Exact one-pass, 3-D time migration can be accomplished using any accurate 2-D migration algorithm. The basis for this is a three-step approach: 1) forward Radon transforms applied to time slices for a range of tree-dip azimuths, 2) 2-D migration, and 3) inverse Radon transforms applied to time slices. The first and the third steps are velocity-independent; only the second step is velocity-dependent. Each step requires only a time slice or a 2-D seismic section in computer memory at a given time. Thus, the radial-projection 3-D migration method combines the accuracy of the one-pass method with the efficiency and simplicity of two-pass method. In addition, the method can include any 2-D filter in the second step to achieve a 3-D filter result. A field data test in an area with steep-dip energy illustrates the implementation and validity of the method.


A simple and cost effective process is demonstrated for fabricating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) cantilever-based sensor platform with piezoresistive transduction. A one step method is developed to coat graphene nanoplatelet piezoresistive layer on to the PET structural layer. The proposed platform can be used for a variety of sensing applications. The novelty of this process is that it does not require any expensive lithography tools or a specialized clean room facility. We report here the fabrication, characterization, and application of this sensor for the detection of soil macronutrients. Ours is the first report demonstrating the use of PET-based microelectromechanical system for agricultural sensing application. [2017-0094]


This paper presents communication-eecient algorithms for the external data redistribution problem. Deterministic lower bounds and upper bounds are presented for the number of I/O operations, communication time and the memory requirements of external redistribution. Our algorithms diier from most other algorithms presented for out-of-core applications in that it is optimal (within a small constant factor) not only in the number of I/O operations, but also in the time taken for communication. A coarse-grained MIMD architecture with I/O subsystems attached to each processor is assumed, but the results are expected to be applicable over a wider variety of architectures.


An interface preserving coarsening multigrid method is proposed for the solution of elastic structures with highly discontinuous coefficients.It selects coarse grid points so that all the coarse grids are aligned with the interface for regular interface elastic proplems on structured grids.As a result,multigrid with simple linear interpolation and point block Gauss-Seidel smoothing is sufficient to obtain the usual rapid convergence.Numerical results show that the convergence rate of the resulting multigrid method is independent of the mesh size and the size of the jumps at the interfaces.


RESULTS: 4563 (61.7%) total cleft palate surgeries were performed in HVC and 3388 (38.3%) were performed in NHVC. NHVC treated a higher percentage of Medicaid patients, while HVC treated more patients with private insurance (p=0.005). Older and total patients treated at HVC were more often from higher income quartiles (p<0.001; p=0.018). HVC across all 4 groups had larger bedsizes (p<0.001), were more often government/private owned (p<0.001), and were more often teaching hospitals (p<0.001) located exclusively in urban settings (p<0.001).


THE treaty-making power did not figure as one of the major problems of the convention which drafted our national Constitution, nor of the state conventions which considered that instrument, though it was in each instance the subject of debate. During the years which have since elapsed the American public have often been deeply interested in the provisions of particular treaties, but have not appeared to be much concerned with the constitutional questions involved in their making and enforcement. However, these questions have from time to time stirred executive and legislative members of our government and those whose writings are directed to the constitutional field. Such persons have often held distinctly variant views as to the proper cooperation of President and Senate in the making of treaties. They have also differed as to the scope of the treaty-making power in relation to those powers of legislation granted to Congress by the Constitution and the necessity of cooperation by the House in putting treaty provisions into effect, as well as to the right of the federal government to deal by treaty with subjects which fall within the ordinary scope of the legislative powers reserved to the several States. Here are problems of government of much interest and of really great importance. It is worth while to consider the proper interpretation of the Constitution on these points, what the practices have been, and how our present system of treaty making is working. On one point there has been unanimity of opinion from the days of the Continental Congress, namely, that the treaty-mak ing power must reside solely in the national government. The Continental Congress had no express authorization to enter into treaties, but even before the Declaration of Independence it did not hesitate to assume that it was authorized to exercise this power by implication from its character as the only national organ which had been set up to deal with external affairs, and from its power to direct the war for independence. On June 12, 1776, it chose a committee to prepare a plan of treaties to be proposed to foreign Powers, and in 1778 treaties of commerce and alliance with France were ratified by the Congress, apparently without any thought of submitting them to the several States.


Moving older patients from hospitals to community services is a critical phase of integrated care. Yet, large‐scale research on the quality of these transitions has been missing. Consequently, it has been difficult to assess to what extent and how patient transitions need to be improved. The purpose of this research was to gather the perspective of nurses involved in the transition of older patients (defined as patients 65 years or older) in Norway.


1he present paper is an attempt to interpret some of the data on fish growth available in the literature, emphasis beiI1g given to a reassessment of von Bertalanffy's theory of growth as applied to fishes. In that theory, grQwth is defined as the net result of twO processes with opposite teI)dencies, one synth¢sizing native protein (anabolism), the other ~egrading it (catabolism). Both food and 'oxygen supply are needed for arHtb9E.sm, and this investigation presents evidence suggesting that, udish'es; it is primarly oxygen rather than food supply which limits anabolism and hence growth. This is due chiefly to the facts that fishes cannot store but small amounts of oxygen, and that the respiratory area of fishes (the gills) cannot grow as fast as ijody weight. The latter feature has the effect that relative gill area (= gill surface area/body ~eight) always decreases with increasing body weight~whichitself results in a lowered fobd conversion efficiency with increasing body weight. It is shown that, as a rule, fishes that are able to reach a very large size (e. g., bluefin tuna) tend to have gills growing in proportion to a pd'wer of weight quite close to unity (0.90) while small fishes (e. g., guppy) have gills growing in proportion to a power of weight of !l\ or less. [fhe von Bertalanffy Growth Formula (VBGF). the derivation of which is based on thdassumption of the universal validity of the <1/ j rule' is therefore considered to be a spelcial case of a geheralized formula (the <generalized VBGF') whose properties and applications are discussed.


Knowing the overall solute flux and the partial fluxes expressed by every single transport layer, the membrane internal interface concentrations can separately be expressed. Both the overall transport coefcient and the driving force strongly depend, among others, on the value of the structural parameter and the water permeability. Study of the interface concentrations as a function of the membrane characteristic properties and the operation conditions shows clearly the different, individual effects of the Cm, Cs interface membrane concentrations (and Csp) on the concentration difference across the membrane active layer and thus on the process efciency. The change of the value of Cs is much more sensitive on the membrane transport properties than that of the value of Cm. The high value of the structural parameter essentially destroys the membrane performance accordingly efforts of the manufacturers must be focused on lowering of its value for increase of the water permeability. The membrane performance can also be improved not only by its characteristic properties, but by the operating conditions as well, e.g. by applying different solute concentrations instead of seawater-river water pair. The higher draw solute or lower feed concentrations can serve then much higher power density. The knowledge of the individual interface concentration of every single transport layer enables the user to do more deep, more precise study of the mass transfer process during pressure retarded osmosis. Finally, it is shown reasonable agreement between the measured and predicted data.


Architecture is a combination of arts and technologies.Students in fine arts institutes are strong in art,but their abilities of symbolic logic are very short.After carrying out some teaching innovations,we strived to train artistic and application-oriented talents.We added some theories and contents of national certified architect examinations in the course teaching and combined theories with practices in the teaching content.We took binding teaching methods with architecture design courses to improve students' capability of understanding contents of interinfiltration courses.


Sweet sorghum is an important bioenergy grass and valuable forage with a strong adaptability to saline environments. However, little is known about the mechanisms of sweet sorghum coping with ion toxicity under salt stresses. Here, we first evaluated the salt tolerance of a sweet sorghum cultivar "Lvjuren" and determined its ion accumulation traits under NaCl treatments; then, we explored key genes involved in Na+, Cl−, K+ and NO3− transport using transcriptome profiling and the qRT-PCR method. The results showed that growth and photosynthesis of sweet sorghum were unaffected by 50 and 100 mM NaCl treatments, indicative of a strong salt tolerance of this species. Under NaCl treatments, sweet sorghum could efficiently exclude Na+ from shoots and accumulate Cl− in leaf sheaths to avoid their overaccumulation in leaf blades; meanwhile, it possessed a prominent ability to sustain NO3− homeostasis in leaf blades. Transcriptome profiling identified several differentially expressed genes associated with Na+, Cl−, K+ and NO3− transport in roots, leaf sheaths and leaf blades after 200 mM NaCl treatment for 6 and 48 h. Moreover, transcriptome data and qRT-PCR results indicated that HKT1;5, CLCc and NPF7.3-1 should be key genes involved in Na+ retention in roots, Cl− accumulation in leaf sheaths and maintenance of NO3− homeostasis in leaf blades, respectively. Many TFs were also identified after NaCl treatment, which should play important regulatory roles in salt tolerance of sweet sorghum. In addition, GO analysis identified candidate genes involved in maintaining membrane stability and photosynthetic capacity under salt stresses. This work lays a preliminary foundation for clarifying the molecular basis underlying the adaptation of sweet sorghum to adverse environments.


We concentrated on cooperation coordination of multi robofish swimming in this paper. This is a new research field of robofish, on which none has carried out any research works. We worked out a micro robofish platform with high efficiency and high maneuverability, giving a net algorithm based on AGENT for location and coordination. On this platform, we successfully performed two experiences: one is multi robofish chasing ball; the other is multi robofish passing channel with coordination.


