Purpose: Pulmonary stereotactic radiation therapy achieves a >90% local control rate for small tumors (<30mm); motivating early detection of small lung nodules. With the increasing image resolution afforded by multi‐slice CT scanners, radiologists can discern more easily these very small lung nodules. However, to overcome the challenge of image overload, assistance from lung CAD systems becomes a necessity. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the performance of our lung CAD algorithm on low‐dose, thin‐slice CTimages from the Early LungCancer Action Program (ELCAP) database.Method and Materials: Our CAD algorithm modelslung nodules as spheres (a modification of the 3D template‐matching method presented in AAPM'03) and searched for structures similar to the templates throughout the whole lung volume. This approach eliminates the need for segmentation of blood vessel‐nodule complex and is insensitive to noise and low‐contrast of some nodules. In the extraction of lung volume, a watershed transform was applied to separate left and right lungs when necessary. A 3D spherical structure element was used to smooth out the surface of both lungs in order to incorporate pleural nodules. An improved padding scheme was adapted on the templates to make the detection capacity of templates more isotropic. A test dataset was used, consisting of 55 central contiguous slices (voxel size: 0.57×0.57×1.25mm3) from a particularly challenging subject in the ELCAP database. 41 nodules were identified by an experienced radiologist from our institution. Results: 37 out of 41 nodules were detected by our CAD algorithm, a sensitivity of 90.2%. Among them, 28 out of 32 nodules with diameter <3mm were detected. The smallest detected nodule had a diameter of only ∼3 pixels (1.7mm) and a volume of ∼17 voxels. Conclusion: Our CAD method is capable of detecting with high sensitivity very small lung nodules in low‐dose thin‐slice chest CT.


In the present work, the load-bearing behaviour of Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC), which is a composite of a fine-grained concrete matrix and a reinforcement of high-performance fibres processed to textiles, exposed to uniaxial tensile loading was investigated based on numerical simulations. The investigations are focussed on reinforcement of multi-filament yarns of alkali-resistant glass. When embedded in concrete, these yarns are not entirely penetrated with cementitious matrix, which leads associated with the heterogeneity of the concrete and the yarns to a complex load-bearing and failure behaviour of the composite. The main objective of the work was the theoretical investigation of effects in the load-bearing behaviour of TRC, which cannot be explained solely by available experimental results. Therefore, a model was developed, which can describe the tensile behaviour of TRC in different experimental test setups with a unified approach. Neglecting effects resulting from Poisson's effect, a one-dimensional model implemented within the framework of the Finite Element Method was established. Nevertheless, the model takes also transverse effects into account by a subdivision of the reinforcement yarns into so-called segments. The model incorporates two types of finite elements: bar and bond elements. In longitudinal direction, the bar elements are arranged in series to represent the load-bearing behaviour of matrix or reinforcement. In transverse direction these bar element chains are connected with bond elements. The model gains most of its complexity from non-linearities arising from the constitutive relations, e. g., limited tensile strength of concrete and reinforcement, tension softening of the concrete, waviness of the reinforcement and non-linear bond laws. Besides a deterministic description of the material behaviour, also a stochastic formulation based on a random field approach was introduced in the model. The model has a number of advantageous features, which are provided in this combination only in a few of the existing models concerning TRC. It provides stress distributions in the reinforcement and the concrete as well as properties of concrete crack development like crack spacing and crack widths, which are in some of the existing models input parameters and not a result of the simulations. Moreover, the successive failure of the reinforcement can be studied with the model. The model was applied to three types of tests, the filament pull-out test, the yarn pull-out test and tensile tests with multiple concrete cracking. The results of the simulations regarding the filament pull-out tests showed good correspondence with experimental data. Parametric studies were performed to investigate the influence of geometrical properties in these tests like embedding and free lengths of the filament as well as bond properties between filament and matrix. The presented results of simulations of yarn pull-out tests demonstrated the applicability of the model to this type of test. It has been shown that a relatively fine subdivision of the reinforcement is necessary to represent the successive failure of the reinforcement yarns appropriately. The presented results showed that the model can provide the distribution of failure positions in the reinforcement and the degradation development of yarns during loading. One of the main objectives of


Simplified schematic of an all-fiber adaptive interferometer in a two-wave mixing (TWM) configuration is applied for detection of mechanical vibrations. This experiment used OFS-Fitel single-mode Er-doped optical fiber HG980. To improve the adaptive properties of the interferometer more, optical pumping of the Er-doped fibers (at 980 nm) could be done, or rare-earth doping elements with shorter spontaneous relaxation times of the metastable level could be utilized.


Abstract : STATMOOR is a static mooring analysis program written in BASIC language and is one program in a hierarchy of programs developed at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory for mooring analysis. STATMOOR analyzes the static response of a single-point moored vessel and hawser. The MENU arrangement of the program lends itself to a user-oriented conversational mode. The user has the option to enter, review, edit input, and obtain calculated results in printed tabular, video tabular, or video graphics form. Steady current, wind, and wave loads are considered. Wind load estimates are considered to be as accurate as the user's knowledge of the wind environment; current and wave loads are in a preliminary form and merit further refinement. STATMOOR was written to demonstrate the utility and ease of use of conversational mode programs and the potential for computer programs to replace bound design manuals. It s unique in that it incorporates recently developed wind load information, can confidently be used with little or no training, and is easily adaptable to most desk top computers. (Author)


Reduced dark current leading to a specific detectivity (D*) advantage over conventional detectors for extended threshold wavelength (ET) detectors are reported in this article. For an infrared (IR) detector with a graded injector barrier and barrier energy offset, the measured dark current was found to agree well with theoretical fits obtained from a 3-D carrier drift model using the designed value of Δ <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$=$</tex-math></inline-formula> 0.40 eV <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(\boldsymbol{\lambda}_{t}$</tex-math></inline-formula> <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$=$</tex-math></inline-formula> 3.1 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol{\mu}$</tex-math></inline-formula>m) (where Δ <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$=$</tex-math></inline-formula> 1.24/<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\boldsymbol\lambda_{t}$</tex-math></inline-formula>, Δ is the internal work function and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda_{t}$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the corresponding threshold wavelength), whereas the effective photoresponse threshold wavelength determined from the spectral response measurements corresponds to 13.7 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\boldsymbol{\mu}}$</tex-math></inline-formula>m at 50 K. However, for the conventional detectors, both the dark current and photoresponse threshold agree very well with the designed value of Δ. Comparing threshold wavelengths of an ET detector and a conventional detector, an advantage in D* is observed for ET detectors due to the strong reduction in dark current. Using this idea, standard threshold semiconductor detectors could be designed to operate as long wavelength detectors with a higher value of detectivity and dark current (corresponding to the original short-wavelength threshold).


Cord blood has become an important alternative unrelated donor allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell source. The NMDP has developed a comprehensive coordinated network of CB banks, search coordinating center and transplant programs with prospective collection of outcome data coordinated by the NMDP (now CIBMTR). Critical to CBT has been limited cell dose with resultant prolonged engraftment time. The NMDP cord blood inventory has both total nucleated cell count (TNC) and CD34+ quantification on the units, allowing a comparison of the relative utility of either measure in identifying units that would result in rapid engraftment. We report a retrospective review of the NMDP CBT experience, analyzing the impact of graft characteristics with engraftment and survival. Between 03/2000 and 03/2004, 12 NMDP banks (total inventory 31,976 units) released CB units to 144 patients at 44 NMDP transplant programs included in this analysis (median f/u 217 days, 26–1204 days). The median recipient age was 8.2 years (0.2–63.1 years, 38 were ≥ 15 years) and median weight was 27 kg (3–158 kg: 26% > 57 kg). Transplant indications included malignancy in 113 (ALL 36, AML 43, MDS 13, other 21), metabolic disorders (8) immune disorders (9) histiocytic disorders (3), erythrocytic abnormalities (6), platelet abnormality (1), SAA (3) and other nonmalignant disease (1). Most malignancy patients had advanced disease (60 patients (53%) were beyond CR2 or in relapse). The median prefreeze TNC was 4.4 x 10 7 /kg (0.3–433 x 10 7 /kg) and CD34+ cells 7.9 x 10 5 /kg (1.1–68.5 x 10 5 /kg) in units selected for transplantation. Thus the median CB TNC was 142 x 10 7 cells (54–396 x 10 7 cells); only 12 units under 80 x 10 7 cells were used. 114 patients engrafted by day +42 post CBT with median time to neutrophil recovery > 500/mm 3 of 21 days (8–62 days) and platelet count > 20,000 x 10 9 /L of 64 days (12–473) respectively. 1-year survival and DFS were 39% ± 9% and 38% ± 9% respectively. Relapse rate was 16% ± 8% in this high risk population. The 100-day TRM rate was 26% ± 7%. For patients > 15 yrs, TRM was 42% ± 16% vs. 21% ± 8% for patients 15 years led to poorer survival (RR 3.4 (1.7, 6.7)) and DFS (RR 2.8 (1.5, 5.2)) compared to younger children, especially those 80 x 10 7 cells) and high CD34+ cell content.


This article centers on the case of Maria de los Angeles C., hospitalized in the lunatic asylum La Castaneda from 1922 to her death in 1955. If Gayatri Spivak has asked if the subaltern can speak, Maria de los Angeles case shows the limitations and shortcomings of postcolonial and decolonial approaches and forces us to question what is to be a subject, what is to be a subaltern, and what it means to speak. We will ask about the links between the medical archive, the mexican postcolonial state and the silence. Our purpose is to explore the dual meanings of "altered states," referen- cing postcolonial states and altered lives.


