Setting: This study examined public perception in Kano metropolis, north-western Nigeria about air pollution. Objectives: To determine the awareness and perception of the public in Kano metropolis about common causes of air pollution; associated health risks; ways of control and roles of stakeholders in its control. Methods: using a descriptive cross-sectional design 335 eligible adults were studied using pretested, semi structured, interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed using Epi info version 3.5.1 statistical software. Results: Majority of the respondents (40.0%) correctly described air pollution. Industrial emission (83.6%), exhaust fumes (74.0%) dusts (68.7%) were perceived as the most common causes of air pollution. Major perceived health effects of air pollution were respiratory problems (100.0%) and eye irritation (65.2%). Industrial workers and residents of industrial areas were perceived to be most at risk of the deleterious effects of air pollution. Most of the respondents (89.6%) believed air pollution should be controlled and 61.0% believed that its control is the combined responsibility of government and the public; while 26.3% believed that only the government was responsible. Environmental sanitation (73.1%) and good town planning (69.0%) were identified as the major ways of controlling air pollution. Nearly half of the respondents (49.0%) described the air they breathe as unclean; and 60.0% were willing to pay extra levy for clean air in Kano. Conclusion: Majority of the public in Kano have a fair awareness of air pollution, the health risks associated with it and the control measures. However a significant percentage wrongly perceived that its control is the sole responsibility of the government. Key words: Public perception; air pollution; health risks


Applying plastic expansive agent to solve the debonding and non-compacting problem in sealed structures (e.g. concrete-filled steel tube) caused by the deformation of concrete has become an important method. In this study, the effect of azodicarbonamide expansive agent (ADC) on the deformation, mechanical properties, hydration process, and pore structure of cement pastes and concrete was investigated. The results show that the low static yield stress and viscosity promote the formation and growth of bubbles, which are disadvantageous for their stabilization. The ADC reaction rate increases with the elevated temperature, which benefits for shortening the time to mitigate shrinkage. ADC has a limited effect on cement hydration but remarkably alters the pore structure. The balance between deformation and strength is considered to be the important criteria for determining the optimal dosage of ADC.


The COVID-19 pandemic has created unforeseen effects in public transport and the mobility of people in cities globally. Johannesburg, being a developing city in one of the most affected countries in Africa during the pandemic, has experienced severe changes in traffic management and travel patterns as a result of the restrictions imposed on movement. Hence, this study examined the spatial variations in traffic during the pandemic. The study utilized data obtained from the TomTom Traffic Index for the city of Johannesburg from 2019 to 2021, with 2019 representing the period pre-COVID-19 with no lockdown restrictions, 2020 representing the period with restricted movement to limit spread of COVID-19, and 2021 representing a period of relaxed and minimized restrictions on movement. Our findings revealed that there was a variation in congestion levels between 2019–2021 with year 2020 having the least congestion from the beginning of the COVID-19 restrictions due to regulations enforced in movement and reduced travel. Our findings further revealed that traffic congestion was higher during weekdays than weekends during the three periods, with mini-bus taxis as the major contributors to congestion. Consequently, there is a need to discourage the use of single occupancy vehicles and invest in more sustainable means of transportation to ease the mobility of people and reduce traffic on major roads.


The accuracy and precision of the non-contact velocity interferometer system for any reflector (VISAR) depends not only on the good optical design and linear optical-to- electrical conversion system, but also on accurate and robust post-processing techniques. The performance of these techniques, such as the phase unwrapping algorithm, depends on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the recorded signal. In the present work, a novel method of improving the SNR of the recorded VISAR signal, based on the knowledge of the noise characteristic of the signal conversion and recording system, is presented. The proposed method uses a modified Wiener filter, for which the signal power spectrum estimation is obtained using a spectral subtraction method (SSM), and the noise power spectrum estimation is obtained by taking the average of the recorded signal during the period when no target movement is expected. Since the noise power spectrum estimate is dynamic in nature, and obtained for each experimental record individually, the improved signal quality is high. The proposed method is applied to the simulated standard signals, and is not only found to be better than the SSM, but is also less sensitive to the selection of the noise floor during signal power spectrum estimation. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the recorded experimental signal and an improvement in the SNR is reported.


Characteristics of three models of normally functioning prosthetic valves in the aortic position were compared using Doppler echocardiographic technique. Maximal aortic velocity (V max ) was recorded in 68 patients in whom Carpentier-Edwards (n=29), Hancock (n=25), and St. Jude (n=14) prosthetic valves had been implanted in the aortic position. Mean V max values were 2.55±0.55 m/s for Carpentier-Edwards, 2.49±0.74 m/s for Hancock and 2.74±0.31 m/s for St. Jude


Based on the Chinese patent application documents relevant to the video transcoding technology,the present paper provides statistic analysis results of the patent application status,emphatically analyses the geographical distribution of applicants and the number of patent applications domestic and overseas applicant's annual trend,analyses the reason of the distribution and trend and the inspire to Chinese company and research organization.