The emission spectrum from a simple accretion disk model around a compact object is compared for the cases of a black hole (BH) and a boson star (BS) playing the role of the central object. It was found in the past that such a spectrum presents a hardening at high frequencies; however, here it is shown that the self-interaction and compactness of the BS have the effect of softening the spectrum; the less compact the star is, the softer the emission spectrum at high frequencies. Because the mass of the boson fixes the mass of the star and the self-interaction the compactness of the star, we find that, for certain values of the BS parameters, it is possible to produce similar spectra to those generated when the central object is a BH. This result presents two important implications: (i) Using this simple accretion model, a BS can supplant a BH in the role of compact object accreting matter, and (ii) within the assumptions of the present accretion disk model, we do not find a prediction that could help distinguish a BH from a BS with appropriate parameters of mass and self-interaction.


Horizontal well development often increases field production and recovery due to increased reservoir contact, reduced drawdown in the reservoir, and a more efficient drainage pattern. Successful field development requires an evergreen backlog of opportunities that can be pursued, which is extremely challenging and laborious to generate using traditional workflows. Here, we present a data-driven methodology to automatically deliver a feasible, actionable inventory by combining geological knowledge, reservoir performance, production history, completion information, and multi-disciplinary expertise.
 This technology relies on automated geologic and engineering workflows to identify areas with high relative probability of success (RPOS) and therefore productivity potential. The workflow incorporates multiple configuration and trajectory constraints for placement of the horizontal wells, such as length/azimuth/inclination range, zone-crossing, fault-avoidance, etc. The optimization engine is initialized with an ensemble of initial guesses generated with Latin-Hypercube Sampling (LHS) to ensure all regions of POS distribution in the model are evenly considered. The advanced optimization algorithm identifies potential target locations with 3D pay tracking globally, and the segments are further optimized using an interference analysis that selects the best set of non-interfering targets to maximize production. Advanced AI-based computational algorithms are implemented under numerous physical constraints to identify the best segments that maximize the RPOS. Statistical and machine learning techniques are combined to assess neighborhood performance and geologic risks, along with physics-based analytical and upscaled parametric models to forecast phase-based production and pressure behavior. Finally, a comprehensive vetting and sorting framework is presented to ensure the final set of identified opportunities is feasible for the field development plan, given the operational constraints.
 This methodology has been successfully applied to a mature field in the Middle East with more than 90 vertical well producers and 50 years of production history to identify horizontal target opportunities. Rapid decline in oil production and a subpar recovery factor were the primary incentives behind switching to horizontal development. The search covered both shorter laterals accessible as a side-track from existing wells to minimize water encroachment, and longer laterals that could be drilled as new wells. After filtering based on geo-engineering attributes and rigorous vetting by domain experts, the final catalog consisted of 32 horizontal targets. After careful consideration, the top five candidates were selected for execution in the short term with an estimated total oil gain of 40,000 STB/D.
 The introduced AI-based methodology has many advantages over traditional simulation-centric workflows that take months to build and calibrate a model. This framework automates steps typically performed during the selection of horizontal well candidates by applying advanced algorithms and AI/ML to multi-disciplinary datasets. This enables teams to rapidly run and review different scenarios, ultimately leading to better risk management and shorter decision cycles with more than 90% speedup compared to conventional workflows.


This study aims to identify and explain the effect of the day of the week on the return of stocks listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE), where some days of the week have higher/lower returns than others. It also aims to find if the market follows a significant pattern and determine whether the day of the week anomaly exists over the study time. Using the Free Float Index ASE100 through all days of the week from 2011 to 2019, the study adopted a descriptive-analytical approach; also, data analysis includes an Ordinary Least Square statistical approach. Results indicated that the study's data is normally distributed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; moreover, it was observed that there was a difference in stocks' returns based on the difference in weekdays. In addition, there is the day of the week effect on the return of stocks listed on ASE, where Thursday was the highest return, which was due to the instructions of criteria for the solvency of brokerage companies operating on the stock exchange that states all brokers shall collect the balances of accounts receivables resulting from buying securities on credit within one week. As a result, Wednesday ranks second to Thursday in returns. Additionally, the results concluded that there is no effect of two days in a week on returns of stocks listed on ASE represented by Sunday and Monday, where Tuesday mediate the working days in the week. The study recommends investigating other anomalies that might affect ASE, using the same index and other indexes that, perhaps, unexpected outcomes will be presented, especially since ASE is an emerging market.


The fifth book to appear in the new Routledge series 'Innovations in Arts and Design', Sita Popat's Invisible Connections seeks to fill a gap that appears all the more glaring the longer one ponders the inevitability of contemporary Internet and communications technologies in their impact on our daily lives and our ways of interacting with each other. As Popat points out in her introduction, these new media and communications technologies have opened up opportunities for 'remote interaction and collaboration on a scale never before imaginable' (p. 1), and even if her entry point into the history of such collaborations stretches back no further than a decade, to the beginnings of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s, these ten years appear like an eternity in the constantly accelerating rhythms of technological innovation we have experienced since the rise of the computer and the expansion of wired and networked communications systems over the course of the 20th Century. On the other hand, what makes the lack of available research in online choreography more explicable is the fact that we don't necessarily look for dance on the Internet. 'Virtual dance', Popat suggests, is 'interesting from a conceptual angle, but it has limited viewing potential' (p. 49). She prefers, instead, to concern herself with online 'devising methods' for creative collaboration. This distinction, namely to see her expertise as a choreographer embedded in a larger framework of theatrical or performance-oriented creativity now extendable to the formation of 'internet communities' utilising various types of multimedia interaction, lies at the core of a very useful book that is noteworthy for its clarity and sober approach to a phenomenon that might otherwise be considered rather complex, taking into account the vast range of newly available hardware/software used by contemporary digital artists, computer programmers and interaction designers. Adopting a sociological notion of internet communities, she avoids the euphoric rhetoric of cyberspace and mistrusts any utopian promises of telepresence. Being near something via telepresence, for Popat, is not the same as being there face to face. Invisible Connections presupposes increased communication but discovers unexpected stumbling-blocks. Creating dance on the Internet or experimenting with telematic performance may be deemed of marginal interest to the growing multitudes of


In this paper, a simple and novel cross-layer adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) scheme, which increases the energy efficiency of the wireless communication system is proposed. Traditionally, AMC has been used to improve MAC-layer performance in terms of coded bit error rate, packet error rate, and throughput. The modulation and coding scheme is switched according to signal-to-noise ratio thresholds at the PHY layer. We extend the approach, proposing a framework for energy-efficient cross-layer AMC that captures the impact of both MAC layer and PHY layer parameters on the AMC switching criteria. Cross-layer designs are naturally suited to software defined radio applications. Not only are they readily implemented in software, but also they are integral to the radio components. They can optimize performance of the radio either for a given configuration or adaptively. Through an example of CSMA/CA MAC layer and WLAN physical layer, we demonstrate our AMC scheme and verify its effectiveness by simulation.


Calpains, calcium-activated cysteine proteases with a neutral pH optimum, lead to degration of cystoskeletion and structural protein, and delayed neuronal death. The activation of calpains contribute to apoptosis. Calpain inhibitors provide a novel and potential treatment for cerebral ischemia due to improvement of cerebral infarct and ischemia.


Background: Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) is a clinical syndrome that refers to abnormal compression of the neurovascular in the neck and axilla with signs and symptoms manifesting in the shoulders, neck, arms, hands and sometimes fingers. It may be underdiagnosed because this syndrome is poorly understood. The compression is primarily neurogenic, vascular, or both.  As the number of patients undergoing successful treatment increases, TOS is becoming a common diagnosis. In those patients in whom pain is refractory to conservative care, surgery should be considered. The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome of a supraclavicular approach to treat the thoracic outlet syndrome patients in Dr. Ramelan Navy Hospital Surabaya.Materials and methods: This study is a case series of 16 patients (10 females and 6 males) of 19-50 years old, who underwent neurovascular compression with the supraclavicular approach. Symptoms were evaluated with medical records based on peri-operative anamnesis and physical examination.Results: The follow-up with 16 patients showed excellent results such as decreasing pain, decreasing sensory or motoric symptoms, and complications like pneumothorax hematothorax, and injury of artery, vein or plexus brachialis were not found.Conclusion: Supraclavicular approach is relatively effective and safe for neurovascular decompression of TOS. Excellent outcomes were observed with a small incision, safe and minimal complications.


The perception of the disease is related to coping strategies and quality of life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mediating role of specific coping strategies in the influence of the perception of low-level expression dermatological diseases on quality of life. Two hundred-twenty participants completed, individually and anonymously, a questionnaire about symptoms, psychological impact, coping strategies and quality of life. Results show that, in people withperception of low-level expression dermatological diseases, the effect of the psychological impact to skin conditions on the quality of life is mediated differentially by coping strategies. While the Positive thinking strategy contributes to maintain the quality of life, the Wishful thinking strategy produces a decrease of the same.


It is now evident that Big Data has pinched immense contemplation from scientists in data sciences, strategy and chiefs in governments and activities. As the speed of data progress surpasses Moore's Law toward the start of this new century, exorbitant data is making awesome inconveniences to individuals. Be that as it may, there are so much potential and exceedingly helpful esteems covered up in the tremendous volume of data. Be that as it may, huge data significantly contains three classes of data those are organized data, semi organized data, unstructured data. In this paper we are examining the diverse qualities and advancements of Big Data and predominantly concentrating on change of organized data to unstructured data and distinctive innovations required to changing over the data.


This project investigated the impact of daily events, varying in source of causation, on reports of physical and mental well-being in a multiple-measurement design (5 days). Subjects responded daily to health and mood instruments and to instruments assessing event occurrence, responses to events, and outcomes of those responses. Events were either environment-initiated "demands" or self-initiated "desires." Positive and negative components of well-being are found to be differentially impacted by types of events and by the different event properties. The procedure was sensitive to the particular "ecology of events" representative of this particular subject sample. The results suggest the validity of a multicomponent analysis of both events and well-being in a dynamic, multiple-measurement approach. Implications for future research employing this model are then briefly discussed.


