A catalyst for purifying exhaust gas from an automotive internal combustion engine. The catalyst comprises a mono lithic carrier which is coated with a catalyst component carrying layer which includes rhodium and a Zirconium oxide. The Zirconium oxide contains at least one element Selected from the group consisting of magnesium, calcium, Strontium, barium, yttrium and lanthanum. The Zirconium oxide in the catalyst component carrying layer has a com position represented by a general formula of XZrO. where X is at least one element Selected from the group consisting of magnesium, calcium, Strontium, barium, yttrium and lanthanum; and a, b and c indicate ratioS in number of atoms, in which a is within a range of from 0.01 to 0.6 on the assumption of b being 1.0, and c is a number of oxygen atom which Satisfies Valence of respective ele mentS.


According to the purpose of the current resistance spot welding quality monitoring system, the existing technology can be divided into two categories of the quality evaluation and control, and in the two research fields with different analysis methods, the paper further analysis. On the basis of comprehensive analysis, the paper finally puts forward, choosing suitable modeling method and analysis method, the quality evaluation index in order to realize accurate measurement and precise result, it is the key point and difficulty in the next step work.


Abstract: The effect of chronic low‐level lead (Pb2+) ingestion on the metabolic pathways leading to the acetyl moiety of acetylcholine (ACh) was examined. Cerebral cortex slices, prepared from untreated or Pb2+‐exposed rats (600 ppm lead acetate in the drinking water for 20 days), were incubated in Krebs‐Ringer bicarbonate buffer with 10 mM glucose and tracer amounts of [6‐3H]glucose and either [6‐14C]glucose or [3‐14C]β‐hydroxybutyrate. Altering the concentration of Pb2+ in the drinking water produced a dose‐related increase in blood and brain lead levels. When tissue from Pb2+‐exposed rats was incubated with mixed‐labeled glucose, incorporation into lacate, citrate, and ACh was considerably decreased, although no changes occurred in the 3H/14C ratios. Similar effects of Pb2+ were found when 14C‐labeled β‐hydroxy‐butyrate was substituted for the [14C]glucose. It appears from these data that Pb2+ exerts a generalized effect on energy metabolism and not on a specific step in glucose metabolism. The impairment of glucose metabolism may explain partially the Pb2+‐induced changes observed in cholinergic function.


Philip Huang set up a Los Angeles-based study group to examine Chinese law, and has created a collection with Stanford University Press, this being the sixth volume. This book is also the second part of an intended trilogy. Following his study on Qing civil law (Civil Justice in China, Representation and Practice in the Qing, 1996), he had planned to produce a volume on the Republican period, but found it more informative to present Republican civil law in contrast to that of the preceding pe...


Olive is an economically important crop in Northwestern Argentina where dead branches are frequently observed. In September of 2015 a total of 20 cankered branches and/or wood necrosis from 10 orchards showing dieback symptoms were collected from ´Manzanilla´ olive trees in Catamarca (C) and La Rioja (LR) provinces. One cankered branch from each province was selected to study the dark brown internal tissue under the bark. Small pieces of symptomatic tissue were disinfected with 70% ethanol and 2% sodium hypochlorite, rinsed with sterile distilled water, aseptically transferred to 2% water agar (WA) plates, and incubated at 25°C under 12h light-cycle period until fungal colonies developed. Pure culture of the fungus was obtained through successive transfers of hyphal tips from the margin of growing colony onto WA plates, then hyphal tips were transferred to 9-cm oatmeal agar (OA) plates to study morphological characteristics of the colony. Fungal colonies were fast-growing and covered the plate surface aft...


The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the suitability of using trass as a supplementary cementing material in pervious concrete. OPC (Ordinary Portland Cement) was replaced in the concrete mix by 15%, 25% and 35% weight percentages and the results were compared with reference mixtures with 100% Portland cement. The variables in this study were trass content, aggregate size and water to cement ratio. Sixteen cases of concrete mixtures were tested to study physical and mechanical properties of hardened concrete, including porosity, permeability, compressive strength, splitting-tensile strength and flexural strength at various ages. Results indicated that mechanical properties of the pervious concrete marginally decreased with the increased content of trass when compared to the reference mixtures. However, at later ages the differences were insignificant.


This research aims to analyze the growth rate, and the role of the fisheries sector also to analyze the linkage between the fisheries sector and other sectors in the economic growth rate in the Batubara district. The results of research can be used by local communities and the government as a material consideration in determining a policy of management of the economic sector, especially the fisheries sector. This research was carried out from April 2017 to April 2018. The methods utilized are regional superiority analysis, klassentypology analysis, and correlation analysis. The results showed that LQ. LI, and SI value of the fisheries sector of Batubara District tend to increase the value from year to year and in graph of growth rate, there is a graph that tends to increase the growth rate of the fisheries sector. The result of Typology Klassen analysis shows that fisheries sector of Batubara district is in the second quadrant which means fisheries sector of Batubara district is an advanced but depressed sector. The role of the fisheries sector to other sectors is in the provision of production factors and capital base due to the economy built-in the same space. The result of correlation analysis of the fisheries sector with other sectors is 0,9. The shows, that there is a very strong linkage between the fisheries sector and other sectors values in the Batubara District.


The choice of mechanical material is a key step in mechanical design,the mechanical performance,process performance,economic cost and environmental performance of the material should be considered. And select the optimal material among many alternatives is a multi-criteria decision-making problem.After considering the vagueness and uncertainty on judgments of the decision-makers,then putting forward a solution to solve the multi-objective decision-making problem based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process. Establish a hierarchical model of mechanical material selection which choose mechanical performance,process performance,economic cost and environmental performance of the material as its indexes,and decided each index weight by using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process with triangle fuzzy number. The best material is the one that got the highest scores after evaluating under the method of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation. Finally,an example of mechanical material selection is given to illustrate the feasibility and practicability of the method.


In this paper, the authors study several classes of additively non-regular C-semirings whose additive idempotents are central, including the generalized C-rpp se- mirings, C-rpp semirings, generalized C-abundant semirings and C-abundant semirings. After introducing the concept of generalized C-rpp semirings, the authors obtain their equivalent characterizations, and show that a semiring is a generalized C-rpp semiring if and only if it is a strong b-lattice of additively left cancellative halfrings, and if and only if it is a subdirect product of a b-lattice and an additively left cancellative halfring. Also, the authors give the constructions of C-rpp semirings, generalized C-abundant se- mirings and C-abundant semirings. Consequently, the corresponding results of Clifiord semirings and generalized Clifiord semirings in (7) and (29) are extended and generalized.


Historically, dope-testing methods have been developed to target specific and known threats to the integrity of sport [1,2] and the well-being of the athlete [3–6]. Modern laboratories are well-equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instruments capable of detecting small drug moieties and their metabolites with good sensitivity. In most instances, these analytical systems utilize a range of GC–MS and LC–MS equipment [7–17] and are capable of attaining, in urine or blood, low or sub-nanogram per ml sensitivities, particularly when used as targeted screens. Target analytes and appropriate methodologies are under constant review and regularly updated to ensure new doping agents and methods are addressed by the testing laboratories [18–20]. Until recently, the source of new analytical targets for which testing was required were derived almost exclusively from the pharmaceutical industry. While this represented a significant challenge due to the constant development of new therapeutic agents with potential for abuse, this was at least predictable and to a large extent controllable. In addition, dope-testing laboratories have become more proactive in identifying and reacting to the potential threats from new pharmaceutical agents, while those drugs are still in the development stage [21–25]. While the use of highly targeted methods was required to attain the appropriate sensitivity to detect known potent doping agents, this resulted in limited coverage with the available methods being unable to detect or provide any direct indications of the abuse of other doping agents. The result was the emergence of designer drugs, such as tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), specifically intended to evade detection [26,27]. The relevant aspects of the THG scandal and the limited number of other known designer steroids intended to evade detection will be discussed in a later section. While the deliberate manipulation of analyte structure intended to avoid detection remains an issue, not least by its nature as a clandestine operation, a further problem is the detection of abuse of novel chemicals intended to circumvent laws controlling the sale and distribution of recreational drugs. As a result, large numbers of novel androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS) [15,27,28], stimulants [29–40], cannabinoids [41–44], and sildenafil-related designer drugs [45–48] have been developed and marketed. Recent statistics from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulated dope-testing laboratories show that anabolic steroids, stimulants and cannabinoids remain the most frequently detected doping agents in human sport [201], which confirms the potential threat the recreational drug market represents. These commercial designer drugs are less of an issue to the laboratories because their availability and structures can be monitored. However, their emergence impacts significantly upon the complexity of the analytical process due to the large numbers of additional analytes that need to be included in routine drug screens. In this review, we will consider the emergence of designer drugs and the response of dopetesting laboratories to these new threats, in particular the developments in analytical Impact of the emergence of designer drugs upon sports doping testing


This article presents the results of a metaphor-oriented research programme studying civil servants' conceptions of the European Union (EU). It reveals the metaphoricity of apparently neutral terms used when describing Europe and shows how the metaphors we use influence our understanding and expectations. Three conceptual metaphors - container, equilibrium and motion - are defined as modes of thinking about the EU's institutional governance. Czech civil servants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Office seem to understand the EU as either a series of intergovernmental bargains (i.e. an equilibrium) or as continuously transforming (i.e. a motion). The preferences of officials for one metaphor over another depends on their agendas: Czech Foreign Ministry officials involved with Community and intergovernmental issues tend to use the motion metaphor, while Government officials responsible for intergovernmental issues prefer the equilibrium metaphor. Yet there is a general tendency for all civil servants to portray the EU as a rule-based integration project.


Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) allows obtaining the elemental composition of a sample through the analysis of the optical emission of the plasma created by a pulsed laser. Even though the LIBS technique has been tested and proved adequate in numerous applications, LIBS suffers several drawbacks as relativity low limits of detection and lack of reproducibility in comparison with other analytical techniques. Furthermore, figures of merit such as surface sensitivity or lateral resolution need to be improved when LIBS is employed in the surface analysis field. With the aim to overcome these drawbacks and enhance the analytical capabilities of LIBS, several improvements with special emphasis on the analysis of solid samples are discussed in this thesis.
 In an attempt to reduce the time employed in the data processing, a versatile and specific spectroscopy software for a complete LIBS spectra analysis was developed.
 Several improvements including alternative data processing methods and experimental upgrades were evaluated with the aim to extend the applicability and enhance the performance of LIBS when is employed in the analysis of surfaces.
 A collinear double pulse configuration using femtosecond pulses was explored in the analysis of solid samples.


F-A (flavan-3-olanthocyanin) adducts are pigments that appear during wine ageing. Their anthocyanic nature makes them prone to chromatic changes (perceived as colour changes) as result of the pH of the solution. This work allowed a better understanding the behavior of F-A adducts in wines and the establishment of the basis for their use as food colorants or dyes in other matrices. This work started by creating synthetic routes that allowed the preparation of F-A adducts in the necessary quantities to perform further studies. At the same time, methodologies for analysis and quantification of these adducts in hydroalcoholic solutions were established. Afterwards, a chromatic characterization was performed by determining the thermodynamic and kinetic acid-base equilibria undergone by the adducts using relaxation techniques such as pH jumps. The reactivity of the flavan-3-olic moiety of the adducts was tested by performing direct and (acetaldehyde) mediated condensation reactions with flavanols. The resulting polymers were characterized by HPLC-DAD and mass spectrometry (MS). Their existence in aged Port wines was also demonstrated. The reactivity of the anthocyanic moiety was also tested by preparing flavanvitisin and flavanolpinotin adducts. These compounds were also characterized by HPLC-DAD and MS. Some flavanolvitisin adducts were detected in Douro DOC wines. Finally, the ability of these pigments resist to bleaching through copigmentation was also studied. Contrary to simple anthocyanins, the F-A adduct copigmentation phenomenon is resistant to temperature rising. It was established that for this type of adducts the copigmentation is mainly driven by hydrogen bonding. Also, the best copigments should present reduced size in order to compensate the additional steric hindrance of the adduct.


The 2018 constitutional amendments in China have attracted strong criticism both at home and abroad. This paper first uses contextual, historical, and empirical analysis to examine whether the three major amendments are as bad as widely perceived, and whether or not they will have a significant impact on actual constitutional practice in China. The paper then analyses how the constitutional amendments may challenge the two existing theories on Chinese constitutionalism. The paper argues that although none of the constitutional amendments will have any practical importance, they do send out a very negative signal, and that the trend of a constitutionalised fused system demands at least revision of the existing theories and possibly a new theory, for the purpose of not only justifying Chinese constitutional practice but also leading China towards at least a thin rule of law.


Abandoned mine lands are a common element of the contemporary landscape. In administrative practice, they are rated low, yet they are of interest to informal users and scientific and cultural communities. The aim of our research was to identify the possibilities of using qualitative research methods, applied in architecture, to create friendly, urban spaces with a universal character in the areas of abandoned quarries. The study was conducted in the Sadowa Góra quarry area in southern Poland, using the post occupancy evaluation (POE) method. The results of the conducted analysis confirm the effectiveness of the POE method in restoring abandoned mine lands to an economically usable state by surveying users' opinions on accessibility, functionality, and visual quality. The applied methodology was used as effective support for the transformation process of post‐mining areas and as a tool to optimize the costs of their reclamation and maintenance.


Advances in bioengineering and biotechnology are an urgent need of the hour because of the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which is a strain of a coronavirus called SARS-CoV or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus. Globally, COVID-19 has claimed lives 1,575,810 and infected 69,239,671 people. In this direction, biotechnological and bioengineering endeavors have shown several promising results to control the pandemic, which are discussed in this mini review.


ABSTRACT
The purpose of this titling project is to design, develop a marketing plan for the
company ECUAPRIMAS CIA. LTDA., Which will focus on offering its products to small
companies, to become leaders in the market and exit the TOP 3 of the insurance brokers in
the Ecuadorian Territory. To achieve compliance with the development of the project will
be taken into consideration to existing laws, regulations, and regulations for the regulation
of insurance brokers, is to say the Superintendence of Securities and Insurance Companies,
whose entity is responsible for regulating rates, products according to the market, with the
application of the Insurance Law.
Therefore for the development of the project will be carried out in the first instance, the
application of techniques, tools and tools of scientific research, to collect primary data as
secondary, and through the results obtained, apply in the proposal the matrices of
diagnosis, to analyze the internal and external situation of the company, to determine
suitable strategies for attracting clients who own small companies, to become leaders in the
insurance market respectively.
Keywords: Insurance, marketing, sales, strategy, competitors


Differing views of scholars concerning Eskimo origins and the prehistoric development of Eskimo culture are presented, and an attempt is made to assess the degree to which the artifactural evidence fits each particular view. With this aim, an outline of the archaeological complexes in question is given and the interrelations of various arctic traditions discussed. Population


Green technology innovation is an important guarantee for my country to achieve high-quality development in the new era. Taking the 2010-2018 Chinese provincial panel data as a sample, the spatial error model and the panel threshold model are used to study the impact of environmental regulation and government support on green technology innovation. The results show that: the green technology innovation in each province has certain spatial agglomeration characteristics, there is a knowledge spillover effect, the environmental regulation area has a positive impact on green technology innovation, and the government support has no significant impact; environmental regulation and government support have a threshold effect on green technology innovation. , the impact of the two on green technology innovation has a marginal diminishing effect; compared with environmental regulation, government R&D support can promote internal green technology innovation activities.


The present work is constituted of four main parts, each one dedicated to a topic. In the introduction, it will be told which problems were rose to the study, how they shall be approached and which objectives are expected to be reached. On chapter I, it will be done a brief review of the literature that approaches important historic aspects to comprehend the context of this work's production. The next chapter makes some comments regarding the treatment given to the matter that engendered the research. The fourth chapter envolves the direct application of the theory previously exposed. This dissertation applies the linguistic theory known as Discourse Analysis (DA) from the french branch in order to analyse articles taken from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo between the years of 1942 and 1948, a stage chosen for being delimited by the Shoah and the declaration of independence from the State of Israel.


Research findings can influence decisions at many levels, but only if one knows how to translate them into actionable and practical information. One of the major concerns of empirical software engineering research is in making a real impact on software engineering practice, bridging the gap between academia and industry. The area calls for effective approaches to the dissemination of empirical evidence into practice and there are no simple answers for this problem. In this context, the main objective of this proposal is to develop a methodology to increase the influence of empirical results on software practices and project team behavior. The main contribution is to deepen relevant knowledge and experience on how to expand the use of empirical results in the software development process, including the selection and use of technologies and practices in software industry context.


Q2R cellular automata are shown to attain thermal equilibration in the two-dimensional Edwards-Anderson model (1975) of a spin glass. Some problems associated with equilibration at low temperatures are identified as finite-size effects. The authors use a thermalization test due to Bhatt and Young (1988). Their results indicate the possibility of calculating Gibbs averages in this model by means of the Q2R algorithm. A rough efficiency comparison with the conventional (Metropolis) Monte Carlo algorithm is also made.


A study was conducted to determine whether 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH), a potent colon carcinogen, is activated to a more potent mutagen by the drug-metabolizing system of the colonic mucosa and to determine the extent to which this metabolism is modified by lipids in the diet. DMH-treated rats fed a diet enriched with 10% corn oil exhibited markedly elevated colonic enzyme levels for mutagen production. This diet also produced the greatest number of animals with colon tumors, when compared with diets containing other levels and sources of lipid. The potential risk of a diet in which unsaturated fat is the sole source of lipid is underlined.


Integrated petrographic studies entailing quartz‐type analysis and zircon typologic studies were carried out on sandstones of the Lower Devonian Accraian Formation of southern Ghana to constrain their provenance and tectonic setting. The stratigraphic succession of the Devonian Accraian Group consists mainly of sandstones in the Lower Accraian Formation, shales in the Middle Accraian Formation, and sandstone–shale intercalations in the Upper Accraian Formation. Systematic sampling of sandstones was conducted in the Lower Devonian Accraian Formation. Modal petrographic analysis indicates that the sandstones are quartz arenites with their framework grains consisting on average of, 99.8% quartz, 0.14% lithics with little or no feldspars. They are subangular to subrounded in shape. Modal mineralogy of the sandstones suggests that they are of craton interior origin with an affinity to recycled orogenic provenance. Quartz‐type analysis was used to unravel distinct characteristic features of the quartz grain, namely its polycrystallinity, nonundulose, and undulose nature to constrain the source rock. This pointed to multiple sediment supply from both a plutonic origin and a medium‐ to high‐grade metamorphic terrain. Furthermore, a comprehensive zircon typology study on 298 zircon grains indicate multiple provenances of calc‐alkaline affinity. This study revealed that the Lower Accraian Formation sandstones probably received sediment input from the Paleoproterozoic Birimian Basin granitoids and their associated metasedimentary rocks and some additional supply from the Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks from the Volta Basin which are inclusive of sediments derived from the Dahomeyide Belt of the Pan‐African Orogeny.