By varying the photon flux during sub-bandgap optical pumping, the locations of traps associated with sub-bandgap laser pumping in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) were identified. Fixed photon flux of sub-bandgap optical pumping was previously employed to determine the activation energies of traps in AlGaN/GaN HEMT; traps with activation energies of 0.73 eV, both 0.73 and 1.91 eV or all three trap states detected for the 671, 532, or 477 nm laser illumination, respectively. However, by illuminating the HEMTs with lower photon fluxes from 532 or 447 nm lasers, the traps with 0.73 eV were absent, and only the traps associated with higher activation energies were activated by the laser light. This indicated that the traps related to the activation energies of 1.91 and 2.35 eV are likely located at the surface of the HEMTs. Photon flux dependent gate-lag measurements were also conducted. Laser illumination of 671 nm did not affect the drain current during the gate lag measurement, implyin...


Racemic cyclopropyl ketones undergo enantioselective rearrangement to deliver the corresponding dihydrofurans in the presence of a chiral phosphoric acid as the catalyst. The reaction involves activation of the donor-acceptor cyclopropane substrate by the chiral Brønsted acid catalyst to promote the ring-opening event, thus generating a carbocationic intermediate that subsequently undergoes cyclization. Computational studies and control experiments support this mechanistic pathway.


Towards 5G, the challenge to achieve high reliability and low latency asks for new directions in systems so far strongly focusing on high data rates. Schemes to achieve high reliability for low latency demanding services are link diversity to ensure reliability and resource reservation to avoid scheduling delays. However, these schemes place high demands on the scarce radio resources. In this paper we propose a self-optimized approach on the network management level to minimize the capacity impact for ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) services. The idea of the new URLLC Self-Organized Network (SON) is to provide optimized sets of parameters derived from the respective service requirements and the current conditions in the network. We discuss Network Management (NM) parameters regarding their impact on URLLC and present a structure, which allows a fast selection of the appropriate parameter set. One focus is on device-to-device (D2D) communication, which has a high potential to meet both, the reliability and latency requirements. An initial study on radio resource reuse indicates a promising gain in network capacity, while D2D reuses the same resources as the cellular users in the network.


In the first section, the impact of American football in traumatic brain injury and its contribution in elucidating the pathophysiology and management of concussion is discussed. Also, the biomechanics and role of angular acceleration in modulating concussion onset and severity is highlighted. The importance of concussion secondary to blasts in military personnel is discussed and the necessity of understanding the mechanism of blast tolerance (for protection and information of involved personnel) is elaborated.


The Al-Cu alloy was regarded as raw material;the effect of ultrasonic vibration on hot tearing of Al-1.0%Cu alloy was investigated.Furthermore,the hot tearing fracture was observed.The conclusion generalized as follows:the alloy crack resistance was increased by ultrasonic treatment into melt;the hot tearing trend was decreased.The fracture surface was intergranular fracture and was existed trace of stretched liquid film clearly.


According to the results of the study of methodological, didactic, scientific-theoretical, pedagogical literature, it is determined that the cross-cultural approach reveals the methodology of a multi-panoramic study of "a person at the intersection of cultures" as an innovative type of personality that adheres to planetary ethics and is characterized by cross-border thinking that goes beyond his/her own culture. It has been determined that cross-cultural learning is a consistent, purposeful interaction of teachers and students, within which there is an accumulation of background and cultural knowledge, the development of language and speech skills necessary for effective inter-linguistic and intercultural interaction with representatives of various linguistic and cultural communities. The study determined that the multicultural educational space is a spatial-subject area of interaction between subjects of the educational process, which is constructed on the basis of taking into account the invariance of universal human (planetary) values in combination with the variability of cultural intents (ethnocultural worldview, natiomental constants, historical-cultural artifacts, cultural-deterministic interpersonal patterns). The functioning of the multicultural educational space in institutions of general secondary education is characterized as a model for creating psychological and pedagogical conditions, algorithms, and technologies for the adaptation integration of the student's personality into the multicultural field of society through educational (didactic) mechanisms, in particular, cross-cultural learning. Based on the analysis of the scientific fund, it is determined that a teacher of a foreign language and literature is a highly qualified, competitive specialist-teacher, providing the educational needs of modern society in the field of foreign language education; ensures the organization of the educational (educational, developmental) process on the basis of preserving Ukrainian traditions, respectful attitude to the native language and historical past, on the principles of patriotism, humanism, democracy, tolerance and civic responsibility in the multicultural educational space. The training of future teachers of a foreign language and literature for cross-cultural learning within a multicultural educational space is interpreted as a pedagogical process, which is a structural component of the general, holistic, systematic professional training of the future teacher, aimed at: the awareness by future teachers of the importance of constructing a multicultural educational space at educational institutions on the basis of ethnic tolerance; formation of a complex of knowledge on cross-cultural didactics and skills in implementing culturally relevant means of teaching a foreign language; development of personal properties and worldview values of students as initiators and mediators of the dialogue of cultures. The readiness of future teachers of a foreign language and literature for cross-cultural learning within a multicultural educational space is a synthetic personal-deterministic and professionally-oriented construct that reflects the integrative unity of the desire of the teacher-dictionary to carry out the transmission of ethnocentrism into ethnorelativism (ethno-mental identification component); the ability to adapt and remodel situational didactic interactions within an environment of cross-cultural integration in a multicultural educational space (interactive-professional component); intention to transform professional knowledge into sociocultural intelligence (metacognitive information-centred component).


