The reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide radical (O2), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and hydroxyl radical (OH), plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, atherosclerosis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, stroke, myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure. A recent study demonstrated that the frequency of mutation in a reporter gene increased in cortical DNA after forebrain ischemia-reperfusion. Eight DNA lesions that are characteristic of DNA damage mediated by free radicals were detected. Among the different oxidative-damage DNA products, 8-oXo-7,8-dihydrodeoxyguanine (8-oxoG) is the most stable and deleterious adduct. Recent studies demonstrated that human MutY homologue (hMYH) protein plays important role in repairing oxidative damage. to date, there is no information regarding the role of hMYH expression in human myocardium with congestive heart failure (CHF). Therefore, the current study designed to investigate the levels of hMYH expression and 8-oxoG in myocardium in the absence or presence of end-stage congestive heart failure. The hypothesis of this study is that increasing DNA damage such as 8-oxoG generation is associated with a reduction of hMYH expression in human myocardium with congestive heart failure.


In the long term, it is high and increasing unemployment which constitutes the key determinant for a decline in the adjusted wage share and the real unit labour costs. Economic growth plays a similarly important role. Higher investment will increase the profit share. Countries whose economy and productivity grew fastest (Ireland, Finland, Sweden) saw their real unit labour costs plunge deepest. The inflation rate affects the wage share in the short term because employees will attempt to compensate for unexpected price increases by demanding higher wages.


The aim was to determine the performances of four Helicobacter pylori serological detection kits in different target groups, using Amplified IDEIA™ Hp StAR™ as gold standard. Kits studied were Rapid Immunochromatoghraphic Hexagon, Helicoblot 2.1, an EIA IgG kit and EIA IgA kit. Methods: Stool and blood samples were collected from 162 apparently healthy participants (control) and 60 Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Results: The performances of the four serological detection kits were found to be affected by gender, age, health status and ethnicity of the participants. In the control group, the Helicoblot 2.1 kit had the best performance (AUC = 0.85; p<0.05, accuracy = 86.4%), followed by EIA IgG (AUC = 0.75; p<0.05, accuracy = 75.2%). The Rapid Hexagon and EIA IgA kits had relatively poor performances. In the T2DM subgroup, the kits H2.1 and EIA IgG had best performances, with accuracies of 96.5% and 93.1% respectively. The performance of EIA IgG improved with adjustment of its cut-off value. Conclusion: The performances of the detection kits were affected by various factors which should be taken into consideration.


Gray code addressing is one of the techniques previously proposed to reduce switching activity on high capacitance address bus lines. However in order to convert a system to gray address encoding there are several issues a designer needs to consider. This paper analyzes two issues which include gray code encodings for counter increments other than one and tradeoffs in power consumption incurred due to code conversions (binary to gray, gray to binary) when considering address increments and adders. Results are shown for different encodings and different configurations.


We design and implement an high performance on-chip-network, which is composed of Soc network architecture (SNA) and eXtended SoC Network Protocol (XSNP). The SNA is a hardware architecture for on-chip-buses, which provide simultaneous multiple channels and dual routing. The XSNP is an interface protocol for the SNA which provides compatibility with the AHB protocol. The SNA system is adequate for parallel processing systems with multiple processors. FIR filter systems are designed to verify the performance of the on-chip-bus using 1-, 2-layer AHB and the SNA. The performance is compared using simulation and implementing using FPGAs.


The summer season (June–July–August) surface air temperatures (SATs) over Saudi Arabia and its association with the atmospheric circulation cells were identified and analysed using the NCEP‐NCAR reanalyses and the NOAA extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (SST) datasets from 1948 to 2016. The pressure vertical velocity and divergent wind were utilized to determine the atmospheric circulation cells such as Hadley, Walker, and Ferrel cells. Possible mechanisms associated with changes in Saudi Arabia summer SAT were investigated, with particular focus on the uppermost and lowermost summers. Changes in SAT are mainly linked to the significant changes in the meridional and zonal atmospheric circulations. Partial correlations between SAT and atmospheric circulation showed that the effect of the Hadley and Walker circulations on the SAT was significant. There is no obvious connection between either the Hadley East Pacific circulation or the Ferrel circulation and SAT. Moreover, there is no dependency between summer SAT and the Atlantic Hadley and Atlantic Walker circulations, which could be detected in the summer season. The Hadley circulation may affect the Indian monsoon depression, whereas the Walker circulation has less effect. Also, a strong relationship between the Indian‐Pacific warm pool (IPWP) and both the Hadley and Walker circulations were found. Simultaneously, IPWP SST influenced Indian monsoon depression. Therefore, the Hadley circulation, Walker circulation, and IPWP all play key roles in the displacement and intensity of the Indian monsoon, which in turn strongly influences SAT variability over Saudi Arabia during summertime.


Wearables that continuously acquire medically relevant parameters can reduce duration of hospitalizations and derive treatment optimizations for individual patients thus improving the quality of medical treatments. We demonstrate an architecture that includes wearables, edge and cloud computing to provide optimal user interaction and analytics of multi-parameter wearable data to accomplish this goal. We also explore the trade-offs of on-wearable processing versus raw data transmission and the use of commercial location monitors to acquire indoor location data.


This paper explores the relative value of "permanent" working groups versus "ad hoc" groups in large introductory level anthropology courses. The aim is to manage tutor workload while simultaneously enhancing students' attainment of the learning objectives. In addition, a main learning objective was for students to practice critical thinking and develop an understanding of cultural relativism. We argue that one effective experiential approach to teaching such concepts is collaborative learning with others in diverse learning groups. We explore the factors enhancing such learning experiences. Based on our survey research we conclude that ad hoc groups are better for exposing students to diverse perspectives and permanent working groups are better for fostering an intimate learning experience within a large class. Although our original goals for using groups were mainly pragmatic, our research on teaching methods shows that it exposes students to diverse perspectives. We find this particularly appropriate for courses in anthropology aiming to teach the meaning of diversity and other related concepts. Therefore, we recommend that tutors/instructors choose their collaborative learning strategy based both on their intended learning outcomes and their learning environments.


In this study I examine how past performance influences the relative positions of actors in a network and how the actor-level heterogeneity in quality mediates the often-demonstrated association between brokerage and performance. On the collaboration network of U.S. biotech inventors during 1976-1995, I find that inventors with superior track records are more apt to form collaboration ties that enhance brokerage, thereby occupying positions that allow them to broker across network boundaries. Controlling for past performance significantly weakens the positive relationship between brokering position and innovative performance. Further, when inventor-level heterogeneity is controlled for through inventor-fixed effects, the position-performance correlation disappears. These findings suggest that, at least for collaborative inventors, actor-level heterogeneity such as performance history largely drives the asymmetry in brokerage, explaining most of the position-performance association.


The development of a more satisfactory understanding of psychosocial disorders in children depends upon the successful combination of medical anthropological and epidemiological information. In this paper we describe one way this can be done. Our approach is to focus first on the level of the logic of inquiry, and only secondarily on the use of specific methods. Questions of method become meaningful only after epidemiological and anthropological understandings have been used together to conceptualize a research project. Our approach therefore contrasts with some discussions in anthropology and in epidemiology which have been conducted as though problems of method can be considered alone. Some of these discussions have suggested that the methods of each discipline are complementary. Our view is that it is a serious mistake to focus discussions of the integration of anthropology and epidemiology primarily on the level of the methods or techniques of research. If the research question is set without the benefit of a conceptual integration of epidemiological and anthropological understandings, then a research program is unlikely to improve our understanding, no matter how sophisticated a combination of methods and techniques is used. The success of researchers in integrating medical anthropology and epidemiology should not be evaluated by looking for the use of specific methods in particular ways. At times the conceptual integration may be successful yet the research question can be appropriately answered using methods from only one of the disciplines. In this paper we explore how better conceptual integration of these approaches, regardless of methods, can help to advance our understanding of psychosocial disorders in children. We seek to illustrate how taking up the concerns and asking the questions of one discipline can usefully inform work done using the methods of the other discipline. We view this conceptual integration as important because often the focus on methods leads researchers to accept overly simple accounts of the phenomena they seek to understand. Too often the inadequacy of these accounts is discovered only after they have had harmful consequences (Rubinstein 1984; Simon 1983; Hall 1982). The principle reason foi the failure of these understandings is that they have been developed using data from an artificially limited range of experience. Because of this observations are channeled toward particular normatively appropriate data, information anomalous to the model is discounted (Ward and Werner 1984; Argyris 1980; Rubinstein et al. 1984). One way to avoid this is to insist that research keep theoretical models as


Bacl^rouDd: The purpose of this study was to determine if systolic blood pressure (SBP), and therefore rate pressure product (RPP = systolic blood pressure * heart rate) differences exist between treadmill, cycle, and arm exercise at fixed heart rate (HR) values. Methods: Thirty individuals with > 2 primary risk factors for coronary artery disease (RF), and twenty-three risk free individuals (NRF) maintained steady-state exercise (treadmill, cycling, and arm exercise) at a fixed HR (across modes) while SBP values were collected. Apriori planned comparisons (a = 0.05) were used to evaluate within group treadmill vs. cycle and treadmill vs. arm exercise SBP differences as well as between group differences in treadmill vs. cycle and treadmill vs. arm exercise mean SBP changes. Results: SBP was significantly increased during cycle and arm exercise compared to walking in both NRF (cycle: 8 mmHg ± 9.8, p<0.001; arm: 7.6 mmHg ± 9.5, p<0.001) and RF (cycle: 14.4 mmHg ± 12.5, p<0.001; arm: 16.6 mmHg ±11.3, p<0.001) groups. The RF group displayed a larger SBP mode response compared to the NRF group (treadmill vs. cycle, p<0.05; treadmill vs. arm, p<0.01). Conclusion: Exercise training intensity prescribed to individuals with coronary artery disease is often based on data derived from clinical treadmill exercise tests. However, many individuals may choose alternative modes of exercise. Results of this study indicate that SBP, and therefore myocardial oxygen demand, are increased during cycling and arm exercise compared to walking. Prescribed exercise intensity may need to be lowered for individuals diagnosed with exertional angina and/or hypertension who choose to utilize these modes for regular exercise.


