Purpose: To investigate the effect of reducing the number of visual acuity (VA) measurements made in a defocus curve on the quality of data quantified. Setting: Midland Eye Institute, Solihull, UK. Methods: Defocus curves were constructed by measuring VA on a distance logMAR letter chart, randomising the letters between lens presentations. The lens powers evaluated ranged between +1.50 and -5.00 dioptres (D), in 0.50-D steps and were presented in a randomised order. Defocus curves were measured binocularly for 15 patients implanted with the Tecnis multifocal (mean age 61 � 11 years), 15 patients implanted with the ReZoom multifocal (mean age 62 � 8 years) and 15 patients implanted with the FineVision trifocal (mean age 65 � 6 years) intraocular lens (IOL). Curves fitted using 0.50-D steps, 1.00-D steps, 1.50-D steps and a near addition specific profile (i.e. distance, half the near addition and the full near addition) were compared. Results: For the two bifocal IOL designs (Tecnis and ReZoom), all the methods showed close agreement. However, for the trifocal IOL design, the reduced-point-strategy curve profiles all differed significantly (p < 0.01) from the 0.50-D step defocus curve. Conclusions: Faster methods of capturing defocus curves from bifocal IOL designs appear to be valid. Obtaining rapid defocus curves would be beneficial in reducing patient fatigue or for allowing additional defocus curve measurements to be performed in different luminance conditions or with low-contrast letters.


Future facilities and deep surveys such as LSST, JWST and WFIRST, will require a network of standards faint enough to avoid saturation and homogenously distributed in both hemispheres. DA white dwarfs have almost pure hydrogen atmospheres and they are the simplest stars to model. The opacities are known from first principles, and for temperatures higher than ∼ 20,000 K, their photospheres are purely radiative and should be photometrically stable. DA white dwarfs are then the best candidates to establish a network of faint spectrophotometric standards. In order to provide standards in the dynamic range of large aperture (d > 4m) telescopes, we collected Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 images and ground-based spectroscopy for 23 DA white dwarfs fainter than r ∼ 16.5 mag, distributed at equatorial and northern latitudes (see Saha et al. in these conference proceedings).


There were two cases in which infarcts of the liver were recorded, one being in a woman of thirtyseven, who developed Staphylococcus aureus pyremia after an operation for repair of the cervix and who showed portal pyeemia with abscesses and infarcts. The other was the case of a male, aged thirty-two, with malignant endocarditis of the mitral valve and infarcts of the lungs, kidney and spleen as well.


The paper introduces the programming of the serial communication between the industrial control computer and PLC, using the Spcomm module of Delphi under the Windows environment, by which we design a simple hydraulic sliding platform to dominate and monitor the easy movement of the platform. It aims at improving the controlling elasticity and the automation of the hydraulic sliding platform, and making the administration and supervision of the system more convenient.


The integrated information is displayed by the unified display system using the technology of figure overlay.The figures formed with stroke and raster are time-sharing displayed in one picture.The different information is implemented to clear and steadily display by using of time-shared display with line by line scanning and interlaced scanning in a raster picture.Choosing the reasonable design method can realize the domestic substitutes of two modules mounted inside the LRU.


Karl H. Clauaet, ]r., and Man K. Gaynor are both with the Educational Leadership Program, School of Education, Boston Uni versity, Boston. M ost recent school effectiveness projects have identified a set of discrete indicators of school effectiveness, conducted needs assess ments for each individual indicator, and developed a set of separate interventions designed to raise each indicator to some desired level that, it is believed, will produce school effectiveness. The un derlying assumption is that a set of independent variables (the indicators of school effectiveness) affect the depen dent variables (student outcomes). The emphasis has been on their separate effects. There are difficulties with this approach. First, although lip-service is paid to the interactions among these indicators of effectiveness, change strategies focus on separate interventions for separate deficiencies. Second, in spite of the work of educational researchers to de velop input-output models that assess the relative importance of different vari ables in influencing student outcomes, 1 improvement strategies tend to assign equal importance to each intervention. Third, the lack of a clear theory about how indicators of school effectiveness causally affect student outcomes makes it difficult to determine what the "de sired level" of an indicator should be. This theoretical uncertainty also im pedes understanding the importance of feedback relationships among student outcomes and future student and teach er behaviors and the nature of system constraints that may severely limit the impact of a given policy.


An archaeological evaluation was carried out at Beaulieu, Chelmsford. The fieldwork took place between the 7/5/13 and the 29/5/13.
A total of thirty-nine trenches were excavated across six separate fields, within the proposed development area. The evaluation showed a Late Iron Age field system, aligned north-east to south-west, spaced across the western three fields. Within these fields two concentrations of archaeology were recorded, including a possible cremation pit and ring gully to the west of the site and a possible prehistoric pit to the south of the area.
To the east of the evaluation, medieval occupation was recorded, consisting of a north-west to south-east aligned agricultural field system. Later in the Medieval period this was the site of an enclosed farmstead, with the remains of the moat still surviving as earthworks within the field and recorded within one trench.


Cyperus rotundus L., (Family Cyperaceae), also known as purple nutsedge or nutgrass, is a common perennial plant. This is a multipurpose plant, widely used in traditional medicine around the world to treat various diseases such as indigestion, constipation, dysentery, abdominal distention, neurogenic gastralgia, chest pains, irregular menstruation, painful menstruati on, skin diseases, furuncle infections, leprosy, sprains and bruises, and fever. It has the property of therapeutic actions such as analgesic, alternative, astringent, antispasmodic, antibacterial, carminative, contraceptive, demulcent, emmenagogue, emollient, febrifuge, immunostimulant, laxative, tonic, vermifuge. Pharmacognostical investigations are the first and foremost step to determine the identity and to assess the quality of plant species. The aim of the study was to evaluate the parameter to determine the qual ity of the rhizome of Cyperus rotundus L. These studies comprise to investigate macroscopy, microscopy, physicochemical parameters, preliminary phytochemical screening and fluorescence characteristics. The findings may provide useful information with regard to its identification and standardization in future.


In some applications of matching, the structural or hierarchical properties of the two graphs being aligned must be maintained. The hierarchical properties are induced by the direction of the edges in the two directed graphs. These structural relationships defined by the hierarchy in the graphs act as a constraint on the alignment. In this paper, we formalize the above problem as the weighted alignment between two directed acyclic graphs. We prove that this problem is NP-complete, show several upper bounds for approximating the solution, and finally introduce polynomial time algorithms for sub-classes of directed acyclic graphs.


Acute kidney injury (AKI) represents a common complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), occurring in a variable proportion (from 10% to 30%) and being associated with an increased length of hospital stay and a 2- to 6-fold higher risk of mortality.

 We sought to identify pre-procedural and procedural variables independently associated with AKI and to analyze AKI impact on 1-month and 1-year all-cause mortality.

 We prospectively collected consecutive patients undergoing TAVR at our centre. AKI was defined according to the Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC)-2 criteria, as an increase of at least 0.3 mg/dL in serum creatinine or a urine output worsening (<0.5 mL/kg for <12 hours) occurring within 7 days after the procedure.

 From 664 consecutive TAVR conducted between January 2010 and December 2018 we excluded 19 (2.9%) patients for unsuccessful procedure according to VARC-2 criteria leading to a population of 645 patients.
 The mean follow-up was 9.6±4.3 months, age was 83.2±5.3, 270 (41.9%) were men. AKI complicated TAVR procedure in 141 (21.9%) patients. All-cause mortality occurred in 14 (2.2%) at 1-month and 51 (7.9%) patients at 1-year.
 AKI was more likely to complicate TAVR in patients who died within 1-month (4.7% vs. 0.8%, p=0.003) and 1-year (14.1% vs. 5.3%, p<0.001) follow-up period.
 Multivariable regression analysis showed that baseline creatinine (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.20–1.78, p<0.001) and VARC-2 bleeding complications (OR: 1.49, 95% CI: 1.04–2.12, p=0.029) were independently associated with AKI incidence, while non-significant covariates were: age, gender, contrast volume, use of self-expandable valve and peri-procedural rapid pacing.
 Multivariable analysis adjusted for age and sex showed that AKI (HR: 3.02, 95% CI: 1.03–8.90, p=0.045) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (HR: 4.12, 95% CI: 1.37–12.40, p=0.012) were independently associated with 1-month all-cause mortality. After 1 month, landmark analysis adjusted for age and sex showed that AKI (HR: 2.41, 95% CI: 1.17–4.96, p=0.017) and peri-procedural myocardial injury (HR: 2.36, 95% CI: 1.05–5.31, p=0.037) were independent predictors of 1-year all-cause mortality, while COPD, non-transfemoral route, and bleeding complications were not independently associated.

 In a contemporary cohort of consecutive patients undergoing TAVR, AKI complicated ∼1 out of 5 procedures and is linked with about 4-fold adjusted risk of short-term death at 1-month and about 2-fold adjusted risk of subsequent death events up to 1-year follow-up. Baseline creatinine and bleeding complications, but not contrast volume were independently associated with AKI incidence.
 Landmark analysis for 1-year mortality

 Type of funding source: None


Literature on strategic planning puts forward alternative choices that a company can make between standardization and customization of business processes, as suggested by the seminal works of Lampel and Mintzberg (1996) and Gilmore and Pine (1996, 1999). Recent studies reconsider mass customization (Salvador et al., 2009; Logina, 2010) and suggest that a designed mix of standardization/customization may drive alternative business models in the right direction (Sheehan and Vaidyanathan, 2007; Xia and Rajagopalan, 2009; Markides and Oyon, 2010; Berman, 2010).


Abstract:Fifteenth-century Castile was a time of significant religious change. The issue of conversion and variance in religious praxis engendered the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, an institution deeply opposed by some, including Hernando de Talavera, the first Archbishop of Granada. Rather than interpret this opposition as a sign of toleration for religious minorities, a close look at his writings and actions show a man reacting to the ever-shifting social, religious, and political milieu in which he lived.