This studies a series of archaeological sites in the Hualfin Valley (Catamarca) that dates to the Regional Developments/Inka Periods (1000-1536). In considering space as a socially and politically constructed object (Smith 2003), we define three practical dimensions: physical space, perceived space and imagined space. At the operative level, from a spatial dimension of landscape we consider aspects such as the type of emplacement, the topography of the sites, the quantity and distribution of enclosures, their communication with the outside and with other enclosures; from a temporal dimension we consider relative and absolute chronologies, whilst from a social dimension we interpret the materials uncovered. We will comparatively analyze the sites so as * Laboratorio de Analisis Ceramico, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. E-mail: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com; email@example.com


Based on China's panel data of 29 provinces during 1991-2008,this paper employs spatial econometrics to study the relationship between income disparity of urban and rural areas and the TFP.Our estimation result shows:(1)Income disparity of urban and rural areas shows a distinct spatial dependence,and most provinces locate at high-high and low-low regions.(2)The improvement of TFP increases income disparity of urban and rural areas.(3)The human capital,FDI,trade and the level of urbanization widens the income disparity of urban and rural areas in some degree.(4)The ratio of employment reduces income disparity of urban and rural areas in some degree.


Extraction technology of the cAMP from Winter-date with Microwave-assisted extraction was studied.And cAMP was analyzed by HPLC method.Several factors,such as marinated time,extraction time,microwave power and ratio of material and liquor were investigated and the appropriate MAE conditions were obtained from the orthogonal test.The optimal MAE conditions are follows: microwave power is 200W,marinated time is 6 hours,extraction time is 3 minutes,ratio of material and liquor is 1∶20.


The invention relates to a baking oven with a metallic baking oven muffle. Said muffle can be closed at the front with a door. Heating elements for heating the cooking space or the food inside to above approximately 180 DEG C are allocated to the muffle walls, and a protective layer covering at least the inside of said muffle walls is provided. In order to improve the characteristics of use of the baking oven muffle, the thickness of said protective layer is less than approximately 30 mu m.


1. Prosthetic acetabular cups of the Charnley and McKee-Farrar designs were cemented into cadaveric pelves using different procedures for preparing the acetabulum. 2. The torsional moments needed to loosen these cups were measured. 3. The torsional moments so measured were found to be from about four to more than twenty times higher than the frictional moments measured in independent tests on the two designs of prosthesis. 4. It is argued that late looseness of the acetabular component after total hip replacement, in the absence of infection, seems most likely to be due to thermal damage to the bone occurring at the time of polymerisation of the cement, and to subsequent bone resorption. 5. Surgical preparation of the acetabulum should include removal of all the articular cartilage and cleaning of the acetabular fossa, but the drilling of additional holes in the floor of the acetabulum seems unimportant. 6. The possibility of fatigue fracture in bone as a factor contributing to late loosening is an argument in favour of metal-on-polyethylene prostheses with their lower frictional moments, although the importance of this factor cannot be estimated.


The present invention relates to a cold cathode gas discharge light emitting device, comprising: two or more elongated two cold cathode fluorescent lamp, having a first end and a second end portion of each of the at least one first end portion of the lamp connected to each other ; install the container: a lamp each at least one first electrode located on the outer container; a first end portion connected to a first electrode of each lamp and the lamp further comprising a second common electrode, which is located in the lamp a second end or portion adjacent the second end; trigger further comprises a third electrode positioned adjacent to the second end or the second end portion of the lamp; further comprises a second coupled across the common electrode and a pair of first voltage between the electrodes of the means for supplying procedures, and bridging between the supply electrode and the first electrode of the third trigger means starting voltage, starting voltage which is a combination of a continuous voltage and the starting voltage, so that the lamp is started; further comprising a connection to the second electrode of the third electrode substrate or trigger an inner wall of the container, for supporting the lamp, is connected to the common base plate.


The main goal of this paper is to investigate and compare the performance of an in-line distributed Raman amplifier (DRA) and an in-line lumped Raman amplifier (LRA) in a 16 channel DWDM transmission system in the case with counter-propagating pumping configuration. The comparison was made for different values of input signal power which was controlled by changing the positioning of the amplifier in the 150 km long optical link. Three different scenarios were observed — when the LRA or the pump of the DRA were placed 75 km, 100 km and 125 km away from the transmitter block. At each value of input signal power, the main criteria set by the authors was to find and compare the minimal pump power for the DRA and the LRA that would ensure bit-error ratio below the 1 · 10−9 threshold in all channels.


A good framework/library can reduce the cost of developing an ap- plication. This study is an exploration of issues related to designing collections frameworks by analyzing the existing approaches and by emphasizing the fun- damentals and the main desiderata of such developments. The corresponding theoretical concepts are analyzed, and for dening data structures an approach based on properties is discussed. Also, some design leading questions are specied in order to emphasize possible new development approaches.


You ask why the Church doesn't continue to teach us to live our married lives and trust in God like she used to teach. Let's start from there.


Finding optimal and noise robust probe states is a key problem in quantum metrology. In this paper we propose Markov dynamics as a possible mechanism for generating such states, and show how the Heisenberg scaling emerges for systems with multiple `dynamical phases' (stationary states), and noiseless channels. We model noisy channels by coupling the Markov output to `environment' ancillas, and consider the scenario where the environment is monitored to increase the quantum Fisher information of the output. In this setup we find that the survival of the Heisenberg limit depends on whether the environment receives `which phase' information about the memory system.