THE INVENTION CONCERNS A METHOD AND DEVICE DIGITAL IMAGE COMPRESSION, IMAGE IS MADE BY A SET REFRESH, REFRESH THIS IS GROUPED IN CLASS 2 U WHOSE NUMBER IS PREDETERMINED THE CONSISTENT PROCESS TO CREATE CLASS MEMBERSHIP IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE IMAGE EVERY TIME A PIXEL P DOES NOT BELONG TO CLASS ALREADY cREATED THIS CLASS IS cREATED FROM THE ANALYSIS OF THE PIXEL rADIOMETRY. APPLICATION TO TELEVISION IMAGE COMPRESSION.


Objectives To study the AIDS-related behavior among the hotel's employees and to provide the basis references for taking health education and specific related intervention measures for preventing AIDS among the population.Methods Three hundred and ten employees in the hotels were surveyed and questionnaire was conducted.Results 86.5% of the crowds have never received injection in poor-conditioned clinic;67.4% of them tend to use a disposable syringe when they were ill;2.7% of them had sexual activity for money;10.3% of them have multiple sexual partners;In last year,only 25.8% of them use condoms when they have sexual activity every time;Most of them support to extensive using condoms.Conclusion Because of lack of security act and knowledge for preventing AIDS,the crowds have more probability to infect HIV and venereal disease than normal population.Health education and the behavior guidelines should be started as soon as possible.


The stereo analysis method is similar to the human visual system. Due to the way our eyes are positioned and controlled, our brains usually receive similar images of a scene taken from nearby points of the same horizontal level. Stereo tries to imitate this principle by computing the distance of objects, 'their depth,' from two images of two cameras using the triangulation principle. Points of imaged objects are mapped in different locations in the two stereo images. These points need to be identified in both images. The correspondences are established by correlating windows of the left and right image and finding a maximum. A central problem in stereo matching using correlation techniques lies in selecting the size of the search window. Small windows contain only a small number of data points, and thus are very sensitive to noise and therefore result in false matches. Whereas large search windows contain data from two or more different objects or surfaces, thus the estimated disparity is not accurate due to different projective distortions in the left and the right image. The new method introduces a continuous scale parameter for the matching process. It allows the adaption of the scale for every individual region and overcomes the drawbacks of fixed window sizes which is impressively demonstrated by the experimental results.


The mixing characteristics of a multi-holed static mixer have been studied for high viscous fluid. A multi-holed static mixer composed of five pairs of 4and 5-hole elements. Each hole has the diameter of 6mm at its inlet and outlet, d[m], and the size of straight part of the hole, a[m], was changed in two steps of 2mm and 5mm. The fluid viscosity and fluid velocity are also changed as parameters. Flow visualization experiments in a test pipe with 18mm diameter was performed in order to observe the occupation ratio of dyed fluid, which is injected from the nozzle with 4mm diameter mounted in the upstream of the static mixer and flows through the static mixer, and to reveal the mixing mechanism of the present system. From the results, it is found that the Reynolds number based on the mean velocity in the 4 hole element and the hole size, Rea[-], divided by a contraction ratio of the hole, a/d, well correlates the mixing and pressure loss characteristics. From the flow visualization in the hole, it is observed that the twin vortices are formed and that they have a spiral structure. This flow structure is intensified by the increase of the velocity. Then, this is concluded to be the mixing mechanism of the present system. Introduction In order to save energy and space in mixing process and to realize high mixing efficiency, static mixers have been often applied in chemical industrial processes. Static mixers commonly used realize division and twist processes in a pipe flow without additional power. Then, industrial process becomes very simple. Until now, some types of static mixers have been suggested such as Kinetics(Berkman & Calabrese, 1988; Szalai & Muzzio, 2003; Wageningen, Mudde, van den Akker, 2004) Sulzer(Zalc, Szalai, Muzzio & Jaffer, 2002; Das, Legrand, Morancais & Carnelle, 2005) and Lightnin(Heyouni, Roustan & Do-Quand, 2002). They have been applied in many situation of mixing and many reports have been published on their efficiencies and mixing characteristics(Hobbs & Muzzio, 1997). However, the efficiency of such a static mixer seriously depends on fluid properties, pipe size and streamwise space. Additionally, it is very difficult for such static mixers to respond various situations because they have very complex structures inside in order to realize effective mixing. There is no new trend mixer suggested until now due to this difficulty. In this paper, a multi-holed static mixer with a simple structure is treated. This new type of a static mixer consists of some simple elements only with several holes tapered at the inlet and outlet in a simple disk-shaped plate mounted normal to a flow. The effective mixing is realized by a combination of these elements. This has a large advantage on scale-up problems because of its simplicity of the structure. Especially, the effective mixing in the core region of a pipe can be expected. The previous static mixers such as Kinetics mainly use large-scale twist flows, and then, such mixers is effective for outer region in a pipe. On the other hand, it is very difficult for such twist-type mixers to mix the core region. The present type mixers can effectively deriver fluid from inner region to outer and reversely. This paper reveals its efficiency for high viscous fluid mixing by flow visualization experiments and image processing methods. Especially, the effects of fluid viscosity, the velocity through the hole and the hole-size of the elements on the occupation ratio of dyed tracer in the test cross-section are investigated carefully. From the results, the mixing characteristics and the mixing mechanism of the multi-holed static mixer is discussed. Experimental Methods Material As working fluid, starch syrup aqueous solution was adopted. The Newtonian viscosity of the fluid, μ[Pa s], was changed in three steps of 0.0978, 0.209 and 0.367 Pa s by adjusting the concentration of starch syrup in solution. The fluid temperature ranged from 24 to 26C by room temperature control in the present experiments. The viscosity of the fluid was checked before and after each flow visualization experiment. Static mixer elements Figure 1 shows the configuration of the static mixer elements used in this study. A static mixer treated in this paper consists of a pair of elements with 4 and 5 holes. Each element has 5mm thickness and 18mm diameter as fitted to the test pipe diameter, D[m]. The holes of these elements were positioned in a coaxial manner, but with different distance from the center axis of the element as each outlet hole contacts with each other. Each hole has 45 degree taper at the inlet and the outlet as the inlet and outlet diameters of the respective holes, d[m], were set at 6mm. The axis angle of each outer hole was fixed at 45 degree in each pair set. In this pair, 3 or 4 times of 18.2% area per one hole of inlet and outlet holes is overlapped. Each element is made of transparent acrylic resin for flow visualization experiments. Five pairs of elements, which were totally 10 elements, were applied in a line. The hole-size of each element was set uniform in a respective combination. The hole-size, a[mm], of each combination was changed in two steps of 2 and 5 mm in diameter. These combinations of mixing systems are called 2/6 and 5/6 systems in this paper, respectively. The hole open ratio to the cross-sectional area in flow path is 6.18 % in 4 hole section and 4.96% in 5 hole section for 2/6 system, and 38.7% and 30.9% in 5/6 system. Fig.1 Configuration of static mixer elements Flow System In this study, flow visualization experiments were performed in order to investigate the mixing characteristics and the mixing mechanism. Figure 2 shows the schematic view of flow system applied for this study. The combined static mixer mentioned above was mounted in experimental flow apparatus, which consists of a reservoir tank, a pump, a tracer injection part, a test section and an observation window. The size of the test straight pipe, D[m], was set at 18mm diameter. Flow visualization experiments for investigating mixing characteristics were performed at a cross-section downstream of the static mixer. The test cross-section was located at 0.07m downstream of the end of the static mixer and a slit light with 5mm width was inserted there from the outside of the test pipe. The dyed tracer fluid whose viscosity was set at the same as the bulk flow viscosity was inserted from a nozzle installed at a center axis of the test pipe. The dyed fluid is injected from the tank pressurized by nitrogen gas as the velocity of tracer fluid takes the same value as the bulk fluid velocity. The tracer injection nozzle with 4mm diameter was mounted at 0.07m upstream of the inlet of the static mixer in the present experiments. As the dyed tracer, uranine was used for the experiments to measure the tracer occupation ratio mentioned in the next section. Digital photos of the test cross-section were taken from an observation window at the downstream end of the test pipe. By using of an image processing method as mentioned in the next section, the occupation area of tracer dye was calculated by a computer. For the experiments studying mixing mechanism, micro-size air bubbles were used as tracer. The bubbles were inserted from the reservoir tank to the main pipe flow. The slit light was inserted to a 5-hole element of 4th pair. Digital photo was also taken from the observation window at the downstream end of the test pipe. The side view of the static mixer was also observed. In this experiment, micro-size bubbles were also used as tracer. Fig.2 Experimental apparatus The bulk velocity was controlled by an inverter of pump and ranged from 0.0305 to 0.45m/s. In these conditions, bulk Reynolds number, ReD[-], defined by the following equation ranged from 4 to 73.


Intense pulsed light (IPL) is regarded as the gold standard of nonablative photorejuvenation. Yet there is still a need to observe its efficacy and safety on dark skin using a split‐face module.


This paper proposes a new stability criterion with lower conservation and delay dependence for multi-area LFC scheme via a new relaxed integral inequality, and both time delay and the presence of load disturbance are taken into account into the analysis process. Based on the constructed augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii (LK) functional, the proposed criterion expressed by linear matrix inequality (LMI) is deduced. The derivative of the augmented LK functional is bounded tightly by employing a relaxed integral inequality which is based on the auxiliary function and the extended reciprocally matrix inequality. The load perturbation is modeled as a nonlinear norm-bounded function in the stability analysis. Finally, the obtained stability criterion is detected on the interconnected two-area LFC system, so that the effectiveness of the theoretical results is proved.


