Purpose – This study makes an integrated approach in identifying the factors affecting usage intention of mobile-based payment services. Such services are being marketed aggressively by cellular service providers and are different from usual mobile-based banking. The study incorporates prominent factors like the technical characteristics, technology-specific characteristics, user-specific characteristics, and task-specific characteristics and others from published literature. The purpose of this paper is to highlight those factors which have significant impact on the adoption of such service so that the adoption rate can be increased. Design/methodology/approach – A nationwide primary survey was conducted using validated questionnaire requesting response for the factors obtained from published literature. In total, 196 respondents participated in the survey. Totally, 11 hypotheses were formulated and statistically tested for their significance in context to the study. Confirmatory study was on the signifi...


The central limit problem for sums of stationary sequences has such a long history (dating back to Markov and Bernstein, at least) that one might have hoped the final chapter had by now been written. Alas, this is not the case. It is now known that the central limit theorem will generally hold for a stationary sequence when there is a certain degree of "mixing" present. A variety of general results specifying sufficient conditions for the validity of the central limit theorem are presented in the treatise by Ibragimov and Linnik (1971), and further references to the literature are made there. So far as I have been able to discern, there are four methods for obtaining such results: (i) Markov's method of moments; (ii) Bernstein's method of approximation by i.i.d. sequences; (iii) Doeblin's method of finding "regeneration times"; and (iv) a martingale method which is apparently due to Gordin (1969). Although these methods are very powerful, enabling one to work with very general AMS subject classification. Primary 60F05; Secondary 60F10, 60G10.


OBJECTIVE:To provide reference information for development and application of pharmacoeconomics evaluation in China.METHODS:To introduce the different roles of pharmacoeconomic evaluation in the world.RESULTS CONCLUSION:It's necessary for China to formulate pharmacoeconomic guidelines and use it in drug pricing,drug reimbursement,clinical guidance,diseases prevention and new drug RD.


The decision-making process of Roma from marginalised backgrounds to travel to work is a complex phenomenon influenced by socio-economic, personal and environmental aspects. The aim of the article is to identify the different aspects that determine the individual decision-making of Roma about the travel to work in the form of job mobility or commuting. We look at the decision-making process both through the lens of rational choice theory, and also through the theory of the capital model of decision-making, which elaborates on the different aspects determining the process of individual choice. It is based on the social, economic, territorial and personal resources available to the decision-makers. Aspects of decision-making of Roma from marginalised communities were mapped in the framework of the integrated research project APVV 17-0141. In the quantitative part, we collected data through a questionnaire method, where we approached n=842 respondents, of whom n=375 were currently travelling for work. For the qualitative part, we collected data through semi-structured interviews, where we were able to reach 40 participants who have experience of job mobility or are considering this option. We used descriptive statistics and interpretative phenomenological analysis to process the data. The results showed that job mobility in both forms occurs under the influence of adverse socioeconomic situations, which can lead people to act suboptimal. In choosing the location of mobility, the availability of information and the experience of close people facilitates the decision-making process. In some cases, they can become a guaranteed system, represented by working and wage conditions. In addition to the influence of social networks, it is important to stress the key role of the family. In the case of poor households, we can even speak of decision-making at family level. The family and the availability of work at the regional level is a key aspect that leads to differences in decision-making between mobility and commuting. If work is available in the region, they choose commuting to provide the necessary economic resources for themselves and the household.


Rising agrarian raw material prices in 2006 had a negative impact on the biogas sector in Germany, leading to the search for potentials for optimisation of production. A problem is the workload of the block-type thermal power station (BTPS). This is caused by biogas process disturbances, construction errors, technical problems and management mistakes as well as by oversizing of the BTPS. Technical problems appear in particular with BTPS and aggregates, stirring devices and fermenter heatings, measuring and control technology as well as foil caps. The BTPS is an essential part of the economic efficiency of biogas production. A 2% increase in efficiency, to 40%, lowers the costs about 1 Cent kwhej -1 . To achieve sufficient stirring power, the device type, heights and angle adjustment are vital. The substrate dosing engine must be adjusted to the particular substrates. The fermentation has to be controlled continuously. Parameters such as substrate amount, temperature, pH-factor, fermenter chamber load, gas amount and composition, ammonium concentration and short-chained fatty acids should be controlled regularly. Large temperature variations can lead to foam formation, resulting in a reduction of the gas yield. Disinfectants, antibiotics and a too tall fermenter chamber load can also have a negative influence. Low methane content often may often result from high sulphur and ammonia content in biogas composition, high aerial dosage accompanying desulphurisation as well as to coarse input material.


There are three main CO2 emission sources in ethylene production, namely steam production, electricity consumption (from internal supply), and fuel consumption in cracking furnace. Based on most studies of ethylene's emission factors (EF), the CO2 EFs of ethylene production are normally reported in two values with different raw material, CO2 EF from naphtha cracker and ethane cracker. The CO2 EFs of ethylene production in Thailand from this study were 1.28±0.92 tCO2/t ethylene for ethane cracker and 1.57±0.56 tCO2/t ethylene for naphtha cracker. Apparently, the CO2 EF from naphtha cracker was higher than that of ethane cracker which was consistent with other references. As compared to CO2 EFs from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which are the most widely acceptable EFs in international level, CO2 EF of naphtha cracker from this study was 10.2% lower but that of ethane cracker was 25.8% higher than those of IPCC default values. In summary, total CO2 emission estimated from these specific CO2 EFs based on nameplate capacity of ethylene plants in Thailand was 6.43 million tonnes CO2 which was 3.3% higher than quantity calculating from IPCC default EFs.


In recent years, more and more attention of the radio science and engineering community is being paid to a new interdisciplinary technical area — microwave photonics. In theory, microwave photonic systems outperform traditional ones in all key technical characteristics, including resistance to powerful electromagnetic impulses, a significant increase in efficiency, reduction in overall dimensions, etc. This paper is a survey into the use of microwave photonic based module in phased array antenna. The advantages of using microwave photonic, the main of which is true time delay beamforming, are considered.


Plantar fasciitis is a common debilitating condition. Conservative treatment is the mainstay of treatment and is usually successful. In recalcitrant cases of plantar fasciitis, surgical release may be required. This article describes a novel, 2 medial incision plantar fascia endoscopy technique to treat plantar fasciitis, which has failed conservative treatment. We have successfully treated 10 heels in 9 patients without complications, including infection or nerve injury. The 2 medial incision plantar fascia endoscopy is different from other endoscopic plantar fascia techniques and offers better visibility of the plantar fascia and calcaneal tuberosity, as well as decreased risk of iatrogenic injury to the first branch of the lateral plantar nerve (LPN). Level of Evidence: Diagnostic Level 4. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


Objective To observe the efficacy of physical identification and nursing interventions for retired syndrome.Methods A total of 188 patients with retired syndrome diagnosed in outpatients or physical examination in our hospital from August 2009 to July 2012 were selected and divided into the observation group(n = 96) and the control group(n = 92),according to the random number table.All the patients were given physique identification.The control group was given conventional health education,and the observation group was given diet,exercise,spirit nursing and other comprehensive nursing interventions,on the basis of dialectical treatment and conventional health education.One treatment course consisted of 15 d,and the efficacy was evaluated after 4 courses.Results Among 96 patients in the observation group,63 had qi depression and the total effective rate was 93.65% after nursing intervention;33 had qi deficiency and the total effective rate was 90.91% after nursing intervention;the average effective rate was 92.71%.Among 92 patients in the control group,58 had qi depression and the total effective rate was 79.31% after nursing intervention;34 had qi deficiency and the total effective rate was 70.59% after nursing intervention;the average effective rate was 76.09%.The observation group was significantly different from the control group in the total effective rate regarding to the same physique(P 0.05).Conclusion Physical identification and nursing intervention have important application value in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of retired syndrome.Nursing intervention can improve the cure rate of retired syndrome.


A method for sticking a covering layer on the surface of metal includes such steps as putting a metal workpiece on lower mould, spreading thermofusible resin, putting a covering layer, putting an upper mould, closing the mould set, filling compressed air in the cavity of mold via the hole on upper mould, and heating. Its mould set and its products are also disclosed.


In many regions of the world, subaquatic tourism on coral reefs is causing changes in this delicate ecosystem. The increase in number of tourists on coral reefs is more and more interesting and perturbing the scientific community as well as managers of marine protected areas. The Abrolhos National Marine Park, created in 1983, is the home of a rich reef fauna, constituted by endemic species remaining from the Tertiary Period. This important marine protected area is suffering with increase in the amount of tourists. In the last decade the number of visitors varies from 3500 in 1993 to more than 14500 in 1997. Such increase in the tourist population caused changes on the fringing reef communities of Mato Verde area (Santa Barbara Island), the most visited area in the entire park. The Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA) protocol showed significative differences among coral communities, which composes the fringing reefs of the Archipelago. Comparison among reefs opened to visitors with the closed ones allowed to attribute preservation status to coral communities, classifying them into: well preserve, intermediate and degradate. The most visited area showed biotic indexes like: live coral cover, occurrence and colony diameter of the dominant species, species richness and coral recruitment below than the average by all of the studied reefs, while the closed or occasional visited areas exhibited higher indexes. In this work the number of carry capacity is established in 6000 divers/year/site to minimize the impact because the Mato Verde reef, classified as degradate, shows a number of divers higher than what is established.
Key words: Coral. Reef. Park. Tourists. Preservation. Carring Capacity.