The effect of deformation on microstructure and properties of GH4169 alloy bars was studied on the first high alloy steel tandem rolling mill introduced recently.The results indicated that compared with the traditional open-train mill,this mill's deformation heating effect was more obvious.Under the condition of this test,if the deformation was too small,it would be unfavorable to the grain refining,and there would be some elongated original grains near the surface.If the deformation was too great,it would induce higher finishing temperature.Coarse grains would appear and there would be less delta phase on the grain boundary,which would reduce the bar's high temperature plasticity and creep rupture life.Only proper deformation can get fully recrystallized microstructures,fine grains(above Grade 9) and proper delta precipitates.This would help the alloy possess excellent combined properties.


The evolution feature of the injected initial-chirp tanh-dark soliton in single-mode fiber is studied in this paper. We analyze the evolution of amplitude, pulse width, frequency chirp and center position shift of dark soliton along with the variation of propagation distance, primarily using Lagrange-Euler's formula and taking the high-order dispersion as perturbation. The results show that the amplitude and pulse width of chirp-dark soliton are all oscillating around a certain critical distance in ideal fiber , and the high-order dispersion conduces to generate the asymptotic dark soliton.


The global development of an anti-HIV agent can maximize the information that is available on the clinical utility and safety of a compound by broadening and diversifying the subject population studied. There is a tendency for viral diversity between different geographical regions, and variation in the management of subjects with Hn! across different regions, The two indinavir clinical endpoint studies illustrate the feasibility of successfully conducting clinical trials with broad geographic diversity. As more new compounds are developed in the future, the complexities inherent in this process will drive the need for a global perspective on HIV drug development.


up 61.5 per cent of the area of the continental United States, not including Alaska, but average only 27 per cent of the runoff of 48 states. The western states include, however, in the Pacific Coast States and Arizona and Nevada, areas with the most rapid population and industrial growth in the nation, with the single exception of Florida. Nearly all irrigated agricultural lands are in the West. Therefore, in the seventeen western stat s water supply and waste disposal problems are of truly major proportions. The area has the least rainfall and lowest runoff. The locations of irrigable lands, population, and industry in relation to places with heavy rainfall and streamflow are most displaced. There are vast areas of closed basins, such as the Imperial Valley of California and the Great Basin centering in Nevada and Utah. And, yet, in the western United States are the nation's largest dams, reservoirs, hydroelectric plants, longest aqueducts, and greatest per capita consumption of water.


Ecological Economics
Traditional arguments against environmentalist regulation often focus on the cost. However, Sumaila et al. estimated that implementing the Paris Agreement would be financially helpful to the world's fishing industry and to seafood consumers. They combined models of fish habitat, climate variation, and seafood prices given the two projections of 1.5°C increase in global temperatures, as stipulated by the Paris Agreement, and the 3.5°C anticipated if present trends continue. The authors conclude that the Paris Agreement would mean an extra $4.6 billion in revenue for fishers, $3.7 billion in wages for seafood workers, and $6.3 billion in savings for consumers.

Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aau3855 (2019).


How opening the information in a information management system is very important.Today,more and more company find the person through the employment service agency because they have much more information than others.If we can release the information through the agency,we will get more chances to open the graduate information.So,This paper designs an external interface to employment service agency and companies.The enterprises can get the graduates' information directly from their own system.That means they needn't login this system.


Gammarus kischineffensis Schellenberg, 1937, has been recorded for the first time in Poland. The differences in morphology between this and other Polish species are discussed.


This paper proposes a high-power-factor electronic ballast for metal-halide (MH) lamps. In the proposed circuit, two buck–boost converters and a buck converter are integrated with a full-bridge inverter by sharing the four active switches of the full-bridge inverter. Two active switches are switched at high frequencies, while the other two are switched at lower frequencies. The buck converter is used to step down the DC-link voltage of the full-bridge inverter and filter out the high-frequency components to drive lamps with a low-frequency square-wave (LFSW) current. The buck–boost converters are operated at discontinuous-conduction mode to perform the function of power-factor correction (PFC) to ensure almost unity power factor at the input line. By tactful arrangement of diodes, the DC-link capacitors are discharged in parallel; this helps to operate the high-frequency active switches at a high duty ratio, achieving a small peak value of the PFC-converter current and correspondingly smaller conduction losses. Detailed operation modes and the design equations are provided. A prototype electronic ballast for a 70 W MH lamp is built and tested. Experimental measurements have proven that the proposed electronic ballast has the advantages of high-power factor and being free of acoustic resonance. By integrating the active switches of the converters and the inverter, the proposed electronic ballast is advantageous in terms of cost-effectiveness and high energy-conversion efficiency.


We present results from an extensive synthetic observation analysis of numerically-simulated radio galaxy jets. This is the first such analysis to be based on simulations with sufficient physical detail to allow the application of standard observational analysis techniques to simulated radio galaxies. Here we focus on extracting magnetic field properties from nonthermal intensity information. We study field values obtained via the combination of synchrotron radio and inverse-Compton X-ray data as well as those from the minimum-energy approach. The combined radio/X-ray technique provides meaningful information about the field. The minimum-energy approach retrieves reasonable field estimates in regions physically close to the minimum-energy partitioning, though the technique is highly susceptible to deviations from the underlying assumptions. We also look at how the two field measurement techniques might be combined to provide a rough measure of the actual energy in particles and fields. A full report on this work can be found in the Astrophysical Journal, v601, p778.


On Friday, May 2nd 2014, Ambassador Professor Sameh Aboul Enein, adjunct professor of International Security and Disarmament at the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy-AUC, met with Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) youth delegation at the headquarter of United Nations in New York. The youth delegation of NPT representatives representatives consisted of:
1) Alexandra Arce von Herold, a delegate at International Physician for the Prevention of Nuclear War- Costa Rica (IPPNW), Ban All Nukes Generation (BANG), and delegate Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND);
2) Christian N. Ciobanu, who is Geneva representative at Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and coordinator of Ban All Nukes generation (BANG);
3) Sam Morris, intern at the NGO Committee for Disarmament, Peace and Security;
4) And Anna Ikeda, who is a member of the Japanese Buddhist organization called "Soka Gakkai International."


Many people working with computers know much about the software. However, their knowledge on the basic hardware components is restricted. Most people are convinced that computers do arithmetics as they have learnt it in elementary school. They even think that this is more or less the only reasonable way to perform arithmetics. This is definitely wrong. The presentation of methods used by modern hardware for the basic arithmetic operations opens the mind. It shows that it is sometimes necessary to look for completely different solutions of problems which seem to have only one natural solution. Besides this very general aim it will be argued why it is useful to consider hardware realizations of the basic arithmetic operations in computer science courses of high schools.


PURPOSE: Water soluble or water dispersible polymers containing carboxyl groups, optionally in latent form, and side-chains of general formula (I) are provided which are used as additives in mineral building materials. CONSTITUTION: A polymers can be obtained by polymerizing ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the presence of compounds containing phosphorus and, optionally, by additional polymer-analogous transformation. Also provided are polymers, which can be obtained by polymerizing aromatic vinyl compounds, olefins, cycloolefins and/or dienes, as D monomers and anhydrides of ethylenically unsaturated dicarboxylic acids as E monomers, and which can be used both as parent compounds for the above-mentioned polymers and as additives for mineral building materials.


Objective To survey the incidence of iodine deficiency and assess the results of IDD control in Hainan Proivnce. Methods The status of iodine nutrition,the coverage of iodine-containing salt,incidence of iodine-deficiency-related illnesses,results of health education were surveyed based on the 《Implementation proposal of fifth national iodine deficiency surveillance in 2005 》. Results The coverage of odine-containing salt was 67.5% in 1 251 schoolchildren aged 8 -10 years; the qualification rate of iodine-containing salt was 85.7% ; the consumption rate of qualified iodine - containing salt was 57.7%. The TGR in school-aged children was 8.0%... The median content o urine iodine was 92.2ug/L in schoolchildren and 71.9ug/L in women of childbearing age. The average IQ was 91.7 and the results of health education was good. Conclusion The work of popularization of iodine-containing salt in Hainna has been improved. But there is still a gap to be covered between the consumtion rate of qualified iodine-containing salt in the residents and national criteria of elimination of iodine deficiency.


The authors analyze the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and the discrete multiwavelet transform (DMWT) and compare them with the Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT), the discrete cosine transform (DCT), the Haar transform, and the Hadamard transform. The comparison is made with respect to computational complexity, base construction, energy compaction, and implementational aspects. It is shown that wavelet transforms achieve a compaction performance which is comparable to DCT, whereas they require significantly less computational effort, (O(n/sup 2/)) instead of O(n/sup 2/ log n). A VLSI implementation of the DMWT offers the advantage that it can be used for base construction.<<ETX>>


There are two contemporary explanations of wife abuse: one cites the sexist structure and traditions of society; the other attributes it to social structural stress and to behavior learned in the family of origin. This article uses data from a random statewide survey of 602 married women living in Maryland to test these theories. The survey results support much of the social structural stress-childhood learning theory of wife abuse. Modifications to this theory are suggested. The survey data allow us to identify who battered women are and what types of service programs appear appropriate. Most wife-abuse victims are lower class; service programs must be designed with the needs of that population in mind.