Although agricultural credit is one of the important issues in agriculture, almost no organized study has been done on caring about the distribution and utilization to achieve the agricultural prosperity and economic growth. This analytic and descriptive study was conducted to explore, that factor affecting the efficiency of agricultural facilities from viewpoint of farmers and credit experts. To achieve the objectives of the study, the survey data were collected by an effective and reliable questionnaire designed to this study. Results indicated that the process of agricultural training, low age and higher education of farmer had a positive significance relationship with effectiveness of their earning facilities on the fields of profit, increasing productions employment, and satisfaction with farming.


Pressure-induced amorphization has been observed in a number of oxide crystals, including [alpha]-quartz. We have examined the properties of quartz as a function of pressure using classical interatomic potentials, and [ital ab] [ital initio] pseudopotentials. With both approaches we find that the quartz structure becomes mechanically unstable in the 20--35 GPa range. The instability is reflected in a soft zone-edge phonon mode which occurs in the same pressure range. We have analyzed the microscopic origin of the softenings, and relate them to the presence of an oxygen close-packed cubic arrangement in the quartz high-pressure structure. Within this close-packed arrangement, the silicon cations exhibit an instability between fourfold and sixfold coordination sites.


Despite recognition of the significance of sessile serrated adenomas as precursor lesions in the serrated pathway to colorectal cancer [1,2] and the elevated risk of malignancy in serrated polyposis syndrome [3], little is known about the clinical features of colonic serrated polyps. Sessile serrated adenomas have been increasingly recognized in patients under 40 years of age [4]. The authors identified a group of five young patients with large proximal colonic serrated polyps found at colonoscopy undertaken to investigate symptoms of abdominal discomfort and loose frequent stools, within a private practice setting over a 12-month period. After failure of clinical consultation, blood and stool examination to determine a cause, all patients proceeded to endoscopy and colonoscopy under conscious sedation. As is the usual practice, routine biopsies were taken from the stomach, duodenum and right and left colon without cause for symptoms identified. At colonoscopy, all patients had at least one large, flat polyp in the proximal colon with a mucus cap identified; all visualized polyps were resected and retrieved for histopathological examination. All large flat proximal polyps were reported as serrated lesions (either hyperplastic polyp or sessile serrated adenoma). The patients were all female and aged 23 – 31 years of age without family history of colorectal cancer or of colonic polyps in first-degree relatives. All were of Caucasian background and only one was a current smoker. All patients described an improvement in diarrheal symptoms at first follow-up consultation without other interventions being instituted in the interim; however, two patients described recurrence of symptoms at subsequent review. The authors believe this small series raises the question of whether serrated colonic polyps are associated with clinical symptoms. In addition, the improvement in symptoms after polyp resection raises the possibility of a causal role. Further prospective studies which include a significant number of young patients undergoing colonoscopy for symptoms, a demographic which may be underrepresented in cohorts published to date, are required.


AROUNDTHE corner from the registration desk at the Spirituality in Health conference was a man blowing into a didgeridoo while shaking a tambourine. Elsewhere there were delegates walking through a labyrinth set out in the grounds of the conference centre in the heart of the Lake District. And to kick-start the three-day meeting there was meditation to the throbbing sound of a Tibetan singing-bowl. It was clear this was going to be no ordinary health conference.


Although water is the most abundant and important component of the body, many of its relations to disease have until recent years failed of recognition. In the blood alone, for example, acute changes in concentration are associated with conditions of shock or collapse and their treatment, while chronic hydremia (relative, at least) accompanies the anemias. Perhaps the favorite method of studying blood concentration heretofore has been by estimation of the hemoglobin content. This cannot be achieved with any degree of accuracy in less time than required for the complete development of the acid hematin color (ten minutes). Nor can any hemoglobin method justly claim a sensitivity of better than 1 or 2 per cent; Leake, 1 in fact, places the average error of the best methods at ± 5 per cent. The other body fluids do not lend themselves to very rapid and accurate determination of changes in the water


Two Russian specialists in the application of radar imagery to a wide range of environmental monitoring tasks describe the results of aerial and space radar surveys of the dried bed of the Aral Sea. The surveys were carried out at a variety of frequencies, which permit the identification of many diverse features associated with the regression of the sea. Translated by Edward Torrey, Alexandria, VA from: Geografiya i prirodnyye resursy, 1999, No. 4, pp. 83-85.


Hericium erinaceus is a medicinal mushroom that has various health benefits. The cultivation of mushrooms with solid substrates was previously reported to improve their chemical compositions and bioactivities. The effect of the solid-state cultivation of H. erinaceus using jasmine rice media was evaluated with regard to the nutritional value, mycochemicals, and antioxidant activities of the cultivated products. White jasmine rice (R1) and a mixture of white and red jasmine rice (R2) were used as growth substrates for H. erinaceus . The products of their cultivation, such as rice-fermented mycelia (MR1 and MR2) and basidiomata (BR1 and BR2), were assessed to determine their nutritive contents, mycochemicals, and antioxidant activities compared to unfermented rice (R1 and R2) and commercial basidiome (BS). The nutritional values were measured quantitatively, while the mycochemicals were evaluated qualitatively. The antioxidant activity was measured using the level of DPPH scavenging activity. The results showed that H. erinaceus was successfully cultivated on jasmine rice media. The pH of the media was positively correlated with mycelia growth. The R2-fermented mycelium (MR2) product had higher protein levels (11.40 g/100g) compared to unfermented R2 (6.74 g/100g). Basidiome cultivated on R2 media (BR2) exhibited higher protein levels (15.06 g/100g) compared to commercial basidiome (BS) (10.45 g/100 g). The rice-fermented mycelia contained alkaloids, terpenoids, and saponins. The MR2 sample showed the highest level of antioxidant activity (IC 50 =1.26 mg/ml). These findings suggested that cultivation on jasmine rice enhanced the nutritional value and mycochemical compositions of H. erinaceus , with beneficial antioxidant activity.


This invention discloses a method and communication network system to realize mixed discharge number to solve the problem in existing technique that the number transplant is limited by exchange device and consumes resource. Wherein, allotting a public logic number and physical number to determine user zone; creating the correlation for said two numbers in SHLR; original calling is send to the SHLR; the SHLR analyzes the calling and called numbers, obtains at least the called physical number or cruised number according to correlation and returns to the original calling to take route reselection and succeed calling. The invention can also move PHS user to 3G network smoothly.


The power and propulsion system for an electric ship is a complex combination of electrical, mechanical, thermal and fluid dynamic components. Effective analysis of its behavior requires detailed computer simulations. Simulations of the complete system can be computationally very demanding, and execution times can be particularly problematical when multi-run optimization studies or real-time simulations are required. One approach to reducing the computational load in these simulations is to partition the system into a number of subsystems with different dynamic ranges. This allows different parts of the system to be solved with different time steps, thus avoiding the use of a small time step that is dictated by the fastest components, to simulate slow components that could be solved satisfactorily with longer time steps. The result is a simulation with many fewer individual calculations and therefore faster execution. This approach is referred to as multi-rate simulation. Although it offers more efficient execution, it also raises additional questions regarding the accuracy and stability of the simulation. Multi-rate simulation has been investigated using the example of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in a joint study by California State University, Chico, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Glasgow. The simulation language ESL promises to be a valuable aid in evaluating multi-rate techniques.


The research includes evaluation of geotechnical properties of Quaternary deposits in various locations in terms of Yaychee / Kirkuk, physical tests showed that the soil moisture content (mc%) in areas ranging from (1.95 to 16.74%), while showing the values results of specific weight ( Gs) ranging from (2.65 to 2.76), and the results of the grain size analysis showed that the soil study area is homogeneous and contains a wide range of different sizes and granules in the proportion of volumes grained constituent of the soil .Az was soft soil is predominant in the study area and rates mixed with a less than soils coarse ratios according to the results of the atterberqe limits (Liquid Limit and plastic Limit) showed that the soil type (CL) of mud and a low-plasticity with the exception of soil second location which Silty and Low plasticity (ML), while the results showed the engineering tests of the examination direct shear values that internal friction angle ranged between (35-41°) and the cohesion between (60-100 kpa), while the results of the Consolidation test in the study area showed transaction values ranging from effective pressure (Po) (16.09-21.39 kpa ), and the pressure of the preconsolidation (Pc) (65-240 kpa), and the proportion of voids (eo) (0.52 -1.061), and compression modulus (Cc) (0.22-0.339), and swelling coefficient (Cr) (0.029- 0.166), the soils excessively Consolidation O.C.R, and the chemical analysis it was observed low proportion of gypsum, and organic content of soils base and low for the content of soluble salts.


The EMPART (Electronics Materials, Packaging and Reliability Techniques) research group is a multidisciplinary research unit acting mainly within the information technology focus area of the University of Oulu, especially in the electronics, photonics and nanotechnology subfields. The research also has links with biotechnology, the other focus area of the University. The group is a key player in the Micro and Nanotechnology Center of the University of Oulu, where the overall target is to integrate nanostructures enabling novel functionality of electronic, telecommunication, bio/medical and environmental devices.


The radiation pressure acting on microparticles is a function of the size parameter. The particle position in an optically levitated particle varies with radiation pressure and therefore with particle size. How this variation affects the elastically scattered light is investigated theoretically and checked by experiment.


