Polyculture of Penaeus monodon, along with freshwater carps, mullets and milk fish, was undertaken in a rain-fed pond to study the growth and survival in freshwater conditions in coastal areas. In two consecutive experiments during 1978 and 1979 the prawns showed relatively faster growth, attaining 60-65 g in 4 months and 70-80 g in 7-8 months of culture. However, survival of the prawns was poor, maximum being 34.6%.


A patient who was receiving a steroid aerosol for treatment of asthma developed clinical pulmonary tuberculosis. Continued administration of the steroid aerosol along with antituberculosis chemotherapy did not adversely influence healing of the pulmonary lesion.


Introduction: Handgrip strength (HGS), evaluated with a handgrip dynamometer, is a marker of current nutritional status and cardiometabolic risk, as well as of future morbidity and mortality. Objectives: We present reference values for HGS of Colombian University students'. Method: Cross-sectional study. The sample comprised (n=5,647, 58,5% women) apparently healthy (mean age, 20.6±2.7 years) attending public and private institutions in the cities of Bogota and Cali (Colombia). HGS was measured using a manual dynamometer, adjusted for each individual according to hand size. Sex- and age-specific normative values for HGS were calculated using the LMS method and expressed as tabulated percentiles from 3 to 97 and as smoothed centile curves (P3, P10, P25, P50, P75, P90 and P97). Results: The mean HGS value was significantly higher in men (37.1 ± 8.3 kg) when compared to women (24.2 ± 8.1 kg) (p < 0.001). HGS increased with age in both sexes and was significantly higher for men in all age categories. The results were generally more homogeneous among men than women. Sex- and age-specific handgrip strength normative values among healthy young Colombian adults are defined. Conclusion: This information may be helpful in future studies of secular trends in HGS and in identifying clinically relevant cut points for poor nutritional and elevated cardiometabolic risk in a Latin American population. Evidence of a decline in HGS before the end of the third decade of life is of concern and warrants further investigation.


The purpose of integration is to improve the resource utilization,saving the users' time.To achieve the integration of digital resources,we need to use a variety of retrieval techniques and methods of integrating these distributed,heterogeneous digital resources into a unified environment,to form a new organic whole,and connecting those digital resources seamlessly.The integrated digital resources system should be able to provide users with a unified search platform where all processes are transparent to the user.The initial unified retrieval of integration of digital resources focus on the multi-directional links among information,so as to solve the problem of information silos.With the construction of digital library in-depth,service-oriented will become its main shape.The integration of digital resources is not just integrating these distributed,heterogeneous resources together simply;what's more,it is the integration of services and resources together.In this paper,we discuss the need for integration of university library's digital resources,the principles and contents of integration.Several integrated model of digital resources which are suitable for university libraries are proposed.


In this study, the duality of "sovereignty and humanitarian intervention" will be put on the table by adopting the concepts of Critical Legal Studies – especially those introduced by Martti Koskenniemi. It is seen that states can emphasize both the rights of sovereignty and humanitarian intervention in the circumstances necessitated by their national interests. Between these two concepts, there is a paralysis caused by pushing and pulling. This paralysis deepens the dilemma in a system where the notion of sovereignty is principal and makes it impossible to choose a side between these two concepts. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine was put forward to solve the dilemma in question by coding humanitarian intervention as the result of sovereignty. However, the doctrine cannot escape from being an "apology" for state behaviour. As a result, international law, which is extremely flexible due to its structure, stands with the powerful side in the situation of inequality between the parties. Therefore, reintegration of the principle of "justice" into the system can be a way to solve this dilemma.


Objective
To investigate the applied value of apoptosis inhibitory protein Survivin in FVAD (fludarabine, vincristine, epirubicin and dexamethasone) chemotherapy afficay for refractory multiple myeloma.

Methods
Eighty-three cases of multiple myeloma from hematology inpatient department were selected, including 40 cases of initial multiple myeloma (initial treatment group), who were given VAD scheme (vincristine, epirubicin, dexamethasone) chemotherapy, and 43 cases of refractory multiple myeloma (refractory group), who were given FVAD chemotherapy. Bone marrow was collected from marrow aspiration, and Survivin protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry. Survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier. The difference in Survivin positive expression rate between groups was analyzed, and the relationship between Survivin expressoon and FVAD chemotherapy short- and long-term efficacy was also analyzed.

Results
The positive Survivin expression rate in refractory group (72.09%) was significantly higher than in initial treatment group (42.50%) with significant differences between two groups (P<0.05). Complete remission rate (4.20%) and the effective rate (22.92%) in positive Survivin group were significantly lower than those (14.20% and 57.14%) in Survivin negative group with differences being significant between two groups (P<0.05). Overall survival and progression free survival in Survivin positive group were significantly lower than those in Survivin negative group (P<0.05).

Conclusion
Survivin protein positive expression increased significantly in refractory multiple myeloma tissue, indicating the short- and long-term curative effectineness of FVAD chemotherapy is worse.

Key words:
Apoptosis inhibitory protein; Survivin; Refractory multiple myeloma chemotherapy; Chemotherapy


The information of productive decision of enterprises mainly relies on the managerial accounting,but the problem that today's theory of the accounting for management departs from practice seriously is worth our consideration.The main problem is the unconformity of the managerial accounting logic and the productive logic.That is to say,the main problem is the different targets between managerial accounting and production.It seems particularly outstanding in today's world which is experiencing economic globalization.


In crowded cities such as Hong Kong, petrol stations can be found in locations within metres of domestic blocks. The indoor pollution from the organic vapour of petrol entering such domestic premises is frequently a cause for complaint. This study aimed to monitor the levels of petroleum constituents in the domestic premises, evaluate the risk to health, and recommend suitable amelioration measures. Air samples were taken during the filling of the underground petrol tanks which were equipped with vent pipes extending 3-5 metres above ground. The chemicals analysed included the following constituents of petrol: toluene, xylene, cumene, n-hexane and benzene. Risk assessment on household exposure was conducted and compari-


To write few words regarding prophet of Islam is not an easy task. one should have total command over theprophet sayings (ahadith) and a literature of prophet biographies. For muslims he is not an ordinary men but a,leader,a statesmen, a military commander and the spirtual leader.In reality he is considered more then all above mentioned titles. For them he is a last prophet and sealed of prophet Hood ship. Men who is divinely innocent by nature and instinction, a rightous men. Ths article focuses on the two aspects of prophet (P.B.U.H)) life during war and his daily life during the period of peace. This articlesdefine how he maintained morality with strategy in the battle fields and preserved his kindness,humbleness and austerity during peace writer expresses his views that prophet (P.B.U.H) follows and observes rights of 1 Z ö à Î̄ ' ® 0* Î y ̀ 9 W s


This paper presents the results of intelligibility experiments performed with Brazilian students of Languages (Portuguese/ English) at a public university in southern Brazil. Four groups of twenty listened to the English spoken by a young man and a young woman from each of four different nationalities— American, Chinese, German and Japanese. The main research questions had to do with the evaluation of intelligibility for Brazilian Portuguese speakers of the English produced by the speakers of the above‐mentioned groups, who all read the same text taken from the Speech Accent Archive, George Mason University. The results showed that the intelligibility of Germans, Americans and Chinese was independent of the speakers' nationality (and any accent carried into English from their mother tongues), whereas the Japanese group showed the lowest intelligibility scores.


Recent federal legislation has mandated pharmacies to move pseudoephedrine products behind the counter. [1][1]–[3][2] We undertook a qualitative study that explored perceptions about this new policy in hopes of identifying strategies to maximize its desired effect.

Ninety participants completed a


Cardiovascular events are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in renal transplant recipients (RTR). Given the role of inflammation in atherosclerosis, the contribution of functional polymorphisms of cytokines to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) was assessed in RTR in this study. Polymorphisms of tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) gene [−308 (G→A), −238 (G→A)], interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) gene [−1082(A→G), −819 (T→C), −592 (A→C)], transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF‐β1) gene [codon 10 (T→C), codon 25 (G→C)], carotis intima media thickness (CIMT), left ventricular mass index (LVMI), 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure and serum lipoprotein homocysteine level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum C‐reactive protein (CRP) and serum fibrinogen level of RTR were determined. Seventy‐two RTR (26 cadaveric allograft, 46 living‐related allograft, 43 male, 29 female) were included in this study. LVMI were similar in TNF‐α, IL‐10 and TGF‐β1 genotypes. Right and left CIMT were higher in TT genotype (n = 16) than CT (n = 46) and CC (n = 10) genotypes of TGF‐β1 codon 10 (T→C) gene polymorphism (RCIMT, 7.7 ± 2.2 mm vs. 7.0 ± 1.4 mm vs. 5.9 ± 1.4 mm, P = 0.025; LCIMT, 8.5 ± 2.5 mm vs. 7.0 ± 1.3 mm vs. 6.1 ± 1.2 mm, P = 0.002). Lipoprotein (a) level of TT genotype (35.5 ± 22.5 mg/dl) was higher than CC (4.1 ± 2.8 mg/dl) and CT (20.4 ± 11.2 mg/dl) genotypes of TGF‐β1 codon 10 (T→C) gene polymorphism (P = 0.037). High producers of cytokine IL‐10 −1082 [GG (n = 22) vs. AA + AG (n = 50)] and low producers of TGF‐β codon 25 [GC + CC (n = 17) vs. GG (n = 55)] had lower IMT of carotid artery but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P > 0.05). The CIMT of renal transplant patients was similar in IL‐10 (−819, −592) and TNF‐α (−308, −238) genotypes. No difference was observed in 24‐h ambulatory blood pressure levels, serum lipoproteins, plasma homocysteine level, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum CRP, serum fibrinogen level in IL‐10, TNF‐α and TGF‐β1 genotypes. Besides the well‐known factors, TGF‐β1 gene polymorphisms might play a role in CVD in RTR even at early stages of asymptomatic atherosclerosis.