Managers in Research and development (R&D) are in search of influence because knowledge workers valueautonomy and dislike direct supervision. The purpose of this article is to explore if and how leadership support isconnected to influence. Through interviews with knowledge workers, it is evident that they expect their managerto be supportive and take an interest in them as complete persons. Observations and interviews with managersreveal that they fulfill these expectations by engaging in listening and chatting. In addition, the data alsoillustrates that managers care about their employees. The analysis shows that manager's activities of care canindeed be a source of social influence, illustrating close connection between emotion and influence. Thisintertwinement should inspire future research to look deeper and broader for potential sources of influence in theleadership process, but also to acknowledge the importance of leadership in the setting of innovation.


In this paper the authors report on the effects of current density, water content, alcohol additives, graphite type and modification on X, Q{sub IR} and graphite anode degradation rate in DEC-EC-LiAsF{sub 6} solutions. X was found to be inversely proportional to d{sub 002}. {sub IR} increases with graphite surface area and with water and alcohol addition, but decreases with current density. In dry solutions (60 ppm H{sub 2}O) rapid degradation is caused by reduction induced polymerization. This problem was alleviated by the addition of low concentrations of water and alcohols. By modification of the graphite X rose from 0.85--0.9 to 1 and the capacity fading decreased even in dry solutions. In solutions which contained some alcohols and whose solvents were not dried, the graphite demonstrated excellent stability. Capacity fading is attributed to electrolyte degradation. There is some evidence for the increase of order in the graphite after cycling. It was concluded that in order to minimize the degradation rate of the graphite anode a high quality solid electrolyte interphase must be formed prior to lithium intercalation.


Lightning injuries and deaths occur most often in individuals during recreational activities or who work outside. Colombia is one of the countries in the world with a much higher density of lightning than many other areas. Although the geographical, regional, temporal and seasonal variation of the frequency of lightning is known in Colombia, the basic epidemiological characteristics of lightning injuries are unknown. This paper presents a review about the first approach to the problem of lightning injuries in Colombia, which may allow the effective design and implementation of prevention programs.


Abstract This study was conducted to examine adsorption and the utility of Koc for the pesticides carbofuran (2,3‐dihydro‐2,2‐dimethyl‐7‐benzofuranyl methylcarbamate), metalaxyl (N‐(2,6‐dimethylphenyl)‐N‐(2‐methoxyacetyl) alanine methyl ester), and simazine (6 chloro‐?,?'‐diethyl‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2,4‐diamine). Adsorption parameters for these pesticides were measured in the laboratory on samples from 12 western Washington soil layers. Predicted transport of the 3 pesticides using Koc values from the literature and from this study as model inputs were compared with field observations. Carbofuran was the least strongly adsorbed of the three pesticides. Carbofuran adsorption correlated well with soil organic carbon content. Koc values calculated for carbofuran were similar over a range of soils from both this study and other literature. Metalaxyl appeared to be preferentially adsorbed on soil mineral surfaces, and meaningful Koc estimates could not be obtained. Simazine behavior was intermediate between carbofu...


A simplified method is presented to predict the longitudinal dispersion coefficient for natural streams. A dimensionless parameter, β\N, which is the function of the shape of the channel cross section only, is defined. An expression for β\N for idealized tetragonal cross section is derived. The method is useful in cases where the time and cost limitations do not permit any elaborate field tests.


In the present work, a numerical simulation of the 100% oxy-firing combustion process inside an industrial Aluminum Remelting Reverb Furnace is presented. A staged combustion oxy-fuel burner is being simulated. The natural gas and oxygen were injected toward the aluminum bath, which was considered as an isotherm wall at melt temperature. Two types of burners are compared. For the first case, the oxygen and natural gas jets at the burner exit are parallel to each other, while for the second burner, a divergent oxygen jet is employed. The furnace heat loss to the ambient is neglected since it is small in relation to the heat liberated by the combustion process.
 The k-ε model of turbulence was selected to represent the turbulent flow field. The combustion process was determined based on the Arrhenius and Magnussen Laws, and the discrete transfer radiation model was employed to predict the radiation heat transfer. The numerical procedure was based on the Finite Volume Method.
 This numerical model is utilized to determine the flame pattern, species concentration distribution, and the velocity field. The temperature distribution is very useful in the evaluation of the furnace performance. Further, critical regions associated with high temperature spots at the refractory surface were discovered. The effect of the divergent jet in the heat flux distribution at the aluminum bath is also investigated.


Estimation energy consumption of sensor nodes is urgent work because life time of their battery is limited. This paper presents a replacement method to estimate power, which calculates transition density from SystemC and SpecC descriptions. Dynamic power is largest portion of the total power and in similar power supply and technology, transition density have important effect in power dissipation. The resulting transition density is very close to the results obtained using VCD and SAIF file formats.


Abstract In what follows I analyse how two Neapolitan songs enhance viewer perspective of the personalities of the protagonists of the classic film of Italian neorealism, Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) by De Sica (1948), Antonio Ricci and his son Bruno.
 The first, 'Ciccio formaggio', casts into relief Antonio's masculine self-image, particularly his reaction to the impact of unemployment on his traditional role of pater familias and to the possibility of public humiliation, should he fail to retrieve his bicycle. While 'Ciccio' sheds
 light on the tension in the marital relationship, 'Tammurriata' allows the viewer to consider Bruno's marginalization within a self-perpetuating cycle of poverty, thus shifting focus, at least partially, from the father to the long-term effects on the son (for which Antonio feels shame born
 of inadequacy).


Evaluation of abdominal circunference's weight reduction and maintenance of the stamina of patients that underwent to bariatric surgery, associated to supplementation based on protein Objective: Make an evaluation, on patients with an advanced and grave cases of obesity submitted to the bariatric surgery, the effects of weight's reduction, abdominal circumferences's reduction and maintenance of the force, associated to the supplementation based on proteins. Methods: A longitudinal study was realized, in a clinic located in the South region of the State of Sao Paulo, with 48 patients, from both genders, given that 17 patients had returned until the third month after surgery. The variations of weight and abdominal circumferences, force, use of supplementation of practical protein, and of physical exercise were analyzed, in the pre and post operatory. To statistics analysis were used average, standard deviation line, and percentage numbers. Results: The patients had presented significant reduction of weight, abdominal circumferences' and force in the post operatory period. The group's averages with or without protein supplementation had been 101,66 kg, 96,22 kg, 110,37 cm, 105,88 cm and 25, 28,77 respectively. Conclusion: The bariatric surgery is an efficient method for the loss and maintenance of the corporal weight.


Case Report Erdheim-Chester disease is a rare systemic Langrehansian histiocytosis. It is diagnosed on the basis of a bundle of clinical, radiological and histological arguments. Its confirmation is based on a precise immunological profile. The bone involvement is almost constant, characterized by osteocondensing lesions more often at the metaphyssodiaphyseal level of the long bones of the lower limbs. We report the case of a 37-year-old female patient with chronic left jugular swelling. The CT scan revealed a mandibular osteolytic lesion including the cortex without extension towards the soft parts. The diagnosis of EDC was established based on the histological aspect of the lesion and confirmed by the immunohistochemical study.


Even though Moss & Barnett had dabbled with a short-lived, five-minute radio show featuring legal news on KCCO AM in 2001, we had no idea what to expect when we were approached in 2008 to co-produce an hour-long weekly legal news radio program by Minnesota's premier radio station, WCCO 830 AM. Our research revealed no evidence that any other lawyer or law firm had attempted anything even remotely close. Indeed, the only prior legal programming we could locate was the famous "Point of Law" – and we knew that none of us could come anywhere close to replicating the famous voice of Charlie Boone.


The various issues discussed at the Libraries Australia Forum that occurred in the year 2006, are presented. The article explains the different topics that were discussed by different delegates. The use of Libraries Australia model, comparison of libraries to the information providers and the competition faced from the commercial suppliers are shown to be the main issues that were discussed in the forum.


A number of mesoscale processes characteristic of the coastal environment can modify atmospheric refractivity. These processes change the gradients of temperature and moisture at the top of the boundary layer and alter duct height and strength. A mesoscale weather prediction model developed at NRL has been used extensively to make mesoscale atmospheric forecasts over the California coastal region. The authors utilize this model to investigate changes in microwave refractivity associated with low-level jets and cyclonic eddies along the California coast.<<ETX>>


Travel Writing produced under the frameworks of colonialism and ethnography offers an opportunity to delineate the entanglement of the traveller in the ideological underpinnings of empire and ethnography. Drawing on the interdisciplinary formulations of the writing culture debate, the paper construes Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf's The Naked Nagas (1939) as a travel text that narrativises encountered life-worlds in the Naga Hills, a contact zone in the frontier of the colonial Northeast India. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the paper traces the text's ideological incarnation under the Nazi regime and foregrounds the self-fashioning by the European ethnographer-traveller as a salvager, a cultural translator and a white headhunter of folkloric proportion. It thereby posits the contact zone's congeniality for translation and circulation of identities. The text exhibits a futuristic gesture towards postmodernist configurations of ethnographic writing and self-fashioning, and emerges as polysemous and simultaneously participates in and subverts the discourse of headhunting by deconstructing the inherent discursivity in headhunting. Read in the context of the colonial Northeast Indian frontier, Furer-Haimendorf's narrative, generally marginalised in academic studies, signposts a critique of Christian evangelism as a threat to the ethnographic present of indigenous societies. The paper contributes to the interdisciplinary knowledge on the configuration of the colonial Northeast Indian frontier by envisioning the roles of, and contested affinity among, travel, empire and ethnographic exercises as evinced in travel writing.


In FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Waveform) radar, target detection relies on the analysis of the beat frequency which contains delay and Doppler information. Resolving the delay-Doppler coupling requires multiple constraints and an exhaustive search when using the traditional FMCW waveforms. In this work, target delay estimation using phase information is investigated. The chirp parameters are derived to estimation the target range directly from one chirp using the phase information. A second waveform model that includes a CW (continuous wave) followed by a chirp is derived in order to achieve an accurate range and velocity estimations for longer ranges. The proposed estimation method allows multitarget detection without producing ghost targets. We show that further improvement is possible by using an additional chirp, where beat frequencies are mapped using similar estimated ranges without the need for exhaustive searching within all the beat frequency combinations.


Abstract In the twentieth century religion was radically transformed, as the sacred uncoupled from the institutional Churches. This enabled the sacred to be experienced through what were previously 'secular' activities, including sport, rock music, psychoanalysis and sexuality. Individualism and prosperity combined to encourage a focus on personal transformation as the primary religious process. The 1960s also saw calls for self-determination and equality for previously oppressed groups—women, blacks and gays. This paper uses the model of secular ritual and Victor Turner's concept of liminality to investigate the role that the gay bathhouses had in enabling gay men to experience the sacred and to transform themselves. This paper is grounded in empirical research on Sydney's gay bathhouses that sheds light on rites of passage, the role of pleasure and its relationship to religious ecstasy, and the development of a specifically gay askesis (way of becoming). It is also argued that the gay bathhouse is a crucial transformative space for all those men who were its initiates.


Objective To study the displaying features and clinical significance of multi-detector spiral CT angiography(MDCTA) for demonstrating the hepatic arterial and portal venous systems in patients with neoplastic hepatic lesions.Methods One hundred and nineteen patients with neoplastic liver disease whose clinical data were complete were selected to perform MDCTA.All patients underwent 64-detector spiral CT scanning of hepatic arterial and portal venous phase,and images were reconstructed by maximum intensity projection(MIP),shaded-surface display(SSD) and volume rendering(VR) technique,respectively.The imaging findings of hepatic arterial and portal venous system from MDCTA with different reconstruction methods were compared,and the risk of bleeding in surgery was also assessed.Results The display for the VI level of hepatic artery in MIP and VR showed no difference(P0.05) but both displayed better than SSD(P0.05).The 3 reconstruction methods all clearly displayed the I,II and III levels of portal vein and the display rates were all above 98.1%(P0.05).The coincidence rate of CTA estimation of low bleeding risk in surgery was 96.7%,high bleeding risk in surgery was 90.5%,and the results were statistically significant(P0.05).Conclusions MDCTA can satisfy the clinical requirements in liver surgery.The combined use of MIP and VR can optimally displaly the hepatic artery and portal vein,and SSD also has helpful effects.CTA can be used for prelimmary estimation of the risk of intraoperative bleeding.


I wish to present briefly a progress report on the present status of our national horizontal surveys, using for purposes of illustration a lantern slide which represents the first order control established by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey and other organizations.

It is expected that by next autumn the Coast and Geodetic Survey will have completed two large projects upon which it has been engaged for a number of years. This diagram shows the system of first order triangulation and traverse as we expect it to be at the end of the coming field season. The first large project, a co-operative one between the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Geodetic Survey of Canada, is the execution of a belt of first order control spanning the international boundary and extending from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean. The Geodetic Survey of Canada is executing the section from the 109th meridian to the Lake of the Woods, and the Coast and Geodetic Survey the remainder. This first order control is connected at frequent intervals with the third order triangulation of the International Boundary so that the boundary surveys will be strongly tied in to the basic surveys of the two countries. It has taken four years to complete this project, because of the very difficult conditions of the terrain. The western end crosses very rugged country where transportation of the field parties is by pack train only. Along part of the northern Minnesota boundary the transportation was by canoes and back-packing, while on the section along Rainy Lake and Lake Namakan, first order traverse was run over the ice in mid-winter, with an average temperature while taping of −5° F.


We thank Marloes et al for their comments on our recently published article and their interest in pulmonary artery (PA) size as a potential prognostic marker and also their comments regarding adjusting the measurement for body surface area (BSA).1

First, we do recognise the diagnostic value of PA size and PA to aortic (PA:Ao) ratio in selected subgroups of patients, and we have previously shown that a PA:Ao ratio ≥1 in patients with systemic sclerosis and suspected pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is highly suggestive of …


Many homeless people suffer from mental illnesses such as depression, schizophrenia, substance abuse, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders. The prevalence of those disorders among homeless populations varies from country to country; and the precise cultural, national, psychosocial, and neurobiological determinants of these differences remain unclear. However, trends in mental disorders, homelessness, drug abuse, and crime suggest that Western industrial societies are becoming increasingly harmful to psychological and social well-being [1]. The population of homeless persons is very diverse: it includes representatives from all ethnic groups, the young and the old, women and men, single persons and families, people from both urban and rural environments, and people with physical and/or mental problems [2, 3]. Most of the homeless women and men in the American and European populations are between 31 and 50 years of age, are unmarried, and are unemployed [4-8]. Women head 90 percent of homeless families [9]. Homeless women are a heterogeneous group, largely younger and socially


A procedure for the enzymaticdeterminationof lecithinand sphingomyelinin aqueous solutionis described.The phospholipidsare first dissolvedin chlorofomi:methanol(2:1 by vol), the solvent is evaporated, and the residue is redissolvedin an aqueouszwittenonicdetergentsolution.The enzymaticreactionsequencesof bothassaysinvolvehydrolysis of the phospholipidsto producecholine,which is then oxidizedto betaine,thusgeneratinghydrogenperoxide.The hydrogen peroxide is subsequently utilized in the enzymatic coupling of 4-aminoantipyrineand sodium 2-hydroxy-3,5dichlorobenzenesulfonate,an intensely red color being formed. The presence of a non-reactingphospholipidenhancesthe hydrolysisof the reactingphospholipid. Thus we added lecithinto the sphingomyelinstandardsand sphingomyelinto the lecithinstandards.This preciseproceduremay be applicable to determinationof lecithin and sphingomyelin In amniotic fluid.


The goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between information search behaviors and eHealth literacy. eHealth literacy is mostly measured by assessing consumer's perceived eHealth literacy skills. Nevertheless, there is a lack of study investigating the relationship between eHealth literacy and consumers' information search skills. Thus, I am proposing to conduct a lab-based study to bridge this research gap. Participants will be asked to conduct six fact-finding search tasks. Three informant search behaviors (query formulation, information evaluation, information extraction) are identified and will be measured based on Marchionini's information seeking process model. eHealth literacy will be measured by combining participants' perceived eHealth literacy and information search skills. The relationship between information search behaviors and eHealth literacy will be analyzed.


The appearance of idiopathic fistula induced by cancer development or radiotherapy and surgical interventions is associated with numerous physical symptoms such as exudate, inflammation, pain, necrosis and odor. The above mentioned symptoms may lead to a feeling of embarrassment that, in turn, might lead to social isolation, psychological problems such as helplessness, anger, anxiety and depression, and in consequence intensify spiritual pain and significantly deteriorate quality of life. Fistulas may be located in different parts of the body depending on cancer localization. Fistulas most commonly develop in abdomen, pelvis (cervical and vulva cancer in women, rectal tumors), neck (laryngeal cancer), face and in peripheral lymph nodes (most commonly in the neck and inguinal regions). The knowledge, engagement and cooperation of all members of a multidisciplinary palliative care team and often consultations with other medical specialists might allow relieving symptoms induced by fistulas and, in consequence, significantly improve patients' quality of life (Piel. Zdr. Publ. 2015, 5, 1, 89–92).


In the nearctic predaceous stink bugs (Asopinae), Perillus bioculatus and Stiretrus anchorago, and the neotropical asopine, Oplomus severus, males possess conspicuous sternal glands that are absent in females. In each of these species, the male sternal gland secretion contains predominantly a single compound; 6,10,13-trimethyltetradecyl isovalerate in the allopatric species, P. bioculatus and O. severus, and 6,10,13-trimethyltetradecanol in S. anchorago, a species sympatric with P. bioculatus. The function of the sternal gland secretions from asopine hemipterans is unknown.


Mode-locking erbium doped fiber lasers are simple, compact and low-cost sources of ultrashort pulses. However, their characterization could be troublesome when the laser operates in an unstable regime.


Extensive study of the magnetic properties of soils and sediments by both earth scientists and biomagnetists has failed to establish the extent to which fine-grained magnetic components in the sediments' are dominated by detrital or by authigenic bacterial contributions. The question is of considerable importance to workers in a wide range of research fields. This article aims to encourage a balanced and explicit debate between biomagnetists and 'environmental' magnetists since, at present, they are tending to interpret their results within mutually exclusive frames of reference.


Federated learning (FL) is a promising technology which trains a machine learning model on edge devices in a distributed manner orchestrated by a parameter server (PS). To realize fast model aggregation, the uplink phase of FL could be carried out by over-the-air computation (OAC). On the one hand, engaging more devices in FL yields a model with higher prediction accuracy. On the other hand, the edge devices in OAC need to perform appropriate magnitude alignment to compensate for underlying channel coefficients. However, due to the limited power budget, this is not possible for devices experiencing deep fade. Consequently, these devices are excluded from the FL algorithm. In this paper, we propose a channel perturbation method so that no edge device is excluded due to experiencing deep fade. To this end, OAC is performed in multiple phases. In each phase, the radio frequency (RF) vicinity of PS's antenna is intentionally perturbed by means of RF mirror structure coined in [1]. This yields independent realizations of channels between PS and devices in each phase. By using proper transmit scalars, all devices concurrently transmit their local model updates in each phase subject to a total power constraint. Then, the PS estimates the arithmetic sum of the local updates by properly combining the aggregated models obtained across all phases. The devices' transmit scalars and PS's de-noising factors can be efficiently found by solving a tractable optimization problem. Index Terms—Federated learning, over-the-air computation, edge machine learning, wireless communications.