Background & Aims: The present study was carried out to assess the effect of yoga on organizational happiness in female employees of the Tehran Islamic Azad University-Tehran Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: This randomized study was conducted in Tehran on 40 female employees in 2019. The volunteers were randomly assigned to two control and exercise groups. The exercise group (20 people) performed two sessions of yoga exercises every week for 12 weeks. The control group (20 people) only performed daily activities. After 12 weeks of training, the data was collected in both groups using the Hills and Argyle Standard Happiness Questionnaire (2002), which included 25 questions and 5 components. A group of expert faculty members confirmed the face and content validity of the instrument. Also, reliability was reported as 0.73 through Cronbach›s alpha test. Data were analyzed using independent t-tests and paired-sample t tests. Results: Findings demonstrated that yoga had significant effects on the organizational happiness of female employees of the Tehran Azad University of Medical Sciences (P<0.001). Conclusion: Considering the findings, it can be concluded that yoga can promote the physical health and happiness of female personnel.


A biologic adhesive bonding agent for bone and skin was first developed in 1966. Later experiments with cyanacrylate proved ineffective. A new 3M bonding agent, MBR 4197, was tried but proved ineffective owing to the nature of the cut surface. Use of the Sharplan CO2 laser eliminated this problem. Further experiments are now under way to determine more practical applications for this procedure.


Ventilation heterogeneity in asthma could be due to many reasons. Luminal obstruction due to inflammatory cells or mucus, smooth muscle constriction and airway wall thickness could all contribute individually or collectively to ventilation heterogeneity. Interleukin-4 and interleukin-13, acting through the common interleukin-4 receptor, have the potential to modulate all of these features of asthma.1 Inhaled hyperpolarised gas MRI provides a way to regionally visualise and quantify the functional consequence of these features.2 Dupilumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody directed against the alpha-subunit of the interleukin-4 receptor.3 Here, we report a severe asthmatic who showed significant improvement and normalisation of MRI ventilation heterogeneity and associated clinical and physiological variables with dupilumab treatment, suggesting that dupilumab modulated various aspects of luminal airway obstruction.

A 39-year-old atopic woman (total serum immunoglobulin E 1009 kU/L and peripheral blood eosinophils 1200 cells/µL) was seen for asthma in January 2015. She had mixed obstructive and non-obstructive spirometry (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) 1.42 L (44%pred), forced vital capacity (FVC) 1.72 L (44%pred) and total lung capacity (TLC) 3.78 L (71%pred)), with 13% reversibility to salbutamol. Her asthma …


One claim in this paper is that all labels with unvalued features are probes, in other words, phrases, too are probes. The second claim is that the difference between pronouns and reflexives is an effect of the syntactic derivation; personal pronouns are formed with all φ-features valued and need only case, which it gets in a clausal structure. The reflexive is formed in a structure that does not have values for its φ-features, since it lacks an N. Therefore, in addition to case it needs an antecedent that can value its φ-features. The valuation of φ-features is a probe–goal relation.


The invention provides an HGI structure at first, according to a practical geographic coordinate, the coverage area of a mobile ad hoc network is divided into a plurality of subareas step by step till the divided subareas at the lowest level are unit areas; nodes with resource data are respectively corresponding to each unit area on the basis of a geographic coordinate in which the nodes position; and index nodes corresponding to each level of areas maintain the index information of the nodes according to the geographic coordinate of the areas. Then, the invention provides a method for positioning and searching a series of resources such as a node join network, a node leave network, node movement and resource searching based on the HGI structure for a P2P node. The method effectively combines the characteristics of MANET and P2P technology, and improves the extensibility and efficiency of the prior P2P protocol when run on the MANET and the adaptability to node movement.


In this paper, we designed a simple on-chip router to support multicast communication technology. By adopting the longitudinal-priority multicast routing algorithm and using the wormhole switching technology, sending data to multiple nodes within a designated region at the same time is achieved. Through simulated test, effective availability, this design has certain applicability in the aspects of saving network resources and raising the working efficiency of the system.


Zdanavieiute O. Perspectives of oil field exploration in Middle Cambrian sandstones of Western Lithuania. Geologija. Vilnius. 2005. No 51. P. 10–18. ISSN 1392-110X. The proposed assessment of perspectives of oil exploration in West Lithuanian onshore is based on geochemical analysis of oil and organic matter together with available geological-geophysical data as well as on modelling results. It was established that source rocks of the Baltic Syneclise with the content of organic matter of one or more percent buried at a depth of more than 1500–1600 m, and their degree of catagenesis according to the index of "vitrinite" reflection reaching more than 0.7% generated oil. The territory, which meets the above-mentioned parameters, is prospective for oil exploration. The less prospective zone envelopes the prospective one with a narrow bend. Its eastern boundary is approximately determined by the isoline of –1350 m of the key reflecting horizon (Upper Ordovician – Lower Llandovery). The organic matter of source rocks has reached only a degree of "early oil" maturity in this territory, i.e. its oil production potential is very poor.