This article presents a conservative finite-volume-based scheme for discretization of the anisotropic diffusion operator, which is simple to implement and numerically conservative. The procedure is an extension of a standard method used for discretization of the isotropic diffusion operator in finite-volume methods. Consequently, the technique can be easily implemented in codes originally developed to solve isotropic diffusion problems. The method is applied in an unstructured finite-volume solver and assessed by solving the following four problems: (1) steady conduction in an anisotropic block, (2) anisotropic conduction with a source term, (3) anisotropic conduction in a hollow block, and (4) heterogeneous anisotropic conduction with embedded point heat sources. Calculations are performed for a wide range of parameters using triangular/quadrilateral cells on grid systems with sizes ranging between 102 and 3 × 105 control volumes, and convergence is accelerated through the use of an algebraic multigrid method. Converged solutions are obtained for all problems and on all grid systems used, and the results are in excellent agreement with the exact analytical solutions.


Objective To establish a HPLC method for determination of the contents of Danshinone ⅡA in Kangcuo Creams.Methods Chromatographic conditions included an Kromsil-C18 column(150 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm),a mobile phase of methanol-H20(80∶20) with a flow rate of 1.0 ml·min~(-1) and a UV detector at 270 mn.Results The regression equation was Y=20871.2X-215.2.The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of 0.0105~0.105 μg/ml(r=0.9994).The intra-day RSD=0.25% and inter-day RSD was 0.65%.Conclusion A simple,accurate,and specific HPLC method for determination of the contents of Danshinone ⅡA in Kangcuo Creams was established.


Domain adaptive smoothing video processing apparatus and a method for the (adaptive smoothing region). And it said image processing apparatus comprises a memory and one or more processors. The one or more processors are functionally coupled to the memory and configured to stitch together a plurality of video frames into a plurality of mapping a square appearance of a video frame (equirectangular mapped frame). The at least one processor is configured to define the appearance of a square frame mapping of each of the top area and the bottom area of the video; Performing the square appearance mapping a frame of each of the upper region and the smoothing process on the bottom area of the video; It is configured to encode the smoothed appearance square mapped frames of the video.


We present a collaborative attempt to build select toolboxes of Scilab using external Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) libraries. A C/C++ interface is written for each library. Scilab variables are transferred to C/C++ variables, computations carried out through one or more function calls and variables returned to Scilab. State of the art libraries, such as Octave, COIN-OR, OpenCV and IT++ have been used to build Scilab toolboxes. Scilab is selected as the frontend as it has a block based GUI to build models, called Xcos. Optimization, Signal Processing, Communication, Image Processing, Computer Vision, Signal Processing and Identification toolboxes are in advanced stages of development and use. Control Systems and Scilab to C toolboxes are in early stages of development.


Endothelial cells are relevant to normal hematopoiesis. Vascular niches within the bone marrow allow hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and differentiation. In vivo, the contemporary administration of endothelial progenitor cells in BALB/c mice fosters the homing of transplanted hematopoietic cells (Salter et al. Blood 2009; 113:2104). In vitro , the differentiation of CD34+ progenitors is facilitated by the presence of an underlying confluent layer of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs Ingram et al. Blood. 2004;104: 2752), even though this effect is highly dependent from the physical contact between hematopoietic and endothelial cells (Teofili et al, Blood , ASH Annual Meeting, 2012;120:1718). In Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) the dysfunction of vascular niches might contribute to cause the ineffective hematopoiesis typical of the disease. Accordingly, we found that normal CD34+ cells cultured over ECFCs isolated from patients with low risk MDS exhibit a deep perturbation of the expression of lineage-specific genes, with higher expression of genes involved in the early differentiation (such as PU.1 and RUNX1) and lower expression of genes usually up-regulated during the late differentiation (such as MPO and GP1b) (Teofili et al, Blood, ASH Annual Meeting, 2012; 120:1718). In order to figure out the underlying pathogenesis, we compared the cytokine milieu in the media of MDS and normal ECFCs cultures (Bio-Plex pro-human cytokine 27-plex assay, (Bio-Rad). We found that in MDS cultures, significant higher amounts of IL13, IL1b, PDGFb and VEGF were secreted, whilst the levels of IL6, IL7, IL10. G-CSF, CXCL-10, CCL-2 and CCL-3 were significantly lower than in normal ECFC cultures (Teofili et al. Leukemia Research 2013; 37, Supp.1, S129-S130). Moreover, we evaluate through PCR arrays the gene expression profiles of normal and MDS ECFCs, focusing on genes involved in both endothelial cell biology and WNT signaling (QIAGEN, Milan, Italy). In comparison with normal ECFCs, MDS ECFCs overexpressed various adhesive molecules such as ICAM-1, L-selectin and V-CAM. This over-expression resulted in the more pronounced capacity of MDS ECFCs to adhere to hematopoietic cells in comparison with normal ECFCs, as demonstrated by the significant higher proportion of CFSE-labeled mononuclear cells trapped within the different adherent layer after 6 hours-incubation (40+11 % versus 14+4% in MDS and normal ECFC, respectively). Furthermore, at PCR arrays, we found that MDS ECFCs showed the down-regulation of several members of the canonical WNT pathway, including WNT3a, WNT5a and WNT5b. Basically, the WNT/bcatenin pathway is the main regulator of the microenvironment dependent hematopoietic stem cell fate, both in steady state and in regenerative processes. Therefore we investigated if the addition of WNT3a and WNT5a to MDS ECFC cultures affected their over-expression of adhesion molecules. To this purpose, we added to the culture medium 100 ng/ml of purified WNT3a and WNT5a (both purchased from R&D). We found that both WNT3a and WNT5a lowered the expression of several adhesion molecules in MDS ECFCs, including L-selectin, ICAM and VCAM, with WNT3a showing more pronounced and durable effects. On the whole our findings suggest that the ineffective hematopoiesis typical of MDS may be partly due to the abnormal entrapping of hematopoietic progenitors within the vascular niche, in the presence of a deeply perturbed surrounding cytokine milieu. Since our findings allege the defective WNT pathway as putative responsible defect, restoring the adequate WNT signaling could represent a potential therapeutic approach to MDS.

The study was supported by the Grant AIRC 2012 n.11799

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the pile group efficiency based on the load-settlement response in soft clay conditions, considering several pile configurations using a variable number of piles and pile spacing. The overall objective of the present paper is to provide further insight into the mechanical response of the pile group and aim at helping the engineers in taking a logical path in an iterative design process for pile group efficiency.

Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the pile group efficiency, three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations were performed using the finite-difference code FLAC3D.

Findings
The obtained numerical results are validated by comparing them to those of similar subgrade structure and in comparable geological conditions provided within the literature. The results indicated that although the bearing capacity of the pile group increases with increasing number of piles, the efficiency of the pile group is very important for a small number of piles. However, increasing of pile spacing has a positive effect on pile group efficiency depending on piles number and settlement level. The pertinence of the 3D numerical results of efficiency coefficient is judged by comparison with those obtained from the most popular formulas available in the literature.

Originality/value
A predicted model is also proposed which is validated with the obtained numerical results to a better goodness of fit.


The paper raises the questions as follows: What is knowledge in general? What is it that a student should know? What does it mean that somebody knows something? Those questions point to a volume of dilemmas related to the epistemological issue of the nature of knowledge. Regardless of some authors' views that knowledge has not been defined yet, in the present paper knowledge is a subject matter of analysis from the aspect of various theoretical conceptions. The fact is that curricula development as well as the conception of student cognitive development depends on how knowledge is defined. Also, a question is raised on how beliefs about human thinking affect curricula development and accomplishment. It is all the more important if the basic function of education is considered to be knowledge acquisition and development of intellectual abilities. Regarding different approaches to curriculum development, the paper points to some epistemological postulates that affected educational practice. It is true that a model of talking and numerical approach dominate educational practice. It would be quite appropriate to modify curricula in accordance with contemporary theoretical-empirical research results. There is a general agreement that the process of knowledge acquisition in teaching should become the subject of special analysis in order that its regularities can be understood.


Recent decline of cryosphere typified by retreat of glaciers is often explained by temperature rise due to global warming. However, the existence of glaciers shrinking since before 1950s warming accelerated suggested that decline of cryosphere may be due to not only temperature rise, but also another possibility. As a possible cause of snow and ice melting, it has been pointed out that the surface albedo reduction due to increase of snow impurity, aeolian dust and anthropogenic pollutant, for example. To clarify the quantitative relationship between albedo and impurity in snow surface, we investigated the correlativity of turbidity and metal concentration in snow to the snow surface albedo from the simultaneous observations on the snow-covered area in Yamagata, Japan. The observed albedo shows a tendency of decrease with the turbidity increase in snow surface, we could find strong correlation between the albedo and the turbidity in 76% of contribution factor using logarithmic regression analysis. The relationship of albedo to total concentration of Fe and Al in snow surface shows the similar tendency to turbidity, we could model the relationship using logarithmic equation with high value of contribution ratio, 74% and 66%, respectively. The concentration ratio of Fe/Al is nearly constant with about 0.75, which is close to mean crustal ratio of both elements, therefore, it can be said there is a strong correlation between the albedo and the concentration of mineral particle in snow surface. We cannot find a significant correlation between the albedo and total concentration of Na in snow surface. It can be considered that Na existed as dissolved ion has not significant effect to the albedo in snow surface. These results indicate that the snow albedo correlates strongly with the particulate matter in snow surface, which is typified by mineral particle.