The invention relates to a semiconductor package having a ferrite antenna for a near field communication (NFC), and a method of manufacturing the same. A semiconductor package according to the present invention includes a printed circuit board, a semiconductor chip, a ferrite antenna for NFC, first and second bonding wires, and a resin sealing part. The semiconductor chip is attached to one surface of the printed circuit board. The ferrite antenna, which is attached onto the semiconductor chip, includes a ferrite substrate of a ferrite material having the low surface attached onto the semiconductor chip, and an antenna pattern formed on the top surface of the ferrite substrate. The first wire connects the semiconductor chip and the printed circuit board electrically to each other. The second wire connects the antenna pattern of the ferrite antenna and the printed circuit board electrically to each other. And, the resin sealing part seals the semiconductor chip, the ferrite antenna, and the first and second bonding wires formed on the printed circuit board.


Inflammation starts and progresses because of biofilm, which is thought to be a main etiologic agent. Restoring the health status of periodontal tissues involves reducing the bacterial burden in periodontal pockets. The use of antibiotics as an adjuvant treatment is necessary in some circumstances, such as aggressive periodontitis, to get rid of harmful bacteria that have deeply penetrated the connective tissue and may later colonise the root surface and cause the illness to return. Penicillin was the first antibiotic historically used to treat periodontal disease and was taken systemically. Amoxicillin was later employed due of its impact on a number of important periodontal bacteria. Penicillin was the first antibiotic historically used to treat periodontal disease and was taken systemically. Amoxicillin was later employed due of its impact on a number of important periodontal bacteria. In conclusion, despite a number of disadvantages, the use of antibiotics continues to be the most common and successful addition to mechanical periodontal therapy. However, these medications' undeniable drawbacks and restrictions cause the allure of using them to start to wear off. Based on a deeper understanding of the nature and aetiology of periodontal illnesses, this necessitates the search for new complementary treatments of periodontal therapy.Penicillin was the first antibiotic historically used to treat periodontal disease and was taken systemically. Amoxicillin was later employed due of its impact on a number of important periodontal bacteria.


Large amounts of natural fine aggregate (NFA) and cement are used in building, which has major environmental consequences. This view of industrial waste can be used in part as an alternative to cement and part of the sand produced by the crusher as fine aggregate, similar to slag sand (GGBFS), fly ash, metacaolin, and silica fume. Many times, there are issues with the fresh characteristics of concrete when using alternative materials. The ANN tool is used in this paper to develop a Matlab software model that collapses concrete made with pozzolanic material and partially replaces natural fine aggregate (NFA) with manufactured sand (MS). Predict. The slump test was carried out in reference with I.S11991959, and the findings were used to create the artificial neural network (ANN) model. To mimic the formation, a total of 131 outcome values are employed, with 20% being used for model testing and 80% being used for model training. 25 enter the material properties to determine the concrete slump achieved by partially substituting pozzolan for cement and artificial sand (MS) for natural fine aggregate (NFA). According to studies, the workability of concrete is critically harmed as the amount of artificial sand replacing natural sand grows. The ANN model's results are extremely accurate, and they can forecast the slump of concrete prepared by partly substituting natural fine aggregate (NFA) and artificial sand (MS) with pozzolan.


Although there is a tendency for physicists to think of themselves as isolated from society, physicists are much involved in and are part of society. Physics contributes to society not only in a technical but also in an esthetic, social, and philosophical sense. Large physics projects, such as the 200-BeV accelerator, have recently had a direct influence on diverse social problems such as open housing and international cooperation.


5069Background: Radiation therapy remains one of the most effective methods of treating stage IIA prostate cancer. Several retrospective studies have determined that external beam radiation therapy...


The article focuses on the legal industry in Southeast Asia as of June 30, 2014. Topics include the expansion of law firms in countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the rate of foreign investment in Southeast Asia in 2014, and Japan's investment in Southeast Asia. Information is provided on the economic growth of the region, particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Vietnam.


Few studies have addressed the prenatal detection rate of congenital heart defects in a non‐selected population at 18 weeks of gestation. Our objective was to assess the change in the prenatal detection rate of congenital heart defects in such a population that resulted from incorporating the four‐chamber view at the second‐ trimester routine ultrasound examination. The prenatal detection rate of heart defects was prospectively compared between 4435 fetuses in Phase I who were stunned without special attention to the heart, and 7459 fetuses in Phase II who were scanned incorporating the four‐chamber view. Of the 49 heart defects in Phase I, 17 (35%) were critical and three (18%) of these were detected prenatally. Of the 90 heart defects in Phase II, 23 (26%) were critical, six (26%) of these were detected prenatally at the 18 weeks' routine stun, and three were detected in the third trimester, providing a total prenatal detection rate of 39%. A defect was classified as critical when a surgical repair was likely to be required because of gross structural complexity having a functional significance, e.g. transposition of the great arteries, hypo‐plastic left heart syndrome, atrioventricular septal defect, coarctation of the aorta, and large ventricular septal defect. No non‐critical heart defects were detected prenatally in either of the phases. The incidences in the total population were 11 and 12/1000 in Phases I and II, respectively. Thirty‐two per cent of the critical and 16% of the non‐critical defects had associated abnormalities and/or abnormal karyotype. Implementation of the four‐chamber view increased the prenatal detection rate of critical heart defects. To improve the results significantly, education and an extended fetal heart examination are necessary. Copyright © 1995 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology


Abstract For simple generalized Weyl algebras Λ of Gelfand–Kirillov dimension 4, a class including the second Weyl algebra A 2 , some simple factor algebras of the universal enveloping algebra of the Lie algebra sl (2)× sl (2) and of U q sl (2)× U q sl (2), etc., the simple holonomic Λ -modules are classified up to pairs of irreducible elements of certain noncommutative Euclidean ring.


Water quality analysis is an emergency approach in today's world because people cannot survive without it. As a result of urbanization, industrialization, agricultural practices, and human behavior, water quality analysis have numerous issues in today's world. Manually visiting the water collection station, collecting water samples, analyzing in the lab, feeding data into a database, and so on are all challenges in the water quality analysis processing. Artificial learning model technologies will be used to tackle these challenges. The variety of machine learning approaches to water quality analysis has resulted in a diversity of creation and implementation methods. The study examines artificial intelligence's advancement in water quality prediction from different angles ANN, FUZZY, SVM, and other AI models. The review investigated 40 articles between 2008 and 2020. Groundwater, ponds, lakes, and rivers all water resources were all included in the survey method. The findings of the survey will be used to guide the future study.


Free text responses in surveys contain important information and should be analyzed by researchers. However, human coding of survey text is not only expensive, but also vulnerable to subjectivity. An automated text mining approach can solve these problems. Therefore, we demonstrate using the supervised latent Dirichlet allocation (sLDA) to jointly analyze text and numerical data in an employee satisfaction survey. For each rating, the algorithm outputs selected words as the "topic" and estimates the credible interval. Finally, we discuss future applications and advantages of utilizing survey text.


The surface structure of a model system was measured in real space by atomic force and optical microscopies, and compared with that obtained from measurements in reciprocal space by x‐ray reflectivity and off‐specular scattering at grazing incidence. Experiments were performed on films of symmetric diblock copolymers of polystyrene and polymethylmethacrylate, whose surfaces were covered by micrometer‐size islands or holes (domains) of uniform height. The correlation functions extracted from the images of the film surfaces show weak peaks in the real‐space domain distribution. The corresponding structures were also found in reciprocal space. The height of the domains obtained from the scattering measurements was found to be in excellent agreement with that obtained by atomic force microscopy. We developed a formalism using the kinematical approximation for the analysis of the x‐ray‐scattering measurements. We used a multilayer film model with roughness at each interface and relief domains at the surface. W...


This book collects articles, speeches and guiding reports made at various times by the authoritative inspirer of the Soviet physical culture movement, which has now become such an important factor in the construction of our country. The material reflects the socio-biological foundations of physical culture, its physical and spiritual elements, defines the broad content of physical culture and its role in the struggle for the improvement of labor and life.


Using a common-path interferometric technique, we measured biomechanics and morphology of individual erythrocytes in sickle cell patients and investigated correlation of these properties with hydroxyurea treatment and standard clinical measurements.


In the celebrated stable-matching problem, there are two sets of agents M and W, and the members of M only have preferences over the members of W and vice versa. It is usually assumed that each member of M and W is a single entity. However, there are many cases in which each member of M or W represents a team that consists of several individuals with common interests. For example, students may need to be matched to professors for their final projects, but each project is carried out by a team of students. Thus, the students first form teams, and the matching is between teams of students and professors. When a team is considered as an agent from M or W, it needs to have a preference order that represents it. A voting rule is a natural mechanism for aggregating the preferences of the team members into a single preference order. In this paper, we investigate the problem of strategic voting in the context of stable-matching of teams. Specifically, we assume that members of each team use the Borda rule for generating the preference order of the team. Then, the Gale-Shapley algorithm is used for finding a stable-matching, where the set M is the proposing side. We show that the single-voter manipulation problem can be solved in polynomial time, both when the team is from M and when it is from W. We show that the coalitional manipulation problem is computationally hard, but it can be solved approximately both when the team is from M and when it is from W.