Several mammalian proteins involved in chromatin and DNA modification contain CXXC zinc finger domains. We compared the structure and function of the CXXC domains in the DNA methyltransferase Dnmt1 and the methylcytosine dioxygenase Tet1. Sequence alignment showed that both CXXC domains have a very similar framework but differ in the central tip region. Based on the known structure of a similar MLL1 domain we developed homology models and designed expression constructs for the isolated CXXC domains of Dnmt1 and Tet1 accordingly. We show that the CXXC domain of Tet1 has no DNA binding activity and is dispensable for catalytic activity in vivo. In contrast, the CXXC domain of Dnmt1 selectively binds DNA substrates containing unmethylated CpG sites. Surprisingly, a Dnmt1 mutant construct lacking the CXXC domain formed covalent complexes with cytosine bases both in vitro and in vivo and rescued DNA methylation patterns in dnmt1 embryonic stem cells (ESCs) just as efficiently as wild type Dnmt1. Interestingly, neither wild type nor DCXXC Dnmt1 re-methylated imprinted CpG sites of the H19a promoter in dnmt1 ESCs, arguing against a role of the CXXC domain in restraining Dnmt1 methyltransferase activity on unmethylated CpG sites. Citation: Frauer C, Rottach A, Meilinger D, Bultmann S, Fellinger K, et al. (2011) Different Binding Properties and Function of CXXC Zinc Finger Domains in Dnmt1 and Tet1. PLoS ONE 6(2): e16627. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016627 Editor: Anton Wutz, Wellcome Trust Centre for Stem Cell Research, United Kingdom Received September 14, 2010; Accepted January 5, 2011; Published February 2, 2011 Copyright: 2011 Frauer et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, SFB646 and TR5; http://www.dfg.de/en/index.jsp), the Nanosystem Initiative Munich (NIM; http://www.nano-initiative-munich.de/) and the Center for NanoScience (CeNS; http://www.cens.de/) to HL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: email@example.com (FS); firstname.lastname@example.com (HL) . These authors contributed equally to this work. ¤a Current address: Intervet International GmbH, Unterschleissheim, Germany ¤b Current address: Institute of Stem Cell Research, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany


The Arabic account of the early medieval Passion of Antony Rawḥ is a remarkable source for the character of Abbasid-era Muslim–Christian relations in that, although it recalls an instance of intercommunal violence, the account itself suggests a profound familiarity among Christian audiences with the defining communal narratives of the early Muslim umma. What is more, certain specific uses of language and apparent allusions to Muslim texts may also reveal this text as one intended for mixed audiences of Christians and Muslims. This only becomes apparent, however, when we read the Passion of Antony Rawḥ in tandem with certain contemporary Muslim texts recalling the personalities and events of the first/seventh-century Arab conquests, texts that recent research suggests were themselves crafted in accordance with much older late ancient hagiographic traditions.


2-(3-Chloro-1-benzothiophen-2-yl)-2H-benzotriazole 5 has been synthesized in a three step procedure starting from 3-chloro-N-(2-nitrophenyl)-1- benzothiophene-2-carboximidoylchloride via a 5-(3-chloro-1-benzothiophen- 2-yl)-1-(2-nitrophenyl)-1H-tetrazole intermediate. 3-Chloro-N-(3-chloro-4- fluorophenyl)-1-benzothiophene-2-carboximidoylisothiocyanatewas treated with substituted amines and phenols to get compounds 9a-g and 10a-d, separately. The structures of all the synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectral data and have been screened for antibacterial and antifungal activity.


Textile industry is one of the leading and dynamically developing industries in Uzbekistan. It plays a significant role in resolving state problems, meets essential interests of many regions, fosters their harmonic development, provides the population employment and improves people well-being and renders help in establishment and development of small and private business. The most important trend in using internal reserves and possibilities of the country is gradual increase in deep treatment of home raw material and raising volumes and nomenclature of products with high added value. For the last 29 years the industry has become a leader in raising foreign investment and in the field of export of products with high added value. In spite of the fact that textile manufacturing is traditional for Uzbekistan, it still possesses a serious potential for further growth. The country's large raw material base, labour intensity of light industry sectors, the availability of a rather mass market in adjoining states make the development of textile and clothing industry a potential driver of economic growth in Uzbekistan. The use of this potential and shaping a stable textile and clothing sector in the country is a priority line in the development of national economy. Small enterprises play a serious role in textile industry development. The authors carried out SWOT-analysis, which is a key tool of finding competitiveness, of small enterprises in the country. By this method they identified strong and weak sides, opportunities and threats of their functioning, which can help to elaborate innovative strategy of development.


We propose the information fusion of visible and infrared images for a pedestrian-vehicle SVM-based classification. Different types of fusion methods are presented: data fusion, feature fusion, matching score fusion and decision fusion. Data - level fusion assumes that the raw information is combined at the pixel level. The fusion at the feature level produces a feature vector integrating both visual and infrared information. Matching score fusion and decision fusion combine matching scores or decisions of individual obstacle recognition modules. Comparative results showed that fusion-based obstacle recognition techniques outperformed individual visual and infrared obstacle recognizers. An important advantage of these fusion-based systems is their possibility to adapt to the environmental illumination conditions due to a weighting parameter which also controls the system's final decision. Different feature extraction and feature selection algorithms have been investigated in order to retain the best suited features for the classification process.


