The topic of competitive priorities has attracted many of those interested in manufacturing strategy and stimulated a number of surveys in manufacturing industry. Much of this empirical work concentrates on large companies in industrialised economies while asserting the general applicability of findings. In contrast the survey reported here was conducted in a newly industrialising country, Turkey, focusing on small to medium‐sized manufacturing enterprises. Key personnel in 41 companies were questioned about the priorities of cost, quality, flexibility and, in particular, time. Process innovations, since these enable improvements in competitive priorities, were also examined. General similarities were evident between the Turkish, other European, and US situations. However, certain elements of quality and time were not ranked as highly in Turkey and the adoption levels of process innovations were lower. In contrast to US data, connections between competitiveness and time‐related performance measures were not apparent. Conclusions were drawn that Turkish manufacturing industry was generally at an earlier, quality‐dependent, stage in developing competitiveness and that time‐based competition was not yet evident.


The purpose of this article is to find the methods improving the navigator's competence level during the education process in the maritime educational institutions and extension courses. The research results are displayed in the paper. The research tasks are determination of navigator's subjective perception of own training level in educational institutions, which they have been graduated from; identifying dependencies and patterns of the obtained results from such personal data as the form and level of education, age, position and work experience. As a result, it is determined that 66 % of the respondents believe that the obtained knowledge is sufficient for work. Thus there is a shortage of skilled specialists among navigators – 34 % of navigators, graduated from the maritime educational institution, even on their own opinion, do not have enough knowledge and competence to perform their own duties after graduation. Data concerning the navigator's subjective perception of the education quality in educational institutions, which they have been graduated from, its dependencies from the personal data are the important step on the way of creating the navigator's professiogram. Actuality of professiogram use as a part of psychophysiological selection when entering the maritime educational institutions to the Navigation Department are emphasized by the navigators working nowadays: 78 % of the respondents expressed an opinion that psychophysiological selection is necessary. The derived results have a subjective nature and very important, but not decisive. A deeper objective study based on the entering and graduating testing on the extension courses to clarify the obtained results is planning. It is suggested to revise the extension courses organization and introduce the differentiated approach based on the entering testing results. The proper use of professiogram with wellconsidered criteria when entering the Navigation Department of the maritime educational institutions, as well as differentiated approach to the navigators in the extension courses are able to become the one of key decisions for the qualitative step towards improvement of the navigator's competence level. This step will lead to the positive trends in risk mitigation, increasing safety of navigation and shipboard operations.


This study describes the philosophy of language in the interpretation of al-Fatihah and its relevance to the concept of Islamic education based on tazkiyat al-nafs. This study investigates the problem of the interpretation of the letter al-Fatihah in the interpretation of Rabbil 'ālamīn, to draw different conclusions from the previous interpretation. This research rests on the research problem, how is the methodology of interpreting Surah al-Fatihah relevant to Rabbil 'ālamīn as the spirit of education. The method used in this study is contextual interpretation which investigates the fundamental understanding of Surah al-Fatihah and other verses, and their relation to research data so that they become the researcher's personal opinion. The findings of this research explain that Surah al-Fatihah is an abstraction from divine books and the Quran. The interpretation of al-Fatihah which is relevant to the interpretation of Rabbil 'ālamīn as the spirit of education, shows that Islamic education is open to all human beings. The relevance of al-Fatihah's interpretation with the concept of education is represented by the philosophy of education about nature, life and humans. The interpretations that are relevant to the educational component are educational objectives, educational subjects, learning materials and outcomes, as well as educational facilities. While tazkiyat al-nafs in the concept of education relates to tauhid asmā wa shifātihi, monotheism rububiyah and monotheism uluhiyah, and ihsān.


This paper analytically derived the optimum condition of coupling efficiency for the lossy double ring resonator. Using this condition, a new concept of nonblocking wavelength switch using a series-coupled ring resonator is proposed. The crosstalk characteristics of the wavelength switch were investigated using the transfer matrix. Using this optimum condition, the crosstalk of the wavelength switch can be reduced.


In many commercial EPNs-based biopesticide companies, formulations ranging from the impregnation of EPNs on artificial sponge to highly advanced granular formulations have been developed. Major challenges have included the development of room-temperature shelf stability, ease of use, and contamination control. The aim of this work was to evaluate the suitability of two indigenous EPNs, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (BA1) and Steinernema carpocapsae (BA2), for formulation and storage on Hydrogel, Kaolinite and Calcium Alginate at room temperature. The survival and virulence of both nematodes in the three formulations were discussed. Comparing the two nematodes, it was found that the storage potential of BA2 juveniles was only superior to that of BA1 in case of formulation with Calcium alginate. The pathogenicity of the two EPNs in the three formulations was tested against the wax moth, Galleria mellonella. It was concluded that BA2 was more virulent than BA1 to the larvae of the wax moth, G. mellonella in all tested formulae.


Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of combined treatment of traditional chinese with west-ern medicine on nephrotic syndrome purpuric nephritis. Methods Sixty - five cases with nephrotic syndrome purpuric ne-phritis were divided randomly into treatment group and control group. Thirty - five cases in treatment group were treated by combined treatment of traditional chinese with western medicine, 30 cases in control group were treated only by western medicine. Results The effective rate in treatment group was 94.3%, which was significantly higher than that in control group(73.3% ) (P < 0.05). The side effect in treatment group was 22.9%, which was significantly lower than that in control group(66.7%) (P < 0.01). There was significant difference in urinary protein of 24 h pro, serum albumine,cho-lesterol before and after treatment, which was superior to those in control group (P < 0.01). Conclusions The effect of combined treatment of traditional chinese with western medicine is obviously superior to that of western medicine alone in improving prognosis of nephrotic syndrome purpuric nephritis and decreasing the incidence of adverse effect.

Key words:
Nephritic syndrome; Nephritis, purpuric;  Traditional chinese medicine to nephritic syndrome purpuric nephritis


Bedlam correspondence frameworks are being contemplated persistently because of the security and bit of leeway of chaos correspondence framework like its characteristics, for example, non-consistency, non-occasional, wide band and simple implementation. In this exploration, we are going to utilize turmoil correspondence to improve bit mistake rate (BER) execution of the framework. The current research says that the BER execution of the framework is terrible and it is the significant inconvenience of the correspondence framework. We propose disarray correspondence framework utilizing 2X2 MIMO (Multi Input Multi Output)procedure which uses relationship defer move keying (CDSK) and BER execution is assessed over Rayleigh MIMO blurring channel. We are utilizing MIMO encoding procedure in light of the fact that the limit of information is relative to the number r of radio wire, if numerous reception apparatuses are connected to turmoil correspondence framework. So it is great way applying numerous - input and various yield (MIMO) to the Chaos correspondence framework and after that assess BER execution by applying disorder map. The interest for high information rate without obstruction is expanding definitely. So we are utilizing the idea of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) which gives high information rates just as substantially more data transfer capacity effectiveness when contrasted with other regulation procedures.


The invention discloses a seed coating agent which comprises active components. Active components comprise sterilizing agents and insecticides, the sterilizing agents comprise thifluzamide and tebuconazole, the insecticides comprise clothianidin, the weight ratio of the sterilizing agents to the insecticides is 20:1-1:20, and the rest water. According to the seed coating agent configured by the components, seeds are coated according to the ratio of pesticides to seeds which is 1:2-1:400, the seed coating agent has good preventing effect on earlier stage diseases and insect pests of corns, and indexes such as emergence rate, plant height fresh weight are remarkably improved and obviously better than those of a commonly used coating agent. The seed coating agent is used for corns, low in cost and convenient to prepare and can be applied to coating of crop seeds and tubers such as soybean, wheat, potatoes and rice, and original chemicals of the coating agent are easily obtained.


THIS work will commend itself to many because of the clear presentation it gives of the manners, customs, and laws involved in these speeches. Aristotle's Constitution of Athens—under a Latin title—is judiciously cited. The text shows careful study and a wise selection where there is choice of readings. Grammatical notes are plentiful but rather elementary for college work. Some of them are open to question on the score of correctness. In vii. 12 iyiyvtro belongs to the imperfects of likelihood as in 14 and 32. In the same oration in 18 the note explains irepl <av...irepl eKeivcov thus : ' rare instead of the usual irtpl £>v alone or irtpi tKtlvwv a' ; but what is rare is not the precedence of the relative clause followed by the emphatic demonstrative ; the irregularity is TTfpl wv instead of a...irtpl IKUVWV as in Demosthenes, On the Crown 252 %v...Trtp\ ravTi)<;.


Scholars have increasingly noted that firm-level capabilities may be crucial for resolving the dilemmas resulting from either high exploratory or high exploitative learning. However, our current understanding of this issue remains limited. Innovation field orientation is a firm-level capability to strategically structure dispersed innovation efforts and reconfigure resources on them, and may help a firm leverage the benefits of distinctive learning strategies. Based on this idea, this paper investigates innovation field orientation and examines how its capacities (the specification, establishment of focus areas, and stimulation of synergies) influence the performance of high exploratory/exploitative learning. Our findings suggest that the capacities of innovation field orientation moderate the effects of exploratory and exploitative learning on new product program performance, and clarify how innovation field orientation enables organization to leverage the benefits of high exploratory/exploitative learning and address their disadvantages.