We present observational studies of a high-mass star-forming region AFGL 5142 in the NH3 (J,K) = (1,1), (2,2), (3,3), and (4,4) inversion transitions. We discover a compact structure of 1'' (or 1800 AU) in NH3 emission toward the position of a high-mass young star. The star, with a spectral type of B2 if it is at the zero-age main sequence, excites a weak centimeter continuum source and drives a well-collimated SiO jet. The compact NH3 structure, with a temperature of 70 K, gives rise to a broad NH3 line emission of 6.4 km s-1 (FWHM). The small size of the NH3 feature, broad line emission, and the association with a SiO jet indicate that the object is most likely an unresolved rotating disk. The compact disk is embedded in a flattened core of gas temperatures of about 20 K. The extended core delineates an X shape with the SiO jet located in the void of the dense and cold NH3 gas. A faint component of NH3 emission can be identified, especially in the highly excited NH3 (3,3) and (4,4) lines, tracing the SiO jet. This component, arising from hot gas of about 170 K, is likely heated by shocks in the outflow. The coincidence of a disk and a jet with the radio continuum source toward AFGL 5142 indicates that this high-mass star may have formed via a disk-mediated accretion process.


Mesoporous forms of silica (MS) with different framework structures and pore sizes, including hexagonal MCM-41 (2.4 nm), cubic MCM-48 (1.9 nm), hexagonal SBA-15 (7.0 nm) and mesocellular silicafoam MSU-F (24.8 nm), were examined as functional additives in the preparation of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/mesoporous silica nanocomposites made by in situemulsion polymerization and compression molding. All of the composites at 5 wt% loadings of MS, exhibit improved thermal stability, an elevated glass transition temperature, and an enhanced storage modulus in comparison to the pristine polymer. MSU-F silica with the largest framework pore size provides the composite with the best improvement in thermomechanical properties. In general, the improvements in thermal stability and modulus diminish with decreasing framework pore size of the silica additive. For composites made from MCM-41 and MCM-48 silicas with similar pore sizes, the 3D MCM-48 structure provided superior benefits. The improvements in thermomechanical properties for the composite are attributed to the confinement of polymer in large pore channels, especially those with a 3D structure.


A 20-year-old woman from a consanguineous family in the Hunan Province of the People's Republic of China was diagnosed as having Glanzmann's thrombasthenia based on (1) nearly a lifelong history of epistaxis, gum bleeding, petechiae, and purpura; (2) severe menorrhagia resulting in anemia and need for whole-blood transfusion; (3) normal coagulation assays; (4) prolonged bleeding time; (5) absent clot retraction; (6) decreased glass bead retention; (7) absent platelet aggregation in response to adenine diphosphate, epinephrine, and collagen; and (8) normal initial slope of platelet aggregation in response to ristocetin, but with a diminished maximal extent. The patient's platelets had a decreased level of platelet fibrinogen, but the deficiency was not as severe as in other Glanzmann's thrombasthenia patients. As judged by monoclonal antibody binding studies, surface glycoprotein (GP) Ilb/llla ( ( Y ~ @ ~ ) expression was less than 15% of normal and ay& vitronectin receptor expression was 15% to 19k of normal, suggesting that the defect was in GPllla (p3). lmmunoblotting of platelet lysates demonstrated decreased levels of GPllb (-30% to 359/0 of normal) and GPllla


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining a search range for the adaptive motion vector in a video encoder. The present invention is an input image signal indicating the sequence of images is supplied, in a video encoder for dividing each image of an input image signal into macro-block coded image through motion estimation of a motion vector of a macroblock, first, the current macro It determines the number of macro blocks adjacent to the block. Judgment result, when the number of adjacent macro blocks are two or more obtaining the size of the motion vectors of the adjacent macroblocks determining a motion vector of the motion of the largest macroblock. It determines the larger value to the current macroblock adaptive motion vector by defining a minimum search area value, which may have the comparing the size of that value and the motion is one of the largest adjacent macro block motion vector search range for the value of the adaptive motion vector . Next, the adaptation to a smaller value in the search range for the value and the user of the adaptive motion vector, and compares the search range value for the adaptive motion vector defined by the video encoder, characterized in that for determining the search range for the value of the final adaptive motion vector the motion vector of provides a method and apparatus for determining a search area. A video encoder, an adaptive motion vector, FBMA, MPEG, H.26X, JVT


The filled skutterudite compounds, MyFexCo4-xSb12 (x=0-1.0, y=0-0.15, M=Ce, La, Y), were prepared by a new solid state reaction method using Co, Fe, Sb, CeCl3.6H2O, LaCl3.6H2O and YCl3.6H2O powders, and their thermoelectric properties were investigated. MyFexCo4-xSb12 (x=0-1.0, y=0-0.15, M=Ce, La, Y) compounds showed p-type conduction. The electrical conductiviy (σ) increased with increasing Fe content. The Seebeck coefficient (α) increased with increasing Fe content for MFexCo4-xSb12, but decreased with increasing Fe content for FexCo4-x, Sb12. The Lattice thermal conductivity (KL) decreased significantly with the substitution of Fe for Co and the filling of M (M=Ce, La, Y) into the Sb icosahedral voids, while the carrier thermal conductivity (Kcar) was not much affected by the Fe substitution and the M (Ce, La, Y) filling. The thermoelectric figure of merit was improved by the combinatior of Fe substitution and M (Ce, La, Y) filling.


Focal cortical dysplasia type 2 (FCD2) is a malformation of cortical development that constitutes a common cause of pediatric focal epilepsy. Germline or somatic variants in the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway genes are the pathogenesis of FCD2.


Due to their inherent nature, kesterite solar cells exhibit complex secondary phases and intrinsic lattice defects. As a result, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of kesterites are considera...


Abstract The purpose of the paper is to find an approximate solution of the two-dimensional nonlinear fuzzy Volterra integral equation, as homotopy analysis method (HAM) is applied. Studied equation is converted to a nonlinear system of Volterra integral equations in a crisp case. Using HAM we find approximate solution of this system and hence obtain an approximation for the fuzzy solution of the nonlinear fuzzy Volterra integral equation. The convergence of the proposed method is proved. An error estimate between the exact and the approximate solution is found. The validity and applicability of the HAM are illustrated by a numerical example.


. Pragmatic failures occur when participants fail to effectively or correctly achieve the specific purpose, or when the hearer fail to realize the intention of the speaker' s utterance in some certain context situation. Being an indispensable part of pragmatics, pragmatic failures shall be taken seriously to realize the properly use of language, which quite matters for L2 learners. This thesis tries to analyzes three types of typical pragmatic failures based on analysis of pragma-linguistic failure and socio-pragmatic failure and propose suggestions for L2 learners to deal with pragmatic failures, with eventually coming to the conclusion that competence to deal with pragmatic failures show its crucial role and necessity in cross-cultural communication, with an increasing large number of participants involves in bilingual and multilingual context situations.


Recent application domains such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities (SCs) have introduced novel challenges to Cloud Computing based on their stringent requirements (e.g., low latency, high bandwidth). With the exponential growth of IoT traffic in the last few years, traditional cloud systems have become inadequate for these applications since requests are made on-demand simultaneously by multiple devices at different locations. The Fog Computing (FC) paradigm has emerged to deal with the limitations of traditional clouds since computational resources are placed at the edges of the network, aiming to decrease the latency expected by IoT devices and reduce the amount of data sent to the cloud. However, research challenges persist in FC since it is not a mature concept yet. This PhD research addresses four challenges in the FC domain focused on providing an efficient resource allocation in these distributed infrastructures. This dissertation includes theoretical formulations as benchmarks for resource allocation, fog-based architectural concepts, anomaly detection practices for IoT, and latency-aware allocation approaches that lead to the implementation of a network-aware framework named Diktyo. It optimizes the allocation of container-based service chains by considering latency and bandwidth in the scheduling process of a well-known container orchestration platform, Kubernetes. Ex-periments showed thatDiktyo increases throughput by 22% and reduces latency by 45% for microservice benchmark applications.


Biodiesel can be easily obtained starting from high-quality or refined vegetable oils and performing on these feedstocks a transesterification reaction usually promoted by alkaline catalysts in the homogeneous phase. In this production scheme the employment of low-quality or waste raw materials, as cheap as possible, must be carefully considered to strongly improve the economic competitiveness of this biofuel with respect to the petroleum-derived diesel. In the case of raw materials characterized by a high content of free fatty acids (FFAs), a preliminary esterification treatment with methanol or ethanol is necessary for the abatement of the FFA concentration below the threshold limit value of 0.5−1.0% by weight that is tolerable by the subsequent process step of alkaline transesterification. In the present work the esterification reaction in tubular packed bed reactors, operating under pressure and using a sulfonic acid resin as catalyst, has been extensively studied. As it is well-known, sulfonic exchan...


The significance of regulating people's personal data in the context of implementing each person's right to privacy of personal life and family life becomes especially crucial for the purposes of ensuring biogenetical safety of people in Russia. This requires raising the issue of implementing the right to privacy in the context of the biotechnological revolution. The special legal significance of this issue in the Russian Federation is connected with the passing of such laws as the Law "On personal data" and the Law "On state genome registration in the Russian Federation".

This article analyzes the legal status of biometric personal data. We note the need for legal regulation of the protection of biometric information as confidential data.

The results of this research are based on using the following methods: universal dialectical method of scientific cognition, as well as general scientific methods based on it (description, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, analogy, generalization) and specific scientific methods (comparative law method, systematic structural method and formal law method).


C-type lectin domain family 11 member A (323 aa, ~36 kDa) is encoded by the human CLEC11A gene. This protein plays a role in carbohydrate binding and hematopoietic cell growth factor activity.


