Reactive power is one of the most important parameters of the signals of modern electrical power grids. In this case, the most informative parameters are the reactive power of the main spectral component and the reactive power of harmonics. To measure these parameters, there are lot of methods that are not highly accurate or difficult to implement. The paper discusses a new approach based on the application of a low-pass and band-pass filters to provide a phase shift equal to ±π/2. The basic principles of performing measurements by this approach are considered, analytical expressions are obtained for calculating the reactive power error. The case of application of a second-order low-pass filter and a second-order band-pass filter is considered in detail. The features of the application of this approach for the case of applying filters of a higher order are analyzed. Approaches are proposed to improve the measurement accuracy by additional measurement of the frequency or root mean square value (RMS) of the signal and adjusting the filter transfer coefficient. A method has been developed for calculating filter parameters in accordance with the required reactive power measurement error, the nominal frequency of the measured harmonic, the relative frequency deviation and the signal spectral composition.


"Quality music education can only be achieved when the activities proposed by teachers during music and movement classes are designed for the development of musical skills in children. For this purpose to be achieved, teachers must have musical skills that allow them to perform various musical activities. Through this study we explore the opinion of teachers teaching music and movement at primary school about the musical activities they perform. This research is based on a design based on a quantitative analysis: A questionnaire attended by 1,151 teachers from the primary school in Romania. These data were taken from 28.05 to 26.06.2021. The main results point out that singing on a voice, musical listening and teaching are the reference activities to the primary cycle. Teachers also use YouTube, various platforms and teaching tools made by other colleagues for their own musical activities. It is obvious that the institutions that can propose training activities for teachers have never organized, in proportion of 59, 3% musical training activities."


The problem of the dehydrated patient is a very real one, and dehydration occurs far more commonly than is realized, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The normal daily fluid loss from the body in a temperate climate, through the lungs, skin, urine and faeces, is approximately 4? pints. In hot countries the urine output is lower, but evaporation Jrom the skin is greatly increased and the daily total loss is 6 pints or more. Loss of fluid from the body continues even if there is


The quality of reproductive health is viewed in the urban slum of Delhi as all women should have access to skilled care during pregnancy along with ensured detection and management of complication and safe delivery. To ascertain the determining factors of reproductive and child health behaviour 400 pregnant and lactating women were interviewed and 10 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted in the slums of Sunlight colony-II Indira Camp-I Indira Camp-II Indira Camp-III and Sidharth Basti in South Delhi. People are aware of positive reproductive health behavior like ANC registration 3 ANC check up along with 2 TT delivery at health institution PNC and immunization. These facilities are available in the slum areas and are easily accessible. But most of the women were of the view that the quality and management of reproductive health behavior were imperceptible for them at their slum setting. For them the most important dynamics of reproductive health is to address their health needs by the health care providers to whom they believe in and approach to according to their own convenience without much beleaguer. These dynamics are suitably accomplished if the reproductive health care services are always available easily accessible acceptable without any hassle and affordable as per the paying capacity in their given circumstances. It is concluded from the findings that the quality of reproductive child health practices in slum areas has been determined in two ways; i.e. (a) quality of RCH is taken for granted by the health care providers and (b) quality of RCH is understood by the perceptions and beliefs of the consumers and their level of satisfactions. In fact the client satisfaction has got a significant role to determine the quality of reproductive and child health in the urban slums of Delhi.


AbstractActivities of PbO in PbO-SiO2-P2O5 melts with up to 12.5 mole % of P2O5 were measured at 1050 to 1350°K by an electrochemical method. The results were used to estimate activities in the binary PbO-P2O5 over a wider range of composition than reported in a previous study. In contrast with the system PbO-SiO2, the binary PbO-P2O5 shows pronounced negative deviations from Temkin's Law. Substitution of SiO2 by P2O5 lowers the 'activity and leads to increasingly negative partial heats of mixing of PbO. Transport of oxygen through these melts was shown, by emf measurements, to occur by at least two mechanisms, one of which is associated with the presence of dissolved lead in the slags and the other with the formation of Pb4+ ions. Resume Les activites de PbO dans les melanges fondus PbO–SiO2–P2O5, contenant 12.5% molaire au moins de P2O5, ont ete mesurees de 1050 a 1350 K par une methode electrochimique. Les resultats ont permis d'evaluer les activites dans le systeme binaire PbO-P2O5 sur une gamme de co...


The research conceptualizes workgroup emotional climate (WEC) and workgroup emotional labor as contrasting types of emotional exchange within teams, with the former defined as team-member directed emotional exchanges and the latter as the outward directed emotional exchanges required to enact one's role. Data were obtained from a sample of 840 workgroup members from 148 workgroups in China. Results showed that positive WEC is a source of group efficacy with positive consequences for workgroup performance. The findings also lend support to the idea that people have limited emotional resources and thus, while a positive WEC improves group performance, this relationship is weakened as workgroup emotional labor increases. The study identifies two types of emotional exchanges characterizing a workgroup and enriches understanding of team emotional dynamics. Team leaders need to recognize the value of WEC and the workgroup emotional labor requirements and try to induce more positive WEC to facilitate team performance.


This study seeks to analyze how the daycare teachers' relationships principals, and fellow teachers, along with awareness of possible performance recognition such as rewards and promotions, affect their mental health and their respect for the rights of young children in daycare centers. The purpose ...


I grew up in a linguistically homogenic village on the small island of Lembata in the Lesser Sunda region of Indonesia. Everyone in the village speaks the same mother tongue, known as Baolangu dialect. This dialect is a local variation of Lamaholot, an Austronesian language spoken in the eastern part of Flores island and the neighbouring islands including my home island of Lembata, Adonara, Solor, Alor and Pantar. The Lamaholot language was also known previously during the colonial era as Solorese. The term Lamaholot partly corresponds with the island name Solor, or Holot, situated between the islands of Flores, Adonara, and Lembata. During my childhood, the local dialect spoken in the village community of Baolangu was comprised of mainly localised words, compared to the dialect version spoken today which is more a mixture of words from the local dialect and Indonesian, or more precisely Melayu Nagi, also known as Melayu Larantuka. Larantuka is the name of the main town in the eastern part of the island of Flores. The evolution of language or dialect poses a critical question on how it affects people's sense of identity and the constructed notion of ethnic or racial purity. Do people's perceptions concerning their ethnic identities and purity change along with the change of speech? I different,


The development of network has richen the resources of teaching.In order to raise the efficiency of the teaching of Moral Education in primary school we teachers should make a good use of network resources by building a platform,sharing resources,integrating information and so on.


Introduction: Heterozygous variants are most frequently associated with cardiac arrhythmias, including long QT syndrome, in the general population and within families. Genome-editing of human induc...


Summary Over the last three decades, the development of new genome editing techniques, such as ODM, TALENs, ZFNs and the CRISPR‐Cas system, has led to significant progress in the field of plant and animal breeding. The CRISPR‐Cas system is the most versatile genome editing tool discovered in the history of molecular biology because it can be used to alter diverse genomes (e.g. genomes from both plants and animals) including human genomes with unprecedented ease, accuracy and high efficiency. The recent development and scope of CRISPR‐Cas system have raised new regulatory challenges around the world due to moral, ethical, safety and technical concerns associated with its applications in pre‐clinical and clinical research, biomedicine and agriculture. Here, we review the art, applications and potential risks of CRISPR‐Cas system in genome editing. We also highlight the patent and ethical issues of this technology along with regulatory frameworks established by various nations to regulate CRISPR‐Cas‐modified organisms/products.


Industrial embedded systems are cost sensitive, and hardware cost of industrial production should be reduced for high profit. The functional safety requirement must be satisfied according to industrial functional safety standards. This study proposes three hardware cost optimization algorithms for functional safety-critical parallel applications on heterogeneous distributed embedded systems during the design phase. The explorative hardware cost optimization (EHCO), enhanced EHCO (EEHCO), and simplified EEHCO (SEEHCO) algorithms are proposed step by step. Experimental results reveal that EEHCO can obtain minimum hardware cost, whereas SEEHCO is efficient for large-scale parallel applications compared with the existing algorithms.


Abstract This paper examines the impacts of a German Social Law reform on the perceived quality of long-term home care. Taking a welfare economics perspective, an improved legal performance in addressing the personal needs of people depending on long-term care was found. Finally, recommendations to better adjust home care to the individual needs are given.


This paper uses data from Australian Institute of Health and Welfare research on health inequalities to highlight the importance of moving beyond a simple risk factor approach to health promotion, to focus on the broader contextual factors which influence disparities in health within the Australian population. It argues that addressing health inequalities requires a focus on location (geography) and hence a first step in reducing health disparities is to develop national, state, and local health promotion plans.


