up did not re ce i ve any cer vi cal ma tu ra ti on me di ca ti on. Du ra ti on of latent la bor, du ra ti on of ac ti ve la bor, cer vi cal ma tu ra ti on ra te and in ter val from PROM to de li very we re eva lu a ted as the pri mary out co me. Re sults: Wo men who re ce i ved the di nop ros to ne va gi nal ovu le we re fo und to ha ve sig ni fi cantly hig her cer vi cal ma tu ra ti on ra te in 12 ho urs, shor ter du ra ti on of la tent la bor, con se qu ently shor ter in ter val from PROM to de li very and smal ler pro por ti on of wo men re qu i ring oxyto cin aug men ta ti on com pa red with ex pec tant ma na ge ment. The hypers ti mu la ti on ra te was sig ni fi cantly hig her in the di nop ros to ne gro up (p< 0.05). The re we re no sig ni fi cant dif fe ren ces in the de ce le ra ti on of fe tal he art ra te and mo de of de li very. Conc lu si on: The con trol led re le a sed di nop ros to ne ovu le shor te ned the la tent la bor du ra ti on and the in ter val ti me from PROM to de li very wit ho ut in cre a sing ce sa re an de li very ra tes.


Two new stonefly species, Anacroneuria segnini Stark and Maldonado sp. n. and A. cacute Stark and Maldonado sp. n. are described from Venezuela. Nymphal descriptions based on reared specimens are given for A. segnini, A. muesca Stark, A. paleta Stark, two unassociated females, and an additional species being described by colleagues.


Plasma ashing process for removing photoresist, polymer and / or residues from a substrate includes placing the substrate including the photoresist, polymer and / or the residues into the reaction chamber; Generating a plasma from the oxygen gas (O Step of suppressing and / or reducing the high-speed diffusing species in the plasma; And exposing the substrate to the plasma, and a step of selectively removing the photoresist, polymer and / or residues from the substrate, the plasma does not substantially contain a high-speed diffusion species.


This paper presents a novel approach for solving Dynamic Programming optimisation problems such as the generation of exhaustive costto-go functions for path planning in dense environments. Cost-to-go function generation on an occupancy grid is the core of many metricbased techniques for unmanned ground and aerial vehicle path planning. The main limitations of existing methods concern a trade o between properties such as physical size of occupancy grid, resolution of grid cells and required update frequency. This paper presents a concurrent version of a traditional dynamic programming algorithm used to evaluate a cost function on grid-based domains. The proposed algorithm provides an existing system with an order of magnitude more exibility and leniency in the aforementioned properties as it provides mathematically equivalent results to the traditional algorithm in an order of magnitude less time on currently available hardware. Although this algorithm has been developed and tested in a robotics context, it may benet other areas of optimisation and control.


We summarize the confined propagation of thermal neutrons along waveguides with small transverse cross section (neutron fibres). We outline proposals for neutron fibres with transverse sizes from microns (μm) down to tens of nanometers (nm). We summarize experimental implementations by means of polycapillary glass fibres, in the μm scale. Some diffraction experiments on small samples by means of thermal neutron capillary optics are summarized. Such developments (together with absorption techniques) could have possible interest for residual stress analysis, below the mm scale.


1513114 Background and Objective: The advent of information and communication technologies, increasing access to computers in high er education and universities' challenges such as increasing demand for education, the need for economic activities to provide new resources and the use of information technology to provide education services in the global market has caused universities to reconsider their traditional roles and create new organizational structures. E-learning is one of the advances of technology in education. Along with the growth of technology and its development in the field of learning, experts in this field conceived the idea that they can meet the educational needs of the learners by launching e-learning courses. Determining the level of student satisfaction is one of the most important indicators of achieving the desired quality. Studies also show that in order to continuously improve higher education system, it is necessary to evaluate the quality of educational, research and welfare services. Due to the above-mentioned reasons, examining the readiness and potential of the e-learning system is inevitable. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluation the effectiveness of e-learning on the satisfaction of graduate students in Islamic Azad University. Methods: The research method is mixed (qualitative-quantitative). In qualitative section, a theme-based questionnaire/focal group and in quantities section, a surveying type was used. The statistical population of the research in the qualitative section was experts in the field of e-learning, academic elites, professors and experts, 22 of whom were selected by non-random and snowball sampling. The selection criteria was having more than 10 years of experience and being excellence in education and research. The statistical population of the quantitative section were postgraduate students of university units in northwestern Iran, among whom a sample size of 219 was selected


In order to show the potential unification between studying the school's academic curriculum and developing moral virtues, two matters commonly considered to be separated, I suggest the approach of worthy leisure education. Drawing on the tradition of paideia and liberal arts education, I describe the inner connection between school and leisure and the inner connection between the leisure of school and the preferred liberal virtue. This educational approach calls for teachers to create their lessons, the educational gatherings, as events which are not directed at outcomes beyond themselves. I name this approach to teaching: non-outcome-based teaching, or teaching here and now. I conclude the article by describing a number of virtues that teachers who wish to excel in implementing this approach should develop.


After the introduction of the history of Deyang equipment manufacturing,this paper makes an analysis of relevant industry policies,the primary competitors in equipment manufacturing abroad,and the characteristics of Deyang equipment manufacturing.Then some problems on development of Deyang equipment manufacturing are brought forth and discussed.