In recent decades, higher education has embraced the concept of blended teaching, the design and facilitation of online and face-to-face learning activities. As such initiatives are embedded in the formal context of an institution, educational managers and other decision makers are in search of evidence for creating sustainable conditions that facilitate and support blended teaching. In this paper, the authors present the guidelines articulated by the European Maturity Model that address such concerns. These were developed during a three-year joint effort between seven European project partners. For each guideline, background information in line with the foundations of the European Maturity Model is included, as well as examples and references to predominantly open access resources. It is hoped that the results might inspire key actors within higher education or scholars that are investigating models for continuous improvement in the field of blended teaching and education.


We have developed an aqueous-solvent-based micro-molding technique for creating polymeric, bio-degradable micro-structures which can be loaded with delicate bio-active therapeutic agents. The process enables the incorporation of emerging protein-or DNA-based vaccines into sophisticated micro structures, e.g., microneedles, without damaging their biological efficacy as conventional (UV-or temperature-based) micro-molding processes would. As a demonstration, we successfully fabricated gelatin microneedles loaded with a DNA complex using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold. The process is proven to be capable of molding microneedles with sufficient sharpness (down to 17 μm radius of curvature at the tips) to penetrate porcine skin and exhibit transfection of DNA complexes.


In this paper, tensile strength and behavior of low-intensity UV light irradiated poly-p-phenylene benzobisoxazole (PBO) fiber were investigated in monofilament tests. The tensile tests of a monofilament were carried out at a gauge length of 12.5 mm and deformation rate of 0.5 mm/min. Irradiation time was set to 0h, 1h, 10h, 100h and 1,000h, while radiance was arranged to become 2, 4 and 8 W/m2. It was found that the tensile strength distribution of UV irradiated PBO fibers can be approximated to a normal distribution. Regardless of the degree of radiance, the tensile strength tends to decrease gradually with an increase in irradiation time. As radiance intensifies, however, corresponding curved lines move to lower positions, an indication of the dependency of the tensile strength on radiance. The relationship between radiation dosage and tensile strength converges on this one curved line irrespective of the degree of radiance. Therefore radiation dosage should be a valid parameter to measure the degradation of the strength of the PBO fibers exposed to UV light irradiation. In addition, it is found by SEM observation that there are distinct differences between the fracture surface image of UV non-irradiated fiber and that of irradiated fiber. Regardless of UV-irradiation, PBO fibers have split in the direction in which it is set. But the split part in UV-irradiated fiber is shorter than in the UV-non-irradiated fiber because UV-irradiated fiber has split vertically in portions.


The effective microwave surface impedance for a layered structure made of a thin type-II superconducting film as well as a dielectric substrate is theoretically investigated. We consider the superconducting film with thickness comparable or smaller than the penetration depth in the parallel magnetic field, in which a vortex chain is present in the central plane of film. The total effective microwave surface impedance is shown to consist of two parts, one represents the Meissner state response which can be calculated by the usual impedance transform technique, and the other not obtainable from the impedance transform is the vortex response. The effective surface resistance and reactance due to the vortex chain are specifically numerically investigated as functions of the thicknesses of film and dielectric, static magnetic field and microwave frequency as well. For the frequency-dependent surface impedance, numerical results reveal that there exists a crossover frequency such that the surface resistance is ...


Toxoplasmosis is a disease that can infect pregnant mothers, women of child bearing age and it can be transmitted to the unborn baby. The sero-prevalence of toxoplasmosis with its associated risk factors in two hundred and seventy-seven pregnant attending University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital was investigated to ascertain the current status of toxoplasmosis in River State. Blood samples were collected from the subjects through a veno-puncture and the blood tests were performed using the rapid test kits for Toxoplasma gondii IgG and IgM antibodies following manufactures instructions. Commercial pregnancy test kits and HIV test kits were used to confirm their pregnancy and HIV status. Out of the 277 pregnant subjects examined, the overall prevalence was 5(1.8%) for T. gondii IgG antibody and 14(6.9%) positive for HIV. None of the HIV pregnant subjects were positive for toxoplasmosis. All data were presented in frequency and percentages. The chi-square analysis was used to assess the distribution of toxoplasmosis and other variables. All the analysis was done with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. The age group of 20 -29 years and 30-39 years had the highest sero- prevalence rates of 3(60%) and 2(40%) respectively for IgG while age group 40-49 years recorded no sero-prevalence. Exposure related sero-prevalence showed that eating of raw vegetables, undercooked meat, and exposure to contaminated soil through farming were more sensitive risk factors associated with toxoplasmosis than others. There was no statistical significance using cat as pets at P>0.05. A Statistical significance difference of toxoplasmosis was higher among the subjects that ate raw vegetables and drank contaminated water (P<0.05) compared to those who ate cooked vegetables and drank treated water. The need for health campaign to enlighten the society and pregnant mothers on the dangers of acquiring toxoplasmosis and how to avoid it is advocated.

Funding Statement: This study was self funded by the authors.

Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval was obtained from University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Ethical Committee. After the approval, the proposal was further presented to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (O&G), thereafter, informed and written consents were obtained from the volunteers after due consultation.


Objective To analyze and compare the common fingerprint peaks of three processed products of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch.Methods Using Catalpol,leonuride and rehmannioside D as standard,the HPLC chromatography of three preparations of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch was compared.Results Difference among common fingerprint peak of the processed products is obvious.Conclusion Fingerprint peaks can be regarded as the quality control for processed products of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch.


We briefly review the unique properties of Brillouin scattering in plastic optical fibers (POFs). We then present our latest research results on POF-based distributed strain/temperature sensing with high spatial resolution and high sampling rate.


Studying the formation process of the bile pigment in vivo with reference to the vicisitude of the bile pigment in the bile following the administration of the docompositions of hemoglobin into the portal vein of the rabbit with artificial biliary fistula. And the following results were obtained. 1. Following the administration of saline into the portal vein, production of the bile pigment in the liver was transiently depressed and then increased because of choleretic action of saline. 2. Following the administration of verdohemochrome solution, which was decomposed into biliverdin and, in part, was deoxidized to bilirubin. verdohemochrome was excreted in the healthy cases. The decomposition process was prolonged or less in the cases with blocked reticuloendothelial systems, and little decomposition was observed in the cases with liver impairments. 3. Following the administration of biliverdin solution to the healthy cases, the majority of biliverdin was excreted unchanged but part of it was deoxidized to bilirubin. There was no such evidence in the cases with blocked reticuloendothelial system and was very slight degree in the cases with liver impairment. In consequence, the deoxidation of biliverdin was presumably due to reticuloendothelial system. However, in the cases with blocked reticuloendothelial system or liver impairment, it was supposed that biliverdin was excreted from the liver and easily deoxidized into bilirubin.


Diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS) is a chronic functional gastrointestinal disease, which correlated with abnormal brain-gut axis, visceral hypersensitivity, unstable psychology and abnormal motility. In recent years, it was demonstrated that interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are involved in the pathogenesis of D-IBS including gastrointestinal hormone, visceral hypersensitivity, gastrointestinal motility and 5-HT system. Therapeutic effect of Xifeng Huashi Formula (XHF) on D-IBS was demonstrated. However, the mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, D-IBS rats induced by acetic acid were observed for behavior change. Change of ICC in colon was detected by electron microscope. Besides, the expression levels of brain-gut axis related proteins neuropeptide Y1 (NYP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in colon and hypothalamus were measured using Western blot and real-time PCR, respectively. In addition, concentration of SCF/C-KIT signaling pathway related proteins stem cell factor (SCF) and tyrosine kinase receptor (C-KIT) were also evaluated. We explored the mechanism of XHF through brain-gut axis and SCF/C-KIT signaling pathway so as to provide experimental basis for rational drug use and novel therapeutic method against D-IBS in clinical.


"I shall make no excuse to my readers for giving them a pretty full history of my struggles to become a Crimean heroine! (76) says Mary Seacole in her travel book, Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands. This statement encapsulates the project of her entire work. While Wonderful Adventures was marketed as a travel book, a genre enjoying high popularity at the time, it was in fact, a kind of autobiography in which Seacole, conscious of audience expectations, employed sophisticated rhetorical strategies to establish herself as a perfect Victorian heroine. Since Seacole presents herself in her text as unmarried, childless, not overtly Protestant (except in her disdain for Catholicism), not English, and not white, this is an impressive literary feat. Seacole succeeded brilliantly. Not only did Wonderful Adventures become an overnight success in Great Britain, going into its second printing within a year of its first publication in 1857, but Seacole made enough money from the profits to live well after returning from the Crimea virtually bankrupt. Since Seacole needed to earn money from her book she adopted the pose of travel writer, and in this case, 'lady' travel writer, in order to achieve these goals. In Transatlantic Manners Christopher Mulvey explains the obstacles travel writers needed to negotiate to publish. He compares travel literature to fiction, claiming "the most pervasive fiction constructed by the nineteenth-century travel writer was that of the gentility of the writer and


Experiencing problems following a new product start-up and modernization, this gray iron foundry invented its own approach to quality improvement-'Strategic Quality Management.'