Wireless communications engineers may face complex ethical dilemmas while designing products for consumers. At Florida International University's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, we place great importance on training our students to address such ethical dilemmas, in alignment with ABET requirements. To this end, an ethical training framework is integrated into our two-semester senior design project course. In addition to the codes of ethics, our students use "The Theory Model" to make decisions based on ethical theories. For the solution of ethical dilemmas by means of ethical theories, they apply a modified version of the line drawing method. In this article we briefly explain the theories and methods that our students consider when facing ethical dilemmas. Then we present excerpts from four past senior design projects related to wireless communications. We also summarize the methodology the students use for identifying the best option to address ethical dilemmas.


The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has claimed a global health crisis of unpredictable amount. Due to its high mortality, many COVID-19 vaccines are being developed, approved, and manufactured rapidly. However, some serious neurological adverse events (AEs) were reported after the application of them.
This review was conducted to collect and discuss published data about neurological side effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in order to discover type, frequency, treatment, and outcome of these side effects. The most frequent neurological side effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are headache, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), venous sinus thrombosis (VST), and transverse myelitis. Healthcare practitioners, particularly neurologists involved in the management of patients having undergone SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, should be aware of these side effects and should recognize them early and treat them significantly. Furthermore, some neurological conditions like headache and GBS are found in patients of COVID-19 infection and in patients after the SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations. Further studies should be warranted to differentiate the etiology.


Background: Little research has been carried out on the effects of involving patients in goal setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of active patient involvement in the establishment of physical therapy treatment goals. Outcome measures included both physical treatment results and patient ratings of the quality of care. Subjects and Methods: All patients (n=77) at the rehabilitation unit of the department of rheumatology at a Swedish university hospital were included in a randomized controlled trial. Control-group patients received physical therapy treatment according to traditional methods. Intervention-group patients were involved in a goal-forum intervention, where therapist and patient together established goals for treatment. All patients completed questionnaire surveys at discharge. Results: Stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that patients in the intervention group were more likely to achieve better physical treatment results for range of motion, strength and balance, compared to controls. Goal-forum patients also gave higher ratings than the control group on quality of care scales. Discussion and Conclusion: Active patient involvement in establishing physical therapy goals may have beneficial effects on both treatment outcomes and patient ratings of the quality of care. Further studies involving more physical therapists and longer follow-up periods are warranted.


Thomas Fitterling

Berkeley Hills Books, £15.95, pp 238

ISBN 0 9653774 1 5

Leslie Gourse

Books with Attitude, £16.99, pp 340

ISBN 1 901526 08 9

Rating: ![Graphic][1] ![Graphic][2] ![Graphic][3] ,![Graphic][4] ![Graphic][5] ![Graphic][6] Thelonious Monk's music is instantly recognisable, sounding as if the modernist Schoenberg had inherited the jazz tradition of Fats Waller: angular music, jangling with discordant note clusters, set over jerking rhythms which nevertheless seem to "swing." It is redolent of his beloved New York and expressive of a singular world view. But in the emerging literature that addresses his troubled life it is his state of mind which recurrently punctuates the rhythms of his musical career. In each of these works the authors eventually ask "What went wrong with Monk?"

Thelonious "Sphere" Monk was born in North Carolina in 1917. His family lived on the "coloured side" of town. They moved to New York when Thelonious was 6 years old, his mother becoming the sole breadwinner when his father returned to North Carolina. From then until the 1980s, Monk would live in the same small apartment; first with his mother and siblings, later joined by his wife and then by their own children. At 14, he was contributing to the family's income by playing at "rent parties" (where neighbours subsidised their impoverished hosts). At 16, he became a …

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Based on the internal variable theory of thermodynamics, a continuum interface constitutive model relating interface traction with interface separation was developed. An interface damage variable was introduced, and an evaluation equation was derived to characterize the degradation of interfacial rigidity with interface debonding. The present constitutive model was applied to fiber pullout from the matrix, and bridging matrix cracking of composites. Relatively simple closed form formulas were obtained for shear stress distribution along the interface, pulling stress of fiber from the matrix, and stress intensity factor of the small matrix crack tip with fiber bridging. The effects of interface parameters involved in the evaluation equation on interface shear stress distribution, and pulling stress of fiber were also discussed.


Since Marshall (1890), it has been widely held in urban economic theory that cities ensure workers against the risk of unemployment by offering a larger pool of potential jobs. Using a large administrative panel data set on workers affected by firm closures, we examine whether positive effects from a higher urban job density are offset by more intense competition between workers. When controlling for the sorting of workers between regions, we find no evidence that the number of days workers spend in unemployment decreases with local job density. Instead, longer unemployment periods in cities are partly driven by more intense competition for available jobs


A fuzzy partition assigns to each among n objects a distribution over a categories. Elementary linear algebraic methods permit to introduce and investigate concepts and properties such as a) variance and inertia decomposition; b) coarseand fine-graining (nestedness); c) iteration of fuzzy partitions; d) stability of a group in regard to another partition; e) (euclidean embeddable) dissimilarities between objects; f) (euclidean embeddable) dissimilarities between partitions. Unweighted (R) or weighted (T , P ) object similarities are further investigated, and found to be related to the chi-square as well as to the indices of Gini, variety and Mirkin-Cherny-Rand. Weighted versions T and P differ for fuzzy partitions, allowing various non-equivalent constructions characterizing differing aspects of fuzzy partitions and possessing no formal analog at the crisp level.