Fulvius consul unus creatur cum ceteri centurias non explessent, isque postero die Cn. Manlium Lepido deiecto nam Messalla iacuit collegam duxit (Livy 37.47.7). The mss. reading duxit has generally been emended to dixit). As a result, the procedures employed at the consular elections for 189 have been In dispute. There is, however, some evidence to suggest that the verb ducere was used in the context of elections in the technical sense of bringing or leading forward a candidate or a newly elected colleague. It is used by Livy (35.10.9) of a candidate at the elections for 192. The verb trahere is used by Livy (39.32.12) in a comparable sense in the context of the elections for 184. Horace (Epist. 1.20.28) used the phrase collegam ducere in the context of the election of the second consul for 21 3).


Background:  A growing interest in the possible influences of pre‐ and postoperative anxiety and pain scores as outcomes of surgical treatment and benefits of anxiety or pain‐reducing interventions has emerged. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of three different premedication regimens on postoperative pain and anxiety in children.


The speed and quality of innovation in the construction sector has to be substantially increased in order to meet the pressing challenges associated with the building stock. For this purpose, the NEST project was started in Switzerland. NEST is a flexible and open research and technology transfer platform for partners from academia and industry where new solutions can be implemented and validated in a real life environment. NEST consists of a backbone, the static part, and research units which serve as office or living space where people live and work. Each unit is addressing specific research topics such as timber construction or digital fabrication and bears numerous innovation objects which are subject to continuous development and evaluation. NEST is a vertical neighbourhood of units, which are connected to a water hub and an energy hub. Once the research questions in a unit are answered and new products have been developed, the unit is deconstructed and replaced by a new unit addressing new topics.


In order to solve the problems concerning the management and scale extension,Wuhan Institute of P.E.has applied Management by Objectives(MBO) for four years and it proves that the primary task of MBO is to establish a scientific objective system targeting at the value orientation of the school.In drawing up different objectives at different stage and to run better schools,the dialectical relation between "changing" and "not-changing" should be well handled in emphasizing objectives as a whole,both comulsory objectives and guiding objectives,identified requirements,individual needs and feability.


Although the negative representation of women in Nollywood movies is worrisome to scholars, they have done little as regards exploring the feminist linguistic analysis of these movies. Studies have focused on the misrepresentations of women with emphasis on the literary perspectives. This paper attempts a lexical and sentential analysis of feminist ideology of two Nollywood movies. The study adopted Norman Fairclough's model of Critical Discourse Analysis to explain way linguistic are used to instantiate feminist ideology in the movies. Arugba and Maami produced by Tunde Kelani were purposively sampled because of the gender issues in them. Though some movies merely project women as witches and sex slaves, these two movies stand out among those that project the strengths of womanhood. The movies attempt to correct the negative impression about women. Linguistic features such as the lexical indices and mood system are examined. Larger scale features such as allusion and simile are also explored. The study suggests that despite the rot in the value system of the present day Nigeria, there are still women who pass for the ideal. Also, it was discovered that women can determine their fate regardless of what roles the society gives them and could survive even under the worst patriarchy. Beyond their weaknesses, women are necessary to maintain tranquility in the home and the larger society. This paper recommends that movie stakeholders should give responsible roles to women and women should be sensitive and alive to their responsibilities as regulators of the social political Nigerian entity.


In a recent paper, Nepf [1999, p. 479] presented a model "... to describe the drag, turbulence, and diffusion for flow through emergent vegetation which for the first time captures the relevant underlying physics .... "The author also presented a set of laboratory and field experiments and claimed that they support the model. Although this paper may be considered as a valuable and stimulating contribution to the quickly developing field of ecohydraulics, it contains a number of points which require clarifications and comments. 1. The Nepf model is heavily based on the turbulence energy balance, which includes the wake production term Pw. This term appears in the spatially (volume) averaged energy equations for a canopy flow derived by Wilson and Shaw [1977], Raupach and Shaw [1982], and Finnigan [1985] (see also Raupach et al. [1991] or Kaimal and Finnigan [1994] for a brief review). There is no such term in the conventional timeaveraged balance equations. The spatially averaged energy equations present a significant improvement in canopy flow dynamics, and it would be fair to acknowledge contributions of Wilson and Shaw [1977], Raupach and Shaw [1982], and Finnigan [1985]. 2. Equation (1) of Nepf [1999] is identical to (A9) suggested by Raupach et al. [1991, p. 22]. Equations (3)-(5) of Nepf [1999] are identical to equations derived by Raupach and Shaw [1982, p. 88]. Thus two components of the author's model, components for drag and turbulence intensity, are not new. The third component of the author's model, the component for diffusion, is a new, from my knowledge, and interesting contribution. Therefore the Nepf's statement hat "a model is developed to describe the drag, turbulence, and diffusion for flow through emergent vegetation which for the first time captures the relevant underlying physics" is not completely correct and can be applied for this third component (diffusion) only. 3. Unfortunately, Nepf presented insufficient information on experimental conditions to enable comparisons with other experiments. It is not even clear if the flow conditions were uniform or not. From the context (p. 482) it follows that the flows investigated were nonuniform. If this is so, some discussion on potential nonuniformity effects on flow structure is necessary as the author's considerations, strictly speaking, are not applicable for nonuniform flows. It would be very useful for interested readers if some background information (e.g., Froude number, Reynolds number, shear velocity, nonuniformity parameter, etc.) for each run could be presented in the author's reply. Many acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) users would also appreciate if the author could briefly explain how such low noise in ADV measurements (as in Figure 4) has been achieved.


Article history: Received: November 26, 2017 Received in revised format: January 31, 2018 Accepted: April 7, 2018 Available online: April 8, 2018 Tourism has emerged as a major industry worldwide and a sector in many countries. This sector has experienced a rapid growth and has become a key driver for sustainable socioeconomic developments globally. However, tourism is also a vector of environmental degradation through the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the main factors that are affecting the tourism demand in ASEAN-5 countries. Using a panel of five ASEAN countries over a 44-year period and applying the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) approach, the empirical results have shown that the major determinants of tourism demand in these countries are income, trade, tourism price, and carbon dioxide emission. The results have also shown that the PMG performed better than the Mean Group (MG) estimator. This paper refers to the PMG estimator because it constrains the long run coefficients to be identical, but allows the short run coefficients and error variances to differ across groups. Income and trade appeared to exert significant positive impacts on tourism demand, whereas tourism price and carbon dioxide emissions have negative impacts on tourism demand in these ASEAN-5 countries. The results would be a good reference for policy makers in these specific countries. © 2018 by the authors; licensee Growing Science, Canada


The concept of order of loading and its effect on cumulative fatigue damage under multiaxial strain cyclings was investigated. The effect is illustrated through nonlinear relationships between biaxial fatigue damage and cycle-ratio diagrams. Uniaxial theories such as Miner's method, the convergence method, and the double linear damage rule in its special and generalized form, were examined and extended to the biaxial case through the octahedral shear strain theory. The generalized double linear damage rule was found more applicable to biaxial cumulative fatigue damage.


This paper had been published as chapter 22 into P. 469 to P.518, in a collective book, participated between 23 Iraqi constitutionalist contributions entitled Iraqi constitutional difficulties, published by the International Human Rights Institute at the Chicago University - De Paul, in June 2005.The paper trait to report Iraqi constitutional past -experience, analyzing it through occidental point of view and experience to compare between its own characteristics and the Rule of Law institutions and the manner to be transmitted to Iraqi scholars. Promoting new dimension of political pluralism as a motor of political ideology toward a lato democratic constitutionalism. Trying to contribute to alternative political disputes solutions through constitutional review, and the creation of democratic control institution in the oriental societies. Treating the formation of a modern state in Iraq difficulties, and the administration of the transactional process.The contribution tray to find social and demographic solutions for the future constitutional equivalence of Iraq, in demonstration of other occidental models such as the Spanish and the French constitutional life.


The principal group of the immigrants origin in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona are the Latin Americans. Geographically, their territorial insertion is characterized by the existence of the lower levels of residential segregation. Yet, some spaces of localized concentration are to be seen, preferably in the municipalities of the first metropolitan crown. There are objectives of this project, characterize socio-demographically the group of Latin-Americans that inhabit in this area of concentration and analyze the effects of the internal immigration in the conformation of this space. We work at inframunicipal level using the Population and Housing Census of 2011. The results achieved by the study, reveals an association between the socio-demographical characteristics of the individuals and their place of residence. And this particular spaces are built on the basis of internal mobility, dominating the displacements of the centre of the city to the first metropolitan crown. In contrast, spaces of medium concentration are identified in the historical centre of the central city, where the weight of migrations are coming directly from the foreign domains.


In speech studies where articulatory activity is of prime interest and where no excitation through vocal‐cord vibration is available or desirable, one wants to examine the response of the vocal tract to an external excitation source. This note describes a method to generate such a speechlike signal from the incident and reflected waves caused by excitation of the vocal tract at the lips. The result approximates the signal that would have been generated by periodically exciting the same tract configuration at the glottis, provided that the tract is not completely constructed within its interior.


This project is aimed at downloading and uploading online assignments for students; with each assignment having information about the instructions, description, deadline, and submission details.
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DAVIS, CASEY J., M.S., APRIL 2017, Industrial and Systems Engineering Using Self-Organizing Maps to Cluster Products for Storage Assignment in a Distribution Center Director of Thesis: Dale T. Masel This thesis provides a methodology on how to use self-organizing maps (SOMs) to cluster stock keeping units (SKUs) based on historical order data, in order to effectively slot a forward area in a distribution center. This methodology relies on creating zones that contain SKUs that are commonly ordered together. There are several techniques that improve on the benchmark method tested including a percent reduction of up to 11% in the total time to complete all orders given a zone configuration. Results are discussed as well as possible future work that could improve upon the methodology.