The economic and stable operation was affected seriously by coal quality disturbance for power plants. Based on model analysis, influence of the disturbance can be considered as gain change of control system. Power capability coefficient of coal was constructed to inhibit it. Accuracy of the coefficient was verified by operating data. Then coal quality disturbance free system based on gain scheduling was designed for coordinated control system. Simulation showed that, the strategy improved control quality obviously, and inhibited the coal quality disturbance. Keywords—coordinate control system, coal quality disturbance, energy coefficient of coal quality, gain scheduling


The Simple Plant Location Problem with Order (SPLPO) is a variant of the Simple Plant Location Problem (SPLP), where the customers have preferences over the facilities which will serve them. In particular, customers define their preferences by ranking each of the potential facilities. Even though the SPLP has been widely studied in the literature, the SPLPO has been studied much less and the size of the instances that can be solved is very limited. In this paper, we propose a heuristic that uses a Lagrangean relaxation output as a starting point of a semi-Lagrangean relaxation algorithm to find good feasible solutions (often the optimal solution). We carry out a computational study to illustrate the good performance of our method.


Recent developments in computer techniques make available accurate and clinically useful calculations of dosage distribution about interstitial and intracavitary implants. Metallic applicators interfere with the precise localization of the radiation sources required for the utilization of these techniques. The use of radiolucent plastic applicators permits clear, precise visualization and localization of the individual sources. These applicators combine with modern computer technology to provide detailed and accurate three dimensional dosimetry for complex implantations.


The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of intradiscal methylene blue (MB) injection on discogenic low back pain (DLBP).


PEG tube placement has been widely embraced by endoscopists as a means of accessing the gastrointestinal tract for feeding. In this study we compared the outcomes of PEG tube placement by gastroenterologists and surgeon endoscopists.Materials and MethodsData on PEG outcomes were retrospectively collected over 31 months from the Georgetown Hospital in the Cayman Islands where PEGs were performed exclusively by surgeons. This was compared with data collected over the same period from the University Hospital of the West Indies in Jamaica where PEGs were performed exclusively by gastroenterologists.ResultsThere were 74 PEG tubes placed by gastroenterologists and 35 placed by surgeons. The gastroenterologists had a higher collective case volume than surgeons (37 vs 18 cases per year). There were no significant differences between gastroenterologist and surgeon performed PEG in terms of procedural success (98.6% vs 100%; P=0.84), overall morbidity (6.8% vs 8.8%; P=0.71), early mortality (4.3% vs 0; P=0.549) or late mortality (11.8% Vs 0; P=0.049).ConclusionsAppropriately trained surgeon endoscopists and gastroenterologists can site PEG tubes with similar success and complication rates.


Empirical likelihood, which was pioneered by Thomas and Grunkemeier (1975) and Owen (1988), is a powerful nonparametric method of statistical inference that has been widely used in the statistical literature. In this thesis, we investigate the merits of empirical likelihood for various problems arising in ratio estimation. First, motivated by the smooth empirical likelihood (SEL) approach proposed by Zhou & Jing (2003), we develop empirical likelihood estimators for diagnostic test likelihood ratios (DLRs), and derive the asymptotic distributions for suitable likelihood ratio statistics under certain regularity conditions. To skirt the bandwidth selection problem that arises in smooth estimation, we propose an empirical likelihood estimator for the same DLRs that is based on non-smooth estimating equations (NEL). Via simulation studies, we compare the statistical properties of these empirical likelihood estimators (SEL, NEL) to certain natural competitors, and identify situations in which SEL and NEL provide superior estimation capabilities. Next, we focus on deriving an empirical likelihood estimator of a baseline cumulative hazard ratio with respect to covariate adjustments under two nonproportional hazard model assumptions. Under typical regularity conditions, we show that suitable empirical likelihood ratio statistics each converge in distribution to a χ random variable. Through simulation studies, we investigate the advantages of this empirical likelihood approach compared to use of the usual normal approximation. Two examples from previously published clinical studies illustrate the use of the empirical likelihood methods we have described. Empirical likelihood has obvious appeal in deriving point and interval estimators


In this paper, crosstalk included eye diagram of high-speed and wide I/O interposer channels are simulated and analyzed. To analyze the crosstalk effect of various substrate channels, silicon, glass, and organic interposers are simulated and compared under the same physical dimensions. In addition, crosstalk included eye diagrams are accurately estimated in short time using 8 worst case input signals. The estimated eye diagrams are investigated at data rate of 10 Gbps.


The physiological effects produced by the artificial mountain sun include, among other things, lowering blood pressure. Kestner attributes this to the effect of inhalation of nitrous oxide (N2O), which is produced by electrical discharge. Pollitzer and Stolz (Mnch, m. Woch, 1924, no. 29) set themselves the goal of resolving the following questions:


Infantile hemangiomas (IH) are the most common tumor of infancy. Their growth characteristics can be hard to predict early in infancy, as they are not present as fully formed tumors at birth, and can start as an apparent "scratch" or bruise, yet evolve to a very large tumor. Yet despite lack of predictability, hemangiomas typically delineate their territory and margins relatively early and thereafter grow mainly in volume. This volume growth and subsequent involution may not be adequately reflected in standard measurements of lesional diameter. Estimations of the elevation of the hemangioma from the surface of the skin (using calipers for example) can be quite difficult, because the growths most often occur on contoured areas such as the head and neck, and the elevation of the hemangioma may vary across its extent. Even serial photographs can be difficult to interpret unless taken with completely standardized views, which can be difficult to obtain in an active young infant. We wanted to find a better bedside method of assessing hemangioma growth. Such a tool would help aid in management decisions and could be used as a tool for clinical research, in order to get accurate and standardized measurements. Imaging studies, such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance (MR) scans are well suited to measure hemangiomas in three dimensions, but are not immediately available, costly, and in the case of CT or MR, may require sedation or general anesthesia in young infants (1). In one previous report, a specially designed caliper was used to estimate hemangioma volume based on maximal measurements of length, width, and height above the skin. These measurements were then used to create a cube from which the volume of the largest inscribed sphere was calculated to estimate hemangioma volume (2). Although this technique has merits, such instruments are not widely available for use. We propose the use of a so-called hemispheric measurement to estimate hemangioma volume. For many hemangiomas, particularly those with a significant protuberant, deep dermal, or subcutaneous component, this technique offers a more accurate representation of overall growth and recession than measurement of the diameter. It requires the use of a flexible tape measure (such as a disposable paper tape) that is readily available in nearly all medical offices. Using this tape, light pressure is applied to the edge of the hemangioma to create a palpable margin, thereby establishing a boundary. Two measurements of the hemangioma are taken at a 90-degree angle from one another corresponding to the maximum length and width of the hemangioma, taking into account both diameter and elevation (Fig. 1). The average of these two values is named "m" in our formula, and represents the hemicircumference of a circle created by the intersection of a plane through the center of a sphere whose center is set at the center of the hemangioma. From this hemicircumference, we can determine the radius of a corresponding sphere, the volume of this imaginary sphere, and the volume of a hemisphere (3–5). The calculated hemisphere estimates the volume of the hemangioma in question (Fig. 2).


Reconfigurable manufacturing systems can be set up to produce small quantities of different products quickly and inexpensively, making them more responsive to changing requirements than traditional mass-production systems. One aspect of reconfigurability is autonomous self-configuration of manufacturing machines. For this purpose we propose a software application called a task-to-method transformation (T2MT) system. The system takes a task description document as input, uses key characteristics of the task to generate a detailed set of working instructions, and outputs a method description document that presents the instructions in a format understood by the machine that invoked the system. The basic system architecture consists of an external interface, a task description parser, a task analyzer and a knowledge base; additional modules may be plugged in as needed. Also, the task analyzer, which represents the application-specific portion of the functionality of the system, can be reprogrammed through dynamic scripting, which makes it convenient to adapt the system for different tasks and actors. This is demonstrated by using the system to implement T2MT for two spot welding scenarios: one where the work is performed by a robot, and one where it is performed by a human worker. Once the system was in place for the first scenario, it could be reused with minor modifications for the second one, indicating that the same system architecture and components are valid for different situations where T2MT is needed.


