An ion beam propagating through a magnetized plasma cylinder containing K+ positive ions, electrons and SF6− negative ions drives electrostatic ion-cyclotron (EIC) waves to instability via Cerenkov interaction. Two EIC wave modes are present, the SF6− and K+ modes. The frequencies and the growth rate of both the unstable negative ion and the positive ion modes increase, with increasing e (=nSF6−/nK+), the relative density of negative ions. The frequencies of both the unstable modes (SF6− and K+) increase, with the magnetic field. The growth rate of both the unstable modes (SF6− and K+) scales as the one-third power of the beam density. The real frequency of both the unstable modes increases as almost the square root of the beam energy. Numerical calculations of the growth rate and modes frequencies have been carried out for the parameters of the experiment of Song et al. [Phys. Fluids B 1, 2316 (1989)] and the results are in good agreement with the experimental observations.


Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and high risk factors of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome(OHSS).Methods:56 cases of OHSS were selected as study group and 40 cases of non-OHSS as control group.Then the OHSS group was divided into mild,moderate and severe OHSS.Clinical data of 56 OHSS patients and 40 non-OHSS were analyzed retrospectively,including patient age,body mass index,infertility causes,infertility age,serum levels of sex hormones,ultrasound monitoring follicle number,super-ovulation induction programs and gonadotropin(Gn)dosage.Results:OHSS mainly occurred after pro-ovulation treatment.Polycystic ovary syndrome or ovary polycystic,pro-ovulation treatment by using HMG-HCG,E2 levels and ultrasound for monitoring the number of follicles on the day HCG injected were the high risk factors of OHSS.Conclusion:Ovulation induction process should be followed in the low-dose and individual principle,choose ovulation induction programs flexibly in accordance with different individuals to prevent the occurrence of OHSS.


The glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) is a GPCR from the glucagon receptor family with important roles in the regulation of beta cell function and feeding behaviours. After ligand-stimulated G protein binding, active GLP-1Rs are rapidly desensitised by GRKs, followed by recruitment of β-arrestins, scaffolding proteins that terminate G protein interaction through steric hindrance but also act as independent signalling mediators. GLP-1R agonists (GLP-1RAs) are well-established therapeutics in type 2 diabetes and obesity that are nevertheless associated with dose-related gastrointestinal side effects affecting ~50% of patients. Exploiting the power of ligand-directed signalling bias with modified β-arrestin engagement is a promising approach to favour therapeutically beneficial over harmful GLP-1RA effects. Although GLP-1R interacts with both β-arrestin isoforms 1 and 2 with similar affinities, expression of the latter is greatly enhanced in beta cells, making this the most functionally relevant isoform. To increase our understanding of the effect of β-arrestin 2 activity in beta cell GLP-1R function, we have assessed in vivo glycaemic responses to the pharmacological GLP-1RA exendin-4 in an adult beta cell-selective β-arrestin 2 KO mouse model. Lean female KO mice and mice of both sexes fed a high-fat, high-sucrose diet displayed worse acute exendin-4 responses versus control littermates, an effect that was reversed 6 hours post-agonist injection, mirrored by differences in plasma insulin levels and ex vivo calcium and insulin secretion responses. Similar effects were observed for semaglutide and tirzepatide, two clinically relevant GLP-1RAs, but not for the less β-arrestin 2-reliant biased agonist exendin-phe1. Acute exendin-4-induced cAMP was impaired, but cAMP responses to GLP-1 following overnight exendin-4 exposure tended to improve in KO versus control islets. Acute signalling defects were attributed to the 2 KO islets regained cAMP responsivity with either β-arrestin 1 knockdown or PDE4 inhibition. Cell-cell connectivity was prolonged in beta cell β-arrestin 2 KO compared with control islets imaged in vivo following implantation in mouse eyes. While islet GLP-1R internalisation was not affected by β-arrestin 2 deletion, both recycling and lysosomal targeting were significantly impaired, with active receptors redirected instead to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Results were replicated in INS-1 832/3 β-arrestin 2 knockdown cells, where we also measured increased levels of exendin-4-induced TGN signalling as well as reduced GLP-1R ubiquitination and recruitment of the E3 ubiquitin ligase NEDD4, suggesting a role for this post-translational modification in β-arrestin 2-dependent GLP-1R trafficking. The present study represents the first in-depth in vivo and ex vivo analysis of the effects of beta cell β-arrestin 2 gene ablation on acute versus sustained pharmacological GLP-1R responses. islet ROIs using Image J v1.53c and YFP/CFP ratios calculated for each ROI and time-point. Responses were plotted relative to the average fluorescence intensity per islet during the 6 mM glucose baseline period, agonist addition.


A mathematic model is presented for calculating anomaly strength and mass magnetization of underwater object,and several classic object's anomaly strength and mass magnetization are introduced and analyzed.It provides theory for underwater magnetic detection technical design,underwater object positioning and anomaly property analysis.


When fields are confined to high-Q cavities, their states cannot easily be measured in a direct way. We propose a scheme to measure the state of an unknown field using an atomic probe driven by a reference field. This is a variation of the atomic homodyne detection method devised by Wilkens and Meystre [Phys. Rev. A 43, 3832 (1991)]. We have shown in a previous article [Phys. Rev. A 48, 3168 (1993)] that quantum fluctuations in the driving field cannot be neglected and that these fluctuations limit the resolution of the measurement scheme. In this extension of that work, the atoms are weakly coupled to the driving field although they can couple much more strongly to the cavity field. We show that this enables us to neglect the effects of quantum fluctuations in the driving field over the relevant time scales and allows us to measure more precisely the state of the unknown field by detecting the atoms that exit the cavity in the excited state.


Temporal database management, where modification operations must be achieved with a non-destructive manner, is complex. It becomes more and more complex in an environment where the DBMS must keep track of component schema evolutions of the information system, since the data to be manipulated could be defined under different schema versions. However, evolution of these schemas is unavoidable and schema versioning is indispensable if one wants to guarantee a complete history of data. In order to better control this management. We first propose a model which allows representing and managing temporal data, in an environment supporting full schema versioning. We then develop a fine strategy for an effective management and a smooth evolution of these data.


-In this paper we propose a procedure to find the various performance measures in terms of crisp values for retrial queuing model where the arrival rate, service rate and retrial rate are fuzzy numbers. Here the inter arrival time, service time and retrial rate are Triangular and also Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. Our idea is to convert the fuzzy inter arrival rate, service rate and retrial rates into crisp values by applying robust ranking technique. Then apply the crisp values in the classical queuing performance measure formulas. Ranking fuzzy numbers plays a huge role in decision making under fuzzy environment. This ranking technique is most reliable method, simple to apply and can be used for all types of queuing problems. solved successfully for both triangular and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers.


Microgrid coalition formation is practical and can be thought of an important addition to future smart distribution energy management system. The usage of game theory in smart grid application domain (especially in the area of energy) is getting considerable attention in recent years, (incentive demand response), etc. The cooperative game theory has been effectively applied in areas such as smart grid, virtual power plant, energy tariff etc. A slightly similar approach to form microgrid coalition was reported in by applying merge/split operation.


Comments made on: 1. How options could be applied to small users 2. Behavioural Insight Report on small users (taking into account but not commenting directly on Consumer Panel Report)


The results of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of liquid water and liquid water–vapor interface using the Perdew-Wang 91 (PW91) exchange-correlation functional are presented. The structural and transport properties of liquid water are comparable to the previous results using Becke-Lee-Yang-Parr (BLYP) functional and experimental data. The shape and the position of the first peak in the oxygen–oxygen radial distribution function is in good agreement with the most recent neutron diffraction data. The ab initio molecular dynamics simulation of liquid water–vapor interface, which is the first of its kind, suggests a preferred orientation of the surface water dipole towards the bulk region.


Objective To analyze contribution of varus knee with osteoarthritis and investigate the role of soft tissue balance in total knee replacement ( TKR) of that. Methods One hundred cases (145 varus knees) were operated with TKR. There were 18 males (25 knees) and 82 females (120 knees), with the average age of 64.6 years, from 45 to 80 years old. During the operation, accurate osteotomy and soft tissue balance was made to correct the varus knee joint. The contribution angles of varus knee was measured on weight bearing X ray images pre and postoperatively, in order to evaluate the results of the combination of the osteotomy and soft tissue balance. Results The gross varus angle was average 9.2° ± 3.1° , ranging from 5° to 30° preoperatively. In the total angle, the varus angle caused by soft tissue imbalance was 53.2% , the osseous varus angles caused by the tibia varus was 22.8% , the osseous varus angles caused by tibia plateau destruction was 24.0% . The measurement of the postoperative X ray films suggested that the average angle of the tibia plateau osteotomy was 4.3° , obtaining the correction of 27.9% of the total varus angle, and the angles corrected by soft tissue balance was 10.7° ,getting the correction of 72.1% of the total varus angle. According to HSS score system, the preoperative score was 38 points, ranging from 5 to 57, and postoperative scores was 87 points, ranging from 75 to 90. Conclusion The contribution of varus knee with osteoarthritis were include: 1) Bony structural varus angle composed of tibial varus and tibial plateau destruction; 2) Collateral ligaments and soft tissue imbalance around the knee. Articular surface destruction and soft tissue imbalance are the main contribution of varus knee. For TKR of varus knees like this, besides accurate osteotomy, correct soft tissue balance is the key of the operation. [


Submitted for the MAR17 Meeting of The American Physical Society Vortex Ferroelectric Domains, Large-loop Weak Ferromagnetic Domains, and Their Decoupling in Hexagonal LuFeO31 KAI DU, BIN GAO, YAZHONG WANG, RONGWEI HU, FEI-TING HUANG, SANG-WOOK CHEONG, Rutgers Univ — The direct domain coupling of spontaneous ferroelectric polarization and magnetic moment can result in giant magnetoelectric coupling, which is essential to achieve mutual controls and real applications of multiferroics. Recently, the possible bulk domain coupling of ferroelectricity(FE) and weak ferromagnetism(WFM) has been theoretically predicted in hexagonal LuFeO3(hLuFeO3). Thus, it is important to experimentally study the possibility of this effect. Here, we report the successful growth of Sc-stabilized h-LuFeO3 single crystals, as well as the first time visualization of their cloverleaf pattern of vortex FE domains and large-loop WFM domains. FE and WFM domains are distinct regarding the size and shape. There exists no interlocking of FE and WFM domain walls. These demonstrate the decoupling between FE and WFM in h-LuFeO3, which is in contrast to the theoretical prediction. This domain decoupling can be explained as the consequence of the structure-mediated coupling between polarization and in-plane antiferromagnetic spins. Our results indicate the magnetic topological charge tends to be identical with structural topological charge. These discoveries could provide new insights into inducing direct domain coupling between FE and WFM mediated through structural distortion. 1This work was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundations EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4413 to the Rutgers Center for Emergent Materials.