An ADC is synthesized entirely from Verilog code in 90nm digital CMOS using a standard digital cell library. An analog comparator is generated by cross-coupling two 3-input NAND gates. The random comparator offsets are used as the ADC references and are Gaussian. An implicitly aligned three-section piecewise-linear inverse Gaussian CDF function on chip linearizes the output. SNDR of 35.9dB is achieved at 210MSPS.


1. Delyon J, Ortonne N, Benayoun E, Moroch J, Wolkenstein P, Sbidian E, et al. Lowdose methotrexate-induced skin toxicity: Keratinocyte dystrophy as an histologic marker. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015;73:484-90. 2. Yélamos O, Català A, Vilarrasa E, Roé E, Puig L. Acute severe methotrexate toxicity in patients with psoriasis: a case series and discussion. Dermatology. 2014;229:306-9. 3. Troeltzsch M, von Blohn G, Kriegelstein S, Woodlock T, Gassling V, Berndt R, et al. Oral mucositis in patients receiving low-dose methotrexate therapy fot rheumatoid arthritis: report of 2 cases and literature review. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol. 2013;115:e28-33. 4. Romão VC, Lima A, Bernardes M, Canhão H, Fonseca JE. Three decades of lowdose methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis: Can we predict toxicity? Immunol Res. 2014;60:289-310 5. Ataide DST, Esmanhoto LDK, Karin AH, Guerra IRC, Guimarães CCG, Mortiz S. Ulceration of Psoriatic plaquescutaneous adverse effects of high dose methotrexate in psoriasis: a report of three cases. An Bras Dermatol 2003; 78: 749-53. A B


A method for preparing nano silver different in grain diameter includes preparing nano silver different in grain diameter by changing usage of reactants, reaction temperature and stirring speed. The reactants include silver nitrate, ammonia water and reducing agent. Usage changing of the reactants mainly means changing of silver nitrate, and usage of other reactants is changed according to certain reactant proportion as changes of the silver nitrate. The molar ratio of silver nitrate and ammonia water ranges from 1:1 to 1:10, the molar ratio of silver nitrate and reducing agent ranges from 1:1 to 1:8, the reaction temperature ranges from 20 DEG C to 90 DEG C, and the stirring speed ranges from 30r.p.m to 800r.p.m.


Existing proposals for converting thin section data to their sieve equivalents are all flawed in various ways, while questions concerning the significance of the grain size of spherical grains measured on a volume frequency basis in thin section using φ units, and of non-spherical (ellipsoidal) grains using both millimetres and φ units, have not been -satisfactorily resolved in the literature. It can be shown mathematically that the mean thin section diameters of spherical grains, or axis lengths of a series of parallel sections through ellipsoidal grains, will underestimate the dimensions of the corresponding central section (i.e. one passing through the grain centre) by 0.2023 φ when measured on a volume frequency basis. In order to approximate the effect of measuring particle size on random cuts through ellipsoidal grains, the dimensions of a series of sections cut in 49 unique directions, symmetrically arranged and evenly spread with respect to the ellipsoidal axes, were calculated. This calculation was carried out for five different ellipsoids which between them covered the mean sphericity and thin section axial ratio values normally encountered among naturally occurring quartz grain populations. The data indicated that the mean true nominal diameters (D) of ellipsoidal quartz grains can be obtained in thin sections from the mean nominal sectional diameters (d′) and major axes (ā′) of the central sections (derived from the observed values by multiplying the millimetre means by 1·1318 and subtracting 0·2023 from the φ means) using the following equations:

A rough estimate (to within c. 5%) of both the mean nominal diameters and the mean long axes of ellipsoidal quartz grains can be arrived at by applying a simple correction factor to the mean long axis lengths as measured in thin section using either millimetres or φ units.


Published with descriptive text in Amsterdam. A reproduction of this engraving appears in Mendelssohn's South African Bibliography, 1910, with the subtitle "Woltemaade's heroic exploit, June 1st 1773". Romney was a famous English painter who never visited South Africa.


Summary

Soymilk fortified with 25 mm Ca (Ca carbonate, Ca citrate, triCa phosphate, Ca gluconate or Ca lactate) was compared with the properties of unfortified soymilk (control). Calcium carbonate, Ca citrate and triCa phosphate did not significantly affect [Ca2+], absolute viscosity and particle size of soymilk, but Ca gluconate and Ca lactate significantly increased these properties. The pH of soymilk was significantly increased by adding Ca carbonate but significantly reduced by adding Ca gluconate and Ca lactate. Dry sediment of soymilk increased significantly with the addition of all Ca salts excluding triCa phosphate. Freezing point depression increased significantly only for Ca gluconate and Ca lactate, mainly owing to their higher solubility.


This manuscript describes a simple one-pot reaction that affords cuboid iron−manganese oxide nanoparticles with unprecedented dimensions as large as 33 ± 5 nm (average body-centered diagonal) in monodisperse form. Our unique synthetic method, which requires no multiple growth steps typical of other methods, utilizes the thermal decomposition of metal precursor complexes in the presence of specifically tailored surfactants and/or mixtures of surfactants. The size and shape of these unusually large magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can be manipulated at will simply by adjusting the surfactant composition, leading to enhanced control over the dimensions of the nanoparticles because of the surface-differentiating influence of the functional end groups. Our surfactant system utilizes two types of surface ligands: one strongly bound to the metal surface and the others loosely bound. This combination of ligands plays an important role in controlling particle size and morphology. With an eye toward potential biomedic...