INTRODUCTION:
GBM accounts for approximately 75% of all high-grade gliomas.The standard treatment regimen is surgery followed by post-operative radiotherapy 60 Gy in 2 Gy /# given in 30 # along with temozolamide. Hypofractionated radiotherapy with reduced treatment time is considered to be an acceptable alternate form of treating elderly and poor prognosis younger patients.
AIM OF THE STUDY:
To evaluate the safety and efficacy of hypofractionated radiotherapy in RPA class 4, 5 and 6 glioblastoma patients and to assess quality of life after the end of treatment. The secondary objective is to assess response rate and survival.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Single arm prospective study with 30 patients diagnosed with glioblastomapresented to the department of radiation oncology,madras medical college, Chennai. Patients diagnosed with glioblastomamultiforme with age 50 and KPS >70 are treated with phase 1: 30 Gy/3 Gy /# in 10# and boost of 7#/3 Gy/# to tumour and a margin of 1.5 cm to a total of 51Gy to the tumour along with concurrent administration of temozolamide and advuvanttemozolamide in 6 cycles. Toxicity of the treatment with RTOG and FACT-Br scale with quality oflife at the end of the treatment period is noted.
RESULTS:
Among 30 patients, 24 are men and 6 are women.Median age is 56 years. There is no deterioration in the quality of life at the end of the treatment period in any of the patients treated. CNS late toxicity grade 1observed in 9 patients, grade 2 in 5 patients and grade 3 in 6 patients. No grade 4 or treatment related deaths in this study. Partial response is observed in 12 patients and stable response in 16 patients.
CONCLUSION:
Hypofractionated radiotherapy with temozolamide can be considered as an acceptable alternate fractionated therapy protocol in selected group ofglioblastoma patients with acceptable toxicity.


Conservation of monuments is a cultural, artistic and technical activity based on humanistic and scientific knowledge. In recent years, the general deterioration of Italian cultural heritage has led to the development of the conservation science of monuments, which falls within the application of scientific methods to the study of stone materials. The aim of conservation science is to prolong the life of cultural heritage artefacts, and this goal is reached by reinforcing, through applied research, the preservation, conservation and restoration of monuments in order to enhance their value. In the study of stone materials used in monuments, the main fields of research concern the characterization of original and quarry materials, the investigations on the causes and mechanisms of deterioration and the evaluation of restoration products.
The present work is an example of the conservation science of monuments applied to the study of various aspects of carbonate lithotypes often used in the Veneto Region (North East of Italy) for their aesthetic qualities and easy of working: the main ones used are the so-called "soft stone" of the Berici Hills or "Vicenza Stones" and the "Rosso Ammonitico Veronese".


This paper presents new results from a study o f flow-of-control in programs involving concurren t processes . Within the framework of flow-of-control , this paper : 1) defines a property of parallel program behavio r called proper termination (PT) ; 2) shows that any properly terminating progra m containing a specification of the resources it requires will be free of deadlock ; 3) identifies other important features of PT pro grams ; an d 4) presents an algorithm to rapidly decide PT fo r a given program. This work is presented in the context of the control-flow component of a complex bigraph (comple x bi-logic directed graph) model of computation [1,10] .


This experiment researched that the variation of microorganism and oxidation parameters of pork jerky during storage treated by litsea cubeba oil, compared preservation and antioxidant activity of litsea cubeba oil under different conditions and compared variation of microorganism and oxidation parameters in the same storage condition. The results showed that the temperature and illumination had no obvious effect on the preservation and antioxidant activity of litsea cubeba oil. But the packaging and sterilization method had significant effect.The preservation and antioxidant activity of the group treated by litsea cubeba oil were better than the blank control group.


An approach merging the concepts of fuzzy logic and sensor-based behaviors has been developed to add a qualitative reasoning capability to the real-time control of autonomous mobile robots. The approach is implemented using custom-designed computer boards which include recently developed VLSI fuzzy inferencing chips. The design and operation of these boards are first described and an example of their use for the autonomous navigation of a mobile robot is presented. The development of qualitative reasoning schemes emulating human- like navigation in a-priori unknown environments is discussed. The approach using superposition of elemental sensor-based behaviors expressed in the fizzy Sets theoretic framework is shown to allow easy development and testing of the inferencing rule base, while providing for progressive addition of behaviors to resolve situations of increasing complexity. The efficiency of such schemes, which can consist of as little as a dozen qualitative rules, is illustrated in experiments involving an autonomous mobile robot navigating on the basis of very sparse and inaccurate sensor data.


Real time failure detection for systems having a linear stochastic dynamical truth model is posed in terms of two confidence region sheaths. One confidence region sheath is about the expected no failure trajectory, the other is about the Kalman estimate. If these two confidence regions of ellipsoidal cross-section are disjoint at any time instant, a failure is declared. A test for two ellipsoid overlap is developed which involves finding a single point x* whose presence in both ellipsoids is necessary and sufficient for overlap. Thus, the overlap test is contorted into a search for x*, shown to be the solution of a nonlinear static optimization problem that is easily solved once an associated scalar Lagrange multiplier ? is known. A successive approximations iteration equation for ? was obtained and shown to converge as a contraction mapping. In an application of detecting simulated gyro failures in an Inertial Navigation System (INS), the iterations converged very quickly, easily allowing real time failure detection.


The use of brick in construction is commonly used, especially in the construction of
buildings and infrastructure. Various studies have been conducted to produce methods that can
increase the strength of brick at the same time can reduce the cost of manufacturing bricks. In
order to reduce cost of manufacturing, one of the solution applied was by using waste as part of
bricks production materials. In this study, sugarcane bagasse (SuCaB) ash was used as a part
of compressed earth brick (CEB) by replacing the quantity of cement for SuCaB ash. The
study focused on the physical and mechanical properties of CEB containing SuCaB and the
optimum percentage of SuCaB ash as partial cement replacement in CEB. There are 4 types of
percentages used; 0%, 20%, 25% and 30% from cement content. All mixed use the same water
content of 30% of cement content by weight and the ratio for cement: laterite soil used was 1:
6. A total of 72 specimen with size of 100mm x 50mm x 40mm was produced. The test
conducted were Initial Rate Absorption Test (IRA), Density Test, Dimensions Test,
Compression Test and Water Absorption Test. From the experimental results, the optimum
SuCaB ash percentage as cement replacement in CEB was 20%. It recorded the highest
compressive strength of 16.23 MPa at 28 days while for the Initial Rate Absorption test, it lies
within the range specified. The density of CEB containing 20% of SuCaB shows slightly lower
value where it decreased for about 0.4% from the control specimen. From this study, it can be
concluded that waste materials such as sugarcane bagasse can be used as part of construction
materials. However, further study needs to be conducted such as on the energy consumption,
chemical properties and others to enhance the knowledge on this area before it can be applied
into the brick production.


In recent years, the demand for radio spectrum for wireless communication is growing due to increase in number of users and popularity of data and multimedia services. This has been observed in the recent auctions completed word wide for the vestige of radio spectrum. The radio spectrum has been assigned to different services and it is very much difficult for the emerging wireless technologies to get entry due to rigid spectrum policy and heavy opportunity cost. The inefficient prevailing spectrum management causes the artificial spectrum scarcity. The measurement campaigns conducted worldwide have confirmed this by showing that the considerable amount of radio spectrum is underutilized. Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) and the spectrum reframing are the two viable solutions for the problem of spectrum scarcity. In DSA, unlicensed user opportunistically uses the vacant licensed spectrum with the help of Cognitive Radio. Cognitive Radio is a key enabling technology for DSA. In Cognitive Radio paradigm, secondary user (SU) i.e. unlicensed user locate the vacant licensed spectrum of licensed user i.e. Primary user (PU) and uses it without harmful interference to the PUs. The secondary use of licensed spectrum provides efficient use of spectrum. Spectrum reframing means the recovery of spectrum from its existing users for the purpose of re-assignment, either for new uses, or for the introduction of new spectrally efficient Technologies. The aim of this paper to evaluate spectrum management using cognitive radio network.


Water pollution is a major environmental problem due to rapid population growth that over exploit and pollute the water resources. In this work the physico-chemical study of Asejire and Eleyele reservoirs are carried out to examine the water pollution levels. Eleyele and Asejire reservoirs are the two major sources of pipe-borne water in Ibadan with a population of about four million people. Water samples were collected from both sites from January 2003-December 2007 and analysed for 13 physico-chemical parameters. The data were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to define the parameters responsible for the main variability in water pollution. The PCA produces 5 significant main components explaining 66.6% and 69.8% variance in Asejire and Eleyele reservoir, respectively. Generalized Linear Model (GLM) is applied to study the variability in turbidity level which shows that four parameters in each reservoir are important to explain the turbidity variation. Also many parameters in Asejire lie within the SON and WHO permissible limits while in Eleyele reservoir many parameters lie out. This therefore is an indication that water in Eleyele reservoir is more polluted than in Asejire reservoir.


About this report Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 requires a report to be laid before Parliament each year describing the research activity the Government has funded to improve equipment for disabled people. In 2000 the term 'disability equipment' was replaced by 'assistive technology' in the title of the report, reflecting the new terminology used in the field. The definition for assistive technology is as follows: "Assistive Technology is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people." This broad definition means that a wide range of products and services are eligible for inclusion in the report, both high and low tech. Technological advances mean that the breadth of work covered is constantly expanding. The research covers not only specific products, but also systems, combinations of technologies, and interfaces to new mainstream technology, for example the internet. The report aims to reflect research and development activity in relation to a wide range of impairments and health conditions and also to reflect the range of Government funding programmes across health, social care, education, housing and employment. The report covers any aspect of research and development work in assistive technology, including service provision, research on motivation, cost or patterns of use, as well as technological development.