Background: The surgical treatment is the standard therapy for early breast cancer (EBC) after primary systemic therapy (PST). In more than half of HER2 positive (HER2(+)) breast cancer, pathological complete response (pCR) is achieved by PST with HER2 inhibitors and chemotherapy. However, non-surgical therapy is not an option for EBC with cCR after PST because of little evidence. We planned a single-arm confirmatory study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the non-surgical therapy for HER2(+) EBC with cCR after PST. Methods: The key eligibility criteria are as follows: 1) Histologically confirmed as invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, HER2(+). 2) cT1-2, N0, M0 (UICC 8th). 3) No ipsilateral BC. 4) Women aged 20-74 years. 5) ECOG performance status 0 or 1. 6) Adequate hematologic and organ function. 7) Ejection fraction as cardiac function is over 50%. 8) Written informed consent. HER2 inhibitors (trastuzumab and pertuzumab) and cytotoxic drugs as PST are administered to all patients (pts). After completion of PST, cCR is diagnosed by breast imaging and physical examination. cCR is defined as 1) Not palpable breast mass by physical examination, 2) No enhanced breast mass by enhanced MRI, and 3) No breast mass by ultrasonography. 4) For hormonal receptor (+) EBC, needle biopsy after PST must be done to evaluate the pCR. After a diagnosis of cCR, conventional radiotherapy for whole breast and boost radiation for tumor bed is mandatory, followed by pertuzumab and trastuzumab every 3 weeks for 9 months. In non-cCR cases, surgical resection is performed and adjuvant therapy is not specified. The primary endpoint is a distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) at 3 years, the secondary endpoints are DFS, OS, RFS, the proportion of local recurrence, and cosmetics outcome. Given that the threshold and expected DMFS at 3-year is 93% and 98% with a significance level of 2.5% (one-sided) and 80% power, 170 cCR cases are required. Assuming half of the HER2 pts reach cCR, 350 pts are required as the sample size started PST. Enrollment launched in January 2020, and 260 pts are enrolled as of July 12, 2022. This clinical trial has been registered at the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials as jRCTs031190129 and conducted by the Japan Clinical Oncology Group (JCOG) Breast Cancer Study Group under a public fund (National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund).
 Citation Format: Tomomi Fujisawa, Hideo Shigematsu, Tadahiko Shien, Hiroji Iwata, Keita Sasaki, Taro Shibata. A single-arm confirmatory study to evaluate the efficacy of non-surgical therapy for HER2 positive early breast cancer with clinical complete response after primary systemic therapy: (JCOG1806) [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr OT3-01-01.


WNT5A has recently been implicated in inflammatory processes, but its role as a bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC)–derived mediator of joint inflammation in arthritis is unclear. Here, we investigated whether inflammatory stimuli induce WNT5A in BMSC to control inflammatory responses. WNT5A levels were determined in human BMSC after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α,) and in synovial cells and tissue of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and human TNF‐α transgenic (hTNFtg) mice. A microarray analysis of WNT5A‐treated murine osteoblasts was performed using Affymetrix gene chips. The regulation of cytokine/chemokine expression was confirmed by qPCR, ELISA, and Luminex technology in BMSC after stimulation with WNT5A or WNT5A knockdown. Relevant signaling pathways were identified using specific inhibitors. Migration of MACS‐purified T lymphocytes and monocytes was assessed using the FluoroBlok system. WNT5A expression was increased threefold in BMSC after stimulation with LPS or TNF‐α. Synovial fibroblasts from patients with RA showed a twofold increase of WNT5A expression compared with control cells, and its expression was highly induced in the synovial tissue of patients with RA and hTNFtg mice. Microarray analysis of WNT5A‐treated osteoblasts identified cytokines and chemokines as targets. The induction of IL‐1β, IL‐6, CCL2, CCL5, CXCL1, and CXCL5 by WNT5A was confirmed in BMSC and depended on the activation of the NF‐κB, mitogen‐activated protein (MAPK), and Akt pathways. Accordingly, knockdown of WNT5A markedly reduced the basal and LPS‐induced cytokine/chemokine production. Finally, migration of monocytes and T cells toward the supernatant of WNT5A‐treated BMSC was increased by 25% and 20%, respectively. This study underlines the critical role of BMSC‐derived WNT5A in the regulation of inflammatory processes and suggests its participation in the pathogenesis of RA. © 2012 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


We describe our NMT systems submitted to the WMT19 shared task in English→Czech news translation. Our systems are based on the Transformer model implemented in either Tensor2Tensor (T2T) or Marian framework. We aimed at improving the adequacy and coherence of translated documents by enlarging the context of the source and target. Instead of translating each sentence independently, we split the document into possibly overlapping multi-sentence segments. In case of the T2T implementation, this "document-level"-trained system achieves a +0.6 BLEU improvement (p < 0.05) relative to the same system applied on isolated sentences. To assess the potential effect document-level models might have on lexical coherence, we performed a semi-automatic analysis, which revealed only a few sentences improved in this aspect. Thus, we cannot draw any conclusions from this week evidence.


Insurance regulators have embarked on a Herculean task: regulation of the industry on a global basis. They have two objectives: firstly, to strengthen the oversight of insurance companies that are deemed 'systemically important' in the global financial system; and secondly, to design something for internationally active insurance companies which has longsince been conceived for banking, namely a global capital standard.


How do people represent the city on social media? And how do these representations feed back into people's uses of the city? To answer these questions, we develop a relational approach that relies on a combination of qualitative methods and network analysis. Based on in-depth interviews and a dataset of over 400 000 geotagged Instagram posts from Amsterdam, we analyse how the city is reassembled on and through the platform. By selectively drawing on the city, users of the platform elevate exclusive and avant-garde establishments and events, which come to stand out as hot spots, while rendering mundane and low-status places invisible. We find that Instagram provides a space for the segmentation of users into subcultural groups that mobilise the city in varied ways. Social media practices, our findings suggest, feed on as well as perpetuate socio-spatial inequalities.


The human beta‐globin dominant control region (DCR) was previously identified as a region from the 5′ end of the human beta‐globin locus which directs high level, site of integration‐independent, copy number‐dependent expression on a linked human beta‐globin gene in transgenic mice and stably transfected mouse erythroleukaemia (MEL) cells. We have now analysed the elements comprising the DCR by systematic deletion mutagenesis in stable MEL transfectants. We have identified two independent elements within the DNase I hypersensitive sites 2 and 3, containing fragments which direct strong transcriptional inducibility of a beta‐globin gene. Whilst the remaining two hypersensitive sites do not direct significant transcriptional induction, our data suggest that all four sites may be necessary for the fully regulated expression conferred by the DCR. We have also tested a number of beta‐globin minigene constructs under the control of the DCR to assess if any of the local sequences from the gene may be removed without loss of expression. We find that the 3′ enhancer may be removed without affecting expression, but there is an absolute requirement for the presence of the second intron, not related to the enhancer present in that intron.


The article reveals the methodological problems of the study on the youth creative class formation.the purpose of the research is to carry out forecasting and formation of creative youth as a class in modern social and psychological conditions in line with the geneticmodeling and geneticcreative approaches.In accordance with the purpose, the main tasks are defined: the analysis of the demands made to young people in modern sociopsychological conditions; to find out the most adequate method of studying the personality of today and to determine its basic principles.research methods. A complex of scientific research methods was used to implement the key tasks: theoretical analysis, generalization, comparison, sys-tematization, theoretical modeling, and scientific interpretation.research results. It is established that the image of an ideal reference figure, identification with which acts as an intermediate but important moment of life affirmation of a personality, constitutes a separate research problem in the modern psychology of life crises and the development of strategies for overcom-ing them. It is found out that the great potential of psychological science lies in its applied application for the purpose of overcoming the problems of the life crisis of a personality, in the disclosure of mechanisms of free internal dialogue of personal "Me" with different hypostases of self, in the disclosure of one's own potential of subjectivity.It is shown that the genetic and creative method procedurally practically coincides with the process of counseling and therapy. This opens up the possibility of scientific analysis of the data obtained in this process. It is established that this method helps to study the very process of psychological practice, making it the subject of scientific research. The main principles of the genetic and creative method were developed and defined, namely, the principle of development, the principle of experience, the principle of freedom, the principle of interaction, the principle of uncertainty and indeterminism, the principle of therapeutic effect.conlusions. The problem of scientific analysis of "grasping" the flow of a complexly structured entity, which is a personality, is analyzed, in particu-lar, the possibilities and limitations of nomothetic and ideographic methods, the problems of reductionism, the question of the constituting principle of the personality are highlighted. It is shown that the geneticmodeling method and the geneticcreative method are remained the most adequate methods of per-sonality research; the basic principles of use are explained. New aspects of re-search on personality development and selfaffirmation in modern conditions are revealed


Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is chronic esophageal disorder which occurs due to reflux of gastric juice and or contents to the lower third of esophagus, and has a prevalence of 6.3 to 28% in general population. Usually, lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is dysfunctional or incompetent to prevent reflux of gastric contents to the esophagus. Serious complication of the GERD includes Barrett's esophagus which may progress into esophageal adenocarcinoma. Use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) along with non-pharmacological measures is the treatment of choice in GERD. If the first choice of treatment fails, pharmacological agents other than PPIs such as H 2 blockers, antacids, prokinetic agents and sodium alginate can be used. However, these agents are inferior to PPIs in terms of efficacy and side effect profile, and not indicated for long term management. A novel drug vonoprazan which is a potassium competitive blocker of H + /K + ATPase enzyme has also been developed to manage GERD symptoms. If non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches fail to treat the GERD, different surgical approaches such as laparoscopic fundoplication, robotic fundoplication, endoluminal suture or plication of gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), radiofrequency thermal therapy of the LES and injection or implantation of biopolymers in GEJ are useful to manage the GERD refractory to drug therapy.