For obtaining aircraft certification it is mandatory to show compliance with the applicable airworthiness requirements. For cargo smoke detection systems, e.g. JAR 25.0858(a) requires "visual indication to the flight crew within one minute after the start of a fire". Smoke detection performance ground and flight tests must be conducted to demonstrate compliance with the rules. Although the given time for smoke detection is clearly specified (i.e. 60 seconds), the quantity of (simulated) smoke for showing compliance is not. An approach will be presented for determination of applicable smoke amounts. Test results are given for validation of the approach.


Objective: The internet is a major phenomenon of today's society since it gives easy access to information. Internet use is becoming increasingly widespread and area of use has been expanding. Based on figures from Turkish Statistical Institute, home internet access was 41.6% in 2010 and increased to 83.8% in 2018. Despite increases in household internet access, use of internet cafes is also on increase. The aim of the present study was to determine the sociodemographic characteristics of young people using internet cafes and the reasons why they prefer using internet cafes. Method: The study was carried out on internet cafes registered by Tokat Health Provincial Directorate. Written consent was taken from participants and sociodemographic data questionnaire prepared by the investigators was completed by all subjects. Results: All participants and interviewed people were male. Average age of the participants was 20.1±2.34. Forty-two of them (70%) had home internet access, while 18 (30%) did not. The main reason for using internet cafe was playing online games (42 participants, 70%). The participants mentioned that they used internet cafes 2-30 days in a month and 1-16 hours on a day. Conclusions: In the present study dealing with the sociodemographic data of young people using internet cafes, it was found that people younger than 24 years prefer using these cafes and they could spend considerable amount of  time and money there. In addition, which web sites were visited and which online games were played by young people, how often and how long they used these public places were also questioned.


Pushkin's love poems have been very popular among Chinese readers. The noble meaning, the beautiful imagery and the musical sound of his verse impress and delight readers very much. Based on What Means for You... , this essay tries to show how prosodic beauty affects the mood, the meaning and the imagery of poetry. His poetry is musical and emotional and each syllable sounds like a musical note, from which the poet drew his inspiration of poetry. His love poetry presents the perfect harmony of verse and melody.


This paper details how one city in the north‐east of England set out to explore the concept of inclusion and to develop more inclusive early years and childcare services through the use of an action research/reflective practice approach with practitioners. It describes a local project, the Inclusive Practice Pilot Project (IPP), designed to develop more inclusive services for young children and children using out‐of‐school clubs. The paper outlines the progress of the project which used action research as a mechanism for developing thinking and understanding linked to practice change. It highlights both the catalysts for, and barriers to, the development of more inclusive practice. It concludes by suggesting that if early years and childcare services are to become more inclusive, then alongside technical and organizational change there needs to be more emphasis on supporting changes in attitudes, understandings and ways of thinking about practice. Cet article expose en detail comment une ville dans le n...


Very few pathological conditions have stimulated the interest of the pediatric neurosurgeon as the so-called Chiari type I malformation (CMI) in spite of the uncertainty of its definition, diagnosis, treatment modalities, and surgical outcomes. The term "malformation" implies a congenital origin although the caudal descent of the hindbrain structures was conceived by Hans von Chiari in his first description as the mechanical effect and the pressure gradient exerted by concomitant hydrocephalus. He actually did not refer to symptoms or signs of cerebellar or brainstem dysfunction. It is possible that the term malformation was just due to the zeal of E. Schwalbe and M. Gredig, two students of J. Arnold. In fact, they associated the name of their professor to that of Chiari in describing a case of spinal dysraphism and emphasized the connection between the herniation of the spinal cord and the deformity of the posterior cranial fossa, using the eponym: "Arnoldsche und Chiarische Missbildung." Indeed, Julius Arnold had reported the pathological findings of an infant dying shortly after delivery. The child had a large herniation of the thoraco-lumbar spinal cord and the brainstem was described as underdeveloped with a downward draw of some of the lower parts of the cerebellum and the fourth ventricle in the spinal canal. Arnold however had not been able to explain the deformity of the brainstem. The paper of Schwalbe and Gredig had an extremely high impact and the eponym they coined was diffusely utilized to indicate the posterior cranial fossa and hindbrain anomalies associated with myelomeningocele, namely the descent of the cerebellar tonsils and eventually the inferior vermis and the fourth ventricle into the upper spinal canal. As a matter of fact, the eponym extended the concept of malformation to the other congenital abnormalities of the posterior cranial fossa described by Chiari characterized in his classification in four degrees of severity, including the Chiari type I identified as the simple caudal herniation of the cerebellar tonsils into the spinal canal. The current wide availability of modern diagnostic neuroimaging study has led to the identification of the caudal descent of the cerebellar tonsils below the rim of the foramen magnum in approximately 1% of children undergoing a magnetic resonance investigation to identify possible cerebral abnormalities in cases of aspecific psycho-motor retardation, seizure disorders, chronic headache, or after head injury. Several prospective observational studies in such a type of population allowed to conclude that in almost all the cases, the condition remains stable in control exams in the subsequent years without any clinical manifestation. In some children, a spontaneous regression of the cerebellar tonsils within the cranial cavity is even observed. The same evolution is reported in adults too, obviously challenging its malformative nature. To call "malformation" such a type of phenomenon— without any doubts a possible normal variant—has important practical implications. First, for the family that could be convinced that their son/daughter is affected by a congenital disorder which requires continuous surveillance as well as limitations in daily physical activities. The term "malformation" could also cause parents' anxiety for its possible inheritance. Furthermore, the acceptance of a prophylactic surgical correction, even weighted by possible complications, would be favored resulting in an excess of improper or useless surgical procedures. For the neurosurgeon, the increasing number of incidentally recognized caudal displacement of the cerebellar tonsils onMRI studies is also a cause of obvious anxiety when faced with the family's request for a prognosis, further dilucidation about the cause of the "malformation," the best management, and, when surgical treatment is suggested, its possible complications and its goals. Unfortunately, the very few reported cases of abrupt neurological deterioration and even death following head injury weight more than the thousands of subjects that conduct normal life harboring the caudal descent of the cerebellar tonsils. Anyway, to eliminate the term "malformation," in my opinion, would favor a more appropriate information as well as a better understanding of the * Concezio Di Rocco email@example.com


Aspects considered in the review are: manufacture of tin-free steel (TFS); can fabrication; properties of TFS; performance tests using TFS cans; suitability of TFS cans for different food products; and economics of TFS cans.


We seem to be surviving the pyrotechnics rocketed to celebrate the first cannon booms of our Revolutionary \Var. I propose that we historians should pop off one modest Roman Candle to celebrate the centennial of America's oldest continually published educational magazine: the Journal of Education. There are many remarkable things about this oldest of our extant professional journals. No other educational periodical has come close to surviving a hundred years, and no other has likely been so close to death and so many times without being buried. Central to the endurance record of the Journal of Education is the lengthy tenure of its middle editor; it has had only three principal editors during its hundred years of existence. The first, Thomas Bicknell, stayed with it eleven years and the third, Anson Belding, twenty-seven years. And so although this paper has been written to give a brief history of the Journal's entire 100 years, the focus of my remarks will concern the middle editor, Albert Edward Winship, who lasted longer in his job than any education editor in history. His tenure stretched from 1886, when he purchased the Journal of Education, until 1933the day he expired. This is a total of 47 full years.


Predictability issues in our financial market are always concerned both in academics and industry.This paper chooses adaptive LASSO to construct sparse portfolio,choosing some stocks to construct portfolio,which produces a fine copy effect.What's more,based on the excellent representativeness of the portfolio,it should display fine predictability to some degree of the future trend of the index.This paper considers the prediction on the multi-information basis,and the result of empirical analysis depicts that portfolio includes the information concerning index fluctuation to a large degree,which can be used in index prediction,namely,the index can be predicted,resulting in some doubt on the efficiency of our stock market.


Objective To estimate the clinical effect of Gamma 3 intramedullary nail and dynamic hip screw(DHS) system in treatment of the aged femoral intertrochanteric fracture.Methods A total of 82 femoral intertrochanteric fracture cases(all were older than 75 years old) were treated by surgical treatment.Forty four patients were treated with Gamma 3 intramedullary nail(Gamma 3 group) and 38 patients were treated with DHS(DHS group).Two groups were compared in operation time,intraoperative amount of bleeding,preoperative and postoperative 1 week creatine kinase(CK),Harris hip score.Results The operation time,amount of bleeding and 7 days postoperative serum creatine kinase content were less in Gamma 3 group than in DHS group.There was statistical significant differences between the two groups(P 0.05).The Harris score was higher in Gamma 3 group than in DHS group at postoperative 1 week and 6 months.The Harris score was the same at postoperative 12 months(P 0.05).Conclusion Gamma 3 intramedullary nail has the advantages of shorter operation time,less bleeding,fewer traumas and quicker recovery in the treatment of intertrochanteric fractures of the aged patients compared with DHS.Both systems can get good fracture healing and long-term clinical effect.