Abstract The compliance with HIC specified in 14 CFR 23.562 and CFR 25.562 poses a significant problem for many segments of the aerospace industry. The airlines and the manufacturers of jet transports have made claims of high costs and significant schedule overruns during the development and certification of 16G seats because of the difficulties encountered in meeting this requirement. The current practice for certification is to conduct ȁfull-scaleȁ seat tests on impact sleds. This approach can be expensive, since a new seat may be needed for each test. This paper deals with the development and calibration of a Head Injury Criteria component tester (HCT) by the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR). The HCT device will be capable of evaluating the potential for head injury over a wide range of aircraft cabin configurations at relatively lower cost and in a shorter time period compared to full-scale sled tests. The existing full-scale sled test data was reviewed to acquire the necessary information for the design of the HCT. Biodynamic modeling and simulation tools were used and results validated against the full-scale sled tests. Parametric studies were performed to determine the mass distribution of the HCT to replicate the full-scale sled test. A pneumatic propulsion system was designed and fabricated to propel the HCT in order to achieve similar kinematics as in a sled test. The propulsion system was then calibrated to achieve the required test conditions. A control system for controlling the propulsion system as well as for data acquisition was then developed. The HCT thus fabricated was tested and the results were compared with that from the full-scale sled test performed under similar conditions. The HCT is a device intended to provide greater control and repeatability than full-scale sled testing. The HCT is expected to produce less data scatter, hence more consistent test results than those obtained using full-scale sled tests. A validated HCT will minimize the need for full-scale sled tests and thereby reduce the time and cost associated with development and certification of aircraft cabin interior.


Phantom limb pain (PLP) is notoriously difficult to treat, partly due to an incomplete understanding of PLP‐related disease mechanisms. Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is used to modulate plasticity in various neuropathological diseases, including chronic pain. Although NIBS can alleviate neuropathic pain (including PLP), both disease and treatment mechanisms remain tenuous. Insight into the mechanisms underlying both PLP and NIBS‐induced PLP relief is needed for future implementation of such treatment and generalization to related conditions.


New method for the synthesis of UV absorber PMPP was developed.Bis-(1,2,2,6,6-pentamethyl-4-piperidinyl)ester phenylmalonic acid was synthesized from diethyl phenylmalonate and N-methyl-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinol catalyzed by micronano-K2CO3in toluene,and then it reacted with 4-hydroxy-3,5-di-t-butylbenzyl chloride in ethanol to give PMPP.The influence factors were investigated.The optimized overall yield was 80%.The target product was characterized by means of 1 HNMR and 13CNMR.


In this note we continue the study of nonlocal interaction dynamics on a sequence of infinite graphs, extending the results of Benamou and Brenier to an arbitrary number of species. Our analysis relies on the observation that the graph dynamics form a gradient flow with respect to a non‐symmetric Finslerian gradient structure. Keeping the nonlocal interaction energy fixed, while localizing the graph structure, we are able to prove evolutionary Γ‐convergence to an Otto‐Wassertein‐type gradient flow with a tensor‐weighted, yet symmetric, inner product. As a byproduct this implies the existence of solutions to the multi‐species non‐local (cross‐)interaction system on the tensor‐weighted Euclidean space.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of professional social networking websites (PSNWs) to entrepreneurial learning in high-tech startups. In addition, in the present paper, the relationships between intellectual capital (IC) and PSNW-supported entrepreneurial learning have been investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on data collected through a questionnaire distributed to entrepreneurs and managers of high-tech startups. In order to understand the behavior of startuppers in PSNWs two theoretical constructs have been devised, which could put into evidence knowledge sharing and knowledge seeking occurrences. In these constructs, entrepreneurial learning represents the dependent variable, while IC components are considered as moderators. The obtained results have been analyzed through hierarchical regression.

Findings

Results have indicated that PSNWs support the learning processes of startuppers and that the social capital, one of the components of IC acts as an important mediator in the hypothesized relationships between knowledge seeking activities and entrepreneurial learning.

Research limitations/implications

This study has taken a sample of middle-sized entrepreneurships into consideration. Future research could be focused on larger entrepreneurships, in order to validate the obtained results. In addition, it could be interesting to examine further factors affecting the improvement of entrepreneurial learning practices in startuppers and larger organizations.

Originality/value

PSNWs are often used by entrepreneurs to create relations and to exchange knowledge. This fact notwithstanding, there is a dearth of studies that analyze how entrepreneurial learning can be facilitated by online social networking. The paper provides a clearer view of these issues and represents a first step in filling this research gap.


Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are one of the most frequently used medications for pain, even though they increase the risk for adverse cardiovascular events.


In the existing literature on barrier options, much effort has been exerted to ensure convergence through placing the barrier in close proximity to, or directly onto, the nodes of the tree lattice. In this paper we show that this may not be necessary to achieve accurate option price approximations. Using the Cox/Ross/Rubinstein binomial tree model and a suitable transition probability adjustment we demonstrate that our "probability-adjusted" model exhibits increased convergence to the analytical option price. We study the convergence properties of various types of options including (but not limited to) double knock-out, exponential barrier, double (constant) linear barriers and linear time-varying barriers. For options whose strike price is close to the barrier we are able to obtain numerical results where other models fail and, although convergence tends to be slow, we are able to calculate reasonable approximations to the analytical option price without having to reposition the lattice nodes.


Abstract Very few studies have focused on the health threat to adult salmonids from gas bubble trauma (GBT) caused by water spill at hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River basin. From 1995 to 1999, 4,667 adult chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, 1,878 sockeye salmon O. nerka, and 1,431 steelhead O. mykiss at Bonneville Dam were examined to determine the incidence of GBT relative to total dissolved gas supersaturation (TDGS) levels. Polynomial regression models were constructed to determine whether an association existed between increasing levels of TDGS and the incidence of GBT. For sockeye salmon and steelhead, we found a significant positive association between TDGS and the incidence of GBT. However, no statistically significant relationship between TDGS and GBT was found for chinook salmon. Most symptoms of GBT were minor ( 26% fin occlusion) being observed in sockeye salmon (15 fish) and steelhead (2 fish) only when TDGS exceeded 126%. Chinook salmon wer...


The introduction of oxaliplatin into the chemotherapy of advanced colorectal cancer has substantially increased the frequency and magnitude of clinical response compared with that achieved using 5‐FU/leucovorin, and has extended progression‐free and overall survival. Research is now in progress on several fronts to determine how oxaliplatin‐based therapy can be optimized. A phase III multicentre trial recently compared the efficacy and safety of the FUFOX regimen, based on high dose infusional 5‐FU/leucovorin and 50 mg/m2 oxaliplatin given weekly for 4 weeks in a 5‐week cycle (n = 123) with the Mayo clinic 5‐FU/leucovorin regimen (n = 129) in the first‐line therapy of metastatic disease. The response rate with the FUFOX regimen was 48.3%, more than twice that in the Mayo regimen (22.6%; P < 0.0001) and median survival was 20.4 months, despite the fact that the FUFOX regimen had lower toxicity. The value of high dose oxaliplatin and 5‐FU/leucovorin has also been demonstrated in the FOLFOX series of studies, where patients who received more than 85 mg/m2 oxaliplatin per 2‐week cycle had double the response rate of patients receiving less than 85 mg/m2. In the FOLFOX7 regimen based on a simplified high dose bolus/infusional regimen of 5‐FU/leucovorin (sLV5FU2) plus 130 mg/m2 oxaliplatin, a response rate of over 40% has been achieved in second line therapy. Studies have also compared first‐line therapy based on oxaliplatin with irinotecan‐based first‐line therapy. A large trial coordinated by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) recently compared the IFL regimen, which is currently the standard irinotecan‐based first‐line treatment for advanced colorectal cancer in the United States, with oxaliplatin‐based treatment using the FOLFOX4 regimen. Compared with irinotecan‐based chemotherapy, oxaliplatin was associated with a 30% increase in overall survival (19.5 months vs. 15.0 months; P = 0.0001), a higher response rate (45%vs. 31%, P = 0.002) and lower toxicity. Further studies are investigating how therapy can be optimized over multiple lines. In a phase III two‐line study comparing first‐line therapy with FOLFOX6 and second line therapy with irinotecan‐based therapy (FOLFIRI) (n = 109) with the reverse sequence (n = 111), progression‐free and overall survival were comparable whichever regimen was used first, although patient numbers were smaller than in the NCCTG study and less able to detect treatment differences. FOLFOX6 was also more effective than FOLFIRI in second‐line therapy. Currently, studies based on FOLFOX7, novel FOLFIRI regimens and sLV5FU2 are in progress to determine how disease control can be sustained in the long term, and the development of drug resistance delayed, in multiline therapeutic management. In parallel with these studies, two large phase III trials are now investigating the role of oxaliplatin in the adjuvant treatment of nonmetastatic colorectal cancer. The first of these studies, MOSAIC, has already shown a very encouraging 23% decrease in the risk of relapse at 3 years (P = 0.002) with FOLFOX4 compared to LV5FU2.