Abstract Wichmann, TK, Wolfson, J, Roelofs, EJ, Bosch, TA, Bach, CW, Oliver, JM, Carbuhn, A, Stanforth, PR, and Dengel, DR. Longitudinal assessment of NCAA Division I football body composition by season and player age. J Strength Cond Res 36(6): 1682–1690, 2022—The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinal body composition changes by position, categorized by season and age, using dual X-ray absorptiometry in NCAA Division I football players. Seven hundred nineteen collegiate male football players aged 18–22 years (X¯age ± SE = 19.4 ± 0.05 years) were examined. Percent body fat (%BF), fat mass (FM), lean mass (LM), total body mass (TM), bone mineral density (BMD), and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) were measured. Players were categorized into position groups of Linemen, Big Skill, Skill, or Special Team. One player scan was used per season (preseason, postseason, and spring season). Analysis of variance and Tukey HSD assessed total and regional differences across age, position groups, and seasons (significance of p < 0.05). Linemen had the greatest FM and LM measures compared with other groups for season and age. From preseason to postseason, %BF, FM, LM, and BMD significantly decreased for each position group. From postseason to spring season, %BF, FM, and VAT decreased, whereas LM increased within each position group. FM, VAT, LM, and TM increased with age in all position groups. The findings of this study indicate that body composition significantly worsened from preseason to postseason and improved from the preseason and postseason to the spring season.


The spectral region from 8 to 14 μm is frequently used for thermal imaging and remote sensing of the earth's surface. To interpret images and radio-metric data taken over snow-covered terrain, it is necessary to know the directional optical properties of the snow surface. Because ice is so highly absorbing in this spectral region, any reflection must take place at the first air-ice interface and therefore reflectance from snow should be modeled as reflection from a rough surface consisting of ice crystals. A simple model for bidirectional reflectance based on Fresnel reflectance coefficients and geometrical considerations has been described by Torrance and Sparrow.1 This model has.only two free parameters, and they are related to surface condition. Preliminary measurements of the 8-14-μm bidirectional reflectance of snow are reported, along with calculations from the Torrance and Sparrow model. The measurements show that snow does behave as a rough surface and that artificially disturbing the snow surface does change its bidirectional reflectance. The model shows qualitative agreement and may be sufficient for describing snow, although better measurements are needed to determine its value.


The paper presents a new approach for robust control design of multivariable systems via eigenstructure assignment, genetic algorithms and gradient-based optimisation. It takes the combination of the sensitivity and the complementary sensitivity functions of the closed-loop system as the robust control performance index. The gradient calculation of the performance index is described in detail for the closed-loop system with real and complex eigenvalues. The paper makes full use of the freedom provided by eigenstructure assignment to find a controller which stabilises the closed-loop system and minimises the performance index via the combination of genetic algorithms and gradient-based optimisation. The simulation results for the design of a lateral flight control system provide a tutorial demonstration of the power of the method.<
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A movement-based learning treatment, called coordination dynamics therapy (CDT), was developed with which it is possible to partly repair the injured, malfunctioning or degenerating CNS. With five case reports it is demonstrated that spinal cord and brain injuries can partly be repaired by administering CDT. This treatment became possible because of a new development in human electro-neurophysiology with which it was possible to analyze the CNS self-organization of neuronal networks at the neuron level under physiologic and pathologic conditions. By using the System Theory of Pattern Formation, a correlation between neural network organization patterns at the neuron level and movement patterns became possible. CDT repairs CNS functioning by improving the impaired phase and frequency coordination of neuron firing when exercising on a special CDT device and by plasticity which means that other brain parts take function over from the damaged ones by exercising movement automatisms and other specific movements. This neural repair treatment is that powerful that even a coma patient who lost approximately 50% of his brain tissue could be brought out of coma with five years of CDT. *Correspondence to: Giselher Schalow, Institute of Exercise Biology and Physiotherapy, Centre of Behavioural and Health Sciences, University of Tartu, 5 Jakobi Street, Tartu 51014, Estonia, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


An ultra-wide band and large dynamic range limiter with operating frequency range of 30 to 512MHz was designed, which based on low distortion differential amplifier AD8350, Schottky barrier diode HSMS2822 and fast comparator ADCMP601. The balanced outputs of the AD8350, along with a couple of Schottky diodes HSMS2822, make up a very high speed, full-wave rectifier supplying rectified voltage, from which transistor-transistor logic(TTL)level signal is obtained by comparator ADCMP601. The limiter has such advantages as ultra wide-band, high-precision, high response speed and large dynamic range, etc, meeting the requirements of high performance input limiter.


List of traditional Chinese drug terms with two or more characters, for use in context discovery of materia medica in historical and modern sources. Contributions to this list were kindly made by Mikkael Ikkivesi, Chen Ming 陳明, who provided extensive term lists, and Catherine Despeux, who allowed me to use the index from Medecine, religion et societe dans la Chine medievale.


We who have reached middle age can no longer conceal from ourselves that we have reached and passed the high tide of life's joys. The ebb has begun, and there will be no turning now until the end. Already we have begun to lose the things that give life its early color and delight. We are no longer so anxious for fresh joys as we are to keep those we have. But we cannot keep them. Life has so long meant to us a steady crescendo of powers and possessions that we are a little startled to reflect that in the very nature of the case it is likely to mean for many of us an equally steady diminuendo from now on. The future begins to look at times a little gray. This would not so much matter if our desires were fading in equal proportion; but the hunger for life is as strong in us as it ever was, or stronger. Is there anything to satisfy it, or must we steel ourselves to a gradual surrender of all we have and are ?


In recent years, topically applied semi‐solid formulations certified as medicals devices and not as topical drugs are increasingly used for the treatment of skin diseases. Medical devices primarily unfold their therapeutic effect by physical means, not by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means. Intensified placing of medical devices on the dermatological market may at least partly be explained by a less complex marketing authorization process compared to topical drugs. If the requirements are fulfilled to certify a product as a medical device the opportunity will be offered to quickly introduce innovations onto the market and propagate them. A variety of evidence‐based medical devices for several dermatological indications are presented here.


In this article the ability of students to analyze experimental and graphical problems on the basis of a competency-based approach to physics shows that the competency-based approach is important and relevant in improving the effectiveness of education. Defining and developing lesson requirements based on the competency approach, improving textbooks on the basis of the competency approach, the methodology of using interdisciplinary links are fully reflected in the coverage of the topic. Experimental and graphical issuesi increased the interest of students in the fact that the ability to solve in addition to the formation of skills from students has a practical significance.


With the rapid development of multi-modal discourse analysis theory, discourse research is no longer limited to text analysis. The documentary brings together multiple modalities such as thematic text, subtitles, images, background music, etc., providing researchers with new ideas. This article takes the documentary The City of Heroes launched by Xinhua News Agency as an example, analyzes the discourse of visual, voice and image modality, and explores the meaning conveyed by the documentary in a public crisis, which is conducive to expanding the multi-modality in the documentary. By discourse analysis, we can understand the way it realizes the meaning of the text.


This experiment has the title "Analysis on Differences of Consumers Purchasing Decision between Simpati and IM3 Product viewed from Product Variable, Price, Promotion, Distribution (Study toward college students 0f 3 rd Campus Muhammadiyah University of Malang)". Type of this experiment is survey experiment. Objectives of this experiment are, first, to discover whether product variables, price, promotion, and distribution were significant differentiate variables simultaneously related to consumer's purchasing decision between Simpati and IM3
product. Second, to discover dominance variable which differentiate consumer's purchasing decision between Simpati and IM3 product.
Benefit of This experiment particularly for the company are able to be use as information source and evaluation about competitive advantage own by each company, hence, could be maintained and improved. Using discriminant analysis,
therefore it can conclude that product variable, price, promotion, and distribution is significant differentiate variable and simultaneously related to consumer's purchasing
decision between Simpati and IM3 product. From all different purchasing decision, it can conclude that product variable is a dominance variable which differentiate consumer's purchasing decision between Simpati and IM3 product.
Several suggestions to purpose for the producer of Simpati and IM3 are to maintain its product quality, given that only qualified product needed by consumers and able to maintain its competitive edge within the market, particularly celluler market. Also it is expected for both companies to set affordable selling price for consumers. Therefore, while using profitoriented approach, it should also consider the buying capacity within the society.


Natural user interfaces are becoming widespread as a focus of research in human-computer interaction. Gestural interaction is an important part of this field, but generally done by mimicry. This raises concerns such as the necessity of creating abstractions for non-imitable commands and the difficulty of finding gestures that are meaningful for a worldwide audience. Cultural backgrounds impart different meanings to gestures. In this research , we explore the concept of allowing individuals to interact with computer systems using gesture from the individual's own culture, focusing on a software engineering approach to support this idea. The aim is to leverage the rich semantics of non-mimicry cultural gestures to expand gestural interaction to support abstract commands for instructions that do not have a matching gestural imitation. This approach also holds the potential to support the learning of gestural commands, by linking them to the cultural background of each user. The proposed software engineering approach demonstrates the feasibility of planning applications with commands in mind, not specific gestures, separating concerns between gestural identification (which can include cultural background elements) and actual commands.