Silica and polyaniline supported palladium catalysts prepared by different techniques (incipient-wetness impregnation, deposition precipitation) using Pd(OAc)2 or H2PdCl4 as precursors were studied in the liquid-phase hydrogenation of citral under addition of several ionic liquids ([BMIM][NTf2], [BMIM][PF6], [BMPL][NTf2], [BMIM][DCA], [BMPL][DCA], [B3MPYR][DCA]) either as catalyst coating or as additive. By an incipient-wetness technique, the catalysts were coated with a mixture of IL in acetone. The catalysts were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, whereby a decrease of surface area and pore volume was detected by the IL coated catalysts. Furthermore, ICP-OES, TEM and IR spectroscopy were performed to analyze metal content, particle size and coverage of the catalyst with ionic liquid. Citral hydrogenation was performed at 323 K and under 2.0 MPa H2 in an autoclave with off-line GC analysis of the product mixtures. Beside stirrer speed, catalyst mass and citral concentration, the type and quantity of ionic liquid were also varied to elucidate their influence on activity and selectivity of the Pd/SiO2 catalysed citral hydrogenation. The results show that treatment of the catalyst with ionic liquids—independent of catalyst coating or additive—leads to a selectivity enhancement of the desired product, citronellal. With [PF6]− or [NTf2]− as the IL anion, maximum selectivities were (60 ± 2)% at 70% conversion. In particular, dicyanamide (DCA) containing ionic liquids allow, under optimised conditions, the quantitative one-pot synthesis of citronellal, at least if the Pd/SiO2 catalyst was coated with 29 wt% [B3MPYR][DCA]. By using polyaniline supported Pd catalysts and [BMIM][DCA] as additive, the consecutive hydrogenation towards dihydrocitronellal was less pronounced and the influence of metal precursor, support material and preparation technique of the catalyst could be excluded. Hydrogenation of pure citral on [BMIM][DCA] coated palladium catalysts offers a solvent-free, green route to citronellal in reasonable selectivities (S = 86%).


Starting with seven seedlings in 1977, Wangari Maathai had, by the time of her death in 2011, become a legendary figure in the Green Belt Movement which, in its simplest terms, understands tree planting as fundamental to civic education, political advocacy, community empowerment, economic sustainability and global biodiversity. Taking Maathai's epic stature into consideration, this paper will examine how five picturebook biographies negotiate various eco-pedagogical strategies to encourage environmental awareness in children. Moreover, this paper will not only explore the verbal and visual rhetoric of tree planting but also examine how contemporary children's literature seeks to represent the third world to the first by engaging and promoting issues related to eco-literacy, indigeneity, women's rights and environmental justice.


Objective To investigate correlation of febrile convulsion and iron deficiency anemia.Methods The RBC,ferrohemoglobin,erythrocyte average volume,erythrocyte average ferrohemoglobin,erythrocyte average ferrohemoglobin concentration,serum iron and serum ferritin in 88 children of febrile convulsion were measured by HITACHI 7020 automatic biochemical analyzer.seventy-six children of respiratory and intestinal infection were as control.All data were analyzed by statistical software SPSS 8.0.Results Incidence of iron deficiency anemia in febrile convulsion group was increased (61.36%) significantly compared with control group (43.42%)(P0.05).Ferrohemoglobin,serum iron and serum ferritin were significantly difference (P0.05).Incidence of iron deficiency anemia in complicated febrile convulsion(85%) was increased significantly compared with simple febrile convulsion (P0.05).Conclusion Serum iron and children febrile convulsion could be highly correlated the iron deficiency anemia probably one might be of causes of children febrile convulsion.


Why the receipts of railway freight and incidental expenses can be the vouchers of income tax deducting? Why the mine self-discharge trucks don't need pay vehicle and vessel tax? Combining with above two questions which can meet in tax check,the article gives the answers in detail.


As we approached the Toronto airport in the still-dark dawn I asked Irena which terminal her plane was leaving from. I expected her to say Terminal Three which is the main departure point for international flights and by far the most elegant with sky-lit boutiques and chic restaurants. When she said "Terminal One" I questioned her especially as the sign for Terminal One said "Cargo." "But Im going as cargo!" she jokingly explained. I was well aware of the Foreign Agricultural Resource Management Services known as the FARMS program established in 1974 that brings Jamaican and Mexican farm-workers such as Irena to Canada every summer to pick our fruit and vegetables. (excerpt)


The advances in artificial intelligence, especially convolutional neural networks (CNNs), over the past few years resulted in state-of-the-art solutions for many tasks, e.g. computer vision. As more and more intelligent applications rely on these methods, there is a growing interest in processing the data locally, at the place of the generation: the rise of intelligent edge computing will enable new possibilities in many areas, like smart manufacturing, autonomous systems, remote control. To increase the performance of the applications, the complexity of the neural networks also increases, leading to growing computational costs. As typical edge computing systems are power constrained, power efficiency is a key factor in designing them. In this paper, we evaluate the performance and power efficiency of a GPU and an FPGA-based edge platform using a set of CNNs with different computing requirements.


Introduction: The epileptic crisis is a common neurologic consequence in the cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Its presence during acute CVD increases its mortality. Objectives: To characterize the patients presenting with convulsive epileptic status during the acute cerebrovascular disease admitted in units of care to critical patients of the "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay" from July, 2007 to June, 2011. Methods: A descriptive and retrospective study was conducted and also the review of database of patients presenting with convulsive status admitted in the service. Results: here was predominance of female sex (55,1 %), aged over 61 (81,6 %), motor partial convulsive epileptic status (40,8 %), ischemic CVD (87,8 %), convulsive epileptic status greater than 30 minutes( 59,2 %) and the deceased ones (61,2 %). The more frequent personal pathological backgrounds were: high blood pressure (75,5 %), former CVD (51 %), chronic ischemic heart disease (32,7 %) and diabetes mellitus (24,5 %). The more frequent complications included: acute respiratory insufficiency (27,9 %), refractory convulsive epileptic status (27 %) and respiratory sepsis (26,2 %). The group of patients with more complications (78,2 %) was that with more deceased. In these latter there was predominance of female sex (53,3 %), ischemic CVD (83,3 %), the type motor partial convulsive epileptic status (43,3 %), the 61-80 age-group (66,7 %), stage ≤ 14 days (73,3 %) and EEC with a length of 31 min. The patients with a length of the convulsive epileptic status greater than 30 minutes, those complicated with acute respiratory insufficiency, refractory convulsive epileptic status and respiratory sepsis had the great risk of death. Conclusion: The convulsive epileptic status worse the prognosis of the CVD.


Consumer resistance is an opposition and rebellion behavior witch generally falls within a two continuum quadrant, from the silent / individual to the expressive / collective. This type of behavior is a result of the excessive solicitation of the consumer by companies through marketing tools, especially the advertising, which is considered as the most visible element; generating an advertising clutter context in the most courted media, such as television or internet. This study is essentially interested by television advertising, and allowed us not only to prove the causal relationship existing between the perceived Ad clutter level , negative attitude towards TV advertising and the manifestation of consumer resistance, but also the influence of personality and education level on perceived Ad clutter level. Moreover, we were able to clarify the concept of television advertising clutter on the consumer view. In addition, we have been able to clarify the concept of TV advertising clutter perceived by the consumer on the basis of a conceptual model tested on a quota sample of 406 people of the population of Tlemcen using multinomial logistic regression and structural equations (PLS) modelisation. The results show that advertising clutter is essentially associated to excessiveness in all its dimensions, such as the repetition of advertisements and the length of time devoted to advertising. These facets disturb and irritate consumers until they provoke a resistance expressed by advertising avoidance and even more expressive acts of rebellion.


The inherent problems associated with inorganic fertilizer such as scarcity and high cost informed the invention of cocoa pod husk based organic fertilizer. The impact of the fertilizer on cocoa output is hereby investigated in this study. The study was conducted in Cross-River State, Nigeria and purposive random sampling technique was used to select fifty cocoa farmers including the user and non-user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer. Structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents and the data retrieved from the information was analyzed with budgetary analysis and percentages. The study revealed that the percentage of cost of materials to total cost of production per hectare by the user and non-user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer was 20.99% and 23.12% respectively while the percentage of operational costs to total cost was 71.79% and 60.92% for the user and non-user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer respectively. A revenue of N178,980 and N91,200 per hectare was realized by the user and non-user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer, respectively, while the net revenue per hectare by the user and non-user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer was N145,874 and N52,840 respectively. The economic efficiency indices show that the user of cocoa pod husk fertilizer has an index of 4.41 while the non-user has an index of 1.38. The study therefore recommended that cocoa pod husk fertilizer technology should be widely introduced among cocoa farmers and that the farmers should be encouraged to adopt it.


ABSTRACT The in vitro rat liver mitochondrial phosphate uptake produced by polypeptide precipitates from human urine was determined in a variety of clinical situations to test its validity as a measure of parathyroid function. Normal values ranged from 0.8 to 7 μumoles P/24 hr. Four patients with proven hyperparathyroidism showed values ranging from 10.5 to 160 pinoles P/24 hr. Uptake values above the normal range were found in 3 patients with hyperparathyroidism associated with neoplasms, 2 patients with Cushing's syndrome and 1 with acromegaly. The assay did not distinguish between normals and patients with hypoparathyroidism. Chromatographic separation of the urinary polypeptides by gel filtration yielded one peak which produced mitochondrial phosphate uptake comparable to that observed with pure parathyroid hormone. The peak produced increased degradation of succinate to CO2 by mitochondria. Calcium was strongly and uniquely bound to the peak, which produced a modest calcium mobilization in the thyrop...


The method for observing molecular related ions of methyl hydroperoxyoleates (OMH) by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) mass spectrometry (MS) was investigated. Since thermally labile OMH is decomposed in the APCI nebulizer and/or desolvation chamber heated to a high temperature, it is difficult to observe significant peaks of their protonated molecules. The addition of ammonia water to the mobile phase (ethanol) was quite effective to suppress the thermal decomposition of OMH. As the result the mass spectra exhibited the intense peaks of ammonium adduct ions of OMH, [M+NH4]+, at m/z 346. The nebulizer temperature at 170°C and the drift voltage at 170 V were adequate for observing the molecular ion species of OMH.


