The purpose of this work is to investigate numerically the influence of a porous insert on an incompressible turbulent flow in a pipe that suffers a sudden contraction. The Reynolds number is 93,600 based on the pipe outlet diameter. The flow equations are discretized by using the control volume method and the SIMPLE algorithm is applied for the velocity-pressure coupling. In all cases, the macroscopic k-e Low-Reynolds turbulence model will be employed. For an initial numerical validation, a simulation is carried out without the porous insert in order to be compared with an experimental result. Afterwards, the porous insert will be considered in the numerical calculations, parameters such as permeability and thickness are varied in order to analyze their effects on the flow pattern. Also, the flow losses obtained with the porous insert are calculated and compared with that obtained from the calculations without the porous insert.


Telepathy, remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis, and energy healing are just some of the unusual or anomalous phenomena that have been reported to occur with a regularity that surpasses what would be expected by chance alone. However, is the examination of such effects really science, is there any evidence to support such ideas and what would be the relevance of such findings? Dark Cognition shows that psi research is not only scientific but examines a wide range of evidence suggesting that such effects clearly exist. It explores what the implications are of these effects for consciousness. Arguing that a shift is needed in the way we think about consciousness, from seeing it as an epiphenomenon of the brain to something more fundamental.


The paper introduces the design of a kind of video processor with the function of auto-focusing.The video processor receives digital YCbCr video signal.Utilizing a piece of DDR2 SDRAM as frame buffer,the video processor realizes the function of format conversion,frame up-scaling and color space conversion.The paper proposes and realizes an improved gray scale differential auto-focus algorithm and calculates the focus value of the current image real-timely.The mountain climbing searching strategy is applied to control the moving of the focus motor,and the auto-focusing of image is realized.The whole design is realized in VHDL and verified with Xilinx XUPV5-LX110T FPGA developing board.


Charge structure has been simplified, delay precision has been increased through optimized structural design for a small stab delay detonator. The performances of the detonator meet the technical requirements after testing.


be rare opportunities (may the land be spared of such !) of gathering facts and clearing doubts, relating to the solution of the problem of that food, that is neither deficient nor superfluous in any of its essentials. A great deal in the following remarks may be mere commonplace to many, but as important things are now and then lost sight of, by their being mere commonplaces, it may not be unreasonable to ask the readers' forbearance of them in this instance.


The first year of life particularly the first six months is the most critical period in a child's life. Breast feeding is the prerequisite for childs survival throughout the critical period of life. Seventy percent of energy requirements of a child is met by breast milk alone. But as the child grows, breast milk alone will not be able to provide adequate amount of all nutrients needed to maintain growth after 6 months.


The invention provides a temporary supporting rod for a high-voltage line. The temporary supporting rod comprises an insulating supporting tube and a fastening rope, wherein the fastening rope is arranged in the insulating supporting tube in a penetrating manner after being folded in half; the fastening rope surrounds the high-voltage line and pulls up the high-voltage line; then the two ends of the fastening rope are simultaneously inserted into one end of the insulating supporting tube and extend out from the other end of the insulating supporting tube; next the two free ends of the fastening rope surround tree branches and are knotted to lift the high-voltage line. If the high-voltage line is pulled up by only using the fastening rope, violent shake is still produced in existence of wind; thus, the insulating supporting tube has the effect of controlling the distance between the high-voltage line and the tree branches to reduce the shake amplitude of the high-voltage line when the wind blows. The temporary supporting rod for the high-voltage line has the advantages of scientific design and capabilities of lifting the high-voltage line and preventing the high-voltage line from shaking left and right in existence of wind.


A model illustrating the fact that ferroelectric films with uniform grain size and columnar structure will exibit a suitable domain configuration for ferroelectric domain recording storage media is proposed. To verify this model, (Pb,La)TiO3 thin films are deposited by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition by a solid delivery technique to grow films with a columnar structure and granular structure. A slow source input rate results in a film with a columnar structure whereas a fast input rate produces a film with a granular structure. The film with a columnar structure exhibits a more adequate domain configuration as confirmed by electrostatic force microscope observation, and also exhibits a very stable write/read operation for the domain memory application.


In order to reduce the excess pollutants caused by environmental factors, on the basis of the installation of post-treatment device, through the use of converse software, the simulation research on the combustion process of non road diesel engines in the cylinder was carried out in the cold environment, and the combustion processed and emission reduction of diesel engine were optimized under the condition of only changing the angle of oil beam. The results show that the temperature in cylinders is the highest, and the pressure in the cylinder is larger, the equivalence ratio and eddy current intensity in cylinder are stronger, the emissions are lower, and the emissions of NOx and soot are the lowest under the angle of 164° fuel beam.


Paju, locating in the northwest of Seoul Metropolitan Area, is one of the most dynamic and rapidlygrowing cities in Korea. It has been provided huge amount of housing units by new townsdevelopment without subway system. However, the residents of Paju have asked regionalgovernment to extend the Ilsan subway line for better accessibility to Seoul. Thus, this paper aimsto analyze the feasibility of subway extension for Ilsan line by considering the improvement ofconnectivity and accessibility with Paju as well as the balanced regional development of thenorthwest in Seoul Metropolitan Area. The extension of Ilsan subway line was evaluated by futuretravel demand, economic effect, and cost-benefit analysis. It has found that the modal split of car,bus, and taxi will decrease gradually and the passengers of subway will increase in comparison withthe non-execution of subway extension. The benefit of subway extension was more economicallyadvantageous than development costs and will contribute to the improvement of residential andenvironmental quality.


– In the universality class of the one dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang surface growth, Derrida and Lebowitz conjectured the universality of not only the scaling exponents, but of an entire scaling function. Since Derrida and Lebowitz's original publication [PRL 80 209 (1998)] this universality has been verified for a variety of continuous time systems in the KPZ universality class. Here, we present a numerical method for directly examining the entire particle flux of the asymmetric exclusion process, thus providing an alternative to more difficult cumulant ratios studies. Using this method, we find that the Derrida-Lebowitz scaling function properly characterises the large system size limit of a single particle discrete time system, even in the case of very small system sizes. This property serves to further increase the ease and accessibility of our method allowing us to directly study even more challenging dynamics and verify the Derrida-Lebowitz scaling function for the multiple particle discrete time asymmetric exclusion process as well. Introduction. – The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation [1] describes a rich variety of processes such as surface growth [2, 3], directed polymers [4–6], and avalanches [7, 8]. And accordingly, the massive array of literature (see [9–11] and references therein), on the topic of KPZ theory reflects the central role the KPZ equation plays in the study of stochastic dynamic processes. The wide variety of dynamic processes governed by the KPZ equation form the socalled KPZ universality class—a class of seemingly unrelated dynamics whose bulk properties obey, on a course-grained level, this one master equation. One member of the KPZ universality class, the well studied one-dimensional asymmetric exclusion process (ASEP) describes a driven lattice gas with hard core exclusions [12], and has also been applied to studies of highway traffic [13,14], protein synthesis [15], and sequence alignment [16–18]. Characterising the underlying properties of the ASEP promises a greater understanding for these specific studies as well as insights into the broader KPZ universality class. Not surprisingly, much effort has been spent calculating some of the many properties of the ASEP such as the density profile, steady states, mass gaps, and diffusion constants [19–28]. Though many questions still remain, these myriad studies have helped to uncover a great deal of insight into the ASEP.


A new constellation is designed for the multiuser noncoherent large-scale single-input multiple-output uplink system based on M-ary differential phase-shift keying, which is combined with a bit interleaved coded modulation-iterative decoding scheme for attaining improved performance. We conceive a new approach for constructing EXIT charts parameterized by the number of antennas used for optimizing the design. Finally, the system performance is analyzed and compared to previous work. This evaluation shows an overall improvement of two orders of magnitude demonstrating a dramatic reduction in the required number of antennas.


The moral reasoning of 189 undergraduate students from the College of Education, Kuwait University was studied, using the Defining Issues Test (DIT) by Rest (1990). The subjects ranged in age from 18 to 26 years (mean age = 20.83). The results revealed that the sample reasoned predominantly at stage 4. Principled Morality Percentage Score (P%-score) was found to be below the norms reported in the literature for this group. There were no gender differences in moral reasoning. However, formal education did have a significant effect on moral judgment scores. In the light of this cross-cultural study as well as of other similar studies, a series of questions related to the understanding of moral development has been raised for further examination.


Reaction of 6-(3, 5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2, 3-dihydroimidazo [2, 1-b] thiazole 1-oxide (1) with superoxide anion gave 4-(3, 5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-vinylimidazole (2). Compound 2 was also obtained by treatment of 1 with potassium tert-butoxide in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the presence of oxygen, while 4-(3, 5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-thioxo-1-vinyl-4-imidazoline (3) was obtained together with 2 in the absence of oxygen. When the same reaction was carried out in N, N-dimethyl formamide, 1 gave 2 and 3 in the absence of oxygen, and 4-(3, 5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-vinylimidazole-2-sulfonic acid (4) in the presence of oxygen. A possible mechanistic explanation for the formation of these products is presented. Oxygenation of 6-phenyl-2, 3-dihydroimidazo [2, 1-b] thiazole 1-oxide (6) was also examined.


Using one‐center single‐determinant approximations to the pertinent wave functions, the energies of CH3, CH3+, and CH5+ relative to CH4 have been calculated. If corrections for the different molecular geometries of the various species are made, reasonably good agreement with experiment for the carbon—hydrogen bond strength in methane, the ionization potential of CH3, and the appearance potential of CH3+ from CH4 is obtained. The modification of the calculation that gives the best agreement with experiment for these three known quantities leads to a value of 7.26 eV for the proton affinity of methane.