What is known and objective:  Long‐acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are recommended for those people with a preference for this form of treatment and those who experience negative outcomes due to non‐adherence with oral medication. LAI antipsychotics have been associated with improved outcomes and lower treatment discontinuation rates when compared with oral formulations. Risperidone long‐acting injection (RLAI) treatment is effective and well‐tolerated in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to review RLAI prescribing practice and compare prescribing to best practice recommendations (including indication, initiation, dose and co‐prescribing) for adults receiving care from five clinical practice settings of New Zealand.


Motivated by the study of big crunch singularities in asymptotically ${\mathrm{AdS}}_{4}$ space-times, we consider a marginal triple trace deformation of Aharony-Bergman-Jafferis-Maldacena (ABJM) theory. The deformation corresponds to adding a potential which is unbounded below. In a 't Hooft large $N$ limit, the beta function for the triple trace deformation vanishes, which is consistent with the near-boundary behavior of the bulk fields. At the next order in the $1/N$ expansion, the triple trace couplings exhibit nontrivial running, which we analyze explicitly in the limit of zero 't Hooft coupling, in which the model reduces to an $O(N)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}O(N)$ vector model with large $N$. In this limit, we establish the existence of a perturbative UV fixed point, and we comment on possible nonperturbative effects. We also show that the bulk analysis leading to big crunch singularities extends to the ${\mathbb{Z}}_{k}$ orbifold models dual to ABJM theory.


The racemic title compound, trans-[N,N-bis(2-aminoethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine-κ4N](dl-isoleucinato-N,O)cobalt(III) diperchlorate, [Co(C6H18N4)(C6H12NO2)](ClO4)2, crystallizes in the enantiomorphous space group P212121 with Z = 12 (Z′ = 3). Each of the three cations in the asymmetric unit represents a different chirality of the isoleucine ligand; two of them are R (or d) and the third is the S (or l) enantiomer. The mixture crystallizes in a so-called unbalanced crystallization, in which the cations adopt a chiral array of composition RRS or SSR, depending on the crystal selected for data collection.


Thiohydroxy modified chitosan was prepared by chitosan and thioglycollic acid.The conditions of Sulfur derivative forms have been selected.The result say that:,the most adsorption ratio of the sulfur derivative for Cu2+ is 90.3%,adsorption capacity is 27.4mg/g in solution of concentration copper(II) 188mg/L.And the highst adsorption ratio is over 99% in solution of concentration Pb(II) 203mg/L.The adsorption capacity is 97.4mg/g and adsorption ratio is 95.5% in concentration of 1015mg/L solution.When adsorption capacity is more than 147.2mg/g,adsorption ratio is 36.5%.Therefore,the structure of the Sulfur derivative has also been discussed by XRD and SEM,It shows that it is different between before adsorption and after adsorption.


Background and Objectives: The exposure of health professionals to occupational risks due to reduced risk management can interfere with their work capacity and have a negative influence on public health. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the biosafety risks in the hemodialysis sector of a university hospital (UH). Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional and prospective study with a quantitative approach, carried out with 20 nursing professionals from August to October 2019, in a high-complexity university hospital. A checklist was applied, and its data was analyzed using the Epi-info software. The research complied with ethical aspects and was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Hospital das Clínicas de Pernambuco . Results : The occupational risks of nursing professionals were evaluated in the hemodialysis sector, where 90% of workers are female. The physical and mental symptoms reported by professionals were characterized according to the time of exposure to risks in the sector. Individuals who worked for more than 10 years on hemodialysis had a higher frequency of symptoms, 64.44%, and 20.14% experienced fatigue. Regarding the frequency of exposure, it was highlighted that 31.36% of professionals were more exposed to ergonomic risks, associated with insufficient number of workers, exposure to a stressful environment and work overload. Conclusion: The research showed that nursing professionals are exposed to various types of risks and susceptible to occupational accidents. Health education is an essential tool for reducing these events in the hemodialysis service .


Abstract We present a case of dysgerminoma of the right adnexa with an infiltration to the right wall of the uterus and a metastasis of para‐aortic lymph node.


Early diagnosis of spondyloarthritis is still tempting since objective measures to assess disease activity are often negative. MRI provides highly sensitive visualization of inflammation, but detection levels in early spondyloarthitis are varying. Another clinical temptation is early treatment evaluation of spondyloarthritis. An important outcome measure is therapeutic efficacy on bone formation in vertebral column and sacro-iliac joints. Conventional X-rays only allow for assessment of bone formation over a time span of at least 2 years. In this presentation, opportunities with new upcoming imaging techniques to address above mentioned clinical issues will be discussed in relation to longer existing imaging techniques. Disclosure of Interests: None declared


Kinetic studies of I131‐labeled rat anti‐Walker 256 antibodies are described. The anti‐tumor antibody is a 7S globulin. The presence of tumor diminishes the level of circulating antibody. When the tumor is removed, the antibody level rises to a measurable amount. Ouchterlony in‐gel diffusion studies as well as I131‐globulin uptake data on subcellular tumor fractions indicate that the antigen is probably located on the cell membrane. Whether the antigen studied is a transplantation rather than tumor‐specific type was not determined. It is felt that the techniques described are useful for studying the human patient with autochthonous tumor as well as the cross‐immunotherapy patient.


The soil bio-crust(bryophyte layer) in desert area accumulates abundant nutrients,playing an important role in the amelioration of aeolian sandy soil.This paper studied the contents of various humus components and their changing tendency in soil bio-crust in the artificial dune-fixing forests established by fly-seeding at different years in Erdos desert areas.The results showed that the contents of various humus components in the crust were higher than the control,and increased with increasing year of the establishment of the forests.The humus composition and structure in the crust had their regional feature,which reflected in some extent the forming process of aeolian sandy soil.


This research aims to determine how studies perception of reference
service in library STTN-BATAN Yogyakarta. This researches to quantitative
approach. The population in this research studies research is the students members
registered as a librarian member totaly 300 respondents. From this population
samples taken based on Yamane formula, be obtained 75 samples. The sample is
taking by incidental technic sampling. Variable on this research are single quality
that is students perception to the reference service in the library STTN-BATAN
Yogyakarta. Method collection data of is used to in this research including
observation method, documentation, interview and questionnaires. Data analysis
using the mean and the grand mean formula. Measurement reference services
based on the likert (4-1) that the result interpreted to be strongly agree, agree,
disagree, strongly disagree. Processed data be treaded by SPSS version 16.0 for
windows. The results research adduce that students perceptions of reference
services in libraries STTN-BATAN Yogyakarta categorized well with the results
of the total yield average values 2,64. Details are 3,05 for reference questions,
2,96 for bibliography verification, 2,8 for information and referral services, 2,96
for research questions, 2,27 for consultancy service reader, 2,09 for research
consultansy, 2,16 for selective information dissemination, 2,34 for the guidance of
the use of the reference collection, 2,51 for instructions on how the selection of
library materials, 2,89 for the reference collection of quality and 2,96 weight the
sources libraries that have maximum efficiency. Observed from the interpretation
there are needs to be increased again, namely guidance aspect. Recommended is
librarians more have time to guide students.


Introduction: Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) is a nosocomial pneumonia which develops after the patient received 48 hours of mechanical ventilation intubation. VAP raises various problems such as prolong length of stay and ventilator time, increase treatment costs, and increase risk of death. Appropriate and effective oral care is one of the nursing interventions that can reduce the incidence of VAP. The aim of this study was to identify procedure of oral care for prevention of VAP in critical patients. Methods: This research method is a literature review. Literature is searched through electronic database such as EBSCOhost, Scopus, Science Direct, and Proquest. The inclusion criteria of article were randomized controlled trials or randomized clinical trial designs, evaluate oral care effects on the prevention of VAP in critically ill patients, full text articles and publication years from January 2013 to May 2020. Results: Search results found as many as 38 articles, but only 9 articles were eligible to be reviewed. This review indicate that oral care has a significant effect on the prevention of VAP. The combination of toothbrush and swab is the most appropriate equipment. Chlorhexidine 2% was the most influential solution in reducing the incidence of VAP, while the frequency of oral care was most effective when adjusted to the results of the Back Oral Assessment Score (BOAS). Conclusion: This result reinforces the use of chlorhexidine in the oral care of mechanically ventilated patients. Oral care assessment needs to be done by nurses to guide in determining the frequency of oral care.


Aim To detect the expression development of proapoptic molecule C/EBP homology protein(CHOP)mRNA and protein,and explore its effect on neuronal apoptosis after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion in rats.Methods Transient focal cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)for 2 hours followed by reperfusion in sprague-dawley rats.Then,the expression of CHOP protein and/or mRNA were measured with methods of immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)at 1 h,3 h,6 h,12 h and 24 h after reperfusion in cerebral cortex of rats.The neuronal apoptosis was detected by the method of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling(TUNEL).Results In cerebral ischemia model group,the expression level of CHOP mRNA reached a peak at 12 h after reperfusion and that of CHOP protein reached a peak at 24 h after reperfusion,which paralleled with the tendency of neuronal apoptosis development.Conclusion Cerebral ischemia reperfusion may induce CHOP expression.CHOP may play an important role in neuronal apoptosis induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion.