Aims: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of radiographic and computed tomography pre-operative planning and postoperative results of total knee arthroplasty. Material and methods: 124 procedures of Corin MTK total knee arthroplasty were pre-formed since July1998.A strict radiological and CT evaluation was done prior to and following the surgery and accompanied the clinical evaluation and follow up. A cohort of 32 patients is presented in details regarding the imaging pre-operative planning and the post-operative results. The radiological data included: 1. Angle of frontal deformity, 2. Angle of instability, 3. Fi-Fc – distance from the tip of the fibular head to the distal part of the lateral femoral condyle, 4. Frontal inclination angle of tibial component, 5. Frontal inclination angle of femoral component, 6. Sagital posterior inclination of tibial component, 7. Sagital posterior inclination angle of the femoral component, 8. The distance from the patella to the knee center of motion. The computed tomography data included: 1. The actual dimensions of the patella, tibia and femur, 2. The preoperative angle between the posterior condylar line and anterior condylar line, 3. The angle between the posterior condylar line and the transepicondylar line, 4. The Angle of external rotation of the femoral component, 5. The Angle of external rotation of the tibial component, 6. The distance of lateralization of the femoral and tibial components. Results: The desired value of external rotation of the femoral component was 6–80. Measuring the pre operative angle between the posterior condylar line and the transepi-condylar line helped to determine the degree of external rotation intraoperatively. The mean external rotation of the femoral component in our cohort was 6.73. Measuring the the angle of external rotation of the tibial component preop helped to determine the extent of external rotation of the tibial component intraoperatively. A significant decrease of the postop Q angle was noticed in all patients. Conclusion: Radiographic and computed tomography postoperative data reflects the value of the preoperative planning of total knee arthroplasty.


ABSTRACT The dark reduction kinetics of micromolar concentrations of Fe(III) in aqueous solution were studied in the presence of millimolar concentrations of ferrozine (FZ) over the pH range 4.0–7.0. A pseudo-first-order kinetics model was used to describe Fe(III) reduction at pH 4.0 and 5.0, and the reduction rate decreased with increasing pH or initial Fe(III) concentration. A more molecular-based kinetics model was developed to describe Fe(III) reduction at pH 6.0 and 7.0. From this model, the intrinsic rate constants (k1) of Fe(III) reduction by FZ in the dark were obtained as 0.133 ± 0.004 M−1 s−1 at pH 6.0 and 0.101 ± 0.009 M−1 s−1 at pH 7.0. It was also found in this model that a higher pH, a higher concentration of Fe(III), a lower concentration of FZ and less incubation time led to a lower fraction of Fe(III) reduction by FZ in the dark.


An apparatus for generating a switching signal for an analog controller includes: a voltage setting unit configured to set voltages Vref_high and Vref_low of a triangular wave; a period adjuster configured to adjust a period of the triangular wave; a triangular wave generator configured to generate the triangular wave at the period based on the voltages set by the voltage setting unit; and an AC component passing unit configured to pass an AC component of the triangular wave through a low voltage DC-DC converter (LDC) analog controller.


We intend to solve the uniqueness problem of equilibria for all games. We introduce a new rationality criterion for games, which rules out many equilibria. Our selection principle is based on the argument that since the players know the set of potential equilibria of a game, they will actively select an equilibrium in their own interest. We show the existence and uniqueness of the selectable equilibrium. We also propose a selection mechanism by which all selectable equilibria can be identified.


In the eyes of psychology, the basic aim of China's basic educational reform is to encourage the sound development of students' mental and physical health. In order to realize this aim, one of effective methods should be to grasp the teaching integer and carry out the teaching process based on the requirements. The teaching integer includes integers of teaching contents, cognitive structure, learning strategy and teaching activity.


Striving for happiness is a universal human goal, and increased happiness is regarded as a key objective in modern scientific literature on socio-economic development. Yet, the connection between happiness and the organisation of work has not received much scrutiny. In our study on Estonian creative R&D employees, we explore the effects of flexible work schedules, the option of teleworking, and other aspects of work arrangements on employee happiness. We uncover that the option to work out of the office substantially increases happiness, and this effect is further augmented by flexible working time arrangements. We also consider the inner circadian cycles of employees and find that evening type individuals ("owls") feel significantly less joy from their daily lives than their morning type colleagues ("larks"). This is potentially due to genetic factors, but could also be partially caused by a mismatch between the innate time preferences among owls and social as well as employer expectations. Overall, the results of our study suggest that flexible working arrangements could significantly increase the happiness and well-being of creative R&D employees.


Introduction The Interview The History The Case Record General Appearance The Vital Signs Skin Lymph Nodes The Head The Eye The Ear The Nose The Oropharynx The Neck The Breast The Chest The Heart Arteries Veins The Abdomen Male Genitalia Female Genitalia The Rectum The Extremities The Musculoskeletal System The Neurologic Examination Clinical Reasoning Some Bedside Laboratory Tricks Annotated Bibliography Inde


Background African specific studies on the factors associated with the growth pattern of children are needed to guide evidence and develop effective population-based interventions that can be tailored to the unique African context. Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the socio-economic correlates of body mass index (BMI) of primary and secondary school children in Ebonyi State, which is situated in south-eastern Nigeria. Methodology This was a quantitative, cross-sectional study that utilised clustering and stratified sampling techniques to select 1000 learners from primary and secondary schools located in Abakaliki local government area. Apart from a questionnaire, a Mettler weighing scale was also used for data collection. A generalised linear model was used to test the association between the participants' socio-demographic characteristics and their BMI. Result BMI was positively related to female gender but negatively related to age and level of education. The mode of cooking, who the participants live with and how they get to school also predicted changes in BMI. Other variables like mother's occupation and family's mode of transport were also associated with BMI changes while father's level of education, mother's level of education, father's occupation and the type of residence did not have any statistical relationship with BMI. Conclusion The present study shows that the BMI of school children is influenced by the socio-demographic characteristics surrounding them. Therefore, efforts should be made to improve the socio-economic standing of families in this community.


1 This online draft script may be cited or briefly quoted in line with the usual academic conventions. You may also download it for your own personal use. This script may not be published elsewhere (e.g. mailing lists or bulletin boards) without the author's explicit permission. If you copy this script you must include this copyright note. This script must not be used for commercial purposes or gain in any way. You should observe the conventions of academic citation in a version of the following form: Laura Watts. 'Manga, Myths and Magic: playing with the future in the mobile telecoms industry (draft)'. Published by Centre for Science Studies, Lancaster University firstname.lastname@example.com | version 09/10/2005 | page 2


The present invention provides a filtering method and a filter, through the data register of the data storage unit into parallel vector storage unit processing module, the number of vector storage unit the number of data storage units imported equivalents, and the input data calculated to obtain the final filter output. Each of the processing modules vector storage unit has been fully utilized, improve the utilization of the processing modules; further, the present invention is by dividing the data of each data storage unit in each row unit by sequentially each row of data channels K , introduced into the vector storage unit, K is the number of coefficients of this filter; and when introduced sequentially in ascending or descending according to the data stored in the shift channel order. Not only further improve the utilization of the processing module unit, and the reconfigurable filter having parallel with an adjustable resistance, the advantage of using fewer resources sheet.


Fluorinated arachidonic acid derivative is the 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor which has potent pharmaceutically active agent, as antiallergic and antiinflammatory agents, such as for the treatment of asthma, allergies, allergy, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis is very effective.


The present invention relates to an efficient health care system that can quickly manage the health of the patient. The health management system for generating a health information signals using a medical device, said measurement signal for measuring the state of health of the patient and generating a measurement signal having the information on the measurement results with information about the state of health of the patient mobile terminal connected to the mobile device and wireless satellites and health problems if the patient by analyzing the health information signal to generate a position information with the information about the detection result by detecting the position of the mobile terminal in real time, determination, and the determination result, and using the location information and a medical server to manage the health of the patient. The health care system can reduce the mortality rate of patients by providing emergency treatment to the case over to the patient because it detects the position of the patient through the patient's satellites occur.


A high average power TEA CO2 laser employing rotating spark gap switch is described. Average power up to 12kW has been achieved at the repetition rate of 400Hz.


Purpose
This study quantifies academy productivity within English football clubs that have competed in the second tier (Championship) between 2017 and 2020. Previous research has outlined that clubs situated underneath the top leagues have an important role in the development of elite professional players. This study aims to examine that level of the pathway further in England.

Design/methodology/approach
The utilisation of academy players was conducted with data from 33 eligible clubs, from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020. Two measures of productivity are defined for comparison: "Utilisation" (the total minutes played by academy graduates) and "Starts" (the number of times an academy player started for the first team). To quantify these measures, players and clubs' indices were also defined through two perspectives: "global" (proportion of all games played from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020) and "local" (proportion of games the player featured only). Nationality and position were also included.

Findings
Headline findings demonstrate large differences between clubs for the type and proportion of playing opportunities created. The data outlines that academy graduates have greater utilisation and starts in cup competitions, particularly the English Football League cup. Clubs in the sample being relegated from the Premier League into the Championship recorded weaker "utilisation" and "starts" compared to those that competed in the lower divisions. Academies are producing and using a greater proportion of defensive players (goalkeepers, defenders, defensive midfielders) compared to more attacking sectors of the pitch.

Originality/value
This offers useful insight for academy managers, allowing comparisons between clubs. It has implications for future strategies around the role of the academy and approaches to generating player opportunity.