A national e-mail survey of public relations practitioners investigated how use of the World Wide Web and practitioners' roles and status are linked. Cluster analysis partially replicated and refined Leichty and Springston's 1996 roles typology, further challenging the traditional manager-technician dichotomy that has driven twenty-five years of roles research. Managers used the Web more than technicians for research and evaluation and more than internals for issues communication. Managers and internals use the Web more than technicians for productivity and efficiency. In general, practitioners are no longer laggards in new technology, and women have caught up with men in use of new technology, such as the Web.


The subject of the article is a detailed analysis of the administrative and legal aspects of ascertainment causes of death. The first part of the article describes the Polish law regarding ascertainment death. Then, the author defines problems of interpretation and application of the law, as well as the author presents legislation project of new funeral law. The third subsection of the article relates to comparative law – selected aspects of the death investigation system, in particular the position of a coroner in England, Wales, the state of New York.


In this issue ofThe Journal, Stern et al 1 compare hospital charges and lengths of stay for patients admitted through the emergency department with charges and lengths of stay for patients admitted through other routes to any of five Massachusetts hospitals. Even with adjustments for diagnosis related group, severity of illness, age, and income, patients admitted through the emergency department incurred hospital charges 13% higher and hospital stays 27% longer than other patients.


The Omega Bridge is a riveted steel arch bridge built in the early 1950s to cross the Los Alamos Canyon and connect the town of Los Alamos, NM to technical areas of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). With just one other immediate route through the canyon, the Omega Bridge is a major crossing for LANL business. The alternate route is approximately two miles long on a curvy, steep grade which is not a suitable option for emergency vehicles such as fire trucks. In the early 1990s, the Omega Bridge was rehabilitated due to the poor condition of the deck and increased traffic demands which resulted in several changes to the original structure. This report provides the load rating results of the bridge as affected by the rehabilitation according to the Load Factor Rating (LFR) Method specified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Attention is given to the superstructure elements including the floor system (stringers, floor beams, and spandrel beams); columns (pier, skewback, and arch columns); and two-hinge, parabolic arch rib. Live loads used to rate the bridge components include


The invention discloses an intelligent hybrid direct current power transmission system and a fault handling method. The fault handling method comprises the following steps: step 1, collecting the direct voltage and direct current of the hybrid direct current power transmission system, the alternating voltage of an alternating current power grid connected with an inversion converter station, and the sub module capacitor voltage of a voltage source type current converter in the inversion converter station; step 2, judging whether the hybrid direct current power transmission system is in fault or not according to the analog quantity collected in the step 1); and 3) if so, changing the power transmitted by a rectifying converter station, and concurrently changing the direct voltage generated by the inversion converter station and/or the alternating current output by the inversion converter station. The fault handling method can effectively solve the problem of the direct overvoltage caused by the fault of the alternating current power grid that is connected with the voltage source type current converter in the inversion side in the direct current power transmission system, so as to prevent the overvoltage of the direct current bus and the sub module capacitor; and in addition, the alternating current fault can be reliably handled so as to well protect the equipment safety.


The present text intends to verify the influence of the thought of Emmanuel Mounier in the Colombian Constitution of 1991 and in the context that propitiated this constitutional reform. The methodology consisted in using texts of the author and historical texts that refer to the context lived in the time by Mounier and the country of Colombia in the last decade before the Constitution of 1991. It was established that there were points in common between the periods of 1932 To 1945 lived by the French philosopher, and the one from 1983 to 1991 lived in Colombia. The Realism thought of Mounier, focused on the action of the human person that is free from any Idealism or Nihilism, coincides with the real actions of the Colombian population that change the Legal Formalisms, to build a new order that would end with the Idealism and Nihilism proper of that moment. For the French thinker, and this can be seen in the 1991 Colombian Constitution, it was necessary to re-establish the moral hierarchy of the needs of States, for which the existing structures had to be reformed, and, for this purpose, he proposed a community based on respect for Human dignity.


3. ∫ Ax+B ax2+bx+cdx where ax 2 + bx+ c is irreducible. First completer the square and then use formula 24 or 25 from the table on the inside back cover of our book. Examples of each of the above are: 1. ∫ 1 x−2dx = ln |x− 2|+ C 2. ∫ 2 (x−1)3 dx = − 1 (x−1)2 + C 3. ∫ x+2 x2+1dx = 1 2 ln |x 2 + 1|+ 2 tan−1 x + C One further type is more complicated: ∫ 3x−1 (x2+1)2 dx. This has to be broken up into the sum of two terms the first of which is easy to handle, 3 2 ∫ 2x (x2+1)2 dx and the second of which, − ∫ 1 (x2+1)2 dx needs... So if the rational function is not in one of the above reduced forms, follow the following 4 steps:


We examined risk factors for tuberculosis recurrence in patients admitted to a tuberculosis hospital in Florida in 1996 and 1997. Recurrence of tuberculosis was not significantly associated with tuberculosis drug levels or HIV status, which indicates that routine drug monitoring may not be beneficial in general patient management.


This paper attempts to specify the relationship between post-issue promoter groups' retention and Initial Public Offering (IPO) underprice. We also investigate the impact of signalling and financial variables, i.e. offer size, times subscribed, age of the firm, book value, leverage, market volatility and ex-ante uncertainty along with post-issue promoter groups holding on IPO underprice. On using a sample of 92 IPOs, we find IPOs are underpriced at an average of 46.55% during 2002 to 2006. We document a positive relationship between post-issue promoter group holding and IPO underprice. Our results indicate offer size, times subscribed and post-issue promoter group holding are statistically significant in explaining underprice. We also document positive initial day return for IPOs across all industries, while manufacturing sector IPOs are less underpriced than non-manufacturing sector IPOs.


This is a discussion of a paper by the same title which appeared in Volume 25, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, pp 56-61. The authors of the original paper are P.K. Robertson, R.G. Campanella, P.T. Brown, and K.E. Robinson.


The heterogeneous, platinum-catalyzed hydrogenation of (diolefin) dialkylplatinum(II) complexes (DO)PtR 2 ) on platinum black produces alkanes by reduction of the diolefin and alkylplatinum moieties; the platinum(II) is reduced to platinum(0) and becomes part of the catalyst. This paper reports and investigation of the stereochemistry of the reduction of C* bonds in heterogeneous hydrogenations, based on the adsorption of (DO)PtR 2 on platinum black to generate R* groups


ABSTRACT Although the sad track record of the EU Battlegroups has attracted considerable scholarly attention, analyses have largely focused on obstacles related to the provision of the Battlegroup troops and to the consensus within the EU Council, hence taking a supply-side perspective. This article calls for complementing this perspective with an analysis of the demand for their deployment. That implies analysing whether and why the EU Battlegroups were (not) considered as an option by those actors taking the initiative to intervene in a particular crisis. Applying a rational-institutionalist approach, this article explains the absence of the Battlegroups from three recent crises: Libya (2011), Mali (2013) and the Central African Republic (2013–2014). Using data from document analysis and elite interviews, it shows that once a rapid military reaction became urgent, the EU Battlegroups were not even considered as an option by those initiating an international reaction.


Being able to characterize impulsive-like signals and extract their transitory features is difficult due to the presence of noise and irrelevant signal components in real signals. To address these problems, a brand-new time-frequency (TF) analysis technique called the transient-extracting wavelet transform is developed. This method is put forth by first investigating which TF coefficients can represent the fundamental TF properties of impulsive signals, and then designing an extraction operator to get the most related TF coefficients while simultaneously removing the unrelated ones. The signal reconstruction of this method is also analyzed. Additionally, a transient feature extraction approach is suggested for pinpointing the impulse's occurrence timing, which is essential for correctly identifying the fault type. The analysis shows that the suggested method is more able to analyze impulsive-like data and is an effective bearing defect detector.


This article presents and develops Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian theory of heart-mind-will and human nature as the source and basis for the understanding of humanity. This article next shows how Kant and Confucius could be said to share the same vision of humanity in light of one particular historical connection between them. Finally, I have explored four forms of knowledge in light of a distinction between feeling and observation as well as their basic unity. This gives rise to our vision of humanity as world-rooted, and so indicates further how it can serve as a grounding for world-humanities.


By now most readers of Primary Psychiatry are familiar with the October 2003 alert by the Food and Drug Administration Public Health Advisory citing the risk of suicidality for pediatric patients taking antidepressants. In February 2005, the FDA went further, asking that antidepressant product information contain a black box warning to that effect In May 2007, the warning was extended to young adults 18-24 years of age. Even before the actual warnings were added to the medications, declines in patients being diagnosed with depression were observed, as was a decrease in the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The drop in prescriptions for SSRIs extended to adult patients, a group not found to be at increased risk for suicide with antidepressants and a group not cited in the warnings. A new analysis' by investigators at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research confirms that patients under 25 years of age who take antidepressants do have a higher risk of suicide, and those above that age do not. The investigators concluded that risk of suicidality associated with antidepressant use is strongly age dependent. "Compared with placebo, the increased risk for suicidality and suicidal behavior among adults under 25 [years of age] approaches that seen in children and adolescents. The net effect seems to be neutral on suicidal behavior but possibly protective for suicidal ideation in adults aged 25-64 [years] and to reduce the risk of both suicidality and suicidal behavior in those aged ≥65 [years]. " For participants with non-psychiatric indications, suicidal behavior and ideation were extremely rare.