The aim of this research was to describe the probabilistic thinking of elementary school students in solving contextual and non contextual probability tasks. The subject was a student of fifth grade and a communicative boy. The triangulation of data of subject was used in difference time. The data analysis was categorizing, reducing, explaining, interpreting and concluding data. The result showed that in non contextual probability tasks, he could determine all possible outcomes in onedimensional but failed in two-dimensional sample space. He failed in event and comparison probability tasks. He thought all events had opportunity to occur. However, in contextual probability tasks, he determined all possible outcomes in oneand two-dimensional sample space by using odometer strategy. Meanwhile, he used numerator strategy in solving probability event task to examine the part that corresponds to the event. In solving comparison probability task, he thought that a situation would give much more opportunity for target event, if it had a little bit sample space than other situation. This result was important for curriculum developer to introduce probability to elementary school students by probability contextual tasks related to their childhood.


This paper presents the results of our optimization study of 16 kb/s APC coders operating over noisy channels. With the objective of achieving good speech quality and a robust coder performance for channel bit-error rates of up to 1%, we have investigated a number of issues including: the tradeoff between voice-data bandwidth and error-protection bandwidth; the amount of error protection for individual transmission parameters; comparison of several residual coding methods; the relative performance of the two ways of sequencing the spectral and pitch predictors; use of folded binary code for encoding the quantized residual; and smoothing of the decoded residual. Most impressive of the several interesting and useful results reported in the paper is that the final optimized, robust coder design yields speech quality that degrades only slightly as the bit-error rate is increased from 0% to 1%.


1064nm laser usually is used to detect atmospheric environment.Based on Brillouin scattering frequency shift model of laser transmitting through medium and relative atmospheric data,an atmospheric detection model based on detecting Brillouin scattering signal of 1064 nm laser is established.In this model,Brillouin frequency shift is only correlative to the atmospheric altitude.The continuous distribution state of Brillouin frequency shift in the range of 0—1000km is described in detail.The result shows that atmospheric Brillouin frequency shift is distributed from 0.5—1.2 GHz at the altitude from 0—1000 km.This model presents the data agreeing well with practical data and has good continuity and generality.


Nighttime light data is a mainstay method in confirming and supporting other traditional economic data indicators, which in turn influence business and policy-making decisions. Accuracy in and clear definition of economic data and its related indicators are thus of great importance not only for analysis of urban development and related policies seeking sustainable development, but also plays a key role in whether or not these policies are successful. Discovering and recognizing the applications and limitations of nighttime light and other peripheral data could prove helpful in future data analysis and sustainable development policy. One possible limitation could exist in GDP decrease, and whether or not nighttime light would decrease accordingly, as most studies show nighttime light increase confirms economic growth, thus affecting the reliability of the data's correlation with economic data. This study utilizes nighttime light data in a cross-reference with GDP data during instances of global GDP shrinkage over the years of 2007–2017, split between 2007–2012 for the DMSP dataset and 2013–2017 for the VIIRs dataset. It seeks to establish through linear regression whether or not yearly average nighttime light data products show a positive correlation even during periods of economic decline, thereby providing a clearer understanding of the strengths and limitations of NTL as an economic validation indicator. Analysis shows that both years of global GDP decrease in turn also displayed global nighttime light decrease, in addition to linear regression giving satisfactory results pointing to a positive correlation over the timespan. The VIIRS data series resulted in higher regression coefficients, which is in line with the results of previous literature.


Developing and maintaining national plant pest lists helps fulfil international obligations for trading countries, and also provides a foundation for national biosecurity systems. However, if done, lists and analyses are rarely made publically available. We compiled a national plant pest list for Bhutan, a relatively small but agriculturally diverse country for which plant protection is a recent discipline. We treated this pest list as a case study to test the benefits and challenges of maintaining such lists. Six hundred and forty-five pest species were recorded across 64 different crops. Of those, only 17.0% were listed for Bhutan in the widely used CABI Crop Protection Compendium. Most species (86.4%) were first recorded during the initial discovery phase (1985–88) of a long-running European Community funded aid programme. Regular taxonomic changes means keeping pest lists up to date requires both effort and expertise (27.0% of the 407 species identified by 1988 have since undergone name changes). Confidence in taxonomic identifications reduced drastically as access to international expertise decreased, from about 69.1% of species being identified with high confidence prior to 1988 to 8.1% afterwards. Many recent records lacked reference material, and voucher specimens for older material are mostly located internationally, making any revision challenging. Of the best represented taxa, greatest taxonomic uncertainty was for nematodes and viruses. Similar patterns were evident for the 112 damaging pest species, defined as those that at least occasionally and locally cause significant losses or require management actions within Bhutan. Of the damaging pests identified to species, all but one was also recorded in India, Bhutan's most important trading partner, and only 16 were restricted to Asia. New damaging pests continue to be recorded, but only five species may represent new incursions since 1988. National pest lists are critical, but to be of greatest value they need to capture taxonomic uncertainty, and focus on pests of greatest significance. For most countries, the development, maintenance and use of a national plant pest list will require ongoing regional and global cooperation to overcome taxonomic impediments, and to maximise the benefits of such lists in terms of facilitating trade and guiding domestic biosecurity activities.


fat continuous edible product, structured, wherein the edible product contains, expressed on total product basis, a) less than 35% by weight of saturated fatty acids, b) between 20 and 100 wt% of a triglyceride composition c ) from 0 to 80% by weight of a filler material d) less than 15% by weight of water wherein the triglyceride composition contains with respect to the weight of the triglyceride composition e) less than 50 wt% saturates f) less than 10 wt% trans unsaturated fatty acids g) at least 10% by weight of triglycerides POP, in which P is a palmitic fatty acid, O is oleic acid, h) a ratio SUS / SUU of at least 1.3, wherein s is a saturated fatty acid having 16-18 carbon atoms and U is an unsaturated fatty acid having 18 carbon atoms or more i) a ratio SUS / S3 of at least 15 wherein S is a saturated fatty acid having 16-18 carbon atoms and U is an unsaturated fatty acid q ue has 18 carbon atoms or more j) at least 90% by weight of C8-18 fatty acids, b) a ratio of saturated fatty acids C16 / C18 of at least 1, k) has an SFC at 20C of between 3 and 55%.


Identification of the exact cause of a building fire is generally difficult, because the source and initially ignited objects are often severely damaged or even lost during the early stages of the fire. We made an experimental attempt to reasonably estimate the burning during the very early stages of a fire, and identify its source and causes. The case we studied was an apartment fire, which occurred in Tokyo, in July 2002. The fire was extinguished just after flashover, and the on-site investigations suggested the fire started from the TV and TV stand, which had been damaged so severely that it was difficult to conclude that the TV was the ultimate cause of the fire, simply from the on-site investigation. We conducted a series of burn tests using a TV and other products identical to those actually used in the apartment. Tests were set-up and procedures were carefully studied to recreate the conditions of the articles that remained, and of the room itself. The tests demonstrated that the conditions in the apartment could be recreated only when the fire started inside the TV and came into close contact with dresser.


Large distributed systems often require intelligent behavior. Although multiagent reinforcement learning can be applied to such systems, several yet unsolved challenges arise due to the large number of simultaneous learners. Among others, these include exponential growth of state-action spaces and coordination. In this work, we deal with these two issues. Therefore, we consider a subclass of stochastic games called cooperative sequential stage games. With the help of a stateless distributed learning algorithm we solve the problem of growing state-action spaces. Then, we present six different techniques to coordinate action selection during the learning process. We prove a property of the learning algorithm that helps to reduce computational costs of one technique. An experimental analysis in a distributed agent partitioning problem with hundreds of agents reveals that the proposed techniques can lead to higher quality solutions and increase convergence speed compared to the basic approach. Some techniques even outperform a state-of-the-art special purpose approach.


Stellar evolutionary tracks for metal-rich HB stars have been used to construct synthetic population models for the peculiar HB clump in NGC 6553. Although the uncertainties are large, it is possible to derive an age for NGC 6553 in the range 8-13 Gyr, which supports the idea that the disk globular cluster system is younger than the oldest stars in the Galactic halo and bulge.


Background: Acute Myocardial Infarction is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. Now there are a number of drugs for Thrombolysis but still Streptokinase is used in many of the centers because of the ease of availability and less cost. ST segment elevation resolution following thrombolysis is simple, non-invasive, accessible tool for the assessment of coronary reperfusion. Objective of the present study was to assess the efficacy of thrombolysis in Acute STEMI patients, with respect to resolution of ST-elevation on treatment with streptokinase and also to predict short term outcome during hospital stay in terms of adverse events and mortality.Methods: 60 Acute STEMI patients who had received thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase were studied in three groups namely Category A, Category B and Category C based on ST segment resolution after administration of thrombolytic therapy.Results: Of 60 patients, 9 patients (15%) had <30% ST resolution (no STR), 26 patients (43.3%) had 30-70% ST resolution (partial STR), 25 patients (41.7%) had >70% ST resolution (complete STR).Conclusions: In the present study we conclude that the efficacy of IV streptokinase for thrombolysis in acute STEMI is 41.7%. Patients with no resolution of ST segment 90 minutes following thrombolysis associated with more frequent adverse events and increased mortality compare to partial and complete resolution group.