Abstract 1585 Background: Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous disease with variable outcome within international prognostic index (IPI) categories. Previous studies indicate expression of germinal centre B-cell (GCB) markers predict good outcome and that non-GCB sub-types may benefit from alternate therapies. A variety of immunohistochemical combinations have been proposed. However results are inconsistent and there is limited data comparing strategies. The need for a robust, practical method to distinguish GCB-DLBCL remains. We evaluated co-expression of the GCB proteins LMO2 and BCL6 with the Choi, Hans and Tally algorithms in patients treated with R-CHOP chemo-immunotherapy. Patients and Methods: Seventy-five DLBCL patients, chosen solely on availability of material for tissue microarray, were studied using immunohistochemistry for FOXP1, MUM1, CD10, BCL6, LMO2 and GCET1 on original biopsies. Clinical data was obtained from a prospectively maintained database. Results were correlated with event free (EFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: The cohort was typical for DLBCL described in the literature with 63% of patients aged over 60. The International Prognostic Index (IPI) predicted overall survival (p In the subgroup of patients who were positive for BCL6 approximately half were also positive for LMO2. There was a significant difference in overall survival between these BCL6 single positive and BCL6/LMO2 dual positive tumours (p=0.003) with improved outcome seen in the dual positive patients. Similarly those LMO2 positive patients who were BCL6 negative had very poor outcome compared to LMO2/BCL6 dual positive tumours (p=0.0002). Dual positivity for BCL6/LMO2 was strongly associated with germinal centre phenotype with eighty per cent of these patients typing for this cell of origin (p=0.0004). Germinal centre DLBCL as typed by the Choi algorithm could be separated into two significantly different groups with different overall survival based on LMO2/BCL6 dual positivity (p=0.01) Conclusion: LMO2/BCL6 dual positivity is a prognostic marker in DLBCL treated with R-CHOP that is independent of IPI, and predicts outcome in GCB typed tumours. Should these findings be prospectively validated, the strategy would be easily transferable to the diagnostic laboratory. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Ronald Sandler argues that rapid anthropogenic climate change (CC) undermines traditional ecosystem management goals. According to Sandler this implies that ecological restoration should play a decreased role in future ecosystem management, while reserve oriented strategies might remain viable as long as we change the goals for ecosystem management in the light of CC. While I am overall sympathetic to Sandler's argument and agree with his analysis of CC's impact on existing ecosystem management strategies and goals, I want to critically highlight some shortcomings of Sandler's argument. In particular, Sandler seems to deal in his own positive proposal inadequately with the issues of risk and uncertainty, which play a crucial role in his argument against existing management strategies and goals.


Leprosy is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae and principally affecting the nerves and skin. Musculoskeletal symptoms such as arthritis are the third most common presenting manifestation of leprosy, after neurological and cutaneous features, and can mimic more common disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We report a case of borderline lepromatous leprosy in which arthritis preceded the development of cutaneous and neurological signs, and led to subsequent delay in diagnosis. A 70-year-old Chinese man presented with a 6-week history of multiple erythematous plaques on the face and lower limbs (Fig. 1a). He had been diagnosed with seronegative RA 2 years previously when he presented with symmetrical peripheral synovitis affecting his hands, wrists, knees and ankles. This was treated with oral prednisolone and methotrexate. He had emigrated from Hong Kong 40 years previously, and had only returned for one 2-week visit 3 years before the onset of his arthritis. There was no other history of foreign travel. The initial clinical differential diagnosis included acute neutrophilic dermatosis, cutaneous vasculitis and sarcoidosis, and there was some response to an increased dose of prednisolone. Full blood count, angiotensin-converting enzyme level, antinuclear antigen, antinuclear cytoplasmic antigen, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and chest X-ray were all either normal or negative. Biopsy of the cutaneous lesions revealed a nonspecific patchy dermal granulomatous infiltrate. Ziehl–Neelsen stain was negative. Although a diagnosis of leprosy was considered at this stage, it was not made, because there was no sensory neuropathy or peripheral nerve enlargement. However, 10 months later the patient presented with multiple hypoaesthetic erythematous plaques involving the trunk and upper limbs, bilateral nerve thickening of the ulnar and left popliteal nerves, and glove-and-stocking sensory neuropathy. Repeat biopsy at this time was diagnostic of borderline lepromatous leprosy (Fig. 2a), and split-skin smears showed a heavy load of acid-fast bacilli (Fig. 2b). Treatment with the multidrug multibacillary regimen recommended by the World Health Organization was not possible because the patient was intolerant of dapsone, therefore he was treated with higher doses of rifampicin and clofazamine for 1 year, in accordance with local treatment practices. Methotrexate was discontinued and prednisolone was discontinued slowly. Recovery was complicated by the development 10 weeks later of a type 1 reaction characterized by facial swelling, increased erythema and increased number of skin lesions, (Fig. 1b) and the development of a right foot drop, necessitating the re-introduction of prednisolone. This was discontnued slowly over a period of 8 months and the cutaneous lesions and arthritis subsequently resolved completely, but the foot drop and peripheral neuropathy persisted. Leprosy is uncommon in the UK, and a previous review of 28 cases demonstrated that the median time from symptoms to diagnosis was 1.8 years. The commonest reason for this delay was due to misdiagnosis of clinical signs as being attributable to more commonly occurring dermatological, neurological or rheumatological conditions. Leprosy has a variable incubation period ranging from months to over 30 years, and therefore patients may present long after they have left the endemic area. Although it is not clear when our patient acquired his leprosy, the most likely explanation is that his disease lay dormant for 40 years. Leprosy-associated arthritis is well reported, and can mimic RA clinically, radiologically and immunoCP D


Abstract Doctoral programs in public administration have been criticized for failing to produce productive scholars who make substantial contributions to the field. The authors argue that critics have focused too narrowly on measures of short-term productivity while ignoring several important long-term goals of doctoral education, namely, training scholars to be intellectuals, training teachers, training practitioners, and educating citizens. The importance of these goals is discussed. An outside perspective is presented by comparing American doctoral programs with the program structures in four Western European countries. The article closes by providing suggestions for how American doctoral programs in public administration can better reach and assess their success in attaining the long-term goals put forward by the authors. A heavy emphasis is placed upon multi- and inter-disciplinary approaches to training students in a setting that allows students to focus their attention on the literatures and methodologies relevant to the field.


Experimental The structure of LiHCsH404.CH3OH has been determined by single-crystal neutron diffraction techni_ques at 298 K. The crystals are triclinic, space group P1, with Z = 4, a = 13.692 (3), b = 8.023 (2), c = 8 .467(2)A, a = 95.29(3), fl = 96.31 (3), ~, = 86.72 (3) °. The final unweighted R(F 2) is 0.065 for the 2551 reflections with I > 3a(I). There are two formula units in the asymmetric unit. The two non-equivalent hydrogen phthalate ions have very short intramolecular hydrogen bonds; one of these is virtually centred [ O . . . O 2.393 (4) A; O H 1.195 (5) and 1.205 (5) A; L O H O 171.3(5) °] whereas the second is significantly asymmetric [ O . . . O 2 .388(4)A; O H 1.172(5) and 1.226(5)A; / O H O 169.3(6)°]. This asymmetry results from minor differences in the coordination geometries around the two carboxyl groups. It is evident that the potential governing the position of the H atom in these short hydrogen bonds is very sensitive to asymmetries in the molecular environment.


The recruitment, preparation, support, and retention of public and private agency childwelfare staff working with abused and neglected children and their families are important and ongoing concerns. During the past two decades, many questions have been raised about the adequacy of the child welfare workforce and the supports provided to it. This article provides the findings from a review of efforts to strengthen the child welfare workforce in the context of class-action litigation for system reform. The lessons learned provide a useful framework for current and future efforts to improve the child welfare workforce, both within and without the context of litigation.


Abstract Valley fever, a disease caused by the soilborne fungal pathogen Coccidioides spp., is on the rise in the southwestern United States and is suspected of expanding its habitat in response to climate change. Many people residing in endemic areas are unaware of the risk of contracting coccidioidomycosis by inhaling fugitive dust that may contain dormant arthroconidia of this fungus. In an effort to teach students about the ongoing epidemic of valley fever and reduce incidence of the disease through education, we developed an inquiry-based, multi-focus laboratory exercise that (1) increases awareness of valley fever incidence, disease symptoms, and ongoing efforts of disease prevention; (2) teaches about the pathogen's ecology; and (3) familiarizes students with molecular techniques targeting pathogen identification. This laboratory exercise uses polymerase chain reaction to detect Coccidioides spp. in DNA extracts from soil samples collected by students across different soil environments. Additionally, this exercise will teach students how to use publicly available data to investigate disease incidence over time and characterize soils the pathogen may inhabit.


In this paper we discuss spatial superresolution methods applied to the received data of a conformal array antenna. The "sequential MUSIC" and the "sequential alternating projection" methods are derived. Besides the angles of arrival we estimate additionally the polarization states of the received signals. The theoretical derivations are verified and experimental results are shown.