Multifactor selection index for cow assessment according to complex of signs, which takes account of reproductive ability index value, was worked out on the basis of cow assessment of herd from breeding farm "Petrovskij" in Priozersk district in Leningrad region: BCI = [PSCAf + 1 PSCAp + 2 (0.5 PSCAe + 0.33 PSCAu + 0.17 PSCALH) + 2 PSCAra] х 50, where BCI is an index of breeding value of a cow; PSCA is a predictable standard coupling ability for yield of milk fat for 305 days of the first lactation (F), yield of milk protein for 305 days of the first lactation (P), final rating of exterior in classification (E), udder quality by 100 score scale (U), legs and hoofs strength by 100 score scale (LH) and coefficient of reproductive ability (RA). Predictable standard coupling ability was determined according to formula: PSCA = (I Mav)/oph, where I is individual (cow's) signs by corresponding sign, Mav average herd sign, oph phenotypical variability of a sign; Reproductive ability index: IRA = 100 (K+2i), where K is a cow age during the first calving, months, i is a duration of period between calvings, months. When it was used for pedigree cows assessment, differences between "plus" and "minus" versions were high reliable in all components. Approval of developed multifactor index in the herd from breeding farm "Grazhdanskij" in Priozersk district in Leningrad region showed, that the selection differential was +53.5 kg in milk fat yield, +63.0 kg in protein yield, +1517 kg in milk yield, although it was not used as a component in index account. Selection differential in reproductive ability index was +4.6 %. Introduced multifactor index can be used in assessment of pedigree bull producing cows in breeding farms and breeding reproducers.


FIELD: radio engineering, communication. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the satellite communication systems with space and land segments, and, in particular, to the multilevel satellite communication system using low-orbital groups observation spacecrafts. The space segment consists of the orbital group of three relay satellites evenly spaced with reference to each other on geostationary orbit, and the orbital group of observation and communication spacecrafts consisting of low-altitude group of observation spacecrafts and medium-altitude group of communication spacecrafts, the land segment consists of land complexes of transceiving of target information and control of observation spacecrafts of low-altitude group and medium-altitude group of communication spacecrafts, and also of land complexes of transceiving of target information and control of relay satellites of orbital group in geostationary orbits. EFFECT: increase of efficiency of communication in absence of inter-satellite communication channels and land communication channels. 1 dwg


Using a literature-based thematic unit to teach language arts in concert with science, social studies, mathematics, and art, a Scottish teacher instilled in her 6and 7-year-old pupils an understanding of their own lives, a love for language, and a feeling of satisfaction and pride in their accomplishments. Th'z. teacher developed a topic based on Mairi Hedderwick's book "Katie Morag and the Two Grandmothers." Activities included: creating a mural of the island on which the story is set; creating tartan patterns; running a model post .office like the one in the story; studying each of the characters in the story; writing short selections daily on some aspect of the story; and creating a storyboard to reinforce letter-sound correspondences. During the thematic unit, the students learned about living in Scotland, developed a better understanding of the organization of text, worked cooperatively to solve problems, and became more self-confident as they related the language of literature to the language of their everyday lives. (Two illustrations for students' stories, a student's story and illustration about an island, and an excerpt from a student's copy book are included. Contains 10 references, and a list of 5 children's books cited.) (RS) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. **********************************************************************


Disturbance plays a fundamental role in determining the vertical structure of vegetation in many terrestrial ecosystems, and knowledge of disturbance histories is vital for developing effective management and restoration plans. In this study, we investigated the potential of using vertical vegetation profiles derived from discrete-return lidar to predict time since fire (TSF) in a landscape of oak scrub in east-central Florida. We predicted that fire influences vegetation structure at the mesoscale (i.e., spatial scales of tens of meters to kilometers). To evaluate this prediction, we binned lidar returns into 1m vertical by 5 × 5 m horizontal cells and averaged the resulting profiles over a range of horizontal window sizes (0 to 500 m on a side). We then performed a series of resampling tests to compare the performance of support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (k-NN), logistic regression, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifiers and to estimate the amount of training data necessary to achieve satisfactory performance. Our results indicate that: (1) the SVMs perform significantly better than the other classifiers, (2) SVM classifiers may require relatively small training data sets, and (3) the highest classification accuracies occur with averaging over windows representing sizes in the mesoscale range.


OBJECTIVE To standardize the management for cleaning and disinfection of recycling dialyzer to prevent hospital infection caused by dialyzer recycling processes.METHODS The main measures were established and consummated the system,increased the investment of disinfection facilities,meanwhile strengthened the staff's technical training and standardized the cleaning and disinfection work procedures.RESULTS The pass rate of the recycling dialyzer after disinfection was reached 100.0%,there by the security and disinfection quality of dialyzer were enhanced.CONCLUSIONS The standardized management for cleaning and disinfection of recycling dialyzer is the assurance for the recycling dialyzer sterilization to reach the standards.


Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) can be defined as the practice of therapy informed by an understanding of the role of emotion in psychotherapeutic change. EFT is founded on a close and careful analysis of the meanings and contributions of emotion to human experience and change in psychotherapy. This focus leads therapist and client toward strategies that promotes the awareness, acceptance, expression, utilization, regulation, and transformation of emotion as well as corrective emotional experience with the therapist. The goals of EFT are strengthening the self, regulating affect, and creating new meaning. introduction


Resource-based City is faced with two kinds of problems,one is the resources being exhausted and environment being polluted,the other is the weakness of new industries and the difficulty of economy transformation.To break the curse of "mine and city exhaustion" and realize the sustainable development,traditional resource industry's high-technologization and hi-tech projects'introduction should be carried out as soon as possible.However,the strategic choice of resources-based city is to establish the large-scale state-owned venture capital firm.


R. H. ORTON (Victoria) took as the subject of his presidential address "Some Aspects of Fluothane Anresthesia". He said that considerable literature had accumulated on the clinical features of f1uothane since the appearance of Johnstone's first article in September, 1956. However, apart from the work of Raventos, little experimental material had been published, and many of the actions of the drug were poorly understood. He proposed to deal briefly with some aspects which, to the best of his knowledge, had not been recorded previously. When f1uothane was first made available to him for clinical trial, he decided to attempt to estimate the change in minute volume of respiration that took place under its influence. That was done in a gross manner by using a Magill type system, but incorporating a Rubens nonrebreathing valve at the face piece. By adjusting the flow meters of the gas machine so that the reservoir bag remained at a constant volume, it was possible to estimate the minute volume of respiration directly from the delivery of gases into the bag. With the induction of light anresthesia, the minute volume of respiration usually fell. If, at that stage, a surgical stimulus was applied, the patient would respond with an increased respiratory rate and a return of minute volume towards normal. If, however, the patient was carried to a deeper plane before the commencement of the operation. then the respirations would remain at a rate between 24 and 30 per minute. It was regularly found that, under those circumstances, the minute volume of respiration was greatly reduced, usually to about four litres per minute in an adult patient, and at times it fell as low as two litres per minute. With that degree of respiratory depression it seemed likely that the carbon dioxide levels in the blood would be high and that controlled respiration was essential. Accordingly, a Liston-Beeker carbon dioxide analyser was introduced into the respiratory circuit so as to read alveolar carbon dioxide levels. Dr. Orton said that, much to his surprise, it was found that, in spite of the low minute volume of respiration, the carbon dioxide level was slightly below normal-namely, about 35 millimetres of mercury partial pressure. It was found, with variation of depth of anresthesia, that the carbon dioxide level remained remarkably constant, in spite of large changes in respiratory minute volumes. Controlled respiration was then investigated under f1uothane anresthesia. After induction with thiopentone and intubation under succinylcholine. anresthesia was maintained with about 1% f1uothane in a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen (1:1). Control of respiration could not be established until the carbon dioxide level was lowered to about 25 millimetres of mercury, but that figure was reached with very gentle ventilation. It was difficult to avoid lowering the carbon dioxide levels to very low figures because of the shallow ventilation required. In the early cases, prolonged apnoea was common; but once the carbon dioxide analyser had been incorporated in the system and the necessary ventilation determined, that was soon avoided. In some patients, controlled respiration was accompanied by a fall of systolic blood pressure to levels as low as 50 millimetres of mercury; but those falls could be reduced by a careful reduction in the minute volume of respiration. From that investigation, it appeared that it was not necessary to augment the lowered minute volume of respiration that occurred with f1uothane anresthesia. The diminished ventilation was not accompanied by a rise in carbon dioxide tension in the blood. For many operations not requiring profound relaxation, very good conditions could be provided with f1uothane under voluntary respiration.


Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), PHB, is a widely distributed carbon storage polymer among prokaryotes including Rhizobium. Capacities of Rhizobium etli R13 to produce the bioplastic during growth on media with dif- ferent carbon sources appeared to be specific carbon- source. In fed batch fermentation, R. etli R13 resulted in cell dry weight 6.2 g/L and PHB 51.4%. Gas chromatogra- phy-mass spectrometry and gel permeation chromatogra- phy analysis revealed that PHB produced from R. etli R13 was solely composed of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and the molecular mass of the purified PHB was 3.4 � 10 5 Da with polydispersity 1.47. Dielectric relaxation of PHB has been studied in the temperature and frequency ranges 300-440 K and 10 kHz-4 MHz, respectively. A clear dielec- tric a and q-relaxation processes are observed in these studied ranges of temperature and frequency. The first process is due to the dipole relaxation in the crystalline phase of PHB. The second one is due to the space-charge formation or Maxwell-Wagner-polarization. The a-relaxa- tion process has been investigated by semiempirical Havri- liak-Negami relaxation function. The activation energy (Ea) and the relaxation time (s0) are calculated using the Arrhe- nius equation. The dielectric relaxation strength (De )i s strongly temperature dependent. The calculated values of Ea for ac conductivity, ln(r), of PHB provide information about the presence of electronic conduction. V C 2011 Wiley


Finding a balance between exploration and exploitation is very important in the case of metaheuristics optimization, especially in the systems leveraging population of individuals expressing (as in Evolutionary Algorithms, etc.) or constructing (as in Ant Colony Optimization) solutions. Premature convergence is a real problem and finding means of its automatic detection and counteracting are of great importance. Measuring diversity in Evolutionary Algorithms working in real-value search space is often computationally complex, but feasible while measuring diversity in combinatorial domain is practically impossible (cf. Closest String Problem). Nevertheless, we propose several practical and feasible diversity measurement techniques dedicated to Ant Colony Optimization algorithms, leveraging the fact that even though analysis of the search space is at least an NP problem, we can focus on the pheromone table, where the direct outcomes of the search are expressed and can be analyzed. Besides proposing the measurement techniques, we apply them to assess the diversity of several variants of ACO, and closely analyze their features for the classic ACO. The discussion of the results is the first step towards applying the proposed measurement techniques in auto-adaptation of the parameters affecting directly the exploitation and exploration features in ACO in the future.