Purpose and Methods: Allele specific PCR(AS PCR) was modfied to identify the genotype of N acetyltransferase (NAT2). Three mutations at the NAT2 gene locus, namely, 481 T, 590 A, 857 A were analyzed. We used the method to investigate the frequency of various genotypes of NAT2 in 76 unrelated Nanjing persons, and the method was tested also. Results: In the population the gene frequencies of Wt, 481 T, 590 A, and 857 A were 0.5723, 0.0395, 0.2368, 0.1513, respectively. The frequencies for NAT2 mutations were significantly different from those of Whites, and were similar to those of Asian populations reported. Conclusion: The prevalence of the genotype associated with rapid acetylation among Nanjing people was 82.9%, and was proved that the modified AS PCR is useful in acetylator polymorphism studies.


ABSTRACT Cleaning of coal resulted in ash reduction, heat value enhancement, increased reactive maceral content and change in ash composition influencing combustion performance. With washed fractions, trends of improved combustion behavior were observed in thermo-gravimetric analyser, which was not always reflected correspondingly in bench scale combustor, i.e. drop tube furnace (DTF). Lower burnout efficiency in DTF was observed when top port char particles were totally masked by defused mineral matter. Higher burnout efficiency was observed with tenui ballon/ sphere type of char structure partially covered by defused mineral matter. Overall improvement of combustion performance also led to CO2 emission reduction. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Despite global decline in childhood mortality, under-5 mortality remains high in Nigeria. While many studies have reported individual level factors as important determinants of under-five mortality in Nigeria, similar studies on the effects of neighbourhood contexts have been minimal. Hence, this study examines the effects of neighbourhood contexts on under-5 mortality in Nigeria. Using 2003 and 2008 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data, multilevel Cox regression analysis was performed on a nationally representative sample of 6,028 children (2003 NDHS) and 28,647 children (2008 NDHS). Results indicated neighbourhood context as important factor for child survival.For instance, findings showed that being born or raised in poor neighbourhoods (HR:1.54,p<0.05), rural communities (HR:1.25,p<0.05), and North-eastern region of Nigeria (HR:1.56,p<0.05) was associated with elevated hazards of death before age 5. Findings of this study suggest that achieving improved neighbourhood contexts holds great potentials for acceleration of under-five mortality reduction in Nigeria.


Renewed interest has been shown in the hybrid silver halide sensitized gelatin processes owing to the appearance of new photographic materials. In this study we show the possible compatibility between the models of latent image formation proposed prior to the existence of these new materials, bearing in mind that the refractive-index modulation and its curve of spectral response should be the figures of merit for optimization of the processes of transmission and reflection hologram formation.


Chorionic "growth hormoneprolactin" (CGP) and pituitary growth hormone (HGH) were measured in maternal and fetal blood obtained simultaneousy at term from 29 pregnant women and their fetuses utilizing sensitive radioimmunoassay procedures. The mean concentration of serum CGP in maternal venous blood was 5.6 μg/ml (sem 0.39), whereas in umbilical venous serum the mean concentration was 0.019 μg/ml (sem 0.003), a 300-fold difference. Contrariwise, the mean concentration of serum HGH in maternal serum was 5.0 mμg/ml (sem 0.52) and in umbilical venous serum the level was 33.5 mμg/ml (sem 4.6). The ratio of serum CGP/HGH in maternal venous serum was 1076 in contrast to 0.57 in umbilical venous serum. These findings strongly suggest that CGP is secreted by the syncytiotrophoblast almost exclusively in a unidirectional manner into the maternal circulation. Further, it is unlikely that an appreciable exchange of HGH occurs between the maternal and fetal circulations. The data support the view that the growth horm...


The new observations of Haines on the pressure deficiency of liquid in a soil-like aggregate confirm the theoretical deduction that the pressure deficiency falls off with increasing water content, but do not justify his belief in a high static stress as saturation is approached. A theorem is established connecting the static stress at any water content with the pressure deficiency and the dry area of the surface. This, together with general considerations of the energy conditions of physical equilibria, appears to dispose of the two assumptions from which the high values for the cohesive stress at saturation have been deduced.


Abstract: In this paper we consider point control of a structural acoustic model with thermoelastic effects. The key feature of this paper is that the two-dimensional plate modeling the active wall of the acoustic chamber has clamped boundary conditions. For this case a new optimal regularity result has recently become available (Triggiani, 2008). Using this new result for the plate alone, we derive a sharp (optimal) regularity result for the overall coupled system of wave and thermoelastic plate equations, after overcoming a series of additional technical difficulties. This allows for the study of an optimal control problem of the coupled system.


Background: Early diagnosis of liver cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis C patients is important because cirrhosis per se is an independent predictor of mortality. Cirrhosis is diagnosed clinically, the use of laboratory and imaging data, and liver biopsy. However, these methods have their limitations. These findings suggest the need for diagnostic biomarkers that could add to the sensitivity and accuracy. Serum Kallistatin and cholinesterase may fall into this category of bio markers as the liver represents the major site of synthesis and secretion of both of them and their levels reflect the synthetic function of liver. Objective: To assess serum Kallistatin and cholinesterase levels in cases of liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis C viral infection and correlates their levels with compensated liver cirrhosis and decompensated cirrhosis, and their serum levels with incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: Forty-five patients who were included and classified into 15 patients with compensated liver cirrhosis, 15 patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and 15 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. They were compared with 15 sex and age matched healthy individuals for control. Levels of serum kallistatin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and serum cholinesterase was measured using colorimetric assay. Results: There was a highly significant decrease in serum Kallistatin and cholinesterase in patients with compensated cirrhosis when compared with control (P<0.000) and decreased levels in decompensated cirrhotic patients. The lowest levels of serum kallistatin and cholinesterase were found in decompensated cirrhotic patients as compared to compensated and HCC patients (P <0.000- P <0.000), respectively. Conclusion: Both serum kallistatin and cholinesterase can be used as reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis of, evaluation of the extent of liver cirrhosis and progression to hepatocellular carcinoma.


Practical and innovative ability of human resource in public health area is the urgent need of economic and social development in the 21st century. It is the emphasis of higher medical education reform in the new century that how to enhance practical skills and creative ability of students and improve the quality of their training. This article summarizes the practice, achievements and problems in exploration of practical personnel training mode in Guiyang Medical University.


In this paper, the authors determine the number of infected cells and concentration of infected (viral) particles in plasma during HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency virus type one) infections using Shehu transformation. For this, the authors first defined some useful properties of Shehu transformation with proof and then applied Shehu transformation on the mathematical representation of the HIV-1 infection model. The mathematical model of HIV-1 infections contains a system of two simultaneous ordinary linear differential equations with initial conditions. Results depict that Shehu transformation is very effective integral transformation for determining the number of infected cells and concentration of viral particles in plasma during HIV-1 infections.


This paper is devoted to comparing two numerical approaches for modelling the dynamic behaviourofmasonry structures. Itpresents theconstitutive equationofmasonrylike materials with bounded compressive strength and addresses the dynamic problem for both three-dimensional bodies and one-dimensional structures. The numerical methods implemented in the codes NOSA-ITACA and MADY, respectively for threeand one-dimensional structures, are outlined. With the aim of comparing the two numerical procedures, a masonry tower with rectangular cross-section is analised. The structure is subjected to its own weight and an accelerogram recorded during a real earthquake. This comparison has emphasised the importance of employing accurate constitutive models when analysing masonry structures.


China's economy eclipsing Japan as the world's second largest economy has longlasting impact on global energy production, consumption and prices. These macro changes are not fleeting but structural, shifting the cyclical rhythm of the global oil and gas market.


Postural transitions are transitory movements with limited duration bounded by two physical activities, which represent the transition between two activities. Recognition of postural transitions is a challenging task due to low occurrence rate of transitions and short duration than physical activities. Postural transitions may decrease recognition accuracy when postural transitions are unspecified in the recognition system. This paper deals with the occurrence of postural transitions during activity performance. Hence, this paper proposes importance score driven random forests to recognize activities and postural transitions on the smartphone. The proposed model first selects relevant features rely on the relative importance of features, and then feed selected features to random forests. This model shows 100% recognition accuracy on a benchmark dataset and indicates that features created from accelerometer signals are more relevant for recognition than features created from gyroscope signals.


The potential of dislocations (line defects) in ceramics may have been greatly underrated until most recently. Promising proofs‐of‐concept have been demonstrated for dislocation‐tuned functional and mechanical properties, revealing a new research front for dislocations in ceramics for a wide range of potential applications. However, it is commonly known that ceramics are hard (difficult to deform) and brittle (easy to fracture), particularly at room temperature. It remains a great challenge to mechanically tailor dislocations in ceramics. To address this pressing bottleneck, this article discusses the mechanics‐based dislocation engineering in ceramics by examining the three fundamental factors of dislocation nucleation, multiplication, and motion. Successful experimental approaches to tune dislocation density and plastic zone size on single‐crystal strontium titanate are demonstrated. The dislocation‐based competition between plastic deformation and crack formation is discussed. The aspects of coupling external fields to manipulate dislocations are highlighted, which may hold the key to modulating the charged dislocation cores in ceramics and opening new routes for mechanical tailoring of dislocations at room temperature. Some open questions and challenges for engineering dislocations in ceramics are discussed.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved


Based on the observation of the effects of energy generation on climate change, efforts have been carried out to develop technologies to reduce polluting energy sources. In this context, the rational use and improvement of the efficiency of water heating systems can play an important role, contributing to lower energy consumption. This study evaluated a prototype for water heating for use in agroindustry. The prototype was designed for a possible utilization of mechanical energy in order to change the magnetic flux produced by permanent magnets, generating thermal energy by Foucault currents. This system presented yields of 64.74%, 65.13% and 64.48% for the rotor configurations with six magnets without pole reversal (6ISI), four magnets with reversal (4ICI), and four magnets without reversal (4ISI), respectively. For comparison purposes, a resistive water heating system was also evaluated for the same study conditions, obtaining an efficiency of 89.21%. The proposed inductive system did not present satisfactory results for constructive conditions presented in the study.