The demographic dividend in West and Central Africa. Definitions, measures, results This article is based on the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) approach and the theory of the generational economy to determine the lifecycle deficit, the economic support ratio and the first demographic dividend in West and Central African countries. The analysis is carried out on each country, then on groups of countries (West and Central Africa), and finally on all the countries in the sample. The NTA results show that in 2014, in most West and Central African countries, the age at which the economic surplus starts is between 25 and 30 and ends between ages 60 and 67. Those countries have a relatively large overall life cycle deficit (LCD) which varies between 20% and 44% of their GDP. The scale of LCDs is a consequence of the extreme youth of the population in these countries, where the proportion of individuals under the age of 30 in the total workforce varies between 65% (Gabon) and 76% (Niger). This segment of the population consumes between 58% (Gabon) and 70% (Niger and Chad) of aggregate consumption, while it generates less than 30% of the labor income. However, it is worth emphasizing the exceptional case of Gabon, an oil producing country with a low population, whose LCD is only 12% of its GDP. Résumés des contributions 13 The support ratio indicates a number of actual producers of between 32 and 50 per 100 actual consumers in 2015. The analysis of the evolution of the support ratios between 1950 and 2050 shows that, with the exception of Niger, all West and Central African countries have begun to potentially reap the benefits of the first demographic dividend. The demographic window of opportunity had been "open" in the 1990s for some countries, notably Benin, Ghana and Mauritania, around 2000 for others such as Gabon, Nigeria and Senegal, and 2010 for others like Guinea and Chad. But in the case of Niger, projections show, ceteris paribus, that it will be necessary to wait until 2030 to witness the opening of the demographic window of opportunity. The analysis by sub-region shows that a surplus is generated between age 29 and 61 in West and Central Africa. West Africa's LCD is estimated at USD 220.8 billion and 34 times that of Central Africa, valued at USD 6.5 billion. The level of the West African deficit is largely influenced by that of Nigeria, which represents 81% of the deficit of the African sub-region and 79% of the two zones combined. In West Africa, the window of opportunity appears around the year 2000. Ten years later, it is also open in Central Africa. The profile of the demographic dividend of the two combined areas is similar to that of West Africa because of its greater demographic weight. Our results highlight the fact that the economic potential derived from the demographic dividend is greater in Central Africa than in West Africa. Projections indicate that between 2015 and 2035, 14 to 30% of economic growth in West and Central Africa would come from the first demographic dividend if the right policies were implemented to capture it.


Lalouesamba Village is one of the youngest villages in the South Konawe Regency, with a non-coastal slope topography of 82 meters above sea level and an area of about 4.1 km2. The majority are farming/gardening, coolies, and construction workers are the main occupations. Potential water resources include rivers with a width of 3-5 meters around the village. Each 1 artesian spot, boiling water spot, murky water borehole, and 5 units of wells with a depth of 15 meters. The problem with this village partner is that there is still a lack of access to clean water, so the solution offered to lift/pump the potential for river flow is to use a hydraulic ram pump without electricity & fuel. Therefore, this community service activity aims to provide an understanding of hydraulic ram pump knowledge and open insight into the potential for welfare due to the pump. The results of the transfer of knowledge of hydraulic ram pumps show a good indication with the achievement of the main material up to 80% based on the results of the feedback questionnaire and it can be stated that the villagers of Lalouesamba are ready to advance to the next stage, namely practical training on assembling/making hydraulic ram pumps. Requests for additional discussion from residents and village heads are evidence of the enthusiastic response, which is a sign of the opening of insight into the potential of hydram pumps for the welfare of villagers after receiving enlightenment about hydram knowledge


A standard relational database interface for the Ada programming language is presented. By accessing databases through this standard interface, Ada programs may be written in a consistent and transportable fashion, regardless of which underlying database management system (DBMS) ultimately provides actual database support. The Data Definition Language (DDL) serves three purposes, with all transformations automated to ensure consistency across uses: (1) it is standard Ada, so that data types defined therein may be "with'ed" into application programs, (2) it may be transformed into the DDL required by an underlying DBMS to define an application's database, and (3) it contains augmented information that enables it to be used to generate test data. The Data Manipulation Language (DML), while being standard Ada, is also as similar to SQL as permitted by Ada syntax, to provide all the power and flexibility of the language proposed as the ANSI relational standard. Major portions of the system described have actually been implemented on a prototype basis to prove the feasibility of the approach.


The regulation of water and marine resources is und ergoing profound structural transformations under the conceptual influence of p olicy integration and community-based approaches. Including environmental considerations at the early stages of policy-making, as well as acknowledging usage inter-dependencies and their impact on ecosystems, has led to the multiplication of localised participatory polic ies and multi-stakeholder platforms. In that context, the objective of the PhD is twofold. It ai ms to analyse how local politics, through political parties, influences those new participato ry forms of management, especially in the implementation of EU environmental directives. On t he other hand, it explores how the diffusion of participatory norms of governance affe cts the strategies of political parties. The results show that electoral position and territ orial levels strongly condition the local politics of participatory governance. It also provi des evidence that collaborative management reduces formal accountability and parties' politica l discretion. In that sense, it confirms the cartelisation hypothesis: parties' governing functi ons are strengthened, while participatory provisions have relocated the representation of int eres s outside the party system. The thesis highlights the positive effects of parti cipation and holistic environmental approaches in terms of social regulation and transp rency, especially in long-established national administrations. Yet, it questions its env ironmental strength, namely its capacity to solve deeply entrenched distributive dilemmas and t he exclusiveness of social groups' stakes. Even if multi-stakeholder participation must be app reciated as an empowering and more sustainable process, it is essential that practitio ners and academics alike deal with its limitations and political ambiguities. Jury: Claudio Radaelli (University of Exeter), Peter Ma ir (EUI, Supervisor), Alexander Trechsel (Co-Supervisor), Andrea Lenschow (Universi ty of Osnabrück). Sylvain Gambert's research focuses on the implement atio of EU's environmental directives. In the last 7 years, he has researched and publishe d on the Habitats, Water Framework and Marine Strategy Framework directives. Especially, h e as worked on collaborative mechanisms that support integrated environmental ma nagement, and on their links with local politics and contestation. In 2006, Sylvain won a Lavoisier grant from the Fre nch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embarked on his doctoral studies at the European Un iversity Institute. During his PhD, he was a visiting researcher at the Centre for European Go vernance of the University of Exeter, and at the Environmental Policy Research Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin. He also holds a BA degree in Political Science from Science Po Renn es (2005), an MA degree in European Politics from the University of Exeter (2006) and a n MRes degree in Political Science from the European University Institute (2007). From July 2010, Sylvain will be employed as a Polic y Officer at the European Commission, DG Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, in the Maritime Policy Development and Coordination unit. His work will focus on the EU's Integrated Ma ritime Policy.


A mechanical device especially designed for the application of low-level posttensioning forces to glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars was developed at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Some of the advantageous features of this device are that it is simple to assemble and the low-level post-tensioning forces can be applied manually and safely without the need for hydraulic jacks or heavy equipment. This device was conceived with the main objective of retrofitting masonry buildings, some of which remain in service despite large, open cracks leading to considerable out-of-plane instability and serviceability concerns. According to the method derived in this paper GFRP bars are installed in artificially imposed grooves and then post-tensioned with low-level stresses with the main objective to partially close these cracks, such that the serviceability and in-plane capacity of un-reinforced masonry (URM) building may be regained. The mechanical components of this device, along with its advantageous features and potential application for the retrofit of URM walls, are described in this paper.


A plasma display apparatus and a driving method thereof are provided to prevent electrical damage to driving elements in the plasma display apparatus by adjusting applying time of a ramp-up waveform. A plasma display apparatus includes a plasma display panel, a driver, and a driving pulse controller. The plasma display panel includes scan and sustain electrodes(Y,Z), and address electrodes(X) which are formed to cross the scan and sustain electrodes. The driver applies a driving voltage to the electrodes during a reset period, an address period after the reset period, or a sustain period after the address period. The driving pulse controller applies a set-up waveform, which gradually rises to a first voltage(Vsc) with a first slope and a second voltage(Vsc+Vs) with a second slope, to the scan electrodes during a set-up period of the reset period, applies a first bias waveform with positive polarity to the address electrodes, applies a ramp-down waveform with negative polarity to the scan electrodes, and applies a positive polarity waveform to the sustain electrodes.


While trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is relatively uncommon, the symptoms associated with the condition are well known to both the public and the medical profession and have been documented for many years. A Google search of TN yields almost two million 'hits', and the severe pain associated with the condition was formally documented by John Fothergill in a presentation to the Medical Society in London in 1773 and probably first documented almost 2000 years ago in the writings of Galen (1). Although the clinical characteristics of TN are well known, there is a paucity of information regarding the epidemiology of the condition. There is only one population-based study of the incidence of TN and its possible risk factors (2). This study assessed the population of Rochester, Minnesota, between 1945 and 1984, and found an overall annual incidence rate TN of 4.3 per 100,000 population. The investigators also documented that the incidence was higher among women, increased with increasing age, and that patients with TN had an elevated risk of having hypertension. On the basis of the potential link between hypertension and TN, Pan et al. (3) hypothesized that TN may be linked to an increased risk of stroke, and conducted an ageand sex-matched cohort design study to assess whether there is an association between TN and stroke. The study found that, after adjusting for demographic characteristics and the presence of hypertension and other vascular risk factors, there was a significantly increased 2-year hazard ratio of stroke (both infarction and haemorrhage) for the TN cohort of 1.76 (95% CI, 1.41–2.45; p< 0.0001). This finding suggests that TN may be an independent predictor of stroke, and raises the intriguing question whether TN is an independent risk factor for stroke, and if so, what is the mechanism. However, there are limitations in this study which caution us against jumping to conclusions too hastily regarding whether a causative relationship between TN and stroke might exist. As the authors acknowledge, there are problems with this study regarding the accuracy of diagnoses, the absence of information about vascular risk factors such as smoking, and a short period of observation (only 2 years). There are potentially other problems with the study that need be considered. First, it is unclear whether case ascertainment was complete. The authors have not documented whether every patient in the study was evaluated at the end of the 2-year period of observation to insure that data acquisition was complete. Also, in order to be sure that all cases of stroke during a 2-year period are identified, it is necessary to evaluate a period of at least 3 years because strokes which occur in the latter stages of the study may be identified at clinic visits which occur after the 2-year period of observation. Second, it is possible that case ascertainment bias occurred. Patients with TN would be likely to have more clinic visits than non-TN patients, so the occurrence of stroke would be more likely identified in the TN cohort. Finally, important data, such as the prevalence of atrial fibrillation, the severity of hypertension, and how well hypertension was managed, is missing. However, if TN is truly associated with a higher risk of stroke, a number of mechanisms could explain the relationship between the two diseases. Hypertension is a risk factor for stroke, and is thought to be a risk factor for TN. It is possible that hypertension occurs at an earlier age in patients with TN, which could then lead to premature atherosclerosis or other cardiac problems such as atrial fibrillation, which could lead to earlier occurrence of stroke. The average age of persons in the two cohorts was 56 years, so the number of strokes in the non-TN cohort would be expected to be low. If hypertension develops at an earlier age in TN patients leading to strokes developing prematurely, that could explain the higher incidence of stroke in the TN cohort