The paper is aimed at evaluating the impact of the combustion model on the accuracy of the results of the numerical simulations of turbulent reactive flows. For this, two numerical simulations of the well known Sandia Flame D case are carried out: a three-dimensional RANS integration of the Navier–Stokes equations using the Eddy Dissipation combustion Model (EDM), and a one-dimensional one, where simplified reaction–diffusion equations are numerically integrated over the radial direction, while the axial convection is modeled by empirical laws. The one-dimensional simulation, however, is based on a more physics related combustion model, the Linear Eddy Mixing model, which also controls the radial turbulent mixing and the large scale radial convection.The results of the two numerical simulations are compared to experimental data in the literature, showing a significantly better accuracy of the Linear Eddy Mixing (LEM) numerical simulation.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


This work was carried out at Itambe Experimental Station, in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, to study biomass and nutrient distribution in stands of Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia Benth. Two stands with similar soil and topographical conditions were studied, involving plants eight and eleven years old, at 3.0 x 3.0 m and 4.5 x 4.5 m spacing, respectively. The biomass of each tree component was determined. Samples of leaves, branches, bark and stem were collected and chemically analyzed. Total biomass was 66.22 and 80.78 t/ha in stands I and II, respectively. Biomass distribution in stands I and II was: branches (44.99 and 53.40%), wood (51.53 and 44.58%), bark (2.39 and 1.40%) and leaves (1.10 and 0.62%). Nutrients of the components for both stands showed the following concentration trend: Nitrogen > Calcium > Potassium > Magnesium > Sulfur > Phosphorus.


Abstract: The efforts to improve Islamic-based economic welfare are carried out through Islamic cooperative services. Islamiccooperativecontributes to providing services based on Islamic values to manage financing based on the principle of cooperation based on profit sharing from joint business activities. Business activities carried out in Islamiccooperativeare in the form of accumulating capital from members' savings and loans and used as savings/investments for members. Financial investment can be one of the solutions in dealing with economic recession. This is the aim of this study to describe the management of the Darun Nahdla Capita Islamic cooperative business activities as a business entity that can assist members in improving welfare and overcoming economic problems. This type of research is qualitative, with data collection through observation, interviews, questionnaires, and documentation, the data is then managed through the stages of data collection, data reduction and classification, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. Through this research, it can be described the level of member satisfaction with the very satisfied category both in service and business management and the role or position of the Darun Nahdla Capita Islamiccooperative is very important in helping members improve their welfare. In addition, through the business activities carried out, namely the savings and loan business, it can become a member's financial investment as well as a solution to the economic recession.


The moment of arrival becomes an important opportunity for cultural exchange in an urban environment. This exchange can be both the physical exchange between two places or it can be the experiential exchange between two or more disparate groups. These moments of exchange are an elusive experience for visitors as well as residents and are easily forgotten. Expressing the space of the traveler, an interactive space between locals and visitors, can raise cultural awareness between the most prominent groups as well as the marginalized groups, creating a more cohesive urban imaginary. The major exchange hub in Seattle, Washington speaks to this opportunity, where the existing intermodal stations are physically separated by a void that is 100' across and more than three football fields long. This void has occupied the edge of the historical Pioneer Square district since the construction of the stations in 1910. The idea of the new intermodal landscape is not to erase this void entirely, but to continue the ongoing palimpsest of the urban environment. The space of the traveler is a space largely dedicated to views and orientation, and how these help travelers of all kinds to understand the city in a better way. In this way the new intermodal hub will be both internalized yet inseparable from its surroundings. Connecting the multiple points of transit exchange with a unifying public space can allow for this idea of cultural exchange in a highly accessible part of the city. Along the way, interstices at different scales allow for a multitude of activities that are able to cater to all needs of the public. vi GRAVITY, WEIGHTINESS, AND PERMANENCE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH ARCHITECTURE. FLEETINGNESS, UNPREDICTABILITY, OPENING, AND CONNECTION ARE ASSOCIATED WITH LIFE. OUR BUILDINGS MUST ACCOMODATE AND CELEBRATE LIFE. JOSEP LUIS MATEO Mateo, Josep Luis. "How to Draw Up a Project" from Nature and Abstraction AWARENESS AT A THRESHOLD Exploration of Pubic Space through Urban Exchange AWARENESS AT A THRESHOLD Exploration of Pubic Space through Urban Exchange MANIFESTO THE BUILT WORLD IN A BUILT WORLD The desire for a place within the world, is why we create. Architecture is the way man has evolved from animals to conscious creates. At a certain point, a certain function was required and mankind began to design. All design is inspired by the mind, an overflowing collection of the natural. Nature contains structure, reason, and beauty. These are elements that man has taken from nature (their mind) and used in the creation of their own natural civilizations. Humans, like other animals, build for themselves a sanctuary for survival in the physical world. Humans, unlike other animals, build for themselves a sanctuary for survival in the psychic world. This separation of sanctuaries has granted man with responsibility. What humans create in their mental sanctuary becomes that which separates them from other animals. The human built environment should be a sanctuary where man understands his place in the world and desires to make it better. This can be done through the understanding of the needs and desires of others. The relationships made between people come from their desires in life, and this creates culture. The digital age we live in tends to blur cultures into something that can be understood as a global culture. Within the global culture are all of the sub-niche cultures, thriving in all areas of the world, because of a certain spirit of a place. Globalization seeks to unify cultures with very mixed results. The results mix, possibly, because of the use of the machine. Since it is ultimately the machine that has globalized our world, the machine will be the determining factor of the results. The machine must be used to better our everyday experiences but without creating complication and ambiguity. Our problem lies with our submission to the machine. There are desires for certain functions, and certain outcomes. Function can either mean how something is used, or how the idea functions in one's mind. Aesthetics perform no physical function but play a large role in psychical function. An architectural project should result in a performance suited for the desired functions. The architectural project should transcend the needs of the physical project and also be linked with concerns such as cultures, sustainable mentalities, and identities. This is what makes architecture unique, the deeper meaning to what has been built. Planning as a creation of our knowledge. Our environment is a result of our reactions to the current situation. Once we develop an understanding of that situation we start planning for development, ways in which the environment could be bettered. Based on the outcomes of the plans, we gain further predictability, and this continues the cycle. Everything should be considered cyclical by nature, and the built environment should reflect these cycles. Historical preservation should be used as a way to keep stories of these many cycles. Without these stories there is no possibly of dialogue and we are lost in ambiguity. You cannot make a good point if no one around you is making any sense. Our ability to generally rationalize nature should be our clue to always listen, and build accordingly. When our built environment becomes directly associated with the natural environment, we become much more aware of its wonder. 1 AWARENESS AT A THRESHOLD Exploration of Pubic Space through Urban Exchange PROBLEM STATEMENT PROBLEM THEMES globalization lost sense of place, time and culture the need for history, identity and relations psychological effects of blurred cultures the "non-place" traveler's space moment of arrival Augé, Marc. (1995). Non-places: introduction to an anthropology of Supermodernity. London, Verso, p. 78 2 Many cities in the United States suffer from the difficulties of clearly establishing their culture for both visitors and residents because of the adverse effects of globalization. Transit hubs act as a threshold into a new place for visitors, and their first perceptions of a city become crucial to their overall imaginary of the place. These thresholds can become one of two types of environments, one of which nurtures and the other deprives. The negative environment of the traveler's space is known as the "non-place" and exists in most cities and towns. The "non-place" lacks history, culture, and regional relations that make a specific place unique. Non-places usually take the form of transitory spaces which are only meant to be passed through and forgotten, such as highways and airports. The moment of arrival creates a unique situation in any place; both the physical and conceptual meanings of arrival reflect the city's attitudes and progression towards the past and future. When a threshold lacks the capability of informing people about a city's history and culture, the transition space has a negative, dehumanizing effect on the city, becoming altogether forgotten in the experience. Affecting how someone feels when they have arrived [or left] a place becomes an important architectural repsonsibility to be addressed in any city or town. To quote Josep Luis Mateo, "our buildings must accommodate and celebrate life," and I believe the temporal spaces of the traveler must do the same inorder for our environments to remain humane. AWARENESS AT A THRESHOLD Exploration of Pubic Space through Urban Exchange ALVAR AALTO'S MODERNISM EPISODIC HUMANISM IN ARCHITECTURE


We consider the problem of downlink channel estimation in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, where both transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) are equipped with uniform planar array (UPA). The acquisition of channel state information (CSI) is important for subsequent signal detection and beamforming. To obtain the CSI accurately, the behavior of minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) channel estimator is studied, the main difficulty of which is the recovery of channel covariance matrix. In this paper, the channel covariance matrix is formulated under kronecker channel model, and the correlation of different antennas is formulated by the classical exponential model. Based on this model, the channel covariance matrix can be represented as a parameterized matrix, and the recovery of channel covariance matrix can be converted to an optimization problem of two parameters. An explicit solution is provided as channel estimator for independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) channels, while an alternate optimization algorithm is proposed to iteratively estimate the channel covariance matrix and the channel as well for correlated channels. The proposed algorithms improve the performance in exchange of computational complexity, and do not require extra pilot overhead. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed methods.


The present invention is a man-made fibers, and the the comprising a filler mixed into the synthetic fibers, and the filler, by irradiating a filler, or laser beams to discoloration by irradiation of the laser beam appears to be a full discoloration filler mixture of fibers or fibrous materials to provide. Filler to discoloration by irradiation of the laser beam is preferably barium sulfate or trioxide Ian Timmons. The filler, the average particle size of about or less 15㎛ particle form. When irradiated with a laser beam the fiber or fiber product of the invention, so that the fibers of the irradiated portion discolored, it is possible to produce a fine markings on the individual yarn or filament yarn of the fiber or fiber product.


Reduction of active power losses in distribution networks is an important issue, which is usually addressed through a separate, sequential, or simultaneous feeder reconfiguration (FR), volt-var regulation (e.g., capacitor placement, CP), and control of distributed energy resources (DERs). However, finding optimal solution for a coordinated FR, CP, and DER control requires significant computational efforts, which are additionally increased when variations in loading conditions are considered. Therefore, load variations are usually neglected in related analysis, although changes in power flows influence changes in network losses and, consequently, optimal controls for FR, CP and DERs. This paper presents the analysis of both benefits and disadvantages of including not only the peak demands, but also different loading conditions for a coordinated implementation of FR, CP and DER controls for the reduction of losses. The analysis is illustrated on the several distribution test networks and using representative load patterns from the existing literature. The obtained results suggest that the inclusion of load variations requires significantly longer computational times, but in some cases affects optimal solutions for FR, CP and DER controls (their numbers, locations and settings).