This paper is an exploration of the Thomistic vice of despair, one of two vices opposed to the theological virtue of hope. Aquinas's conception of despair as a vice, and a theological vice in particular, distances him from contemporary use of the term "despair" to describe an emotional state. His account nonetheless yields a compelling psychological portrait of moral degeneration, which I explain via despair's link to its "root," the capital vice of sloth. Cases in which sloth and its offspring vices progress into full-fledged despair raise interesting issues about whether and how despair might be remediable. I conclude by considering puzzles regarding despair's disordered effects on the intellect and will and weighing three possible means of remedying it. My purpose in this paper is to understand despair—despair, that is, in its technical Thomistic sense, as a vice opposed to the theological virtue of hope. Aquinas's conception of despair as a vice, and a theological vice in particular, distances him from contemporary use of the term "despair" to describe an emotional state. Nonetheless, his account yields a compelling psychological portrait of moral degeneration and raises interesting issues about whether and how despair might be remediable. In this paper, my focus will be to explain despair's link to its "root," the capital vice of sloth. The conclusions I draw will thus be my attempt to reconstruct Aquinas's view of the connection and character of these two vices. By way of preliminaries, I should be clear that I will not attempt to offer a comprehensive account of the vice of despair, and while I will be drawing from the questions on the passions in the Summa theologiae (discussed by Aquinas at ST 1–2.40), his work there will chiefly serve to illuminate despair as a vice.1 Secondly, I should note that my task is made difficult 1 Summa theologiae (1948) (hereafter ST), trans. Fathers of the English Dominican unless indicated otherwise. The Latin critical edition of all Aquinas's works cited in this essay can be found at http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/. I will only hint at connections between Aquinas's account to Kierkegaard's account of despair in The Sickness Unto Death (1983) (another extensive treatment of despair as a vice by a Christian thinker), and will forego making connections to other philosophical accounts of despair, for example, those of twentieth-century existentialists. I leave the exploration of these connections as a further task and extended application of the project I undertake here. Res Philosophica, Vol. 92, No. 4, October 2015, pp. 829–854 http://dx.doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2015.92.4.2 c © 2015 Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung • c © 2015 Res Philosophica 830 Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung by the paucity of texts on the vice of despair in Aquinas's work. My focus will mainly be on the Summa theologiae, with a nod to the Disputed Questions on Evil. In ST, there is one question on the vice of despair (and one on presumption) in the questions on hope.2 In that discussion, there is one article on the relationship between despair and sloth. There is also one article at the end of the question on sloth (ST 2–2.35) on the same relationship. Lastly, there are a few sentences on despair in the question on the irascible passions of hope and despair in the questions on the passions (ST 1–2.40 of qq. 22–48). So the account of the relationship between sloth and despair I offer may best be viewed as a sympathetic and imaginative attempt to fill out an account which Aquinas at best sketches in outline. I first briefly consider Aquinas's account of despair as a vice opposed to hope by way of deficiency. Next I will explain the general structure of the relationship between pride, the capital vices, and their offspring. With that background in place, I will turn to the specific case of despair as an offspring vice of the capital vice of sloth. This will require explicating what sloth is and why the tradition associated it with certain offspring vices, including despair. From there I will construct a Thomistic account of sloth's degeneration into a particular kind of despair. I will conclude by considering what this account implies about the curability of those with the vice. 1 Situating Despair among the Passions and Virtues Although I am not discussing despair as a passion, it will be useful to see what Aquinas says about despair in the questions on the passions, because his account of the virtues and vices intentionally builds on the moral psychology he articulates in his discussion of the passions. Hope and despair are an opposed pair of irascible passions. According to Aquinas, the irascible power of the sensory appetite is directed toward "arduous or difficult" goods (ST 1–2.23.1). Irascible passions thus have a complex object, namely, a good or evil toward which one's attractions and aversions are complicated by some difficulty attending its attainment. So Aquinas defines hope's object as a future good which is difficult but possible to obtain (ST 1–2.40.2 and 2–2.17.1), while the object of the passion of despair is the same future good, now construed as so difficult as to be impossible to obtain (ST 1–2.40.4).3 2 Q. 20 of the questions on the theological virtue of hope: ST 2–2.17–22. In the Sentences Commentary (1929) his main topic is whether despair is a sin against the Holy Spirit, and in the Disputed Question on Hope (in Aquinas 2005) his remarks about despair are considerably more brief; hence my focus on the ST as a representative text, especially regarding the question of the connections between the virtues and vices. His remarks on despair as a passion in other texts parallel his discussion in ST 1–2. 3 The objects of the passions are specified not as they are in themselves but according to the subject's intentiones. For an outline of Aquinas's cognitivist theory of the emotions (and by analogy, of the will's affections), see, for example, King 2012, 214–216. The Roots of Despair 831 Whereas hope is an energizing passion,4 one that moves its possessor to strive for the desired good even if this means overcoming difficulty, Aquinas describes the passion of despair as a dampener of desire and activity. It is an appetitive response to an attractive good that looks impossible to attain—or at least whose attainment looks sufficiently daunting as to deflate significantly one's desire to try, even to the point of complete resignation. Turning to Aquinas's discussion of the virtues and vices, I will first briefly outline despair's relation to the virtue of hope (spes). Despair (de-speratio) is a vice of deficiency opposed to the theological virtue of hope.5 Presumption is the vice of excess opposed to hope on the other extreme. Neither vice, however, should be understood as a straightforward deficiency or excess of hope itself (either the passion or the virtue).6 Rather, hope's distinction from its opposing vices is defined in terms of possibility. In the case of the theological virtue, the future good to be attained with difficulty is union with God (human beings' supernatural end), which can only be reached with God's assistance.7 Both despair and presumption close off the possibility of attaining this arduous, as-yet-unattained good. They do so by treating this good as something other than a possible good. In presumption, the appetite stands toward the future good as if that good had been already attained or is somehow otherwise secured; despair's appetitive stance, on the other hand, treats the future good as closed off forever, as wholly unattainable now and always. In both cases, the will "rests" in a false end, rather than being inclined and moved toward an end not yet reached. Those with presumption or despair orient themselves toward the 4 See Cates 2009, 150: the one with hope "finds it invigorating to rise to a challenge" and approaches the object "with high energy"; and Miner 2009, 226–227: "hope promotes activity." As I will show later, sloth that gives rise to despair is defined as a kind of sorrow, which is characteristically inimical to initiative, movement, and energy (hence the perennial confusion of sloth and laziness). See Aquinas's discussion of "torpor," the fourth species of sorrow, in ST I–II 35.8. 5 The closest candidate for a natural or acquired virtue of hope, for Aquinas, is the virtue of magnanimity (ST 2–2.129–133). For an excellent treatment of that topic in relation to hope, see Miner 2009, 226–227. For a fuller treatment of the virtue of hope and its practices of resistance against despair, see DeYoung 2014. 6 Aquinas offers a tricky application of the Aristotelian doctrine of the mean. Technically, one cannot have too much hope in God, according to the meaning of hope as a theological virtue (not, say, as a passion, the case in which the doctrine of the mean was originally meant to apply); rather, one can have the wrong relationship to the object of hope, made possible on the side of excess by one's overestimation of and over-reliance on God's power and mercy. In other words, it is presuming too much of God to count on him to assist even sinners who refuse to repent. See ST 2–126.96.36.199m, 21.1, and 21.2.2m. 7 Aquinas describes this sort of hope as ex-spectatio (ST 1–184.108.40.206m, 2–2.17.1, and 4): literally, looking outside oneself to another whose assistance is essential to believing in the possibility of one's attainment of it and also one's actual obtaining of it. Thus hope has a double object: one hopes to attain God (the ultimate end) with God's assistance (the means to that end). Hope already attains God as means, and at the same time still stretches forth via his assistance to attain Him as end. In the Disputed Question on Hope, he describes the same distinction in terms of hope's formal and material objects (q. 1, resp). 832 Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung good as if the will's movement toward or away from that good has already reached its term,8 whereas those with hope have a


This paper addresses the problem of shape optimization in connection with the design of shell structures. The shape optimization of a shell structure, in which a minimum of the structural weight is sought in accordance with the prescribed constraints, is focused on determination of the shell thickness and identification of regions, where the structure has to be additionally reinforced. The applied two-stage design opimization procedure based on the Discretized Optimality Criteria method involves both optimization of the shell thickness and determination of proper location of the reinforcement stiffeners. The results obtained in the first stage of optimization serve to identify regions where stiffeners should be located. The second stage of optimization involves searching for an optimal design solution of the shell structure which has been reinforced by adding stiffeners. To illustrate the usefulness of the proposed technique two numerical examples are discussed.


The new species Sauvagesia insolita (Ochnaceae) is described and illustrated from campo rupestre vegetation of Sete Passagens State Park, in the northeastern most portion of the Espinhaco Range in Bahia, Brazil. Sauvagesia insolita is morphologically similar to the recently described S. paganuccii , for which we also provide an emended description. These species share an unusual floral polymorphism, where some flowers of the same individual bear free, filamentous staminodes external to the corona-like fused staminodal whorl, which is a feature newly reported for Salvagesia subsect. Vellozianae . They differ mainly by the shape and size of the leaves and the number of flowers per inflorescence.


"Buy one give one" had functioned actively during the setup of marketing economy, while it has caused obvious abuses. The thesis analyzes its legal features and tries to defines its contract type. Suggests solution to the legal consequences caused by the flaws or bugs of the gifts.


In the history of philosophy, knowledge has been defined in the traditional sense since Plato as justified true belief. Despite the dominance of this definition in epistemology, the adequacy of the make up definitive knowledge has been opposed and questioned. One of those who oppose the definition is Edmund L. Gettier (d. 2021), and the issue he posed known as the Gettier Problem, which is one of the most serious objections to the Platonic definition of knowledge. Gettier attempted to prove his idea that justified true belief could not create knowledge in people, asserting that some elements of luck could also contribute. Gettier showed that some wrong justifications can lead to a proposition that is actually true. In this sense, he expressed through examples that the components that constitute knowledge such as justification, truth, and belief, are insufficient. Meanwhile, Fârâbî (d. 339/950) showed in his works that it is possible to reach precise knowledge, especially in his Şerâ ʾ i ṭ u'l-ya ḳ în . As a matter of fact, the concept that Fârâbî used for certain knowledge is certitude (yakîn ), and that the epistemic level of knowledge is formed and the degree of certainty can be determined to the extent that the elements constituting the knowledge are fulfilled. In this regard, yakîn in the context of justified true belief constitutes the highest epistemic level. This study aimed to analyze the problem that Gettier attempted to prove in terms of Fârâbî's perception. Among the elements of certain knowledge is the epistemic luck factor, which Gettier draws attention to, which was examined in what way it had a position in Fârâbî's philosophy and how it is taken out of the definition. Based on this, the claims and criticisms put forward by Gettier were examined to determine where Fârâbî falls within Gettier's understanding of knowledge. Also, Gettier's objections to the Platonic definition of knowledge were determined through Fârâbî's understanding of yakîn .


This study examined the relationship between personal epistemology, as measured by the Attitudes about Reality Scale, attitudes about the September 11 World Trade Center disaster, and patterns of blame assigned to various individuals and circumstances associated with the crisis. Data were collected within 1 month of the disaster and 6 months later from undergraduate students at a university from which people could see the destruction of the World Trade Center and from another university 200 miles from the site. A significant relationship was found between positivist attitudes about reality and support for militant government policies at both universities and at both time periods. This relationship was not different for the two universities and was significantly stronger at both institutions 6 months after the attacks. Students near the disaster site were more supportive of a strong response. However, differences between the two universities in the way that demographic and other markers related to covert a...