This paper revisits worst-case response time analysis of real-time tasks under fixed priority scheduling with deferred preemption (FPDS), arbitrary phasing, and deadlines within periods. We show that existing worst-case response time analysis, as presented in [3, 4, 5], is too optimistic. In particular, the worst-case response time of a task is not necessarily assumed for the first job of that task when released at an ε-critical instant.


Multiple cw visible lasers at wavelengths ranging from 550nm to 625nm were generated by intracavity frequency sum-mixing of a cascading fiber Raman laser in a type-I noncritically phase-matched lithium triborate crystal. Self-pulsed lasers were generated in fiber Raman master oscillator power amplifiers, where the amplifier and oscillator are pumped by one laser source successively. The pulse periods are one or half of the round-trip time of the oscillator, depending on the optical length of the amplifier.


The present invention discloses a long glass fiber reinforced modified polypropylene. The polypropylene is prepared from the following components, by mass, 60-80% of a polypropylene resin, 10-30% of long glass fiber, 2-5% of a processing additive, 1-3% of a compatibilizer, and 1-5% of PA6. Mechanical performance and thermal performance of the polypropylene of the present invention are substantially improved. The present invention further discloses a preparation method for the long glass fiber reinforced modified polypropylene. According to the method, a surface treatment is performed on long glass fiber; and the surface-treated long glass fiber is added to a twin-screw extruder, and is subjected to blending modification with the molten polypropylene resin to obtain the reinforced modified polypropylene with the long length glass fiber in the interior. The preparation process is simple, no special equipment is required, and the method is suitable for factory production.


Abstract In response to proposals of scientific associations the German Medical Association recommended the use of international standard procedures for the determination of enzymes and a change of the measurement temperature to 37°C in 1992. According to the recommendations, reference intervals for the new reference procedures should have been published by 1995. After a transition period, which had been extended several times, the clinical chemistry laboratories finally had to follow the recommendations and to use the new IFCC reference procedures as of April 1, 2003. However, reference intervals evaluated in a multicentre study have not been published until now. There is only one German study on preliminary upper reference limits of five enzymes in serum of hospitalized subjects using the new IFCC reference procedures. Since no multicentre study is intended in the near future, an expert working group of DGKL and VDGH recommended the use of preliminary reference intervals on enzymes in serum until final values have been determined. The interim values result from experiences of the past 3 years, from previous studies in different countries using comparable methodologies, or were derived from reference intervals obtained at 25°C and converted by method and temperature conversion factors.


The purpose of this study was to determine the interests and factors that influence it to continue their studies to vocational high school. This type of research uses quantitative methods. The population in this study were all grade IX students, totaling 250 students. Data collection techniques using a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that most of the IX grade students at SMP Negeri 1 Sikur had an interest in continuing their study at SMK with a percentage of 42%. And the factors that influence it are: (a) the factor of student interest in a particular department that has a percentage value of 78%. (b) the factor of school condition or image of SMK which is considered good by students has a percentage value of 48% (c) the socioeconomic status factor of parents who have a percentage value of 89%.


Abstract The phase transitions occurring in the perovskite type two-dimensional molecular composite NH3-(CH2)4-NH3 CuCl4, have been studied by D. S. C., X-ray diffraction, EPR and magnetic susceptibility measurements. This compound exhibits a reversible first-order structural phase transition at T = 325 K, between two monoclinic phases III (P2/c) and II (P21/c). This transition is mainly characterized by an important increase of the interlayer metallic distance (+0.137nm) and a shortening of the intralayer metallic distance Cu-Cu (−0.017 nm). These features are due to a conformational change of the molecular part [NH3-(CH2)4-NH3]2+ from left-handed to all-trans conformation and affect noticeably the magnetic properties of the compound. At higher temperature (T = 423 K), a second-order phase transition leading to an orthorhombic phase I (Pncm) is observed by powder X-ray experiments.


Background: A stability analysis is a critical aspect for figuring out the quality and also the purity of drug products under many stress conditions. Introduction: The method aimed to develop a stability-indicating RP HPLC method just for the quantitative evaluation of Tizanidine (TZN) and to perform research of TZN below a variety of stress conditions and to validate the developed method according to the guidelines given by ICH Q2 (R1). Method: Most of the assessment details were performed using Phenomenex kinetics C18 column (250 mm 4.6 mm id, 5 μm particle size) with the solvent method of water: methanol within the ratio of (50: 50) and also by adjusting the pH to 4 using orthophosphoric acid, and a detection wavelength of 318 nm. Forced degradation study was done by owing TZN APIs to degradations for example acid, alkaline, oxidative, thermal, and photolytic conditions to gauge the interference of degradants. Results: The retention period of TZN was observed at 3.863 min. The suggested method was observed to become linear across the concentration assortment of 2-10 μg mL for TZN. The regression coefficient (r) was found 0.9996 respectively, which is perfect for the acceptable bounds. The LOD was 0.30 μg mL, likewise, LOQ was found to be 0.91 μg mL respectively. Conclusion: The method was discovered to become uncomplicated, exact, and accurate plus its ideal for any routine analysis and experiments of dosage forms containing TZN.


This paper aims to analyse whether the differences in trade performance between the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) do not compromise their convergence. The empirical analysis is carried out using the GMM estimator and covers all eight WAEMU countries over the period 2011-2016. The results confirm the existence of conditional convergence with a slow speed of convergence. The results also show that a low volume of intra-WAEMU trade compromises their convergence.


The future fifth generation (5G) wireless system has the ambition to meet stringent end-to-end latency (1–5 milliseconds) in order to support some critical applications, such as road traffic efficiency and security, logistics, and mission-critical control [1, 2]. In this regard, the latency for handover should be kept in the magnitude of milliseconds and even lower.


FDA and Navidea Biopharmaceuticals Inc. on March 13 announced the approval of technetium Tc 99m tilmanocept injection, or Lymphoseek, as an aid in identifying the first lymph node that drains the primary tumor site in patients with breast cancer or melanoma.

The radiopharmaceutical is the first new


Mast seeding is a crucial population process in many tree species, but its spatio-39 temporal patterns and drivers at the continental scale are still unknown. 40


We examine alternative forms of bilingual education that have significant implications for intergroup relationships and the reduction of prejudice in two different national settings: Canada and the United States. The Canadian programs are intended for English-speaking students from the culturally dominant group, whereas the U.S. programs we discuss are intended for language minority and language majority students. Both aim to promote proficiency in English and another language. These programs provide many of the conditions that are argued to be essential for the reduction of prejudice and discrimination. They also provide students with the communication skills and cultural awareness that facilitates intergroup contact. The history and current structure of these programs along with salient educational practices are reviewed, and research relevant to changes in intergroup behavior and attitudes is discussed.


In this following Paper, it will be investigated the regulation of the foreign direct investment through a deep analysis of the Free Trade Agreements; CETA, CPTPP and ChAFTA, it will be demonstrated, the existence of different approaches between the United States, the European Union and China in the area of foreign direct investment, which entail in protectionist tendencies instead of liberalization, in the international system.


In comparison with SDH technology, the paper Summarized advantages of optical transport network (OTN) . Therefore, SDH optical network to OTN evolution is the development of an inevitable trend. The technology status about OTN and technical features of MPLS-TP were Introduced, point out that "OTN + MPLS-TP" technology is the future development direction of optical networks.


The aims of this study are to analyze the effect of Intellectual capital disclosure and corporate governance (managerial ownership, institutional ownership, independent commissioner and audit committees on firm value.Firm value was measured using Tobins'Q. This research was conducted using secondary data. Sampling technique used was random sampling, fourty three manufacturing companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) since 2011-2013. The analysis method used is multiple linear regression analysis. By using regression analysis, the result of this study indicated Intellectual capital disclosure significant positive effect on firm value. Managerial ownership hasn't significant effect on firm value. Institutional ownership has significant positive effect on firm value. Independent commisoner hasn't significant on firm value.Audit committee has significant positive on firm value.


In the paper, we present a new method for classifying documents with rigid geometry. Our approach is based on the fast and robust Viola-Jones object detection algorithm. The advantages of our proposed method are high speed, the possibility of automatic model construction using a training set, and processing of raw source images without any pre-processing steps such as draft recognition, layout analysis or binarisation. Furthermore, our algorithm allows not only to classify documents, but also to detect the placement and orientation of documents within an image.


The temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of amorphous metals is calculated using two complementary models of the lattice vibrations. The model which describes uncorrelated Einstein oscillators leads to a very satisfactory fit of the experimental data for CuSn alloys at T>or approximately=10K. The negative temperature coefficients are explained by the temperature dependence of the elastic scattering. The results are interpreted as an indication of strong vibrational disorder. For very low temperatures (T<or approximately=2K), a positive temperature dependence of the resistivity proportional to T2 is predicted as a result of coherent long-wavelength phonons.