A Research has been carried out to investigate the effect of HPHX (heat pipe heat exchanger) on energy recovery in air conditioning system. In this research first HPHXhas been designed and manufactured for heat recovery. In this research the wickless heat pipe have been investigated. The HPHX was designed, constructed and tested fortemperature range of 15 to 42 O C and relative humidity 50%. R134a was used as working fluid.An experimental results showsthat effectiveness increases with increase in air velocity &EBR (energy balance ratio) increases with increase of outdoor DBT.


The dissertation deals with the optical digital to analog converter as an alternative transmitter front-end concept for visible light communication applications. The dissertation looks into optical channel modeling and suggests a suitable modeling approach. A significant part devoted to the numerical optical channel modeling reveals the influence of emitter bit depth, emitter array topology and geometrical arrangement on communication system performance. The dissertation deals with optical digital to analog converter design based on previously acquired simulations and explores overall front-end performance. Furthermore, the thesis presents a real time demonstration of high data rate optical communication using the front-end.


We consider the case where individuals derive utility from feeling good about themselves and their group, but where the satisfaction of such preferences may come at a cost. In other contexts, what people want to believe is considered irrational, but in our model, these are preferences like any other. Equilibrium subjective beliefs concerning whether one's group has acted appropriately are endogenous to the model. We look at the various factors that influence the spread between objective and subjective reality. We also consider a conflict situation between two groups. We show that because of their subjective beliefs, one or both sides may engage in counter-productive activity (when seen from a third party perspective); and even if this is not the case, learning is likely to be slower than what one would expect from the standard utility function.


ABSTRACTThis research is conducted to analyze the translation quality of sentences accommodating directive speech acts in The Lorax children movie. The objective of this research is to find out the types of directive speech acts, the translation techniques applied by translator, and the impact of the techniques used in translating sentences accommodating directive speech acts to the quality of translation in terms of accuracy, acceptability, and readability.This is a descriptive-qualitative research. The data were collected from the sentences accommodating directive speech acts in The Lorax children movie and its subtitle. The data of this research were obtained using document analysis and interview. The document analysis is used in analyzing the types of directive speech acts and the technique used. The interview was used to analyze the quality of translation. Three raters and three respondents were involved to answer the questionnaires of quality assessments. This questionnaire is used for gaining translation quality assessments.The findings show that there are nine types of directive speech acts found in the dialogues of the film.in translating the directive speech acts; the translator uses four types of translation techniques. They are: single techniques (60), couplet techniques (17), triplet techniques (4), and quatrain techniques (1). As the result of the questionnaire, most of the data are categorized as accurate, acceptable, and readable translation.In conclusion, there are many types of directive speech acts found in the dialogues of the film, and the techniques used by the translator can affect the quality of translation. Most of the data in this research are categorized as accurate, acceptable, and readable translation. For making a better translation of directive speech acts, the translator should pay attention in the context of situation.


Purpose:To investigate the feasibility of detecting intraoperatively blue sentinel lymph node (BSLN) in patients with cervical cancer and to evaluate the accuracy of predicting pelvic lymph node disease. Methods:Between May 2002 and Jun 2003,29 patients with cervical cancer FIGO stage Ⅰb ( n =3),stage Ⅱa ( n =21),stage Ⅱb ( n =5) underwent BSLNs detection. During operation 4ml of methlene blue or lymphazurin was injected into the cervical tissue around the tumor or 3′,6′,9′,12′ of normal appearance of cervix about 0.5cm deep. Blue lymph duct and BSLNs were observed and located carefully for 10 minutes. Tumor characteristics,surgical findings,and location and number of BSLNs were recorded and correlated with pathologic results to get the accuracy and false-negative rate.Results:Among 29 patients underwent this technique,BSLNs were seen in 24 patients. Total detection rate was 83%(24/29). Location of BSLNs was mainly in obturator and internal iliac group. BSLNs located in left internal iliac group in 11 patients and 13 patients in right internal iliac group,10 patients in left obturator group,and 14 patients in right obturator group. 3 patients had BSLNs in both iliac and internal iliac group. Among 24 patients with BSLNs,there were 6 patients with lymph node metastases. 5 patients had only SLN metastases and one patient had both SLN and other lymph node disease. 18 patients had neither SLNs nor other pelvic lymph nodes metastases. The false-negative rate was 0.Conclusions:Intraoperatively BSLN detection was feasible and safe. Sentinel lymph node was representative of the lymphatic basin.


The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably rendered a paradigm shift in peoples' day-to-day normality. The pandemic has precipitated various reaction and responses from people across the globe especially with the enforcement of preventive measures initiated by their respective government forces. The movement control order (MCO) was one of the drastic measures taken in Malaysia adhering to the guideline released by World Health Organization (WHO) and has been made effective since 18th of March 2020. The execution of MCO in a developing setting like Malaysia certainly impacts its peopleon several fronts, especially those from low-socioeconomic background. It creates a domino effect from an economical to psychological aspects at both societal and individual levels. Subsequently, a conditional MCO (CMCO) has been introduced during midway through Phase 4 of MCO with eased restrictions, particularly considering economic downturn. CMCO is followed by recovery MCO (RMCO) phase. In this article, we aim to share some insights while highlighting the impacts of COVID-19 with an emphasize on the psychosocial aspect, particularly during MCO phases, which has thus imposed a newnormality on Malaysians.


For a system possessing a non-linear output feedback normal form, an observer backstepping design is compared to a high gain observer design with respect to non-singular performance cost functional. If the initial error between the initial condition of the state and the initial condition of the observer is large, the high gain observer design is shown to have better performance than the observer backstepping design. An output feedback system with parametric uncertainty is then considered. It is shown that if an a priori estimate for the bound of the uncertain parameter is conservative, then an adaptive observer backstepping design has better performance than the adaptive high gain observer design.


Skin is the mirror which reflects the harmony of internal functions of body. Any change in skin colour disturbs the patient both mentally and physically. Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which scaling and itching in the papulosquamous lesion of skin disturbs the daily routine of the patients. Because of its recurrent nature the disease has remained a great problem. There is no certain cure for this disease. Modern medicine provides symptomatic relief but also has side effects in long course. The Ayurvedic diagnosis is considered as Ekakushtha which is a Vata Kapha predominant Kshudrakushtha . Here an effort was made to treat a nineteen years old male diagnosed case of Plaque Psoriasis, by combined Ayurvedic regimen. As the principle of treatment of all types of Kushtha is Sanshodhana along with Sanshamana drugs. In this study initially Vamana karma and then Virechana karma was performed. After Sanshodhana, S anshamana drugs were given for 40 days. PASI (Psoriasis area severity index) score was taken for assessment parameter of improvement. The skin lesions of the patient was calculated by PASI score before starting the treatment was found to be 35.1 which decreased to 5.4 at the end of treatment. This case report showed that combined Ayurvedic modalities resulted in great improvement in overall condition of the patient with no recurrence since last 1 year.


PM₂.₅ particles can be easily inhaled and deposited into the deeper part of alveoli. Recent epidemiological study has shown that exposure to particulate matter can worsen the condition of chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease. This study was conducted in three different sites in Malaysia located at rural area (Tasik Chini), sub-urban area (UKM Bangi) and urban area (UKM KL). Total of 26 samples were collected from December 2012 to March 2013 from these sites. Ion chromatography (IC) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) were used for determining target chemicals in PM₂.₅ IC was used for determining anion such as CI⁻, SO₄²⁻, PO₄³⁻ and NO³⁻. ICPMS was used to determine cation and water soluble trace elements such as Ca²⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, Ba, Cd, Cu, Ga, Ni, Pb, Sr and Zn. Concentration of PM₂.₅ at urban area was significantly higher than rural area and sub-urban area. Higher traffic density, high population movement and small scale industries at urban area might be the reason for high concentration of PM2.5. The composition of anion in PM₂.₅ was dominated by SO₄²⁻, followed by NO³⁻, PO₄³⁻ and CI⁻. The composition of cation in PM₂.₅ was dominated by Na+, followed by K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ at sub-urban and urban area. The concentration of water soluble trace elements in PM₂.₅ was dominated by Zn, followed by Pb, Cu, Ba, Ni, Sr, Cd, and Ga. The concentration of Pb, Cu, and Ba were each found almost double at sub-urban area compared to rural area and urban area compared to sub-urban area. There are very few researches conducted on PM₂.₅ in Malaysia. The scarcity of data on PM₂.₅ is the main problem for establishing PM₂.₅ recommended guidelines in Malaysia. Therefore, the present study will help to provide the quantitative measurements of PM₂.₅ which will help to assess the air quality in Malaysia.


Media coverage of schooling around the world from the US and the UK to South Africa convey images of violence. Many academic texts confirm the seriousness and prevalence of violence in schools. An obvious conclusion to be drawn is that schools, far from being peaceful and safe places of learning are sites of violence. Some views go so far as to suggest that schools actually produce violence. The theme of this special issue--schooling as violence--picks up on this view. In this article I shall discuss and interrogate various definitions of violence in order to get some sense of what violence is understood to be, who is (and is not) affected, and how seriously. I will be arguing that violence is best understood using a gender perspective. A gendered analysis allows an examination of violence in terms beyond victim and perpetrator. It allows one to get inside violence, to see how people are implicated. Finally, I will critique discourses of violence and argue that they actually stand in the way of successful engagement. In order successfully to work for peace we need to use understandings of violence which are not moralistic and prescriptive and which grapple with the continued existence of social inequalities.