An adult patient who suffers from no mental incapacity has an absolute right to choose whether to consent to medical treatment, to refuse it or to choose one rather than another of the treatments being offered ... This right of choice is not limited to decisions which others might regard as sensible. It exists notwithstanding that the reasons for making the choice are rational, irrational, unknown or even non-existent.


Abstract : The charge on a satellite is likely to be so great that electric drag calculations based on the usual linear theories of charged particle energy losses will not be valid. The classical energy loss theory is discussed and the inadequacy of the linear approximation is demonstrated. From a phenomenological model for the medium a generalized Debye length is calculated and used as the cut-off parameter for Coulomb scattering. The results are applied to the West Ford needles and show a linear dependence of drag on needle potential. (Author)


In recent years, we have conducted research surrounding the harmonic decomposition of sound fields for their encoding and reproduction. As part of this research, we have designed and built high-precision 3D auditory displays using a sound field reproduction technology known as High-order Ambisonics (HOA). An important advantage of HOA over other alternatives is the definition of a system-independent encoding. This allows to fully separate the recording and reproduction stages and, therefore, reproduce the same contents using diverse presentation technologies. In concrete, we demonstrate two auditory displays based on HOA. One is a large but transportable system consisting of 32 loudspeakers regularly distributed around a listening region. The other one is a compact system using headphones to present the spatial sound information encoded in the Ambisonics format. This is accomplished by the binaural rendering of 32 virtual loudspeakers. Their distribution corresponds to that of the physical array used in the larger system. Both systems were combined with appropriate video presentation subsystems to allow for the highly immersive presentation of 3D audio-visual contents. In the case of the large, 32-channel system, a sound-transparent screen is used in conjunction with a 3D video projection system using shutter glasses. The compact, headphones-based system uses a head-mounted display to present video. Both systems are expected to convey a comparable experience when presenting immersive audio-visual contents. To illustrate this, we prepared a set of demonstrations. Three of them feature 3D video, while other two consist of audio-only contents. In all cases HOA was used to render full-surround 3D sound.


The experiment of Single Cell Gel Electrophoresis can detect the degree of DNA damage in Eukaryotic cells.Because of required less example,the test can detect the DNA injure and repair in the degree of single cell.The character of SGCE is wide range of application and simple to handle.There are analysis,discussion and improved about factors that influence the result of the experiment in the article.


We have used the chicken retina as a model for investigating cell cycle regulation and cell fate commitment during central nervous system development. This thesis focuses on the characterization of ...


Given our national obsession with efficiency, time management, and resource allocation, it is astounding that political scientists have not recently examined the organizational structure of congressional offices. Between the House of Representatives and Senate, there are 535 individual fiefdoms that employ those who toil away on Capitol Hill. What becomes abundantly clear from working on the Hill is that each of these offices marches to the beat of a different drummer. Every morning, after the ritualistic quest for coffee and the obligatory trot through security scanners, over 17,000 staffers find their way and open the doors to their respective offices. It is assumed that what works for one office is not a panacea for all.


The paper reveals clear links between the differential-difference Kadomtsev–Petviashvili hierarchy and the (continuous) Kadomtsev–Petviashvili hierarchy. Isospectral differential-difference Kadomtsev–Petviashvili flows and non-isospectral differential-difference Kadomtsev–Petviashvili flows are derived through Lax triad approach. The Lax triads also provide simple zero-curvature representations for the obtained flows. The non-isospectral flow acts as a master symmetry to provide recursive relations for the obtained flows. These flows generate a Lie algebra, which is a starting point for investigating more integrability properties. We derive symmetries, Hamiltonians and conserved quantities for the isospectral differential-difference Kadomtsev–Petviashvili hierarchy. The Lie algebras generated respectively by the flows, symmetries, Hamiltonians and conserved quantities have same structures. Finally, we provide a uniform continuum limit which is different from Miwa's transformation. By means of defining degrees of some elements w.r.t. the continuum limit, we prove that in the uniform continuum limit the differential-difference Kadomtsev–Petviashvili hierarchies together with their Lax triads, zero-curvature representations and integrability characteristics go to their continuous counterparts. Structure deformation of Lie algebras in the continuum limit is also explained.


The most frequently used financing contracts in Islamic financial institutions are murabahah and mudharabah. This study aims to reveal the phenomenon in the field about the description of the risk comparison between murabahah financing and mudharabah financing from the BMT side. This study uses descriptive qualitative research methods through data collection methods with in-depth interviews with nine respondents who have experience handling the risks of murabahah financing and mudharabah financing at BMT. This study shows that the risk of mudharabah financing is greater than the risk of murabahah financing. In practice, mudharabah financing tends to be relatively high due to asymmetric information and moral hazard. The inherent risk in murabahah financing is the risk of member default due to default or member negligence in returning installments. This study also identifies risk factors such as trust risk and sharia legal risk for murabahah financing with wakalah contracts. This study shows that BMT applies the precautionary principle and is appropriate to maintain the institution's health to minimize the risks that occur. This research is expected to be a reference in managing the risk of murabahah financing and mudharabah financing with innovative strategies. The BMT Islamic Microfinance Institution needs to stimulate and educate to reduce the risk of mudharabah financing so that it can become a top priority for financing.


With the continuous development of Artificial Intelligence technology, the reception and processing of massive data have higher requirements on the computing platform and information processing platform, which forces the service platform to increase interaction, user-orientation, and visualization. In order to realize service system innovation, this paper proposes a method of constructing artificial intelligence service platform based on reverse thinking, trying to provide support for improving the intelligence level of service platform.


The discourse around peace building has changed from a state centric perspective to an increased inclusion of local perspectives. This thesis assesses the order of discourse of the community theatre The Playhouse in Northern Ireland, as it shows itself on The Playhouses website. It draws out the order of discourse based on three perspectives on peace building, and then tries to understand the order of discourse from The Playhouse's material pre-conditions, as well as the liberal peace building discourse. The three perspectives are John Paul Lederachs "elicitive" and "prescriptive" models for training of peace builders, as well as his "moral imagination". The method used is the Critical Discourse Analysis of Norman Fairclough. This thesis finds that the order of discourse of The Playhouse is mainly a mix of "prescriptive" and "moral imagination". Through the lenses of the material pre-condition of finance, as well as the liberal peace building discourse, the order of discourse of The Playhouse is in large parts one of self-promotion. It also finds it to be reflective of larger struggles between discourses in peace building. (Less)


Calculation and quantitative evaluation of thermal conductivity and surface medium integral temperatures of multi-layer composite SHS pressed cathodes for deposition of vacuum-arc coatings were presented. Thermal conductivity of multilayer SHS cathode in TiC 0,5-Al and TiC 0,5-Al-Si systems is more than thermal conductivity of titanium cathode. However, due to the higher current of the arc temperature of SHS cathodes is approximately equal to the temperature of titanium cathode. It was found that the main factor determining the content of micro droplets phase of vacuum arc coatings is the fusion temperature of the evaporated cathode material.


This paper looks at the Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) of NASA's Space Shuttle Day of Launch I-Load Update (DoLILU) project. IV&V is defined. The system's development life cycle is explained. Data collection and analysis are described. DoLILU Issue Tracking Reports (DITRs) authored by IV&V personnel are analyzed to determine the effectiveness of IV&V in finding errors before the code, testing, and integration phase of the software development life cycle. The study's findings are reported along with the limitations of the study and planned future research.


ABSTRACT Transnational approaches have led to conceptualisations of migration as a phenomenon that is embedded within globalisation processes. Overwhelmingly, emphasis is placed on the transnational connections migrants maintain with their relatives. Technological advancements have facilitated sustained communication, remittance transfers and return visits between migrants and their relatives. However, the role of shipping companies, as transnational actors based in destination countries with partners in origin countries, that help migrants and their relatives to co-create/maintain their livelihoods has been overlooked. Drawing on data from Ghanaian migrants in the UK who send in-kind remittances, their relatives in Ghana who receive in-kind remittances, Ghanaian migrant-owned shipping businesses in the UK and their partners in Ghana, this paper fills that gap in the literature by discussing the operation of 'door-to-door' shipping businesses as a type of crucial transnational migrant entrepreneurship that empowers migrants from the 'Global South' and their relatives to overcome transnational livelihood making challenges.