Two major techniques; water retting and dew retting, were used to extract natural fiber from empty plantain fruit bunch. Four different size categories each comprising of a group of six (6) bunches were used for the water retting experiments and two size categories each of six (6) bunch samples were used for the dew retting experiments. Results for the water retting experiment showed that the fiber yield is enhanced by the addition of a load/weights on the retting bunch and the bunch size, while results for the dew retting revealed that fiber yield is dependent on both retting time and bunch size. Results of statistical analysis produced optimum yield value of 85.95% with a maximum added weight of 5kg and bunch diameter size of 4cm for the water retting, and for dew retting, an optimum yield value of 60.38% for the bigger bunch size of 5.5cm when extracted on the same day of harvest. Mechanical tests on fiber from the two techniques showed better mechanical properties for the water retting categories with a maximum tensile strength of 823.295N/mm and modulus of elasticity (MOE) of 644.318N/mm Keywords— Empty plantain fruit bunch fibers, water retting, dew retting, yield, mechanical properties, statistical models. . The fiber extracted finds use in the manufacture of reinforced composite materials which are fast replacing the use of metallic and plastic materials, due to the quest for materials that are light and cheap, yet strong.


The CEESIowa calibration facility is designed to calibrate large (up to 762 mm, 30 inch) meters at high pressure (72 bar, 1050 psi). The Quality Control program is made up of three parts. The first part addresses management issues; it consists of the documented procedures and policies that govern the day-to-day operations. The second part addresses technical issues. Examples include uncertainty analyses, calibration records and software verification. The Measurement Assurance Program (MAP) is the third part of the CEESIowa Quality Control program. This paper discusses some components of the CEESIowa MAP.


Many patients who undergo surgery with anaesthesia have some degree of coronary artery disease and are therefore at risk for acute myocardial ischaemic events during and following surgery. Knowledge of the pathogenesis of ischaemic syndrome is important to the practising anaesthesiologist. A number of distinct components in this pathogenesis can be identified. One of the most important factors is underlying arteriosclerosis (1) . In earlier days, because arteriosclerotic lesions were considered to be fixed and unchangeable obstructions, the medical management of coronary artery disease and acute ischaemic syndrome was directed toward depressing the heart's requirement for oxygen. However, studies done within the last decade have shown that some sclerotic segments of the coronary arteries can both dilate and constrict. The anaesthetic agents and drugs that are used during anaesthesia may have direct and specific effects on the coronary circulation. Therefore, knowledge of the anatomy of the coronary arteries is important in the understanding of the pathophysiology of the coronary arteries.


and that popular culture is the crucial site of contestation because "the relationship between intelligence and social power informed the emerging popular culture of the twentieth century" (225). Lecklider argues that from 1900 until the 1950s, popular culture presented an ever-widening range of definitions of intelligence embodied in a range of Americans, always inflected by differences around race, class, and gender. This is key for his larger argument that the intellectual historians of the 1960s, including Richard Hofstadter with Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963) and Christopher Lasch with The New Radicalism in America (1965), were fundamentally misconstruing the role of the intellectual because they were arguing against the characterization of the intellectual as "the egghead," which was a construct of the late 1950s with a decided right-wing slant and that "bracketed off intellect from the brainpower of ordinary women and men and divorces intelligence from workingclass cultural politics" (222). The intellectual these thinkers were defending was, then, only one variation on the theme. This is an interesting and provocative argument that can in fact lead to a rethinking of many questions in American intellectual and cultural history. While the arch of this larger argument is visible in the introduction and epilogue, it is not always as directly connected to the close readings of a variety of evidence that make up the central chapters of the work. Here Lecklider includes material as various as the Chautauqua circuit, scientific displays at Cony Island, the portrayal of Albert Einstein in the American press, and popular songs about college students in the 1920s. He develops his arguments about the possession of brainpower by ordinary men and women thorough examinations of the Bryn Mawr Summer School for women workers, the underlying agreement of DuBois and Booker T. Washington that "the surest way to achieve racial equality was by promoting brainpower," and close reading of works of the Harlem Renaissance (95–96). In the 1930s, he considers WPA library posters, the reception of Roosevelt's Brain Trust, and proletarian literature. Fears of intellectuals reemerge, and are focused entirely on men, in the postwar period, particularly around the "Atomic City" of Oak Ridge, TN. Most of these close readings are sturdy; though I think recent scholarship has indicated that Chicago's Bronzeville was seen more as the center of African American culture in the 1930s than was Harlem. The very breadth of the scope works against closely aligning the examples with the larger argument. However, Inventing the Egghead opens myriad questions that can and should be explored in more depth making more direct connections between individual developments and the overarching scope of twentieth-century American intellectual life. Lynne Adrian University of Alabama


BACKGROUND
Lomustine, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisolone (LOPP) chemotherapy has been suggested to be an effective treatment for dogs with naïve non-indolent T-cell lymphoma (TCL). Studies evaluating prognostic factors for dogs with TCL treated with LOPP chemotherapy are lacking.

AIM
The aim of this retrospective study was to assess potential prognostic factors for canine naïve non-indolent TCL treated with a LOPP protocol.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Retrospective cohort study of naïve non-indolent TCL treated with a LOPP chemotherapy protocol at a single specialty veterinary oncology clinic.

RESULT
Sixty-seven dogs met the inclusion criteria. The outcomes assessed included progression free survival (PFS), overall survival time (OST) and duration of complete remission (DCR). The overall median PFS was 118 days (range 7 - 2,302 days). The median OST was 202 days (range 8 - 2,302 days). The overall median DCR was 316 days (range 38 - 2,261). Number of treatments administered (p <0.0001), multicentric disease (p=0.044), and the presence of hypercalcaemia (p=0.006) were prognostic indicators for PFS. Increasing number of treatments (p<0.0001) and age (p=0.0088) were prognostic indicators for OST.

CONCLUSION
To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe hypercalcaemia as a positive prognostic indicator of PFS for TCL treated with LOPP chemotherapy. LOPP chemotherapy can be considered as a first-line treatment protocol against naïve hypercalcaemic non-indolent TCL. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Simple Summary Among racehorses, mild–moderate equine asthma (MEA) represents the second most frequent cause of poor performance. Multiple authors have tried to identify the direct effects of tracheal mucus accumulation and the cytological profile of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) on athletic capacity, obtaining contrasting results. The present retrospective study aims to investigate the associations between different signs of airway inflammation and a series of fitness parameters obtained through a standardized incremental treadmill test in a population of 116 poorly performing Standardbred racehorses. The possible relationships between treadmill parameters and endoscopic scores, BAL leukocyte populations, and bacterial cultures of tracheal wash were statistically evaluated. The percentage of neutrophils in the BAL was correlated with several fitness parameters, negatively affecting aerobic capacity; analogously, horses with neutrophilic or mixed MEA showed worse athletic capacity compared with those with eosinophilic–mastocytic MEA. These results suggest that lower airway neutrophilia negatively affects sports performance. Abstract Mild–moderate equine asthma (MEA) is a common respiratory disorder among racehorses, characterized by lower airway inflammation. Although it is generally agreed that MEA causes poor performance, contrasting results have been reported about the effects of tracheal mucus and the leukocyte populations of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) on performance. This study aims to investigate the associations between airway inflammation and fitness parameters measured during an incremental treadmill test on Standardbred racehorses. For this purpose, the clinical records of 116 Standardbreds subjected to a diagnostic protocol for poor performance were retrospectively reviewed. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were used to evaluate the relationships between endoscopic scores, BAL cytological results, and fitness parameters. Moreover, horses were divided into MEA and non-MEA groups and into neutrophilic, eosinophilic–mastocytic, and mixed MEA groups; fitness parameters were compared between groups. Neutrophils percentages were inversely correlated with the speed at a heart rate of 200 bpm, the speed and heart rate at a plasma lactate concentration of 4 mmol/L (VLa4 and HRLa4), and the maximal speed, while they were positively correlated with higher lactate concentrations. Moreover, significant differences were detected between different MEA subtypes concerning VLa4, HRLa4, and lactate concentrations. These results suggest that airway neutrophilic inflammation impairs athletic capacity in Standardbreds.


Metal naphthenic acid such as decomposing a mixture containing cobalt naphthenate, and the cathode of the manufacturing method comprising the step of incorporating the decomposed mixture in the cathode. The cathode is, for example, metals - are used in the air batteries and fuel cells.


This study explored the factors that influence academic performance of medical and science students from two universities in the Gaza Strip, Palestine using a validated pilot-tested electronic questionnaire. The amount of studying hours, English proficiency and class attendance had a significant positive impact on academic performance. However, time spent on watching television, social networking and extra-curricular activities had no negative impact. Therefore, balancing study time with extracurricular activities, including social media use, is possible for high achieving students. Another factor with significant negative impact on academic performance, was responsibility for household work, mainly reported by female participants. This might remain one important factor, preventing women from excelling in the academic field and outperforming their male counterparts already early in their careers, especially in societies where women value early marriage and large families. Further research should look into the influence of the type of social media usage on academic performance.


We study the topological Yang–Mills–Higgs theories in two and three dimensions and the topological Yang–Mills theory in four dimensions in a unified framework of superconnections. In this framework, we first show that a classical action of topological Yang–Mills type can provide all three classical actions of these theories via appropriate projections. Then we obtain the Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin (BRST) and anti‐BRST transformation rules encompassing these three topological theories from an extended definition of curvature and a geometrical requirement of the Bianchi identity. This is an extension of Perry and Teo's work in the topological Yang–Mills case. Finally, comparing this result with our previous treatment in which we used the ''modified horizontality condition,'' we provide a meaning of the Bianchi identity from the BRST symmetry viewpoint and thus interpret the BRST symmetry in a geometrical setting.