Introduction It has been estimated that smokers tend to fail to report unsuccessful quit attempts that lasted a short time and occurred a longer time ago. However, it is unclear whether the failure to report unsuccessful quit attempts varies by the type of cessation aid used. Methods A total of 5,892 smokers aged 16+ years who had made 1+ quit attempts in the past year were surveyed between January 2014 and December 2020 as part of the Smoking Toolkit Study. Respondents indicated when their most recent quit attempt started, how long it lasted, and which cessation aid(s) were used (e.g., unaided, varenicline, and behavioural support). The percentage failure to report for each cessation aid and 95% bootstrap confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated with an established method. Test for equality of proportions was performed to examine whether quit attempts lasting between one day and one week and that started >6 months ago failed to be reported at a different rate depending on the cessation aid used. Results We estimated that after three months, 97% (95% CI = 96%-98%) of unaided quit attempts lasting less than one day, 80% (95% CI = 79%-81%) of those lasting between one day and one week, and 60% (95% CI = 59%-61%) of those lasting between one week and one month fail to be reported. Compared with unaided attempts, the estimated percentage failure to report quit attempts that lasted between one day and one week and that started >6 months ago was significantly lower for attempts involving behavioural support (92% of unaided attempts vs. 75% of attempts involving behavioural support, χ2(1) = 9.29, p = 0.002). No other significant differences were detected. Conclusions Smokers in England appear to fail to report a substantial proportion of unsuccessful quit attempts. This failure appears particularly prominent for attempts that last a short time or occurred longer ago and appears lower for attempts involving behavioural support compared with unaided attempts.


Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries are basically commodity-based economies. Despite a remarkable socioeconomic progress when compared to their pre-oil past, they are now facing problems arising from a predominant dependence on oil, lack of skill-diversity among nationals, over-dependence on expatriates, growing need for public services with increasing population, and insufficient innovation. Despite rising literacy rates realigning their workforce to the job-markets has remained elusive. A diversified, knowledge-based economic model is a solution to the problems and it basically depends on universal, equitable and quality education for the nationals. An extensive review of available literature has been undertaken to study the current problems and to come up with appropriate solutions. The governments alone, despite their oil-wealth, were found unequal to the task of catering to the growing educational needs. Private sector involvement, including privatization and public-private partnership, was found to provide more finances, reduce the state fiscal burden, and enhance efficiency, productivity, innovation, accountability and transparency in education delivery, besides offering better quality in higher education. A holistic long-term plan would be needed to achieve the objectives, while overcoming some of the constraints of the private sector. That is the focus of present study for a suitable educational policy in the context of GCC countries. Such studies may, in the future, also be extended to include the Middle East and North African [MENA] countries.


The fledgling pen computing community is 40 years old and except for small applications and text entry on PDA-like devices, pen interfaces and computing are generally still a curiosity. By some estimates, it takes 30 years for technologies (e.g., the mouse and GUI) to transfer from the lab to popular use. Are there changes we can make within the community to accelerate progress?


In this work barium hexaferrite films for self-biased nonreciprocal devices are produced by means of the sol-gel method. The effect of the drying temperature on the film surface is examined via scanning electron microscopy. The influence of the crystallization temperature and the composition of the precursors on secondary phases is analyzed via X-ray diffraction analysis. Measurements of a coplanar waveguide with a barium hexaferrite thin-film show nonreciprocal behavior at the ferromagnetic resonant frequency in the Q-band without external biasing field.


Objective:To explore the therapeutic effect of Zigui Compound Tablets on the treatment of vitiligo guinea pig model and expound its treatment mechanism to provide experimental basis for clinical applications,Methods:Vitiligo guinea pig models were made by hydrogen peroxide and these test guinea pigs were randomly divided into low,medium and high dose groups,a positive control group and a normal control group.After the treatment with Zigui Compound Tablets,a comparison between the model group and the positive drug group was made to observe the changes of administration site,the total effectiveness,and the Lillie special staining histological changes of melanocyte ferrous sulfate.Result:The visual study showed that the complexion of the treatment group become lighter than that of the model group.The total effectiveness of the high-dose treatment group was higher than that of the model group and the positive drug group(P0.05) and the total effectiveness increased and the dose increased.The histological observation showed that the skin epidermal basal layer,spinous layer and hair follicle melanin of the guinea pigs increased and the number of melanin hair follicle of the high-dose treatment group was more than that of the model group and the positive drug group(P0.05).With an increasing dose of treatment,there was an increasing trend.Conclusion:Zigui Compound Tablets can promote active melanocyte proliferation and the formation of melanin,thus having a better therapeutic effect on vitiligo guinea pig model.


Primary Examiner-Peter Nerbun 57 ABSTRACT The button hole presser foot engages longitudinally slidably in a frame like slide which is taken along with the sewing material. The slide comprises a cord stretched in the longitudinal direction which encircles the lower end of a shaft of the presser foot shank. At the top end of the shaft is provided an impeller through which a light beam of a light source emerges toward a optoelectric transducer. During the sewing operation the slide moves with the sewing material and it drives the impeller which generates pulses each corresponding to a step of the motion of the sewing material, respec tively of the slide. For determining the length of the cords, a determined number of steps, respectively of pulses is counted each time. This permits a reliable and precise determination of the length of the cords.


Objective:To analyze the application of small dose sufentanil anesthesia in caesarean operation.Method:54 cases of pregnant women with cesarean section in our hospital to receive treatment from August 2012 to August 2013,and they were divided into the observation group and the control group,the anesthesia with bupivacaine for pregnant women in the control group,the pregnant women in the observation group were plused small dose sufentanil on the basis of control group.Finally,to compare the anesthesia effect of two groups of patients.Result:The fetal Apgar score and the Bromage score had no statistical significance in two groups(P0.05);the VSA score was significantly lower in the observation group than that of the control group,there was statistical significance(P0.05). Conclusion:The application of small dose sufentanil in cesarean section,to pregnant women can pull a pain effectively reduce,worthy of promotion.


[1] Several independent time series of variations ΔC 21 , ΔS 21 , and ΔC 20 in Earth's gravity field are compared for the period April 2002 to May 2007. We examine estimates from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), Earth rotation variations, climate models, and satellite laser ranging (SLR). Recently released GRACE solutions show significant improvement relative to earlier results, especially for ΔC 21 and ΔS 21 . At the annual period, all estimates agree remarkably well, and good correlation is found among time series at intraseasonal periods. In general, Earth rotation values for ΔC 21 and ΔS 21 , and SLR values for ΔC 20 agree best with GRACE estimates. GRACE ΔC 20 time series are contaminated by aliased ocean tide model errors. SLR ΔC 21 and ΔS 21 time series have been reported without an ocean pole tide (OPT) correction and with an older Solid Earth Pole Tide (SEPT) model. After correcting for OPT and SEPT deficiencies, SLR ΔC 21 and ΔS 21 time series show improved agreement with other estimates.


Ever since the first boiler produced the first pound of steam, water treatment options have befuddled plant operators. Today we well understand the chemical reactions of various additives and the corrosion mechanisms that cause boiler tube failures. Marrying those two fields and identifying a clear-cut approach to successfully treating boiler water and feedwater continues to be one of today's biggest challenges to plant operators. Here are some old and new treatment options you should consider.


Based on the necessity of developing an economic evaluation system of forestry construction project with computer,this paper introduces the system framework,its corresponding function modules,the choice of software tools and IPO of economic evaluation system of forestry construction project in detail.This system will achieve the calculation of indexes and report's auto-output,which provide basis for investment decision-making.


Mobile device batteries have severely limited capacities, due to constraints on size and weight of mobile devices. Therefore, energy efficiency of mobile devices plays an important role in their usability. Different power measurement studies show that cellular subsystem of mobile device is one of the major contributors to its energy consumption. Thus, reducing energy consumption of cellular subsystem is paramount. In this paper, a new concept of pre-grant message for control plane is introduced, aiming to reduce energy consumption of cellular subsystem in downlink, while discontinuous reception is activated. Performance of the proposed scheme in terms of false alarm and misdetection are investigated, and evaluated in AWGN and Rayleigh fading channel. The obtained numerical results show that such a signaling can reduce power consumption of mobile device by up to 70% for bursty data applications, at the cost of negligible increments in signaling overhead.


The invention relates to an organometallic polymer ceramic precursor, and a preparation method and application thereof. The organometallic polymer ceramic precursor is prepared by copolymerization of a double-bond-containing organometallic zirconium or titanium or hafnium monomer and a boron-containing monomer. By using the organometallic polymer ceramic precursor for preparing M(Zr,Ti,Hf)-B-C ceramic, the ceramic yield is up to 40-60%, and the content of the super-high-temperature-resistant component (ZrC/ZrB2,TiC/TiB2,HfC/HfB2) in the prepared ceramic material is higher than 70 wt%. When being treated at 2000 DEG C for 2 hours, the organometallic polymer ceramic precursor is not subjected to obvious weight loss, thereby having favorable high-temperature resistance.


A catalytic route for enantioselective synthesis of homoallyl amines through Cu(II)-Schiff base catalyzed reaction of allyltin with aryl, alkenyl-substituted N-sulfonylimines is described. The allylation reaction is promoted by a simple in situ generated Cu(II)-amino alcohol based Schiff base complex. The addition of allyltin to aldimines delivers the desired products up to 90% yield and 98% enantiomeric excess (ee). Based on experimental observations a probable mechanism was proposed for this reaction. The current methodology was extended to the synthesis of β-phenylalanine in good yield and very good enantioselectivity.