The ground-state subspace of a topological phase of matter forms a representation of the mapping class group of the space on which the state is defined. We show that elements of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ can be obtained through a sequence of topological charge projections along at least three mutually intersecting noncontractible cycles. We demonstrate this both through the algebraic theory of anyons and also through an analysis of the topology of the space-time manifold. We combine this result with two observations: (i) that surfaces of genus $g$ can be effectively simulated in planar geometries by using bilayer, or doubled, versions of the topological phase of interest, and inducing the appropriate types of gapped boundaries; and (ii) that the required topological charge projections can be implemented as adiabatic unitary transformations by locally tuning microscopic parameters of the system, such as the energy gap. These observations suggest a possible path towards effectively implementing modular transformations in physical systems. In particular, they also show how the Ising $\ensuremath{\bigotimes}\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\overline{\text{Ising}}$ state, in the presence of disconnected gapped boundaries, can support universal topological quantum computation.


In this paper,the issue of "media" in overseas Chinese literature studies is touched upon so as to show the possibility of rewriting the literary history by systematizing previous media texts.Moreover,its important significance can also be highlighted in the following two aspects: for one thing,it would be a chance to reflect on and to reconstruct the study paradigm so as to ensure the inevitable transition to a comparative study of culture and poetics as well as a crossover study in terms of textual study;for another,it would also be a chance to re-orientate literary creation in which the game-playing process and the manner between writers and media will reveal how and why the significance of overseas Chinese literature overseas is secured.


Competitive pressures have forced many traditional companies to evolve into a platform-based business model. Trade commissions and even supreme courts recognize the need for economic analysis as the nature of competition changes in the market. There have been many mergers and acquisitions across platform-based businesses. In the ride-sharing sector, Lyft and Didi Chuxing were initially in a partnership to thwart Uber but Uber merged its operation with Didi Chuxing eventually. Amazon and Walmart competed fiercely to buy the Indian online retailer Flipkart, which Walmart eventually won. Traditional antitrust models studying the implications of mergers do not consider the underlying network structure of these intermediary markets. This is the main focus of our model and analysis. We provide a network measurement to evaluate the effect of mergers on welfare. Our analysis shows that because of the underlying networks mergers can sometimes improve welfare.


BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of knowledge regarding neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN) in patients with HIV infection. OBJECTIVE: To explore the incidence, characteristics and treatment outcomes of NEN in HIV-positive individuals. METHODS: This is a single-center, descriptive cohort study. Patients with HIV and biopsy-confirmed NEN were identified from our data registry. Data were collected retrospectively from medical records. Progression-free and overall survival (OS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Nineteen HIV-positive patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NET) (n = 14), neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC) (n = 2) or Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) (n = 3) were included (median age at NEN diagnosis, 53 years). In 15 (79%) patients, HIV diagnosis preceded NEN diagnosis by a median of 11 years and 14 were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Of those with data available, 75% had a viral load < 50 copies/ml and mean CD4 771 cells/mm3. The median OS in the NEC/MCC cohort was 8 months (range 5–29). The median OS in the NET cohort was not reached but based on the 25th centile, 75% of patients are expected to survive for at least 57 months. Treatment outcomes will be described. CONCLUSIONS: Within the limits of a small descriptive cohort study, we found no evidence in the era of ART that patients with HIV and NEN are diagnosed at a younger age, nor have a poorer prognosis compared with the wider NEN population. Thus, they should receive maximal NEN therapies to support best outcomes.


The art of performance dance in the 20th century is undergoing a transformation involving values, concepts, and styles that are quite distinct from the traditional principles of classical art dance. This turn, beginning around the middle of the 20th century, has found expression in a "radical shift" in terms of the form and content of dance, affecting its components, nature, and purpose; therefore, it is not surprising that the quest for new conceptual foundations acquired its own outlook not only, and not so much in art criticism as in philosophical terms. It can be said that the epicentre of these shifts was a new understanding of the dancing body itself. The diversity of practices – dance theatre, physical theatre, dance performance, non‐dance movement, postmodern dance, contemporary dance – have in turn become ways of embodying these new bodily concepts. Of course, the primary results of this quest have had a non‐verbal character; nevertheless, in general terms, the level of "conversation" allows us to perceive the philosophical concepts underlying the discoveries made. The task of this article is to clarify these concepts through examining changes ideas about the body within dance culture over the course of the last century. The examination is carried out sequentially through the ages of the twentieth century: the development of new conceptual directions of the body in the dance practices of Western Received 19 January 2018 © 2018 Maria Kozeva, Galina Brandt Accepted 5 March 2018 email@example.com Published online 3 April 2018 firstname.lastname@example.com 7 Changing Societies & Personalities, 2018 Vol. 2, No. 1 countries are shown, referring each movement to precisely the process from which it respectively proceeded. Thus, the body seen as a means, an "instrument", for the transmission of higher spiritual meanings, as was generally the case in classical dance, becomes in itself the goal and subject of special interest. Here it is as a space of freedom and a field for unravelling unconscious (psychosomatic) aspects, both in terms of the vehicle of sociality, and as its construct, that awareness of the normative practices of body as a repression of social control can be observed. It is clear that the basic "narratives" identified in the article also unfold in the philosophical studies of the 20th and 21st centuries. Thus, the parallel nature of these processes testifies to a cardinal revision by European society of its physicality.


The γ-radiation-induced polymerization of pure styrene and styrene-n-dibutyl disulfide mixtures has been studied at a number of temperatures and dose rates. Up to 0.04 Mrad/hr the rates were proportional to the square root of the dose rate. By measuring the rates at a number of disulfide concentrations and at three different dose rates, the relative rates of radical formation were determined by kinetic analysis. Considerable energy transfer from the styrene to the disulfide was found. The relative contributions of energy transfer and radical formation were separated by using the kinetic scheme of Nikitina and Bagdasaryan. Values of 8.5 and 3.1 were found for the relative rates of radical production and energy transfer, respectively. This leads to a G (radical) value of 3.1 for n-dibutyl disulfide. With azobisisobutyronitrile as the initiator, the chain transfer constant to the disulfide was determined at 55°C. Finally, the sulfur content of a number of the polymers were determined, an average of two sulfur atoms per polymer chain was found. In general, the rate of polymerization was found to increase in the presence of dibutyl disulfide.


We investigate the implications of parity-violating electron scattering experiment on neutron skin thickness of $^{48}$Ca (CREX) and $^{208}$Pb (PREX-II) data on the bulk properties of finite nuclei, nuclear matter, and neutron stars. The neutron skin thickness from the CREX and PREX-II data is employed to constrain the parameters of relativistic mean field models which includes different non-linear, self and cross-couplings among isoscalar-scalar $\sigma$, isoscalar-vector $\omega$, isovector-scalar $\delta$ and isovector-vector $\rho$ meson fields up to the quartic order. Three parametrizations of RMF model are proposed by fitting CREX, PREX-II and both CREX as well as PREX-II data to assess their implications. A covariance analysis is performed to assess the theoretical uncertainties of model parameters and nuclear matter observables along with correlations among them. The RMF model parametrization obtained with the CREX data acquires much smaller value of symmetry energy (J= 28.97$\pm$ 0.99 MeV), its slope parameter (L= 30.61$\pm 6.74$ MeV) in comparison to those obtained with PREX-II data. The neutron star properties are studied by employing the equations of state (EoSs) composed of nucleons and leptons in $\beta$ equilibrium.


Bachelor thesis social educator eyes of students focuses on the possibilities degree in social pedagogy in the Czech Republic. Compares the profiles of graduates of social pedagogy individual universities. Seeks opportunities of a leaver social pedagogy. In the practical part will focus on how the exercise of the profession of social pedagogy students watching. As a research method we chose SWOT analysis.


Time domain simulations for high-frequency applications are widely dominated by the leapfrog time-integration scheme, especially in combination with finite-difference methods (FDTD) or the finite integration technique (FIT). As an explicit method, however, the leapfrog algorithm is restricted to a maximum stable time step, and recently some alternative, unconditionally stable techniques have been proposed to overcome this limitation. We analyze such schemes using a transient modal decomposition of the electric fields. It is shown that stability alone is not sufficient to guarantee correct results, but additionally important conservation properties have to be met.


This study examined the concept-forming process of Design-Art and based on it, drew the significance of Design-Art. Design-Art is generated by the policy cultivating star artists and star designers so as to pioneer new art-market in 1990s in the foundation of anti-area formed by Postmodernism in 1960s. It started to be vitalized while designers were born as author. At the same time, because of the information`s popularity by internet`s propagation, users started to manufacture and propagate contents volunteerly. Meanwhile, designers accepted artistic value so as to guarantee independent position, so the area of Design-Art became more strengthened. Therefore, Design-Art means `design as an art` and Design-Artist obtained general meaning, `designer as an author`. In 2000s, it secured variety because of the acceptance of existing art galleries` Design-Art works and forming of new Design-Art market such as Design-Art fair, and vitalization of the market played its own roles with the movement to create new-concept of design in design ecology. Based on the contents, this paper analyzed Design-Art works by Design-Artists working actively in actual field and examined the possibility of future development of Design-Art.


Taking Hunan International Economics University as an example,the study analyzes the status of the characteristic specialty construction based on the social employment requirements in private universities and puts forward relevant improvement suggestions,expecting to provide some references for effectively conducting the characteristic specialty construction in private university.


Women have a better melanoma prognosis, and fairer skin/hair colour. The presence of inherited MC1R variants has been associated with a better melanoma prognosis, but its interaction with sex is unknown.