In graph-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), the pose graph grows over time as the robot gathers information about the environment. An ever growing pose graph, however, prevents long-term mapping with mobile robots. In this paper, we address the problem of efficient information-theoretic compression of pose graphs. Our approach estimates the mutual information between the laser measurements and the map to discard the measurements that are expected to provide only a small amount of information. Our method subsequently marginalizes out the nodes from the pose graph that correspond to the discarded laser measurements. To maintain a sparse pose graph that allows for efficient map optimization, our approach applies an approximate marginalization technique that is based on Chow–Liu trees. Our contributions allow the robot to effectively restrict the size of the pose graph. Alternatively, the robot is able to maintain a pose graph that does not grow unless the robot explores previously unobserved parts of the environment. Real-world experiments demonstrate that our approach to pose graph compression is well suited for long-term mobile robot mapping.


The far-infrared spectral region is defined and transitions that absorb radiation in this region are discussed. The intramolecular vibrations of small organic and inorganic compounds that absorb in the far-infrared region include stretching modes involving heavy atoms, skeletal bending modes, and torsional and ring-puckering vibrations. Intermolecular vibrations of small molecules that absorb in the far infrared include hydrogen bonds and liquid lattice bands. The phonon bands of inorganic solids are briefly discussed. Intramolecular vibrations of polymers that absorb in the far-infrared polymers can be due to localized torsions of individual functional groups and modes that are more delocalized along the chain. Intermolecular vibrations of polymers that are observed in the far infrared include rotatory and translatory motions of the chains. Absorption may also be induced by disorder and by the presence of impurities that have been either deliberately or accidentally introduced. Finally, the rotational transitions of small molecules in the vapor-phase that absorb far-infrared radiation are discussed.

Keywords:

far-infrared;
heavy atoms;
skeletal vibrations;
torsional vibrations;
ring-puckering vibrations;
hydrogen bonds;
liquid lattice bands;
phonon bands;
far-infrared polymer absorption bands;
impurity-induced absorption;
pure rotation spectra


Two novel brominated metabolites, tribromocacoxanthene (3) and tetrabromocacoxanthene (4),have been isolated from a marine sponge of the Cacospongia genus (family Thorectidae ) along with 12-epideoxoscalarin (2). The structures of compounds (3), systematic name (2S,4aS,9aS)-2,7-dibromo-4a-bromomethyl-1,1-dimethyl-2,3,4,4a,9,9a-hexahydro-1H-xanthene, and (4), systematic name (2S,4aS,9aS)-2,5,7-tribromo-4a-bromomethyl-l,1-dimethyl-2,3,4,4a,9,9a-hexahydro-1H-xanthene , were deduced from analysis of 1H and 13C n.m.r. data and that of (3) was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic structure analysis which provided the absolute configuration. The two new compounds are the first tricyclic examples of a carbon skeleton previously isolated only from algae. The chemotaxonomic implication of the isolation of these new compounds is discussed.


Compressive sensing (CS) shows that, when a signal is sparse or compressible with respect to some basis, a small number of compressive measurements of the original signal can be sufficient for exact (or approximate) recovery. Distributed CS (DCS) takes advantage of both intra- and intersignal correlation structures to reduce the number of measurements required for multisignal recovery. In most cases of audio signal processing, only mixtures of the original sources are available for observation under the DCS framework, without prior information on both the source signals and the mixing process. To recover the original sources, estimating the mixing process is a key step. The underlying method for mixing matrix estimation reconstructs the mixtures by a DCS approach first and then estimates the mixing matrix from the recovered mixtures. The reconstruction step takes considerable time and also introduces errors into the estimation step. The novelty of this paper lies in verifying the independence and non-Gaussian property for the compressive measurements of audio signals, based on which it proposes a novel method that estimates the mixing matrix directly from the compressive observations without reconstructing the mixtures. Numerical simulations show that the proposed method outperforms the underlying method with better estimation speed and accuracy in both noisy and noiseless cases.


education students are of the group variety, and in general they require a minimum of approximately sixth grade level of reading competency for valid results. Accordingly, it is important to assess the level of reading competency for individuals desiring to take such tests; so that if there is a significant reading problem (reading below sixth grade level), a less valid test of the non-reading variety may be substituted where appropriate. Counselor Judgment. The adult t


Four sets of atmospheric turbulence flight records have been analyzed using NAPAM natural parameter based assessment and analysis methods. Pre-processing operations included calculation of a suitable runnung mean function. Values of the standard deviation, of the integral scale L and of Taylor's scale were calculated from the definition formulae and checked by the spectral density functions. Shape parameters for the generalized Karman spectrum, too, were calculated and checked. Experimental calculations indicate the existence of a discrete frequency amplitude spectrum function and research is proceeding to verify (or to disprove) this assumption.