THE PRESS RELEASE SEEMS SIMPLE enough: "The National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health will fund a new multicenter clinical trial to compare 2 drugs currently used to treat advanced agerelated macular degeneration (AMD)." But its ramifications are enormous. Thedrugsinquestionareranibizumab (Lucentis) and bevacizumab (Avastin), bothmanufacturedbyGenentechInc,of SouthSanFrancisco.Currently,only ranibizumab is approved by the US Food andDrugAdministration(FDA)fortreatingneovascularAMD.Anditworkswell, with more than 90% of patients reportingahalt invision lossandabout30%reporting improved sight. But a single dose of ranibizumab costs almost $2000 (or $48 000 for a typical 2-year course of monthly treatments). Although Medicare pays for ranibizumab, it covers only 80% of the cost, meaning that patients who do not have coinsurance pay $9600 out of pocket for a 2-year course. (Genentech does provide financial assistance and a free drug program for those who qualify who cannot pay for treatment.) As an alternative, a significant number of physicians are using bevacizumab off-label for AMD treatment. It costs about $40 a dose. Payers such as Medicare and patients who lack insurance or have copays will obviously experience huge cost savings if bevacizumab is found to be as effective as ranibizumab. Such a finding would also provide another treatment option for AMD in developing countries, where ranibizumab is generally not affordable. On the flip side, Genentech stands to lose billions of anticipated dollars if ranibizumab is abandoned for AMD treatment. ButbeyondGenentech,thebiotechand drug manufacturing industries are concernedabouttheprecedentcreatedbythis trial andcoulduse theirpolitical clout in an attempt to derail the study, said William Rich III, MD, medical director of healthpolicy for theAmericanAcademy of Ophthalmology in Washington, DC. "Obviously, biotech hates head-tohead trials based on efficacy and affecting payment," Rich said. "I'm anticipating delays for this trial." Indeed, while the $16.2 million trial was announced last year, and published reports had the study beginning in May or June, now researchers involved only say the trial will begin "sometime this summer." Inexplainingwhy it isnotconducting orparticipating in this trial, aGenentech spokeswomansaidthecompanybelieves it has invented a highly successful treatment inranibizumab,anditwouldrather devoteitsresourcestoexplorewaysofexpanding the drug's use for other eyerelatedissuessuchasdiabeticretinopathy. Age-relatedmaculardegenerationisthe leading cause of blindness in the developed world among people aged 50 years or older. In the United States, the prevalenceofpeoplewithvisuallossfromAMD is 1.2 million with about 200 000 new casesbeingreportedannually.About7.3 millionpeople in theUnitedStates areat risk of developing the condition. The neovascular form of AMD is characterized by abnormal growth of new blood vessels involving the macula. Scientists believe that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)promotes thisneovascularization. Ranibizumab and bevacizumab are monoclonal antibodies that neutralize VEGF. Researchers originally considered using bevacizumab as a treatment for AMD, but it was thought that the molecule created was too big to penetrate the retina. Bevacizumab went on to become, in 2004, the first angiogenesis inhibitor approved by the FDA for treatment of colorectal cancer. In the meantime, researchers created ranibizumab by reengineering bevacizumab, resulting in a smaller molecule capable of passing through the retina. Butbefore ranibizumabreceivedFDA approval last year,physicians, facingpatientsdesperatetoavoidblindness,turned to bevacizumab, which they found improvedvisionwhilebeingwell tolerated. Soonpharmacistsweresubdividingquantities of bevacizumab intended for colorectalcancertreatmentintosmallerdoses forAMD.Today,anecdotalevidencesuggestsabouthalfofallpatientsbeingtreated for AMD receive bevacizumab. With so many patients receiving a drug off-label with anecdotally reported success, it is important to determine whether bevacizumab truly is safe and effective for AMD treatment, said Daniel Martin, MD, who will lead the National Eye Institute study.


Neonicotinoids are a globally prevalent class of pesticides that can negatively impact bees and the pollination services they provide. While there is evidence suggesting that colony size may play an important role in mitigating neonicotinoid exposure in bees, mechanisms underlying these effects are not well understood. Here, a recently developed, agent-based computational model is used to investigate how the effects of sub-lethal neonicotinoid exposure on intranest behavior of bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) are modulated by colony size. Simulations from the model, parameterized using empirical data on bumblebee workers exposed to imidacloprid (a common neonicotinoid pesticide), suggest that colony size has significant effects on behavior neonicotinoid-sensitivity within bumblebee nests. Specifically, differences are reduced between treated and untreated workers in larger colonies for several key aspects of behavior within nests. Our results suggest that changes in both number of workers and nest architecture may contribute to making larger colonies less sensitive to pesticide exposure.


Morphological dynamics of bilayer membrane is intrinsically coupled to the translational and orientational localization of membrane proteins. In this paper we are concerned with the orientational localization of membrane proteins in the absence of protein interaction and correlation. Entropic energy depending on the angular distribution function and the curvature energy depending on the principal curvature vectors are introduced to assemble an energy functional for the coupled system. Application of the Onsager's variational principle gives rise to a generalized Smoluchowskii equation governing the temporal and angular variations of the protein orientation. We prove the existence of the stationary solution of the equation as fixed points of a continuous nonlinear nonlocal map, and for biologically relevant conditions we obtain the uniqueness of the solution. To approximate the stationary solution in the Fourier space we construct an efficient numerical method that reduces the expansion and relates the coefficients to the modified Bessel functions of the first kind. Existence and uniqueness of the numerical solution are justified for biologically relevant conditions.


The ability to identify material under the tip of an AFM has been identified as one of the 'Holy Grails' of scanning probe microscopy. While AFM can measure mechanical, electrical, magnetic and thermal properties of materials, it has lacked the robust ability to chemically characterize unknown materials. Infrared spectroscopy is a benchmark technique used in a broad range of sciences and industry to characterize and identify materials via vibrational resonances of chemical bonds. We have successfully integrated AFM with IR spectroscopy to allow measurement of high quality IR spectra at arbitrary points in an AFM image, thus providing nanoscale chemical characterization.


«Dareios, Clytaemestra and Polydorus, ghost characters in Greek tragedy with something to say». The Greek tragedies that have been preserved in their entirety include only three ghost characters with speakings parts in the plays. In spite of Homeric influence, there is an completely dramatic conception of the character rather than presenting it as part of a dream. The presence of the ghost characters in the tragedies where they appear is fundamental: Dareios in The Persians, converted into a hero, provides a religious explanation for Xerxes' defeat; in the Eumenides, Clytaemestra, with her spectre, contributes to the association between man and divinity, transforming the human problem raised in the play into a conflict between gods; Polydorus in Hecabe provides unity to the play and presents a relection on how a person dies with or without honour. The limited presence of ghost characters in the Greek Tragedy says much about the Western philosophical conception focused on this life.


This is a state of the art report and literature overview of
practical methods for constructing and analysing real-time systems. It
covers operating system support, monitoring methods, and execution
time prediction through simulation.


Abstract Fishable species abundance through conservation measures for enhancing fish populations by the participation of local fishing communities has been established in Ashurar Beel of northwest Bangladesh. A government led partnership, the Community Based Fisheries Management project, has been introduced to organize and motivate fishers towards the understanding and implementation of fisheries management practices. Fisher groups from 25 villages with 527 members are included in the project. An institution connecting the organized groups, the Beel Management Committee, ensures fisher rights. A fish sanctuary has been established by fishers for the residence of brood fish and to develop guidelines to limit fishing in the fishery. Tremendous production of fish from the beel has been achieved. Major changes were observed in catches, species compositions and the contribution of species to total production. Most of the catch is small fishes, particularly Puntius sophore. An abundance of Ompok pabda, Channa striatus, Channa punctatus, Aorichthys seenghala, Gudusia chapra, Anabas testudineus, and Notopterus notopterus has indicated the successful recovery of these threatened fishes. The measures that were adopted at the community level were found to positively contribute to increased fish production and fish biodiversity. This Fisheries Management Project may serve as a model for other fishing communities with threatened resources


We classify the unmixed ideals of Veronese bi-type and in some cases we give a description of their associated prime ideals.