Objective - To report a rare case of hypernatremic dehydration in an exclusively breastfed infant. Case report - We present a term newborn, 14-day-old boy, exclusively breastfed, who was lethargic and severely dehydrated upon admission (35% birth weight loss). The newborn was found to have severe hypernatremic dehydration (Na+ 197 mmol/l), acute renal insufficiency (Creatinine 273 umol/l) and metabolic acidosis. Also, the blood culture result was positive. Intravenous rehydration and antibiotic therapy were started. After 22 days of hospitalization, the infant was discharged home in a good general condition. Now the child is 13 months old, he is healthy and no neurologic sequelae are noticed. Conclusion - Hypernatremic dehydration in newborns is a rare complication, which is dangerous, but also preventable. Prevention consists in educating mothers about successful breastfeeding techniques, and also early newborn reassessment after discharge from the hospital is mandatory.


The writings and artistic works of Antoni Tàpies (2009; 2011) mirror the influences of the cosmic vision of the Chinese yin-yang. Signs, numbers, and creative procedures related to this correlative thought prevail in his art. Tàpies integrated different iconological codes from the ancient Chinese thinking into his art to question the existential meaning of the universe and to express his thoughts on the cultural and socio-political controversies of his time. In other words, the images, media, and techniques that he utilized for his works were extensions of his life experiences intertwined with various socio-historical facts and his personal feelings.


By simulating the distribution of wind energy in Weihai City using MM5 and CALMET,the characteristics of annual and seasonal average wind energy distribution are analyzed,and the results of simulation are valued based on two anemometer towers located in Mashibo and Shuangdaowan pinewood.Results reveal that the resource of wind energy in Weihai City is abundant;the MM5 and CALMET are capable in modeling the wind energy in Weihai City to some extent,while further improvement of accuracy in modeling is needed.


Representationalism is the belief that our knowledge represents the world as it is. The purpose of this paper is to explore the representational epistemology that has historically underlain most management research, and submit it to critical scrutiny. It is argued that we can never show whether our knowledge corresponds to the facts; truth is a property of sentences, not of the world. To talk about an object of study is to talk about a set of beliefs having a place in a language game. Social objects of study, especially, are practices and, as such, are constituted by self-understandings expressed as sets of background distinctions actors share. Our models of social reality, therefore, are internally related to practices so that the particular assumptions underlying a model of knowledge shape the background distinctions embodied in a practice. Concerning management studies, it is argued that far from merely representing organizational reality as it allegedly is, a representational epistemology is closely l...


A dual identity organization refers to an organization having two, often mutually conflicting, self-referential definitions of 'who we are' as an organization (Albert & Whetten, 1985). Values practices are defined as 'the sayings and doings in organizations that articulate and accomplish what is normatively right or wrong, good or bad, for its own sake' (Gehman, Trevino, & Garud, 2013, p. 84). In this paper, I study influence of values practices on sustenance of an organizational identity in dual-identity organizations. I adopted a qualitative approach and single case study method for providing a rich narrative of the phenomenon. I collected data from an Indian software organization involved in both software services and software products businesses. The case data show that values practices manifested inside dual-identity organizations in the form of comparisons of the two identities by internal audiences. The study identifies three types of distinct, but interrelated, values practices: (1) values infusion, (2) collective perceptions of pragmatic alignment and (3) collective expectations of equality and equity. The case data show that ineffective management of these values practices was detrimental to the sustenance of an organizational identity that failed to perform well on conventional performance parameters.


Analysis with driving factors of landuse ecological risk is the basis of risk assessment and control.According to the driving factors of landuse change in the core area of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan,method of principal component analysis was used in selecting the direct driving factors of landuse ecological risk,and influence of driving factors was analyzed.The result shows that level of social-economic development and population growth are the major driving factors of landuse ecological risk in the core area of Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan,the area of construction land increases with the GDP.The result has a positive effect in analysising themechanism of landuse ecological risk control and the ecological characteristics of landscape structure.


The paper uses the analysis of the main regulatory problems in Argentina's privatised railways to illustrate the importance of regulatory processes for the long run sustainability of privatisation strategies. Although many of the conflicts have been magnified by the recent crisis, we argue that they are in fact the result of a failure to create a set of rules of interaction among the government, regulators, users. We discuss in particular the main informational gaps, focusing on the failure to issue the regulatory accounting guidelines needed to implement the regulatory regime built in the contracts. Finally, we suggest solutions to close some of the information gaps.


Obedience and veracity was investigated as function of three experimental conditions: External Regulation (RE), Reciprocal Regulation (RR) and Autonomous Regulation (RA) in three groups of four subjects each one. Each group received a different sequence of the three experimental conditions, in a simple choice task presented in a computer as a cock fight. Results showed a high level of correspondenc between imposed instructions and performance (obedience) and between performance and verbal reports (veracity). Contrary to expectations, it was observed low variability between subjects in the condition of Autonomous Regulation. No order and sequence effects were observed in sampled variations. Results are discussed in terms of an interbehavioral theory of moral behavior


Soft measures such as evacuation planning are recommended to mitigate the loss of life during tsunamis. Two types of evacuation models are widely used: (1) Agent-based modelling (ABM) defines sets ...


At a time when the media politicians and researchers are exercised by the question of difficult areas this article examines the way in which American social scientists have analyzed neighborhood effects on individual behaviour and situations particularly among young people.... The article begins by defining the field of study and reviewing the background to the development of the methods used and the problems that remain. Two articles and a work of synthesis dealing with this aspect of the scientific literature are then examined to highlight the relative consensus which exists among American researchers about the topics to be investigated and the range of interpretations considered. There follows a detailed examination of a number of studies.... (EXCERPT) (SUMMARY IN ENG AND SPA)


Abstract The scarab beetles Ateuchetus armeniacus (Ménétries, 1832) and Gymnopleurus flagellatus (Fabricius, 1787) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) are recorded for the first time inside burrows of two Spermophilus species (Mammalia). The observations concern nests of Spermophilus fulvus (Lichtenstein, 1823) in eastern, northwestern and western Iran, and Spermophilus xanthoprymnus (Bennet, 1835) in northwestern Iran. Neither of these beetles was known to be associated, not even occasionally, with burrows of small mammals.


With healthcare moving at increasing speed to paperless environments and automated collection of data via electronic monitoring, the entry of mandated data continues to be required by midwives (Balestrieri-Martines 2014).


As smartphone and sensors continue to become more ubiquitous across the world, digital biomarkers have emerged as a scalable and practical tool to explore disease states and advance health. However, as the digital divide of access and ownership begins to fade, a new digital divide is emerging. Who are the types of people who own smartphones or smart watches, who are the types of people who download health apps or partake in digital biomarker studies, and who are the types of people who are actually active with digital biomarker apps and sensors – the people providing the high-quality and longitudinal data that this field is being founded upon? Understanding the people behind digital biomarkers, the very people this emerging field aims to help, may actually be the real challenge as well as opportunity for digital biomarkers.


Bomuruella Reservoir in Nuwara Eliya is an important water source in the area which indirectly contributes to the drinking water supply of the downstream people. Many agricultural lands obtain water from this reservoir and consume its water for washing and cleaning purposes. This research was focused on identifying the contamination sources of Bomuruella reservoir and to investigate the suitability of the reservoir as a drinking water source.According to the water quality analysis, BOD5 and CODMn values of most sample points did not satisfy the specified standards of Central Environmental Authority, Sri Lanka. Municipal wastewater stream and the stream from the cultivated area recorded high BOD5 levels of 7.65 mg/l and 6.55 mg/l respectively in the period of low water level of the reservoir. The stream from the cultivated area reported a high CODMn value of 595.74 mg/l during March and the stream from Kandapola plantation recorded a CODMn value of 74.44 mg/l during May. This concludes that the reservoir was contaminated with significant loads of organic wastes. Furthermore, the effluent from the leachate treatment plant recorded higher conductivity, nitrate and CODMn values which indicated that the leachate treatment plant was malfunctioning.The main cause of pollution of the reservoir is the discharge of agricultural runoff, raw sewage and wastes which include domestic, industrial and hospital waste directly into the feeder streams. It can be concluded that if the reservoir is to be used as a source of drinking water stringent measures have to be taken to control effluents.


For a positive integer $n$, we let $\varphi(n)$ and $\lambda(n)$ denote the Euler function and the Carmichael function, respectively. We define $\xi(n)$ as the ratio $\varphi(n)/\lambda(n)$ and study various arithmetic properties of $\xi(n)$.


ABSTRACT Plasma concentrations of LH, FSH, testosterone and estradiol were measured overnight in 4 healthy adults and over 48-hr in 1 man using a continuous blood sampling technique and polygraphic sleep recording. Oscillations in the levels of LH and FSH were seen but in 1 woman LH fluctuations were infrequent, and in the other there was a progressive rise of LH and FSH concentrations overnight on day 6 of the menstrual cycle. Both testosterone levels in the men and estradiol levels in the women fluctuated markedly. Mean LH and FSH levels were higher and testosterone lower on the second day of the 48-hr study. There was a positive correlation between LH and FSH levels, but correlations between either LH or FSH and testosterone and estradiol could not be demonstrated, and there were no consistent relationships between the hormone levels and the stages of sleep. It is suggested that the control of the rapid fluctuations in the blood levels of the gonadotropins and sex steroids in adults is unrelated to cla...