Objective To investigate the new method of pancreaticoenterostomy and decrease the probability of complications like pancreatic fistula etc.Methods By using the absorbable bandage and ear-brain glue,modified sutureless pancreaticoenteromy was made in 10 swines.Experimental data includes: routine analysis of blood,levels of amylase in blood and abdominal drainage and lipase in blood and abdominal drainage.The tissues in anastomosis were taken for pathology examination in 1 month after operation.Results The average operative time was(35±10) min. Nine of ten animals had no pancreatic fistula and survived.The levels of amylase and lipase in abdominal drainage were both normal.One swine had a evident abdominal distensile on 2 days after operation,the level of amylase was 10 000 u/L,then died on 10 days after operation.Pancreatic fistula and infection were found because of the loss of stent in pancreatic duct.Conclusions Comparison with traditional operation,the modified sutureless pancreaticoenteromy can also control the probability of pancreatic fistula.And this method can be hoped to be one of the routine operations of pancreaticoenterostomy because of its simplicity and practicality.


The proposed technique focuses on the online estimations of multiplane rotor resistances for the multiphase induction machine operating under the flux-oriented frame. The deviations in regard to the steady-state performance caused by the mismatched fundamental and harmonic rotor resistances are analyzed in detail. The reactive-power-based model referenced adaptation system (MRAS) is formulated for the third harmonic plane, which is air gap flux-oriented. The quasi-normalized method with respect to the error terms between the referenced and adjustable models is addressed to improve the adaptive mechanism under various load conditions. Experimental validations have been performed to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The simultaneous online identifications for the fundamental and harmonic rotor resistances are achieved. The approximate convergence processes and steady performance can be obtained for a large range of load conditions by using constant adaptive gains. The estimated results are indirectly verified by the comparisons between command and actual flux. In addition, the dynamic performance for the proposed MRAS is conducted with the sudden change of load. The effects of inverter nonlinearity and temperature rise are taken into account.


Interest in the topic of charged particle multiplicity fluctuations has been recently revived by the observation of non-monotonic behavior in the scaled variance as a function of system size at SPS energies [4]. The scaled variance is defined as var(N)/〈N〉, where var(N) represents the variance of the multiplicity distribution in a given centrality bin, and 〈N〉 is the mean of the distribution. For reference, the scaled variance of a Poisson distribution is 1.0, independent of N. PHENIX has studied the behavior of charged particle multiplicity fluctuations as a function of centrality and transverse momentum in √sNN = 62 GeV and 200 GeV Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions in order to investigate if this behavior persists at RHIC energies. Details about the PHENIX experimental configuration can be found elsewhere [2]. All of the measurements described here utilized the PHENIX central arm detectors. The maximum PHENIX acceptance of |η| < 0.35 in pseudorapidity and 180 degrees in azimuthal angle is considered small for event-by-event measurements. However, the event-by-event multiplicities are high enough in RHIC heavy-ion collisions that PHENIX has a competitive sensitivity for the detection of many fluctuation signals. For example, a detailed examination of the PHENIX sensitivity to temperature fluctuations derived from the measurement of mean pT fluctuations is described in [3]. A survey of multiplicity fluctuations in PHENIX Jeffery T. Mitchell and the PHENIX Collaboration


In men who take the 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor finasteride (Propecia) for hair loss, published data on its sexual side effects are insufficient to create a safety profile of the drug, according to a recent study.


In an earlier paper, we derived explicit Fourier series expressions for systematic computation of grade of membership in the overlap and non-overlap regions of triangular fuzzy sets; and by implication, computation of union and intersection of the fuzzy sets. In this paper, we hereby extend the methodology to cover cases of the cosine, exponential and Gaussian fuzzy sets by presenting explicit Fourier series representation for encoding fuzziness in the overlap and non-overlap domains of membership functions of cosine and Gaussian fuzzy sets. The paper further present the development of a corresponding embedded "Fuzzy controller", which incorporates the formal mathematical representation, to measure temperature and pressure and produce output that can serve as input to other sub-systems or systems. In particular, it is established that the technique can indeed be incorporated in engineering systems for dynamic determination of grade of membership of adjoining Fuzzy sets and thus provides a basis for the design and implementation of embedded Fuzzy controller for mission-critical applications.


Free and unstructured collaboration tasks do not systematically produce effective learning. One way to enhance the effectiveness of collaborative learning is to structure interactions by engaging students in well-defined, computer-supported pedagogical scripts. A script (some authors use the term scenario) is a "story" that the students and tutors have to "play", as actors would play a movie script. We conducted a study using three different learning units that are currently embedded in regular high school biology curricula, and focused on the students' learning processes and results. We constructed these collaborative, hypertext-based pedagogical scripts based on the following formula: (1) A first phase where there is the production of a critical mass of information into the system i.e. a hypertext accessible to all members of the learning community. (2) A second step where students are encouraged to link similar concepts. (3) A third phase where students should sustain the important consideration of the work produced by other members of the community. These strategies lead to a deeper immersion in the treated subject, better subjective perception of efficiency, and a somewhat increased learning progression. We focused on the performance of two classes exposed to the same educational concepts but in different scenarios. A regular high school class accomplished their tasks in a conventional learning unit, while a vocational high school class utilized a collaborative hypertext (Swiki). The two groups showed a similar increase in factual knowledge, which clearly shows an experimentation effect. Given the elective Swiss school system, regular high school students would be expected to show a better academic performance than the vocational students, in a comparable learning situation. The vocational class produced a longer and more complex hypertext than the regular class. However, the regular class produced summaries about a wider variety of subjects and showed a better confidence in their knowledge about the subjects. We called our scenarios: Action Based, Hypertext-Constructive, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning units (ABAHCOCOSUCOL) and found numerous possibilities for applying the scripting elements combined with the additional tool to all sorts of learning environments. This may include a face to face learning environment, but also blended learning (with adolescent and adult students), and learning that integrates different subjects. SCRIPTING STRATEGIES IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 7 "The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these influences." "I believe that the social life of the child is the basis of concentration, or correlation, in all his training or growth. The social life gives the unconscious unity and the background of all his efforts and of all his attainments." John Dewey's famous declaration concerning education. First published in January 16, 1897 SCRIPTING STRATEGIES IN COMPUTER SUPPORTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 8


The neutral and aminosugar composition has been determined by gas-liquid chromatography for two neuraminidases, either bacterial, from Streptococcus pneumoniae, or viral, from Myxovirus influenzae A/Hong Kong/1/68.


The administration of the new opiate-analgetic alfentanil in combination with etomidate supplemented by N2O/O2 for short anaesthesia is described. The influence on blood pressure, heart rate, paO2, paCO2, rate-pressure-product (RPP) and glucose rate has been investigated. In the intraoperative and early postoperative period, the cardiac and respiratory system was unchanged. After anaesthesia all patients were very cooperative.


Given the recent rand weakness, many investors and fund managers are looking for ways to hedge their portfolios against movements in the local currency. One asset class that is drawing their attention is international property. To make it easier for them, there are property counters listed on the JSE that own exclusively international assets.


Abstract A category checklist of developmental characteristics for the forward roll, modeled after Roberton's "component" approach, was hypothesized for this study. The categories were used to examine the usefulness of a component approach for describing actions occurring during the forward roll. Age-relatedness of category sequences was also explored. Three components were defined: hand/arm, head/neck, hip/leg. Each component was divided into phases which described the temporal course of actions occurring throughout the forward roll, from initial hand placement to heel strike. Within each component phase were hierarchically arranged steps, ordered from primitive to advanced. The potential usefulness of the components as a developmental checklist was examined using three criteria: (1) the comprehensiveness of the category system for describing observed movement behaviors; (2) the observed ordering of each component sequence in relation to the hypothesized ordering; and (3) the sign of the slopes of the ag...


This article discusses some of the contributions which social anthropology can make in throwing light on the social context of the teaching and use of second languages. After outlining the general perspective of anthropology toward social and cultural phenomena, it introduces some of the concepts of the discipline which are relevant to the understanding of language problems. Dwelling in particular on the possible use of Standard English as a second dialect by ethnic minorities in the United States, the article discusses variations in linguistic acculturation and the use of language forms in defining identity and social relationships. Examples from Scandinavian language situations are used to throw light on the current discussion of language and minority problems in the United States.


The dominant mode rejection (DMR) adaptive beamformer attenuates loud interferers by directing beampattern nulls toward signals contained in the dominant subspace [Abraham/Owsley, Proc. Oceans, 1990]. The dominant subspace is defined by the eigenvectors associated with the largest eigenvalues of the sample covariance matrix. DMR performance is primarily determined by how closely the eigenvectors of the sample covariance matrix match the true interferer directions. Random matrix theory (RMT) describes how the accuracy of the sample eigenvectors varies with the interferer-to-noise ratio (INR), array size, and the number of snapshots used to estimate the sample covariance. A simplified analytical model based on RMT predicts the mean DMR notch depth as a function of INR, array size, interferer location and the number of snapshots. This talk compares the RMT predictions with experimental results obtained by cancelling array strum in data from a vertical array deployed in the Philippine Sea. The array strum int...


BACKGROUND
Immunocytochemistry (ICC) on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded cell blocks is an ancillary tool commonly recruited for differential diagnoses of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples. However, the quality of conventional cell blocks in terms of adequate cellularity and evenness of distribution of cytologic material is not always satisfactory for ICC. We introduce a modified agarose-based cytoscrape cell block (CCB) technique that can be effectively used for the preparation of cell blocks from scrapings of conventional FNAC slides.

METHODS
A decoverslipped FNAC slide was mounted with a small amount of water. The cytological material was scraped off the slide into a tissue mold by scraping with a cell scraper. The cytoscrape material was pelleted by centrifugation and pre-embedded in ultra-low gelling temperature agarose and then re-embedded in conventional agarose. The final agarose gel disk was processed and embedded in paraffin.