PurposeThis paper aims to understand how mental time traveling impacts consumption by triggering nostalgia. The effects of nostalgic behavior are explored further in regards of its impact on dears and nears.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on qualitative information from in-depth interviews. In total, 30 parents with children form Chihuahua, Mexico, answer to a semi-structured interview. Participants presented nostalgic orientation.FindingsNostalgic individual move back and forward in time through memory retrieval. Retrieval's quality is related to social impact during memory creation and retrieval process. Nostalgia is not only a cognitive process, but it manifests on behaviors that affects people around the nostalgic individuals. In the context of parent–child relationship, sharing nostalgia is useful for creating new bond across participants.Research limitations/implicationsContributions toward theory of memory, nostalgia and social learning were made. Result suggests social implications on nostalgic behavior because social interaction is important for quality of memory retrieval. Behavioral implications are discussed in the context of parent–child relationship and the use of nostalgia to develop new and stronger bonds. Companies should develop strategies that privilege social moments around brands to increase memory retrieval quality and nostalgia.Practical implicationsCompanies should develop strategies that create social moments around brands to increase memory retrieval quality and nostalgia. Additionally, using social moments on communications could trigger nostalgia and detonates consumption behavior.Originality/valueThe research builds on previous studies about nostalgia. However, this research focusses on mental time travel along nostalgic memories that individuals perform every day to take decisions that affects them and their loved ones. The value of nostalgia on building relationships through consumption is analyzed. The results were obtained from the Mexican context that has not been explored before on nostalgia research.


Acute pleural empyema is one of the most serious diseases of all existing septic pathologies. Its frequency in recent years has been steadily increasing. According to different authors, the lethality rate is 2-50% [1]. In this regard, urgent necessity to find new effective ways to control inflammation in the pleural cavity in real time. There was developed a method of assessing the dynamics of the inflammatory process through joule metric method which allows to evaluate condition of the exudate postoperatively with minimal time-consuming and thus to judge the effectiveness of therapeutic measures. During experimental work was detected interrelations between joule metric parameters and condition of the exudate at some point of the inflammatory process.


For future mobile systems, frequency usage efficiency is most important as demand for the wireless frequency band increases. Because both TDMA and FDMA use sine wave, it is very difficult to divide the faded sine wave into original sine wave and the multipath sine waves. On the other hand, because CDMA uses sequences of "chips", where each chip has its "address" in the sequence, their may be some method to divide the original signal and the multipath signals. In fact, when we use a pilot signal, both of whose frequency and time are the same as the signals which bear the data, we can divide the original signal and the multipath signals by using clever codes and modulation. Different signal design methods have been proposed using complete complementary code. In this paper, we propose a new simple method for using the complete complementary code. When we use a complementary code composed of 16 auto-complementary codes, where each auto-complementary code is composed of 16 binary sequences of length 256, we can assign 1 auto-complementary code to pilot signals and 15 auto-complementary codes to information transmission signals. Using the new method on convoluted QPSK signals, 40 Mbit/sec information transmission is realizable on 26 MHz bandwidth.


To investigate the changes of number of lymphocytes,proportions of lymphocyte subsets,phenotypes and the function of lymphocytes in ovarian cancer patients before and after chemotherapy so as to assess their clinical relevance,peripheral blood samples were obtained from 13 patients with ovarian cancer before and 12~14 days after chemotherapy and also from 13 healthy individuals (the control group) who were matched with the age to the patient group.The proportion and phenotype of these lymphocyte subsets,such as CD3+,CD4+,CD8+T,CD4+CD25+T and NK cells and the functional subsets of Th1,Tc1 and Tc2 were determined by flow cytometry.In addition,the cytotoxic function of NK against K562 cells was detected by LDH release.In contrast to the control group,we observed a higher ratio of CD4+/CD8+T cells,more CD4+CD25+T cells,a lower percentage of Tc1 in CD8+T cells,more Tc2 cells,a reduced ratio of Tc1/Tc2,and a significant reduction of NK cells and their cytotoxic function in patients one month after operation. It was also found that 12~14 days after chemotherapy,the CD4+CD25+T cells were reduced,and the proportions of Th1 and Tc1 increased,thus producing a higher ratio of Tc1/Tc2. Further examination revealed that chemotherapy did not repress the proportion or cytotoxic function of NK cells.It is evident that chemotherapy can improve,in stead of hampering,the immune environment in patients with ovarian cancer,which would provide the experiment ground for the clinical immunotherapy after chemotherapy.


We recently proposed a novel test structure for the extraction of recombination characteristics of metal-contacted areas on silicon wafers using quasi-steady state photoconductance measurements. In this test structure, photoconductance measurements are performed on several wafer areas with different contact fractions. Each area consists of a lattice of point contacts on an otherwise passivated wafer. The requirement of constant excess carrier densities throughout the quasi-neutral wafer bulk is absolutely essential for the simple extraction of figures of merit for contact recombination. In this study, we first discuss the requirements for constant injection levels during photoconductance measurements, without reference to a particular geometry. Then, we use a simple 1-D model to elucidate how injection levels vary in the test structure plane. We use the model to investigate limiting cases for which the requirement of constant injection levels is satisfied. In addition, we investigate the breakdown of the assumption of constant injection levels. We discuss the influence of nonconstant excess carrier concentrations on photoconductance measurements in the context of our test structure. Finally, we validate our model by comparison with experiments. Our analysis is particularly useful in the context of understanding the design rules for contact size and pitch in our test structure.


Chern-Simons theories have been incredibly successful explaining integer and fractional quantum Hall phases, as well as topological insulators. Here, we develop viscous Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory to capture the fundamental physics of topological electromagnetic phases.


While the Black–Scholes (BS) model and binomial trees assume that the stock price evolves lognormally with constant volatility, volatility smiles are pronounced in almost all the worlds equity markets. To study the effects of volatility smiles on hedging and arbitrage, the method based on the BS model and implemented with observed market volatility smiles is proposed. The empirical results indicate that the proposed model can reduce risk exposure and increase profits on hedging as compared with the BS model, and hence leading to considerable returns on arbitrage-trading in the Taiwan warrant market. The model is proven to be not only useful for warrant issuers who attempt to reduce vega risk, but also practicable for investors to implement as arbitrage strategies under smile effects.


The polymer reference interaction site model (PRISM) with standard Percus–Yevick (PY) or hypernetted chain (HNC) closure equations is solved numerically for solutions of flexible polyelectrolytes. The monomers interact via a screened Coulomb potential (Debye–Huckel approach). The wormlike form factor characterized by a persistence length is used for the intrachain correlations. The equilibrium and structural results obtained for a large variety of parameters are interpreted in terms of the monomer–monomer interchain pair distribution function and of the structure factor. Issues like the scattered intensity peak position and the osmotic pressure are addressed. The domain within the phase diagram without HNC solutions is also presented.


The practice of power system interconnection which to-day, after more than a quarter of a century's gradual development, has become characteristic of the large-scale generation, transmission and distribution of electrical energy, is one which is based on a technique closely bound up with problems of system stability and power limitation. The starting point in the solution of such problems is, generally speaking, a determination of the power limit of an interconnector under a variety of operating conditions. By the term "interconnector" is here understood a compound power-transmitting circuit acting as a synchronous tie between two otherwise independent a.c. systems. The paper investigates the manner in which the electrical characteristics of a typical interconnector, comprising a transmission line and terminal transformers, limit the interchange of power between its terminal systems. A new method of evaluating the limiting transmitted power, based on the theory of the power circle-diagram, is described. This method employs a rapid geometrical construction for the appropriate charts which is based on the analysis established in the paper. The use of this new method of determining the power limit is illustrated by application to a specific example of interconnection.


Objective To investigate the expression of neurokinin 1 receptor (NK 1R) in the biopsy specimens of colonic mucosa in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). The relation between the expression of NK 1R and clinical severity of UC was also evaluated. Methods UC tissues were obtained from 38 patients (23 males and 15 females) undergoing colonoscopy. Normal human colon tissues were obtained from 15 irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients (8 males and 7 females). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR), western blot and immunohistochemistry were used to determine the expression of NK 1R. Results NK 1R mRNA expression level was enhanced in mucosae of UC compared with that of IBS. The overexpression of NK 1R was related to the severity of UC. Western blot analysis revealed that the overexpression of NK 1R protein level existed in UC. Immunohistochemistry showed moderate to strong NK 1R immunoreactivity which was localized in mononuclear cells and lymphoid follicles of lamina propria and in the crypt surface, epithelium, lymphoid follicles, submucosal arterioles and myenteric plexus neurones in the colonic mucosa of UC. Conclusions In patients with UC, the overexpression of NK 1R may be involved in the pathophysiological change in the disease and may contribute to the disruption of neuropeptide loop balance and deterioration of clinical condition.


People's thinking activities must be reflected in language, and the language of each nation has a profound influence on the thinking mode of each nation. Influenced by Chinese social culture and Chinese thinking mode, China English has strong Chinese characteristics, which is relatively unique in discourse, sentence and pronunciation. When things are expressed properly, China English will play a great role in application. We should be familiar with the variant theory of Chinese English and its linguistic features to guide English teaching. According to the needs analysis theory, this paper investigates students' English learning needs, aiming at improving the effect and quality of foreign language education, seeking effective practical English teaching methods and improving foreign language teaching level faster.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the enzymes expression during the seeds germination process of ever-lasting species Comanthera elegans and Comanthera bisulcata. For the evaluation of the seeds physiological potential, the germination test and index of germination speed were performed. The expression of enzymes esterase (EST), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and endo-β-mannanase during the germination process were evaluated. The expression of these enzymes was evaluated in dried seeds, in the protrusion, in the emergence of the primal leaf, at the beginning of the formation of normal seedling and dormant seeds at the end of the germination process. To the extent that the germination process occurs in the species C. bisulcata and C. elegans there is greater expression of the enzyme CAT and lower of the enzyme EST. There is variation in the expression of the enzymes SOD, ADH and MDH in seeds of both species during the germination process. The enzyme endo-β-mannanase presents greater activity in seeds with radicle protrusion in the two studied species.