For the past years until now, Zimbabwe is experiencing power outages that have a drastic impact on the nation's economy, education and health system. The objective of this paper is to propose a scalable optimal solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (PV-CSP) hybrid system that can generate electricity to minimize load-shedding and improve electricity access to the nation's population. Considering the geographical location and the availability of the renewable resources, Southern Africa experiences more sun hours in a day compared to wind and rainfall. The installed, hydropower and coal-fired power plants were able to sufficiently meet the energy demands in Zimbabwe, however urbanisation and the growth of the nation's population as well as the increasing number of new energy consuming equipment in the recent years have promoted load-shedding within the country. Fossil fuels are continuously depleting, and climate change has a huge impact on the amount of rainfall which is affecting the hydro-power plants. Considering the decent number of unhindered sun-hours in Zimbabwe, the hybridization of CSP and PV technologies is a promising collaboration. The low cost of PV power production and the dispatchability of CSP, coupled with thermal energy storage (TES), can deliver electricity, stabilize the grid and meet the energy demands at a lower cost than what could be achieved with CSP alone or with PV alone. The integration of CSP and PV has a high possibility of reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) with the least greenhouse gas emission compared to other hybrids integrated with fossil-fuel. PV-CSP hybrid may have an increase in capital costs and sometimes the cost of electricity however, large scale integration of PV and CSP can have a slight increase in the cost of electricity at night as both the systems will be using their stored energy, but a guaranteed stable grid will be provided.


We obtain exact formulas for central values of triple product L-functions averaged over newforms of weight 2 and prime level. We apply these formulas to non-vanishing problems. This paper uses a period formula for the triple product L-function proved by Gross and Kudla.


The microwave radio links above 5 GHz suffer from attenuation due to precipitation. The need for employing higher frequencies has therefore encouraged research into rain attenuation due to precipitation. The natural variations of tropical precipitation occur in a wide range of time-scales, so does probably the behavior of radio communication links. This paper examines the variations of cumulative distribution of rainfall in Sumatra from an optical rain gauge measurement with a near continuous record of operation over eleven consecutive years (2002-2012). The worst month statistics were also examined and all results were compared with the ITU-R model. Of some natural variations of rainfall rate investigated, the diurnal variation had the most significant effect on the cumulative distribution of rainfall rate. The ITU-R model overestimated the rainfall rate for the first half of the day (00:00-11:59 LT) whereas it underestimated the rainfall rate until 0.01% of time for the second half of the day (12:00-23:59 LT) before the model starts to overestimate. The ITU model overestimated 52.85% of rainfall rate at 0.01% of time for the first half of the day and underestimates 7.59% for the second half. Considerable differences between the recorded data and the ITU-R model for the annual, seasonal, and intreaseasonal variations are only significant at small time percentage (≤ 0.01%). The relationship of worst month statistics was also slightly different from the ITU-R model. This result reinforces the previous studies on the limitation of the ITU-R model for the tropical region.


Amidst the global healthcare landscape, the menace of snakebite envenoming (SBE) has persisted, silently afflicting millions and annually claiming tens of thousands of lives [...]


Based on two kinds of experimental regression and fitting relationship between coefficient of permeability and void ratio as well as the relationship between effective stress and void ratio of soil,an expression between coefficient of consolidation and effective stress is derived.A series of calculation examples and laboratory test are conducted to study the variety law of coefficient of consolidation of soft soil with different consolidation stress under compression,and proposes the cubic polynomial regression and fitting equation on coefficient of consolidation of soft soil considering effective stress.The obtained results verified that when the variety in coefficient of consolidation of soft soil under an increase of effective stress is considered,consolidation rate of soft soil foundation is usually faster(Cc/Ck1),or slower(Cc/Ck1)than traditional Terzaghi consolidation theoretical calculation of it.The proposed result reduces to Terzaghi's theory for a special case of Cc/Ck=1.An unified cubic polynomial fitting relationship between coefficient of consolidation and effective stress is adopted in a very good fitting effect.The positive results can increase the accuracy for the numerical analysis of consolidation,and deformation rate of soft soil foundation can be predicted accurately.


Background: This paper describes the validation of a 'condition-specific' quality of life (QoL) assessment tool for lymphoedema of the limbs (LYMQOL).

Aims: To ascertain whether the tool could accurately assess QoL in this patient group.

Methods: Face and content validity were assessed by patient questionnaires; criterion validity by comparison with European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire - Core 30 questions (EORTC QLQ-C30); internal validity by Cronbach's Alpha and split half-testing of each domain; reliability by the test-retest method; construct validity by comparing LYMQOL score with initial limb volume and responsiveness by measuring changes in score following treatment.

Results: The tool was validated in a total of 209 patients. Face, content, criterion and interval validity were supported. However, there was no correlation between initial limb volume and LYMQOL score (construct validity), a finding which is similar to that from other studies. The validation of responsiveness was limited by the small numbers of responses at three and six months after the initial assessment.

Conclusions: LYMQOL is a validated condition-specific QoL assessment tool which can be used for lymphoedema of the limbs both in clinical assessment and as an outcome measure.


The Central Valley of California is renowned for the crop production and animal agriculture and became the dependent source of agricultural productions. The increasing dependability led the farmers to produce more crops than ever before. The objective of maximizing agricultural yields may increase the chance of higher nitrate concentration in the tile drainage as well as in the groundwater as the yield is related to the fertilizer and water applications. While the purpose of the tile drainage is to remove additional water from the soil to provide optimum moisture and water content for the higher yield, unscheduled and unmonitored tile drainage may cause nitrate leaching to groundwater. In this regard, soil type plays an important role. Poor soil quality may accelerate the leaching process. Additionally, the fertilizer and water applications are functions of crop type among many other parameters. Hence, the crop type can indirectly influence the nitrate concentrations in the tile drainage. The growing concern in the Central Valley drinking water quality led the researchers to revisit the relationships between the agricultural management practices and tile drainage nitrate concentrations as the poor drinking water quality specially the drinking water with higher nitrate concentration may cause fatal infant blood diseases and cancers. This paper considers a few parameters in the agricultural management practices including fertilizer application and water application to observe their relationships with tile drainage nitrate concentration. Historical data from Kings and Kern counties in California has been analyzed through different sensitivity and correlation coefficient analyses including Pearson product-moment and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to observe these relationships.


Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare endocrine malignancy with an incidence rate of 1 to 2 per million. Clinical symptoms are mainly related to an excess of steroid hormones or tumor bulk. The most common metastatic sites are the liver, lungs, lymph nodes and bone. Surgical resection remains the cornerstone of treatment. The case mentioned here has two rare characteristics. First that spontaneous rupture of ACC is very rare and secondly associated splenic sub capsular hematoma has never been reported. A 63 year old non-hypertensive male presented in the emergency department with the complaints of pain and gradually increasing lump in the left side of abdomen since last 3 months. On initial clinical examination he was diagnosed to have splenomegaly by emergency medical officer. USG showed to have splenomegaly and left suprarenal mass lesion for which he was referred to urology department. CECT of abdomen revealed heterogeneously enhancing left adrenal ruptured mass lesion with involvement of left kidney and large splenic sub capsular hematoma (13.8x3.2x14.8cms). CEMR findings correlated to CECT. Serum cortisol and urinary metanephrines were normal. Patient was planned for surgery and intraoperatively was found to have locally extensive adrenal tumor with large sub capsular splenic hematoma with left kidney involvement. Adrenalectomy, nephrectomy and splenectomy was done with the palliative intent which relieved patient symptomatically. HPE of specimen showed it to be adrenocortical carcinoma. Though spontaneous rupture of pheochromocytoma and cysts is reported in literature, to our knowledge this is the first reported case of spontaneous adrenocortical carcinoma rupture with sub capsular splenic


Abstract This research seeks to establish a double parallel between cinema and modern architecture, focusing on a moment of refounding of both  disciplines, the early twentieth century. We will be based on two seminal characters: DW Griffith and Albert Kahn. We will explore a temporal and geographical parallelism in their main evolutionary lines, which run through a similar way in the beginning, from the U.S to the U.S.S.R, to return again to the place of origin. This trip was triggered by the arrival to the USSR of  the first copies of the film "Intolerance" in 1918 and the arrival of Albert  Kahn in 1928 for the realization of numerous industrial projects during the First Five-Year Plan. Furthermore, we will explore a more conceptual  parallelism, studying the use of the notion of assembly in both disciplines  during that period, using again the work of our two main characters as the basis for research, but also leaning on other essential actors for that issue, like are Eisenstein and Miliutin.


A simple, fast, economical, accurate, precise and reproducible RP – HPLC method with ultraviolet detection at 220 nm has been validated for the simultaneous determination of Amoxicilline and Clavulanique acid. A good chromatographic separation between both compounds was achieved using a reversed phase C18 column and a mobile phase, consisting of Acetonitril / NaH 2 PO 4 .buffer pH = 4.4). The method was validated in terms of specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, and robustness. This fully validated method, which allows the simultaneous measurement of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid in different formulations, is rapid (total run time <7 min). This assay is suitable for routine quality control of drugs


Much as I dislike discussions which have anything of the character of controversy, I am tempted by the interest I naturally take in Cuneiform research, to put together a few explanatory notes, with a view of remedying the confusion that Dr. Hincks's recent publications in the Literary Gazette have introduced into certain later portions of the Assyrian and Babylonian history.