RESULTS
The quality of the ICC on the CCB sections was identical to that of the immunohistochemical stains on histological sections. By scrapping and harvesting the entirety of the cytological material off the cytology slide into a compact agarose cell button, we could avoid the risk of losing diagnostic material during the CCB preparation.

CONCLUSION
This modified CCB technique enables concentration and focusing of minute material while maintaining the entire amount of the cytoscrape material on the viewing spot of the CCB sections. We believe this technique can be effectively used to improve the level of confidence in diagnosis of FNAC especially when the FNAC slides are the only sample available.


The second part of this paper traces the development of truly synthetic fibres together with the auxiliary chemicals required in processing. Developments in dyes are also reviewed. The emergence of the chemical giants is chronicled together with cartel formation. The development of the American petrochemicals industry, together with war time shortages in Europe, are discussed.


The objective of this research was to examine the effects of chemical perturbations on the stratosphere using models which can incorporate fully interactive radiative, chemical, and dynamical responses, in the context of a zonally averaged model. Model runs for the unperturbed, chlorine-perturbed and simultaneously chlorine-and CO2-perturbed cases were completed using the JPL-87 chemical kinetics data. The base case was analyzed and submitted for publication. The perturbed cases show substantial sensitivity of the predicted column ozone depletion to the perturbations affecting lower stratosphere temperature, but less to far dynamical perturbations. The column ozone distribution changed substantially when the kinetics data was changed. This implies a greater-than-expected uncertainty in predicted latitude distributions of ozone depletion, due to uncertainty about the accuracy and completeness of the chemical kinetics data set.


Research on important contribution to the development of catechet-ics, which deals with scientific reflection on the education of and initiating them into the living faith of the Religious language is not a separate type of language but consists of the ability to communicate with others in such a way that they understand the truths concerning eternal life. An important task in this process is performed by catechesis, through which the proclamation of faith can touch people in their daily existence. Thanks to catechesis, Christians not only have a better understanding of what a symbolic, narrative, and doctrinal language is, but they also learn how to think in this language. The present article is devoted to the phatic function of language in catechesis. This function concerns the possi-bility of establishing connections and deepening the ties between participants in catechetical discourse and during the upbringing process. The author tries to justify the importance of the phatic function in the catechetical space and indicate its importance in the implementa-tion of various catechetical tasks. The paradigm of Jesus' pedagogy shows that catechesis is primarily about the language of encounter and the language of events, based on which God can continue the history of salvation. Catechetical language allows people to understand how human existence reveals God's presence. Building mature bonds is not easy in a situation where society does not have the appropriate social competences. Thus, there is a need for well-thought-out catechesis, communicative catechists, and new ideas for the use of language in the catechetical space that reveal God's kingdom among people.


The present invention relates to a gate signal distortion can prevent the image quality degradation DGIP (Double Gate pixel In Panel) mode liquid crystal display device and its image which implementation by accompanying the flicker signal when mixed. The present invention specifically has as the vertical and horizontal pixel lines defined in a matrix liquid crystal panel; In said liquid crystal panel, Gn, Gn + 1, Gn + 2, Gn + 3 (n is a natural number) in the order arranged in the one direction as the gate lines; In said liquid crystal panel and the cross-arranged data lines and the gate lines; Data and control signals with a timing controller that outputs a first and second flicker signal; After generating the Vgm, Vgm + 1, Vgm + 2, Vgm + 3 a gate signal through the control signal, the Vgm, Vgm + 2 respectively mixed with the first flicker signal to the gate signal of the Gn, Gn + 2 gate transmitted to the line, and the Vgm + 1, 3 + Vgm a gate driver to each of incorporation of the second flicker signal to the gate signal to pass to the Gn + 1, Gn + 3 and the gate lines; It provides a liquid crystal display device and an image implementing method using the same that includes a data driver for transmitting the image signal to the data line through the data and control signals. Thus it is possible to eliminate the luminance changes in the part of the horizontal pixel lines of the liquid crystal panel, it is possible to implement a more improved image.


The topic of calibration and verification of rainfall-runo ff model has been subject of many researches. However, most of the researches using the continuous data for this task, while in the conditions of Vietnam, it is difficult to collect the sub-day continuous data. This leads to the need for methods that can calibrate and verify the model parameters from the event data. This paper introduces such a method. Idea of the method is to combine the auto-calibration and trial- and-error methods. Auto-calibration is executed to locate the optima sets of parameters for individual storm event by using the shuffled complex evolution algorithm. Then, the trial-and- error method will attempt to find the most suitable parameters for all of the events in the ranges defined by the parameters in the auto-calibration step. The method was applied to calibrate and verify MIKE-NAM model parameters with the case study of Ben Hai river basin. Because the searching space of parameters is narrowed, it is much easier and quick to find the best overall parameters than the traditional trial-and-error method.


Your beauty
seduced me
from afar...
I came unknowing
what sort of lover you d be
the days and nights
of agony,
ecstasy.
Such demands you made
yet so Patient
forbearing rages
forgiving mistakes
forging something new
yet old
the less turbulent relationship
of long time lovers
knowing each other's weaknesses
comfortable
but not short
of surprises

...


High rates of unknown diabetes mellitus (DM) have been described in coronary patients. Early diagnosis and treatment of DM is essential to reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality rates. Bramlage et al. demonstrated that secondary prevention in coronary patients with diabetes is only viable when optimal standards are met. Therefore, early diagnosis and optimal treatment would provide potential improvement for coronary patients with diabetes. We analyzed 338 patients that underwent percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) for revascularization, with systematic oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and no known DM.We divided the patients into a group treated with metabolic interventions and a control group. We attempted to determine whether differences could be observed after 1 year of follow-up in terms of: a) adequacy of secondary prevention; b) prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS), and c) combined cardiovascular events (death, myocardial infarction, stroke, new coronary revascularization, and hospitalization for unstable angina). The methodology of our study has already been described. We performed a clinical interview, a patient examination, and laboratory analyses including OGTT and glycosylated hemoglobin at 15 days after hospital discharge and again at 1 year. Our center serves as a PCI referral center for 8 hospitals. We offered our patients intensive multidisciplinary treatment. Patients from other hospitals received standard medical treatment and served as the control group. All patients and their responsible physicians were informed of the results of all the tests performed. Intensive multidisciplinary treatment, based on clinical guidelines,was provided during diabetic education nursing, cardiology, and endocrinology visits. All patients were informed as to the nature of the disease, lifestyle changes, tobacco abstinence, treatment (indefinite platelet therapy, beta blockers, statins), and target blood pressure (BP) values<140/90 mm Hg and lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) values<100 mg/dL. In addition, prediabetic and/or obese patients received personalized hypocaloric diet recommendations, and in patients with occult diabetes, recommendations included diet, metmorphin if there was glycosylated hemoglobin 6.5% and/or associated obesity, target BP<130/80 mm Hg, LDL-C<70 mg/dL, and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors. We described our study sample using traditional descriptive statistics. We compared continuous variables using Student's ttest, the Mann-Whitney U-test, and the Wilcoxon test, as Rev Esp Cardiol. 2012;65(11):1054–1065


The method for constructing simple graph and for forming loop link incidence matrix was discussed. By using loop link incidence matrix, the complex kinematic chain can be constructed automatically for the purpose of creating new mechanisms.


Mycotoxins are known to be one of the most important food contaminants that pose potential health risks to humans. This study aimed to investigate the changes in total aflatoxin (TAF) content during grape vinegar production. Different types of aflatoxins including aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), B2 (AFB2), G1 (AFG1), and G2 (AFG2) were spiked into washed grape samples in the level of 5 μg/kg. Then grape samples were converted to vinegar. After different stages of vinegar processing including juicing, alcoholic fermentation, acetic acid fermentation, and pasteurization, sampling was performed and the level of each aflatoxin was measured using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector (HPLC-FD). Among different processing steps, the pasteurization operation had the least effect on the removal of aflatoxin. After juicing, the amount of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 decreased by 14%, 11.18%, 13.77%, and 18.56%, respectively. Alcoholic fermentation had the greatest effect on the removal of aflatoxin so that it could reduce the levels of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 by 41.87%, 45.34%, 45.37%, and 46.52%, respectively. Overall, during processing and conversion of grapes to vinegar, the values of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 were reduced by 76.20%, 71.06%, 69.26%, and 75.85%, respectively. Processing grapes to vinegar can have a significant effect on the aflatoxin reduction.


Homogeneous and heterogeneous Ziegler-Natta catalyzed copolymerizations are described by a novel dynamic mathematical model that considers the presence of multiple catalytic site types and mass and heat transfer effects on polymerization rate and polymer properties. Soluble catalysts are regarded as a special case of the general modelling where only one or two site types are present and mass and heat transfer resistances are considered negligible. The Stockmayer bivariate distribution will be used to predict distributions of chain length and chemical composition of copolymer products.


Standard accretion disk theory predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally unstable. Since these disks are observed in approximate steady state over the instability timescale, our accretion models in the radiation-pressure-dominated regime (i.e., inner disk) need to be modified. Here, we present a modification to the Shakura & Sunyaev model, where the radiation pressure is in equipartition with the gas pressure in the inner region. We call these flows accretion in radiative equipartition (AiRE) disks. We introduce the basic features of AiRE disks and show how they modify disk properties such as the Toomre parameter and the central temperature. We then show that the accretion rate of AiRE disks is limited from above and below, by Toomre and nodal sonic point instabilities, respectively. The former leads to a strict upper limit on the mass of supermassive black holes as a function of cosmic time (and spin), while the latter could explain the transition between hard and soft states of X-ray binaries.