To provide useful information during military operations, or as part of other security situations, a biological aerosol detector has to respond within seconds or minutes to an attack by virulent biological agents, and with low false alarms. Within this time frame, measuring virulence of a known microorganism is extremely difficult, especially if the microorganism is of unknown antigenic or nucleic acid properties. Measuring "live" characteristics of an organism directly is not generally an option, yet only viable organisms are potentially infectious. Fluorescence based instruments have been designed to optically determine if aerosol particles have viability characteristics. Still, such commercially available biological aerosol detection equipment needs to be improved for their use in military and civil applications. Air has an endogenous population of microorganisms that may interfere with alarm software technologies. To design robust algorithms, a comprehensive knowledge of the airborne biological background content is essential. For this reason, there is a need to study ambient live bacterial populations in as many locations as possible. Doing so will permit collection of data to define diverse biological characteristics that in turn can be used to fine tune alarm algorithms. To avoid false alarms, improving software technologies for biological detectors is a crucial feature requiring considerations of various parameters that can be applied to suppress alarm triggers. This NATO Task Group will aim for developing reference methods for monitoring biological aerosol characteristics to improve alarm algorithms for biological detection. Additionally, they will focus on developing reference standard methodology for monitoring biological aerosol characteristics to reduce false alarm rates.


This paper analyses the content and necessity of the introduction of culture in College English teaching.It also provides the method of the introduction of culture.


Objective To study a feasible technology plan for information communication between doctors and patients. Methods Based on three-layer B/W/S and Windows 2003 Server, MS SQL Server was used for database administration. The Apache Tomcat 5.5 was adopted as Web server and Web services were realized by using JSP (Java Server Page). Results Health care information was collected and integrated in medical information platform of clinical department which was connected into Internet directly. The information platform established communication way between doctors and patients and it had functions for chief complaint, diagnosis, reservation and revisit. Conclusion Communication between doctors and patients are realized.


This study aims to test and analyze the effect of product quality and service quality on egg box customer satisfaction at PT Mega Sari Agung Sejahtera Langkat Medan. The analytical method is multiple linear analysis. The population is customers at PT Mega Sari Agung Sejahtera Langkat Medan totaling 276 people. The sample research was 163 customers of PT Mega Sari Agung Sejahtera Langkat Medan. The conclusion showed that product quality and service quality partially and simultaneously had an effect on egg box customer satisfaction at PT Mega Sari Agung Sejahtera Langkat Medan. The test results of the determination coefficient above is the amount of adjusted R Square is 0.205, then the influence of product quality and service quality on egg box customer satisfaction at PT Mega Sari Agung Sejahtera Langkat Medan is 20.5% while the remaining 79.50% is influenced by other factors which was not examined in this study.


The utility model relates to a strong shock data collecting and intensity recording device based on the control of a network and a Chinese short message, which comprises a data collecting system, a triggering system, a storage system, a time system, a data transmission and communication system and a control system, wherein an embedded self-adaptive network interface chip and an embedded GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) module which supports the receiving and the sending of the Chinese short message are arranged in the recording device; a network communication interface has the capacity of automatically monitoring a network connecting state, and can automatically recheck the network connection between a network and the recording device at fixed time when the network can not be connected so as to ensure the stability and the reliability of data transmission and improve the stability of the data transmission of the strong shock recording device; and the Chinese short message of a mobile phone is utilized to realize the functions of recording device state detection, sensor calibration, function setting and fast intensity reporting. The recording device can efficiently and flexibly carry out strong shock data collection and real-time strong shock recording device state monitoring through the network or the Chinese short message, thereby enlarging the application range and enhancing the reliability of the device.


To keep the safety of nuclear power plants, nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of cylindrical pipes, which carry hot water, is an issue of a great interest. Ultrasonic methods using bulk wave are commonly used for NDE of such pipes, however still having problems that the methods consume a long time to inspect large areas. On the other hand, NDE methods using guided wave should overcome this problem because the guided wave has a characteristic of long propagation range. Nevertheless, there have been few investigations to clarify the behavior of the guided wave in the fluid-filled cylindrical pipes. We therefore developed an analytical method to calculate particle displacement, and we compared the dispersion curves, cut-off frequencies, and particle displacements of guided waves propagating in the hollow pipe and the fluid-filled pipe.


The Argonne Expedited Site Characterization (ANL ESC) methodology, developed by Argonne National Laboratory and popularly known as ESC, is an effective, cost- and time-saving approach for technically successful preremedial site characterizations. The major objective of the ANL ESC is to determine whether a site containing contamination requires remediation. The methodology is equivalent to a CERCLA RI/FS or a RCRA RFI/CMS investigation. The ANL ESC methodology is an interactive, integrated process emphasizing the use of existing data, multiple complementary characterization methods, and on-site decision making to optimize site investigations. The ANL ESC is the basis for the expedited site characterization standard of the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials). The methodology has been registered under the service mark QuickSite{trademark} to offer both clients and providers a mechanism for ensuring that they receive the ANL ESC methodology developed by Argonne. The ANL ESC is a flexible process and is neither site nor contaminant dependent. It can be tailored to fit the unique characteristics that distinguish one site from the next, in contrast to the traditional approach of making all sites conform to the same rigid, inflexible investigation regimen. The ANL ESC has been applied successfully to remedial site investigations of landfills with multiple contaminants in the southwestern US for the Department of Interior (DOI), to former grain storage facilities in the Midwest for the Commodity Credit Corporation of the Department of Agriculture (CCC/USDA), to weapons production facilities in Texas for the Department of Energy (DOE), and to closing and active military bases in several locations for the Department of Defense (DOD). The process can be applied both at sites that have seen little investigation and at sites that have undergone numerous previous site characterizations without reaching closure. In the latter case (e.g., at many DOE and DOD sites), the ANL ESC offers a rapid solution, frequently with little additional field work.


An administrator to build and maintain the security of a server shell, in other words there is no other alternative other than to con gure a server using the server. While this shell techniques require weeks to memorize power and high accuracy due to its con guration there are many commands that should be included into it. Solaris is a Unix derivative operaasi systems are free or Open Source is widely used for the construction of the current server. To facilitate the development server with solaris in need of a tool that is webmin, because webmin tools with a web-based display to administer the network so that no longer confused with the existing commands on the shell.


The goal of this paper is to analyze a two unit parallel system subject to random shocks. For this purpose, a reliability model is developed in which two identical units work in parallel. The operative unit is subjected to random shocks with some probabilities. The unit fails completely through normal mode. The maintenance and repair of the unit are conducted by a server who visits the system immediately. The shocked unit undergoes for maintenance whereas repair of the unit is done at its failure due to the reasons other than shocks. Priority is given to repair over maintenance. All random variables are statistically independent. The shock and failure times of the unit are exponentially distributed where as the distributions of maintenance and repair times are taken as arbitrary. Using regenerative point technique and semiMarkov process, several measures of system effectiveness are obtained in steady state. The graphical behavior of MTSF, availability and profit function has been analyzed for particular values of various parameters and costs.


To facilitate the integration of distributed energy resources and improve existing operational strategies, power distribution systems have seen a rapid proliferation of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based applications. DRL approach is well suited for dynamic, complex, and uncertain operational environments such as power distribution systems. This paper reviews the rapidly growing body of literature that develops applications of reinforcement learning in power distribution systems. These applications include active grid management, energy management system, retail electricity market, and demand response. This paper also summarizes the challenges of deploying DRL based solutions in distribution systems such as safety, robustness, interpretability, and sample efficiency. Finally, the research opportunities that can be pursued to address the challenges are provided.


Lehmer's totient problem consists of determining the set of positive integers n such that φ(n)|n−1 where φ is Euler's totient function. It is not obvious whether there are any composite n satisfying this divisibility condition; in fact, any such composite n is a Carmichael number (although every known Carmichael number doesn't actually have this property). We will generalize the above divisibility condition (with the cardinality [when finite] of the group of units in a quotient ring playing the role of φ(n)), construct a reasonable notion of Carmichael numbers in a PID and use a pair of handy short exact sequences to show how similar statements to those above follow in more generality. Also, we'll pick up a couple of generalizations for classical identities involving φ along the way. Included will be a generalization of the work of Korselt and an extension of the work of Alford, Granville and Pomerance.


The focus of the current study is to understand the strength and limits of immersive virtual environments as a new media for learning and teaching relative motion concepts. Our results show that while training in both Immersive Virtual Environment (IVE) and Desktop (non-immersive) Virtual Environment (DVE) resulted in a significant improvement on relative motion problem solving test in general, the IVE group performed significantly better than the DVE group on solving two-dimensional relative motion problems after training in the simulations. This result supports our hypothesis that egocentric encoding of the scene in IVE (where the learner constitutes a part of a scene being immersed in it) as compared to allocentric encoding on a computer screen in DVI (where the earner is looking on the scene from "outside") is beneficial for studying two-dimensional problems.