This article makes a case for introducing moving averages into introductory statistics courses and contemporary modeling/data-based courses in college algebra and precalculus. The authors examine a variety of aspects of moving averages and draw parallels between them and similar topics in calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra. The article: (1) shows how to calculate the moving averages for a set of data; (2) discusses the effect of the length of the moving average cycle on the sequence of values generated; (3) discusses the mathematical properties of the moving average as a mathematical function/operator; (4) addresses the problem of how to retrieve the underlying sequence of data values from the known sequence of values of the moving averages; and (5) discusses the significance of the moving averages in the sense of smoothing out the original data to better identify the pattern in that data.


It is possible to encounter many works of art in Anatolia that are produced in Greece during antiquity and spread to many places of the world for various reasons. Many of the works found in excavations conducted by the Turkish Historical Society between 1951 and 1953 from the base excavations of the Match Factory in Sinop, an important Greek colony, were of such kind. The vase that is the topic of this article is an Antique work in red technique belonging to the 4th century BC. It is also important for having been well preserved. Founded in 1926 during the construction of the Match Factory, this work is now preserved in the Ankara Archaeological Museum Classification Hall. The inventory number is 18296, the height is 0,11 m, the mouth diameter is 0,03 m, and the abdomen diameter is 0,105 m.


The invention discloses a safety auxiliary system for automatic speed changing vehicle initial accelerating. The safety auxiliary system comprises an accelerator pedal, an accelerator pedal sensor and an accelerator motor. The accelerator pedal sensor is arranged below the accelerator pedal. The accelerator motor is arranged on a mounting plate. The accelerator motor is connected to one end of a throttle valve pulling rod arranged on an oil sprayer through an accelerator pulling wire steel wire. The other end of the throttle valve pulling rod is hinged to a throttle valve through a throttle valve rotating shaft. The throttle valve is arranged in an oil way of the oil sprayer. When the accelerator pedal is trodden down, the accelerator pedal sensor transmits the obtained information that the accelerator pedal is trodden down to a time delay circuit, and after processing through the time delay circuit, the information is input to an electric control unit through an A/D converter. The electric control unit controls a motor driving circuit to control working and stopping of the accelerator motor according to the obtained information. According to the scheme, vehicle running safety can be effectively improved, and starting risks are lowered.


As the living standards have been improved and more people can come and enjoy hotels, hotels have become more popular. The number of banquets not only family gatherings but meetings in 5 star hotels is rapidly growing. Nowadays, banquet revenue takes more proportion of total hotel sales. To maximize revenue, they have to develop more segmented, customer-focused marketing strategies of banquet sales. The purpose of this study is to compare attributes when customer decide hotel banquet places. Would-be 64 wedding brides & grooms and 45 meeting planners in companies are analyzed to compare the importance and utility of attributes when they choose banquets in 5 star hotels. The area of the study is limited in hotel banquet department of four 5-star-hotels in Seoul. Base on the study, the importance and utility of attributes are different when they choose meeting and wedding place. Service is the number one attribute while price is the number one factor to select hotels. To maximize revenue hotel managers need to segment the market first. And then, they have to try to develop products for the targeted markets, which make them more effective.


1 Tutor, Dept of Physiology, B. J. Government Medical College, Pune, India 2 Associate Professor, Dept of Physiology, B. J. Government medical college, Pune, India 3 Senior Resident, Dept of Medicine, MIMER Medical College, Talegaon, India 4 Professorand HOD, Dept of Physiology, B. J. Government Medical College, Pune, India Correspoding Author Talele Pallavi Tutor, Dept of Physiology,B. J. Government Medical College, Pune, India Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract Background: Essential hypertension may have a cause but our knowledge is not enough to recognize it. The sympathetic nervous system helps to control circulation. Increased incidence of tachycardia, arrhythmias in hypertension, suggests abnormality in sympathetic autonomic system. So the present study was aimed to study blood pressure and heart rate responses during sympathetic stress like 'cold pressor test' (CPT) and 'sustained hand grip test' (SHG) in stage 1 essential hypertensive subjects. Study Setting and Design: Analytical, cross-sectional, comparative study in the Department of Physiology, B J medical college and Sassoon hospital, Pune. Materials and Methods: 50 newly diagnosed essential hypertensive male subjects in the age group of 35 50 years having stage 1 hypertension according to JNC 7 criteria were selected in study group. Healthy age and gender matched, 50 normotensive subjects were included in control group. After informed consent, blood pressure and heart rate responses were measured during sympathetic stress like 'cold pressor test' (CPT) and 'sustained hand grip test' (SHG) in the study group and the control group. Statistical analysis: Comparisons were performed using 'z-test' in the two groups. Results: During cold pressor test and sustained hand grip test blood pressure and heart rate responses were significantly increased in stage 1 essential hypertensive subjects as compared to normotensive subjects. (p<0.05) Conclusion: The sympathetic autonomic activity is increased in stage 1essential hypertensive subjects as compared to normotensive subjects.


This study analyzes 5-year efficiency of the game industry, from 2014 to 2018 which is aimed at 25 online and mobile game companies, that are emerging as a new growth engine of a national economy to come and as a core areas of late entertainment industry. The DEA is used for static efficiency analyze and the DEA-Window is used for dynamic efficiency analyze. This study uses assets, the number of employees and costs as input variables and it also uses operating profits and sales as output variables. The main results show that scale efficiency presents a resonable result over 0.85 on a total average except 2014. However, there has not been a year that is over 0.80 of the whole period in technical efficiency. Also, in terms of business scale, there is a huge efficiency gap between high rank companies and low rank companies and the average trend of efficiency has been increased from 2014 to 2016 but it has been decreased since 2017.


Lee has advocated for the use of civic science in the implementation of adaptive management experiments, noting that people and political processes are central features of adaptive approaches to land management. This paper explores the growing relationship between the public and forest management agencies, and uses a propositional analysis to guide methods for integrating citizens into adaptive management situations. Important characteristics are organized and discussed in six thematic areas. Citizen-agency interactions are more effective when (1) they are open and inclusive, (2) they are built on skilled leadership and interactive forums, (3) they include innovative and flexible methods, (4) involvement is early and continuous, (5) efforts result in action, and (6) they seek to build trust among participants. Particular attention to the situational context of actions and decisions helps to determine the relevance of adaptive management for individuals in these settings.


We present a single photon counting hybrid pixel detector called UFXC32k with 85 ns dead time, 123 erms equivalent noise charge, 9 eoffset spread, double threshold setting, tunable gain and a framerate up to 70 kfps. The detector can be used in various applications including imaging, XRD and time-resolved experiments and has an option for building edgeless large area detectors due to TSV option included in the design.


The 'two-region approximation' to pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR studies of heterogeneous systems has been applied to the estimation of the rates of ionophore-mediated transmembrane exchange of Li+ in liposomes. Transport modulation of restricted diffusion, originally observed for hypophosphite in human erythrocytes, was also seen in the suspensions of liposomes with Na+ and Li+ transport. There was good agreement between the transmembrane exchange rate constants estimated from PFG and magnetization-transfer 7Li NMR experiments. Thus PFG experiments are likely to be a viable alternative to 'dynamic' NMR methods for measuring rapid transport rates in those biological systems which do not display a significant difference in chemical shift, or relaxation rate, of the transmembrane-distributed species.


The utility model relates to a flocked ventilating pipe, which comprises a ventilating pipe body made from a flocked sheet material, an elbow, a reducer and a tee joint, wherein one end of the ventilating pipe body is provided with an inner connector, and the other end of the ventilating pipe body is provided with a rear fixed bracket; and a fixed plate is arranged at the bottom of the ventilating pipe body. The utility model has the following advantages that: (1) the generation of dew is effectively avoided as the water absorption capacity of the flocked side of the ventilating pipe is greater than 400g/sq.m; (2) the heat transfer on a metal surface is inhibited and the scald is prevented; (3) the flocked ventilating pipe is colorful and has the soft feeling of raised pile; (4) the reflection of light is effectively prevented; (5) the noise reflection and re-generated noise are prevented; and (6) the fireproof performance is excellent, passing Class-A fire prevention certifications of China and Japan.


Walking in a crystal clear evening, listening to new Godspeed on new phone, and about to make a big announcement in the morning. Good, you?


A pre‐formed Meisenheimer complex of a naphthalenediimide (NDI) with tetrabutylammonium fluoride (TBAF) is obtained in a simple way by mixing dibrominated 4,9‐dibromo‐2,7‐bis(2‐octyldodecyl)benzo[lmn][3,8]phenanthroline‐1,3,6,8(2H,7H)‐tetraone and TBAF in solution and used as a dopant for n‐type organic thermoelectrics. Two n‐type polymers PNDIClTVT and PBDOPVTT are synthesized, n‐doped, and characterized as conductive and thermoelectric materials. PNDIClTVT doped with NDI‐TBAF presents a high σ value of 0.20 S cm–1, a Seebeck coefficient (S) of −1854 µV K–1, and a power factor (PF) of 67 µW m–1 K–2, among the highest reported PF in solution‐processed conjugated n‐type polymer thermoelectrics. Using 4‐(1,3‐dimethyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1H‐benzoimidazol‐2‐yl)phenyl)dimethylamine and NDI‐TBAF as co‐dopants, PNDIClTVT has a PF > 35 µW m–1 K–2; while for PBDOPVTT σ = 0.75 S cm–1 and PF = 58 µW m–1 K–2. In this study it is found that an ionic adduct together with a neutral dopant improves the performance of n‐type organic thermoelectrics leading to an enhanced power factor, and more generally, the role of such an adduct in polymer doping is also elucidated.