The evolution of human being consciousness changed the way we look at the world in which we live in. Motivated by economical and environmental issues, the word "efficient" became more relevant in our daily lives. The semiconductor industry, especially for the digital domain, has been driven by the need to improve the processing speed and reduce the fabrication cost of integrated circuits. This was the trend before the explosion of mobile devices through the recent years gone by, which led to a race for higher clock speeds and smaller feature sizes. These higher commutation ratios, higher leakage power derived from the use of these smaller technologies and lower threshold voltages translates in higher power consumption, which impacts negatively in several performance metrics at the system level, being the autonomy of mobile devices one of the most important design goals nowadays. The concept of "Low Power Design Project" emerged to, somehow, solve this problem. Scientists and Engineers gathered forces to create and implement techniques to be introduced in the normal Digital Systems Design Flow. This work was developed in partnership with Synopsys, one of the world's leader in Electronic Design Automated Tools and provider of digital and mixed signal IP (Intellectual Property) blocks used in the design, verification and manufacturing of electronic systems digital, this work fits in this context, and aims to study and implement a low power design technique known by Clock Gating, in a high speed digital interface. It was important to practice with the Project Flow and Tools used in the Company in order to understand where and when Clock Gating must be inserted and/or validated. To implement automatic Clock Gating insertion as one of the main goals of this work, it was necessary to slightly modify the standard Project Flow, and, additionally was created a generic automatic first evaluation of Clock Gating gains using scripts developed Python and Cshell. This evaluation process proved to be decisive to achieve better clock gating usage and efficiency. All the Project Flow, even modified, was ran and the result were a physical implementation of the interface. This implementation, as a final and well characterized implementation by all sign-off tools and technology libraries, was analysed using dedicated and specialized Synopsys tools to validate the circuit functionality and evaluate the power consumption gains based on simulations considering realistic operating conditions. Finally, the results were confronted and evaluated with a non Clock Gating interface physical implementation.


Circumferential grooved liquid seals are utilized inside turbomachinery to provide noncontacting control of internal incompressible fluid leakage. Accurate prediction of the flow field is fundamental in producing robust and efficient designs. To validate the capabilities of the computational fluid dynamics FLUENT for incompressible fluid seal flow, comparisons of velocity parameters are made to the published experimental results and other CFD code for a circumferential grooved liquid seal. This work employs a pressure-based CFD code FLUENT to calculate the flow field in the seal, using four different turbulence models respectively. The velocity contours are compared with experimental values. It shows good overall agreement of the axial, radial, and azimuthal velocities in the through-flow jet, shear layer, and recirculation zone. Quantitative comparisons of velocity profiles at the center of the groove are made to experiment. This study verifies the prediction accuracy of three turbulence models. Various structures were considered to obtain a better understanding of the circumferential grooved liquid flow characteristics. The best groove structure to control leakage was also found within the limited designed seal. This study will provide a useful reference for designing the circumferential grooved liquid seal.


The outbreak of the infectious and rapidly expanding coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus has led to a devastating effect on public health and the global economy. The daily country-wise updates from the World Health Organization on number of infected cases and death rates show diverse statistics. In this study, we performed a comparative analysis between the COVID-19 death rate and mutation rate for selected structural and non-structural proteins. A total of 7200 genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 virus from 49 countries were investigated. The mutation rate of specific proteins of SARS-CoV-2 over the last four months (April – July, 2020) was correlated with the death rate across various countries. From our findings, we suggest a significant correlation between the mutation rates of NSP6 and Surface glycoprotein with the death rate. Additional analysis of cumulative mutation rate of these two proteins with the death rate of three major clusters helped us to hypothesize that mutations of these 2 proteins will grow consistently while the death rate would drop below 0.5% by end of 2020 in cluster I countries. Hence, we propose that with the current mutation rate trend, COVID-19 death rate would significantly weaken by the end of this year.


The renowned intellectual, Noam Chomsky recently argued that the conflict in the Kivus is 'the worst catastrophe in Africa, if not the world...' This is because, to date, over 5 million people, mostly civilians have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since the beginning of the conflict in 1996. Many more are displaced. And thousands of women – including the elderly and young girls – continue to be viciously raped.


It is necessary to understand the block collapse mechanism to apply segmental retaining walls to the higher structure. The authors examined relations between the block floating quantity and the horizontal-load which was added to the piled blocks in the actual experiments. From the considering of these relations, they find that blocks begin to float at a certain horizontal-load before overturning and keep floating without collapsing in spite of not meeting overturning condition. In this paper, the authors precisely calculate the value of horizontal-load at which blocks begin to float like the actual experiments by the granular element method which is able to be applied to analyze quasi-static behaviors of rigid bodies.空積みのコンクリートブロック擁壁の適用範囲を拡大するためには、ブロックが浮き上がって崩壊する機構を把握する必要がある。本研究ではブロックを積み上げた構造に水平力を作用させる実験を行い、ブロック間の浮き上がり量と水平力との関係を求めた。その結果から、擁壁が転倒する以前に、ある荷重に達するとブロックが浮き上がり始め、転倒条件を満たさない荷重下ではブロックが浮き上がったままの状態を保つことを見出した。そして、離散体の準静的挙動を解析できる粒状要素法で数値実験を行い、実験で得られたブロックが浮き上がり始める荷重を精度よく算定できることを明らかにした。


Watermarking play a vital role in the field of image process as well as digital signal processing. In this paper we have summarised with watermarking ideas, watermarking application and watermarking techniques. A digital watermarking technique stores the data in the form of digitals and numbers. It is more comfortable for processing and storing the data and easy calculations. It is very much technology that has been made to protect digital images from illegal manipulations and creations. In this paper represents compression between cryptography, stegnography and watermarking in the details with proper definitions. Digital image watermarking applications as copyright protection, broadcast monitoring, Image Data authentication, Indexing and image Labelling, Medical safety and data hiding etc. Different techniques are uses as image embedding, LSB Techniques, LSB Substitution method, Transform Domain as DCT and DWT etc.


Practice teaching is a very important part in an applied high-engineering college,high-quality practice teaching assures the applied student training effect. Facing with difficulties of practice teaching caused by the education revolution,automation major of Inner Mongolia Science and Technology University based on " big engineering" education philosophy,relies on the metallurgical industry background, and identifies automatic production line with the international advanced and representative——Slab casting and rolling process automation as the core of teaching contents. By making practice teaching material,and combining with the practice platform simulation,a new practice teaching model is then proposed. The model can resolve the practice teaching problem effectively,and improve the practice teaching effect.


An information disguising and hiding technique is used to protect DEM (digital elevation model) data for store and transformation in this paper. A method is designed to compress the DEM data with a very low bit ratio which would be hidden in the disguised data. The integer wavelet with parameter is used, and a wavelet coefficients set which can embed the information is built. This paper expands the just noticeable distortion (JND) analysis based on the human visual system (HVS) to apply it in the DEM data. Furthermore this paper constructs Hash one-way by the Rabin method, and the algorithm can protect two groups of the DEM data at a time and be public.


A microbiological test method was established for Vitamin C Calcium Pharmaceutical Preparations: total viable aerobic count(including total aerobic microbial count and total combined yeasts/mould count) and test for specified micro-organisms.Two kinds of methods were used as the normal regulation method and the membrane filtration method for validation of microbiological test.Medical absorbent cotton may be suitable for the pretreatment filter medium to the testing liquid of Vitamin C calcium containing much more insoluble suspension things.


Teachers are not only required to teach knowledge to students but also skills. Among those demanded in the current era are critical thinking skills, where when students see a problem they are able to solve it and are able to remember what the problem is, how to solve it, and what the results might be. Classroom learning will be interesting and able to train student critical thinking skills if they are taught how to conduct research starting with simple stages to find a conclusion or knowledge. Departing from this, learning by using the method of discovery learning takes a large role with the concept of discovery which is the basis of the method to train student critical thinking skills. Article visualizations:


Using measurements of notch bottom deformation taken from a 12% chromium steel for steam turbine blading, test specimens which have been subjected to bending, it can be seen that the elastic and plastic behaviour of the material closely agrees with the model recently proposed by Molski [1].Of the methods used for characterising the plastic zone before and after crack initiation, the best results have been given by extensometry, which makes possible strain measurement in the notch root under monotone loading, and the observation of deformation bands, which enables the size of the plastic zones in the notch root and at the fissure bottom to be calculated.The comparison of experimental results and theoretical models has also shown that:—When the nominal stress is less that the yield strength of the material, Molski's model allows the ΔS = KT . σnom parameter to be simply related to the energy of deformation - It is therefore suggested that ΔS parameter can be retained as a fatigue cracking initiation criteria. Besides, Molski's model provides an accurate description of the behaviour of the material in the notch root under monotone loading, whereas Neuber's model overestimates the strain;—When the ratio yield strength/Smax is greater than 0.3, it was possible to calculate the size of the plastic zone in the notch root using an expression, in the plastic mode, of the stress gradient in the test-piece thickness;—The size of the plasticated zone around the point of fissure (with a length in the order of 2 mm) is proportional to (Kmax /Re)2 : this conforms to linear elastic fracture mechanics.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a process for producing a-olefin α-olefin polymers having excellent transparency and steroregularity with a high catalytic activity. SOLUTION: The process for producing α-olefin polymers comprises polymerizng or copolymerizing a >=6C α-olefin in the presence of a prepolymerization catalyst obtained by prepolymerizing a >=5C branched α-olefin to an olefin polymerization catalyst to be formed of (a) a solid titanium catalyst component containing titanium, magnesium, magnesium, and a compound having two or more ether bonds present through a plurality of atoms and (b) an organometallic catalyst component containing a metal to be selected from groups I to III metals of the periodic table.