Abstract: The literature of testimony has been subject of numerous investigative works both in literary studies as in other areas of knowledge. This kind of literary production , closely related to history, presents itself in the attempt tore present and recover the memory of traumatic experiences in situations that can be termed as catastrophic , for example, those related to the Holocaust. Dealing specifically with Spanish literature , one can say that there are some authors , among them Max Aub , who wrote testimonial works of strongly tone , representing not only the experiences of World War II , but also those related to the Spanish civil war or Franco's dictatorship . In Manuscrito Cuervo : historia de Jacobo , Max Aub uses literature as an art , to represent the testimony of the experiences that thousands of people in Nazi concentration camps of World War II have undergone . In this report, endowed with irony and built in a very peculiar way , Aub develops a narrative in which the focus from where the horror of concentration camps is seen far from the human, so it is in an inhuman context, the reader is presented a narrator who is not a man but a crow. From these considerations , it can be said that the aim of this work is to develop a reading of the M anuscrito Cuervo that note show the structure of the text helps to represent the unrepresentable , in other words, it tends to observe how the literary art is used to represent the trauma resulting from concentration camp experiences . KEYWORDS : testimony, memory, Spanish literature


Dacrymyces ovisporus was hitherto known from two localities in South Poland. New localities of this fungus were found in South-Eastern Poland.


Ti6Al4V cranial prostheses in the form of patterned meshes were 3D printed by selective laser melting in an argon environment; using a CO2 laser source and micron-sized Ti6Al4V powder as the starting material. The size and shape of prostheses were chosen based on actual computer tomography images of patient skull fractures supplied in the framework of a collaboration with a neurosurgery clinic. After optimizations of scanning speed and laser parameters, the printed material was defect-free (as shown by metallographic analyses) and chemically homogeneous, without elemental segregation or depletion. The prostheses were coated by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering (RF-MS) with a bioactive thin layer of hydroxyapatite using a bioceramic powder derived from biogenic resources (Bio-HA). Initially amorphous, the films were converted to fully-crystalline form by applying a post-deposition thermal-treatment at 500 °C/1 h in air. The X-ray diffraction structural investigations indicated the phase purity of the deposited films composed solely of a hexagonal hydroxyapatite-like compound. On the other hand, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic investigations revealed that the biological carbonatation of the bone mineral phase was well-replicated in the case of crystallized Bio-HA RF-MS implant coatings. The in vitro acellular assays, performed in both the fully inorganic Kokubo's simulated body fluid and the biomimetic organic–inorganic McCoy's 5A cell culture medium up to 21 days, emphasized both the good resistance to degradation and the biomineralization capacity of the films. Further in vitro tests conducted in SaOs-2 osteoblast-like cells showed a positive proliferation rate on the Bio-HA RF-MS coating along with a good adhesion developed on the biomaterial surface by elongated membrane protrusions.


In development environment focused on computers, the ideas of app developring tool have been presented in terms of improved software productivity. Historically, for smart applications, app developing tools have not yet effectively developed or initiated locally or internationally. Therefore, developer have difficulty in studying developing process due to the difficulties of text based language. The basic concept of a new innovative App development tool, App Developing Tool, which has been proposed in this study and enables to apply on-site requirements to smart phones, is to develop Apps on the level using easy-to-learn Word or Excel in a computer. App developing tool is developed process focus instead of program focus by introducing SOA(Service-oriented Architecture) to develop reasonably reusable service units. Since service-oriented architecture allows reusing by service unit when there are changes in a specific process or service, it is possible to provide a new function by replacing the service instead of developing a new program.


Antimicrobial hybrid polymer composites are developed for application in floating solar power plants. To avoid the degradation of the floater because of microbes living in the water as well as possible biofouling, zinc oxide (ZnO) is used as an antimicrobial agent, varying the weight percent (1, 2, and 3 wt%) within the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix, along with carbon black (CB) as a reinforcing agent (1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 wt%). Escherichia coli (facultative anaerobic) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (aerobic-facultatively anaerobic) gram-negative bacteria formed a biofilm on HDPE in a 96-well plate for 5 days. In vitro, biofilm formation was determined by measuring absorbance (A420) in crystal violet dye, and the colony-forming unit (CFU) was determined by the spread plating technique. The biofilm formation and disruption are observed through a scanning electron microscope (SEM), where both the CFU and the SEM revealed uniform formation of biofilm onto neat HDPE. The best performance in terms of reduced biofilm formation and biofouling onto HDPE floaters was achieved for E. coli (ZnO: 2 wt% and CB: 2 wt%), whereas for Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ZnO: 3 wt% and CB: 2 wt%). Application of greener polymers and nanoparticles for future studies is highly recommended.


Universal base analogues are an important class of compounds which pair with all natural bases without discrimination. Since 1990s, a variety of compounds known as universal bases, including hypoxanthine, nitroazoles, isocarbostyril analogues, azole carboxamides and aromatic triazole analogues have been developed and employed in degenerate PCR primers, microarray probes, ligation and triplexes. There are a number of excellent reviews on the applications of universal base analogues in biochemistry and molecular biology, but their use in DNA sequencing has been overlooked, which was the original impetus for the authors to develop universal bases. In this manuscript, the status quo of universal base analogues and their applications in DNA sequencing are discussed, including Sanger sequencing, sequencing by hybridization, sequencing by ligation and sequencing by recognition tunneling. This should be of interest to those working in DNA sequencing technologies, molecular recognition and molecular biology.


Design Verification in VLSI is the most important step in the product development process. It aims to confirm that the system designed meets with the standards and requirements of the system. Verification is the process of checking whether the designed system performs all the required functionality specified in the design by writing the test bench or verification environment that contains group of classes and modules which generates input stimulus to the system and the output from that design is compared with the expected output. A communication system has set of roles those are called protocols. UART is a serial communication protocol that is used when only two devices are needed to communicate and it uses peer to peer topology. I2C stands for Inter Integrated Circuit used for communication between master and slave in which more than one slave devices or memory can be connected to a master device. System Verilog has been primarily used for the verification purposes in VLSI because it has the features of Hardware Description Languages such as Verilog and VHDL, C and C++ and functional coverage, assertion coverage, constrained randomization and supports OOPs concepts.


Today, all of power plant must follow the general adoption of the mark principle, and the peak to valley ratio of the load in the power line is increasing day by day. So the distribution of load in the power plant must be adjusted frequently and extensively. Some method of distribution of load has been studied and compared in this text, and the simulating annealing method has been introduced amply. Then the intellective decision-making technique based on the simulating annealing method has been designed.


The invention relates to a mobile energy carrier and energy store in the form of elemental metal, said metal being lithium. The invention further relates to the use of an oxygen compound of an electropositive metal as the starting material for producing the mobile energy carrier and store and to the use of lithium for the production of lithium nitride and the subsequent reaction to nitrogen-containing fertilizers and to the use of lithium in primary electrochemical cells.


We study the dynamics of an initially thermalized spin chain in the quantum XY-model, after sudden coupling to a heat bath of lower temperature at one end of the chain. In the semi-classical limit we see an exponential decay of the system-bath heatflux by exact solution of the reduced dynamics. In the full quantum description however, we numerically find the heatflux to reach intermediate plateaus where it is approximately constant—a phenomenon that we attribute to the finite speed of heat transport via spin waves.


ABSTRACT We document and interrogate our collective experimentation with disruptive academic practices as early- and mid-career women researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand. We grapple with our disruptions and attempted interventions to do academic work differently. We find that, in our efforts to resist, and attempts to promote different norms within a neoliberal university setting, we exercise a commitment to care: for colleagues, students, our friends, families and selves. This ethic of care emerged as we interrogated our gendered experiences in a set of experimental interventions designed to disrupt gendered neoliberal practices. These interventions – the formation of a national Women and Gender Geographies Research Network (2013), an interactive seminar (2015), and a panel session at the New Zealand Geographical Society Conference (2016) – generated different experiences of living, working, and relating in academic spaces. In productively disrupting, we learned the value of collectives to generate momentum and build solidarity, and the importance of creating safe spaces for sharing experiences. Our experiments emphasize that mutual trust, especially within our collective, is critical to progress. The interventions' generative work privileged other forms of labour and fostered an active and equitable (knowledge) community in which practices of care for diverse academic communities and ourselves were paramount.


Purpose: To observe the natural renal artery motion during cardiac cycles in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and how the implantation of stent-grafts may distort this movement. Methods: Data on 29 renal arteries from 15 male patients (mean age 72.6 years, range 66–83) treated with Talent or Excluder stent-grafts were acquired using an electrocardiographically (ECG)-gated dynamic 64-slice CT scanner. ECG-triggered retrospective reconstructions were made at 8 equidistant time points over the R-R cardiac cycle. The gated datasets were reconstructed perpendicular to the center flow lumen of each renal artery at 1.2 and 2.4 cm from the renal ostium. Center of mass displacement was determined per cardiac cycle for pre- and post-EVAR renal arteries and compared. Results: Normal renal artery motion in AAA patients was impressive, with up to 3-mm movement both near and distant from the aorta (mean 2.0±0.6 mm, range 1.1–3.0). EVAR inhibited proximal renal motion, resulting in a 31% decrease in maximal movement (mean 1.4±0.7 mm, range 0.7–2.0; p≤0.05). Distal renal artery motion was unaffected by EVAR, with motion similar to the pre-EVAR state. Conclusion: ECG-gated dynamic CTA is feasible on a 64-slice scanner with a standard radiation dose and can detect potentially serious consequences of EVAR. EVAR alters renal artery motion by limiting proximal motion while leaving distal motion unaffected.