Purpose - – This study aims to focus on the industrial products and resources industries due to the environmental impacts caused by both industries. To convince both industries to increase investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, the authors have presented the results on the relationships between investment in CSR programs and the financial-based and market-based performances. Design/methodology/approach - – The study focuses on the data during 2010-2011 of the listed Thai firms in industrial products and resources industries due to the environmental impacts caused by both industries. The findings show that firms receiving a higher CSR index score also have a higher return on assets (ROA), indicating efficient use of the assets. In addition, investment in CSR programs produces a positive outcome within two years, on average, after the investment. As the study period is two years (2010-2011), no relationships are found between the CSR index and return on equity (ROE) and between the index and Tobin'Q. Findings - – The findings show that firms with a higher CSR index have higher ROA, thereby indicating a more efficient use of the assets. In addition, the positive outcome of investment in CSR programs can be realized within a relatively short-time period, i.e. two years on average after investment. As the study data cover only two years (2010-2011), no relations are detected between the CSR index and ROE and Tobin'Q. Research limitations/implications - – Not many research papers have been studied by using emerging market evidence. The interest in CSR in Thailand is just in its early stage. The study examines the association between multicollinearity by using variance inflation factors (VIF), and it shows no defect on the matter. In addition, the data have been checked for the defects in the outliner, which is very variable. It could be affected to the regression coefficient analysis. The table of casewise diagnostics shows that the outliner containing standard residual diversifies regression equation, and it could also misconceive the variable of Y; therefore, the researcher would exclude the mentioned area before analyzing the data. Durbin–Watson statistic is used to do the error check of ROA, ROE and Tobin's Q, which were found to be 1.938, 1.817 and 1.931, respectively. The mean varies between 1.5 and 2.5, which means covariance. Additionally, association of independent variable could be checked to ensure that the independent variable has no relationship. It could be noticed from Tolerance and VIF, if Tolerance is close to zero or VIF is over 10.0, it means that one of independent variables has associated with other variables. It implies that there is no multicollinearity problem in this study. Originality/value - – This is the first study in Thailand that looks into the effects of CSR activities of industrial products and resources sectors of the industry due to the pollution-prone nature of both industries.


The cooperative principle is expected to be effective in having wireless users more satisfyingly achiev their communication goals. Different layers are anticipated to benefit from its strength, from the low physical and network lev els, up to the service level, where novel, exciting applications such as IP-TV are rousing. This trend is paralleled by an increased consciousness that wireless devices(from end-user handsets to wireless routers) have to be designed paying a specific attention to environmental efficiency: again, this translates into smart power management solutiions at RF level, but also in skillful algorithm design, carefully tailored communication protocols, lightweight and distributed databases. The incited experts will provide the audience with sharp, brief presentations reflecting their ideas on such topics, and will interact answering the questions raised by the floor. A specific attention will be devoted to the industy and European Commission viewpoints on the subjects the panel is centered upon.


This study was performed to investigate, the changes of tear film and ocular surface in diabetic patients by assessing the corneal sensitivity test, tear secretion test and comparing the results with those in a normal control group. The present study was carried out in K.M.C. Mangalore  in 100 eyes of fifty patients of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Cases) and 100 eyes of fifty  healthy individual (Controls) . Corneal sensitivity, Tear film break up time, Rose bengal test and Schirmer test without topical anesthesia (total tear secretion test), and Schirmer test with topical anesthesia (basal tear secretion test) was measured. Results showed that corneal sensitivity was significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the diabetic group than in the control group. Tear film BUT was significantly shorter (P < 0.001) in the diabetic group than in the control group. Total and basal tear secretions were significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the diabetic group when compared to control group. The present study indicates that in patients with Type II diabetes, there is a decreased corneal sensitivity, decreased tear stability and secretion, suggesting an ocular surface disease. Early examination of the diabetic patients for the detection of the ocular surface disorders is indicated


Ascariasis is the most widespread helminthiasis worldwide. In endemic areas, Ascaris lumbricoides infestation is a very widespread cause of biliopancreatic disease and one of common cause of pancreatitis. Liver abscess as a part of complication of biliary ascariais is possible but not common. Endoscopic management of biliopancreatic ascariasis is feasible, with a very low morbidity and a high rate of success. We experienced a paediatric patient of biliary ascariasis who developed liver abscess as part of complication and initial presentation. Keyword : Helminthiasis, Ascariasis, Hepatic, Abscess DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jom.v12i2.6735 JOM 2011; 12(2): 170-173


Simple Summary The use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors has significantly improved the outcome of patients with ALK (anaplastic lymphoma kinase)-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer. Combining drugs with radiotherapy could increase its effectiveness on tumors or overcome resistance to ALK-targeted therapies. In this review, we provide a clinical and preclinical overview of combining radiation therapy with ALK inhibitors in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small cell lung cancer, and we also propose several approaches to overcome resistance to ALK-targeted therapies with a combination of radiation and tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Abstract Over the past years, the identification of genetic alterations in oncogenic drivers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has significantly and favorably transformed the outcome of patients who can benefit from targeted therapies such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Among these genetic alterations, anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) rearrangements were discovered in 2007 and are present in 3–5% of patients with NSCLC. In addition, radiotherapy remains one of the cornerstones of NSCLC treatment. Moreover, improvements in the field of radiotherapy with the use of hypofractionated or ablative stereotactic radiotherapy have led to a better outcome for localized or oligometastatic NSCLC. To date, the effects of the combination of ALK inhibitors and radiotherapy are unclear in terms of safety and efficacy but could potently improve treatment. In this manuscript, we provide a clinical and preclinical overview of combining radiation therapy with ALK inhibitors in anaplastic lymphoma kinase-positive non-small cell lung cancer.


The classical method of slices is reviewed and shown to have serious deficiencies with respect to its application to the effective-stress analysis of slopes. A revised approach is developed by considering uniform flow through a slice. This approach is shown to cater for the combined influence of buoyancy and seepage forces and to be consistent with the well-known solutions to two special cases. An approximate solution is proposed for the general situation in which flow through the slices is not uniform. L'article passe en revue la methode classique des tranches qu'on montre avoir des defauts serieux quant a son application a l'analyse des pentes en contraintes effectives. L'ecoulement uniforme a travers une tranche est considere pour arriver a une methode rectifiee. On demontre la facon dont cette approche inclut l'influence combinee des forces de sous-pression et de percolation, tout en seharmonisant avec les solutions bien connues adoptees dans deux cas speciaux. Une solution approximative est proposee ...


Pyrimidine derivatives 4a-4c was prepared by a Biginelli cyclocondensation of g -ketoesters, aryl aldehydes, and thiourea derivatives under microwave irradiation. A simple and fast synthesis of bicyclic pyrimidine derivatives 6a-6c was performed by microwave-assisted reaction of 4a-4c with bromomalononitrile ( 5 ). Reaction of bicyclic pyrimidines 6a-6c with HCO 2 H and HONH 3 Cl under microwave irradiation gave tricyclic pyrimidines 7a-7c and 8a-8c respectively.


We present a named entity annotation for the Danish Universal Dependencies treebank using the CoNLL-2003 annotation scheme: DaNE. It is the largest publicly available, Danish named entity gold annotation. We evaluate the quality of our annotations intrinsically by double annotating the entire treebank and extrinsically by comparing our annotations to a recently released named entity annotation of the validation and test sections of the Danish Universal Dependencies treebank. We benchmark the new resource by training and evaluating competitive architectures for supervised named entity recognition (NER), including FLAIR, monolingual (Danish) BERT and multilingual BERT. We explore cross-lingual transfer in multilingual BERT from five related languages in zero-shot and direct transfer setups, and we show that even with our modestly-sized training set, we improve Danish NER over a recent cross-lingual approach, as well as over zero-shot transfer from five related languages. Using multilingual BERT, we achieve higher performance by fine-tuning on both DaNE and a larger Bokmål (Norwegian) training set compared to only using DaNE. However, the highest performance isachieved by using a Danish BERT fine-tuned on DaNE. Our dataset enables improvements and applicability for Danish NER beyond cross-lingual methods. We employ a thorough error analysis of the predictions of the best models for seen and unseen entities, as well as their robustness on un-capitalized text. The annotated dataset and all the trained models are made publicly available.


SUMMARY This paper reports the findings of an empirical field study of savings and loan associations. The investigation centres upon whether combinations of environment, strategy, and organization structure of 'high'-performance firms differ from combinations associated with 'low'performance firms. Results show that such combinations differ, both statistically and with respect to their basic character. There is also evidence that norms held by managers of competing institutions and the nature of relationships between organizations and populations served to influence the vigour and form of interfirm rivalries and, in turn, organizational performance.


Mark Coeckelbergh argues that Romanticism and the Enlightenment philosophies are not that far apart when it comes to philosophy of technology.