1. An apparatus for treating an ophthalmic disease, comprising: means (2) for generating high intensity ultrasound beam focused on the eye, the unit (3) controls connected to the means for generating high intensity focused ultrasound beam, wherein the control unit (3) configured control to control the duration and frequency of high intensity focused ultrasound beam generated by said means, wherein the pulse duration is from about 3 to 6, and h ota is from about 19 to 23 MGts.2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control unit (3) is further adapted to control the capacity of the high intensity focused ultrasound beam generated by said means, the capacity is about 1 to 5 acoustical Vt.3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the power is preferably about 2 acoustic Vt.4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the frequency is preferably about 21 MGts.5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the width is about 3 p.6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising at least one eye ring (1), wherein a proximal end of the ring (1) is adapted to applying to the eyeball, and said means (2) mounted on the distal end of the eye ring (1) .7 . The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for generating high intensity focused ultrasound beam includes at least two piezoelectric element unit upravleniya.8 activated consecutively. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein each piezoelectric element has a surface of about 30 mm.9. A method of treating


PURPOSE
To maximize normal tissue sparing for treatments requiring motion encompassing margins. Motion mitigation techniques including DMLC or couch tracking can freeze tumor motion within the treatment aperture potentially allowing for smaller treatment margins and thus better sparing of normal tissue. To enable for a safe application of this concept in the clinic we propose adapting margins dynamically in real-time during radiotherapy delivery based on personalized tumor localization confidence. To demonstrate technical feasibility we present a phantom study.

METHODS
We utilize a realistic anthropomorphic dynamic thorax phantom with a lung tumor model embedded close to the spine. The tumor, a 3D-printout of a patient's GTV, is moved 15mm peak-to-peak by diaphragm compression and monitored by continuous EPID imaging in real-time. Two treatment apertures are created for each beam, one representing ITV -based and the other GTV-based margin expansion. A soft tissue localization (STiL) algorithm utilizing the continuous EPID images is employed to freeze tumor motion within the treatment aperture by means of DMLC tracking. Depending on a tracking confidence measure (TCM), the treatment aperture is adjusted between the ITV and the GTV leaf.

RESULTS
We successfully demonstrate real-time personalized margin adjustment in a phantom study. We measured a system latency of about 250 ms which we compensated by utilizing a respiratory motion prediction algorithm (ridge regression). With prediction in place we observe tracking accuracies better than 1mm. For TCM=0 (as during startup) an ITV-based treatment aperture is chosen, for TCM=1 a GTV-based aperture and for 0<TCM<1 a linear interpolation between the two apertures is chosen.

CONCLUSIONS
We have proposed and demonstrated a concept to safely shrink treatment margins during radiotherapy and adapt to tracking confidence in real-time. Normal tissue sparing is maximized. The worst case scenario results in delivering a plan with standard margins used in the clinic today.


A structure/property relationship is developed between the dynamic storage modules, E`, and the cross polarization time constant T{sub CH} for a series of polyurethane elastomers. The correlations made are based on the standard linear solid model (SLSM) and on the concept that T{sub CH} is modulated by near static molecular motions. The use of the SLM model to describe the main viscoelastic range of these polyurethanes is contrasted to previous models used to develop similar correlations.


In this work, we demonstrate the powerful methodology of electronic transport characterization in UTBB FD-SOI devices using cryogenic operation under interface coupling measurement condition. At first we study quantitatively the high-k/metal gate stack-induced transport behavior in long channel case, and, then we investigate the transport properties evolution in highly scaled devices. Mobility degradation in short devices is shown to stem from additional scattering mechanism, unlike long channel devices, which are attributed to process-induced defects near source and drain region.


Liquid-liquid equilibrium tie-line data are reported for ternary mixture of (water + methanol +β-citronellol) at 283.15 and 313.15 K. The miscibility for the ternary (water + methanol + β-citronellol) LLE was increasing as the the temperature increased. The experimental liquid–liquid equilibrium data have been satisfactorily represented by using an extended UNIQUAC model.


Rights Advocacy and People Participation provide support and accommodation right services in association with the homeless peoples association and centre on housing rights and eviction. It has a conference, which conducts a series of discussions with the Homeless People Association.


Based on the propeller momentum theory, this paper obtained the momentum model for internal flow of lift fan system for analyzing power characteristics in transition of lift-fan VTOL. This paper mainly focused on total lift, total drag and total power during the whole transition with the increase of freestream velocity. The analysis results show the particular characteristics of total drag and total power in transition, which can be used for selecting parameters at the preliminary phase of designing lift-fan VTOL.


Desigrate' is designed to serve as a facade component of office buildings. Therefore, the building technology aspect of climate, facade detailing, and facade assembly is thoroughly discussed, optimized and evaluated to provide a product which acts efficiently as a cooling system and enhances the insulation of the building. Hence serving as a cooling strategy both actively and passively. Furthermore, as the facade system is specifically designed for the hot and humid climate of Bangkok, both climate and cultural context are crucial aspects in designing the system. The design concept of the facade system is based on a vernacular approach to enhance the cultural value of the product which aims to reflects the "Thainess" identity to the built environment.


A vibration fault identification method based on vibration state characteristics of a turbojet engine and cepstrum analysis technology was proposed in this paper, and the application of cepstrum in vibration analysis of an aero-engine was also discussed. The vibration data of the turbojet engine in three different test cases of 0.8 rated state, max power state, and afterburning state were analyzed using the cepstrum analysis method. The periodic components and the characteristics of multi-component side-frequency complex signals in the dense overtone vibration signals were separated and extracted, which reflected the sensitivity of the positions of the compressor casing and the turbine casing to the harmonic vibration components of high- and low-pressure rotors and the characteristic difference of different vibration parts. Thus, effective identification of vibration faults was achieved. The results shows that the cepstrum analysis technique applied to the vibration analysis of the turbojet engine can better identify the sideband components of the frequency domain modulated signal and enhance the recognition capability of the fault frequency component, which is helpful to identify the engine vibration fault quickly and accurately.


The problems to be overcome in achieving synthesis of a practically unlimited variety of speech under computer control are numerous and difficult. This is especially true if a goal is automatic conversion from essentially standard orthographic specification to the acoustic output. In addressing these problems it is probably advantageous to start with a synthesis system that will allow inexpensive successive approximations to the necessary phonetic events. For this purpose, a manually operated hardware synthesizer configuration is well suited. However, after the grosser phonetic problems are more or less overcome, the limitations imposed by a purely hardware synthesizer system become prohibitive of further development; an on‐line computer‐controlled synthesis system offers maximum flexibility and added accuracy of parameter control The synthesizing procedures and features of this on‐line system are presented and discussed.


: With the development of digital music technology, people begin to explore new classification and recognition methods to retrieve target music from massive data. Music is the carrier of emotion, and the recognition research based on music emotion classification has very important objective significance. The purpose of this paper is to study a music emotion recognition model incorporating deep learning. The audio features of music are extracted and screened based on the underlying audio features, fused with the audio features obtained by deep learning, and combined with the CNN-SVM network model for music emotion classification and recognition. The advantages of the two are combined to carry out the task of music emotion classification, and the final comparative experiments are carried out on three different datasets. Experiments show that the CNN-SVM model in this paper, combined with the filtering of the CNN layer and the new chord vector feature, achieves the best results on all three datasets.


INTRODUCTION
During the past decade, the internet has become a major information resource in various domains of life and a communication venue among young people and adolescents who seek health information via the internet. Until now, the contents of Israeli adolescents' questions regarding health issues on internet sites have not been published.

PURPOSES
(1) A survey of the characteristics of adolescents who seek health information and their questions presented to the Ynet forum "The body during adolescence". In this forum physicians experienced in adolescent medicine respond to these questions and to comments of other forum participants. (2) Presentation of problematic issues in professionals' responses to health questions in the internet.

METHODS
Survey of a representative sample of contacts to the Ynet forum "The body during adolescence" during 2009 gathering information on gender and age of contacting person, parents' contacts, contacts' contents and physicians responses.

RESULTS
A total of 412 contacts were surveyed, 210 (51%) females, aged 14-17 years--60%, 10-13 years--17% and 18-21 years 15%. Parents' questions appeared in 39 (9%) of contacts. Of all contacts, 44% related to sexuality issues and 17% related to self image and body composition. The physicians provided complete responses to 60% of the contacts, while in 40% the physician's responses included referral to clinical medical consultation.

CONCLUSIONS
An internet health forum enables adolescents and parents to ask questions and raise doubts and anxieties regarding various health issues without the fear of being exposed and enables them to express their concerns face-to-face with a healthcare provider Sensitive issues regarding sexuality and self-image, which are not raised frequently during clinical encounters, are expressed and receive professional responses in the forum. Notwithstanding the significance of a rapid professional contribution, physicians responding to contacts in internet forums need to recognize the barrier related to professional communication with persons whom they have not met and for whom follow-up is impossible.


Ephedrae Herba is one of the most commonly used herbal medicines, and it has been shown that most of the clinical efficacy for cold and asthma is exerted by its alkaloidal components. A simple and sensitive HPLC method was developed using a perfluorooctyl column for simultaneous determination of five alkaloids (norephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and methylephedrine) in Ephedrae Herba. The mobile phase comprising acetonitrile and 15 mM ammonium trifluoroacetate was used to elute the targets in isocratic elution mode. The method was validated for linearity (r2 > 0.999), repeatability, intra-day and inter-day precision, recoveries with trueness (93.87-110.99%), limits of detection (5.35-5.76 μg/mL), and limits of quantification (20 μg/mL). The quantitative results revealed that the developed method was precise and accurate. Then it was successfully applied to determine the difference in contents of three batches of Ephedrae Herba from three pharmaceutical companies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Purpose
The literature on the union wage premium is among the most extensive in labour economics but unions' effects on other aspects of the wage-effort bargain have received much less attention. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature through a study of the union premium in paid holiday entitlements.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine the size of the union premium on paid holidays over time, with a particular focus on how the premium was affected by the introduction of a statutory right to paid holidays. The data come from nationally representative surveys of employees and workplaces.

Findings
The authors find that the union premium on paid holidays is substantially larger than the union premium on wages. However, the premium fell with the introduction of a statutory minimum entitlement to paid leave.