The aim of this work is to build an instrument for investigate coping strategies in multicultural work places, using a questionnaire with item from Echelle Toulousaine de Coping (ETC) and from Coping Inventory for Stressfull Situations (CISS). The finale scale has 18 items, 14 from the ETC and 4 form the CISS. This work illustrates the first phases of the definition of our questionnaire.


The effects of catching stress on tongue sole(Cynoglossus semilaevis,(41.08±0.52) g) were studied by the blood parameters.Blood was sampled at 0,4,12,24,48,96h after catching stress.The results showed that the superoxide dismutase(SOD) activity decreased after catching, and restored to pre-catching level after 24h.The catalase(CAT) activity increased after catching and restored to pre-catching level after 24h.The glutathione(GSH) content increased after catching and restored to pre-catching level after 96h.The maleic dialdehyde(MDA) content increased after catching and restored to pre-catching level after 48h.The lysozyme activity decreased at 4h after catching and then maintained low level.The complement C3 and C4 contents decreased at 4h after catching and then restored to pre-catching level.The cholesterol(CHO),glucose(Glu),total protein(TP) and albumin(Alb) content increased at 12h after catching and maintained high level afterwards.The alanine aminotransferase(ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase(AST) content increased at 4h after catching and then restored to pre-catching level.There were no significant changes in triglyceride(TG) during the test.


Pakistan's rural sector accounts for more than 70 percent of employment, and roughly two-thirds of rural employment is in agriculture. Less than a third of rural households get loans, only 10 percent of which are from institutional sources. Pakistan's credit institutions are not helping the country accelerate agricultural growth and reduce poverty. To improve performance in the rural economy and efficiency in financial institutions, rural credit markets must be liberalized. The government needs to initiate the following reforms: 1) produce and price controls must be replaced by prudent regulation and supervision, combined with policies to stabilize the economy; 2) commercial banks must operate in a competitive environment. They must be allowed to set interest rates for rural lending that cover their transaction costs; 3) credit must be available to support productivity growth for agricultural smallholders and small producers of the rural nonformal sector, where Pakistan's growth potential lies; and 4) credit must be available to women and to the rural poor for consumption-smoothing and for sustainable income-generating activities. Policy should be directed at developing a market-based financial system for rural finance, but because of market failures to support disadvantaged groups, a special-priority program may be needed to get credit to women, smallholders and the rural nonformal sector. Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help. Commercial should be encouraged to lend on other bases than the mortgage and passbook system. They could experiment with wholesaling credit through input suppliers, marketing agents and NGOs. They should consider lending for such downstream agricultural activities as agroprocessing. The biggest challenge facing rural finance is the restructuring of cooperatives. The next important step for the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan would be a portfolio audit - the results of which will determine next steps, such as major restructuring of its portfolio and changing its ownership. To improve rural financing, the system of property rights, title and default enforcement must also be strengthened, among other reforms.


Electric propulsion ion engine systems using solar power source for Mars and Jupiter exploratory unmanned spacecraft is adaptable to existing launch vehicles


Abstract It is argued that J. M. Barrie's 'Neverland' represents a latency phantasy of flight to a world apart from that of adults, in which there is scope for both a denial of, and a tentative exploration of, the coming realities of adolescence. Celebrated for his ability to stay a boy forever, Peter Pan can be understood as a character who embodies the narcissistic need of some individuals to retreat from the realities of the adult world. Reactions to Peter Pan have been curiously divided, and it is suggested that this split can be understood in terms of Barrie's highly ambivalent attitude towards childhood – in which sentimental nostalgia quickly turns to bitterness and a sense of exclusion from the maternal object.


This document is a collection of comments that I wrote down while reading the first four chapters of the book "Discrete Groups, Expanding Graphs and Invariant Measures" by Alexander Lubotzky. Most of them are more detailed versions of proofs. Some imprecisions are pointed out and discussed, and some facts referenced in the book are proven. In the appendix we discuss topics of interest in relation to this book, which are however not necessary for its understanding. The aim of this document, which is not quite complete in that respect, is to provide, together with Lubotzky's book, a self-contained read.


Abstract RF GeEt3 were prepared by reaction of CF3Br, CF3I or n-C4F9Br with P(NEt2)3 whereas CF2Br-CF2Br underwent by debromination and tert-C4F9I gave only FGeEt3. Interaction of CCl4, ClGeEt3 and P(NEt2)3 led to formation of CCl3GeEt3.


This paper explores how ritual practices working on identity issues at the Balinese old villages. Ritual practices are an important part of a lifespan of community. These activities that structure the whole lives of the community are relevant on shared by and to a member of the community. Specifically, I ask whether these activities inform the extent to which individual experience of the practices as a meaningful factor for expressing their social identities. This paper believed that habitual practices are significant to reaffirm their identity in a globalized world, both in their group or what they performed in public. In the indigenous community more of those habitual practices are closely linked to important events. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews in Tenganan Pegringsingan Bali, Indonesia, the paper is dealing with how the local institution are, ritual and festive practices help reinforce a sense of identity. By considering the ritual such as meteruna nyoman (the young non-formal education), the paper present that these practices are strongly affected by the change of community because they depend so much on the participation of others. My research shows that processes such as the introduction of formal education, migrations, and the spread of Agama Hindu Bali have a particular effect on their ritual practices. My findings resonate with the sociological and anthropological literature on identity theories that the ritual practices as a meaningful experience in negotiating their identity. The paper concludes that ritual in practices is strongly serve as a socialization process and reaffirmation of identity


In this article we propose a technique to detect the reference point of a fingerprint based on the main supposition that the crests belonging to the superior area of reference point usually have a orientation quantized of 0o. To take advantage of this fact it is accomplished an analysis of the orientation image considering their multiple levels of representation in relation to their values of quantization. This is a new approach that allows the use the morphologic characteristics of the quantized orientation image for each value of quantization. The technique presents some important characteristics: adaptability according to the quality of the image and the possibility of detecting the reference point of the fingerprints A and TA with acceptable error rate for these type of fingerprint. The technique is tested in the whole database of DB4 of NIST getting an estimation error of the reference point of 8:32% for a total of 4;000 images.


Large eddy simulations are performed to study tonal noise generation by a NACA0012 airfoil at an angle of attack ${\alpha = 3}$ deg. and freestream Mach number of ${M_{\infty} = 0.3}$. Different Reynolds numbers are analyzed spanning ${0.5 \times 10^5 \le Re \le 4 \times 10^5}$. Results show that the flow patterns responsible for noise generation appear from different laminar separation bubbles, including one observed over the airfoil suction side and another near the trailing edge, on the pressure side. For lower Reynolds numbers, intermittent vortex dynamics on the suction side results in either coherent structures or turbulent packets advected towards the trailing edge. Such flow dynamics also affects the separation bubbles on the pressure side, which become intermittent. Despite the irregular occurrence of laminar-turbulent transition, the noise spectrum depicts a main tone with multiple equidistant secondary tones. Increasing the Reynolds number leads to a permanent turbulent regime on the suction side that reduces the coherence level causing only small scale turbulent eddies to be observed. Furthermore, the laminar separation bubble on the suction side almost vanishes while that on the pressure side becomes more pronounced and permanent. As a consequence, the dominant noise generation mechanism becomes the vortex shedding along the wake.


A selected set of nondestructive assay instruments for an international safeguards system at uranium enrichment plants is currently under development. These instruments are of three types: in-line enrichment meters for feed, product, and tails streams; area radiation monitors for direct detection of high-enriched uranium production, and an enrichment meter for spent alumina trap material. The current status of the development of each of these instruments is discussed, with supporting data, as well as the role each would play in a total international safeguards system. 5 figures.


INTRODUCTION
Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) as defined by the latest Harmonised definition and the agreement between the Harmonised definition and other definitions is poorly studied among Malaysians. This study was conducted to determine and compare the prevalence of MetSyn according to the Harmonised, International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP ATPIII) definitions among Malay staff of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

METHODS
Subjects aged between 20 to 65 years were recruited by convenient sampling. Waist circumference, blood pressure, lipid profiles and fasting plasma glucose levels were assessed. The agreement between the Harmonised and other definitions was determined by Kappa statistics.

RESULTS
A total of 227 subjects with a mean +/- SD age of 37.9 +/- 9.6 years participated in the study. The overall prevalence of MetSyn was 38.3%, 38.8% and 33.5% according to Harmonised, IDF and NCEP ATP III definitions, respectively. Generally, men had higher prevalence of MetSyn than women. The prevalence increased with age in both genders with a more progressive trend in women. Men in the age group of 20-39 years had a high prevalence of metabolic syndrome. A strong agreement was found between the Harmonised and the IDF definitions (Kappa index = 0.991), and between the Harmonised and the NCEP ATP III definitions (Kappa index = 0.857).

CONCLUSION
Regardless of definitions used, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the study, especially in young men, was high and warrants further investigation. The Harmonised definition is suitable for diagnosing metabolic syndrome in any population with similar sociodemographic characteristics.


Proteins contained in the green leaf mucus of Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum L.) were isolated by ammonium sulfate precipitation and separated by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. The mucus proteins had an enhanced effect on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α production in the RAW 264 murine macrophage cell line. Protein composition was analyzed by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and N-terminal amino acid sequencing. The effect on RAW 264 cells was mainly attributed to mannose-binding lectin and thaumatin-like proteins, which occupied 34% of the mucus proteins. Other major proteins contained in the mucus showed homologous amino acid sequences to those of lachrymatory factor synthase, β-1,3-glucanase, 2S albumin precursor, and pathogenesis-related protein 4. Protein composition ratios in the mucus of 13 cultivars of Japanese bunching onion were also examined. Taken together, the green leaf mucus of Japanese bunching onion may be a possible source of various bioactive proteins.