According to the requirements of the surface treatment technic of the self melting laser cladding on the material property of Ni based powder alloy, the effects of the Ni based powder alloy percentage composition on the laser cladding′s process, particle morphology, and cladding layer property are analyzed, and the Ni based powder alloy for laser cladding with excellent process and application properties is developed.


Bladder cancer (BLCA) is the 10th most common form of cancer worldwide. Currently, the response rate of BLCA patients to novel immunotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment is around 30% or less. Therefore, there is an urgent clinical demand to understand the regulation of immune function in BLCA patients. LncRNAs are known to play fundamental roles in the regulation of the immune system in the tumor microenvironment. In this report, we performed a comprehensive analysis to identify immune-related lncRNAs (IRLs) in BLCA patients using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) databases. BLCA patients were divided into five TME subtypes. Subtype HMIE was strongly related to survival and high anti-tumor activity of patients. Through a four-step analysis, we identified 34 IRLs as subtype HMIE related lncRNAs (HMIE-lncs).The correlation analysis with immune cell infiltration and target gene pathway enrichment showed that 34 HMIE-lncs were correlated with immune cell activation and tumor cell killing. Among them, 24 lncRNAs were related to good prognosis. We constructed a risk model to predict BLCA. Cross tumor validation was performed, and the results showed that the 34 HMIE-lncs identified in the BLCA patients in this study were highly expressed in the immune-favorable TME subtype (IE) in most of the other cancer types. Graphical Abstract According to previous reports of four subtypes of tumor patients, we further divided subtype IE into two subtypes of HMIE and LMIE in bladder cancer. Further analysis through four steps identified 34 immune-related lncRNAs (IRLs) in the HMIE subtype. Of these, 24 lncRNAs are related to good prognosis. Following validation, a risk model was constructed to predict BLCA. Cross tumor type studies confirmed that 34 HMIE-lncs were highly expressed in immune-favorable TME subtype (IE) in most of cancers, and Imvigor210 immunotherapy cohort were used to validate these lncRNAs.


The aim of this study was to identify anxiety symptoms in pre-surgerybariatric patients and to compare them with the control group and between genders.It is a quantitative, correlational, comparative study with a sample of 81 participants.A socio-demographic questionnaire, Trait-State Anxiety Inventory (IDATE) andAnxiety Symptom Intensity Scale (LIS-A) were used. In the pre-bariatric group(n=31), the mean of the women's IDATE was 39,18 and 34,18 in the LIS-A, and forthe men 30,67 and 19,33 respectively. In the control group (n=50), the mean numberof women was 37,07 in IDATE and 35,58 in HIS-A, and 34,60 and 22,53 in men. Therewas a higher prevalence of anxiety symptoms in women, but there was nosignificant difference in mean anxiety scores between the two groups. Keywords: bariatric surgery, anxiety, obesity.


Wireless sensor network is a set of autonomous sensor nodes dedicated to sense sizes of physical phenomena of a geographical area of interest. The sizes so collected are converted to numerical data to be transmitted to a specific node called base station or sink. After some appropriate processing, the data are sent out to a monitoring center. Therefore, a sink takes over a vital role in a WSN since it achieves an interface between the rest of the deployed sensor network and the end user. Consequently, a failed sink may abort the overall mission of the network. Due to their crucial functions, sinks must be designed and maintained to be robust enough in order to face trouble coming from the harsh environment wherein nodes are deployed. Thus, as a keystone of a WSN, sink has to be provided with ability to recover from failures. In this paper, we propose a protocol avoiding the sink to be a central point of failure, thus giving it the capacity for fault tolerance more significantly. This protocol allows error detection instantaneously and speedy error recovery. The results obtained from simulation, with TinyOS/PowerTOSSIM simulator, have been very convincing.


Virtual assembly and tolerance analysis are effective tools to avoid assembly conflicts between components designed by different CAD teams during collaborative product design. This paper develops a virtual assembly and tolerance analysis system supporting collaborative product design and puts forward a component model expression method based on assembly ports as well as giving approaches to interactive assembly and tolerance analysis in virtual environment, which include recognition of assembly relation based on assembly ports, partial disassembly in assembly procedure, assembly movement navigation, recording of assembly procedure and tolerance information visualization. Besides, the paper also realizes the reusing of virtual assembly procedure to support modification and refinement of components' structure in collaborative product design.


Background. Renal injury, proteinuria, and hypertension, are consequences of congenital solitary functioning kidney (CSFK). Renal injury appears around 10 years of age and requires dialysis by the age of 30 years. Low protein intake attenuated renal damage in animal experimental models, uninephrectomized patients, and kidney transplant donors and recipients. Low salt intake facilitates blood pressure control. Objective. Relevant data concerning CSFK patients have not been described so far. We decided to examine long-term preventing effects of protein restriction and low-salt diet on proteinuria, kidney function, and hypertension, in this distinct polulation. Methods. Twenty-eight children with CSFK were included in a prospective observational exposure series. Following parents' agreement, protein and salt restriction—0.85 × recommended daily allowance (RDA)—was started under dietitian supervision. Compliance verification was performed by (a) monitoring urinary urea nitrogen and body weight, (b) measuring ...


"Submitted to the Graduate College of Texas A & M University in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 1970."


Mr. William B. Marshall has been led by his study on the microscopic sculpture of the pearly fresh-water shells (Proceedings U. S. National Museum, vol. 67, art. 15, pi. 10, 1925) to the conclusion that the Mycetopoda falcata which Simpson erroneously has considered a Solenaia, must belong to Mycetopoda, or an allied genus. This has been my opinion also for some time, for the reason given below. Mendranath published a paper on the anatomy of certain Indian Unionidae (Rec. Indian Museum XIV, pp. 109-122, plate 16, 1918) in which according to the Archiv f. Molluskenkunde, p. 48, 1922, he says that Solenaia soleniformis Benson, is allied to Physunio, and belongs to the letragense. Solenaia therefore has nothing to do with the family Mutelidx. The first exact data on the habitat of Mycetopoda falcata we owe to Dr. Fritz Haas of the Senckenburg Museum in his publication ' ' Trabajos del Mus. Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid Zool. Series, No. 25, p. 57, f. 2, 1916. He there describes Mycetopoda bolivari, n. sp., which is evidently identical with Mycetopoda falcata Higgins. The specimen of M. falcata described by Haas as M. bolivari comes from the Rio Unuyacu, an affluent of the Rio Napo, in Ecuador.


Patent systems have been a significant domain in which controversies over socioeconomic and moral implications of novel biotechnologies have played out. Patent Politics uses comparative analysis of...


The purpose of this paper is to study the use of writing boot camp cycles with differentiated facilitation in promoting a research culture within an academic setting by investigating its effectiveness and challenges amongst early career researchers.,This research takes a case study approach within a teaching-focussed private institution moving towards teaching and research. A mixed-method approach captured insights of academics' feelings and perceptions at different stages of the boot camps. Participants set their writing objectives prior to the programme. The initial writing boot camp was followed by a post-programme survey. Two months later, a focus group was conducted and the outcomes were used to refine the subsequent boot camp session.,The findings confirmed that writing boot camps are beneficial in enabling staff members to progress in their writing and in building a research culture. The study further highlighted some of the associated challenges.,This study used only the largest private institution in the country as a case.,This paper highlights some of the key considerations and challenges for practitioners who wish to run effective writing boot camps, e.g. environment, facilitation, debriefing, frequency and duration.,This study introduces the concept of "Writing Boot Camp Cycles" coupled with "Differentiated Facilitation" to enhance the output of writing boot camps while at the same time promoting a research culture.


Today we have Intelligent Transportation Systems which has changed one's individual journey plans. Also smartphones are conjoined part of our daily curriculum and people are more fascinated towards location-based applications. We aim to compose a SMART TRANSPORT RECOMMENDER SYSTEM (Travel Bania) for a multitude by blending the technology of a mobile phone and the brilliance of intelligent transportation systems. Today in every field we use recommendation techniques and bind them together with other applications. The sole purpose of doing that is to achieve more desirable evaluation of the existing details and provide users the services they stated. The scope of this paper is to illustrate the design choices and the implementation of a personalized Smart Transport Recommender System, built for regular use. Using this system the user can obtain the most appropriate mode of transport to travel between two distinct locations in the city according to his/her priority of cost, comfort and time.


Longtoushan Tunnel is an expressway tunnel with four lanes in each of the two separated holes on both-sides. It's largest excavation width is 21.1 m.So far,it is one of the single-hole tunnel which has the largest excavation width in the country. Using the method of engineering analogy, the structural timbering parameters of several different schemes are compared. Aiming at the different surrounding rock geological sections and the oil storeroom along the two sides which has been constructed underground,some construction methods are put forward,such as the slurry injection from the ground;erecting the tunnel first,then filling the earth;excavating by double-sides-wall drift;small-shaking dynamite construction method,and so on. Through the FEA(Finite Element Analysis),and combining with the different construction procedures,the timbering structure and the stability of the wall rock are stimulated and analyzed. The results show that the timbering parameters and the construction scheme are safe and feasible.