Originality/value
This is the first study to examine explicitly the interaction between union representation and the law in this setting. The findings indicate the difficulties that unions have faced in protecting the most vulnerable employees in the UK labour market. The authors argue that the supplanting of voluntary joint regulation with statutory regulation is symptomatic of a wider decrease in the regulatory role of unions in the UK.


Delivery of the desired drug as buccoadhesive drug delivery systems has been subject of interest since last 3 decades. The various advantages associated with the se systems made the buccal drug delivery as a novel route of drug administration. This review highlights the anatomy and nature of oral cavity, theories of muco adhesion, classical and new generation mucoadhesive polymers, various types of mucoadhesive dosage forms and drugs which can be incorporated and various evaluation methods for the measurement of mucoadhesion potential.


y mother-in-law and the other residents in her assisted living facility have been protected from excessive exposure to the novel coronavirus through detailed, coordinated policies instituted by her facility: testing for staff and for residents, transportation for staff to keep them off of public transport as cases rose in the area, maintaining social distance for residents. At the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, mortality rates among long-term care residents were high and accounted for 50 percent or more of COVID-19 deaths in some states (Lau-Ng, Caruso, and Perls, 2020). Rates of infection varied by facility, but climbed as high as 90 percent of all residents in some locations (Abrams et al., 2020). Available data on assisted living facilities as of mid-May 2020 showed an infection rate among residents five times the national rate, and nearly one-third of virus-positive residents died (Ouslander and Grabowski, 2020). With more knowledge, more testing, and more personal LORI FRANK


Physicians who treat children with cystic fibrosis or the increasing numbers of adults with the disease will perhaps be bemused by a paper by Sanchis and his co-workers in this week's Journal. Thes...


Based on the physics underlying turbulence anisotropy in the equilibrium and nonequilibrium limits, a new physically-based, fully-realizable, nonequilibrium k i † RANS model has been developed. The model is based on an efiective strain rate tensor that accounts for the strain history to which the turbulence has been subjected. This new model is applied to four distinctly difierent test cases for which the nonequilibrium history integral can be evaluated analytically. Results obtained from this new closure model show dramatically improved agreement with experimental and computational data when compared with the standard ki† (SKE) model, without the need to vary any model parameters. The introduction of a nonequilibrium efiective strain rate allows this new model to be applied within a similar framework as currently used for two-equation eddy viscosity models, thereby permitting relatively simple implementation in existing CFD codes.


We propose an easily computed estimator of marginal likelihoods from posterior simulation output, via reciprocal importance sampling, combining earlier proposals of DiCiccio et al (1997) and Robert and Wraith (2009). This involves only the unnormalized posterior densities from the sampled parameter values, and does not involve additional simulations beyond the main posterior simulation, or additional complicated calculations. It is unbiased for the reciprocal of the marginal likelihood, consistent, has finite variance, and is asymptotically normal. It involves one user-specified control parameter, and we derive an optimal way of specifying this. We illustrate it with several numerical examples.


The study found that pembrolizumab has activity in brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer that is similar to its systemic activity and can result in prolonged survival in a subset of patients.


The nitrogen pollution was monitored in Luoma Lake during the 1997-2003.Based on the results and in combination with the previous data,the characteristics and variations of main pollutant concentrations were analyzed in different years,seasons and the sections of Luoma Lake.The nutritive state of Luoma Lake is in the period of lake medium.


The Industrial Analysis Technology course was analyzed in higher vocational colleges based on the existing problems,from the course standard,teaching contents,teaching methods and means,curriculum and curriculum evaluation and other aspects of teaching reform and practice,for the center with the actual working process of the concrete in the design and development of vocational education courses,constructed its course system based on the working process systematization.It made theory and practice organic combination and mobilized the students' learning interest,improved the students' knowledge application ability and autonomous learning ability to adapt to the social transformation of industrial development demand for technology skilled talents.


Liberty County is home to 18 communities in southeast Texas and is part of the thriving Houston
metropolitan area. It shares its eastern border with Harris County and Montgomery County and
its southern border with Chambers County.


Downtown Springfield has shown interest in connecting entrepreneurs. The objective of this project was to help the Springfield Innovation Center maintain financial sustainability, to allow innovation to thrive. After extensive research using other innovation centers as models, and speaking with multiple experienced professionals, our team concluded that sustainability is most easily attained through support from partner companies and customers. Our recommendations focus on four main objectives: (1) effectively utilize space, (2) introduce a test kitchen, (3) expand marketing efforts, and (4) focus on networking.


Children – Care proceedings – Care or supervision order – Parents separating and agreeing shared residence order for 4-year-old son – Father attending Anglican church and adhering to principles of Christian faith – Raising concerns of impact of mother's beliefs as Jehovah's witness on son and seeking to restrict extent to which mother able to involve son in practice of her religion – Whether parent enjoying right to share religious beliefs and practices with their child – Children Act 1989, s1 – Children Act 1998, s1 – Human Rights Act 1998, Sch 1, Pt 1, arts 8, 9, 14


Introduction: Domestic violence (DV) affects millions of Americans each year. Yet, there is a dearth of theory-based DV curricula, resulting in physicians unprepared to screen for DV. This study utilized a survey based on constructs from the Transtheoretical Model to assess the readiness of first- and second-year medical students to screen for DV. Information from this survey will be used to help institutionalize DV education into the medical curriculum. Purpose: To raise awareness about the prevalence of DV among all demographic groups; to educate students on the resources available to help their patients who are experiencing DV; to assess the effects of an intervention on students' beliefs, attitudes, and readiness for actively incorporating DV screening into their routine patient encounters; and to encourage students to advocate and volunteer in the community to raise awareness about DV. Methods: A 36 item, self-administered survey was designed utilizing the constructs of decisional balance (pros and cons) and self-efficacy. The survey was administered before and after a presentation by a physician specializing in DV. Students were provided a DV pocket resource card in order to encourage them to put into practice what they had learned from the lecture. Results: A total of 26 students completed pre- and post- surveys. The number of students reporting their readiness to screen all patients increased (from 4 to 11) after the presentation. There was also a significant decrease in reported cons (from 2.40±0.69 to 2.11±0.59, p<0.0071), as well as a significant increase in pros (from 3.76±0.69 to 4.06±0.64, p<0.0012) and self-efficacy (from 3.13±0.54 to 3.86±0.61, p<0.00000000086). Conclusion: The Transtheoretical Model provides a useful framework for assessing medical students' readiness to screen for DV. Even a


Radio-LANs provide a good example of information technology products meeting the current demand for flexibility and mobility in the office environment. It is uncertain, however, what scope they offer and what their restrictions are. We present a performance study of two commercially available radio-LANs: Motorola Altair and NCR WaveLAN. A selection of the results is presented. Using the results of the study opportunities of radio-LANs can be determined and specific application areas can be assessed for which the features of radio-LANs appear to have full advantage.


Background: Patients requiring vascular catheters are at risk for bloodstream infections (BSIs), particularly those with central venous access devices (CVADs). Central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) may occur as a result of the introduction of pathogenic microbes during CVAD access procedures, including through the needleless connector. The use of an antiseptic scrub is recommended to disinfect the needleless connector before device access, and this procedure has been shown to reduce the risk for CLABSI. We identified perceived barriers and facilitators and assessed compliance with instructions for use of chlorhexidine or alcohol antisepsis products (CHG or IPA; 5-second scrub time plus 5-second dry time) and alcohol antisepsis products (IPA; facility protocol 15-second scrub time plus let dry) for needleless connector disinfection. Methods: We performed a multiple-methods study involving focus groups composed of a convenience sample of nurses and clinical observations of CVAD needleless-connector access procedures in 3 medical ICUs and 1 surgical ICU at 2 academic medical centers. We used open-ended questions to guide the focus-group discussions. We directly observed nursing staff performing needleless-connector disinfection following a time–motion paradigm using an electronic tool to document the observed needleless-connector access events and to measure needleless-connector antiseptic scrub times and dry times. Results: In total, 8 focus groups involving 28 nurses revealed access to the antiseptic product and lesser workload as best-practice facilitators of needleless-connector disinfection. Identified barriers were often the opposite of the facilitators, particularly the time required per needleless connector access using IPA and knowledge deficits regarding the need for disinfection between multiple needleless-connector accesses. From 36 observations, including a total of 48 access events, we determined that the mean scrub times were below the recommended times, especially for IPA (Table 1). Drying time after use of either antisepsis product was negligible. Conclusions: A lack of access to the disinfection product, emergency situations, and increased workload were perceived barriers to needleless-connector disinfection. Observed scrub times and drying times were shorter than recommended, much more so for IPA. These deficits in the performance of needleless-connector disinfection may increase the risk of CLABSI. Ongoing education and periodic competency evaluation of needleless-connector disinfection are needed to imbed and sustain best practices. Funding: Professional Disposables, Inc. Disclosures: None


Using data for about 160 countries, it is shown that, contrary to the widelyheld perceptions that have acquired the status of stylized facts, cross-country inequality in income declined, while that in life expectancy increased, during the 1990s. These changes imply unconditional "convergence" in income, and "divergence" in life expectancy, which is a reversal of the patterns reported in almost all previous research.