In the paper the modelling of thermo-mechanical effects in the process of friction welding of corundum ceramics and aluminium is presented. The modelling is performed by means of finite element method. The corundum ceramics contains 97% of Al2O3. The mechanical and temperature fields are considered as coupled fields. Simulation of loading of the elements bonded with the heat flux from friction heat on the contact surface is also shown. The heat flux was modified in the consecutive time increments of numerical solutions by changeable pressure on contact surface. Time depending temperature distribution in the bonded elements is also determined. The temperature distribution on the periphery of the cylindrical surfaces of the ceramics and Al was compared to the temperature measurements done with a thermovision camera. The results of the simulation were compared to those obtained from the tests performed by means of a friction welding machine.


This report describes the results of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between Sandia National Laboratories and Kaiser Permanente Southern California to develop a prototype computer model of Kaiser Permanente`s health care delivery system. As a discrete event simulation, SimHCO models for each of 100,000 patients the progression of disease, individual resource usage, and patient choices in a competitive environment. SimHCO is implemented in the object-oriented programming language C{sup 2}, stressing reusable knowledge and reusable software components. The versioned implementation of SimHCO showed that the object-oriented framework allows the program to grow in complexity in an incremental way. Furthermore, timing calculations showed that SimHCO runs in a reasonable time on typical workstations, and that a second phase model will scale proportionally and run within the system constraints of contemporary computer technology.


Significance Two experiments showed that where there is shared identity with others in a group the disgust experienced at smelling their sweat is significantly attenuated, and willingness to interact with them increased, compared with when the sweat was from an outgroup member or another individual. This difference is explained by the similarity to self of ingroup members. The analysis points to both the importance of social group boundaries in moderating the experience of "core" physical disgust and also the importance of disgust in the analysis of basic group processes, including the ability of group members to cohere and work together. We present the first experimental evidence to our knowledge that ingroup relations attenuate core disgust and that this helps explain the ability of groups to coact. In study 1, 45 student participants smelled a sweaty t-shirt bearing the logo of another university, with either their student identity (ingroup condition), their specific university identity (outgroup condition), or their personal identity (interpersonal condition) made salient. Self-reported disgust was lower in the ingroup condition than in the other conditions, and disgust mediated the relationship between condition and willingness to interact with target. In study 2, 90 student participants smelled a sweaty target t-shirt bearing either the logo of their own university, another university, or no logo, with either their student identity or their specific university identity made salient. Walking time to wash hands and pumps of soap indicated that disgust was lower where the relationship between participant and target was ingroup rather than outgroup or ambivalent (no logo).


293 Abstract— Content based feature extraction is a mechanism which is mainly used for applications like copyright application, video browsing etc. The main aim of the paper is to find illegal copies of the video in an efficient manner.This proposed paper discusses on detection of illegal copies of video clips that can be done through Spatiotemporal and texture features which is one among the efficient features available. To begin with, a special image TIRI is extracted from the video. Each such image has short segments of the video and it also contains both spatial as well as temporal information. The information extracted is expressed in the form of binary fingerprints. Now we have to apply CCM to extract texture features. Combine the two above said features to find copied videos in a quick manner. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, a test set of 200 videos are taken. This proposed algorithm yields 98% of efficiency for finding illegal copies of video.


Cultures are considered to be epistemologically heterogeneous, and it is assumed that epistemologically similar individuals exist across distinct cultures. Epistemological type is viewed as prior to, and transcendent of, nationality and culture. Identifying a shared epistemological basis for communication will be more likely to succeed in dialogical contexts where conformity to prevailing national stereotypes may fail. Two levels of communication are distinguished: explicate (here seen as conformity to social and cultural symbolic norms and conventions), and implicate (the level at which implicit, abstract communicative intention originates). Cyberspatial interactions potentially undermine normative cultural influences and permit multicultural or transcultural environments in which new codes extending from epistemological types (rather than cultural) become possible, limited only by media potential and symbolization itself. Drawing upon Maruyama's (1980) theory, implications for an alternative to the homogenization of verbal communication, and potential elements of codes for universal understandings are considered.


Objective To investigate the application of choledochofiberscope in cholelithiasis.Methods Clinical data of 327 gallstone patients who had undergone choledochofiberscope treatment during and after surgical interventions were analyzed.Results 262 cases had undergone open surgery,the average postoperative stay was(11±2) days,the rate of residual stones was 14.12% down to 2.67% after postoperative choledochoscopy and remove of stones.Corresponding results was(4±1) days,4.61% down to 0,in 65 cases who had undergong laparoscopic with common bile duct exploration extraction of stones(LCBDE),none had been converted to open surgery.All cases avoided reoperation so far.Conclusions Choledochofiberscope treatment both during and after surgical interventions is uesful in diagnosis,surgical decision-making and the reduction the rate of residual stones.Conventional application of choledochofiberscope in cholelithiasis should be advocated.


The Ethiopian government is aiming to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oil by 2015. The aim of this research was to develop sustainable business models for millers, increase their competitiveness, and enhance food safety and security in Ethiopia within the changing policy context.


In this paper we discuss problems in an interferometer which arise when the interferometer uses a conventional, so-called dasianon-cooperativepsila target rather than a mirror. We discuss how the interference signal is influenced by using non-cooperative target which also can depolarize the incident beam. Finally we show how the detrimental effects arising from the speckle field can be reduced when a suitable imaging optics is used.


In recent decades, groundwater overexploitation has caused an important aquifer level decline in arid zones each year. In addition to this issue, large volumes of effluent are produced each year in metropolitan areas of these regions. In this situation, an aquifer storage and recovery system (ASR) using the reclaimed domestic wastewater can be a local solution to these two challenges. In this research, a post-treatment of reclaimed municipal wastewater has been investigated through unsaturated–saturated porous media. A large-scale, L-shaped experimental model was set up near the second-stage wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the west of greater Tehran. The water, soil, and treated wastewater of the experimental model were supplied from the aquifer, site, and WWTP, respectively. The 13 physicochemical parameters, temperature and fecal coliform were analyzed every 10 days in seven points for a period of four months (two active periods of 40 days with a 12-h on–off rate (wet cycles) and a rest period of 40 days (dry cycle) between the two wet cycles). The results showed that the effects of the saturated zone were twice as great as those of the unsaturated zone and two-thirds of the total treatment efficiency. Furthermore, a discontinuous wet–dry–wet cycle had a significant effect on effluent treatment efficiency and contaminants' reduction. In conclusion, an aquifer storage and recovery system using treated wastewater through the unsaturated–saturated zones is a sustainable water resource that can be used for agriculture, environmental and non-potable water demands.


In article questions of professional self-realization and professional selfdetermination of the person are considered. Opinions of different authors on the given theme are shined. Attempt to an alyse profession al selfdetermination and accordingly self-realization of the person in system of coordinates of development of professionalism of the person with society development becomes. Types of professional self-realization of the person in interrelation of professional self-determination of the person with society development are described


Abstract Objectives: The main aim of this study was to compare the bone mass of female football players with controls of different pubertal stages. Methods: Sixty five girls aged 8–14 years (10.14 ± 0.1, Tanner stages I–IV) participated in the study. Twenty participants were prepubertal (10 prepubertal control) and 45 peripubertal (15 peripubertal control). All footballers trained two days per week while the control group did not perform regular physical activity outside of school. Body composition was assessed by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Analysis of covariance was performed to evaluate differences in lean and bone masses. Results: Significant differences in lower-body extremities lean mass (LLM) between peripubertal groups were found (P < .05). Additionally, prepubertal footballers showed higher values of bone mineral content (BMC) at the femoral neck (P < .05) while peripubertal footballers exhibited enhanced BMC at the whole-body, trochanter and Wards triangle area. Bone mineral density (BMD) was higher in footballers compared to their non-active peers at the femoral neck and intertrochanter (P < .05, respectively) while in the peripubertal footballers higher BMD values were found in almost all of the studied body sites. Conclusion: Female footballers showed higher bone and lean masses compared to control counterparts; these differences are already detectable at prepubertal ages and more consistent after pubertal spurt.


ABSTRACT Field data is commonly used to determine soil parameters for geotechnical analysis. Bayesian analysis allows combining field data with other information on soil parameters in a consistent manner. We show that the spatial variability of the soil properties and the associated measurements can be captured through two different modelling approaches. In the first approach, a single random variable (RV) represents the soil property within the area of interest, while the second approach models the spatial variability explicitly with a random field (RF). We apply the Bayesian concept exemplarily to the reliability assessment of a shallow foundation in a silty soil with spatially variable data. We show that the simpler RV approach is applicable in cases where the measurements do not influence the correlation structure of the soil property at the vicinity of the foundation. In other cases, it is expected to underestimate the reliability, and a RF model is required to obtain accurate results.