Several years ago, Jack Shepherd gave a talk titled "The Last Thirty Inches" at the annual meeting of the California Avocado Society. The thesis of the talk was: the average person's reach is thirty inches; if that person uses these thirty inches to pick a competing fruit or vegetable off the market shelf in preference to an unattractive avocado, all of the time, effort, and money that have gone into producing the avocado and getting it onto the market shelf have been wasted.


The immune modulation potentials of the aqueous extract of Andrographis paniculata leaves was investigated. The dry pulverized leaves were extracted with water and lysophilized. Forty male albino rats were randomly picked into four groups. The first group received distilled water, while the other groups were administered daily 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg BW doses for 84 days. Effect of the chronic administration of the extracts on haematological parameters, IL-6, TNF-α, serum levels of bilirubin and uric acid were estimated. The packed cell volume was not significantly changed (p<0.05), while haemoglobin and red blood cell were increased significantly (p<0.05) only in group four. Dose dependent significant increases (p<0.05) were observed in platelet count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Mean cell volume was reduced significantly (p<0.05), but with no significant differences (p <0.05) among the test groups. Mean cell haemoglobin and mean cell haemoglobin concentration showed significant reductions (p<0.05) in the group 4 only. The white blood cell and lymphocytes were increased significantly (p< 0.05) with group 2 and 3 been statistically equal. Significant reductions (p< 0.05) were observed in neutrophil and eosinophils in the group 4 rats only. Monocyte was increased significantly (p<0.05) in group 4 only. Dose dependent significant increases (p<0.05) were observed in the serum IL - 6 and TNF-α. Total and direct bilirubin decreased significantly (p<0.05) in group 2 and 3, while significant increases (p<0.05) was shown in group 4. Indirect bilirubin was increased significantly (p< 0.05) in group 3 and 4 only. Uric acid was reduced significantly (p<0.05) in group 2 and 3, while group 4 showed significant increase (p<0.05). The overall result suggested that the chronic consumption of the aqueous extract of A. paniculata boosted the immune functions, but the 1000 mg/kg BW dose predisposed to anaemia, possibly multiple myeloma and autoimmunity. (Oyewo Bukoye and Akanji Musbau. Immune Modulation Potentials of Aqueous Extract of An drographis paniculata Leaves in Male Rat. (. Researcher. 2011;3(1):48-57). (ISSN: 1553-9865). http://www.sciencepub.net.


. A search for double electron capture (2 ε ), electron capture with positron emission ( εβ + ), and double positron emission (2 β + ) in 136 Ce and 138 Ce was realized with a 465 cm 3 ultra-low background HP Ge γ spectrometer over 2299 h at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. A 627 g sample of cerium oxide deeply purified by liquid-liquid extraction method was used as a source of γ quanta expected in double β decay of the cerium isotopes. New improved half-life limits were set on different modes and channels of double β decay of 136 Ce and 138 Ce at the level of T 1 / 2 > 10 17 –10 18 yr.


This research aim is to examine the effect of intellectual capital on company performance. This research reveals a hidden factor to causes a gap between market value and book value. The hidden factor is identified as intellectual capital measured by value added intellectual coefficient. The independent variables are human capital efficiency, structural capital efficiency, and capital employed efficiency as the proxy of intellectual value added. Company performance is the dependent variable, proxied by asset. The study population are companies nominated as Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises and listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange. Based on target population, there are 64 samples. The result found that human capital efficiency and capital employed efficiency affects company performance. Adversely, structural capital efficiency does not affect company performance.


Abstract : Many problems in science and engineering require the solution of a system of partial differential equations on a complex two- or three-dimensional domain. In order to solve such a problem numerically, a boundary-fitted coordinate system is usually constructed. For geometries of practical importance, it is often necessary to partition the domain and to fit a separate coordinate system to each subregion. Patching these subsystems together to form a composite system can produce irregular grid structures where the numerical scheme of solution must be modified. Methods for treating nonstandard (special) grid points in two-dimensional configurations were developed and reported earlier in the course of this project. Verification of these methods through computer experimentation and extension of the methods to special points in three-dimensional grids were the primary objectives of the project reported here. Keywords: Coordinate systems; Boundary-fitted coordinate systems; Subsystems; Two-dimensional configurations; Three-dimensional grids; Grid structures.


Nitrogen mineralization of two typical vegetable soils(yellow-brown soil and fluvo-aquic soil) of central China was studied by means of indoor cultivation test.The result indicated that during mineralization of the two soils,the amount of nitrate nitrogen was more than ammonium nitrogen.The mineralization rates decreased with the culture time,after 13 weeks it deceased to N 0.13 mg/(kg.d) for yellow brown soil and to N 0.32 mg/(kg.d) for fluvo-aquic soil.The amount of accumulated mineralization increased slowly with the culture time and it was N 68.65 mg/kg for yellow brown soil and N109.37 mg/kg for fluvo-aquic soil at the end of culture,accounting for 24.52% and 21.45% of soil total nitrogen respectively.The mineralization potential were N 74.63 mg/kg for yellow brown soil and N 123.45 mg/kg for fluvo-aquic soil,accounting for 26.65% and 24.21% of soil total nitrogen respectively.