......................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Maturity Index (MI)............................................................................................................................................................ 5 The Inclusion of Economics ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Individual Animal vs. Group Data ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Literature Review (Background) .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Data ................................................................................................................................................................................................10 Procedures .....................................................................................................................................................................................11 Guided Regression Choice Methodology (GRCM) ...........................................................................................................11 Defining Pre-breeding Size — the Maturity Index ............................................................................................................11 The Modified Profit Function (MPF) ................................................................................................................................13 Revenue ................................................................................................................................................................................13 Cost ......................................................................................................................................................................................14 Pregnancy and Dystocia Rates ............................................................................................................................................14 Revenue Equation Specifics ................................................................................................................................................20 The Implementation of MPF ..............................................................................................................................................28 The MPF Array ....................................................................................................................................................................29 Results ............................................................................................................................................................................................33 Maturity Index .....................................................................................................................................................................33 The Optimal MI ..................................................................................................................................................................34 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................................................................38 References ......................................................................................................................................................................................41 Appendix 1. Normalized Success Index of Predicting Pregnancy Using the Maturity Index, Percent of Herd Average Weight, and Percent of Dam Mature Weight .................................................................................................................42 Appendix 2. Predicted Rates/Probabilities of Dystocia Predicted by Linear, Quadratic, and Cubic Forms of the Maturity Index ........................................................................................................................................................43 Appendix 3. Normalized Success Index of Predicting Dystocia Using Linear, Quadratic, and Cubic Forms of the Maturity Index ........................................................................................................................................................44 Appendix 4. Normalized Success Rate for Predicting Pregnancy Using Actual and Predicted Dystocia .................................45 Appendix 5. List of Models ...........................................................................................................................................................46 Appendix 6. 2003, 2004, and 2005 Modified Profit Function Results ........................................................................................50


This paper considers the problem of changes in the discursive practices of a man of power, wisdom, norms, disease, education, law, surveillance, exposure, formation, punishment, correction, and so substantiates the idea that rationality and legitimacy of the historical, relative, relative: that in one historical period is reasonable, reasonable, normal, legal and moral, the other often appears as irrational, illegal, abnormal, absurd and immoral.


(K247002 and K247003) from different localities to ational nagro Biodiversity center, rural agricultural administration(rDa), as genetic resources for vegetative clones, because chrysanthemum can easily be propagated by cutting.as the national agricultural Genome center project, rural agricultural administration (rDa), the genome of


ROCK SLABS OF TUFF AND SANDSTONE WERE IMPREGNATED WITH A VARIETY OF BASIC MONOMER SYSTEMS IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF POLYMER IMPREGNATION ON THE PROPERTIES OF THE ROCK. THREE SAMPLE CORES WERE TAKEN FROM THE IMPREGNATED SLABS AND EXHIBITED AVERAGE COMPRESSIVE STRENGTHS OF 11,000 PSI TO NEAR 16,000 PSI AS COMPARED WITH 3,300 PSI FOR THE AVERAGE STRENGTH OF 20 CORES FROM NON-IMPREGNATED SLABS. INCREASES IN YOUNG'S MODULUS BY FACTORS OF 2 TO 3 WERE ALSO OBSERVED. BEST RESULTS WERE OBTAINED WITH A MIXTURE OF 70 PERCENT MONOCHLOROSTYRENE AND 30 PERCENT TRIMETHYLOLPROPANE TRIMETHACRYLATE. /TRRL/


Ethnic village tourism development has had a profound impact on ethnic women;previous researches were limited to simply interpretation of the role of ethnic women and tourism participation.The Sani women were collected as research objects,taking villages of Yunnan Stone Forest as cases:one is Wukeshu village with several year's development of tourism;the other one is Yuehu village without any tourism development,under framework of gender analysis and through a series of questionnaires and intensive interviews,so as to explore the impact of tourism development on family status of women who from ethnic villages.It is found that tourism development is enhancing the ethnic women's power of family-mastering and decision-making and makes the concept of "co-master the family","co-decide the family affairs" and "share housework" a consensus of tourism villages.


On the present study, the nourishment and the digestive system of a population of the spotted pimelodid Pimelodus maculatus Lacepede 1803 from a polluted urban river in Argentina were analyzed (Reconquista River, Buenos Aires province). The specimens are characterized by having benthic habits and an omnivore diet. In their intestinal content, a diversity of components was identified. Such components were grouped into ten alimentary items, with dietary variations according to body size while the longitude of the intestine remained proportional to standard length. Microbiological analysis in the gills, stomach and intestine showed the occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. Fungi and yeast were also detected. Bacterial accounts were very high both in the analyzed organs as well in water samples. The ecological and sanitary significance of the identified bacteria is discussed.


The transgender literature dealing with couple and family dynamics is limited. Married couples with a transgender partner who wish to remain together have minimal information available and few models about how this type of transition might be negotiated. This qualitative study analyzed fourteen cases of the wives of male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals from Virginia Erhardt"s 2007 book, Head over Heels: Wives Who Stay with Cross-Dressers and Transsexuals. The authors used thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to identify and organize key themes in the experiences of wives who stayed with MTF transsexual partners. Themes clustered in three main areas: 1) Intrapersonal, 2) Couple Relationship, and 3) Family and Social Relationships. Conclusions from this study and implications for human service professionals are offered.


We report non-polarizing subtractive structural color filters based on surface plasmon-induced suppressed transmission via two-dimensional array of aluminum nano-patches over a glass substrate. Three subtractive primary colors i.e. cyan, magenta and yellow are demonstrated with high transmission efficiencies reaching 75 %.


This work presents a comprehensive study of the Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) properties as a novel alternative for radiation detector light sensor. The SiPM low current consumption, its diminutive dimensions and the high gain make this technology of great interest for applications in portable radiation detection instrumentation based on scintillation material. The development progress in investigation of the performance of the device incorporation with CsI(Tl) scintillation crystal during the R&D timeline is presented. The research shows the improvement in two major parameters: the noise level and the resolution. The finding emphasizes that the utilization of the SiPM as the light converting device in radiation sensors is potentially applicable for radiation detection and isotope identification.


Blind deconvolution (BD), the resolution of a signal and a filter given their convolution, arises in many applications. Without further constraints, BD is ill-posed. In practice, subspace or sparsity constraints have been imposed to reduce the search space, and have shown some empirical success. However, the existing theoretical analysis on uniqueness in BD is rather limited. In an effort to address the still open question, we derive sufficient conditions under which two vectors can be uniquely identified from their circular convolution, subject to subspace or sparsity constraints. These sufficient conditions provide the first algebraic sample complexities for BD. We first derive a sufficient condition that applies to almost all bases or frames. For BD of vectors in ℂn, with two subspace constraints of dimensions m1 and m2, the required sample complexity is n ≥ m1m2. Then, we impose a sub-band structure on one basis, and derive a sufficient condition that involves a relaxed sample complexity n≥ m1+m2-1, which we show to be optimal. We present the extensions of these results to BD with sparsity constraints or mixed constraints, with the sparsity level replacing the subspace dimension. The cost for the unknown support in this case is an extra factor of 2 in the sample complexity.


Pervasive Computing Environments should support the feeling of continuity on user's daily tasks. This concept relies on the availability of different resources (in this work that will mean availability of applications). We propose a framework for a component-based integration process, centred on the concept of composing/adapting applications at run-time. Central to the problem is the task of component assessment, at syntactic and semantic levels. Our aim is to apply metadata-based techniques and a process-oriented simulation which resorts to well establlished verification tools.


Perhaps the reason why people have been overlooked or understudied in the area of organizational agility is because new organizational forms and relationships defy descriptions with traditional words, phrases and concepts. While they are still useful, they may not always fit with contemporary organizational developments. The importance of organizational agility is understood in today's fierce, competitive and fast changing markets and there is no option for the organizations but to adapt to changes and be the best in the market if they aim to be at the top of their game. This paper discusses about agility and the important factors associated with it along with the importance of having agile workplaces and leaders.


The objective of this program is to develop a laser-based optical diagnostic technique, which should be applicable to the direct monitoring of trace levels of alkali compounds within the stream of a coal gasifier. The diagnostic is based on the observation that atomic emission is detected from alkali metals upon ultraviolet photodissociation of the parent compound. From the intensity of the atomic emission, the known absorption cross section of the parent compound, and the laser fluence, the concentration of the alkali compounds can be determined over an extreme range of conditions and their chemistry can be elucidated. KC1 vapor was irradiated with an ArF laser that was Raman-shifted in both H/sub 2/ and D/sub 2/. The 766.5-nm atomic potassium emission (4/sup 2/P) was observed for all excitation wavelengths between 193 and 225 nm. The relative production efficiency drops dramatically for energies below the calculated threshold wavelength of 207 nm. An absolute detection sensitivity for KCl was determined at 0.2 ppB, which is better than required for anticipated fossil fuel monitoring applications. 5 figures.


The 2- and 5-hydroxy derivatives of the 10π aromatic system 7b-methyl-7bH-cyclopent[cd]indene have been synthesised and their properties compared. The 2-hydroxy isomer (7) exists entirely in the non-aromatic keto form (8)(+1.41) but its lithium enolate (13; M = Li)(–1.45), like its methyl(–1.51) and trimethylsilyl (–1.51) ethers, (14) and (12), sustains a substantial diamagnetic ring current. The ketone (8) is methylated on oxygen and on carbon, at the C-2a position only, the ratio varying with conditions in the expected manner. In contrast, the 5-hydroxy isomer (9) exists entirely in the annulenol form (–1.49), as does the 5-hydroxy-diester (25)(–1.15) and the 5-hydroxy-dialdehyde (32)(–1.00). These three compounds are thus the first [10]annulenols to be isolated.


The post-war development of air transport has temporarily out-paced the ability of the air traffic control service to provide for safe conduct which is always expeditious, and it has certainly out-moded the concept of visual avoidance. To alleviate the situation in the areas of high-density traffic in the United States, the Air Transport Association of America outlined a requirement for an airborne collision warning device.


The waste recycling is a process in which the new products are made from used products to provide more benefits for human being and to maintain the sustainable ecosystem. It is based on theological assumption that a waste, whatever bad of it, is a part of nature as inseperable way of God's creation. This article argues that recycling process is human's responsibility to serve the earth with reorganizing and reusing every possible useable things into commodities or others. As a part of prodoct which is possible to be purified (mutanajjis in Islamic term), a waste could be utilized to the useful products for human. Islam, for this term, also ruled the essence of human brain to make use God's creation.