With the growing evidence of potential health risks associated with the consumption of synthetic antioxidants, the demand for natural antioxidants has increased rapidly. In the assessment of the antioxidant activities of plant extracts IC 50 values of the extracts or antioxidant activity of a known concentration (g/L) (but not the concentration of active ingredients) of an extract, is determined. However, the results of such experiments do not clearly reflect the quality of antioxidants of the plant extracts due to the fact that the amounts of active antioxidant ingredients are not considered for such evaluations. In the present study the DPPH radical scavenging activities of phenolic extracts from different plant sources were compared. For this comparison, the colorimetrically measured total phenol contents of the phenolic extracts of different samples were adjusted to an equal concentration by suitable dilutions and the DPPH radical scavenging activity of each phenolic extract was measured (Figure 1). Five samples from each plant extract were used for the study and the measurements were done in triplicate


Although genetic variants of PNPLA3, TM6SF2 and SAMM50 have been reported to increase the risk of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), no pediatric studies have evaluated the association between SAMM50 and NAFLD.


A correlation between intensity of neutronal component of cosmic rays and typhoid bacteria agglutination was revealed. Agglutination speed dependence on season, polarity of interplanetary magnetic field, geomagnetic storms, Sun's revolution was shown. An assumption is made about an important role of the magnetic fields in the phenomena observed.


This document specifies the RTP payload format for encapsulating ITU Recommendation BT.656-3 video streams in the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP). Each RTP packet contains all or a portion of one scan line as defined by ITU Recommendation BT.601-5, and includes fragmentation, decoding and positioning information.


e19593 Background: Breakthrough cancer pain (BTcP), a transient pain exacerbation occurring in cancer patients with otherwise stable persistent pain levels, negatively impacts quality of life (QoL). We investigated BTcP characteristics from 2 clinical trials of fentanyl sublingual tablets (Abstral). In both studies, BTcP episodes were effectively treated with fentanyl sublingual tablets, and in 1 study QoL improved.

METHODS
Data from 2 long-term phase III trials (1 open-label and 1 double-blind, placebo-controlled trial) of fentanyl sublingual tablets in opioid-tolerant patients with BTcP were pooled for post hoc analyses. Individual BTcP episodes were recorded during the 2-week titration phase of each trial and the double-blind phase of 1 trial; daily pain episodes were self-reported during the 1-year open-label extension phase of each trial. BTcP characteristics assessed included episode frequency across demographic subgroups, episode frequency during treatment, and the timing of daily episodes. Statistical analyses consisted of nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis or paired Wilcoxon tests) and generalized linear mixed modeling.

RESULTS
In the 265 patients assessed, mean ± SD BTcP episode frequency was higher in women than men (2.9±1.3 vs 2.6±1.3 episodes per day; P=0.034). Mean BTcP episode frequency was also higher in younger versus older patients (P=0.001). Daily BTcP episode frequency increased over the course of treatment (P<0.0001), but the rate of increase slowed over time. Among patients treated in both the titration and double-blind treatment phases of the placebo-controlled trial (n=127), a higher number of BTcP episodes occurred during the day than at night (P<0.0001), with episode number progressively increasing between 8 am and 8 pm.

CONCLUSIONS
In these post hoc analyses, BTcP episode frequency and number in patients treated with fentanyl sublingual tablets varied significantly according to age, sex, treatment duration, and time of day. The increased episode frequency during treatment and throughout the day may be due to improvements in daily functioning that allow for increases in physical activity rather than to disease progression.


As short range, ground based, surveillance systems operating at terahertz frequencies continue to evolve, increasing attention is being directed towards the behavior of dielectric materials at terahertz frequencies as well as the behavior of optical components used to control terahertz radiation. This work provides an overview of several terahertz optical components such as frequency selective filters, laser output couplers, artificial dielectrics, and electromagnetic absorbers. In addition, a database was established that contains terahertz properties of common materials that have been largely unexplored in this region of the spectrum. The database consists of transmittance and reflectance spectra of a variety of materials measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy techniques from 175 GHz - 2 THz. In addition, ultra-stable, CO2 optically pumped, far-infrared gas lasers were used to collect fixed-frequency transmittance data at 326 GHz, 584 GHz, and 1.04 THz. A Gunn oscillator was used for measurements at 94 GHz.


The kinetics of the esterification reaction between acetic acid and epichlorohydrin catalysed by Purolite A-520E strong basic anion exchange resin was studied. The effects of certain parameters such as stirring speed, particle diameter, temperature, catalyst amount and molar ratio between reactants were experimentally determined. It was found that the overall reaction rate is intrinsically kinetically controlled. The partial orders of reaction with respect to catalyst, acetic acid and epichlorohydrin were determined. A reaction mechanism is proposed. Based on chromatographic data and taking into account the partial orders of reaction, a more detailed kinetic model is suggested.


Abstract In this paper we consider four alternative forms of two-parameter normal and nonnormal error distributions and report on a Monte Carlo study of the small-sample properties of least squares, two-stage least squares, three-stage least squares and full information maximum likelihood estimators. On the basis of 1,000 replications of sample size 20 in two experiments on an overidentified model, we found that the small-sample rankings of econometric estimators of both structural coefficients and forecasts of endogenous variables, according to parametric and nonparametric measures of bias, dispersion, and dispersion including bias, do not change for any of the four error distributions. Further, least squares is the most biased and maintains the Gauss-Markov property of minimum variance. The large bias of least squares, however, more than offsets the small variance, so that least squares exhibits the largest mean squares of the four estimators. Maximum likelihood is least biased and most efficient, excep...