T and 0 date tlie esisting techniques for the handling a i d manipulation of textile fibres have not been entirely satisfactory in some cases certaiii methods Iiave been completely lacking. Those methods that are in use are probably better adapted and more suitable for routine investigation o r mill practice than f o r scientific research. This is to be expected as there has not been a detailed, 'tliorougli study of techniques conclucted along research lilies for textile materials. The general techniques in vogue are reviewed somcwliat in the discussion section of this report and are niost completely covered by references (2) and (4) in the bibliography. The object of this paper is to presciit in soinc detail the coinplete set of techniques used in this research. Soiiie are modifications or iinprorements of esisting methods while otliers are new; all, however, aim to improve tlie precision, and speed tlie means of acquiring fundamental scientific data in this field. They are presented here with no rneiition of the findings theqhave enabled, otlier than to note that this study lias a l l o x d complete sets of serial sections of single cells to be made. These and additional applications will be discussed in a later set of papers, with references back to the present article.


Many companies are implementing trade-in programmes through multiple channels. This may ultimately lead to fiercer channel conflict and competition. Few studies have explored firms' optimal trade-in policies in such an environment. To fill the gap, we build a theoretical model that captures the features of a dual-channel situation in which a manufacturer implements a trade-in programme through retail and direct channels simultaneously. Compared with the case in which there is no trade-in rebate, the results show that a trade-in programme can intensify or mitigate the double marginalisation effect if the retailer can initially decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel. This significantly relies on market segmentation. However, when the retailer cannot decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel, the trade-in programme aggravates the double marginalisation effect. Second, the trade-in rebate offered by the retailer may be higher than the subsidy offered by the manufacturer, as long as the retailer can autonomously decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel. Furthermore, we find that both the manufacturer and retailer prefer to obtain the right to autonomously decide the trade-in rebate in the retail channel, but the supply chain prefers that the manufacturer do it. Some numerical examples are provided to further explain these outcomes.


The 2014 diagnosis of poliomyelitis-like illness in a middle-aged Victorian man on his return to Australia after working in the Horn of Africa, highlights the possibility of poliovirus being imported into any country while the virus circulates anywhere.1 This possibility is also illustrated by Australia's last confirmed incursion of poliovirus. In 2007 a Melbourne university student was confirmed with polio virus infection after returning from a visit to Pakistan.2 Thus the article by Martin et al in this issue of CDI is a timely reminder of the importance of: maintaining high childhood immunisation coverage; encouraging travellers into and out of Australia to check their immunisation status against polio; and ensuring strong surveillance throughout the health system for polio-like illness.3,4


Potential vorticity (PV) has been served as a powerful and useful dynamic tracer for the understanding of the large-scale dynamics and synoptic variations in the atmosphere and oceans.Significant progress has been made on the application of PV.In recent decades there has been a substantial amount of work done on PV in a gen-eral moist atmosphere.In this paper PV and the general-ized moist potential vorticity (GMPV) and their applica-tion in the tropical cyclones and mesoscale meteorologi-cal field are reviewed.The GMPV is derived for a real atmosphere (neither totally dry nor saturated) by intro-ducing a generalized potential temperature instead of the potential temperature or equivalent potential temperature.Such a generalization can depict the moist effect on PV anomaly in the non-uniformly saturated atmosphere.A new convective vorticity vector (CVV) is introduced in connection with GMPV in order to diagnose the devel-opment of tropical deep convections.


The Origins of the American Welfare System The Child and the American Welfare State by John Drew The New View of the Child by John Drew Progressive Priorities by John Drew Child Labor and the Mothers' Pension Movement by John Drew The Democratization of Outdoor Relief by John Drew Child Labor and Southern Patriotism by John Drew Farm Labor and "City-Centered" Child Welfare by John Drew The Case of Mothers' Pensions in Memphis by John Drew The Child and the State by John Drew The Structure and Effects of Welfare The Structure and Effects of the American Welfare System by Howard Gensler Behavioral Effects from Welfard by Howard Gensler Reform by Howard Gensler Welfare Policy: Point and Counterpoint by Eric Schansberg Bibliography Index


The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) provides bus service in the City of Memphis and the adjacent suburban communities. During the past few years, some officials and community leaders have suggested the need for a drastic change in transit services in the downtown area. Because of the nature and magnitude of the proposed changes to public transportation, they could have substantial impact on MATA operations, finances and patronage. This paper highlights the study approach, key findings and recommendations.


Juice from transgenic tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum cv Rutgers) fruits with reduced levels of pectin methylesterase (PME) activity due to the expression of a PME antisense gene exhibited improvement in quality. The percentage increase in juice from transgenic fruits over that of juice from wild type Rutgers ranged between 5.1‐5.3 for total solids, 3.8‐6.1 for soluble solids, 70-80 for efflux viscosity, 180‐220 for serum viscosity and about 50 for precipitate weight ratio. Time of harvest had no effect on quality of juice. Ketchup prepared from transgenic fruit juice had a lower Bostwick value, reduced serum separation and high serum viscosity compared to ketchup from parental Rutgers.


Radical copolymerization of 1,1-bis(ethoxycarbonyl)-2-vinylcyclopropane (ECVCP) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) was carried out in the presence of AIBN at 60°C in bulk or in chlorobenzene. Both the yields and molecular weights of the copolymers were lower than these of the homopolymers. Structural analysis of the copolymer suggested that radical copolymerization proceeded through ring opening followed by intramolecular cyclization. The copolymerization parameters were evaluated to be r 1 = 0.11, r 2 = 21.09 and r 1 = 0.11, r 2 = 21.51 (M 1 , ECVCP; M 2 , MMA) by Fineman-Ross and nonlinear least-squares methods, respectively


As a financial product, gold is one of the more important spot and futures trading products in the commodity market. Based on the time series model, the gold price can be fitted and predicted, in order to explore the law of gold price changes. It has positive implications for investors and government managers. This article selects the Prime Day price in 2018 as the research object. Combined with domestic and foreign research content on financial time series. First, through the time series diagram test and the unit root test, it is obtained that the gold daily price series is a cycle-free and non-stationary series. Therefore, the time series needs to be differentiated. Second, a new stationary sequence is obtained by making second-order differences. Third, after the time sequence diagram test, ADF test, and white noise test, the sequence is a non-white noise sequence. Comparing the AIC values of multiple time series models, the most ideal model for the series should be the ARIMA (2,2,2) model. The significance test of the model shows that the fitted model is significantly effective. And the significance test of the model parameters is also passed. Then make predictions with this model. Comparing the predicted value with the future real gold price, it is found that the predicted value is close to the real value. This is a good reference for the country to formulate relevant economic policies.


A study that attempts to narrow the gap between objective and perceptual measures of travel costs is discussed. The study is based on telephone interviews of working people in the San Francisco Bay Area, who reported at length their perception of automobile cost. In turn, their reports were compared with objective measures used in the calibration of travel demand models. The accuracy of the reported costs and their relation to objective measures commonly used in transportation studies are determined in two ways: (a) by comparison of point estimates (i.e., cents) of the total daily cost (or cost per mile) reported by the respondents with data based on engineering computations and (b) by comparison of cost factors, or items of expenditure that the respondent considered including in his or her total daily cost estimate (e.g., fuel, parking, and maintenance), with cost factors commonly used in transportation studies. The results obtained by each method seem ambiguous. The first method showed a tendency to overestimate, whereas the other showed a tendency to underestimate with respect to objective measures. However, when the results are examined in their entirety, the ambiguity is resolved. The study explains why the second method is more reliable and leads to the conclusion that people perceive the costs of travel by automobile to be lower than what analysts dictate. Analysis of reported factors, the actual line items that influence the commuter's modal choice, indicates that modelers may inflate "perceived" cost by as much as 65 percent.


SUMMARY Vieira JE, Silva BAR, Garcia JrD-Ventilation in Anesthesia. ARetrospective Study Background and Objectives - Lung mechanics impairment,Functional Residual Capacity decrease and atelectasis havebeen described during general anesthesia. This study aimed atretrospectively evaluating ventilation standards in place at theCentral Institute, Hospital das Clinicas, Medical School, Uni-versity of Sao Paulo (HCFMUSP). Methods - Data on 240 patients under general anesthesia,neuromuscular block and mechanical ventilation were re-corded. Ventilation standards - tidal volume in ml (VT), respira-tory rate per minute, airway pressure in cmH 2 O, fresh gas flowinL.min -1 ,SpO 2 andP ET CO 2 -wererecorded,aswellasgender,age, weight and height. Body mass index (BMI) was calculatedand patients were distributed in four groups: BMI 30 kg/m 2 . Results -There has been a linear correlation between tidalvolume (VT) and weight (r=0.640), and BMI (r=0.467). VT bybody mass (ml.kg


The multi-mode combined polishing technology based on traditional polishing and numerical control polishing methods was introduced.The simulation of material removal rate,one of the key processes of the multi-mode combined polishing,was described in detail.By setting the factors of laps and workpieces,the model for material removal rates involves not only polishing modes and polishing velocity but also the influences of the lap shape,edge effect and surface error on material removal rates.Furthermore,it can choose the different simulation precisions depending on the manufacture process.The practical results show that the multi-mode combined polishing technique provides high polishing efficiency and suppresses and reduces the ripple efficiently.The precision of surface error of optical spheres and flats can reach 20 nm(rms) and those of the aspheres can be 30 nm to 40 nm(rms) so far.Obtained results indicate that the multi-mode combine polishing is a proper technology for the manufacture of large components.


A new report about the fact-finding mission conducted by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Centre for Press and Media ...