Introduction: It was not realized at first how dangerous was the practice of secret evidence and secret informers, how alien to all our conceptions of justice and the rights of the citizen… Experience proved again how soon good men become callous in the use of bad practices. Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, commenting on the American loyalty security program Mandatory reporting The NSW Government has introduced mandatory reporting into the NSW Medical Practice Act 1992 and the Health Care Complaints Act 1994. The QLD Government has called for "new laws to force doctors to report cases of harm by all colleagues". Speculation has arisen as to whether or not mandatory reporting will become national under the proposed COAG/IGA legislation (and regulation) should it be introduced. A draft National Code of Conduct has been issued by the Federal Department of Health covering all doctors. Changes to this code could facilitate mandatory reporting. What are the justifications for mandatory reporting are they valid? What evidence exists that mandatory reporting is effective? What are the likely outcomes of a mandatory reporting system? Are there adverse and unintended consequences? Why is mandatory reporting not universally adopted? 10. What should an independent profession's approach be to mandatory reporting? Conclusions: Mandatory reporting is designed to redirect public concern over health care standards from health administration to an independent profession that has been restricted in its ability to control professional standards by competition law and other interventionist regulation. Mandatory reporting uses as its justification certain high profile cases of alleged breaches of health care standards by doctors. However close examination of these cases may lead to the conclusion that reporting was sufficient to justify earlier intervention i.e. that cases were not a result of a lack of reporting, rather a lack of decision making and following routine procedures by a tardy administration. The recently released Garling Report needs close examination. It must be emphasised that in some of these high profile cases against doctors, judicial proceedings are still in progress and final verdicts remain to be determined. Mandatory reporting is being introduced on top of a plethora of ethical codes, codes of conduct, regulation and legislation. The Australian medical profession is one of the most highly regulated groups in Australia. Are we making it impossible for our doctors to undertake their professional responsibilities? Mandatory reporting as a public safeguard needs greater examination as to its efficacy and justification. Systems that produce poor outcomes reduce public confidence and are counter-productive.


The Nominal Clump is a notion, Haiman uses for his analysis of Khmer. He proposes it as "a unit midway between phrases and clauses with respect to the criterion of fixity [of the constituents]". The Nominal Clump is a referential unit that consists of one or more phrases, none of which is obligatory and "each is perfectly capable of occurring alone". The first section explains the Nominal Clump. A Noun Phrase is used to refer to or denote individuals or groups of individuals as arguments or adjuncts in clauses. The second section explains a Noun Phrase. The third section explains the subclasses of nouns in Atong language. Various subsections discuss the inherently locational nouns, mass nouns, and gender-sensitive nouns. Juxtaposition of nouns is discussed in the fourth section. The fifth section explains the repetitions of nouns. The last section explains the nominal predicates.Keywords: Atong; Haiman; Khmer; Nominal Clump; Noun Phrase; nouns


Neutron radiography and computed tomography encompass a vibrant range of scientific applications, requiring advanced technique development and cutting-edge data processing and analysis software. We have developed an extensive portfolio of Python-based Jupyter notebooks that are custom-made for a specific experiment and sample geometry. These notebooks do not require any programming skills, although the code is accessible to programming experts if they wish to modify it. The notebooks are available on our analysis servers where the imaging data is also stored, preventing unnecessary and lengthy data transfer. This manuscript gives an overview of our efforts to empower the research community, that uses both the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor imaging capabilities, to process and analyze their data in collaboration with our imaging team. Introduction Neutron radiography experiments impact a wide range of scientific areas such as materials science [1], energy [2], physics, engineering [3], archaeometry [4], plant physiology [5], geosciences [6], biology [7, 8], and chemistry. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) CG-1D neutron imaging beamline [9] covers a broad range of scientific applications brought by scientists and engineers with different levels of expertise in image data analysis and programming. The facility is accessible at no cost through a peer review process if the visiting research team agrees to publish. It is very challenging to develop a "one-shoe-fits-all" data processing and analysis software. A limited subset of the CG-1D research community performs data analysis without the help of the imaging team. The beamline is staffed with beamline scientists, data acquisition and software experts. This team works toward the development of intuitive data acquisition, processing and analysis tools that can be used by novice, intermediate and expert researchers. These users interact with our data processing and analysis software through the Python Jupyter notebooks. At this facility, most users rely on tools provided by the imaging team to process their data from normalization to 3-dimensional reconstruction, along with analysis of complex geometry samples. In order to improve the researcher's software experience and to make sure they are provided with adequate tools for their data processing and analysis, we implemented the procedure described undermentioned. Prior to arrival to the facility, we contact the principal investigator (PI) to discuss their data analysis needs as well as the level of software expertise of everyone in the PI's team. We already have many notebooks that can perform the most general needs of the users, but in case a team is coming with the need of a new tool, the pre-beamexperiment contact provides enough time to develop adequate (in terms of both algorithms and usability) tools. Upon arrival of the research team, we demonstrate the usage and provide a full step-by-step tutorial of each software. Finally, we follow up with the researchers after they have Neutron Radiography WCNR-11 Materials Research Forum LLC Materials Research Proceedings 15 (2020) 198-204 https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644900574-31 199 returned to their home institution, provide further software support, and get their feedback on our procedure and the software. In this article, we detail how we collaborate with researchers who come to use our neutron imaging beamline and demonstrate the advantages of using the Python Jupyter notebooks as a development and deployment environment. Experimental Planning While the beamline scientist often interacts with the research team as early as during the beam time proposal writing phase, data software discussions usually start when beam time has been granted. To optimize the visiting research team's experience at the beamline, a few key parameters need to be understood before their experimental beam time. First and foremost, we need to understand how the experiments can provide an answer to their scientific question. This leads to discussions about how the researchers plan to collect their data, what parameters need to be saved in the metadata and later extracted, and what information needs to be extracted from the radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scans. These early communications with the experimental researchers are critical to ensure data processing and analysis is in place either at the time the experiment is conducted or soon after. Second, our researchers have access to our previously developed Jupyter notebooks with tutorials from our imaging website [10]. Finally, the software experts spend time with the researchers at the beamline during the experiments to fully appreciate the complexity of the measurements and to confirm the data analysis strategy previously discussed. Jupyter Notebooks As defined by its official web site, the Jupyter Notebooks [11] is a versatile, open source web application that allows to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and narrative texts. The notebooks are designed to intuitively develop and run codes. The Jupyter notebooks supports over 40 programming languages [12]. We chose to write code using the Python language which has an easy-to-learn and interpreted object-oriented programming language. The Jupyter interface is straightforward to use and thus, once familiar with the functionality of the interface, one can start coding inside a notebook using a web browser [13], see Fig. 1 (left). A notebook consists of a series of cells that each contains lines of code. Each cell can be run or rerun independently, pending the logic of the programming is respected. The code can be easily modified, such as changing an algorithm in a cell, without impacting the rest of the users. In order to simplify the utilization of the notebooks, we implemented user interfaces (UI) that are launched from the notebook, as illustrated in Fig. 1 (right). This is possible because the thinlinc [14] connection to the SNS analysis servers is available for our users. How to Access the Notebooks Another benefit of using Jupyter notebooks is that they can be run from our analysis servers without having to install software on the researcher's computer. Since the imaging data reside on the servers, this prevents unnecessary transfer of large imaging data sets. Using a web browser and assuming the researcher has an account in our servers, they can log in. Once logged in the Linux server, they then click the jupyter imaging options on the "Applications and Software" dropdown menus. Within seconds, the user is switched to a new conda environment [15] which is a directory that contains all the installed python libraries/conda packages necessary to run the notebooks. The portfolio of the python notebooks is automatically imported into the user account, allowing them to modify the notebooks without modifying the original notebooks which are stored elsewhere, and the Jupyter server is started from the notebooks folder location. Neutron Radiography WCNR-11 Materials Research Forum LLC Materials Research Proceedings 15 (2020) 198-204 https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644900574-31 200 Figure 1. Left: An example of Python-based Jupyter notebook displayed using a web browser. Right: A user interface directly launched from a notebook. The Jupyter home page shows a long list of various files and folders. The notebooks, files with extension ".ipynb", are the only files most users will interact with. Advanced users can adventure inside the code itself, which can be found in the "__code" folder. Each notebook opens in a new tab and at its top is a link to a step-by-step tutorial (some with video tutorials, see Fig. 2) that explains the purpose of the code and how to run it. A parchment display summarizes the four important rules to remember to successfully run the notebooks, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Figure 2. The top of each notebook provides a direct link (left) to a step-by-step tutorial (right) and a list of important rules (left) to execute the notebooks. Examples of Notebooks Within the past few years, we have developed a large library of Jupyter notebooks, all of which are available on our servers to all the CG-1D and the future VENUS (an imaging instrument at the Spallation Neutron Source) communities. These notebooks are custom-made for a specific experiment and sample geometry. A few examples are listed below to give a glance at the data processing and analysis software capability. Neutron Radiography WCNR-11 Materials Research Forum LLC Materials Research Proceedings 15 (2020) 198-204 https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644900574-31 201 Example 1: Binning of images based on metadata This notebook combines radiographs according to the temperature of the furnace saved in the metadata of each radiograph (Fig. 3). The notebook displays the entire temperature history of the experiment with the furnace file information as well as a time lapse of the corresponding radiographs (Fig. 3A). The code allows to select various binning options (by time, by temperature of the furnace, by number of imaging files). The principle of binning is similar to the event filtering for scattering instruments at the SNS [16]. Fig. 3B displays the binning that was applied in this example, and Fig. 3C shows the result of the binning with the created temperature steps. Figure 3. A: Furnace temperature information over entire experiment time (blue) and corresponding selected radiographs (yellow); B: color coded regions to show how the radiographs are binned; C: binning result with average furnace temperature reported for each


The current situations of lack of brands, weak market, weak technologies and weak core competitiveness in China can be changed through product design innovation. Design innovation method is the key to product design. Taking the product design innovation method based on systematics theory as study content,theoretical research problems of product design innovation method are put forward,the laws of product design innovation method in systematics theory are explored. The study will promote systematic innovation of product design. It is concluded that product design innovation is a complex systematic innovation,it needs creative idea,innovation theory and innovation tools,meanwhile, the function innovation,technological innovation,and art innovation are necessary.