Michael Downer is the third generation of his family to work the Murdoch Hill farm, in the Adelaide Hills, but his time there has not been business as usual for the family.


As the economic and financial core,the change of credit flows and structure adjustment of the commercial banks plays an important role in the economic development pattern and structural transformation.However,the current positioning in environmental protection of China's commercial banks is limited by a variety of factors,resulting in its fuzzy function.Therefore,six mechanisms are established,i.e.the improvement of green financial supporting policies,the construction of green financial institutional system,the execution of green credit strategies,the establishment of information communication sharing,the whole process management of environment risks and the perfection of supervision and accountability,in order to give full play to green environmental function of the commercial banks,to promote the development of the environmental protection economy and structural transformation of industries and to propel the change of China's economic development pattern and structural transformation.


n this study, an attempt has been made to analyse the individual as well as group effectof disinvestment/ privatization on the financial and operating performance of 24 central public sectorenterprises (CPSEs) in India.Design/methodology/approach- The study is based on "before-and-after" or "pre-and-post" design. Thechange in performance is measured by comparing the difference in the variables at the before and after periods(-5, 0, +5 years). Paired sample t-test is used as a principal method of testing the significant changes in thevariables before and after divestment/ privatization. The sample size covers 24 CPSEs which have beendivested once or more "between" 2002-03 to 2011-12. Data for each company is collected for 10 years (5years before and 5 years after the benchmark year of disinvestment).Findings- At individual enterprise level, significant improvement in the financial and operational performanceof 24 divested/ privatized CPSEs have been observed. However, magnitude of improvement is different basedon sectoral categorization, degree of ownership, reported profit or loss, level of autonomy, listing in the stockexchanges, performance contract and corporate governance etc. While CPSEs operated in the Electricity andService sectors have shown significant improvement, CPSEs operated in the Mining and Manufacturingsectors have shown marginal improvement. Privatized CPSEs have experienced a significant improvement intheir performance as compared to divested CPSEs


In solar collectors used for low temperature applications such as water or air heating the primary heat losses are reradiation in the infrared, convection and conduction losses to the air. To improve the performance of these collectors considerable amount of work has been undertaken over the past few decades in the development of selective coatings which could be applied to the absorber plate surface to reduce the effective emittance of the absorber plate. Many candidate materials exist which offer selective optical properties. These include electroplated, chemically deposited, vacuum coated and paint coatings. Electroplating technique has been industrially used for the production of selective black coatings as it offers a number of advantages over its rivals. This paper reports on the development of nickel-copper selective coating from an electrolyte containing 40 g/l nickel sulphate, 20 g/l copper sulphate, 15 g/l ammomium acetate operated at a pH of 5.5 at 35 degree(s)C at a current density of 4 A/dm2 for a deposition time of 30 seconds. Optimized coating is characterized by solar absorptance ((alpha) ) of 0.98 and thermal emittance ((epsilon) ) of 0.10.


Summary: The leading cause of morbidity and mortality following anesthesia is major adverse cardiac events, or MACE. There are two potential pathways for improvement of this issue during pre-operative assessment and prevention: updating cardiac risk assessment guidelines, and improving guideline adherence and risk assessment accuracy with clinical decision support tools. Content Outline: 1. PICOT Question: Do clinical decision support tools in pre-anesthesia evaluation and intraoperative management reduce major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in adult non-cardiac surgery patients immediately to 30 days post-operatively? 2. Purpose: MACE, the most common cause of perioperative morbidity and mortality, occurs at a rate of 2.6% within 30 days of surgery. Three tools utilized to assess cardiac risk are the Revised Cardiac Risk Index, the American College of Surgeons Surgical Risk Calculator, and the 2014 American Heart Association/ American College of Cardiology Guideline on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation and Management of Patients Undergoing Noncardiac Surgery. Not only are none of these tools externally validated, each lack updated recommendations and clinical criteria for comprehensive assessment. Furthermore, the first two tools have shown to under-estimate true risk by at least 50%, and anesthesia providers can fully implement the 2014 AHA/ACC guidelines only 67% of the time from memory alone. Clinical decision support (CDS) tools offer a platform, once integrated into an electronic medical record, in which guideline adherence, recommendations in care, summary of clinical patient data, and accurate risk stratification can occur. • Definitions of MACE 1. New onset cardiac arrhythmias, angina, new onset congestive heart failure, non-fatal and fatal cardiac arrest, and acute myocardial infarction. 2. Two types of perioperative MI: plaque rupture and hemodynamic insult. 3. Population: age over 50, within 30 days of surgery; most commonly in vascular, thoracic, and transplant surgeries. 4. Incidence: 2.6% in 2013, declining over a decade; suggested to be due to beta-blocker therapy (POISE recommendations), statin therapy, and improved surgical and anesthesia techniques. 1. Stakeholders: patients, families, anesthesia providers, surgeons, primary care team, hospital staff, cardiologist, clinical informatics specialists, government 2. Literature search 1. Search engines: PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Google 2. 32 articles; 24 academic research, 11 for use of CDS 3. Limitations of Current Guidelines 1. American College of Surgeons Surgical Risk Calculator 1. Due to copyright laws, can only be accessed on the website; cannot be integrated into patient chart for real-time analysis 2. Excludes trauma and transplant patients, where transplant patients have the third highest incidence of MACE • Predicting risk of a MACE outcome is limited to cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction 1. Calculator criteria do not follow most up to date guidelines 1. Revised Cardiac Risk Index 1. Developed in early 1990s, in a single-cohort study 2. Risk estimates found to be 50% lower than observed outcomes by at least two studies • Cannot be applied to emergency surgeries 1. Does not include valvular disease • Gaps in Clinical Factor Identification 1. Anemia and Intraoperative Blood Loss 1. Not included in RCRI or ACS SRC 2. Amputation 1. No matter the type of amputation, all patients carry higher atherosclerotic disease than control group 2. Significantly higher perioperative mortality than emergency cardiac surgery cases • Most common cause of post-operative death in amputation patients is myocardial infarction due to "silent" coronary artery disease 1. Amputation as a risk assessment criteria missing from all three tools 1. Hypo-, Hyperkalemia, and Acute Kidney Injury 1. Metabolic acidosis, hypo-, and hyperkalemia are all independent risk factors for dysrhythmias and other MACE events within 30 days. 1. Serum potassium is also strongly correlated with new onset atrial fibrillation 2. MACE risk increased by hypoand hyperkalemia, 2.2 and 3.2-fold, respectively. • Potassium trends are not included in any current cardiac risk assessment tool or guideline 1. 41% of patients who develop a post-operative AKI also experience a cardiovascular complication 1. These patients have a 12.6% hospital mortality and 16% 90-day mortality. Second study finds mortality is higher by 4-fold. 2. Providers fail to act in a timely fashion in the biochemical presentation of AKI 41% of the time. 3. Nosocomial development of AKI is higher mortality risk (27%) than AKI at admission (11.8%). • Admission AKI is unrecognized in 23.5% of cases, and two-thirds of patients are discharged without treatment. • Clinical Decision Support 1. Improved pre-operative risk assessment, intraoperative and hemodynamic management 1. Ability to detect hemodynamic collapse within 2 hours using standard monitoring 2. Decreases unnecessary pre-operative testing 2. Improved anesthesia education, training, and performance outcomes. 3. As visual cue and interactive checklist 1. Significantly improve non-MACE outcomes and mitigate costs 4. Unintended Consequences 3. May add 3.4 minutes to pre-operative assessment; include false positives 5. Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation 3. Facilitators: automation, dedicated facility coordinator 4. Barriers: poor usability, difficulty of integration, software and hardware issues, training concerns, insufficient technical support, lack of coordinating roles. 6. Alternatives • Cost-Benefit Analysis 1. Conservative measure of hypothetical 15% effectiveness of a MACE CDS net savings over 5 years 1. In a hospital with 10,000 annual surgeries à $280,865 2. 43,000 annual surgeries, approximately $3.2 million First Primary Presenting Author Primary Presenting Author Kristin M. Kunze, DNP, CRNA Quinnipiac University School of Nursing Student Registered Nurse Anesthetist Hamden CT USA Professional Experience: 2015-presentStudent Registered Nurse Anesthetist, Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT 2012-2015Registered Nurse, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC Clinical Practice Council (2013-2015) Quality Improvement Committee (2014-2015) Author Summary: Kristin Kunze is a recent graduate of the Doctor of Nursing Practice Nurse Anesthesia Program at Quinnipiac University. She assembled this presentation by way of her DNP Project and experiences with five clinical sites.


Radioactive Sb/sup 122/ donors in a doped silicon crystal were oriented by saturation of forbidden transitions and by the Overhauser method. Double- resonance experiments in which an electron and a nuclear transition were saturated simultaneously were used to determine the Sb/sup 122/ hyperfine splitting. A short discussion is given of how the nuclear relaxation mechanisms affect the double-resonance orientation signals. The hyperfine splitting of Sb/ sup 122/ was found to be -132.59 plus or minus 0.10 Mc/sec and its spin 2. The gyromagnetic ratio is -0.952 plus or minus 0.010. (auth)


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate diabetes knowledge in youth with T1DM and their caregivers and its association with clinical outcomes, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted. Patients with T1DM aged 2 to 21 were enrolled. A diabetes knowledge questionnaire adapted from a combination of validated studies was completed by adolescents ≥ 14 years and caregivers of children E'14 years. Diabetes knowledge was considered adequate for ≥ 80% correct answers. Logistic regression was used to associate diabetes knowledge with clinical and demographic data. Results: Overall diabetes knowledge was good, with average scores of 86% and 84% correct responses among adolescents and parents, respectively. Better diabetes knowledge was associated with A1C ≤ 9%, in particular knowledge of nutrition in parents of small children and knowledge of pathophysiology in both groups. Weaker diabetes knowledge was associated with lower socioeconomic status. Overall diabetes knowledge scores were not associated with time since T1DM diagnosis, but knowledge of self-care was better with longer time since diagnosis in adolescence. Conclusions: Proficiency in carbohydrate counting in parents of younger children might have higher clinical impact than in adolescents. Diabetes education curricula should be tailored towards individual patients taking into consideration their socio-economic needs. Diabetes centers should offer re-education on diabetes, in particular, review of pathophysiology, nutrition and carbohydrate counting.