Objective:
Report on an extended form of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire (NPI-Q) that adds qualitative information about symptom domain ratings.
 Background:
The NPI-Q is a questionnaire derived from the NPI that is intended for clinical practice and may be particularly useful for evaluating patients with Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD). Both the NPI and NPI-Q report general domain scores that lack specific symptom details, which may limit its utility as a clinical assessment.
 Methods:
The NPI-Q2 adds representative items from each NPI domain to the corresponding domain-screening question. As part of an ongoing validation study, we report preliminary data on 73 AD, 47 LBD, and 89 FTD subjects.
 Results:
Total NPI-Q2 severity scores were significantly lower in AD subjects than LBD or FTD subjects (p<0.005); distress scores showed a similar trend (p <.06). Apathy and anxiety were the most common symptoms across groups (LBD: 83[percnt] and 74[percnt]; FTD: 73[percnt] and 60[percnt], AD: 67[percnt] and 59[percnt]). Other prevalent symptoms showed group differences. Most LBD subjects had nighttime behaviors (71[percnt]) and hallucinations (70[percnt]), whereas FTD subjects commonly exhibited depression (60[percnt]) and motor behaviors (58[percnt]), and AD subjects had frequent nighttime behaviors (51[percnt]) and depression (49[percnt]). Hallucinations were significantly more prevalent in LBD subjects (70[percnt] vs. 16[percnt] and 12[percnt]). "Visual" (hallucinations), "uncooperativeness" (Agitation), and "worrying about planned events" (Anxiety) were consistently the most common symptom manifestations across all groups. Similarly, "sleepiness" was the most common nighttime behavior across all three diagnostic groups; whereas, the most common appetitive/eating behavior symptoms were different (LBD - weight loss, FTD - change in food preference, AD - weight gain).
 Conclusions:
Qualitative information about specific symptom manifestations may enhance attempts to characterize neurocognitive disorders with greater precision and discriminability in clinical practice. These qualitative data may be particularly important for identifying specific vegetative symptom manifestations. Disclosure: Dr. Hatfield has nothing to disclose. Dr. Taylor has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bateman has nothing to disclose. Dr. Harris has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kaufer has received personal compensation for activities with Janssen Research and Development. Dr. Kaufer has received research support from Janssen Research and Development.


The Pd Nanoparticles attached on graphene nanosheet (GNS) were synthesized by a simple method. The morphology, structure and component for the a obtained graphene/Pd hybrids have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). The amperometric NO gas sensor was assembled with Graphene/Pd hybrids as the electrode material and 0.5M NaOH solution as electrolyte.It displayed a high sensitivity, together with fairly good detection times and stability. The cross-sensitivities of the sensor to existant gases (CO, H2S) are rather small. Keywords-Graphene; Amperometric ; Sensore; Sensitivity; Selectivity


Should leaders in Catholic health care be concerned about spirituality? The relationship between leadership and spirituality was a major topic at the 2010 Catholic Health Initiatives' (CHI) Leadership Conference in Denver. At a series of presentations alternated between topics related to leadership and reflections on spirituality. Keynote speaker Sr. Hannah O'Donoghue, CCVI, drew connections using the metaphors "leading from within" and "leading out of a full cup." According to Sr. O'Donoghue, leading from within means tapping into the deeper sources of


The review component of the Final Document of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) contained four paragraphs on the further strengthening of the review process of the Treaty


The following texts are transcriptions of bridewealth negotiations that took place on September 6–7, 1998. The first day of the negotiations was carried out at the homestead of the bride's father, while the second day was conducted at the groom's homestead. These homesteads were located about 10–20 km north of kakuma town, which lies about 100 km northwest of Lodwar, the capital of Turkana District in Kenya. By the end of the second day of the negotiations, all the bridewealth livestock had been transferred. wedding rituals were then performed at the bride's homestead on September 8–10. Part 1 of this volume (pp. 3-26) provides basic information on kinship structure, livestock ownership, the process of arranging marriages, and the amounts of bridewealth among the Turkana. Analysis of the negotiations and descriptions of the amount of bridewealth transferred in this particular marriage are also presented in Part 1. all the utterances in the following texts appear in the appended DVD video (Part 3 of this volume).


Background: Coronary artery disease caused disturb of physical, psychological, and social aspects on quality of life. The aims in this study was to examine effecting factors of quality of life (QoL). Methods: In this used the analytic correlation with cross-sectional design. One hundred and three subjects paticipated with purposive sampling (88 male and 23 female). QoL quesioner (SF-36) were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed by multivariate regression. Results: One hundred and three patientss (80 males and 23 female) were enroll on this study. In this study indicates that independent variables were not associated with quality of life (p value > 0.05). The greater quality of life found in patients graduated from university (62,2%) and had much income (51.9%). Other variables like male (57.5%), patients between 48-57 years of ages (68.2%), married patients with coronary artery disease (62.0%), the retired or unemplayee (78.9%), patients with hypertention (57.8%), never taking alcohol (60.8%), never smoking (50%) and never doing exercise (66%) had lower quality of life score. Conclusion: There were no statistically significant factors affecting quality of life in patients with CAD. The more respondents needed to know the factors affecting quality of life


An experimental laboratory setup is presented where students can familiarize, study, set-up, tune and test the propulsion motor drive. Paper gives a brief overview about experimental setup construction and application, as well about the course, where it is used, and laboratory exercise contend. The topics covered by developed laboratory works could be interesting for interdisciplinary studies in different fields, e.g. electrical and mechanical engineering.


This work is related to ozone treatment of organic wastes, a gas-liquid reaction. A model has been developed that accounts for mass transfer from the gas to the liquid and for the kinetics of chemical reactions. The theoretical approach of the model firstly refers to the film theory enhanced by a new parameter, the depletion factor. This method allows the part of the reaction occurring within the film and that occurring within the bulk to be distinguished. In relation with the first part of the model, the second part allows the overall behavior of a gas-liquid reactor with time to be described. The model is validated by a set of experiments on maleic acid ozonation in a semi-batch reactor.


Background and Objectives: Antibodies are used in many areas of diagnosis and treatment. Fully human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have attracted high attention due to not stimulating immune response in the body. This study was carried out with the purpose of designing and optimizing multiplex polymerase chain reaction for amplification human anti-tetanus toxoid antibody genes. Methods: After collecting blood samples from a human immunized with tetanus toxoid and lymphocyte separation, total RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized. all varieties of light (Kapa) and heavy chains of antibody were amplified by two separated multiplex PCR reactions using 14 pair primers. PCR was performed to link VH and VL together and make a ScFv segment, and semi nested PCR was performed to add cutting sites of restriction enzymes at the two ends of the segment. Results: In two multiplex PCR reactions, VH and VL segments were amplified with the length of 410 and 680 bp, respectively. After gel extraction, VH and VL were linked together as a 1070 bp ScFv segment. Restriction sites were added to the two ends of ScFv. Conclusion: By selection of an appropriate primer set and optimization of effective factors of multiplex PCR, all varieties of antibody genes derived from total human lymphocyte cDNA could be amplified and extracted using two multiplex PCR reactions instead of several uniplex ones. Therefore, using only two Multiplex PCR reactions, all genetic varieties of human antibody could be amplified as VH and VL segments from the blood of a subject immunized with tetanus toxoid.


Based on the analysis of discipline competition,the paper puts forward to establish a hierarchical classification teaching curriculum system based on the information technology application level contest,and discusses the aspects such as curriculum offerings,teaching content,teaching methods,teaching organization,assessment method and incentive mechanism,ect.The integration of teaching and competition mode is applied.Then a good atmosphere of study is formed,in which students have creative learning.That can improve the teaching quality and teaching level,so as to realize the target of training creative talents of information technology.


Purpose: To compare neck pain and disability between people with and without latent myofascial trigger points (MTrP) in Upper Trapezius. Methods: The participants of the study were asked to fill the Northwick Park Neck Pain Questionnaire (NPNQ) following which bilateral upper trapezius muscles were assessed for the presence of latent MTrP. The participants were placed into two groups; an experimental group who had latent MTrP in upper trapezius and a control group who did not have trigger points. Twenty seven people (22 women and 5 men, age range 18 to 22 years, mean age 19.62 +/- 1.33 years) were in the experimental group and Fifteen people (10 women and 5 men, age range 18 to 23 years, mean age 18.86 +/- 1.55 years) were in the control group. Analysis: The scores from the NPNQ was compared between the two groups using unpaired't' test. Results: The results showed that the neck pain and disability is significantly higher in people with latent MTrP than the people without Latent MTrP. Conclusion: The latent MTrP despite of being quiescent might have a significant role to play in influencing neck pain and disability.


Three-dimensional, structural and parametric numerical modelling was applied to unravel the unconventional hydrocarbon potential of a W-dipping, Lower Palaeozoic mudrock succession, which subcrops for some 700 km in the Baltic, Podlasie and Lublin basins across the SW margin of East European Craton in Poland. Input data comprised structural and thickness maps of Ordovician and Silurian strata and the results of thermal maturity (mean vitrinite-equivalent reflectance, % Ro) and total organic carbon (TOC, % wt.) modelling. A new, spatial interpretation of vitrinite-reflectance variability indicates that the regional, W-increasing thermal maturity pattern breaks into a series of domains, bounded by abrupt maturity variations. In total, 14 tectono-thermal domains were recognised and their boundaries traced to known and inferred faults, mostly of NW‒SE and NE‒SW orientations. On the basis of a combination of thermal maturity and total organic carbon levels (0.6% > Ro 1.5% wt.), good-quality, unconventional reservoirs can be expected in the Sasino Formation (Caradoc) and Jantar Formation (early Llandovery) in the central and western Baltic Basin. The Jantar Formation also is likely to be prospective in the western Podlasie Basin. Marginal-quality reservoirs may occur in the Sasino and Jantar formations within the Podlasie and Lublin basins and in the Paslek Formation (late Llandovery) across all basins. Poorto moderate-quality, unconventional reservoirs could be present in the Pelplin Formation (Wenlock) in the Lublin and southern Podlasie basins. In spite of a considerable hydrocarbon loss during multiphase basin inversion, the Ordovician and Silurian mudrocks still contain huge quantities of dispersed gas. Successful exploitation of it would require the adoption of advanced fracking methods.