There are two common approaches for optimizing the performance of a machine: genetic algorithms and machine learning. A genetic algorithm is applied over many generations whereas machine learning works by applying feedback until the system meets a performance threshold. Though these are methods that typically operate separately, we combine evolutionary adaptation and machine learning into one approach. Our focus is on machines that can learn during their lifetime, but instead of equipping them with a machine learning algorithm we aim to let them evolve their ability to learn by themselves. We use evolvable networks of probabilistic and deterministic logic gates, known as Markov Brains, as our computational model organism. The ability of Markov Brains to learn is augmented by a novel adaptive component that can change its computational behavior based on feedback. We show that Markov Brains can indeed evolve to incorporate these feedback gates to improve their adaptability to variable environments. By combining these two methods, we now also implemented a computational model that can be used to study the evolution of learning.


The study presented here examines the problems of composition and architectonics of a work of fiction. The author analyses the correlation of these notions. A close examination of the types of compositional organization of a work of fiction has been carried out. It is noted that the problem of the composition of a work of fiction has a fairly long tradition. At the time, the problem was considered by Aristotle (4th century BC), who focused on the fact that the perfection of a work could be achieved by motivated selection and combination of separate elements into a single whole, which forms complete harmony. A study has been made of the theoretical aspects of the notion of «composition», as well as a demarcation with similar values such as «structure» and «architectonics», and a description of compositional techniques that clarify the functions of composition in a work of fiction. The article discusses the features of the composition and architectonics of «Canterbury Tales», a work by Geoffrey Chaucer, which was written at the end of the 14th century in Middle English, but remained unfinished. Chaucer's literary skill is manifested in the fact that the stories reflect the individual traits and individual manner of narrating of the characters. The author depicts a wide canvas of English reality of his contemporary era. The book consists of a «Prologue», 22 verse and two prose stories, which are interconnected by interludes. The framing story reports on the development of the action. Borrowing the themes from numerous stories by other authors, Chaucer complicates the plot, saturates it with realistic details. At the same time, he connects the dynamics of action with psychological analysis. It is emphasized that the composition of a work of fiction is structured from the following main elements: plot — a series of events that are depicted in the work of fiction; conflict is a clash of characters and circumstances, views and principles of being, which are the basis of action. The conflict may arise between the individual and society or between characters. And in the mind of the hero, it can be explicit, hidden or imaginary. Plot elements reflect the stages of development of the conflict; prologue — a kind of introduction to the work, which tells about the events of the past and it emotionally sets the reader to perceive the work; exposition — an introduction to the main action, an description of the conditions and circumstances that preceded the beginning of the action (it can be expanded, non-deployed, integral and «torn», located at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the work); familiarization with the characters of the work, the circumstances and chronology against which the action takes place; starting point of the plot — the beginning of the plot movement (the event from which the conflict begins, further events develop); development of action — a system of events that are the result of the starting point of the plot; the conflict escalates, and contradictions appear more clearly and sharply; climax — the moment of the highest tension of the action, the peak of the conflict — after the climax, the action weakens; denouement — the resolution of the main conflict, or an indication of possible ways to resolve it. This is the final moment of the action of the work of fiction. At this stage of the composition, either the resolution of the conflict is demonstrated or the impossibility of its resolution is shown; epilogue — the final part of the work of fiction, which indicates the direction of further development of events and the fate of the characters. A short message about what happened to the acting characters of the work of fiction after the end of the main storyline. The study considers plot options: the plot can be presented in a direct sequence of events with digressions into the past — retrospectives. In addition, the plot may depict «excursions» into the future or deliberately show an altered sequence of events. Non-plot elements are: inserted episodes, author's digressions. Therefore, it should be noted that the main function of the plot is to expand the scope of the depicted events and, thus, to reflect the position of the author in relation to various phenomena of life. The work of fiction may lack individual elements of the plot, and sometimes there are several storylines. Architectonic techniques used by the author create a special unique author's style. And it is the author himself who chooses the main compositional elements. Thus, the composition of a work of fiction can be multifaceted, linear, circular, «a thread with beads». Masterful architectonics is not just the unity of the constituent parts of a work, it is the originality of a particular work, its beauty and uniqueness. It has been determined that the most important property of the composition of this work of Chaucer is its logical sequence. It is with the help of the composition that one can determine that in the «Canterbury Tales» the center of events is the journey of the pilgrims to the holy place. Architectonics is consequently the relationship between the parts of the work. For example, the prologue and epilogue are traditionally small, the prologue being located at the beginning and the epilogue at the end of the work. And the larger elements are located between the prologue and the epilogue. Thus, the architectonics of the elements of the work is logically consistent with each other. In the «Canterbury Tales», the event type of composition has a chronological form. There is a time distance between separate events, but there is no violation of the natural chronology.


Walking is the most basic movement in daily life, and is a popular exercise for eloerly individuals to keep their health. However, it is not clear how walking is effective in keeping or increasing the muscle mass and bone intensity of the lower limbs. This study aimed to investigate the relationships between walking steps per day during daily life and either the muscle thickness values of lower leg anterior and posterior or the bone intensity of calcaneus. The subjects were 116 healthy men (n=31) and women (n=85) aged from 60 to 78 yrs, Walking steps per day were determined using a pedometer. Muscle thickness values at the lower leg anterior and posterior sites and the osteo sono assessment index (OSI) of calcaneus were determined using ultrasonographic apparatuses. In women, OSI correlated significantly with walking steps (r=0.265, p<0.05) and the product of walking steps and weight (r=0.369, p<0.05). In both genders, however, no significant correlations were found between walking steps and muscle thickness values at the two sites. The findings here suggest that increasing the number of walking steps during daily life will improve the intensity of calcaneus for elderly women, but is not effective for inducing hypertrophic change in the muscles located in the lower limbs for elderly individuals of both genders. (Jpn. J. Phys. Fitness Sports Med. 2003, 52 Suppl : 127-132) key word : osteo sono assessment index, muscle thickness, ultrasonography


This study was oriented to production of bioactive tetradecane reported in extracts of Pediococcus acidilactici isolated from curd milk and 16S rRNA sequence analysis of isolate showed 98% correlation with P. acidilactici DSM: 20284-CM (accession no. NR042057.1). P. acidilactici activity has been tested by disc diffusion assay against Staphylococcus aureus MRSA ATCC 43300 , Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19116 , Pseudomonas aeruginosa MTCC 1934 , and Escherichia coli MTCC 1610 , Clostridium bifermentans MTCC 11273 and Candida albicans MTCC 183 . The highest antibacterial and antifungal activities created by this strain were obtained. Tetradecane active metabolite which was extracted by ethyl acetate contained one observed bioactive spot on thin layer chromatography plate. Spectroscopic analyses confirm the presence of tetradecane as pure product. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of tetradecane against indicators are noteworthy. In conclusion, this is the first work show tetradecane was obtained from a novel P. acidilactici -CM strain. Tetradecane act as antibacterial and antifungal.


It is an agreement between two or more parties under which either party pledges himself to the other to do or forebear from doing certain things of common interest. Covenants are classified in several ways: Absolute or conditional, affirmative or negative declaratory or obligatory, dependent, concurrent or independent, executed or executor, express or implied, general or specific, principal and auxiliary, transitive or intransitive, etc., (refer Black's Law Dictionary) Tax law has to deal with restrictive covenants.


J. W. Veldman et al. argue that the world's ancient (old-growth) grasslands should be spared from restoration-motivated tree planting ("Tyranny of trees in grassy biomes," Letters, 30 January, p. [484][1]). We strongly agree. However, they also claim that the global Atlas of Forest Landscape


This paper proposes a tracking control law design for unmanned underwater vehicles that take into account the hydrodynamic and the ocean current effects. In order to achieve this aim, a cascaded adaptive design with ocean current is designed. First, a kinematic controller is developed and the adaptive dynamic law is designed to extend the kinematics to the dynamics tracking. The system stability can be strictly guaranteed by Lyapunov stability theory. Then, in order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, a typical adaptive law is added to do a comparative study. The experiment results show that the proposed method can deal with hydrodynamic and the ocean current effects quite well.