: The paper is focused on the issue of modelling reinforced concrete slab in the interaction with the subsoil. It is a specific task that includes the design of concrete structure and geotechnical analysis. The aim of the paper is to analyze the effects of parameters of subsoil in nonlinear analysis. Specifically, a parametric study for different subsoil depths and subsoil modulus of elasticity is elaborated. For numerical modelling, an experiment of the reinforced concrete slab with dimensions of 2000 x 2000 mm and thickness of 150 mm was chosen, which was tested on a specialized device at Technical University of Ostrava. The concrete slab is reinforced with steel reinforcement. Nonlinear analysis with utilization of finite element method is chosen to solve the 3D numerical model, where the fracture-plastic material model is chosen for concrete.


By 2024, there will be an estimated 18.9 million cancer survivors in the United States. Cancer survivorship is defined as the time period from cancer diagnosis through the remainder of life. Quality of life (QOL) is important to cancer survivors because they may have many side effects from their cancer and treatment that could decrease their satisfaction in their daily lives. Mind body movement exercise (MBME) such as yoga, Tai Chi, and Qigong, is a complementary health approach that can be vital in improving the overall health of cancer survivors. Smoking cessation may also increase cancer survivors' QOL and efficacy of treatment by decreasing mortality, treatment toxicity, infection, and risk for a second primary cancer. The purpose of this study was to describe QOL scores among cancer survivors who participated in MBME classes. This was a one group repeated measures design with cancer survivors who were enrolled in a 10 week MBME class. Data collection occurred at the time of enrollment and at 6 months after study completion. Participants were recruited from The James Cancer Hospital's James Care for Life MBME classes. QOL was measured with the FACT-G. There were 33 participants at baseline and 24 at 6 months; 8 with a smoking history for both time points. Patients without a smoking history had a mean (SD) FACT-G score of 77.41 (17.76) at baseline and 82.89 (20.97) at 6 months. Patients with a smoking history had a mean (SD) FACT-G score of 75.31 (15.95) at baseline and of 80.62(15.45) at 6 months. QOL scores for participants with a smoking history were slightly lower than those who were never smokers at both time points. This reinforces the importance of smoking cessation at every stage in cancer survivorship. Future research on the benefits of MBME with a smoking cessation intervention among cancer survivors is warranted. RUNNING HEAD: QOL AND SMOKING STATUS IN CANCER SURVIVORS 3 Chapter I: Statement of the Problem Introduction By 2024, there will be an estimated 18.9 million cancer survivors in the United States; an increase from 14.5 million survivors in 2014 (American Cancer Society, 2014). This increase in cancer survivors is due to multiple factors (Siegel, DeSantis, Virgo et al., 2012). For example, the effectiveness of chemotherapy has improved. Life expectancy in the United States has increased to 78.8 years in 2013 from 70.8 years in 1970 (CDC, 2015). The risk of cancer increases throughout life until old age (Ukraintseva & Yashin, 2003). Since the population is living longer, they have a greater chance of developing cancer. The screening tools for cancer have become more reliable and sensitive, allowing cancer to be diagnosed earlier and treated earlier. Cancer survivorship is defined as the time period from diagnosis through the remainder of life. It can be described as having three phases: living with cancer, living through cancer, and living beyond cancer (NCI, n.d.). Living with cancer is the period of time surrounding diagnosis and treatment. Living through cancer is the time following treatment when the risk of reoccurring cancer is relatively strong. Living beyond cancer refers to the long term effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment. It is important to cancer survivors to have a high quality of life (QOL). Smoking cessation may also increase cancer survivors' QOL and efficacy of treatment by decreasing mortality, treatment toxicity, infection, and risk for a second primary cancer (Gritz, Toll, Warren, 2014). Mind Body Movement Exercise (MBME) is a term used to describe therapeutic exercises, such as yoga, Tai Chi and Qigong and are considered complementary health approaches vital to the survivorship care plan (Mustian, Sprod, Janelsins, et al., 2013; Sprod, RUNNING HEAD: QOL AND SMOKING STATUS IN CANCER SURVIVORS 4 Fernandez, Janelsins et al., 2015). MBME is a technique that has been used to improve physical and emotional health (Mustain et al., 2013; Sprod et al., 2015). Mind body movement decreases pain, stress, insomnia, and depression and increases coordination and gait speed. These interventions have been found to be beneficial for cancer survivors. Yoga is a common stress reducing exercise and is known to reduce cancer-related fatigue as well as reduce pain (Sprod et al., 2015). Tai Chi, a form of martial arts and exercise, is known for slow, methodical movements with breathing and imagery with significant benefits to cancer patients (Wayne & Kaptchuk, 2008). Qigong involves coordinated, gentle physical exercises and relaxation through meditation and breathing and has been shown to improve QOL in cancer patients (Oh, Choi, Inamori, Rosenthal, & Yeung, 2013). Study Aims The purpose of this study was to investigate QOL among cancer survivors and to determine if smoking status as has an effect with cancer survivors' QOL. The research objectives were to: 1) Describe QOL scores among cancer survivors who participated in MBME classes. 2) Describe QOL scores between participants with a smoking history to participants without a smoking history. Chapter II: Review of the Literature There are many aspects of a patient's life that changes when they are diagnosed with cancer. Issues that cancer patients experience during survivorship include living with the lasting physical, emotional, spiritual, and financial consequences of a cancer diagnosis (CDC, 2014). Cancer survivors experience long term side effects of their disease and treatment. Due to these RUNNING HEAD: QOL AND SMOKING STATUS IN CANCER SURVIVORS 5 side effects, survivors may worry about recurrence or developing a secondary cancer. Patients that are more likely to have fear of recurrence are younger in age, have poor coping skills, and have a poorer QOL than cancer survivors who did not have a fear of recurrence (Crist & Grunfeld, 2012). The patient may have lasting side effects from their treatments, such as weakness or being easily fatigued. Patients may experience depression or another mood disorder during this time. All of these experiences may cause patients to have a difficult time getting their life back to normal or establishing a new normal (NCI, n.d.). In addition, a cancer diagnosis can affect personal relationships. A cancer survivor's family or friends may not know how to respond to the diagnosis and avoid the survivor, not want to talk about their illness, or change their behaviors towards the survivor (Wortman & Dunkel-Schetter, 1969). A patient may experience stronger spirituality or decreased spirituality in response to having cancer. Survivors may need counseling or funding to offset charges from their hospital stay and treatment. Economic hardship may also be something a patient experiences because of job loss of the survivor or caretaker, treatment costs, and treatment once the survivor is in remission. It is important to help the patient adjust to these changes so they can lead a healthy and productive life (CDC, 2014). Treatment Related Side Effects Survivors of cancer have many treatment and disease related side effects. Physical side effects can include pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, anorexia, anemia, decreased immunity, lymphedema, and fatigue. Long term side effects can include: cataracts, infertility, skin changes, heart disease, lung disease, and increased risk of a secondary cancer (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Psychosocial side effects can include anxiety, depression, and worry. Throughout RUNNING HEAD: QOL AND SMOKING STATUS IN CANCER SURVIVORS 6 treatment, the patients will have many medical appointments and may take many additional medications. Fatigue Many cancer survivors experience fatigue at some point during survivorship. Fatigue that is related to cancer is different than fatigue that is experienced by a non-cancer survivor. Cancer related fatigue is more severe, more distressing, and is less likely to be relieved with rest (REF). When cancer survivors experience fatigue, they are more likely to have problems sleeping, pain, and emotional issues (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, n.d.). Exercise and psychological interventions have been shown to be helpful in decreasing fatigue of cancer survivors (American Cancer Society, 2014). Tobacco Use Some cancer patients may wonder why they should stop smoking if they have received a diagnosis of cancer. Although the patient has already developed cancer, smoking cessation may increase their QOL and efficacy of treatment by decreasing mortality, toxicity, infection, and a risk for a second primary cancer (Gritz et al., 2014). Smoking cessation can also decrease pain levels. In a study by Daniel et al. (2009), lung cancer survivors who used tobacco were more likely to experience higher pain levels than patients that had quit smoking or had never smoked. To increase the quality and duration of cancer survivorship, it is important that patients stop smoking. This can be a difficult task, and many patients may not have the resources to help them quit. Nicotine is a highly addictive component in cigarettes. When a patient uses a tobacco product, the nicotine activates a pathway in the brain when it binds to nicotinic receptors (Szamocki, 2013). When the nicotinic receptors are bound, dopamine is released. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is active in the reward pathway of the brain. When this pathway is RUNNING HEAD: QOL AND SMOKING STATUS IN CANCER SURVIVORS 7 activated, a patient will experience feelings of pleasure. As the patient continues to use tobacco, they will have to use more tobacco every time to increase dopamine levels in their brain. If the patient does not use tobacco, they will begin to have withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of withdrawal include: decreased heart rate, and increased caloric intake, craving for tobacco, confusion, depression and poor concentration (Hatsukami, Hughes, Pickens, & Svikis, 1984). There are various medications that can be used to assist with smoking cessation. In order to reduce smoking craving and wi


Zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most important low dimensional semiconducting oxides owing to the amazing variety of the nanostructures it can form by means of various synthesis routes. The most important methods are the vapor deposition and the chemical bath deposition. ZnO nanostructures have attracted considerable attention in view of several applications they encounter such as optics – optoelectronics, sensors, energy production, biomedical sciences, etc.
Despite systematic research concerning the rational growth of ZnO nanostructures for over a decade, the establishment of an experimental methodology capable of providing specific morphologies of ZnO nanostructures in a reproducible way is still an open question. This is also one of the current research challenges because the resulting morphologies are characterized by different physical properties and are quite sensitive to small changes in experimental conditions.
The current work is aimed at providing a systematic study of the role of various growth parameters on the morphological features and the optical properties of ZnO nanostructures. Growth was achieved by catalyst-assisted (Au) vapor transport at high temperature (VLS) and by solution chemistry (CBD). It is important to gain understanding about how certain parameters affect the morphology of the nanostructures, the size distributions of the diameters and their orientation relative to the substrate.
High temperature evaporation methods, such as the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism, have been exploited for the controlled growth of ZnO nanostructures on various substrates. While Au is the most frequently used catalyst for growing ZnO nanowires, its morphological features on the substrate, which determine the size and shape of the nanostructures grown, are not yet methodically explored. In the current work, we investigated the details of thermal dewetting of Au films into nanoparticles on Si substrates. Au films of various thicknesses, h, ranging from 2 to 15 nm, were annealed under slow and fast rates at various temperatures and the morphological details of the nanoparticles formed were investigated. The vapor-liquid-solid method was employed to investigate the role of the Au nanoparticles on the growth details of ZnO nanowires. Efficient and high throughput growth of ZnO nanowires, for a given growth time, is realized in cases of thin Au films, i.e. when the thickness is lower than 10 nm.
In the second case, the influence of a number of parameters such as the thickness of the seed layer, the reactants concentration, the existence of organic compounds, the growth time, etc. on the growth of ZnO nanowires on conducting glass substrates (FTO) was examined. After parameter optimization it was found that ZnO nanowires grown have excellent orientation, perpendicular to the substrate, while their diameter and length were found to be ~30 nm and ~7 μm, respectively. The best growth conditions were achieved using 0.04 Μ ZnAc, 0.02 M HMTA, 0.16 M PEI and 0.04 M NH4OH. The reaction temperature was kept at 95 οC for 1 h to 24 h. The pH value was ~ 7. The alignment of ZnO nanowires deteriorates when their length increases; therefore neighboring nanowires bend forming bundles. This shortcoming has been overcome by employing the renewal of the solution every 2.30 h.
The structure of ZnO nanowires was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Raman scattering was used to study defects of ZnO nanostructures. New Raman modes, in comparison to the bulk crystal, have been assigned to finite size effects and phonon confinement in the nanostructures. Photoluminescence spectroscopy provides evidence for the type of the defects such as oxygen vacancies, zinc interstitials etc.


Kinases compose only two percent of the human genome; however, they represent some of the potentially most important new drug targets for cancer chemotherapy. Employing a novel approach, we used pan‐kinase inhibitor conjugated beads in combination with quantitative mass spectrometry (iTRAQ (Isobaric tag For Relative and Absolute Quantitation) and SILAC (Stable Isotope Labeling by Amino Acids in Cell Culture)), to analyze the kinase expression profile or kinome of MYL, a model CML cell line, and its imatinib resistant counterpart, MYLR. This approach resulted in the capture and quantitation of over 100 kinases from the MYL and MYLR cells. Although the kinomes of these cell lines were found to be generally consistent, differences in the expression of specific kinases were identified. Kinases that were up‐regulated in the MYLR cells included Lyn, Mek2, Nek9 and Ikkα; whereas down‐regulated kinases included ATM, MLTK and Bcr‐Abl. Using immunoblotting, the changes in kinase expression were verified. Differences in the kinase phosphorylation states were also identified, suggesting the possibility of activity‐dependent binding to the beads. In summary, this technology provides a new strategy to determine how alteration of the kinome impacts cancer cells and cancer drug resistance.


The proposed paper is an effort to summarize the concept, design-framework and implementation of an intelligent system for preliminary cancer diagnosis. The system is designed to act as a proactive intelligent decision support system. The key features are; it's self learning capability through knowledge approximation, and an internal rough fuzzified structure. The 8 page long paper describes the underlying theory, basic concepts, design and implementation of the said system. We also detail some preliminary diagnosis results and interpretations


Objective: To establish a rabbit model of veno-neuro-fasciocutaneous flap and investigate the effects of large superficial veins in proximally-and distally-based flaps. Methods: The lesser saphenous sural veno-neuro-adipofascial pedicled fasciocutanous flap (6.0 cm×2.0 cm in size with pedicle width of 1.5 cm, length/width ratio 4∶1) was successfullly established in New Zealand White rabbit.Twenty rabbits were randomly allocated into 4 groups of 10 flaps. Group I was proximally veno-neuro-adipofascial based flaps with the lesser saphenous vein intact (outflow vein) in the pedicle.Group Ⅱ was also proximally-based flaps but the lesser saphenous vein was ligated at 1 cm proximal to the pedicle.Group Ⅲ was distally veno-neuro-adipofascial based flaps with the lesser saphenous vein intact (inflow vein) in the pedicle. Group Ⅳ was also distally-based flaps but the lesser saphenous vein was ligated at 1 cm distal to the pedicle. Flap survival rate was measured in 10 days.The lesser saphenous vein in the pedicle was harvested and examed histologically.Results: The mean flap survival rate of group Ⅰ (88.8%) was statistically higher than that of group Ⅱ(62.6%,P0.001) and group Ⅲ (22.7%, P0.001).The mean survival of group Ⅳ (55.5%) was significantly better than that of group Ⅲ (P0.01).But group Ⅱ and group Ⅳ has no significant difference (P0.05). Histological examination showed the lesser saphenous vein in group Ⅲ was extremely dilated and filled fully with thrombosis.Conculsion: Large superficial veins have positive effects (venous outflow) in proximally-based flaps, but negative effects (venous inflow) in distally-based flaps.


Bio methanation is a feasible and effective method of treatment of fruits and vegetable waste generated. Fruits and vegetable waste are solid organic waste having high calorific value and nutritive value to microbes that's why the efficiency of methane production can be increases by several order. In this work in co digestion process both the waste (vegetable and fruit waste)was prepared at different ratio with cowdung and digestion was observed for maximum gas production. In this study it is found that for vegetable waste cow dung should be added with the same proportion for optimum gas generation i.e,the ratio should be 1:1.And in case of fruit wase the ratio should be 1:2. Keywords—Cowdung (CD), Vegetable-Waste (VW), Fruit Waste(FW),Fruit Vegetable-Waste(FVW)


The 20 years before the breaking out of the War against Japan was the time in which the regime of the ROC changed frequently, but YanXi-shan made success in stabilizing his rulling in Shanxi and stood firmly among the changes. The secret lies in "the philosophical Thought of Neutrality" of YanXi-shan. Its characteristics include four aspects: self-independence; neutrality and trimming his sails; consolidating political power by creating and taking advantage of conflicts; being unconventional and individualistc. This paper mainly focuses on the reflection of these characteristics in the change time of the regime of the ROC.


This research discusses the variations of repair strategies used by lecturers and students during the online learning process. The aim of the study is to compare repair strategy variations in online learning in the university classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia, Algeria and Iran. The research data are a series of utterances by lecturers and students in online classes, which were collected from video and audio recordings of three different university classroom sessions. The data collection was carried out using record and note techniques. The data were analyzed by applying the theories of Sacks et. al. (2015) & Learner (2004) to describe the variations of repair strategies in the EFL university classroom. The results show that four different variations of repair strategies were used by lecturers and students in EFL university classrooms in Indonesia, Algeria, and Iran: self-initiated self-repair, other-initiated self-repair, self-initiated other-repair, and other-initiated other-repair, with the exception of the EFL university classroom in Indonesia, where other-initiated other-repair was not used, and the most prominent variation was self-initiated self-repair.


An on-farm trial was conducted over 150 days to determine appropriate stocking ratio, growth and production of climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) in cages and carps in open water of ponds in eighteen farmers' ponds from Haluaghat Upazila at Mymensingh district of Bangladesh. One or two 1 m super(3) cage was suspended in each of 12 earthen ponds and other 6 ponds served as control without cages. Climbing perch of 2-3 g in size were stocked in cages while fingerlings of silver carp (Hypophthalmicthys molitrix), catla (Catla catla), rohu (Labeo rohita), mirgal (Cirhinus cirrhosus), rajputi (Puntius sarana) and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) were stocked at 1 fish/m super(2) with a species ratio of 5:4:4:4:2:1 in open water of all ponds to give cage to open-pond fish ratios of 1:1 (T sub(1:1)) and 2:1 (T sub(2:1)) and 0:1 (T sub(0:1)) as three treatments with six replicates each. Survival of climbing perch was higher in T sub(1:1) (61.67%) than that of T sub(2:1) (29.5%) and was significantly different (p>0.05) between the treatments. Stocking of small size climbing perch fry increased the mortality rate in cages. The net yields of Thai koi were 0.13±0.01 (t/ha) and 0.10±0.01 (t/ha) in treatments T sub(1:1) and T sub(2:1), respectively and both were significantly different (p>0.05). Survival of-open-pond carps was high, ranging from 50 to 91.67% with significantly lower in T sub(0:1) than that of T sub(1:1) and T sub(2:1) treatment. Net and gross yield of each carp species were significantly higher in the T sub(1:1) and T sub(2:1) treatment than that in T sub(0:1) treatment. Net revenues were positive but low in all treatments. Therefore, bigger size climbing perch with lower stocking ratio (T sub(1:1)) is suitable for integrated cage-pond culture of climbing perch and carps. However, more on-farm trials in different ecosystem with scientific interventions are necessary to develop the technology for further dissemination among the rural farmers.