PURPOSE: To provide a method for printing being enough durable to severe environments and a product obtd. thereby. CONSTITUTION: A method of double-sided printing on both surfaces of a layer of a multi-layered foil laminate 30 and moreover, the milti-layered foil laminate 30 wherein both surfaces of at least one layer are printed are provided. The layer is pref. an exterior layer 50 constituted of a plastic film material. In the foil laminate 30 on which the double-sided printing is performed, the exterior layer 50 comprising a plastic film material, pref. a polyester is stuck on an underlying metallic foil 54 and the exterior layer 50 has the first face 52 facing the metallic foil 54 and the second face exposed outside. In the double-sided printing, at first, a reverse halftone color printing is applied on the first face 52 of the exterior layer 50 and the printed face 52 of the exterior layer 50 is fastened on the underlying metallic foil 54 through an adhesive 56. Thereafter, heat transfer printing is applied on the foil laminate 30 pref. by ceramic printing head to print the second face of the exterior layer 50. This printing contains specific informations related to the contents of a package equipped with the foil laminate 30.


Copyright © Korean Carbon Society http://carbonlett.org Since the invention of the lithium-ion battery (LIB) in the early 1990s by SONY, graphite carbon has been used as the anode material because of its low cost, chemical stability, and stable electrochemical performance [1]. The limitations of graphite anodes, especially related to their small energy and power output per unit mass or volume, are retarding the development of certain high-tech industries such as hybrid electric vehicles and stationary energy storage [2]. Therefore, there is currently an intense search for new anode materials for LIBs, with high specific capacity and energy density [3,4]. In recent decades, the development of nano-carbon materials with well-defined characteristics, such as fullerenes, nanotubes, and graphene; has been a very active area of research [5]. Carbon nanospheres (CNSs) are another class of nanostructured carbon materials, and have shown good prospects for application as alternative LIB anodes [6]. CNSs possess some remarkable characteristics useful in LIB anode materials, such as high specific capacity and good rate capability. Those specific characteristics are attributed to a combination of several factors, including short diffusion paths for Li+ ions, good porosity, and large surface area [7]. CNSs can be synthesized by various techniques and these influence the characteristics of the resulting carbon products in terms of sphere size, size distribution, crystallinity, and microstructure. The processes by which CNSs are synthesized include chemical vapor deposition [8], hydrothermal carbonization [9], laser ablation [10], and polymerization-carbonization [11]. Carbon based materials were initially made from petroleum-derived compounds. Because of the depletion of carbon deposits and very serious concerns about global climate change and environmental pollution, the use of renewable natural resources (e.g., biomass) for production of carbon materials has been intensively explored in recent years [12]. In this work, the synthesis of CNSs on the surface of activated carbon support was carried out using a thermal-assisted catalytic pyrolysis technique and utilizing palm oil as renewable and eco-friendly carbon source. Specifically, the effect of the amount of Fe-catalyst on the structural and electrochemical characteristics of the CNSs will be reported. Commercial activated carbon (102836, Merck) has been used as a catalyst support without prior treatment. Analytical grade Fe(NO3)2 was used as catalyst. The catalyst was deposited onto the carbon support using the urea deposition method. In this method, 2 g of activated carbon was mixed with Fe(NO3)2 solution at various ratios (10%, 20%, and 30% with respect to the weight of the activated carbon). The ratio of Fe(NO3)2 to urea was set at the molar ratio of 1:3. The mixtures were shaken for 4 h at 90°C, cooled down overnight, and centrifuged at 6000 r/min for 15 min. The cake so obtained was then dried at 110°C for 24 h and then mixed with palm oil at the mass ratio of 1:3. The CNS were synthesized by pyrolyzing mixtures of activated carbon, urea, Fe(NO3)2, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ DOI:10.5714/CL.2016.18.080


This paper presents a robust speaker identification approach basing on kernel principle component analysis (KPCA) and probabilistic neural network (PNN). KPCA is exploited to reduce the dimension of input vector and to denoise speech signal by extracting the nonlinear principle components of the feature vector. The extracted principle components are utilized as the input feature vector of the classifier and a probabilistic neural network (PNN) is designed as the classifier of identification system. We have tested our system on KING corpus and the experimental result shows that our system outperforms PNN and GMM approach in terms of robustness and training time.


Studies of Apparitions ("Ghosts") Well-organized, systematic studies of apparitions started after the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in England in 1882. The SPR was soon joined in this quest by the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) and by smaller research groups and individual investigators in continental Europe. Scholarly journals were established to publish ongoing research as well as theoretical speculation and fierce debates. The basic idea of these efforts was to apply scientific method to data collection, evaluation, and interpretation of psychic phenomena-an area which nineteenth-century materialistic science had ignored up to that time. Advertised appeals brought an abundance of material, much of it reported in the Proceedings and Journals, leading in 1886 to the publication of the voluminous Phantasms of the Living. This was followed by a landmark Census of Hallucinations, whose findings were published in the Proceedings in 1894. It was a pioneering survey, 17,000 respondents were contacted. The reports were analyzed and published in several major works. The main analysis done by Edmund Gurney was published in two volumes called Phantasms of the Living. Other important were written by With the benefit of hindsight, several conditions pertaining in the late nineteenth century can be seen to have been peculiarly conducive to research into apparitions. This is a list of the studies done on apparitional phenomena. The list is large and is by no means a complete listing of all of the studies that have been performed. Introduces the Society's research into reports of ghosts. Its methods are described and examples are given of what constitutes unsatisfactory evidence. Two cases are described that seem to warrant attention, involving repeated sightings of apparitions by different witnesses. (However, one of these cases was later withdrawn, having been found to be unreliable: see Journal 2, 1885-6, pp. Describes the Society's work in collecting accounts of spontaneous psychic communications supplied by the public in response to advertised appeals. Categorises the types and gives several examples: three children are 'visited' by their absent mother who at the time is dying some distance away (121); an army officer killed in the Crimea appears to his brother in England with a bullet wound in his head (124); family members are 'visited' by relations who are dying elsewhere; and others. Concludes with a general discussion of the difficulties of the research and its purpose. work undertaken for the forthcoming book Phantasms of the …


Familiaris Consortio encourages families to become involved in forms of social service, especially those which favor the poor; to cultivate the practice of hospitality and to engage themselves politically. The Pope especially encourages families to "be the first to take steps to see that the laws and institutions of the state not only do not offend, but support and positively defend the rights and duties of the family." The Pope also reminds us that in many places around the world, the family is under siege from a hostile society and state. And in response to these abuses, he outlines a charter of 14 family rights that range from the right to political and economic security, to freedom of education, of worship and of movement to seek better living conditions.


Within the present diploma thesis, widely used Cluster Analysis approaches are studied in respect to their application to optimize the results of Information Retrieval systems. A systematic analysis of approved methods of the Cluster Analysis is the basis of the comparative evaluation of promising approaches to use the Cluster Analysis to optimize retrieval results. The evaluation is accomplished by the participation at the Domain Specific Monolingual Tasks of the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum 2006. The implementation of selected approaches for Clustering is realized within the framework of an existing Lucene-based retrieval system. Within the scope of work, this system will be supplemented with components for Query Expansion and Data Fusion. Both approaches have prevailed in the research of automatic optimization of retrieval results. Therefore, they are the basis of assessment of the implemented methods, which aim at improving the results of retrieval and are based on Cluster Analysis. The results show that selecting documents for Query Expansion with the help of local Document Clustering based on the k-means Clustering algorithm combined with the Blind Feedback approach is very promising. Furthermore, the Data Fusion approach based on the Z-Score operator proves to be very useful to combine retrieval results of different indexing methods. In fact, this approach achieves very good and in particular very robust results of retrieval.


The global trend described by Samuel P. Huntington as the "third wave" of democratization has seen more than 60 countries experience democratic transitions since 1974. While these countries have succeeded in bringing down authoritarian regimes and replacing them with freely elected governments, few of them can as yet be considered stable democracies. Most remain engaged in the struggle to consolidate their new and fragile democratic institutions. This text provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges that they face. In addition to the complete hardcover edition, the text is available in two paperback volumes: "Themes and Perspectives" - 0-8018-5794-5 and "Regional Challenges" - 0-8018-5795-3. The first volume addresses issues of institutional design, civil-military relations, civil society and economic development. It brings together scholars of democratization including Samuel P. Huntington, Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan. The second volume focuses on developments in Southern Europe, Latin America, Russia and East Asia, and particulary Taiwan and China. It contains essays by regional scholars including P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, Michael McFaul and Andrew J. Nathan.


Introduction. Use of arthroscopically assisted reduction of bone fragments in comminuted intraarticular fractures of the distal radius (DR) remains ambiguous. The purpose of the study was to determine the expediency and efficacy of arthroscopy in surgical treatment of comminuted DR frac- tures especially under conditions of wrist joint (WJ) external fixation. Patients and methods . Sixty eight patients (mean age 38±14.1 years) with comminuted intraar- ticular DR fractures (type B3-C3 by AO/ASIF) were operated on. In 34 out of them arthroscopic support of osteosynthesis was used. Treatment results were assessed in 3, 6 and 12 months by DASH questioner, X-ray examination data, grip strength and range of motion in WJ. Results. It was stated that WJ arthroscopy improved the diagnosis of joint injuries (injury of tri- angular fibro-cartilage complex was diagnosed in 29 (83.5%), scapholunate ligament - in 12 (35.5%), lunotriquetral ligament - in 4 (11.8%) cases) and the quality of bone fragments reposition (displacement of intraarticular fragments over 1 mm after primary reposition was arthroscopically diagnosed in 21 (61.8%) cases, statistically significant improves the early postoperative (first 3 months after surgery, p<0.05) but did not affect the long term treatment results.