By summarizing the pretreatments for determination of arsenic in traditional Chinese medicine to discuss the problem which in Chinese Pharmacopoeia related rules. It was suggested to modify the pretreatments for determination of arsenic in Chinese Pharmacopoeia. The importance is stressed also to standardize the pretreatments for quality control of arsenic in traditional Chinese medicine.


This paper motivates the need for enhanced support for subsystem development and evaluation in the context of large engineering systems. Estab- lished approaches e.g. from the field of systems engineering seem to provide too little differentiation between how system development ideally should be ap- proached and what "channels" (means) are realistically available for a company developing these systems. The research presented is motivated by the challenges identified in the context of the offshore petroleum drilling industry and the as- sumption that the challenges system providers face in that context are repre- sentative for other industries as well. We propose a framework for addressing these challenges, aiming at support- ing the evaluation basis for a subsystem by its projection into multiple supersys- tems and stakeholder systems. We specify the requirements differentiating dif- ferent possible strategic and operational directions. We confront the identified requirements and potential directions to specific research areas, and established methods and tools, usually being applied in the context of overall system devel- opment or described only generally. We investigate which sub-aspects of the en- visaged framework are being implicitly or explicitly addressed by these ap- proaches and estimate their transferability potential. The identified potentials and limitations of the different approaches constitute the basis for a further sub- stantiation of the framework.


US 2007/O150859 A1 Jun. 28, 2007 Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of application No. 09/747,091, filed on Dec. 21, 2000, now Pat. No. 7,200,838, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 09/745,023, filed on Dec. 20, 2000, now Pat. No. 7,210,117. Int. Cl. G06F 9/44 G06F 3/00 (2006.01) G06F 3/048 (2006.01) U.S. Cl. ....................... 717/109; 717/104; 717/105; 717/106; 715/762; 715/763 Field of Classification Search ....................... None See application file for complete search history. Assignee:


The Tunisian diaspora in Europe has gained significant research interest due to the fundamental changes recently triggered by the Tunisian Revolution with which the diaspora strongly interacted. This article investigates the potential effects of media use on the political identity of
 Tunisian diasporic communities in Europe, from a sociopolitical communication perspective. Based on 45 interviews conducted with Tunisians living in Denmark, Sweden and France, a special focus has been set on the patterns of media use in relation to components of political identity (homeland
 orientation, religion and ideology), considering the combined influences of both country of origin and country of residence. The analysis shows that media exerted supportive effects on the diaspora's homeland orientations – a process that likely depended on participants'
 previous connection with Tunisia. The media also exerted short-term transformative effects on the political ideology and a reverse effect on religious orientations – a process that mainly depended on life in both country of origin and country of residence. This article proposes that
 this Tunisian diaspora is more likely to construct a hybrid identity, supported by media channels that facilitate the adoption of sociopolitical principles derived from both country of origin and country of residence.


Students in physical education teaching is a new area for the new curriculum reform of democratization,we know the deep connotation of the democratization of education, and the traditional reality conflict mechanism and characteristics of the deviation. Article from the value orientation of physical education curriculum, teaching organization, implemented several directions set out in PE teaching in the teaching of democratic views and perspectives.


Abstract According to a reaction scheme which as its main features assumes that polymerization is predominantly in the interior of the monomer swollen polyvinyl chloride) particles and that all the decaying initiator finally contributes to the polymerization within the polymer particles, the ratio kp (f/kt)½ = K (where kp, kt are rate constants for chain propagation and chain termination, respectively, within the particles and f is initiator efficiency) has been calculated for bulk polymerization of vinyl chloride at three temperatures. K is found to be markedly larger than the corresponding quantity for homogeneous solution polymerization, e.g., at 50°C it is seven times this latter quantity. The characteristic ratio K shows a marked negative temperature dependence, which corresponds to approximately -4.5 kcal/mole for Ep - (Et/2), when f is assumed to be independent of temperature. This behavior is quite consistent with a strong gel effect being operative at the site of reaction, i.e., the swollen polym...


We argue that it is possible in principle to reduce the uncertainty of an atomic magnetometer by double passing a far-detuned laser field through the atomic sample as it undergoes Larmor precession. Numerical simulations of the quantum Fisher information suggest that, despite the lack of explicit multibody coupling terms in the system's magnetic Hamiltonian, the parameter estimation uncertainty in such a physical setup scales better than the conventional Heisenberg uncertainty limit over a specified but arbitrary range of particle number. Using the methods of quantum stochastic calculus and filtering theory, we demonstrate numerically an explicit parameter estimator (called a quantum particle filter) whose observed scaling follows that of our calculated quantum Fisher information. Moreover, the quantum particle filter quantitatively surpasses the uncertainty limit calculated from the quantum Cram\'er-Rao inequality based on a magnetic coupling Hamiltonian with only single-body operators. We also show that a quantum Kalman filter is insufficient to obtain super-Heisenberg scaling and present evidence that such scaling necessitates going beyond the manifold of Gaussian atomic states.