The foundation of forward modeling band together the geology modeling and seismic modeling organically, not only to distinguish the lithology, but also analysis hydrocarbon effectually.Through reservoir analysis for the Cretaceous formation of in certain oilfield in Kazakstan, the exact forecast has been made for the boundary of oil and water and the distributing condition of the reservoir based on the series of steps, such as geophysics modeling, AVO forward modeling, cuneal forward modeling and affirmatory inverse etc., and it is also proved that the conclusion of geology analysis is correct, so the diverse solution of seismic inverse can be redudced.


The development of low-cost sensors has generated a corresponding movement to integrate them into many different applications. One such application is determining the rotational attitude of an object. Since many of these low-cost sensors are less accurate than their more expensive counterparts, their noisy measurements must be filtered to obtain optimum results. This work describes the development, testing, and evaluation of four filtering algorithms for the nonlinear sounding rocket attitude determination problem. Sun sensor, magnetometer, and rate sensor measurements are simulated. A quatenion formulation is used to avoid singularity problems associated with Euler angles and other three-parameter approaches. Prior to filtering, Gauss-Newton error minimization is used to reduce the six reference vector components to four quaternion components that minimize a quadratic error function. Two of the algorithms are based on the traditional extended Kalman filter (EKF) and two are based on the recently developed unscented Kalman filter (UKF). One of each incorporates rate measurements, while the others rely on differencing quaternions. All incorporate a simplified process model for state propagation allowing the algorithms to be applied to rockets with different physical characteristics, or even to other platforms. Simulated data are used to develop and test the algorithms, and each successfully estimates the attitude motion of the rocket, to varying degrees of accuracy. The UKF-based filter that incorporates rate sensor measurements demonstrates a clear performance advantage over both EKFs and the UKF without rate measurements. This is due to its superior mean and covariance propagation characteristics and the fact that differencing generates noisier rates than measuring. For one sample case, the "pointing accuracy" of the rocket spin axis is improved by approximately 39 percent over the EKF that uses rate measurements and by 40 percent over the UKF without rates. The performance of this UKF-based algorithm is evaluated under other-than-nominal conditions and proves robust with respect to data dropouts, motion other than predicted and over a wide range of sensor accuracies. This UKF-based algorithm provides a viable low cost alternative to the expensive attitude determination systems currently employed on sounding rockets.


The paper probes into the accounting experimental teaching based on the related teaching reform and proposes the view that the accounting experimental teaching system shall include scientific standards with an all-round integration of application and research and such ways and means as setting up new-type lab,emphasizing experiment simulation,stressing the construction of teaching materials and teaching team and perfecting the system.


Oil and gas businesses, particularly those in the UK and US, are suffering from the same broad issue that is impacting many industries from construction and other heavy industries through to areas like the health service and education, but it is has also suffered at its own hand through letting go large numbers of people in response to $10 $12 oil. Because of this de-skilling process, the industry now at best has to buy back its own talent at higher rates, and at worst has lost this talent for good to other industries in need of similar skills and experience.


Abstract:Dracula first appears in front of the British public in England not as a gentleman but in the form of "an immense dog." This article reads Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) in the context of human-animal encounters happening on the streets of London when the fear of rabid dogs swept the city. Victorian urban projects aimed at building an urban structure securing human control over animals. Yet this vision was disrupted by the ubiquitous presence of stray dogs in London and their alleged infection with rabies. Dracula's and Un-Dead Lucy's prowling in London emblematize this threat of urban stray dogs. The novel's narratives also prowl, emulating animal intelligence in the way they rely on instant perception lacking reflection and leading to a hunt. This temporal immediacy and chasing mobility of prowling narratives envision co-evolutionary intelligence, dissolving the human-animal binary which structured the domestication, or the anthropocentric urbanization, of the city.


Formal methods approach to software construction can significantly increase the reliability and correctness of the resulting software. Formal methods users are given sophisticated languages and tools for constructing software models, but they often lack some systematic methodological measures to help. Formal design patterns can help formal methods users speed up the development process by re-using and incorporating some pre-defined proved and refined models, as design patterns do in object-oriented software. Some formal design patterns are presented and applied to the development of a washing machine controller model in Event-B that is a formal method for modeling and reasoning about complex discrete system.


The objective of the investigations is the optimization of furnace processes for melting of secondary aluminum. Main emphasis are the reduction of product losses, the product quality and the minimization of emissions. A combination of experimental basic research and computer simulations was used. The results showed that the emissions of adherent organic substances can be influenced by a controlled process operation. Especially the continuous provision of oxygen at furnace temperatures above 900 K avoids emissions. The formation of oxide at the aluminum bath surface raises logarithmically with increasing residence time. The main influence for oxide formation is the temperature of the bath surface. For the process of melting scrap aluminum a high convective heat transfer is of advantage. But the convection should be prevented to avoid tearing open the dross layer of the molten bath. A radiative heat transfer has also a positive effect on an even temperature distribution across the complete bath surface.


The experiment studied the effects of the output and ro ot activities of wheat by dressing biogas waste fertilizer.The results showed tha t dressing biogas waste fertilizer during the jointing stage and the grain filli ng stage could obviously increase the wheat yield,which was 30.7% higher than t hat of no dressing and 5.7% higher than dressing nitrogen fertilizer;The root a ctivities during the booting stage,flowering stage and ripening stage were 30.8 %,28.6% and 30.2% higher respectively than that of no dressing,and 6.3%,5.9% ,8.3% higher than dressing nitrogen fertilizer;It also improved the soil fertil ity.


This article makes two main points. First, the transmitted text of Enūma eliš can be more reliably construed than has hitherto been assumed, provided we take seriously the spelling of the manuscripts and the rules of Akkadian grammar. If we do this, and that is my second point, we can also make progress at the level of interpretation. To illustrate these claims, I look at two passages that have caused difficulties to modern readers. In Enūma eliš I.1–10 we encounter some forms that seem prima facie to defy the normal rules of Akkadian grammar. Through careful analysis of spelling, syntax, and poetic context I show that the text as it stands can in fact be securely construed. I then turn to a passage that the poet himself introduces as a masterpiece of verbal craft. In Enūma eliš II.61–70 the god Ea soothes the excited Anšar by reassuring him that he has the situation under control. I argue that existing translations misconstrue the personal pronoun šâši and consequently misinterpret the climactic final couplet of the speech. Clarifying the grammar of the passage enables us to establish not only what the text says, but also to appreciate it better.


Teachers are the stalwart of the education system and the most significant factor affecting its success and achievements, and their commitment to the social, moral and academic education of students is therefore a prerequisite to the success of the education system as a whole. Unfortunately, teachers' professional status has declined over the years; the system and its teachers yearn for reforms as a means of adapting the system to the twenty-first century. This research examined teachers' attitudes towards the reforms, a decade after their introduction. Its goal is to discover whether the latest reforms in Israel achieved their goals and improved teachers' status? This was explored from the teachers' perspective – professional status, their perceptions of self as teachers. A New Zealand study on teachers' status notes three primary components: power, money, and fame. Teachers are considered to be of low status, despite the existence of the secondary factors in the professional aspect. They are professionally trained, skilled, and significantly impact the future of society. Nevertheless, none of these factors independently lead to a high professional status. We surveyed 359 middle and high school teachers in Israel and performed a stepwise regression analysis which revealed the presence of three explaining variables. Teacher status can thus be explained through salary, improved image, and empowerment [F(3,296)=61.85, P<0.05]. Predicting variables explained 67.8% of teacher status variance, with the most significant variable explaining teacher status variance being salary – 52.1%.


We investigated the strong interaction between graphene quantum dots and silver nanoparticles in solution using time-resolved photoluminescence techniques. In solution, the silver nanoparticles are surrounded by graphene quantum dots and interacted with graphene quantum dots through exciton-plasmon coupling. An ultrafast spontaneous emission process (lifetime 27 ps) was observed in such a mixed solution. This ultrafast lifetime corresponds to the emission rate exceeding 35 GHz, with the purcell enhancement by a factor of ∼12. These experiment results pave the way for the realization of future high speed light sources applications.


The present disclosure is directed to a ground-leveling and separating device for use with a front end loader having a loader bucket. The device has a blade backing trowel member having a pair of end walls and an upstanding rear wall defining an open ended box-like structure with a rod extending across the top of its open end. A pair of transversely spaced dividers having front to rear openings lie between the end walls and an attaching means has one end adapted to be connected to the rear of the front end loader bucket and the other end connected to the rear of said device, and an attaching means is connected proximate the forward end of the device at each of its ends and is adapted to be passed over said front bar at its other end and passing freely through the openings in said spaced dividers so that said ground-leveling and separating device could be selectively angularly oriented relative to said bucket and line of draft.


Because of the discrepancies between design parameters and actual plant data, controller tuning is required during the power testing of a new plant. Furthermore, after a certain period of operation, the effects of aging on the sensors and components cause the system performance to change. With the recent improvements in control system hardware, a better control algorithm can be implemented to ensure the safety of the system. Control system tuning and modification are necessary to keep the system at peak performance. The Taiwan Research Reactor (TRR) is a heavy water-type research reactor. During power operation, a large overshoot in neutron power was observed during a change in thermal power demand. Hence, the dynamic performance of the TRR power regulating system was degraded. From the control system point of view, it is worthwhile to determine the cause of the degraded control system and to tune the corresponding controller setting to achieve better performance. In this paper, the performance of the TRR power regulating system is simulated, the course of the large over-shoot in neutron power is identified, and the control system performance is modified.