PDF Version April 3, 2017 TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED: SUBJECT: School Year 2015–2016 (Fiscal Year 2016) Preliminary IDEA-B LEA MOE Compliance Reviews TEA has calculated preliminary IDEA-B local educational agency (LEA) maintenance of effort (MOE) compliance reviews for school year 2015–2016.


2 1 Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. 2 Commission of the European Communities (2008), Article 37(4). 3 European Parliament (2009), justification on Article 37 (Amendment 111). 4 Note: in former drafts of the directive the respective Article was named ethical evaluation. 5 European Parliament (2010) 6 For details on changes in terms of ethical aspects within the revision process of the directive, see Alzmann, 2012, 27f. "(2) The project evaluation shall consist in particular of the following: (...) d) a harm-benefit analysis of the project, to assess whether the harm to the animals in terms of suffering, pain and distress is justified by the expected outcome taking into account ethical considerations, and may ultimately benefit human beings, animals or the environment; (...)" (emphasis mine). However, the law does not provide any specification how and according to which standards the harm-benefit analysis is to be carried out and how "ethical considerations" should be taken into account.


This paper presents an efficient technique for linking edge points in order to generate a closed-contour representation. It is based on the consecutive use of global and local schemes. In both cases it is assumed that the original intensity image, as well as its corresponding edge map, are given as inputs to the algorithm. The global scheme computes an initial representation by connecting edge points minimizing a global measure based on spatial information (3D space). It relies on the use of graph theory and exploits the edge points' distribution through the given edge map, as well as their corresponding intensity values. At the same time spurious edge points are removed by a morphological filter. The local scheme finally generates closed contours, linking open boundaries, by using a local cost function that takes into account both spatial and topological information. Experimental results with different images, together with comparisons with a previous technique, are presented.


Summary: High-pressure freezing techniques have been developed in recent decades, and have proven to be immensely powerful for ultrastructural analyses of plant tissues. An increasing number of researchers and students of plant biology are interested in these techniques, and several different types of high-pressure freezing machine are available. The aim of this mini review is to provide the minimum basic knowledge for researchers who intend to freeze plant tissues by using high-pressure freezing techniques.


A 0.85mm2 3.3V 10b 170MS/s CMOS pipelined ADC using opamp-sharing technique in a 0.35mum/0.18mum CMOS process is presented. The overhead of the opamp-sharing scheme is significantly reduced using 0.18mum-long devices as sampling switches and local regulators providing the switch drivers' supply. With a 10MHz input signal, the ADC achieves 83.8dB SFDR and 9.36ENOB at 171MS/s. Better than 9.26ENOB are maintained for inputs up to 100MHz consuming 180mW at 3.3V


Globalization and the spread of global culture coincide with the emergence of glocalization. Dialogical self theory maintains that globalization offers an increased number of others to which the ego can refer to define the self, while collective identity theory posits that it increases the potential number of ingroups and outgroups the self can identify with or distinguish itself from. The complexity of the dynamics of globalization for identity and culture, can lead to a fragmentation of self and identity, creating a need for stability often found in local identification. This qualitative study compared identity-building strategies between ordinary residents of four villages in the Western Italian Alps and active promoters of Occitan culture living in the same area. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that the village residents rely on a deep but narrow sense of place to preserve their local identity and counteract self-fragmentation, whereas the promoters cultivate a broader interest in Occitan identity and self-perception to advance different political goals. The results highlight the different functions of local identities in the globalized world.


Referring to the features of Yudong new district in Datong and its specific management requirement,the paper identifies the basic compilation content system for the"new controlling regulation"based on the fact,so as to maintain the flexible and realistic adjustment for the controlling regulation and provide the framework ideas under the practical perspective for the controlling regulation reform.


Crystal damage beneath the surface remaining after chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP) and basal plane dislocations (BPDs) of 4H-SiC epi-ready substrates have been inspected by using a mirror electron microscope inspection system non-destructively. Distributions of crystal damage and BPDs as well as their average densities are estimated by acquiring 80-μm square mirror electron images at positions distributed with an equal pitch over a substrate ("Discrete point set inspection"). Although the total inspected area is less than 1% of the entire substrate area, the inspection results for nine commercially available wafers reveal that there are large differences in surface polishing quality and BPD density between them. Evaluation on an epitaxial layer with a thickness of 10 μm grown on one of the inspected substrates indicated that correlation between distribution of the crystal damages on the substrate and that of bunched steps on the epitaxial layer surface.


The toughness and strength are generally mutually exclusive for most materials. Although the biological materials in nature such as wood, bone, and nacre exhibit outstanding toughness by forming hierarchical multiscale (nano to macro) structures, it is a huge challenge to simultaneously obtain excellent strength and toughness from material synthesis. Here, one kind of network topology is observed by introducing sodium hyaluronate into organometallic halide perovskite film to greatly improve its strength and toughness. The grain slip and grain subdivision under tensile stress are schemed to dissipate the system energy and endow the perovskite film with remarkable toughness. Meanwhile, the subdivided grains linked by sodium hyaluronate through strong interaction result in high strength of perovskite film. As a result, the perovskite films exhibit robust enhancements with the elongation at break from 1.58% to 5.02% and the fracture strength from 23.13 to 55.25 MPa. It is worth noting that the efficiency of inverted flexible perovskite solar cells reaches 20.01% as well as maintains 90% of the initial efficiency after 6000 cycles of bending at a 2 mm curvature radius. This work devises a topology structure to overcome the conflict between toughness and strength of perovskite films for wearable electronics.


Tangent delta measurement is a well-known diagnostic used by many utilities for condition assessment. Guides on field diagnostic testing are well established by North American society through IEEE standards and guideline. Tangent delta, also called loss angle or dissipation factor (δ) measurement, is a diagnostic method of testing underground cables to determine the quality of the cable insulation in which value from the measurement will be used to compute dielectric loss within the cable insulation system. The higher the dielectric loss thus creates higher localized heating which leads to insulation degradation. However, dielectric loss measurement test technique is a global or bulk insulation condition assessment. It gives an overall condition of the complete cable system that includes cable, joints and terminations. A good dielectric loss result thus means that the overall condition of the complete cable system is in good condition whereas such high dielectric loss will just give unhealthy indication of the overall condition of the cable without revealing the weakness component within the insulation system. It is important to distinguish the dielectric loss of cable and its accessories within the system for the ease of maintenance works and such knowledge is an added advantage and greatly needed by the network owner. This paper presents the method of determining the tangent delta of cable joint from the total overall or bulk tangent delta measurement by using higher frequencies (>100Hz) at voltages above 1 kV. In this direct measurement method, the current (I), voltage (V) and phase (θ) were obtained by connecting a linear high voltage probe across the cable cross-section. The phasor diagram is then constructed and by some trigonometric exercises the actual phase across the joint is extracted. Hence, the tangent delta values were calculated.


In most of text books for elementary school, health is an appendix in the Science text, and the Health texts for High School consists of a collection of readings, where concepts can be misled and contents are superficial. Literature shows articles and research about ether disciplines text-books and a blank space for Health Programs. The results of this study shows a profile of the teacher Health Programs as well as an analysis of the text books for these programs. The author studies the mecanic elements, contents organization and presentation, contents of the books, exercises, illustration, references and index, apendix, preface and glossary.


Abstract. Economy irresistibly pushes to accomplish its own globalization. Some regard this as a success story of reason, others deem it inevitable fate. – Philosophy from the very first has seemingly advised against the unrestricted economization of life. This article shows how the critical debate on the opportunism of the free market economy already in the ancient world did not merely utter ethical provisions but led towards a 'philosophical economics'. This resource is worth exploring to ensure rationality, freedom and justice in view of the present developments.


In response to the social and economic development in China,there is an urgent task of training competent conference interpreters(especially for Chinese-English language pair in simultaneous mode).The development of conference interpreting textbooks is a vital link in the training process.Relevant theories and principles in semiotics can provide structural framework for such textbooks and enhance the training resources.By means of cultivating visualization-based way of thinking,emphasizing discourse analysis for conference context,and reducing effort load for interpreters,such textbooks can contribute to better quality in interpreter training.


The first month of a baby's life is surrounded by emotion and new experiences. The mother and father are learning how to be parents, interpreting and responding to the myriad of different cries, sounds and movements. Parents everywhere are concerned that their new baby is warm, safe and feeds well. The first month is one of soaring hopes and possibilities. Yet that month, and especially the birth and first few days after, carries the highest risk of death for mothers and newborns and the highest risk of long-term disability, for example after preterm birth, labour complications, infections or severe jaundice. Moreover, under-nutrition during the 1000-day period from conception through age 2 years has life-long consequences, including increased risk for infectious diseases, intellectual impairment, reduced economic productivity, and increased risk for adult-onset cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. During the last decade the world has changed in many ways with urbanization, rapid uptake of communication technologies such as cell phones and changing lifestyles and health outcomes. In some countries, newborns face a more certain future than 10 years ago, yet in other countries very little has changed. Worldwide, 3.1 million newborns still die each year, and most of these deaths are preventable (Lawn et al. 2012). This series presents a comprehensive analysis of the changes in newborn care and survival over the last decade at global level, as well as five detailed country assessments undertaken by over 60 experts from governments and multiple organizations, in order to better understand the process of taking solutions to scale and how to accelerate progress towards reductions in mortality and morbidity. Recognition of the importance of newborn survival globally and nationally was stimulated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), notably MDG 4 for child survival, to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds from 1990 to 2015, and closely linked with MDG 5, to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters (Lawn et al. 2005). Between 2000 and 2010, progress towards both MDGs 4 and 5 has accelerated, with an annual rate of reduction of 2.9% mortality for children 1–59 months, and 2.3% for maternal mortality (Lawn et al. 2012). Having specific targets and the focus of national governments and donors have been critical factors in this increased progress since 2000. Even if the targets for child and maternal mortality are not met at global level, many countries will come closer than they otherwise would have. However, progress in reducing newborn deaths has lagged behind post-neonatal under-five mortality at only 1.7% per year from 1990 to 2000, and despite some improvement is still only 2.1% per year for 2000–2010 (Lawn et al. 2012). This is 40% slower progress than for older children and 30% slower than for maternal mortality. Because of the more rapid decline in post-neonatal and child survival, Figure 1 Fatoumata Sogoba holds her 9 hour-old baby boy, Moussa. She is a 15 year-old mother, married at 14. She has never attended school and lives in with her husband, a 27 year-old trader, in Bougouni, Mali. Michael Bisceglie/Save the Children. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The Author 2012; all rights reserved. Health Policy and Planning 2012;27:iii1–iii5 doi:10.1093/heapol/czs054


The costumes of Beijing Opera,as an important part of the national treasure,have distinct colors,various design patterns and special meanings.Its unique national style and aesthetic value has gone beyond the stage and enters into the modern art design field,beautifying and influencing the modern people's aesthetic taste.