Objective To retrospectively analyze the surgical methods and efficacy in 70 cases of type A aortic dissection patients over 65 years old.Methods From January 2005 to May 2012,70 type A aortic dissection patients over 65 years old received surgical treatment.Among them,there were 47 males aged 65 to 78 years old with mean 71,23 females,aged 65 to 72 years old with mean 68.55 cases were acute onset,while 15 cases were chronically onset.Different surgical methods were selected depend on patients' situations.We followed up all patients after discharged from hospital to continue to observe their health situation and evaluate the therapeutic effects.Results After surgery,eight patients died in the hospital,62 patients were recovered and discharged from the hospital.The mortality rate is 11.4%.During the follow up period from 3 to 72 months,there were no dead,aneurysm rupture and others severe complications.9 cases received endovascular graft exclusion within 6 months after discharged from hospital.The survival patients were satisfactory healed with their daily living activity resumed.Conclusion For over 65 years old patients with aortic dissection,the accurate and rapid selection of surgical method could improve the survival rate and the quality of life with a lower occurrence rate of complications.

Key words:
Aorta ;  Dissection, aneuysm ;  Older ;  Aorta replacement


We propose a new holographic memory scheme based on random phase-encoded multiplexing in a photorefractive LiNbO3:Fe crystal. Experimental results show that rotating a diffuser placed as a random phase modulator in the path of the reference beam provides a simple yet effective method of increasing the holographic storage capabilities of the crystal. Combining this rotational multiplexing with angular multiplexing offers further advantages. Storage capabilities can be optimized by using a post-image random phase plate in the path of the object beam. The technique is applied to a triple phase-encoded optical security system that takes advantage of the high angular selectivity of the angular-rotational multiplexing components.


This chapter aims to clarify debate over the nature, existence, extension, and analyzability of normativity, by investigating whether different philosophers' claims are about the same subject or (as argued by Derek Parfit) they are using the terms 'normative' and 'normativity' with different meanings. While it is suggested that the term may be multiply ambiguous, reasons are identified for optimism about a common subject-matter for metanormative theory. This is supported by sketching a special hybrid view of normative judgment, perspectivism, that occupies a position between cognitivism and noncognitivism, naturalism and nonnaturalism, objectivism and subjectivism. Three main fissures are explored: between (i) the "normativity" of language/thought versus that of facts and properties, (ii) abstract versus substantive normativity, and (iii) formal versus robust normativity.


Specialized media have not been extensively researched to date with reference to Polish lin-guistics. However, they deserve a closer analysis due to their popularity and genre diversity. The aim of this article is to show the genre uniqueness of Polish media addressed to computer game enthusiasts. The author presents the types of speech from two perspectives. The imma-nent point of view draws attention to the genre pattern itself: its basic components (cognitive, pragmatic, compositional, and stylistic), the relationships between them, as well as the ways in which the patterns are produced in text. The discursive point of view highlights the extralinguistic conditions of the pattern, such as cultural, social, or commercial influences. Four Polish Internet portals (GRYOnline.pl, Eurogamer.pl, Gram.pl, Polygamia.pl) and two printed magazines ("CD-Action", "Pixel") were analysed. The genres of speech can be divided into four main groups: with the dominant ones being informational, evaluative, educational, and entertaining. The article presents the characteristics of examples that are representative of each group: game review, "production" message, pre-review report, handbook, and overview. These genre patterns and their textual concretizations differ in multiple ways from those in the gen-eral media and in other segments of specialized media; they can be considered as new speech genres, a modification or contamination of traditional types. They can also be seen as imple-mentation templates of traditional genres that are characteristic of this sphere. The article also describes how the repertoire, form and content of genres are affected by extralinguistic factors related to games (location of games between the spheres of culture and technology, complexity of games), their production and sale (timeline for the appearance of games and their need for promotion), the context of the Polish gaming market (distance from the largest producers), and the target audience (a digital native who is focused on easy to discern information and seeks interaction and entertainment).


The coordination of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) disciplines is one of the most important tasks of architects and engineers in any project. However, coordination using 2D drawing documentation is insufficient, as only clashes that are on main routes or easily visible on floorplans are removed in this way. Because of this, it is necessary to remove a lot of clashes later – on construction sites, which causes delays and increases the cost of construction. By using Building Information Modeling and Common Data Environment tools, the clash management process and overall MEP coordination is much more efficient, resulting in higher quality projects. The article describes the basic principles of Building Information Modeling of MEP and its coordination, as well as collision management based on BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) and CDE principles.


The parametric instabilities for modulated beams in a one-component system arise when the condition 2L=n{lambda}, is satisfied, where L is the wavelength of the density or velocity modulation of the beam, {lambda} is the plasma wavelength, and n = 1, 2, {hor_ellipsis}. The problem of the excitation of a parametric instability in a plasma-filled system was first treated by Fainberg and Shapiro in the linear approximation. They considered a beam in slab geometry, consisting of a periodic sequence of charged-neutralized infinitely wide uniform clumps moving with constant velocity in an unbounded plasma. It was found that the instability in this case also develops according to the condition. In the present work we describe the discovery of a parametric induced by the boundedness of a plasma-filled system. The excitation takes place under a condition analogous to (1), but instead of L in Eq. (1) the length of the system enters as a parameter. One of its boundaries is a conducting surface with an oscillating charge density and the other is virtual; about this more will be said in what follows. 13 refs., 1 fig.


Hilda describes the scene at home for her mother and Edna while they are vacationing at Bayfield for the month of July.


Background: Atrial function could be affected by many cardiac disorders. Recently Strain imaging has been employed for the assessment of atrial function in several disorders involving atria. Objectives: We aimed to measure the right atrial function by this method in adult patients with surgically corrected Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). Patients and Method: Forty six adult patients with TOF who underwent total correction surgery in childhood and had severe pulmonary regurgitation and fulfilled the criteria of ACC/AHA guideline for PVR enrolled. The control group included 50 healthy adults with matched age and sex. Standard transthoracic echocardiography was performed on both groups which myocardial velocities and strain imaging indices were obtained from their RA free wall. Results: The myocardial velocities and deformational indices of RA free wall were significantly compromised in TOF patients compared with normal subjects. There was no correlation between RA function data measured by strain imaging and RV volume measured in CMR. Conclusions: In light of our findings, we concluded that RA function is severely diminished in adult patients with TOF. It would play an important role in pathophysiological process of the right sided heart failure in these patients.


Introduction: Genome-wide association studies (GWAs) have identified several gene variants strongly associated with increased body mass index (BMI) and obesity. However, their association with the cardiometabolic consequences of obesity is unclear. We performed a study of 40 validated variants recently identified in two large metaanalysis GWAS and analyzed their association with related cardiovascular and metabolic traits of severe obesity. Methods: Genotyping was performed in 320 deeply-phenotyped obese subjects (mean BMI 41±9 kg/m2, aged 44±12 years), participating in a standardized weight reduction program. Anthropometric parameters, parameters of glucose/insulin metabolism, oxidative stress and early atherogenesis, adipokines, adhesion molecules, apolipoproteins, cardiac function and structure, intima media thickness and arterial elasticity were assessed standardized after 12h fast. Results: The transmembran protein TMEM18 rs939583 variant was significantly related to several parameters of adiposity (...


Due to its great variety of applications, the problem about finding packings of segments attracted our attention. In this paper the problem is investigated and reduced to finding submatrix of a special kind via graph-theory interpretation (finding cliques in a graph). A new powerful algorithm is thus obtained, suitable for a lot of real-world problems (processor time sharing, timetables generating, etc.).


Hemifacial spasm is usually treated with botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injections, a proven symptomatic therapy. However, little has been reported on the long-term outcome of patients treated with BTX-A. We reviewed patients with hemifacial spasm treated with BTX-A at the University of Malaya Medical Centre between 1995 and 2003. Of the 82 patients in our BTX-A database, we were able to contact 68 patients to participate in the study, 79% women. They were assessed after a mean duration of disease of 9.5 years and mean duration of 4 years after the first BTX-A injection. Patients were asked the response to BTX-A therapy, to grade their functional severity at baseline prior to BTX-A treatment and at follow up in this study, and asked if they thought their hemifacial spasm had improved since the commencement of treatment. The majority (87%) still reported improvement after their most recent BTX-A injections. At baseline, 50% were mild, not interfering with daily living; 38% were moderate, some interference with daily living and 12% severe, significantly interfered with daily living. At follow up, 35% were mild, 54% moderate and 4% severe. Four (6%) had complete resolution of their spasm. Overall, 19% reported worsening, 57% reported no change, and 24% felt that their condition had improved. Six patients developed permanent facial weakness. In conclusion, hemifacial spasm is a chronic disorder, with 6% reporting complete remission after 9.5 years of onset of illness. BTX-A injection continues to be effective after 4 years of repeated injections.


The present article deals with the definition of proof, kinds of evidence and its specific features in international law. It should be highlighted that the process of discovery, fixing, taking out, analysis and use of proof must be regulated in detail in international law.


Leading-order three-nucleon forces that violate isospin symmetry are calculated in heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory. The effect of the charge-symmetry-breaking three-nucleon force is investigated in the trinucleon systems using Faddeev calculations. We find that the contribution of this force to the $^{3}\mathrm{He}\ensuremath{-}^{3}\mathrm{H}$ binding-energy difference is given by $\ensuremath{\Delta}{E}_{3\mathrm{NF}}^{\mathrm{CSB}}\ensuremath{\approx}5$ keV.


Foreign bodies are common to occur in the nose of children, but it is uncommon to be because of stabbing by open in the face. This paper will report a case of stabbing a child in the face that penetrate the maxillary sinus and nasal septum to the opposite side of the nose, where the pen tip is retained. Radiography was done to check the location of the pen tip, which was removed by otorhinolaryngologist using Luc's nasal Forceps via anterior Rhinoscopy technique. Follow up to the nasal septum and infraorbital wound was done.