This paper presents the function, architecture, the sub-module circuit design and implementation of USB1.1 OHCI host controller IP. Itaddresses the host controller serial engine and its clock and data recovery circuit and parallel cyclic redundancy check (CRC) arithmetic. To verifythe OHCI host controller's function, the system level verification is done on the ZhongKe-SoC virtual verification platform, and the resultsdemonstrate the correctness of the design.


Finance is the foundation and important pillar of national governance. This paper uses a linear regression model to conduct research based on the total dependency ratio and fiscal revenue and expenditure data in China's inter-provincial panel data from 2002 to 2019, explore the impact of changes in the dependency ratio on China's fiscal revenue and expenditure, and further adopt a heterogeneous analysis method , through the dependency ratio and regional heterogeneity analysis perspective to carry out group regression. In this paper, the results of this study are as follows: (1) the total dependency ratio has an inverse relationship with China's fiscal revenue and expenditure. (2) There is a positive relationship between the dependency ratio of the elderly population and the fiscal revenue and expenditure of China, while the dependency ratio of children and adolescents has a reverse relationship with the fiscal revenue and expenditure of China. (3) There is also a reverse relationship between the total dependency ratio of the eastern and western regions of China, while the change of the total dependency ratio of the central and northeastern regions has no significant impact on the fiscal revenue and expenditure.


Model systems are needed in the study of neurotransmission mechanisms and in the search for treatments for diseases of the central nervous system. Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, is an attractive model organism because it has a complex nervous system that has many conserved pathways with mammals and it is easy to genetically alter. To use Drosophila as a model system to study the molecular and genetic basis for neurological diseases, a comprehensive understanding of its neurotransmitter systems is necessary. My dissertation research focuses on measurements of real-time neurotransmitter changes in Drosophila central nervous system using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry at carbon-fiber microelectrodes. My research concentrates on developing methods in three aspects: the sensor for detection, the modeling method and the control of neurotransmitter release. Chapter 2 introduces a method to modify the microelectrode with aligned carbon nanotube forests. The aligned carbon nanotube forests greatly improved electrode sensitivity and selectivity, and facilitated faster measurement. Chapter 3 describes optogenetic control of serotonin or dopamine release with pulsed optical stimulations. A modeling method which has been well established in mammalian models was exploited to estimate dopamine and serotonin release and clearance kinetics in Drosophila larva. We found the Vmax and Km for serotonin and dopamine in Drosophila were similar to their values in mammals, but the amount of neurotransmitter released per pulse was smaller. Chapter 4 employs a chemical stimulation method to investigate the releasable and reserve dopamine pools in Drosophila larva. With ATP/P2X2 mediated stimulation, we found both synthesis and reuptake were needed to


The aim and object of speedy trial is enshrined under Article 21 of constitution of India. Every accused facing criminal charges therefore has the fundamental and legal right of speedy trial. The interest of Justice means Justice to both sides. If it is necessary that accused guilty of an offence should not escape punishment, then it is also more necessary that the accused persons should not be harassed indefinitely. The right of speedy trial encompasses all stages namely investigation, injury, trial, appeal revision and retrial. The fair, just and reasonable procedure is implicated in Article 21 of Constitution and it creates a right in favour of accused to be tried speedy. The delay in disposal of criminal cases is one of the most serious problems of criminal justice administration. An accused in judicial custody is entitled to be released unconditionally in case of inordinate delay in trial. The tactical devices adopted by the lawyers for longer monetary benefits, accused's own efforts, delay in execution of processes issued by the courts, recalibration of judicial magistrate etc. are the main reasons of delay of trial. Juvenile's cases are also pending for several years although these cases require the conclusion of investigation and trial within three and six months respectively. Concrete efforts are therefore necessary to ensure speedy and fair trials.


There are two kinds of China- made X- ray thickness gaugemeters i.e. dual beam- dual detector system and single beam- single detector system- SM series, the latter is used dominantly in Chinese steel industries. The performance comparison between domestic and foreign instruments as well as its developments and applications is presented in this paper.


Under simulated solar irradiation in the visible spectral region, the catalytically active Ru-oxo species [Ru(O)(bpy)(tppz)] (tppz = tetrapyridylpyrazine, a strongly π-accepting tridentate N,N,N-ligand) is produced directly from a single metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) photoexcitation of the resting Ru-aquo complex [Ru(H2O)(bpy)(tppz)] in aqueous media containing an electron acceptor. This photoinduced path to 2-electron/2-proton activation of a mononuclear catalyst (i.e., without a paired chromophoric unit) is enabled by the thermodynamic instability of the intermediate Ru-hydroxo species [Ru(OH)(bpy)(tppz)], which promptly disproportionates into the Ru-oxo and Ru-aquo states as electrochemically observed by cyclic and pulse voltammetries in a wide range of pH. The proton-coupled multielectron photocatalytic capability of the complex in neutral aqueous solutions, at room conditions, was demonstrated through the dehydrogenative oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde with a product selectivity of about 100%. The performance of this mononuclear complex acting as chromophore/catalyst is comparable to that of the previously reported dinuclear complex [(tpy)Ru(tppz)Ru(HxO)(bpy)]. In addition to the characterization of redox and spectroscopic properties for the [Ru(L)(bpy)(tppz)] derivatives with L = Cl− or HxO, structural analysis of the precursor chloro complex [RuCl(bpy)(tppz)](PF6) was also performed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction in this work.