This paper focuses on the evaluation of the performances of three different antenna sensors suitable of Partial Discharge (PD) measurements. Monopole, triangular and spherical antennas were simulated by means of the surface moment method. The transmitting system is modeled by a power electronic device with a fault current between two metal plate. The shape of the simulated transmitted and received signals have been compared to verify the sensor the provides the best fidelity among the three. The auto-correlation function and the Pearson correlation index are adopted here for the comparison. A discussion on the dynamic characteristic of the different antenna probes and their use in different application is proposed.


Purpose: to analyze the effect of population, minimum wages and unemployment on inequality of income distribution in Indonesia. This study uses secondary data in the form of panel data consisting of time crosses for the period 2009-2013 and cross places in 33 provinces in Indonesia
Design/methodology/approach: The analysis carried out is a quantitative analysis using multiple linear regression to answer the problem formulation and determine the effect of predetermined variables.
Findings: All independent variables are said to have a joint (simultaneous) influence on the dependent variable because it is seen from the level of significance that the number is 0.002 less than 0.05, which means that there is a significant effect simultaneously between the population, minimum wages and unemployment on inequality of income distribution. in Indonesia the period 2009-2013. There is a partially significant effect between the minimum wage and the inequality of income distribution. The minimum wage variable has a dominant influence on inequality in income distribution in Indonesia for the 2009-2013 period.
Practical implications: To Intensify business in the economic sector in order to touch the lower class of society
Originality/value: This paper is original
Paper type: Research paper


Cladonia floridana has been misidentified as other taxa in section Perviae including C. atlantica, C. beaumontii, and C. carassensis. Mature thalli of C. atlantica can vary greatly and branching patterns are often obscured by variability. In southeastern Massachusetts, C. floridana occurs sympatrically with C. atlantica. The two species differ chemically, but are often difficult to distinguish morphologically. Cladonia floridana, which is characteristically ascyphose with a symmetrical branching pattern, may approach C. atlantica, with scyphoid openings and asymmetrical branching. In spite of the variability in mature C. floridana, it can be distinguished from other species such as C. atlantica by comparing the meristem initials, which are the primary arrangement of meristematic tissue that ultimately give rise to branches. The apical meristem of C. floridana divides in a synchronous, symmetrical pattern, but meristematic divisions in C. atlantica are asynchronous and asymmetrical. These patterns result in unique meristem initials that provide a reliable taxonomic feature. Meristem initials, which partly determine podetial morphology, are less variable than branching patterns. Suites of characters distinguish most lichen taxa and these characters have traditionally been based upon morphological and chemical states. Sometimes the gross morphology of two taxa can overlap even though their chemistries are different. In these cases, it is important to find some morphological distinctions if we are to consider the taxa as more than chemical variants of the same species. Two species that grow sympatrically in southeastern Massachusetts, Cladonia floridana Vain. and C. atlantica Evans present a problem of this sort. Cladonia floridana is a highly variable species in which branching patterns may be obscured by growth. Mature thalli of C. floridana are difficult to distinguish from related taxa in section Perviae, including C. atlantica. The chemistry of the two species differs; C. floridana contains thamnolic acid and C. atlantica contains squamatic and baeomycesic acids. Other than this character, it may be impossible to distinguish the species on the basis of their gross morphology. However, the arrangement of meristematic tissue at the youngest apices of the podetia always distinguishes these species (Hammer 1995a, 1996). Although only C. atlantica and C. floridana are found in Massachusetts, C. beaumontii (Tuck.) Vain. and C. carassensis Vain. were previously reported to occur there. The objectives of this study are to clarify which of the species occurs in Massachusetts, and to find morphological characteristics that can be used to distinguish C. floridana from C. atlantica. MATERIALS AND METHODS Approximately 200 specimens were examined, including both recently collected material and preserved herbarium material. Field and laboratory observations were made on the fresh material. The preserved material was borrowed from FH-, H, NY, TUR-V, and us, and included the type specimens (Ahti 1993) of the four species. Numerous specimens were studied and drawn at various magnifications, primarily by means of a dissecting microscope. Podetia and other thallus components were studied, and particular attention was given to young apices of podetia. Specimens were assayed for secondary chemicals using the techniques in Culberson (1974) and summarized in Hammer (1995b).


Considering the growing interest in sustainability reporting and the benefits of sustainability initiatives to developing countries (Ali, Frynas, & Mahmood, 2017), the scarcity of studies on sustainability in developing climes is surprising. This study examines the trend of voluntary sustainability reporting in Africa and the relationship between sustainability disclosures and firms' financial performance. This paper measures sustainability disclosures using content analysis of the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines (GRI G4) for total disclosure and the sub-categories of economic, environmental, and social disclosures. Financial performance measures are return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE). Results of the multiple comparison of means do not show any significant improvement in sustainability reporting over the study period. Results of the multiple regression analysis, however, reveal a positive relationship between measures of sustainability disclosures and both ROA and ROE. Additional results show that disclosing firms do not generally have their sustainability reports assured and are from countries with poor sustainability performance. These findings contribute to the literature in reconciling the mixed results from prior studies (Aggarwal, 2013; Al Hawaj & Buallay, 2022) and are useful to the GRI organization in making improvements to their reporting guidelines, particularly as to how the improvements touch African countries.


In this paper, we propose a magnetostatic solver based on surface integral equations to understand the magnetic phenomenon arising in the indoor navigation problems. The assumption are that there are no current sources and the magnetic object is placed in a uniform magnetic field. The results obtained are benchmarked against analytical expression for a simple example involving sphere. The numerical results supports the validity of the proposed approach.


Objective : To evaluate the association between transient bradycardia following cordocentesis and adverse pregnancy outcome. Methods : 117 cordocentesis was performed at Samsung Cheil hospital and women's healthcare center, between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2002. Clinically significant bradycardia was defined as a drop in the heart rate to less than 120 bpm. The adverse outcome included major anomaly, chromosomal abnormality, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth, and intrauterine fetal death. Results : Bradycardia following cordocentesis was observed in 13 cases (11.1 per cent). The fetal heart rate before (149.20.7 bpm) and after (144.72.8 bpm) cordocenteis was significantly different. The adverse outcome rate was 50.0 per cent (6/12) in cases with bradycardia and 27.7 per cent (26/94) in those without bradycardia (RR=2.6, P=NS). Conclusion : Our result is that the association between transient bradycardia following cordocentesis and adverse pregnancy isn't statistically significant, even though adverse outcome is more frequent in pateints with bradycaredia. Therefore, patient with bradycardia following cordocentesis need periodic fetal surveillance.


For many years, it was traditional for the outgoing President of a scholarly association to give a formal address, usually on some aspect of his own scholarly interests. That tradition seems to have died, and I see no good reason to revive it. The newer tendency is for the outgoing President to talk about the affairs of the Association, but we have the Newsletter and the business meeting for that. It seems a good time to look just a little further afield to the affairs of the Africanist community at large, whether members of this Association or not--to try for historical perspective on the question of where African studies has been and is going. (if I concentrate on African studies in North America, I also recognize that the African Studies Association is not merely a national association. Its membership is and always has been international, but most members still belong to a North American community of Africanists; this is the community I happen to know best, though I apologize for the parochialism.) It goes without saying that any assessment of African studies must be a series of personal judgments, based obscurely on the prejudices and the experiences of the individual who makes it. The moment may be especially opportune for subjective judgments, since they will soon be corrected by the Social Science Research Council's survey of foreign area programs--a survey directed by Professor Richard Lambert of the University of Pennsylvania.


Objective To investigate the role of multi-detector spiral CT in diagnosis of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods Thin collimation multi-detector spiral CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and CT venography (CTV) were preformed in 21 patients suspected of acute PE. Results CTPA detected 12 cases of acute PE while CTV detected 8 cases of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in the 21 patients. 92.7% and 72.9% of segmental and subsegmental pulmonary arteries were visualized respectively in 1 mm effective thickness images while 87.9% and 39.3% of them were identified respectively by using 3 mm effective thickness images ( P 0.05). Seventy-five embolus in segmental and thirty-seven embolus in subsegmental pulmonary arteries were detected by analyzing 1 mm effective thickness images, while 53 in segmental and 15 in subsegmental pulmonary arteries were demonstrated by using 3 mm effective thickness images( P 0.05). Conclusion multi-detector spiral CT can facilitate the diagnosis of acute PE.


The present invention relates to a method of forming the ink which comprises generating a metal nanoparticle stabilized with a photochemical and formulating the nanoparticles into an ink. Metallic nanoparticle ink, photochemical synthesis, formulation, ink composition


The level differences in modern basketball are mainly reflected in the ability of completing technical movements in the antagonism with high speed.This article intends to analyze the technical essentials in the action of turning and withdrawing step and shooting performed by the professional basketball players of NBA,and to express its practical and effective functions in games,and to offer related training methods and also to explore the methods and ways to improve and promote the technical level of basketball in our country.


Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) is a commonly missed condition referred to pediatric orthopedic surgeons. As the prevalence of obesity and overweight has increased in children, so too has the risk for SCFE ( ).

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Abstract The emergence of on-line counselling services for addressing problems ranging from poor self-esteem, stressful relationships and addictions raises serious ethical concerns in this new electronic venue. A number of ethical considerations are discussed. The evolution of the National Board of Certified Counselors' Standards for the Ethical Practice of WebCounseling is described.