List of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on Slavic Transliteration Introduction: When Worlds Collide: Shakespeare and Communisms IRENA R. MAKARYK and JOSEPH G. PRICE PART ONE: SHAKESPEARE IN FLUX: 1917 TO THE 1930s Performance and Ideology: Shakespeare in 1920s Ukraine IRENA R. MAKARYK Shakespeare and the Working Man: Communist Applications during Nationalist Periods in Latvia LAURA RAIDONIS BATES Shakespeare as a Founding Father of Socialist Realism: The Soviet Affair with Shakespeare ARKADY OSTROVSKY A Five-Year Plan for The Taming of the Shrew lAURENCE SENELICK The Forest of Arden in Stalin's Russia: Shakespeare's Comedies in the Soviet Theatre of the Thirties ALEXEY BARTOSHEVITCH PART TWO: WORLD WAR, COLD WAR, AND THE GREAT DIVIDE Wartime Hamlet IRENA R. MAKARYK 'Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all': New Documentation on the Okhlopkov Hamlet LAURENCE SENELICK Shakespeare and the Berlin Wall WERNER HABICHT In Search of a Socialist Shakespeare: Hamlet on East German Stages LAWRENCE GUNTNER Shakespeare the Politicizer: Two Notable Stagings in East Germany MAIK HAMBURGER PART THREE: NATIONAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY Translations of Politics / Politics of Translation: Czech Experience MARTIN HILSKY Krystyna Skuszanka's Shakespeare of Political Allusions and Metaphors in Communist Poland KRYSTYNA KUJAWINB SKA COURTNEY War, Lechery, and Goulash Communism: Troilus and Cressida in Socialist Hungary ZOLTAN MARKUS The Chinese Vision of Shakespeare (from 1950 to 1990): Marxism and Socialism XIAO YANG ZHANG From Maoism to (Post) Modernism: Hamlet in Communist China SHUHUA WANG PART FOUR: THEORIZING MARXIST SHAKESPEARES Caliban/Cannibal/Carnival: Cuban Articulations of Shakespeare's The Tempest MARIA CLARA VERSIANI GALERY Ideology and Performance in East German Versions of Shakespeare ROBERT WEIMANN Marx Manque: A Brief History of Marxist Shakespeare Criticism in North America, ca. 1980-ca. 2000 349 SHARON O'DAIR Contributors Index Index of Shakespearean Plays


The problem of choosing a supplier becomes very important to do a company to be able to meet consumer demand quickly and with quality. So far, the company has not implemented the supplier selection procedures and selection criteria not yet have a supplier. The method can be completed with the supplier selection criteria is the AHP method is used to determine the weights of criteria that have been corporations and PROMETHEE method used to determine the performance of the alternative. The purpose of this research is to identify the criteria used in the selection of a supplier company and determine the weight of these criteria and get ranked supplier to obtain the best supplier. The selected criteria in the selection of the supplier company is quality with a weight of 0.19, with a weight of 0.17 delivery, performance history with a weighting of 0.06, the price with a weighting of 0.36, communication system with a weighting of 0.06, the operating control with weights of 0.05, attitudes supplier with a weighting of 0.04 and a geographical location with a weight of 0.08 where as criteria rank order supplier is UD. TL as the first rank with a net value of flow for 0.254, UD. SD as the second rank with a value of 0.144 and a net flow PT.KTI as third with a net flow value of -0.397 .


In connection with the evaluation of polymer stability and chemical antioxidants it is a very urgent work to make clear the degradation mechanism of crosslinked polymers.There have long been two extremely different opinions about the mechanism of scission of network chain polymers, especially about natural rubber vulcanizates. One is that only random chain scission of this vulcanizates occurs in the oxidation reaction from the experiments and theory by A. V. Tobolsky. Another is that only their crosslink scission occurs in the oxidation reaction from the experiments and theory by Berry and Watson.The results of recent studies of crosslinked polymers including this vulcanizates show that both the scissions may occur at the some time in many cases.So the authors have made an attempt to derive the general equations for both the scissions for the purpose of finding out the quantitative amounts of scission chains using the experimental results and judging the relative estimation of the scissions.We have generalized the case where one cross-linkage is cut in the minimum model of perfect chain network, and the following equation has been derived for the vulcanizates in which both the scissions occur.Nt/N0=ft/f0={1-4kx/k+2x·Q(t)/M0}·e-2x2/k+2x·Q(t)/M0+2kx/k+2x·Q(t)/M0·e-4x2/k+2x·Q(t)/M0(1)The Eq. (1) in both the cases of k→0 and k→∞, conforms to that proposed by Tobolsky. Assuming the more practically probable mechanism in the scission of cross-linked polymer, the following Eq. (2) obtained by modification of Eq. (1) is derived.Nt/N0=ft/f0={1-8kx/k+2x·Q(t)/M0}·e-2x2/k+2x·Q(t)/M0+6kx/k+2x·Q(t)/M0·e-4x2/k+2x·Q(t)/M0-2kx/k+2x·Q(t)/M0·e-8x2/k+2x·Q(t)/M0(2)The theoretical relation between Q(t)/M0 and Nt/N0 is shown and discussed.


Classical cognitive radio concepts such as the cognitive radio manager or the cognitive engine aim to cleverly optimize radio configuration and networking setups to maximize performance throughout the network. However, these concepts regularly requires experimental verification and testing in complex, real-time and signal processing focused SDR frameworks, e.g. directly in FPGAs or in a software like GNURadio. This hinders rapid prototyping and deepens the gap between implementation-focused lower-layer and cross-layer/control plane oriented research. In this demo, we present a novel, fully-networked middleware for centrally controlling distributed radio link setups of SDRs and reconfigurable legacy devices. As an intermediate layer, ULLA-X allows technology-agnostic device parameter monitoring and reconfiguration based on an easy-to-learn programming language. Through its functionality, ULLA-X mitigates the complexities arising from using different radio platforms, and makes various configuration APIs readily accessible to standard research tools. In this demonstration, we showcase the capabilities of ULLA-X, and present by means of examples its adaptation capabilities for custom radio implementations and its programming concept for different SDR platforms.


Background and Aim: Carcinoma/Cancer patients are more susceptible to venous thromboembolism compared to common disease patients. Regardless of chemotherapy, venous thromboembolism risk increases by 5-6 fold. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis in Fauji Foundation, Holy Family and Benazir Bhutto Hospital of Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 434 carcinoma/cancer patients presented to the Department of Medical Oncology, Fauji Foundation, Holy Family and Benazir Bhutto Hospital of Rawalpindi from May 2020 to July 2021. Malignancy patients of age range from 5 years to 65 years with deep vein thrombosis clinical signs and symptoms were investigated. All patients had to have a biopsy to prove they had cancer. All patients underwent routine baseline investigations, which included a complete blood picture ECG, biochemistry, and X-rays. Results: Of the total 434 carcinoma/cancer patients, 23 (5.3%) malignant patients had deep vein thrombosis. The overall mean age of 23 patients was 34.56 ± 8.71 years with an age range from 5 years to 65 years. Out of 23 patients, 14 (60.9%) were male and 9 (39.1%) were females. The prevalence of primary cancer (tumors) and hematological malignancies were 11 (47.8%) and 12 (52.2%) respectively. Enoxaparin injections of 1mg/kg/day were prescribed to these patients for 5 days to 7 days duration followed by 6 months of warfarin. Conclusion: Our study found that the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis was 5.3%. Antithrombotic agents lower the risk of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Low dose warfarin and Low molecular weight heparins can both prevent and treat cancer-related thrombosis. Venous thromboembolism be treated with either unfractionated heparin (UFH) or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) before starting Warfarin therapy as per guidelines. Keywords: Prevalence, Deep vein thrombosis, Warfarin


The diploma thesis was created for theme "Effect of the modification procedure of baking test on the corn baking products quality". It deals with characteristics of the Zea mays L., corn milling processing, technologic and nutrition characteristics of the bakery flour and use the application in the bakery products production. The aim was to study the impact the proportion of non-scalded and scalded corn flour on the baking quality and textural properties of the bakery products. The work was based on modification of the baking test and its impact on the gluten free bakery products production. Eleven samples with different amount of the non-scalded and scalded corn flour were used. It was found the higher amount of the scalded corn flour increases height and decreases cohesiveness of the loaf.


A simple and efficient method is proposed for finding all characteristic curves of piecewise-linear resistive circuits using the integer programming solver CPLEX. It is proved that all characteristic curves can be obtained by this method using the manual of CPLEX and the original paper where the algorithm used in CPLEX is proposed. Our method can be implemented easily without writing complex programs, and all characteristic curves are obtained by solving mixed integer programming problems only twice.


In this paper, a theoretical and experimental study of the sectional behaviour of reinforced concrete beams subjected to short-term loads is carried out. The pure bending behaviour is analysed with moment-curvature diagrams. Thus, the experimental results obtained from 24 beams tested by the authors and reported in literature are compared with theoretical results obtained from a layered model, which combines the material parameters defined in Model Code 2010 with some of the most recognized tension- stiffening models. Although the tests were carried out for short-term loads, the analysis demonstrates that rheological effects can be important and must be accounted to understand the experimental results. Another important conclusion for the beams tested in this work is that the method proposed by EC-2 tends to underestimate the tension-stiffening effects, leading to inaccuracies in the estimations of deflections. Thus, the actual formulation is analysed and a simple modification is proposed. The idea is the separation of the deflection prediction in two parts: one for short-term loads and other for rheological effects (shrinkage). The results obtained are in fairly good agreement with the experimental results, showing the feasibility of the proposed modification.