In view of the problem that the local active contour model is difficult to achieve image segmentation accurately and quickly, an improved image segmentation method based on Local Image Fitting (LIF) is proposed. Firstly, the local median is used as the fitting center of the curve to enhance the robustness of the model to noise. Secondly, a minimized Laplacian of gaussian energy (Log) term is introduced, and the Log operator is used to smooth the image and enhance the edges of the image. Finally, the minimized Log energy term is combined with the LIF, which together drives the curve to the boundary. Experimental results show that the Precision rate, Recall rate and Dice Similarity Coefficient of this model are closest to 1. Compared with other main region-based models, the image segmentation accuracy of this method is significantly higher than that of other algorithms, which improves the anti-noise performance and image segmentation speed.


The invention relates to a method for producing a vegetable cultivation substrate and a seedling-raising substrate by using medlar branches. The method comprises the following production steps: crushing the medlar branches; scattering water on the medlar branches; adding organic fertilizer, urea and an enzyme preparation; mixing uniformly; performing stacking fermentation at the environmental temperature of between 10 and 40 DEG C; turning the stack when the central temperature of the stack is higher than 75 DEG C and finishing the fermentation until the central temperature of the stack is near the environmental temperature; and mixing the fermented medlar branches, organic fertilizer, pearlite and vermiculite according to the volume ratio of 4:(1-2):2:(2-3) completely and uniformly. The reproducible medlar resources with low price and rich sources serve as the main substrate source for vegetable soilless cultivation, so the selecting types of the substrates for vegetable soilless cultivation and industrial seedling raising are enriched. The treated medlar branches serve as the vegetable cultivation substrate and the seedling-raising substrate, so the method has the advantages of water absorptivity, air permeability, abundant nutrients and the like.


12 Caffeine's ability to influence upper-body exercise (UBE) endurance performance may be 13 related to an individual's training status. This case study therefore aimed to investigate the 14 ergogenic effects of caffeine dose on 20 km time trial (TT) performance of an elite male 15 Para-triathlete (wheelchair user) (age 46 y, body mass 76.9 kg, body fat 25.4%, 16 handcycling · VO2 peak 3.45 l∙min). The athlete completed four 20 km handcycling TT's on a 17 Cyclus II ergometer under laboratory controlled conditions following the ingestion of 2, 4 and 18 6 mg·kg caffeine (CAF) or placebo (PLA). Blood lactate concentration [Bla], power output 19 (PO), arousal and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded. Ingestion of 2, 4 and 6 20 mg·kg CAF resulted in TT times which were 2, 1.5 and 2.7% faster than PLA (37:40 21 min:sec). The participant's [Bla] increased throughout all trials and was greater during CAF 22 compared to PLA. There were no obvious differences in RPE between trials despite different 23 performance times. Baseline arousal scores differed between PLA and 4 mg·kg ('1-low'), 24 and 2 and 6 mg·kg ('3-moderate'). Arousal increased at each time-point following the 25 ingestion of 4 and 6 mg·kg. The largest CAF dose resulted in a positive pacing strategy, 26 which when combined with an end spurt resulted in the fastest TT. Caffeine improved 20 km 27 TT performance of an elite male Para-triathlete, which may be related to greater arousal and 28 an increased PO for a given RPE. 29


This research is to analyze the responses of geography test of the Basic Competence Test (BCTEST) in order to find out its Differential Item Functioning (DIF). Besides, the research operate the word and picture features of the items in order to understand the influence on the degree of DIF by Mantel-Haenszel (MH) method and Constant Item (CI) method. The results showed that, 1) The result point out that there are more items that are disadvantageous to the students who lived in eastern area in Taiwan, and the DIF proportion with specific writing is higher than the general writing; 2) The results by Logistic Regression analysis pointed out that the "word feature" forecast "the region DIF" effectively. The researcher suggests "the specific writing" is easy to create the DIF phenomenon between the different regions, therefore, it should avoid the writing content involving the specific place, the region, the goods, the activity, the experience of life and so on "the specific writing" in items of geography test.


July 2017 • Volume 125 • Number 1 www.anesthesia-analgesia.org 13 Copyright © 2017 International Anesthesia Research Society DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000002121 Surgical hemostasis is a central component of patient blood management,1 for which there is now a growing list of pharmacologic agents with the potential to be effective in reducing perioperative blood loss.2 The most straightforward means to demonstrate efficacy of such interventions in clinical trials is in the reduction of mortality or in allogeneic blood transfusions, which can be high hurdles that may be difficult to achieve, depending on the clinical trial design, patient setting, sample size cohorts, etc. At one extreme of this spectrum is the clinical randomization of an antifibrinolytic in significant head injury (CRASH-2) study, which enrolled a very large number of trauma patients in order to be able to demonstrate improved mortality in patients treated with adjuvant tranexamic acid (TXA) therapy.3 At the other end of the spectrum for efficacy is the demonstration of reduced perioperative bleeding (ie, improved surgical hemostasis) in patients undergoing hip replacement surgery who were treated with TXA.4 In this instance, perisurgical blood loss may be only an indirect metric for demonstrating improved clinical patient outcomes, although there was an indication that allogeneic blood transfusions were reduced. Unfortunately, methods for quantifying estimated surgical blood loss (EBL) have long been felt to be inaccurate and, therefore, were variable and poorly correlated with other clinical outcomes.5 In this issue, Lopez-Picado et al6 have used data from their previously published clinical trial4 to assess direct measures (external blood loss) and indirect calculations for EBL (using 4 previously published formulas plus a fifth formula developed by the authors). Notably, although the majority of formulas reaffirmed a reduction in blood loss with TXA administration during total hip arthroplasty compared to placebo, calculation using the Gross formula resulted in no significant difference in EBL between treatment groups on postoperative day 4. Additionally, as the amount of blood loss increased, the agreement in EBL among formulas decreased, highlighting the difficulty in accurately quantifying large-volume EBL. Thus, the authors concluded that these metrics are useful for evaluating the efficacy of interventions aiming to decrease blood loss but do not ensure that the values themselves are sufficiently accurate for absolute measuring. What does this mean for the potential role(s) of EBL for use as a clinical metric? Estimating blood loss has a number of potentially important clinical roles (Table). But in each of these instances, the method for measuring EBL must be sufficiently accurate and validated in order to be accepted as a quality or patient care metric. One approach is the use of validated bleeding severity scales such as for clinical studies investigating hemostatic agents.7 These are based on a clinician-reported scale that is based on the essential elements and criteria to evaluate a clinician-reported scale of the US Food and Drug Administration.8 Alternative approaches to EBL include gravimetric, colorimetric, photometric, spectrophotometric, and feature extraction imaging.9–11 Ironically, the least important role for quantifying EBL may be as an indicator for the need for red blood cell transfusion therapy. This is because while concurrent estimates of blood loss are relevant, they should be accompanied by other clinical parameters also important for transfusion decisions, including patient vital signs and serial hemoglobin level determinations. However, as a post hoc measure of hemostasis, EBL can be used as a metric for comparison of surgical or anesthetic techniques. For example, determinations of reduced bleeding under regional anesthesia compared to general anesthesia12–15 may influence choice of anesthetic technique and recommendations for standardized clinical pathways for routine surgery. Similarly, EBL may be used as part of peer performance review in surgical techniques for hospital credentialing. Far more intriguing is the value of EBL for perioperative decision-making: whether quantitative intraoperative blood loss is higher than a predetermined threshold can be an indicator for an anatomic source such as a retrocardiac bleeding vessel in cardiothoracic surgery or whether quantitative blood loss is less than such a threshold, suggesting that bleeding is more likely due to coagulopathy and can be managed with a treatment algorithm, based on point-of-care testing and other management options such as plasma, platelets, fibrinogen, factor VIII/von Willebrand, and factor XIII therapies. Unfortunately, a reliable quantitative method for measurement of intraoperative blood loss is still lacking. Visual estimation of blood loss is universally accepted to be inaccurate,16 and although formulas to calculate EBL have become increasingly sophisticated, incorporating multiple clinical Estimating Blood Loss


The invention discloses a technology compounding of grinding wheel used for burnishing rail. The feature is that it is made up of 13-17% silicon carbide, 5-7% resin powder, 12-15% iron dust, 5-8% chriolite, 2-5% lime, and the rest is zirconium steel jade. Mixing and whisking to equal, pressing into blank, taking high temperature sintering, the invention would be produced. The grinding wheel has little warp, and has good self acute capability and high fineness of grinding, and long useful life. It has high efficiency of grinding, and would not cause the rail burning, crack, blocking up and broken.


This article problematizes how the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations are founded on a limiting liberal perspective until nowadays. Indeed, the evolution of peace operations reveals changes in the nature of their tasks, the level of force applied and, more recently, authorship. Nevertheless, these operations, framed in a liberal paradigm, still affect the updates' implementation, such as the multiplicity and inclusion of local actors. To pursue this analysis, this work will present the liberal perspective within the theoretical concepts of liberal peace, peacebuilding and the Security Sector Reform (SSR). Then, we shall analyze the evolution of Peace Operations according to its five generations, specifically highlighting the fifth generation, which is characterized by its hybrid operations. Following that, we will develop a theoretical analysis with constructivist and anti-imperialist paradigms on SSR criticisms and the UN's bureaucratic pathologies. We aim to look at theoretical concepts as they inform practical examples whenever possible to maintain a critical posture. Thus, we will conclude this work by presenting elements of a post-liberal paradigm, namely: the inevitability of effective multidimensionality, an incorporation of local knowledge including non-state power groups and the growing participation of the rising powers. Regarding this last one, if carried out in high decision-making sectors at the United Nations, could represent a narrowing of the gap that exists between decision makers and the forces that are at the forefront of operations.