THERE has been relatively little empirical research attempting to discover to what extent psychiatric ward staff react differently to different ward settings. Clearly, there are varied subsettings in the ward milieu, and it is likely that these subsettings have different effects on different staff members. Previous studies of the effects of different settings on individual behavior suggest the possibility that ward settings might elicit consistently different reactions in staff. For example, Gump and Kounin 1 have studied children in camp settings and have reported one study in which the behavior of eight campers was recorded as they participated in swims, cookouts, and dining hall settings. 2 The frequency of hostile acts by each camper increased as he went from swim to cook-out; usually it increased very sharply. For all boys except one, this frequency increased again as they went from cook-out to dining hall. Different


Primary headache disorders such as migraine affect almost a third of women during their childbearing years,when decisions about contraception must be made. Headache is also a commonly reported adverse event in clinicaltrials of oral contraceptives (OCs). Health care practitioners will frequently be called upon to give advice aboutthe use of OCs to women with headache. This article applies current evidence, guidelines, and recommendationsabout headache and OC use to treatment decisions in four clinical scenarios: initiating OC use in a woman who hasmigraine without aura, continuing OC use in a woman who experiences worsening of migraine and the developmentof aura after initiating OCs, initiating OC use in a woman with tension-type headache (TTH) and a family historyof migraine, and use of an extended duration OC regimen to minimize migraine triggered by estrogen withdrawal.The authors' recommendations regarding OC use in various primary headache disorders are summarized.Keywords: oral contraceptives, migraine, review, guidelines, recommendations


The Bounded Coordinate System(BCS) approach is a novel video representation model,which can summarize a video to a coordinate system determined by Principal Component Analysis(PCA).The similarity measure of BCS considers the operations of rotation and scaling for coordinate system matching.However,the BCS approach can not always obtain the minimum distance of rotation and scaling between two bounded Principal Components.To overcome the handicap of the original BCS approach,an improving approach applying dynamic distance measure for rotation and scaling distance is presented in this paper.The new approach can calculate the minimum rotation and scaling distance between two bounded Principal Components,and improve the query precision.Our extensive performance study on a large database of more than 30000 video clips demonstrates that the new approach achieves a higher search accuracy than the BCS approach.


DFSTrace is a system to collect and analyze long‐term file reference data in a distributed UNIX workstation environment. The design of DFSTrace is unique in that it pays particular attention to the efficiency, extensibility and the logistics of long‐term trace data collection in a distributed environment. The components of DFSTrace are a set of kernel hooks, a kernel buffer mechanism, a data extraction agent, a set of collection servers and post‐processing tools.


Significance Animals must adapt to constantly changing environments, defend themselves against predators, and protect mates and territories. Learning and memory are key elements to the adaptations made for survival. Drosophila have been favorite study animals for identifying the genes and brain regions involved in learning and memory under a variety of associative and social learning paradigms. Here, we explore an uncharacterized social learning paradigm related to aggression and the consequences of winning and losing bouts. We demonstrate that short- and long-term memories are associated with agonistic encounters, with the memory of defeat lasting longer than the memory of victory. These are first steps in examining the genetic and environmental cues that participate in the development of social memories. In many animal species, learning and memory have been found to play important roles in regulating intra- and interspecific behavioral interactions in varying environments. In such contexts, aggression is commonly used to obtain desired resources. Previous defeats or victories during aggressive interactions have been shown to influence the outcome of later contests, revealing loser and winner effects. In this study, we asked whether short- and/or long-term behavioral consequences accompany victories and defeats in dyadic pairings between male Drosophila melanogaster and how long those effects remain. The results demonstrated that single fights induced important behavioral changes in both combatants and resulted in the formation of short-term loser and winner effects. These decayed over several hours, with the duration depending on the level of familiarity of the opponents. Repeated defeats induced a long-lasting loser effect that was dependent on de novo protein synthesis, whereas repeated victories had no long-term behavioral consequences. This suggests that separate mechanisms govern the formation of loser and winner effects. These studies aim to lay a foundation for future investigations exploring the molecular mechanisms and circuitry underlying the nervous system changes induced by winning and losing bouts during agonistic encounters.


The article introduces benefits that using literature in
university language classes brings to both students and
teachers. Among those benefits, possibilities to enhance the
language learning process with a visual dimension are
emphasized. Concrete examples of activities based on visual
materials and on visualizing techniques are demonstrated and
evaluated.


A novel selection method(PLS_VIP_CFFS) was presented,which combines partial least squares variable importance in projection with heuristic forward search(PLS_VIP_CFFS).To prove the advantage of PLS_VIP_CFFS,it was applied to the selection of feature genes using lung cancer,colon cancer,gastric cancer and leukemia data sets.Then,the feature genes were used in classifiers,such as SVM and CLUSTER.The specificity sensibility and balance accuracy of the classifiers and the major biological function of the feature genes were provided.The results show that PLS_VIP_CFFS is a reliable selection technique.


Plan ahead by providing proper machine guarding equipment sooner rather than later; if not to prepare for future regulations, do it to keep employees safe.


Crystalline oxide films are important components in a wide array of electronic and optical devices. Nanocrystalline Ti02 is a multifunctional material that has many important applications such as photocatalysis [Wang et al., 2005a) and antireflection coatings [Jeong et al., 2004a). High refractive index and large band gap make titanium dioxide (Ti02) a suitable material for important applications in photovoltaic devices, including solar cells [Granquist, 2007). Nanostructured titania has been used as an active material for the fabrication of microsensors of volatile organic compounds [Mazza et al., 2005). Ti02 can be grown mainly with anatase (tetragonal), brookite (orthorhombic) and rutile (tetragonal) crystalline structures; among this rutile is the most stable phase. The actual efficiency of Ti02 depends not only on its phase composition, but also on


Knowing the age of life of the population in a country is useful for evaluating the performance of the government, whether the government is able to prosper the population in general, and improve health status in particular. The purpose of this paper is to forecast the age of the population in several major countries in Asia, so that the government has a benchmark in determining policies to further improve the welfare and health of the population in their respective countries. The forecasting method in this paper will use Machine learning algorithms with Bayesian Regulation techniques. The research data used is data on population expectations in several Asian countries sourced from the United Nations: "World Population Prospect: The 2010 Revision Population Database". This research is a development of research that has been done before, using the Cyclical order technique. Previous research used 5 architectural models (3-5-1, 3-8-1, 3-10-1, 3-5-8-1 and 3-5-10-1), with the best model being 3-5-10 -1 which results in an accuracy of 97%, MSE 0.0008358919, training time of 27 seconds and an error rate of 0.03. Meanwhile, this research only uses 3 modified architectural models (2-5-1, 2-10-1 and 2-5-10-1), with the best model being 2-5-1. The result is that this study is better than previous studies. The benchmark is seen from a smaller error rate (0.02), better accuracy (100%), to a faster training time (5 seconds). So it can be concluded, Bayesian Regulation technique works better than Cyclical order and the 2-5-1 architectural model will be used to make predictions


The opinions expressed in the press regarding education in this period have two directions: on the one hand, they criticize the scarcity and poor material conditions of schools, and on the other hand, they try to create an awareness that serves to transmit their own ideology but what about non-formal education? Parallel to this educational universe, non-regulated education is developed, outside legal limits and promoted by the most humanistic social agents within the context of charity. This article aims to show some practices of this teaching, such as music academies, popular libraries, night and Sunday schools for Catholic workers in the city of Elche and the Singer Company, under the gaze of historical sociology.


© 2011, American Marketing Association ISSN: 0022-2429 (print), 1547-7185 (electronic) Journal of Marketing Vol. 75 (July 2011), 1–2 1 I am honored to be serving as editor of the Journal of Marketing (JM). I thank prior editors, editorial review board (ERB) members, ad hoc reviewers, and authors for their contributions in making JM a premier scholarly journal. Authors from all over the world are increasingly submitting their manuscripts to JM because of its large and diverse readership, impact, and status in marketing and related disciplines. I give special thanks to Ajay Kohli for his efforts as immediate past editor. His confidence in naming me a coeditor during his term and his guidance in helping me grasp what it takes to be an outstanding editor will always be greatly appreciated. My overarching goals as editor of JM are to publish articles that (1) advance the science and practice of marketing and (2) serve as a bridge between the scholarly and the practical. Accordingly, I am committed to publishing a diverse array of articles centering on any topic of relevance to our discipline utilizing any method. In particular, articles that provide novel insights based on a rigorous theoretical and methodological approach with broad appeal to both academicians and practitioners will be highly valued during my editorship. My job is to ensure that knowledge development in the marketing discipline is significantly advanced through articles published in JM. In reaching for these overarching editorial goals, I am focusing my efforts in achieving five specific objectives. My first objective is to ensure strong content in articles published in JM through effective management of the review process. For the first time, an area editor (AE) structure has been implemented at JM. I have named the following 21 highly regarded marketing scholars as AEs:


Objective: To study the clinical effects of amiodarone on ventricular tachycardia.Methods: A total of 180 patients with ventricular tachycardia that were treated in our hospital from February 2011 to August 2012 were select and randomly divided into control group(90 cases) and observation group(90 cases).Based on basic treatment,the control group was also given lidocaine,the observation group took amiodarone,then difference in ECG,changes in heart rate turbulence and clinical efficacy of two groups were analyzed and compared.Results:The QTc of observation group was significantly higher than that of control group.The ventricular tachycardia control rate at 24h,48h and 72h were all taller than those of control group,short-term mortality and incidence of adverse reactions were both lower than those of control group(P0.05).The TO,TS and SDNN of observation group were significant higher than that of control group.The numbers of TO positive and TS positive cases in observation group were significantly decreased,and were lower than that of the control group.Conclusion:Amiodarone can effectively control the abnormal heart rate in patients with ventricular tachycardia,and have better effective on heart rate turbulence than lidocaine.