AIM
There is scarcity of research for the nutritional management of pelvic radiotherapy in gynaecological malignancies and delivery of specialised nutrition care is limited due to the current knowledge gap in guidelines. This study aimed to better understand the nutritional risk, weight changes and pattern of nutrition impact symptoms occurring at various treatment timepoints in this population, to inform an effective model of care.

METHODS
This retrospective, observational study included women with gynaecological cancers receiving pelvic radiotherapy at a tertiary hospital from January 2017 to December 2018 (n = 104). Information was collected on: first day of radiotherapy; weekly during treatment; acute-phase post-treatment (0-6 weeks); and intermediate-phase post-treatment (6 weeks to 6 months). This study reported on incidence of clinically significant weight change (±5%), documented nutrition impact symptoms and the current nutrition care model (nutrition screening, referral, assessment and interventions).

RESULTS
Clinically significant weight loss was experienced by 38% (n = 40/104) of patients prior to commencing treatment and 19% (n = 14/73) during treatment. Diarrhoea (n = 40/79), fatigue (n = 54/79), nausea (n = 38/79) and pain (n = 31/79) were frequently reported during treatment, and fatigue (n = 33/92) and pain (n = 25/92) continued acutely post-treatment. Despite high rates of weight loss and prevalence of nutrition impact symptoms, only 38% (n = 40/104) of patients were referred to a dietitian.

CONCLUSIONS
A considerable proportion of patients with gynaecological cancers are at nutrition risk before and during treatment due to clinically significant weight loss and prevalence of nutrition impact symptoms experienced. This highlights the importance of nutrition-risk screening and access to specialised dietetic care as part of their model of care.


The medicolegal implications of the Rashid et al. findings need to be considered by the 'DVT-unaware clinicians' in this study.1 There have been medico-legal claims in surgical patients resulting from a failure to provide venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis that have been settled in favour of the Claimant.2,3 These were successful when it was shown that a patient with identifiable risk factors, who developed a DVT/PE following surgery, had not undergone risk assessment and/or received appropriate prophylaxis. Although Rashid et al. have not stated whether any of their study group went onto develop a DVT/PE, it has been reported that 10% of hospital deaths are a result of VTE; and that many of these should be preventable deaths.4

Only 30% of medical patients in the high-risk group (which includes history of previous VTE) reported received prophylaxis! Potential claims from medical patients who developed an in-hospital VTE could be difficult to defend if they were not undergoing VTE risk assessment and did not receive appropriate prophylaxis. This should be considered by the 'DVT-unaware clinicians'.


In this work, we will do some applications of the Moving Spheres method, a variant of the method of Moving Planes, in order to obtain some Liouville-type theorems and some Harnack-type inequalities in R, as well as in the Euclidian half space R+. Our study focuses on, mostly, in the article written by Yan Yan Li and Lei Zhan [32], as well as some references of the same article. We concentrate in studying some properties of positive solutions of some semilinear elliptic partial differential equations with critical exponent and giving different proofs, improvements, and extensions of some previously established Liouville-type theorems and Harnack-type inequalities.


Objective To explore the results of postoperative intravenous Iloprost for patients underwent total cavopulmonary connection(TCPC).Methods From January to December of 2008,44 patients who underwent TCPC were treated with intravenous Iloprost in Shanghai Children's Medical Center.The method of administration of Iloprost was continuous 24-hour intravenous infusion,and the dosage ranged from 3 ng·kg-1 ·min-1 to 10 ng·kg-1 ·min-1.The treatment indication included postoperative transpulmonary pressure (TPG)≥ 10 mmHg,and/or central venous pressure(CVP)≥20 mmHg,and/or hypoxemia,and/or unstable circulation.Results Before administration,TPG was ( 14.5 ± 2.7) mmHg,CVP was ( 19.8 ± 5.2) mmHg,PaO2/FiO2 (P/F) ratio was 117.6 ± 68.0,Systolic arterial blood pressure(SABP) was (70.7 ± 16.3)mmHg,respectively.At the timing of extubation (during the course of administration),TPG was 9.5 ± 2.3 mmHg,CVP was (12.4 ± 2.6)mmHg,P/F ratio was 182.1 ± 115.2,SABP was (105.8± 13.5)mmHg,respectively.TPG and CVP decreased by (39.6± 1.1)% and (38.7 ± 9.8)%,while the P/F ratio and SABP increased by 65.3 ±39.5 and (32.6±21.3)%,repectively.Thirty minutes after extubation,TPG was (8.1± 1.9)mmHg,CVP was ( 11.4 ± 2.4 ) mmHg,P/F ratio was 229.6 ± 165.1,SABP was ( 111.3 ± 12.3) mmHg,repectively.TPG and CVP decreased by (51.3 ± 17.2)% and (44.4 ± 10.5)%,while the P/F ratio and SABP increased by 92.6± 49.2 and (42.5 ± 15.3) %,respectively.Conclusions Continuous 24-hour intravenous infusion of Iloprost is an effective treatment for selective reduction of pulmonary vascular resistance for TCPC patients in the early postoperative period.

Key words:
Iloprost;  Vascular resistance;  Cardiac output


The ASEAN Economic Community (MEA) is an ASEAN regional policy to establish market integration. To make this happen the government must minimize the market mechanism for the market to run freely and naturally. Consequently, in the MEA policy of the State institution which in this case the government is represented is tested because this policy may pose a danger to neoliberalism. Nevertheless, this policy is the only last resort to face global market expansion. The Church as a part of people's life also retains the main attitude of rejecting all forms of colonialization or defamation of human dignity. A member of the Church is required to have an "added" value as a form of the ability to read the "signs of the times" in evangelization and the development of the life of faith. In the context of the MEA's policy, members of the Church must be competitive- covenant, economical-subsidiary, adaptive-prophetic, and participatory- eschatological.


In this paper, we describe several experiments in which we use a stochastic segment model (SSM) to improve offline handwriting recognition (OHR) performance. We use the SSM to re-rank (re-score) multiple decoder hypotheses. Then, a probabilistic multi-class SVM is trained to model stochastic segments obtained from force aligning transcriptions with the underlying image. We extract multiple features from the stochastic segments that are sensitive to larger context span to train the SVM. Our experiments show that using confidence scores from the trained SVM within the SSM framework can significantly improve OHR performance. We also show that OHR performance can be improved by using a combination of character-based and Parts-of-ArabicWords (PAW)-based SSMs.


In this paper, the problem of forced vibrations of beams is investigated. The initial-boundary value problem is formulated. The cantilever beam-fixed at one end, and free in the otheris given prescribed initial displacement and velocity. The natural frequencies and the normal modes are obtained as the eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of the corresponding eigenvalue problem.


Sputtering conditions for synthesis of anisotropic Nd-Fe-B thin film magnets were studied. Results show that the film composition as well as substrate temperature are important parameters in affecting the c-axis orientation of the Nd-Fe-B tetragonal compounds. It was shown that the anisotropic thin film magnet with the easy axis of magnetization normal to the film plane could be deposited by choosing the composition near Nd13Fe70B17 at substrate temperatures as low as 460°C which is fairly below the previously reported value. The anisotropic thin film magnet exhibited the intrinsic coercivity of 7 kOe and the maximum energy products of 20 MGOe. The potential application of thin film magnets to microactuators and motors was demonstrated by fabrication and operation of 5mm diameter pulse motor using the obtained anisotropic thin film magnet.


At present few data are available on prevalence and susceptibilities of Candida psilosis complex which contains 3 species C. parapsilosis, C. metapsilosis and C. orthopsilosis, in HIV-infected individuals. In our study isolates of Candida spp. were obtained from oral cavitiy of 15 HIV – infected individuals, and these isolates were identified as C. psilosis complex by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Prevalence of the C. psilosis complex was 4.7%, with 2.2% being C. parapsilosis and 2.5% C. metapsilosis, while no C. orthopsilosis was isolated.. In vitro studies demonstrated that all isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B (AMB), fluconazole (FLC), ketoconazole (KTC), itraconazole (ITC), voriconazole (VRC) and caspofungin (CASPO). Studies with C. parapsilosis and C. metapsilosis showed minimum inhibitory concentration MIC50 (mg/L) and MIC90 (mg/L), were similar for all drugs tested. There were no marked differences in the MICs for C. parapsilosis and C. metapsilosis isolates for all antifungal compounds tested, except for FLC, which was significantly higher for C. metapsilosis than C. parapsilosis. Based upon the frequency of candidiasis and that certain isolates of C. psilosis complex respond differently to FLC therapy, our data may be of therapeutic relevance with respect to susceptibility to specific antifungal agents and the potential for acquirement of drug resistance. Capitulo II Resultados 52


The principal function of artistic education is to inspire the students' creativity and portray their sound character and healthy individuality. At the present period, the cultivation objective of artistic education is to "value artists and belittle educationists". The contents of courses are single. The trained artistic teachers are hard to competent for the artistic education. In view of this situation, the pedagogical speciality of artistic education demands to change the teaching concepts, regulate the courses offered and cultivate artistic teachers of higher quality and scholar type.