Allergic airway inflammation and hyperreactivity are modulated by γδ T cells, but different experimental parameters can influence the effects observed. For example, in sensitized C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice, transient depletion of all TCR-δ+ cells just before airway challenge resulted in airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), but caused hyporesponsiveness when initiated before i.p. sensitization. Vγ4+ γδ T cells strongly suppressed AHR; their depletion relieved suppression when initiated before challenge, but not before sensitization, and they suppressed AHR when transferred before challenge into sensitized TCR-Vγ4−/−/6−/− mice. In contrast, Vγ1+ γδ T cells enhanced AHR and airway inflammation. In normal mice (C57BL/6 and BALB/c), enhancement of AHR was abrogated only when these cells were depleted before sensitization, but not before challenge, and with regard to airway inflammation, this effect was limited to C57BL/6 mice. However, Vγ1+ γδ T cells enhanced AHR when transferred before challenge into sensitized B6.TCR-δ−/− mice. In this study Vγ1+ cells also increased levels of Th2 cytokines in the airways and, to a lesser extent, lung eosinophil numbers. Thus, Vγ4+ cells suppress AHR, and Vγ1+ cells enhance AHR and airway inflammation under defined experimental conditions. These findings show how γδ T cells can be both inhibitors and enhancers of AHR and airway inflammation, and they provide further support for the hypothesis that TCR expression and function cosegregate in γδ T cells.


The author points out,production force is a kind of material force which decides the social development,it manifests itself as material entity,such as production tool,so in the last analysis,production tool is production force.To analyse the internal cause of production force is to analyze the elements containded in production tool.Firstly,it contains the human factor,mainly the human intelligence element,expresses itself as the human working skills,production experience and science and technology.So if we want to speed up the development of production force,we must pay high attention to education and raise the laborers' scientific and cultural levels and their quality as a whole.Secondly,it contains material element,that is the material for making production tool.So if we want to speed up the development of production force,we must speed up material sciences and material industry.


Soil stress states were measured beneath the path of a rigid wheel (137 cm diameter). A multivariate analysis of variance was conducted on the data to determine the effect on stress state caused by dynamic and tractive wheel loads, in different soil types and with or without the presence of a hardpan. Results should aid in decisions concerning soil compaction due to wheel loads.


This proposal is concerned with detecting and recovering from faults during operation of Autosub6000 using two different fault detection, identifocation, and recovery techniques, the Livingstone 2 system and particle filter-based diagnosis algorithms. This is in response to SOFI priority topic 24: Development of automatic fault detection and intervention strategies to enhance reliability for autonomous marine instrumentation. Livingstone is a constraint-based diagnosis system developed at NASA Ames Research Centre specifically for use on spacecraft and satellites. It operates on a purely discrete system model, which allows it to be computationally efficient and makes modelling relatively easy, but restricts the systems to which it can be applied. Livingstone has been demonstrated on the Deep Space 1 mission and applied in simulation to the main engines of the X-37 experimental re-entry vehicle where it was used to detect faults in the actuators for control surfaces and associated power system components. The software and its successor, Livingston 2 were developed by the Model-based Diagnosis and Recovery Group, of which Dr. Dearden was the head from 2002 to 2004. During this time Livingstone 2 was also applied to the X-34 reusable launch vehicle prototype propulsion system testbed, and flew on-board the EO-1 satellite, detecting faults in the science instruments. Livingstone 2 has been demonstrated successfully in all these applications, and has recently been released as open source software. The software is now mature, with flight versions available which are designed to run with low computational requirements. This, coupled with the fact that it has been applied to the control system actuators and power system on X-37 makes us confident that it can be used to diagnose the power system of Autosub6000.


In this thesis is elaborated the reverberation and transmission process of transparency-increasing pellicle in the interference of pellicle, pointed out the wrong understanding of the density of soap liquid pellicle caused by students' ignorance of the loss of HW, analyzed the reasons why some mistakes are easily made in the study and advanced the problems worth of notice in the teaching.


Aim:  Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) play a key role in liver fibrosis. CCAAT/enhancer‐binding proteins‐alpha (C/EBP‐α) can inhibit HSCs activation in vitro, as described in our previous study. However, little is known about the in vivo effect of C/EBP‐α gene in hepatic fibrosis.


Orchard, A.E.* (Tasmanian Herbarium, GPO Box 252C, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7001) 1992. Ammobium and Nablonium (Asteraceae-Gnaphalieae) an alternative view. Telopea 5(1): 1-12. The transfer of Nab/onium to Ammobium by Anderberg (1990) is re-examined in light of additional characters. Some of the characters used by Anderberg to link Nab/onium with Ammobium craspedioides are shown to be based on misinterpretations. Nab/onium differs from the two species of Ammobium by a group of 14 characters, while the links between the genera are much less than previously suggested. These relationships are best reflected in a classification which keeps the two genera distinct.