The authors report on the software validation process for SACEM, a partly embedded system (hard and soft) which continuously controls the speed of all trains on the RER Line A in Paris. Modern techniques have been used for validation, including formal specification, assertions, and formal proofs. About 100 man-years have been spent in validating the software. The authors conclude that a safe system has been realized and that all the formal work was useful, essentially to make the specifications more precise.<<ETX>>


Background— Circulating sex hormone levels are associated with glucose metabolism and adiposity, but their association with ectopic fat deposition in the liver is not well understood. Methods— We studied the association of the circulating levels of bioavailable testosterone (Bio-T), estradiol (E2), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) with fatty liver, defined as attenuation ≤ 40 Hounsfield Units by magnetic resonance imaging in 2835 postmenopausal women and 2899 men in the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis baseline examination. Results— In women, there was a significantly greater odds ratio of fatty liver prevalence in the highest tertile versus the lowest tertile of Bio-T (1.73, 95% CI 1.05 – 2.87) and E2 (2.42, 95% CI 1.37 – 4.29) adjusting for age, race/ethnicity, body mass index, hypertension, total and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking, insulin sensitivity and hormone replacement therapy use. In men, there was a significantly greater odds ratio of fatty liver prevalence in the highest tertile versus the lowest tertile of E2 (1.96, 95% CI 1.21 – 3.18), but a significantly lower odds ratio for the highest versus lowest tertiles of SHBG (0.50, 95% CI 0.30 – 0.84). Other associations of hormones with fatty liver were not statistically significant. internal mileu is associated with fatty liver in postmenopausal women. In men, lower levels of SHBG are associated with fatty liver. Higher levels of E2 are associated with fatty liver in both sexes. This pattern is consistent with the sex-specific associations of sex hormones with other cardiometabolic risk factors.


This paper addresses the problem of path following for biomimetic underwater vehicles (BUVs) propelled by undulatory ribbon-fins. First, the general kinematics and dynamics models of underwater vehicles are presented, followed by a fuzzy logic model for dealing with a nonlinear relationship between the propulsive force/torque and the control parameters of the undulatory fins of the BUV. Then the path following problem of the BUV is formulated. A path following control paradigm integrating the line-of-sight guidance system with backstepping (BP) technique is proposed to maneuver the BUV to follow a predefined parameterized curve without time constraints. The stability of the BP controller is analyzed and guaranteed by Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, simulations and experimental results illustrate the performance of the proposed path following control paradigm.


This research paper considers the communicative-pragmatic function of speech inherent in business communication, which is considered part of the category of speech act, communicative situation, logos, ethos, and pathos. Psychological, communicative, and cognitive aspects of speech in business communication are analyzed as well. On the basis of social relations, a person is involved in all spiritual experiences and acquires his mind, behavior, emotions, mental process and knowledge, and communication culture. Therefore, it is very necessary to study speech as a biosocial phenomenon, which serves as a regulation mechanism between the individuality and socialization of a person. The objective of the research work is to reveal the communicative-pragmatic features of speech in business communication in the socio-functional aspect. Speech shows individuality as a biological phenomenon that is unique to a person, behind it is intuition, perception, feeling, thinking, reasoning, etc. There are cognitive and psychological components. These components allow people to recognize themselves and their environment. A person engages in speaking in order to inform others about what he knows and wants to know. The purpose of speech is to convey how one understands the environment, the world, what he knows, and how he can store, use, and change information. From this purpose, it is possible to see the process of speech "transition from individuality to socialization", that is, the socialization of speech. Socialization of speech takes place in the course of people's discussion, conversation, exchange of ideas, and communication in the public environment. From this comes the social function of speech. Social service determines the importance of influencing others, thinking, communicating with others, and the realization of the idea of community and joint action among people.


Doxorubicin (DOX) is the most commonly used anticancer drug; however, it has limited use because prolonged administration may result in severe cardiotoxicity. Simvastatin (SIM), generally prescribed for hypercholesterolaemia, has also shown salubrious results in the monotherapy or combinational drug therapy of different cancers in various models. Nanoparticle drug delivery systems are a novel way of improving therapeutics and also improving the absorption and specificity of drugs towards tumour cells. In this study, we exploited this technology to increase drug specificity and minimize imminent adverse effects. In this study, the antitumour activity of the combination formulas of DOX and SIM, either loaded in water (DOX‐SIM‐Solution) or nanoemulsions (NEs) (DOX‐SIM‐NE), was evaluated in a Swiss albino mouse model of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. The anticancer effect was assessed by quantifying the change in body weight, mean survival time, and percent increase in lifespan (%ILS), determining haematological and serum biochemical parameters (liver function test, kidney function test and lipid profile parameters) as well as studying the histopathological alterations in liver tissues. We observed a clear increase in %ILS of the DOX‐SIM‐Solution group (265.30) that was double the %ILS of the DOX‐SIM‐NE group (134.70). However, DOX‐SIM‐NE had a non‐toxic effect on the haematological parameters, whereas DOX‐SIM‐Solution increased the levels of haemoglobin and lymphocytes. Furthermore, the encapsulation of SIM and DOX into NEs improved the levels of all serum biochemical parameters compared to the DOX‐SIM‐Solution. A reduction in the side effects of DOX‐SIM‐NE on the liver was also established using light microscopy, which revealed that the morphologies of the hepatocytes of the mice were less affected by administration of the DOX‐SIM‐NE treatment than with the DOX‐SIM‐Solution treatment. The study showed that incorporating SIM into the DOX‐loaded‐NE formulation remarkably improved its efficiency and simultaneously reduced its adverse effects.


Acquired pigmentary skin diseases such as abnormal melanogenesis, vitiligo, chloasma and inflammatory pigmentation are related to regulate the melanin production. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Codonopsis lanceolata on the melanogenesis of HM3KO human melanoma cells biologically. The cells were treated for 5 days with Codonopsis lanceolata at several concentrations. Treatment with Codonopsis lanceolata suppressed melanin contents as a dose dependent manner without cytotoxicity and morphological change. And the extract of Codonopsis lanceolata also inhibited tyrosinase, a key enzyme forming melanin, in a dose-dependent manner. And it did not affect the DOPAchrome tautomerase(TRP-2) activity. These results suggest that Codonopsis lanceolata is a candidate for an efficient whitening agent which supresses melanogenesis by a Raper-Mason pathway.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the frequency of urinary incontinence and lower urinary symptoms, to identify lifestyle and sexual matters for UI of adult women in an urban area. Method: The sample consisted of 364 educated women from a women's health education program in a public health center. For data collection, the Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Questionnaire developed by Jackson, et. al.(1996) and the demographic questionnaire were used. For data analysis, SAS 8.2 program was used. Result: The results were as follows: 1. the prevalence rate of UI was 73.63%. 45.88% of them were stress incontinence and 27.75% of them were urge incontinence. 2. Remarkable differences were found between the type of UI and LUTS in the case of urgency(x²=42.0585, P<0.001), unexplained incontinence(x²=59.0585, P<0.001), noctural incontinence(x²=18.8080, P<0.001) and catetherization(x²=10.7207, P= 0.004), burning sense(x²=27.7400, P<0.001). 3. Remarkable differences were found between the type of UI and lifestyle matters in the cases as follows fluid intake restriction(x²=31.0532, P=0.008), interference in physical activity(x²= 36.7481, P=0.001), interference in relation with others(x²=22.2729, P=0.034). 4. Remarkable differences were found between the type of UI and sexual matters with difficulty of sexual intercourse(x²=16.1898, P=0.002), and urine leakage during sexual intercourse(x²=17.9752, P=0.001). Conclusion: Based on the results, developing and carrying out an adequate UI care and education program is needed.


The problem of lifetime maximization and secure routing in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has been well studied. Number of techniques available for the secure connectivity and data transmission in WSN. The methods suffer to achieve expected performance in secure routing in WSN and struggle to achieve higher lifetime of network. To improve the performance, an dynamic scheduling and key distribution algorithm is described in this article. The lifetime of network is highly depending on the energy parameter and by scheduling the nodes of WSN the lifetime of network can be improved highly. The scheduling algorithm maintains the node status and energy details in triggering the nodes status. At each session, the method discovery the routes to reach the destination and eliminates the poor energetic routes. For each route, the method estimates the secure routing weight (SRW) and based on that, the method selects a single route to reach the destination. For the nodes of route, the method distributes a key which is active for the current session. The nodes of the selected route only will be active for the session and the rest will be in silent mode. The proposed method improves the performance of security and lifetime of the network.


This chapter presents the following approaches and developments: (1) the approach to power system state estimation based on structural and functional decomposition. PMU measurements are used to coordinate the solutions obtained in individual areas; (2) a non-iterative method to calculate voltage


In order to reduce helicopter's fuel flow requirements and emissions, the aerodynamic design of Twin-Engine-Light (TEL) class utility helicopter is revised. A viable approach for achieving efficiency gains is reducing the helicopter's parasite drag. This is achieved by the development of aerodynamic fairings for the skid-landing-gear and passive flow control devices at the rear fuselage. On aggregate, a parasite drag benefit of 22% is achieved, which corresponds to about 10% fuel flow reduction.


From the viewpoint of tensile strength, the effect of location on the physical properties is studied in this paper. The corresponding data are compared with that obtained with the sample in the standard position. It is indicated that the tensile strength of samples in the standard position may be used to stand for the average value on the whole leather.