Objective To study the relationship of single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNP) and clinical response to platinum-based chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC).Methods A total of 120 patients with advanced NSCLC were routinely treated by cisplatin or carboplatin-based chemotherapy.The clinical response was evaluated after 2 to 3 cycles.The DNA repair gene ERCC1(C118T) and XRCC1(G399A) genotypes were determined by gene-chip method using DNA samples isolated from peripheral blood collected before treatment.Pearson Chi-square test was performed among variant genotypes.The odds ratios(OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed by logistic regression.Results Homozygous wild type, heterozygote type and homozygous mutant type yielded green,yellow and red fluorescence, respectively.The response rate to the chemotherapy in patients with the ERCC1 118 C/T and T/T genotype was significantly higher than that in patients with the C/C (44.7% vs. 19.2%,OR=0.294,95% CI=0.130-0.666)(P0.05).The response rate to the chemotherapy in the patients with the XRCC1 399 G/G genotype was significantly higher than that in the patients with the G/A and A/A (43.8% vs. 19.4%,OR=3.222,95% CI=1.425-7.287)(P0.05).Conclusion Polymorphism of ERCC1 and XRCC1 gene may have a significant impact on the response of NSCLC patients to platinum-based chemotherapy.


In cognitive radio networks, a great deal of energy is wasted when the base station becomes idle. To solve this problem, we propose an energy-saving strategy with the sleep mode in this paper. Considering that primary user packets can interrupt the transmission of secondary user packets at any time and occupy the spectrum with pre-emptive priority, we establish a two-dimensional continuous-time Markov chain model to capture the stochastic behavior of the network. Moreover, we obtain the stable condition of the system, and then we derive the expressions for the performance measures in terms of energy-saving rate of system and average latency of secondary user packets. Numerical results with analysis as well as simulation show that the equilibrium arrival rate of SU packets is always greater than the socially optimal arrival rate of SU packets. Based on this observation, we present a pricing policy to optimize the system performance socially.


Introduction: In the few studies were done on magnesium sulfate therapy, resulted that short-term magnesium sulfate therapy for prevention seizures in preeclampsia is effective as long term prescribed it. This study compared impact of two methods of therapy on improvement of preeclamptic patients. Methods: This clinical trial study was done on 148 pregnant women with preeclampsia who received magnesium sulfate (2005-2006) in Mahdieh hospital affiliated to Beheshti university of medical sciences. Preeclamptic patients after delivery were divided into two groups. The first group treated with magnesium sulfate for 24 hours and second group treated based on clinical recovery time, between 6-12 hours. Data collected with interview, filling the questioners and care of patients. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistical methods, t-test and using SPSS10. Results: Age, hypertension, urinary protein excretion, nationality (Afghan Persian), number of pregnancies was without significant differences in both groups. None of patients did not seizures. Conclusion: Due to limited studies in this area we advise to do more studies for making conclusion that short-term administration of magnesium sulfate in addition of safety and cost-effectiveness to be effective as long-term administration of it.


The purpose of this paper was to investigate the mediated moderating effect of employee engagement (EE) by leader's supervision in the effects of corporate entrepreneurship (CE) on innovation performance (IP). The study applied the cross-sectional analysis with our own survey that provided the data for this design. A total of 248 participants (12 managers, and 236 employees) were recruited for this study. The relationship of CE and IP was mediated by EE. Additionally, leader's supervision moderated the relationship between CE and IP. Furthermore, leader's supervision had a mediated moderation effect from CE to the IP, through the EE. The significance of this study lies in its contribution to CE, IP, EE and leader's supervision literatures. It was revealed that CE behavior was found in the organizational learning processes that strengthen employees' ability to analyze markets and formulate new products.


Kawaii and notions of 'cute' are influencing an emerging and tacit form of integration of Asian material-culture concepts within Australian industrial design practice and education. Yet the origins, meanings and values of kawaii are largely unknown outside of Asian cultural studies and Japanese design practice. While dominated by Japanese design, new centres of Kawaii-esque cultural and commercial production and consumption such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Taiwan are developing and consequently new approaches to Asian cute are evolving. Such a shift in aesthetic sensibilities and orientations to rapidly bifurcating consumer markets presents a potential rupture in traditional industrial design discourses, visual and material techniques and strategies for value attachment to products. This paper examines literature around kawaii in order to contextualise kawaii culture and products for the purposes of the kinds design analysis that is common inside industrial design. Centred on defining the drivers of kawaii from a socio-cultural design analysis process a thick description of kawaii for design is presented as a means of apprehending this particular discourse of cute. An analysis of the elements of kawaii that are useful in the product development processes of industrial design are drawn from, and discussed with, reference to literature and examples in the field. The authors argue the need to commence a theorizing of kawaii for design as it migrates from a largely Japanese phenomenon to a truly global language of material culture and mode of design practice.


An aerodynamic performance test stand has been developed for validation of the performance of a 105,000 rpm compressor-expander which is intended for subsurface natural gas reinjection. The turbomachine consists of a two-stage centrifugal compressor, which is driven by a single-stage expansion turbine. The rotor is supported by foil gas journal bearings and a spiral-groove gas thrust bearing. The test stand is configured for open-loop testing of the overall compressor and turbine performance with air as the working fluid and atmospheric pressure at the compressor suction and turbine discharge locations. Several performance curves were generated for each component ranging from 73,500–115,500 rpm (70–110% of design speed). In general, measured compressor head was slightly lower than predictions, while measured efficiencies were close to predicted values. The turbine had higher flow than predicted, due in part to a larger flow area in the turbine. The turbomachine has shown acceptable performance on the open-loop test stand, and further testing at higher-pressure closed-loop conditions are planned.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The valued comments from Prof. Wiwanitkit echo the self-criticism of the authors on the topic. The study aimed to investigate the survival potential of M. bovis in dried meat. The most effective or ideal food preparation method was not discussed but was recommended for further study. It must be emphasised, however, that no pathogens - only non-tuberculous mycobacteria - were isolated from the processed samples.


A classical one-dimensional analysis in turbomachinery was presented to estimate
aerodynamic characteristics of an impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes
which is proposed by the authors for ocean wave power conversion. With some simplified
assumptions, the efficiency vs/flow-rate coefficient curves were calculated and compared
with the experimental results both in a unidirectional steady flow condition and a sinusoidally
oscillating flow condition. The estimated results reveal a behavior of the actual characteristics curve of the turbine. Possibility of further improvement in efficiency was discussed from a viewpoint of specific speed and specific diameter.


Patients report significant distress associated with living with moderate to severe eczema, which has a very negative impact on quality of life. Patients with difficult eczema often experiment with a wide range of treatments, which may be a reflection of the limited number of effective therapies available. However, the results of their isolated experimentation are unlikely to be shared more globally with a wider audience of clinicians, researchers, or other patients.


A population transfer based on adiabatic evolutions in a three-state system undergoing an avoided crossing is considered. The efficiency of the process is analyzed in connection with the relevant parameters, bringing to light an important role of the phases of the coupling constants. The role of dissipation is also taken into account, focusing on external decays that can be described by effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. Though the population transfer turns out to be quite sensitive to the decay processes, for very large decay rates the occurrence of a Zeno phenomenon allows for restoring a very high efficiency.


The study examined content of adolescent goals and mothers' awareness of these goals in the context of type 1 diabetes management. Adolescents and their mothers independently reported short-term goals for the adolescent, which were coded into domains. Mothers predicted whether the goal they rated as most important would also be reported by their adolescent, and coders verified the accuracy of mothers' judgments. Mothers' accuracy was associated with less adolescent depressed mood. When mothers' accuracy reflected mother–adolescent agreement that the goal was important and being pursued by the adolescent, this positive accuracy was associated with less adolescent depressed mood, fewer problems with diabetes, and maternal acceptance. Results emphasize the importance of considering the social nature of goals in mother–adolescent relationships and diabetes management.


GdxY1-xCa4O(BO3)3 (GdYCOB ) crystal is a kind of valuable nonlinear optical crystal. It can realize THG noncritical phase-matching for Nd:YAG laser and keep stable mechanical and chemical properties. Nd3+, Gd3+ and Y3+ are all rare-earth ions, so we can receive Nd:GdxY1-xCa4O(BO3)3 (Nd:GdYCOB) crystal by a few Nd3+ ions doping. Combined laser action of the Nd3+ ions and nonlinear optical properties of GdYCOB host crystal in the mixed crystal, a new kind of self-frequency doubling crystal Nd:GdYCOB was obtained. The synthesis and crystal growth of Nd:GdYCOB crystal were reported in this paper. The transparent spectrum, fluorescent spectrum, and fluorescence lifetime of Nd:GdYCOB crystal were first measured at room temperature.


matory lesions in the lower gastrointestinal tract including polyps, masses and ulcers that are characterized by elongated and distorted glands surrounded by proliferation of smooth muscle fibers from the muscularis mucosae. The term "prolapsing mucosal polyp" was first described by Franzin et al in 1985 as a new entity of benign colorectal polyp. They reported that these benign colonic lesions are characterized by the appearance of inflammatory polyps with mucosal prolapse. The common histological features include inflammatory granulation tissue in the lamina propria, proliferation of smooth muscle, and hyperplastic gland. Different terminologies such as inflammatory cloacogenic polyps, inflammatory cap polyps, and inflammatory myoglandular polyps, describing similar histological features of prolapsing mucosal polyps, have been reported in the literature. We have identified polyps with histological features as prolapsing mucosal polyps in patients without clinical evidence of rectal mucosal prolapse. In the present study, we examined and analyzed a series of seven cases with such lesions in hope of clarifying the clinicopathological features of this rare entity. J Soc Colon Rectal Surgeon (Taiwan) December 2007