The invention discloses a guided thermal treatment system. The insight of the invention is that to achieve good treatment efficiency there is a need to minimize the cooling times and while preventing overheating of a subject treated. This object is achieved by a guided thermal treatment system, comprising: a thermal treatment system configured for applying thermal treatment pulses to a patient, wherein the thermal treatment pulses are spaced in time by a cool-down period; a guidance system, configured to provide guidance to the thermal treatment, wherein the guidance system comprises a thermal module configured for providing a first and second level of cool-down period, the first level indicating a mandatory part of the cool-down period in which applying of a thermal treatment pulse is prohibited, the second level indicating a recommended part of the cool-down period in which applying a thermal treatment pulse would result in an elevated risk of overheating in a sensitive patient, but not in a non-sensitive patient.


The Dissertation presents differential unit failures on behalf of Toyota vehicles assessed, built upon professionals' judgment. And this was finished by means of statistics collected by means of approach established on verbal dialogs and survey on failures of differential unit repair. Data obtained were assessed using a statistical approach. With this approach, failure probability for each model of Toyota vehicles namely Corolla, Hilux van, and Hiace buses was assessed. The results collected indicated that Hilux and Corolla vehicles had low catastrophe level on the first time while Hiace motor vehicle had more catastrophe level. Earlier, everymodel of Toyota vehicles observed had their failure rate put together with fixed and steady reliability. As part of this research, 3- sigma quality application presented auxiliary dependability by better-quality Toyota applies oil lubricant method mostly in gears. This revealed Hilux with 94.6% reliability, Corolla 89.6%, and Hiace 73% reliability. The numerical results, from the Bayesian analysis using Matlab program, presented Hilux and Corolla with the highest reliability. This show that more enlightenment adverts among all Toyota Industries will increase the reliability of the differential unit for Hiace buses.


The purpose of this study is to identify the entrepreneurial personality that explains the variance in entrepreneurial intentions among students of the Northern
University of Malaysia. Besides that, the other purpose of this study is to identify the level of entrepreneurial intentions and its relationships on entrepreneurial
personality and demographic factors. The instrument used to measure dependent and independent variables was developed based on previous study. The dependent variable is the entrepreneurial intentions (Chen et al., 1999; Kickul & Zaper, 1999; Crant, 1996 and Davidsson, 1995). The entrepreneurial personality is the independent variable which consists of proactive personality (Crant, 1993), self efficacy (Schwarzer & Matthias. 2000). Calculated risk taking (Durham University Business School, 1988 and Gray. 1989), locus of control and innovativeness (Mueller & Thomas, 2000). 300 questionnaires were distributed among students studying in the main campus on intersession 2003/2004. 208 questionnaires were returned back to the researcher and the data gathered was analyzed using the
Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The analysis further showed significant difference on entrepreneurial intentions based on race and religion; but not for demographic factors. The result of regression analysis showed that the proactive personality and innovative significantly affect the entrepreneurial intentions. While self-efficacy, locus of control and calculated risk taking were found to be not significant. Based on these fixings, critical personality factors such as proactive personality and innovative should be instilled so as arouse students' interest on business and therefore, helps to create employment opportunities.


The metonymical association between `China' and r̀evolution' is a rhetorical game savoured by contemporary China observers. Ironical references in Western press to Chinese `consumer revolution' and `pop cultural revolution' made a parade of global capitalism's victory. Indisputably, vast social, cultural, and economic transformations have swept over China since 1992 when Deng Xiaoping gave his strategic Southern Excursion Talks to salvage a market reform mired in a bottleneck phase. Post-1992 China witnessed a dramatic release of forces of production and a steady annual GDP growth. Accompanying this economic takeoff is the public's growing craze for consumption. A fully ̄ edged buyers' market has come into being. Chinese consumers' budding desires for music CDs, fast and frozen food, and convertibles may indeed serve to validate the ascendance of a `counter-revolution' to socialist ideology. Tugging economic and cultural indexes in tandem, Western journalists and pundits have shown us time and again: China illustrates a paramount example of crony capitalism's new conquest.


The habitat dens of Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) in Hupingshan Nature Reserve in Hunan Province were investigated and analysed by quantitative index from April to August in 2001. The results showed that the water depth, width of den, water speed and composition of the river bed were the main factors for giant salamander to select the den, but the eleration and height of the den were not the main factors. At the same time, eight rivers in the nature reserves in Youyang County of Chongqing, Taibai County of Shaanxi Province, Lushi and Xin'an counties in Henan Province were studied. The rivers that giant salamander surviving were divided into four types: creek, U type river, flat river and interior river. In short, the good quality habitat is important to Chinese giant salamander's survival.


In 1970, the U.S. Navy, for the first time in decades, found itself confronted by a rival capable of contesting the seas.1 For the new chief of naval operations (CNO), Admiral Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr. (CNO 1970-74), the emergence of a powerful Soviet navy and the need recapitalize the fleet and close the widening gap in sea control capabilities in an era of budget cuts required drastic changes in U.S. naval strategy.2 Armed with an unwavering confidence in his ambitious vision, Zumwalt sought to overhaul the institution, modernizing it for a new era of naval (as well as budgetary) competition. From his perspective, the Navy had lost its way strategically. The Navy had splintered conceptually and materially. It was confused about its purpose and how to rationalize it. There was a lack of understanding of why fundamental changes in the security environment necessitated changing how the fleet was to be employed and what capabilities it needed. Zumwalt's primary instrument for institutional strategic change called Project SIXTY. He gave his small, handpicked team sixty days (hence the