Abused children experience high rates of behavior, emotional, and learning problems but infrequently receive treatment. Most services provided to abused children and their families are not based on any clear evidence that they work. A number of evidence-based treatments (EBTs), demonstrated to be safe and effective in treating a range of difficulties that present in children exposed to family violence, are appropriate for schools. We briefly review forms of abuse, describe EBTs appropriate for schools, and present a decision tree for deciding who to treat and how. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to medical equipment. Irrigation installation system includes irrigation container, made with possibility of compression or reduction, which has case, locking device with washer-shaped section and neck element, and installation means, which includes extending upwards base element, installation console mechanism, extending from base element, and panel element, to which section of irrigation container is tightened in the process of delivery of flowing medium from irrigation container. Installation console mechanism additionally contains installation opening, made with possibility of accepting section of said washer-shaped section in such a way that neck element of irrigation container is located above case section in the process of delivery of flowing medium from irrigation container. EFFECT: invention makes it possible to prevent neck clamping in the process of container application. 21 cl, 14 dwg


Experimental results of proton irradiation effects are given for Floating gate ROMs. The proton irradiation effects in FLASH ROM and EEPROM are the total dose effects rather than the Single Event Effects. These are attributed to the accumulative dose of both original and secondary protons. There is a proton fluence threshold. Errors occur when proton fluence is above the threshold. It is easy to eliminate the damage produced by proton irradiation for 29C256 by annealing in power on under 100癈, however, it is difficult for 28C256. Data errors occur in devices that are measured during irradiation and irradiated in power on, moreover, new data cannot be written in these devices with programmer. However, under more proton fluence, there is no error in devices in power off mode and new data can be written in these devices with programmer. It is an effective method to backup some devices in power off mode to improve the reliability of spacecrafts in which FLASH ROMs and EEPROMs are used.


A sensitive diamond indenting tool was developed which gives indentations of accurately measurable length in the most resistant steels with loads of less than 1 kg. It was found that the use of these light loads permits extension of indenta tion tests to small specimens and to tests of brittle materials, such as glasses, which shatter under the heavy loads required by present indenters. The indenter is pyramidal in form, giving a diamonn-shaped (rhomb) indenta tion of which the diagonals have an approximate ratio of 7 to 1 instead of 1 to 1 for the square-based pyramid. Such indenters were duplicated to the required accuracy and showed no discernible wear with use. Elastic recovery of indentations with this indenter takes place in a transverse rather than a longitudinal direction, and, consequently, from the measured length of the long diagonal and the constants of the indenter, unrecovered dimensions of an indentation are obtained. Results of tests are expressed as indentation numbers which relate the applied load in kilograms to the unrecovered projected area in square millimeters. Recovered projected areas also, may be determined with an added measurement of the short diagonal. Since knowledge of both recovered and unrecovered dimensions may be obtained, the indenter offers possibilities for study of the fundamentals involved in indentation testing that are not afforded by ball, cone, and square-based pyramidal indenters, which, because of their symmetrical form, yield recovered dimensions only. The performance of seven indenters of different angular formation was investi gated to determine their relative sensitivity and adaptability for use in different materials and to determine also the effect of load and of different dimensional bases of computation on indentation number. Consideration of the results led to the selection of an indenter which gives excellent performance in many materials. Comparison is made of indentation numbers given by this indenter and corre sponding Brinell and Vickers numbers for the same specimens.


It's national Stress Awareness month and Dr. Deborah Sandella has 5 tips for how cosmetic surgeons can reduce stress in their life.


We have studied the magnetic field of about 50 active and non-active single G-K-type red giants by means of spectropolarimetry with Narval and ESPaDOnS. 30 giants have been significantly Zeeman-detected. A close study of the 17 giants with known rotational periods shows that the measured magnetic field strength is correlated to the rotation, in particular to the Rossby number. 4 giants for which the magnetic field is measured to be outstandingly strong with respect to the rotational period or the evolutionary state are identified as probable Ap-star descendants. We detail their magnetic properties and propose criteria to identify Ap-star descendants.


Field trials drilling with air/foam and with oil-based mud yielded lessons that will improve the ability to maintain bottomhole pressure during connections.


This article reviews the personal injury tort system in the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Chinese torts law has a number of unique features. To begin with, it is quite new — the legal framework of torts law was established only in 1986. The unique features of the Chinese torts law also stem from its long and difficult evolution over nearly 40 years. Equally important has been the remarkable blend of influences that have shaped its current law — a mixture of socialist objectives, capitalist pragmatism, and feudal doctrines combined with jurisprudential models taken from a range of western civil codes and, more recently, the common law. Part one of the article briefly analyses the most important features of the existing Chinese legal system. Part two provides a background to the enactment of the General Principles of Civil Law (GPCL), which incorporates Chinese torts law. The review looks at the development and drafting of the GPCL legislation, and the influences that guided the formulation of legal principles. Part three of the article provides an overview of the torts law provisions in the GPCL. Part four examines the law of personal injury established by the GPCL. Part five uses some case studies to illustrate the principles highlighted in the previous two parts and part six contains a brief conclusion and some pointers to the directions that Chinese torts law may take in the future.


A multicriteria location problem with rectilinear norm in R 3 and its quasiefficient solutions are considered. First, we give characterizations of its quasiefficient solutions by using optimal solutions of a minisum location problem and by using the concept of the summary diagram. Next, we propose the Frame Generating Algorithm to find all quasiefficient solutions of the multicriteria location problem.


Background: Serum HER2 testing allows the determination of the real-time HER2 status of breast cancer patients. The aim of this investigation was to study (i) whether changes of serum HER2 status occur during the clinical course of breast cancer and (ii) to evaluate the prognostic significance of serum HER2 status, at the time of first diagnosis of primary breast cancer and at the onset of metastatic disease, for survival after relapse (SAR). Materials and Methods: HER2 serum levels were retrospectively measured in 152 breast cancer patients at the time of first diagnosis of breast cancer and at the onset of metastatic disease by enzyme immunoassay. Results: Twenty-seven out of 152 (18%) patients had elevated HER2 serum levels at the time of first diagnosis of breast cancer. In contrast, 56 out of 152 (37%) patients showed elevated serum HER2 levels when metastases were diagnosed. A change of serum HER2 status during clinical course was observed in 43 out of 152 (28%) patients. Serum HER2 status at the time of first diagnosis of breast cancer had no impact on survival after relapse (SAR) (p=0.4). However, the median SAR for serum HER2-positive patients at the onset of metastatic disease was significantly shorter (8 months, 95% CI: 3-12) compared to patients serum HER2-negative at this time (18 months, 95% CI: 14-22) (p<0.01). Conclusion: Serum HER2 status can change during the course of disease. Therefore, the serum HER2 status should be re-evaluated at the time of diagnosis of metastatic disease to optimize treatment decisions. The HER2 proto-oncogene is located on chromosome 17 and encodes a transmembrane tyrosine kinase growth receptor protein (1,2). Gene amplification and overexpression of the HER2 proto-oncogene occurs in 15% to 20% of breast cancer patients and is associated with poor prognosis, as demonstrated by numerous studies (3-8). Over recent years, the clinical significance of the HER2 status has increased due to its therapeutic implications. HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer patients are eligible for treatment with trastuzumabbased therapies. Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) is a humanized monoclonal antibody which binds with high affinity to the HER2 receptor and inhibits the proliferation of HER2-positive tumor cells (9-11). Several studies indicated that HER2positive patients are less likely to respond to CMF and tamoxifen but benefit from anthracyclineor taxane-based chemotherapy regimens or aromatase inhibitors (12-15). The currently accepted method of determining HER2 status is based on tissue testing with either immunohistochemistry for protein overexpression or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for gene amplification (16). An new alternative to FISH is chromogenic in situ hybridization (17). The HER2 status is usually determined in tissue samples of the primary tumor. However, the HER2 status of the primary tumor does not necessarily reflect the HER2 status in metastatic tissue (18, 19). An alternative to tissue analysis is a serum test, which is not yet accepted in daily clinical routine for HER2 status determination. This test is based on determination of the extracellular domain of the HER2 receptor protein, which is shed into the blood after proteolytic cleavage from the fulllength protein by metalloproteases (20). The circulating serum HER2 protein can be detected by enzyme immunoassay (2122). Elevated HER2 serum levels are highly correlated with HER2 overexpression and amplification in tumor tissue (2326). The serum test allows the evaluation of the real-time status of HER2 at the onset of metastatic disease without invasive procedures such as biopsy. The first aim of this investigation was to study whether changes of serum HER2 status occur during the clinical course of metastatic breast cancer patients, by determining HER2 serum status in breast cancer patients at the time of first diagnosis of primary breast cancer and at the onset of metastatic disease. The prognostic significance of the serum 4205 Correspondence to: Dr. Tanja Fehm, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Tuebingen, Calwerstrasse 7, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. Tel:+49-7071-2982211, Fax: +497071-295424, e-mail: email@example.com


The present invention relates to a copolymer of an acrylic-modified chlorinated polyolefin resin, and a plastic primer coating composition comprising the same, which can enhance the pigment dispersibility and heat storage capacity of a coating by modifying a non-modified chlorinated polyolefin to an acrylic monomer having a tertiary amino group to use as a binder of a vehicle bumper primer coating composition, and can increase the content of a chloride group within a coating layer through a salt formation of a chloride compound with a main chain to enhance initial adhesion and adhesion at the time of recoating.


This study sought to understand the perceptions of American Indian educators as they made their way through a pre-service school administrator preparation program at a large, public research university. The Model of American Indian School Administrators, or Project MAISA,prepares American Indian/Alaska Native teachers to obtain Master's degrees to become licensed principals or other administrators within school systems of the state and/or nearby areas. The study used the lens of cultural imperialism system (Downing, Mohammadi, & Sreberny-Mohammadi, 1995; Schiller, 1976) to view how these American Indian pre-service administrators viewed their world within the realm of a dominating culture. Data were collected through three focus group discussions based on an openended, semi-structured questionnaire. From analysis of the data emerged five major themes: Relationships, Outside influence, Getting prepared, Altruism, andConcern for Family. Interested in finding out whether the MAISA program was staying true to its mission, which was to provide a culturally relevant program with an American Indian/Alaska Native focus, we were hoping notto find utility in the theoretical framework of cultural imperialism. Although we were not disappointed, we, the researchers felt that we must be ever vigilant in the planning, preparation, and delivery of American Indian/Alaska Native programs like MAISA. Our schools and universities often mirror the greater society. We believe that cultural imperialism is found in many areas of our society; one of the major effects of globalization has been such cultural imperialism. Our research indicates that non-traditional programs such as MAISAare sorely needed.