A fast nonlinear time alignment method is presented, which is based on a preprocessing of the normalized speech spectrogram by means of a segmentation of the trace in the spectral feature space. After such trace segmentation the patterns have a fixed format and allow for a subsequent classification with a distance measure which is obtained from conventional dynamic programming with extreme constraints. Since, due to the trace segmentation preprocessing, these extreme constraints can be applied without performance degradation, the described method offers savings in computing time by a factor of 10 or more as compared to conventional dynamic programming. As a side benefit, reference pattern memory savings by a factor of 3 or more are obtained.


This article describes how a new technology is capable of enhancing existing inductive loop detection technology. The techniques are embodied in several algorithms designed for use in roadside vehicle detection equipment designed for shadow tolling. Using this new technology, vehicles can be identified and classified without loss of accuracy using single- detection technology.


We study forecasts for real GDP growth using a large panel of individual forecasts from 36 advanced and emerging economies during 1989–2010. We show that the degree of information rigidity in average forecasts is substantially higher than that in individual forecasts. Individual level forecasts are updated quite frequently, a behavior more in line "noisy" information models (Woodford, 2002; Sims, 2003) than with the assumptions of the sticky information model (Mankiw and Reis, 2002). While there are cross-country variations in information rigidity, there is no systematic difference between advanced and emerging economies. JEL Classification Numbers: E27, E37


The 30th annual Society for Vascular Medicine (SVM) Scientific Sessions were held in McLean, Virginia, May 29 – June 1, 2019. Once again, the meeting was a great success. Approximately 262 attendees from around the globe met in McLean (near Washington DC) for 21⁄2 days of academic sessions and vascular lab programming. On Wednesday afternoon, various SVM committees gathered to discuss plans for the coming months. Wednesday evening featured a special presentation organized by the Women in Vascular Medicine and SVM Next Generation Committee entitled 'Achieving Your Career Goals' followed by a lively dessert reception to kick off the 30th Anniversary of SVM. The meeting was officially kicked off on Thursday morning with Session 1, 'The Year in Vascular Medicine', which included updates on basic and translational science, anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy, arterial and venous interventions, and lymphatic disease. The session concluded with the SVM award ceremony, where Dr Gornik awarded the Jess R Young Award to Dr Joshua Beckman, and the MSVM designation to Drs Maria Teresa Abola and Diane Treat-Jacobson (see below). Finally, the Mark A Creager Prize for Research Excellence was awarded to the authors of 'E-cigarettes and cigarettes worsen peripheral and central hemodynamics as well as arterial stiffness: A randomized, double-blinded pilot study', by Klaas F Franzen and colleagues.1 Session 2 was the Presidents' Town Hall, featuring questions from SVM members answered by 10 of SVM's Past Presidents. The session concluded with cake for all in celebration of SVM's 30th anniversary. Sessions 3 and 4 on Thursday covered a variety of topics on managing arterial and aortic disease. In Sessions 5 and 6, five cases were presented in the Rapid Fire Session on Clinical Situations, followed by five research projects in the Jay D Coffman Young Investigator Presentations. The winner of the Coffman Award was Dr Raymundo Quintana (see below). The Moderated Poster Session, which included 45 posters, allowed meeting attendees to engage in deeper conversations with presenters about their research. The highlight of Thursday evening was the 30th Anniversary Gala, with a series of Presidential toasts, a silent auction, and unforgettable entertainment from Dr Thom Rooke. Friday morning started early with the SVM annual business meeting, led by SVM President Dr Heather Gornik, who passed the new SVM gavel to me in a peaceful transfer of Presidential power. Reports were given by SVM officers and committee chairs, followed by the election of the slate of officers for 2019–2021 and of Dr Mehdi Shishehbor, to our Board of Trustees. As the Sessions reconvened, Dr Gornik delivered her Presidential Address entitled 'Change and Challenge'.2 To summarize the progress of our Society, Dr Gornik stated: Things are not perfect . . . but they are good enough. But good enough won't carry us through the next 30 years or take us to the promised land of subspecialty recognition. In my final act as President, I implore each of you to commit to SVM and engage more than ever before in supporting our Society.


*Abridged lecture delivered before and at the invitation of the Medical Association of South Africa (B.M.A.) on October 29, 1943.


Following oral administration of trimethoprim (TMP) in doses varying from 5.7 to 9.8 mg TMP per kg body weight per 24 h over a period of 1–22 days, the concentration was determined in normal and patho


Stefan Meier1, Melania Buonocunto2 and Henry Sutanto3 1Department of Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands 3Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, New York, USA


Introduction and Purpose: It is now apparent that the changing weather patterns are associated with climate change according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the wake of relatively little work looking at rainfall pattern in tropical countries of developing nations, especially in Sierra Leone, we conducted a retrospective analysis on the amount of rainfall over the past few decades for Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Methods: Annual rainfall data from 1960-2009 were obtained from the Sierra Leone Meteorological Department (SLMD). Average monthly and total yearly rainfall data were calculated for five decades (1960-1969; 1970-1979; 1980-1989; 1990-1999; 2000-2009). Results: It was revealed that August had the highest amount of precipitation and a constant fluctuation of total annual rainfall around the mean was observed. There was no significant difference among the average total rainfall for the five decades. With a seemingly decline in average total rainfall, there are signs of increased rainfall in the last decade (2000-2009) probably due to a combination of factors, among which includes an increase in cloud condensation nuclei that are mainly derived from anthropogenic input through combustion activities. Conclusion: The study revealed marked variation in total rainfall pattern around the mean in Freetown over the past half century.


: Critical thinking plays an important role in students' study and life, and many countries have listed it as one of the educational goals of higher education. However, Chinese middle school students' critical thinking is generally weak at present. In order to change this situation, The Ministry of Education has successively promulgated new curriculum standards for high school and compulsory education, requiring teachers to pay attention to cultivating students' critical thinking while imparting knowledge. By sorting out the definition of critical thinking, clarifying the importance of critical thinking, and combining with the shortcomings of high school English reading class, this paper puts forward some suggestions to cultivate students' critical thinking in senior high school English reading class to improve senior high school students' critical thinking.


The purpose of this paper is to provide a proof for a Fundamental Principle for convolution equations μ ∗ f = 0, with μ ∈ E ′(Ω) and f ∈ D ′(Ω), where Ω ⊆ R n is a convex open set and E ′(Ω), D ′(Ω) are the corresponding distribution spaces.


In this work we consider the problem of routing in networks with time-varying links. We focus on wireless and mobile ad-hoc networks where link changes occur at the timescale of seconds to minutes. Since links are changing, to maintain network connectivity paths must be periodically recomputed, incurring increased control overhead. Suppose, however, we can perform routing in such a way that paths are "robust" to link changes in the network: i.e., link changes may occur, but paths still perform well enough. Then paths can be recomputed less frequently and the control overhead decreased. In this work we specifically examine the problem of how to perform such "robust" routing.


What is the place of the OPAC in the library of the future? This presentation will examine the role of the OPAC in an era of electronic database proliferation. We will explore the evolution of the OPAC including enhanced services like RSS, content enrichment, end-user tagging, and reader advisory services, and discuss some of the alternative models that are emerging including faceted and single search technologies


A system, circuit and method relates to controlling a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier (PA) of. In some embodiments, the control circuit PA may comprise a first circuit configured to generate a copy of the base current from the base current supplied to the PA, wherein said base current copy of the parameter β to represent the scaled PA the collector current. The PA control circuit may further comprise a second circuit configured to generate β from the temperature compensation voltage and associated with the PA base resistance track reference current. The PA control circuit may comprise further configured to receive a copy of the base current and said current reference node β tracking clamp and base driver generates a current proportional to a current guiding circuit. In some embodiments, a copy of the base current through the comb fingers - compare mode is obtained - current and current ramp current sensed.


One of the most important aspects of organizational life is interpersonal perception - the process by which one is able to accurately perceive other peoples' behaviors. In a social interaction context such as job interaction, one acquires cumulative contextual knowledge about a target by tracking the person's be- havior as it unfolds over the course of the interaction (Ginsburg & Smith, 1993). This study explores the con- nection between interpersonal perception skills, gender and gender roles. The study hypothesizes that females will be more accurate than males on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT) and that individuals who are high solely on either femininity or masculinity scales regardless of biological sex will be less accurate on the IPT than those who are androgynous. A total of 115 communication students took part in the study. Par- ticipants were asked to watch a film (IPT) testing ability to decode nonverbal cues during their nonverbal communication course. Gender orientation identity was assessed using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). With regard to the hypothesis testing, the present study used Spearman Correlation, Independent samples T test, ANOVA and stepwise regression. The present study's results did not find that men and women differ significantly in terms of empathic accuracy. However, women appear to have greater accuracy at detecting whether or not someone is telling the truth and men appear to have greater accuracy at determining whether or not someone has won a game (competition) or who is the higher status person in an interaction. In review- ing the results, one may tend to agree with Graham & Ickes (1997) that "the empathic advantage that is com- monly denoted as 'women's intuition' owes at least as much to a difference in motivation as to a difference in ability" (p. 140) or with Hancock and Ickes (1996) - "If men appear at times to be socially insensitive, it may have more to do with the image they wish to convey than with the ability they possess" (p. 197). Fu- ture studies may include the differences based on sexual orientation, educational background and personal- ity factors.