A total pressure‐controlled physical vapor transport growth method that stabilizes SiC polytype is proposed. The supersaturation of carbon during SiC growth changed as a function of the growth time due to changes in the temperature difference between the surfaces of the source and the grown crystal. Supersaturation also varied as a function of the pressure inside the furnace. Therefore, modification of the pressure as a function of growth time allowed for constant supersaturation during growth. The supersaturation was calculated based on classical thermodynamic nucleation theory using data for heat and species of Si2C and SiC2 transfer in a furnace obtained from a global model. Based on this analysis, a method for polytype‐stabilized SiC growth was proposed that involves decreasing the pressure as a function of growth time. The 4H‐SiC prepared using this pressure‐controlled method was more stable than that of 4H‐SiC formed using the conventional constant‐pressure method.


Abstract Section 1 is devoted to the study of countable recursively saturated models with an automorphism moving every non-algebraic point. We show that every countable theory has such a model and exhibit necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of automorphisms moving all non-algebraic points. Furthermore we show that there are many complete theories with the property that every countable recursively saturated model has such an automorphism. In Section 2 we apply our main theorem from Section 1 to models of Quine's set theory New Foundations (NF) to answer an old consistency question. If NF is consistent, then it has a model in which the standard natural numbers are a definable subclass ℕ of the model's set of internal natural numbers Nn. In addition, in this model the class of wellfounded sets is exactly .


The ternary alloys in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) allow band-gap tuning and phase engineering and change the electrical transport type. A process of 2D van der Waals epitaxial growth of molybdenum sulfide telluride alloys (MoS2xTe2(1-x), 0 ≤ x ≤ 1) is presented for synthesizing few-atomic-layer films on SiO2 substrates using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition. Raman scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and electrical transport property analyses of few-atomic-layer MoS2xTe2(1-x) (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) films are presented. The strong photoluminescence (PL) peaks at 80 K from MoS2xTe2(1-x) (0.45 ≤ x ≤ 0.93 reveal a composition-controllable optical band gap (E_g = 1.55-1.91 eV at 80 K). Electrical transport properties of MoS2xTe2(1-x) alloys where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.8 and 0.93 ≤ x ≤ 1 exhibit p-type and n-type semiconducting behaviors, respectively. Remarkably, an increase in the Te composition of a few-atomic-layer MoS2xTe2(1-x) (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) film left-shifts the threshold voltage of a MoS2xTe2(1-x) (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) field-effect transistor. The narrower band-gap energies of MoS2xTe2(1-x) films with higher Te content cause a decrease in the on/off current ratios.


The invention discloses a self-cleaning antiskid coiled material. The coiled material is of a layer structure and comprises a self-cleaning antiskid surface layer, a glass fiber gridding cloth laminating layer and a glass fiber cloth layer which are bonded and cured through self-cleaning paint from top to bottom; the self-cleaning paint is composed of a component A and a component B, wherein the component A is prepared from, by mass, epoxy resin, organosilicone epoxy resin, a diluent, flexibilizer, a dispersing agent, a defoaming agent, a flatting agent, a self-cleaning agent, antiskid fillers, chopped glass fibers, color paste and mineral fillers, and the component B is prepared from, by mass, a curing agent and a curing accelerator. According to the self-cleaning antiskid coiled material, resin with a self-cleaning function and auxiliaries are compounded with the epoxy resin, the highly inorganic antiskid fillers are introduced, and the coiled material which is high in self-cleaning property, easy to clean and good in skid resistance is obtained.


Nocturia is such a commonplace occurrence in the lives of many older adults that it is frequently overlooked as a potential cause of sleep disturbance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of nocturia among elderly men living in a rural area in Egypt, and its impact on sleep quality and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL).


The present invention relates to an axis alignment tool for aligning an axis, which can be attached to or detached from a coupling, can be installed regardless of the diameter or length of the coupling, and is used to align the axis to be positioned on a coaxial line when the shaft is joined. An axis alignment tool capable of measuring the eccentricity of opposite axes. A main body portion 111 having the first wing portion 113 and the second wing portion 114 integrally; a head member 11 having a plurality of through holes 115 formed in the wing portions 113 and 114; The connecting member 125 is inserted into the through hole 115 of the head member 11, and the screw parts 123 and 124 coupled to the connecting pipe 121 and the connecting ring 122 are coupled to the connecting member 125. The chain member 12, the insertion rod 131 is coupled to the body portion 111, the coupling hole 112 of the head member 11 and the support member 13 is formed with a female screw 132 on the other surface, It consists of a connecting rod (14) coupled to the female screw (132) of the support member (13). Therefore, the present invention has the advantage that the length of the chain member can be adjusted according to the diameter of the shaft or the coupling for the axial alignment, by fixing both ends of the chain member to the head member to secure the head member and the chain member It can be closely fixed to the shaft or the outer circumferential surface of the coupling, it is possible to accurately measure the eccentricity with respect to each other by using the dial gauge of the connecting rod. Shaft, head member, chain member, support member, connecting rod, dial gauge


This paper proposes to use eye movements to characterize the performance of individuals in reviewing software documents. We design and implement a system called DRESREM, which measures and records eye movements of document reviewers. Based on the eye movements captured by eye tracking device, the system computes the line number of the document that the reviewer is currently looking at. The system can also record and play back how the eyes moved during the review process. To evaluate the effectiveness of the system we conducted an experiment to analyze 30 processes of source code review (6 programs, 5 subjects) using the system. As a result, we have identified a particular pattern, called scan, in the subject's eye movements. Quantitative analysis showed that reviewers who did not spend enough time on the scan took more time to find defects on average.


parameters registered by actigraphy and with sleep quality. In GDM patients, increased wake time after sleep onset was correlated with higher Hba1c. mU/kg/min) and dcVILP (125 mU/kg/min) stimulate a comparable glucose uptake in heart, skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue, GIV dcVILP stimulates ~2 fold higher glucose uptake in white adipose tissue (WAT) compared to insulin. This is due to increased Akt phosphorylation and glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) expression compared to insulin specifically in WAT. Taken together, these results show that dc GIV and SGIV dcVILPs are active members of the insulin superfamily with unique characteristics. This observation evokes questions about their potential roles in human disease including diabetes and cancer. Elucidating the mechanism of tissue specificity for GIV dcVILP will help us to better understand insulin action and design new analogues that specifically target the tissues. muscle and adipose tissue were investigated in an obese and diabetic animal model. Method: Obese rat model was used in this study. This model is characterised by obesity, diabetes and insulin resistance. This study investigated the molecular mechanisms of IRS-1 breakdown in diabetes. IRS1, SOCS1, SOC3 expressions were evaluated in the liver, muscle and adipose tissue of this model. At the same time, immunohistochemical analyses were performed in terms of IRS1, SOCS1 and SOCS3 in the same tissues. Results: Gene expression and Immunohistochemical anal-ysis results were evaluated, the increase in IRS1 was no-ticeable in rats treated with exenatide, especially in the liver tissue despite the greater decrease in SOCS1 (P> 0.05). It was determined that other drugs in this study and used in the treatment of diabetes may also affect this mechanism to different degrees. SOCS and proteasomal degradation of IRS-1 liver tissue. of ubiquitination destruction IRS-1 effective


Department of Radiologic Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran Department of Molecular Medicine, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran Department of Medical Genetics, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Genetics, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran


The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of Employee Assistance Programs on job satisfaction at Maseno University, Kenya. The specific objectives were to assess the influence of Health Care Practices on Job Satisfaction at Maseno University, to determine the influence of Counseling Services on Job Satisfaction at Maseno University, to establish the influence of Benevolence Support on Job Satisfaction at Maseno University and to determine the influence of Wellness Practices on Job Satisfaction at Maseno University. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The target population was 1,540 employees. Simple random sampling was adopted for this study. A sample of 154 employees was used where, 154 questionnaires were issued and 114 were returned. The data was analyzed using SPSS and statics measured were the mean and standard deviations. In addition, a frequency distribution table that gave the frequencies and the percentages of scores was also used. A regression analysis was run in SPSS to establish the level and significance of the relationship between employee assistance programs and Job Satisfaction . The results suggested in general that respondents who were staff at Maseno University acknowledged that EAPs programs were at the institution through the four dimensions discussed.  The results revealed that three out of the four EAP considered for the study had a positive relationship on job satisfaction with only one, Benevolence, showing a negative relationship. Of the four Hypotheses, only the last one on wellness practices was not supported through the findings since the relationship was statistically significant. This study made conclusions that the satisfaction of an employee at is determinant on the assistance and support provided to them. This study majorly recommended that university management needs to increase their interactions with the employees through staff meetings and discussions on topics related to issues affecting them in the organization. Key Words: Health Care Practices, Counseling Services, Benevolence Support, Wellness Practices, Job Satisfaction CITATION Atieno, M. A., & Otsyulah, J. O. (2019). Influence of employee assistance programs on job satisfaction in Maseno University, Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 6 (4), 885 – 850


The proposed paper considers possibilities of using geophysical methods for engineering surveys of linear engineering structures. Possibilities of application and integration of them are comparatively analyzed. The author shows development prospects of georadar profiling for solution of a whole range of tasks associated with investigations of engineering-geological conditions at construction sites of linear engineering structures.


The work reported below is the first of its kind to study the properties of turbulent flow without strong mean shear in a Newtonian fluid in proximity of the turbulent/nonturbulent interface, with emphasis on the small-scale aspects. The main tools used are a three-dimensional particle tracking system allowing one to measure and follow in a Lagrangian manner the field of velocity derivatives and direct numerical simulations. The comparison of flow properties in the turbulent (A), intermediate (B), and nonturbulent (C) regions in the proximity of the interface allows for direct observation of the key physical processes underlying the entrainment phenomenon. The differences between small-scale strain and enstrophy are striking and point to the definite scenario of turbulent entrainment via the viscous forces originating in strain.