Microsimulation models are apt to be the preferred instrument when applied, equality analyses of tax reforms in specific economies are undertaken. However, most of these models ignore general equilibrium effects, like changes in prices, and may therefore miss valuable information because of their partial nature. In this paper we combine a microsimulation model and a CGE model through feeding of CGE results on producer prices, pre-tax nominal incomes, wealth and transfers into the microsimulation model. The two main reforms studied are substitution of a uniform VAT rate on all goods and services (called the general VAT reform) and substitution of the non-uniform Norwegian VAT reform of 2001 (called the political VAT reform) for the previous, differentiated system. We find that the degree of equality is clearly increased with the political VAT reform and unchanged with the general VAT reform. Comparing these results with the case where CGE effects are not taken into account, i.e. a "traditional" microsimulation analysis, we find that equality is still increased with the political VAT reform while equality is now also increased with the general VAT reform instead of being unchanged


Abstract : In 2011 the US Air Force conducted a comprehensive review of its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. The secretary of the Air Force directed a study of where those capabilities are today, where they should be in 2030, and how they might balance against future requirements. The study provided key insights, recommendations, and tasks for shaping ISR priorities, planning, and programming to realize the Air Force's vision for 2030...This article urges that the Air Force either elevate or add the building of ISR partnerships as another top-priority task to the secretary of the Air Force's ISR review and approve this article's recommendations. The secretary's findings and endorsements in that review should address the role of building ISR partnerships in the Air Force of 2030. The article calls for adoption of a policy to develop bilateral ISR studies with partner nations in the Asia-Pacific region; those studies should address unique issues of conducting ISR operations to support common security concerns. It uses the MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) as an example to highlight key problems associated with deploying this weapon system to the Asia-Pacific and to demonstrate how the service should utilize bilateral studies to address them.


The utility model relates to environment-friendly equipment, particularly to a microwave, fast and high-temperature sludge compost treatment device. The device mainly comprises a sludge inlet, a conveyor belt, a microwave treatment tunnel, a chute, a rolling barrel-type compost reaction device and a sludge outlet, and is characterized in that the microwave treatment at the earlier stage can realize wall-breaking of the sludge, is favorable for the follow-up dehydration of the sludge, can conduct sterilization to the sludge to realize harmlessness treatment of the sludge, and meanwhile improves the temperature of the sludge so as to be convenient for the compost treatment at the later stage to enter the high-temperature stage in advance, and the composted sludge can realize reclamation. The device is suitable for the reduction, harmlessness and reclamation treatment of sludge of urban sewage treatment plants in china or of sediment in river channels.


MARCH 2009 The ultimate goal of recombinant fermentation research is costeffective production of desired proteins by maximizing volumetric productivity (to obtain the highest amount of protein in a given volume in the least amount of time). Bioprocessing for recombinant proteins using genetically modified organisms requires a stable, high-yielding recombinant culture, a highly productive fermentation process, and cost-effective recovery and purification procedures. Escherichia coli has been a widely used host for expression of recombinant proteins (1). Its advantages lie in the enormous data available on E. coli cell biology and fermentation process development, as well as its ability to produce large quantities of recombinant proteins cost effectively. Early successful production of insulin by Eli Lilly (www. lilly.com) and bovine growth hormone by Monsanto Corporation (www.monsanto. com) validated the versatility and economic potential of E. coli–based therapeutic protein production. Although it cannot be used to produce complex glycoproteins or proteins with multiple disulfide bonds, over the past 20–30 years E. coli has been used to successfully produce numerous products (2, 3). Recombinant protein expression using E. coli as a host is frequently associated with the formation of intracellular protein aggregates called inclusion bodies (IBs) (4). The volumetric yield is thus a function of both unit-cell concentration and specific cellular protein yield. Optimization of high–celldensity fed-batch fermentation process is a key step in enhancing the volumetric yield of recombinant proteins (5). Highlevel expression of a protein of interest in IBs facilitates its physical isolation from the cytoplasm at the cost of its native structure. Renaturation to its bioactive form is cumbersome and provides low recovery of the final product. It also accounts for the major cost in overall production of recombinant proteins from microbial systems (6). However, for cases in which a simple, high-yielding protein refolding process is developed for an aggregated recombinant protein, high-level expression of it as IBs provides a straightforward strategy for costeffective production and purification. Thus, in spite of problems associated with the IBs in E. coli, the system has been extensively used in commercial therapeutic protein production.


This paper focuses on the experimental investigation of the time-averaged and time-resolved pressure field of a second stator tested in a one and a half stage high-pressure transonic turbine. The effect of clocking and its influence on the aerodynamic and mechanical behaviour are investigated. The test program includes four different clocking positions, i.e. relative pitch-wise positions between the first and the second stator. Pneumatic probes located upstream and downstream of the second stator provide the time-averaged component of the pressure field. For the second stator airfoil, both time-averaged and time-resolved surface static pressure fields are measured at 15, 50 and 85% span with fast response pressure transducers. Regarding the time-averaged results, the effect of clocking is mostly observed in the leading edge region of the second stator, the largest effects being observed at 15% span. The surface static pressure distribution is changed locally, which is likely to affect the overall performance of the airfoil. The phase-locked averaging technique allows to process the time-resolved component of the data. The pressure fluctuations are attributed to the passage of pressure gradients linked to the traversing of the upstream rotor. The pattern of these fluctuations changes noticeably as a function of clocking. Finally, the time-resolved pressure distribution is integrated along the second stator surface to determine the unsteady forces applied on the vane. The magnitude of the unsteady force is very dependent on the clocking position.© 2004 ASME


In discrete convex analysis, the scaling and proximity properties for the class of L^natural-convex functions were established more than a decade ago and have been used to design efficient minimization algorithms. For the larger class of integrally convex functions of n variables, we show here that the scaling property only holds when n leq 2, while a proximity theorem can be established for any n, but only with an exponential bound. This is, however, sufficient to extend the classical logarithmic complexity result for minimizing a discretely convex function in one dimension to the case of integrally convex functions in two dimensions. Furthermore, we identified a new class of discrete convex functions, called directed integrally convex functions, which is strictly between the classes of L^natural -convex and integrally convex functions but enjoys the same scaling and proximity properties that hold for L^natural -convex functions.


We compute the Pin(2)-equivariant monopole Floer homology for the class of plumbed 3-manifolds with at most one "bad" vertex (in the sense of Ozsvath and Szabo). We show that for these manifolds, the Pin(2)-equivariant monopole Floer homology can be calculated in terms of the Heegaard Floer/monopole Floer lattice complex defined by Nemethi. Moreover, we prove that in such cases the ranks of the usual monopole Floer homology groups suffice to determine both the Manolescu correction terms and the Pin(2)-homology as an abelian group. As an application of this, we show that $\beta(-Y, s) = \bar{\mu}(Y, s)$ for all plumbed 3-manifolds with at most one bad vertex, proving a conjecture posed by Manolescu. Our proof also generalizes results by Stipsicz and Ue relating the Neumann-Siebenmann invariant with the Ozsvath-Szabo $d$-invariant.


Mycotic ulcerative keratitis was first described by Leber in 1879. 1 A number of case reports followed over the next few years. Few cases were reported from 1915 to 1950, but many cases have been reported since 1950. These cases apparently were associated with the widespread use of corticosteroid and antibiotic preparations. 2-5 Mycokeratitis can be reproduced experimentally in animals, particularly with concomitant corticosteroid administration. 6-9 The necrosis and ulceration which occur in this lesion have suggested that a substance or substances elaborated by the fungus may play an important role in pathogenesis. 3,8 Since the cornea is approximately 85% collagen and 15% mucopolysaccharide in composition, it has been postulated that the fungal substance is proteolytic in nature. Burda and Fisher 10 found that an extract of Cephalosporium species would produce corneal destruction in two to four hours, with opacification, liquefaction, and ulceration. In vitro studies indicated that a proteinase


The term spreads for thirty-five OECD countries are employed in a Granger Causality network to infer the connections between them. For each country in the network structure, a static probit model is fitted to assess the probability of an economic recession in the short run using as covariates: the country's lagged spread, the lagged spread of countries that Granger Cause the country in question and the in-degree of Granger causalities. The model diagnosis reveal the network structure as a statistical significant covariate, yielding an improvement with respect to the benchmark models fitted by Estrella and Trubin (2006) and the multi-country approach by Bernard and Gerlach (1998). Moreover, an advancement in the selection of foreign spreads is suggested analyzing how smaller economies may possibly affect the term spreads of their larger counterparts, specifically in the European Union.


ABSTRACT The sparsity of examination of seismic passive earth pressure acting on retaining wall holding soil backfill with full submergence, which is more common in waterfront areas, can be noticed from the literature. In the current study, a closed-form solution to compute the seismic passive earth pressure on nonvertical rigid retaining wall retaining a backfill with full submergence is proposed using the modified pseudo-dynamic approach. A nonlinear rupture surface (logarithmic spiral + straight line) in a submerged backfill of viscoelastic nature has been assumed. The presented modified pseudo-dynamic method overcomes the limitations of the existing pseudo-dynamic method for submerged soils. The proposed methodology has been thoroughly validated with the available literature. The influences of seismic acceleration coefficients, excess pore water pressure ratio, wall inclination, and soil and wall friction angles have been studied. It has been noticed that the consideration of excess pore pressure ratio leads to significant decrease in seismic passive resistance of the soil which in turn lead to extra hydraulic pressure acting on the wall in submerged backfill. There is a 57% decrease in seismic passive earth pressure coefficient as the wall inclination changes from −15° to 15°.