The article is dedicated to the study of the heat transfer processes that occur in the feedstuff disinfection chamber that relies upon electric contact heating. The mechanism of the temperature gradient appearance, which is the main cause of the heat losses has been investigated. The basic equations of heat conduction are considered. A method is proposed for determining the key parameters of the heat transfer process. A functional diagram of the experimental setup with a description of the operation of individual units is presented. The dependence for the transient operating mode of the unit on the growth of heat losses has been established. Thermal images of different shapes of the unit dielectric chambers have been provided as well as temperature field distribution through the chamber wall.


Wireless sensor networks are rapidly growing. Wireless sensor networks are composed of a large number of radio frequency equipped sensor devices that autonomously form networks through which sensor data is transported. These sensor devices are used in various real life applications. Recent advances in wireless communications and electronics have enabled the development of low-cost, low-power, small-size sensor nodes. These sensor nodes are deployed in a wide area and are used to monitor a given field of interest for changes in the environment. Location tracking in wireless sensor networks is an important application area. The focus of this paper is on location tracking using wireless communication. In this paper, we present a visitor tracking method based on wireless sensor networks.


The electroluminescent characteristics of the InAs/InAs1−ySby /InAsSbP asymmetric light-emitting diode heterostructures with high InSb mole fraction in the active region (y > 0.09) in the temperature range 4.2−300 K have been studied. Stimulated emission was achieved in the wavelength range 4.1−4.2 μm at low temperatures (T < 30 K). It was found that the electroluminescence spectra were formed as a result of the superposition of contributions from different channels of radiative recombination of charge carriers near the type II heterointerface. The effect of the quality of the type II InAsSb/InAsSbP heterojunction on the radiative interface transitions with an increase in the content of InSb in the ternary solid solution is considered.


The development process of beam scanning technology is reviewed.The characteristics of beam scanning technology of micro-electromechanical system(MEMS) and mechanics-free electrical control modes are analyzed.And the technology advantages of those two technologies are compared synthetically.In high-speed optical communication system,the influence of chromatic dispersion characteristics of the technolo gy on bit error rate of high-speed optical communication system must be considered due to the widely applica tion of beam scanning technology of mechanics-free electrical control mode.


4th International Conference on Design, Mechanical and Material Engineering (D2ME 2019) was held in Busan, South Korea from Sept. 26 to 28, 2019. D2ME 2019 was organized by Hong Kong Society of Mechanical Engineers (HKSME), supported by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT University), Swinburne University of Technology and The Australian National University. The conference provides a useful and wide platform both for display the latest research and for exchange of research results and thoughts in Design, Mechanical, Material Engineering, Surface Engineering Applications and other topics. The participants of the conference were from almost every part of the world, with background of either academia or industry, even well-known enterprise. The success and prosperity of the conference is reflected high level of the papers received. The proceedings are a compilation of the accepted papers and represent an interesting outcome of the conference. This book covers 2 chapters: Design Engineering and Mechanical and Material Engineering. We would like to acknowledge all of those who supported D2ME 2019. Each individual and institutional help were very important for the success of this conference. Especially we would like to thank the organizing committee for their valuable advices in the organization and helpful peer review of the papers. We sincerely hope that D2ME 2019 will be a forum for excellent discussions that will put forward new ideas and promote collaborative researches. We are sure that the proceedings will serve as an important research source of references and the knowledge, which will lead to not only scientific and engineering progress but also other new products and processes. Prof. Raj Das, RMIT University, Australia


Although fireside corrosion of heat transfer surfaces in coal fired steam generators has been a problem to some extent for a number of tears, with the advent of low NOx firing systems these surfaces can be exposed to conditions that will exacerbate wastage rates. Numerous reports of waterwall wastage in coal fired boilers have appeared in the literature. It is believed that wastage results both from gaseous phase attack of metal surfaces and from deposition of ash and unburned fuel. Gaseous phase attack is known to occur in the presence of reducing sulfur species such as H₂S and in the presence of fuel chlorine. The highest wastage rates are thought to be due to deposition of unoxidized material and the presence of fuel chlorine. Localized wall and near wall conditions that may exacerbate wastage include reducing conditions, high temperatures, high heat fluxes, and a high fraction of unoxidized material deposited. So, this study is directed at developing an advanced corrosion model in coal-fired utility boilers.


A two-boson Hamiltonian is constructed whose induced unitary evolution implements in the corresponding Fock space the algorithm devised by Shor [Algorithms for Quantum Computation: Discrete Logarithms and Factoring, in Proceedings of the 35th Annual Symposium on Foundation of Computer Science, edited by S. Goldwasser (IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, 1994), p. 124] to factorize an integer into prime factors.


We read with great interest the comprehensive review by Jafari and colleagues, which deals with auditory dysfunction, a neglected topic in Parkinson's Disease (PD). Among sensory disturbances, auditory dysfunction was traditionally underestimated as a nonmotor (NM) feature of PD, although it may greatly affect patients' quality of life (QoL). Several studies showed hearing impairment in PD involving both "peripheral hearing," guaranteed by cochlear functionality and central processing governed by brainstem; further integrity of the cognitive representation in cortical auditory areas plays a relevant role. In the wake of this scientific trend, here we present the preliminary results of our research, consistent with the lateralization of hearing deficit in PD patients, as a simultaneous product of both cochlear and brainstem dysfunction. By utilizing both pure tone audiometry (PTA) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) as outcome variables, we tested 40 patients (H & Y stage 1–2) versus 20 controls of similar age (spouses and partners). We were careful to exclude any subject with hearing loss (trauma/iatrogenic/professional) or even with subtle psychopathology or cognitive impairment. Although, in accordance with previous studies, our PD patients showed significantly lower hearing levels than controls, our preliminary data introduce an original parameter, a significant asymmetry in cochlear function, given that DPOAE responses were worse in the ear ipsilateral to the most affected motor side (Fig. 1). Hence, the novelty of our data insists on the chance that asymmetry in DPOAE responses may represent a lateralized NM signature in PD. Expanding our sample, both in number and in spectrum of PD severity, will address the possible pathophysiological mechanisms that may underlie asymmetric cochlear damage found in PD. In our view, it is likely that mechanisms other than the modulatory role subserved by the ear dopaminergic pathways in the lateral olivocochlear bundle are occurring. Of note, a recent investigation in PD patients showed an impairment of brainstem-auditory–evoked potentials contralateral to the most affected motor side. For the present, we are proposing the first asymmetric NM feature in PD concerning bilateral sensory systems.


The paper presented the machanism of pulse oxygen inhalation andthe electrical principle of pulse oxygen inhalator. The instrument improved efficiency of inhaling oxygen, reduced infection and droped the amount of oxygen consumption down. The instrument was safe and comfortable for patients in wide usage in hospital.


The paper presents a relatively simple method for analysing the effect of IF filtering on the performance of multilevel FM signals. Using this method, the error rate performance of narrowband FM signals is analysed for three different detection techniques, namely limiter-discriminator detection, differential detection and coherent detection followed by differential decoding. The symbol error probabilities are computed for a Gaussian IF filter and a second-order Butterworth IF filter. It is shown that coherent detection and differential decoding yields better performance than limiter-discriminator detection and differential detection, whereas two noncoherent detectors yield approximately identical performance.


A three stage Voltage Controlled Ring Oscillator (VCRO) has been designed, analysis and simulated in 50 nm CMOS Technology by using LT spice. The designed circuit proposed a wide tuning range of operating frequency with very low of supply voltage and low power consumption that can be used for various applications. The designed circuit is operated at 0.8 V to 1.2 V supply Voltage to obtain wide operating frequency range which simulated results show range of about 10 GHz with minimum frequency of 0.80 GHz to 11.64 GHz. The designed circuit provides minimum power consumption of 4.45μW.


The rheological properties of starch extracted from ten different species of tropical tuber crops were examined using a Bohlin rheometer. Suspensions with starch concentrations of 3, 4 and 5% were gelatinised at 757C and fed into the rheometer cup. A C 25 measuring system was used and the heating rate was 1.57C/min, heating schedule 75-957C, holding at 957C for 600 s, cooling to 357C at 1.57C/min, holding for 3600 s. For strain sweep tests, the range of strain used was 0-0.2% and the temperature of test was 357C. The data on viscosity, storage modulus (G0) and phase angle were obtained from the rheograms. The results indicated variability in the various properties of the different starches. However the results did not follow a definite trend. The viscosity of Colocasia starch was low while Canna edulis and yam starches had high viscosities. The storage modulus was also highest for Canna starch (70-93 Pa) for 5% and gel strength was comparatively high for Canna edulis, Dioscorea esculenta and D. rotundata starches. The phase angle values followed the pattern of G0 and all the starch pastes were found to be elastic in nature at higher concentration. The wide variability in rheological properties can be useful in different applications of tuber starches. (Less)