As all NGOs dealing with medical/humanitarian crises, Medecins Sans Frontieres has had to adapt its strategies and methods to a rapidly changing environmental and political situation. MSF is hampered by the growing suspicion with which many warring parties view foreign aid and humanitarian interventions and the increasing antagonism between Western powers and radical Islamist organisations. Rising conflicts in middle income countries and new epidemic diseases also pose major novel challenges.


Vibration pickups respond to air‐borne sound. Separation of the signal owing to this acoustic excitation from the signal arising from vibration of the base of the pickup is difficult. This paper reports preliminary experiments in which the vibration pickup whose response is being measured is mounted back to back with a standard pickup. Both pickups experience the same vibration but only the pickup being measured is exposed to the sound field.


Most cement plants in India and around the world face a unique problem in regards with power factor. In industries where their local generation with their Captive Power Plant (CPP) and Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) is equal to or greater than the plant's total utilization, the load import from the Grid is brought down close to zero. This is done to reduce the power cost because the Grid power is comparatively expensive. Though the Grid power is not required, the connection to the Grid is mandatory for the system in floating mode to ensure the stability of the system, to avoid black-outs in the event of CPP failures/trips and to tackle unplanned/sudden variations in the load. Such a setup makes it extremely complex to maintain power factor at the Grid incomer. For more than a decade, it was assumed that no solution exists to this problem where CPPs are connected and power drawn from the Grid is close zero. In India, a state like Chhattisgarh, where Grid billing is in kVAh and on TOD11TOD- Time of Day billing system. It refers to the practice of setting different price for a of unit energy at different times of the day. The general classification is On-Peak, Off-Peak and Normal hours. basis, power factor plays a major role in Grid cost optimization. This paper contains a discussion on the problem, the solution and a case study of achieving unity power factor at floating grid conditions in a cement plant in India.


Equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) can effectively introduce large uniform plastic strain to bulk materials to produce ultrafine‐grained (UFG) materials. The present study attempts to apply the ECAE process to commercially pure aluminum (AA1050). ECAE with an intersecting angle of 90° processed at room temperature via routes A and C. The microstructural development of the deformed material was investigated using SEM‐EBSD measurements, and shear tests were conducted on the deformed material for mechanical testing.


520 Background Genetically predisposed women have an increased risk of breast cancer at an earlier age where dense breasts may reduce the sensitivity of XRM. A multicentre study to evaluate the sensitivity of MRI compared to XRM commenced in the UK in 1997. Methods Women at high risk (>0.9%pa) of breast cancer, based on testing, family history or affected relatives, were recruited from 22 centres. Women were enrolled aged 35 to 49 and offered annual MRI and XRM. Exclusion criteria included previous breast cancer or symptoms of breast cancer. MRI measurement and evaluation followed a published protocol with a defined scoring scheme. Cancers were verified histologically. The 2-view XRM followed national standards. MRI and XRM were independently double read. 838 women were screened for between 2 and 7 years. Results A total of 1861 women-years with both MRI and XRM resulted in 35 detected cancers: 19 by MRI, 6 by XRM, 8 by both, 2 interval. Significantly more cancers were detected by MRI than by XRM (P=0.01)...


The wear reducing actions of bronze, graphitic powder and discontinuous glass fiber fillers within a PTFE matrix have been demonstrated in oscillatory contact with stainless steel, at two different amplitudes, over a range of speeds. The secondary effects on the friction of the PTFE have also been investigated. The effects of oscillation amplitude on frictional surface morphology have been observed for these composites. The friction and wear of the unfilled PTFE matrix were both found to increase as speed increased, with wear going through a transition from a low-to high-rate regime. The speed at which this transition occurs increases with decreasing oscillatory amplitude. Presented at the 45th Annual Meeting In Denver, Colorado May 7–10, 1990


Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether cardiovascular disease risk factors and depression are associated with the frequency of self-report in patients with erectile dysfunction (ED). Materials and Methods: Randomly selected men more then 40 years of age who visited the department of urology between January 2005 and July 2008 were evaluated by clinical examination and questionnaires. Trained doctors assessed the participants by using structured questionnaires that included medical history as well as report of ED. All participants were evaluated for cardiovascular disease risk factors. The group with unreported ED was defined as men with an International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) score of ≤21 who did not self-report ED. The group with self-reported ED was defined as men as above who self-reported ED. Symptoms of depression were assessed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D). Results: The mean age of a total of 459 enrolled patients was 53.4±7.8 years. The overall frequency of ED was 39.8%. Of the total study group, 25.9% were categorized in the unreported ED group and 13.9% in the self-reported ED group. The men with self-reported ED had significantly severe forms of ED and a higher frequency of cardiovascular disease risk factors than did the men with unreported ED. Moreover, the self-reported ED group had a significantly higher frequency of symptoms of depression. Conclusions: Our results suggest that men with self-reported ED had a higher frequency of cardiovascular disease risk factors and symptoms associated with depression than did men with unreported ED. Furthermore, men with self-reported ED had more severe ED than did men with unreported ED. (Korean J Urol 2009;50:902-907) 󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏󰠏


Although complete compensation is only possible using true active filters, shunt harmonic impedances (SHI) have been shown to provide a considerable reduction of the harmonic propagation. In this paper, the mitigation potential of different shunt harmonic impedances is investigated, together with their VA-rating. It is shown that a resistive impedance of 1 pu for all harmonics is very effective, especially in the case of power system resonances. The analysis presented considers also the influence of the PHI on the line current injected into the power system when background distortion is present. To take into account the interaction between harmonics, simulations are performed in the presence of a realistic nonlinear load, instead of the common harmonic current source modelling approach.


Amajor challenge for today's health care providers around most of the world is that culturally diverse groups comprise the largest growing segment of the patient population. Individual health care choices and outcomes must be understandable to patients in terms of their own culture and experience. Thus, health care workers are faced with the need to develop intercultural competencies that allow them to recognize their own cultural norms, understand the patient's unique viewpoint, and effectively adjust their behaviors to maximize care. While understanding the client's unique perspective is a challenge shared across industries, in health care, intercultural competence can be argued to be even more complex and challenging, primarily due to the intensely personal nature of the services offered, which often touch the core of patients' and providers' culturally influenced values, beliefs, and attitudes. Intercultural competence, also commonly referred to as cultural competence, may in the context of health care be briefly


Objective To study the relationship between the patients′ health knowledge,economic condition and their self administering compliance.Method A questionnaire was issued to probe into age,sex,cultural level,health knowledge score,economic condition,and self administering compliance in 1 490 hypertensi on cases,and analyze the relation of health knowledge,economic condition to their self administering compliance.Results There existed a relation between the self administering compliance and their health knowledge,economic condition.The more knowledge and the better economic condition they have got,the better compliance they display.Conclusion In the hypertension clinical treatment doctors nurses should help the patient get more health knowledge,following the individualization principle and in view of the patient′s economic condition to make a rational medication so as to heighten his compliance in taking medicine.Thus blood pressure may be controlled at rather an ideal level,reducing any complications,cutting down the death rate,improving the living quality.


Through making comparative analysis on advanced model and practical experience of risk management of some foreign well-known large-scale gymnasium and stadiums as well as the country successfully hosted Olympic Games,this paper discussed some issues concerning various risk management of our large-scale gymnasium and stadium running.The result showed that our large-scale gymnasium and stadium should take risk management in the following areas such as nature risk,management risk,personal risk,equipment and technique risk.The risk transference and marketization of personal accident injury insurance,public liability insurance,accident insurance and property insurance were the main strategy.It suggested that the risk management of our large-scale gymnasium and stadium faced the following problems such as lack of high recognition,lack of running mechanism and legislative protection suiting to our national conditions and international common practice,lack of professional personnel of risk management and relevant risk evaluation institution,lack of various sports insurance products meeting the demand of our market.


In this paper, a V-band fan beam reflector back array antenna is introduced. This is made up of two main parts, namely a planar array and a main reflector and enables an easy implementation. The reflector part is connected to the ground of planar array that makes the reflector not an ordinary parasitic element. The proposed antenna has dimensions 4.65×31×2.63 mm3 including the reflector. For 60 GHz wireless LAN applications, a high antenna gain is required to overcome the propagation losses. In addition, to maximize the azimuth coverage, this antenna has a fan beam pattern in V-band at 58.8–60.8 GHz. The gain for proposed antenna at 60 GHz is 15.2 dBi. The numerical analysis shows that the proposed antenna can be a good candidate for 60 GHz wireless LAN applications.


With the growth of the information technology field, machine learning, artificial intelligence and other fields have begun to require higher computing performance. Networked heterogeneous computing is one of the critical solutions for them. The hardware composition, software design and use methods in the Networked Heterogeneous Computing Platform are quite different from those in the traditional computing platform. There is no mature test method or testing system at present. Therefore, this paper studies the Networked Heterogeneous Computing Platform, from the composition of the platform to the construction of the testing system. The testing system of Networked Heterogeneous Computing Platform is proposed, and each test indicator is discussed in detail. Finally, the test method is provided.


This special issue is a product of a recent conference entitled European Cities: Growth and Decline and is concerned with the contemporary development and restructuring of European cities and the interaction with other economic social and political changes. (ANNOTATION)