The paper discusses how flicker prediction can be directly achieved by means of a spectral analysis of voltage. Weighing the spectral components in inverse proportion to the flicker perceptibility threshold is the main concept, proposed in a previous paper by the same authors. That approach is here improved and subjected to the IEC flickermeter calibration tests. The results of comparative applications of this approach and of the IEC flickermeter to numerical and experimental data are discussed and analyzed.


BackgroundWorldwide, healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2 infections are a major problem: they are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization costs. In-depth studies across the pandemic are crucial to understand and prevent transmission in hospital settings. The principal aims of this study were to characterise patients and validate ECDC definitions of healthcare-associated COVID-19 infections.MethodsWe set up a retrospective observational study spanning the first three waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in a Belgian university hospital: it describes the characteristics of COVID-19 patients admitted, with either healthcare- or community-associated infections. We performed a cluster analysis through epidemiological and viral genome analyses of the healthcare-associated infections, in order to validate the ECDC definitions of healthcare-associated COVID-19 infections.ResultsBetween week 10 of 2020 and week 22 of 2021, 168 patients were hospitalized with healthcare-associated COVID-19. The following factors were found more often in symptomatic healthcare- than in community-associated hospitalized patients: older age, increased frailty, smoking habits, and comorbidities. The genome-based cluster analyses showed that different viral lineages predominated in different timeframes. We observed a good correlation of epidemiological data with genome sequencing results in at least 12 different outbreaks in our hospital, thus validating the ECDC definitions. ConclusionsThis in-depth characterization sheds new light on the problem of healthcare-associated COVID-19 infections, in particular on patients' characteristics, epidemiology, and cluster dynamics. Even though epidemiological evaluation of nosocomial infections is vital, management of nosocomial outbreaks can undoubtedly benefit from genome sequencing analyses to reinforce their strategy.


This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) describes the mathematical formulation, numerical implementation, and input specifications of rubble mound structures in the Coastal Modeling System (CMS) operated through the Surface-water Modeling System (SMS). A coastal application at Dana Point Harbor, California is provided to illustrate the implementation procedure and demonstrate the model capability.


Abstract : Our long-term goal is to understand how energy is supplied to the ocean, and how it subsequently cascades to the turbulence and mixing important to the circulation, and the transport and distribution of tracers. This problem involves scales spanning sub-inertial motions to turbulence, and therefore requires integrative efforts with other sea-going investigators and numerical modelers. The South China Sea project was an ideal opportunity to investigate the cascade from internal tides to higher frequency waves though the processes of internal wave scattering and non-linear steepening. Objectives: * To determine sites of high turbulence dissipation at the generation site. * To parameterize the turbulence at topography using easy-to-measure parameters such as the surface tidal forcing and the background ocean stratification. * To determine the nature of the internal wavefield radiating from the generation sites. * To predict the advent of internal solitary waves in various environments based on external forcing.


We introduce a compact hierarchical procedural model that combines feature-based primitives to describe complex terrains with varying level of detail. Our model is inspired by skeletal implicit surfaces and defines the terrain elevation function by using a construction tree. Leaves represent terrain features and they are generic parameterized skeletal primitives such as mountains, ridges, valleys, rivers, lakes, or roads. Inner nodes combine the leaves and subtrees by carving, blending, or warping operators. The elevation of the terrain at a given point is evaluated by traversing the tree and by combining the contributions of the primitives. The definition of the tree leaves and operators guarantees that the resulting elevation function follows the Lipschitz property which speeds up sphere tracing and adaptive tessellation algorithms used to render the terrain. Our model is compact and allows for the creation of large terrains with a high level of detail using a reduced set of primitives. We show the creation of different kinds of landscapes and demonstrate that our model allows to efficiently control the shape and distribution of landform features.


Address of Neiss and Lovejoy: Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Address of Chackerian: Astrophysics Experiments Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035.


The goal of this work is to study the application of switchable magnets (SM) for climbing robots. A switchable magnet is a device which uses moving permanent magnets to change the magnetic flux path and switch on or off the magnetic attraction force. In our work we used Comsol Multiphysics, a physics simulation software in order to simulate the flow of the magnetic flux on switchable magnets on its different states and study the effect of different design and material parameters on the attraction force of the unit. Bearing in mind the lessons learned from this study, we developed a novel device in a smaller scale with the best holding force/mass ratio, for using in climbing robot applications. As a case study, three of these optimized SM units are then equipped with an actuator that can rotate the moving magnets, turning the device on and off. This new device is employed in a novel adaptive adhesion unit for the OmniClimber robot, replacing its previous system which was relying on electromagnets magnets. We demonstrate this novel device application on a climbing robot and the advantages relative to electromagnet or permanent magnet based devices.


The article examines the phenomenon of professional resocialization, which has become relevant in the context of digitalization of modern society. The volatility of socio-economic processes, the transition to the fourth wave of industrialization have significantly changed not only the structure of professions, but also influenced professional socialization and mobility. In modern conditions, digitalization leads to a change in the content and technologies of labor of various professional groups, the emergence of new and a reduction in obsolete types of professional labor, which requires employees not only to master new digital competencies (knowledge and skills), but often also to master new professions (related and far from those originally obtained in the course of education or practical activity), the acquisition of new professional experience. The relevance of the study is due to the need for new tools to analyze the phenomenon of professional resocialization, which has become relevant in the context of digitalization, and to develop recommendations for the successful resocialization of various categories of workers in the Russian labor market. The purpose of the article is to determine the content and conditions of professional resocialization of the labor force in Russia. The methodological basis of the study was the analysis of scientific literature, statistical data and Internet sources, a secondary analysis of data from all-Russian studies. The results of the research is to identify the subjects and conditions for the successful resocialization of various categories of workers in the Russian labor market. The scope of application of the findings of the work is that the materials contained in a scientific study can be used by federal and regional executive authorities performing the functions of developing and implementing state policy in the field of labor and employment in relation to the vocational education and further professional education programs of representatives of various social and professional groups.


The Roc domain of the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (Lrrk2) protein is postulated to be involved in protein–protein interactions, substrate binding, and kinase activity regulation.1,2 This domain harbors two of only five Lrrk2 substitution demonstrated to be pathogenic.1–4 Both substitutions occur at the same amino acid codon 1441 (Fig. 1) , resulting in the substitution of an arginine with either a cysteine (R1441C) or glycine (R1441G) residue.1,3 A third putatively pathogenic substitution of a histidine (R1441H) has also been reported,5,6 suggesting that this position may be fragile and susceptible to mutation. The phenomenon of reduced penetrance is also a characteristic of Lrrk2 parkinsonism, with an increasing number of apparently "sporadic" patients and asymptomatic subjects observed to carry mutations. Here we describe a 51-year-old man of Irish ancestry with a limited family history of one deceased maternal aunt who was reported to suffer from classical late-onset Parkinson's disease (PD). However, both parents are healthy at 84 years of age, and four siblings, ranging in age from 46 to 54, show no signs of Parkinsonism. Their carrier status remains unknown. The proband's initial symptom was rest tremor of the right leg followed by rest tremor in his right arm, with a gradual development of bradykinesia and rigidity. He was diagnosed with PD at 35 years of age. Disease progression was slow during the first years of the disease and initial response to levodopa was modest. After 7 years, he was treated with left ventointermedius (VIM) thalamotomy, which abolished his tremor. Three years later, his rigidity and bradykinesia worsened, but he improved on treatment with a dopamine agonist. He is currently treated with VIM thalamotomy and a dopamine agonist. During the last 2 years, he developed occasional hallucinations that have progressed to neuroleptic-resistant psychosis. His current Hohen and Yahr stage is 2. There is nothing notable in his medical history and CT and MRI scans have revealed no pathology. This case along with the recent report by Tan and colleagues7 of a 71-year-old Chinese man carrying R1441C and diagnosed with sporadic PD highlight both the global nature of Lrrk2 parkinsonism and the reduction in penetrance resulting in variable manifestation of symptoms. The LRRK2 4321 C T (R1441C) mutation


This paper proposes a new non-destructive method for evaluating the size of the flaking in ball bearing with an electromagnetic sensor. This method focuses on the variation of the magnitude of the characteristic frequency of a defect on the outer race. Through the presence of local maximums and minimums, the length of the flaking is evaluated while the bearing is in operation. The applicability and accuracy of this method is confirmed through several accelerated aging tests. It is shown that the growth of the length of the flaking in ball bearings is linear.


Ultrasonic metal welding has many advantages including speed, weld quality consistency, and efficiency compared to other joining methods. In order to further improve the process, this work focused on enhancing process consistency. A comparison between three control modes: energy, height (post height), and time was conducted and the results were analyzed. Thus, the main objective of this study was to characterize and compare the weld consistencies of the various control modes. In this study, 60 welds made with optimum welding parameters with each mode were made, and the average weld strength and variance of the population were statistically compared. It was determined by analyzing the data with an F-test with a probability α = 0.05 that there was a slight improvement in weld strength consistency for the time mode compared to the other two modes (energy and post height). No significant difference in the average weld strength was seen for the three modes, only in the consistency of the welds. It is believed that in the energy and post height modes, while the average weld strengths were similar to the time mode, these modes were affected by sample fixture loading and sample variations.