This chapter introduces a new usability evaluation method, the axiomatic evaluation method, which is developed based on the axiomatic design theory – a formalized design methodology that can be used to solve a variety of design problems. This new evaluation method examines three domains of a product: customer domain, functional domain, and control domain. This method investigates not only usability problems reported by the users, but also usability problems related to customer requirements and usability problems related to control through checking the mapping matrix between the three domains. To determine how well this new usability evaluation method works, a between-subject experiment was conducted to compare the axiomatic evaluation method with the think aloud method. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to use either method to evaluate three popular consumer electronic devices (music player, digital camera, mobile phone) that represented different levels of complexity. Number of usability problems discovered, completion time, and overall user satisfaction were collected. Results show that the axiomatic evaluation method performed better in finding usability problems for the mobile phone. The axiomatic evaluation method was also better at finding usability problems about user expectation and control than the think aloud method. Benefits and drawbacks of using the axiomatic evaluation method are discussed.This chapter introduces a new usability evaluation method, the axiomatic evaluation method, which is developed based on the axiomatic design theory – a formalized design methodology that can be used to solve a variety of design problems. This new evaluation method examines three domains of a product: customer domain, functional domain, and control domain. This method investigates not only usability problems reported by the users, but also usability problems related to customer requirements and usability problems related to control through checking the mapping matrix between the three domains. To determine how well this new usability evaluation method works, a between-subject experiment was conducted to compare the axiomatic evaluation method with the think aloud method. Sixty participants were randomly assigned to use either method to evaluate three popular consumer electronic devices (music player, digital camera, mobile phone) that represented different levels of complexity. Number of usability problems discovered, completion time, and overall user satisfaction Yinni Guo Purdue University, USA


The expediency of evaluation by geodetic methods of technogenic risk associated with the implementation of the technological process of production, and with various geophysical effects of the environment in the operation of industrial construction. The results of the analysis of the materials of long-term geodetic observations of the state of the largest energy enterprises of the Volgograd region – the Volga hydroelectric power station and heat electropower station-2, and also of metallurgy - Volzhsky pipe plant. Its enterprises have fundamentally different operating conditions, having different effects on the elements of the environment, and built in different engineering-geological conditions. Based on these results, the recommended composition of geodetic works and their optimal periodicity for industrial buildings and structures under different operating conditions is proposed. Also, the features of the rational implementation of geodetic observations and the state of individual parts of structures, such as crane tracks workshops of industrial enterprises.


Access to primary education is being provided through massive programmes like Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana to all those children who are involved in physical labor, street children, migrating children etc. In spite of this, a few children are still deprived of Primary Education due to inability of the parents to send their children to school due to their poor economical status. Sending their children to school means- incurring extra financial burden on them. Hence the study was undertaken to know the problems and suggestions about selected 15 educational schemes in six villages in Haveri district of Karnataka. The results revealed that majority of stakeholders had problem of proper treatment by the doctors (91.96%) with respect to free health checkup scheme followed by insufficient scholarship and irregularity in distribution of scholarship money (84.92%). Most of the officers of education department mentioned problem that government do not release fund in time (46.15%). Cent per cent of parents suggested to distribute scholarship amount in time with increased amount and good treatment by the doctor. Most of the students suggested for regular attendance of parents and nominated members in meetings of samudhayadatta shale scheme (83.33%). More than 86 per cent of teachers suggested regularity in attending the meetings by parents and nominated members. Eighty per cent of the community leaders suggested, making the parents aware of education in coolienda shalege scheme (labor to school).Majority of the officers of education department suggested that awareness camps should be conducted for community people (84.61%).


Mouse submaxillary gland shows sexually dimorphism. The submaxillary gland of male animal contains high concentration of growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and kallikrein-like enzymes. Using labeled nucleic acid probes and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), we have demonstrated that EGF, NGF and some members of kallikrein gene mRNA concentration in female submaxillary gland increased after administration of testosterone or thyroxine. However in contrast to the effects on submaxillary gland, the gene expression on brain, kidney and pancreas were not affected by hormones. One kallikrein gene, mGK-6 was expressed at constant level in male and in female tissues and was not induced by hormones.Comparisons of 5' flanking nucleotide sequence of members of kallikrein gene and genes encoding EGF and NGF have indicated the homologous sequence element within these genes. This element may be involved in the binding site for tissue specific regulately factor.


– In this paper, a flux linkage model based on four magnetization curves fitting is proposed for three-phase 12/8 switched reluctance motor (SRM), with the analysis of the basic principle of flux detection method and function analysis method. In the model, the single value function mapping relationship between position angle and flux is established, which can achieve a direct estimation of rotor position. The realization scheme of SRM indirect position detection system is presented. It is proved by simulation and experiment that the proposed scheme is suitable for rotor position detection of SRM, and has high accuracy of position estimation.


We describe a new diode laser current controller which features low current noise, excellent dc stability, and the capacity for high‐speed modulation. While it is simple and inexpensive to construct, the controller compares favorably with the best presently available commercial diode laser current controllers.


Various aids to fuel economy and propulsive efficiency are highlighted, including the Valmet arctic nozzle, the Grim vane wheel and the Japanese-developed ART (Air Resistance Reduction Tent), a hybrid structure that combines a steel frame and a tent canvas of PVC-coated polyester.


This study focused on the changes of the compaction of the reclaimed soil after the reclamation process and the one-year maintenance period of the nonmetallic mines in north foothills of Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang. The plate load experiment method was employed to simulate the compaction effect of various times of compaction from the reclamation machine on a different thickness of the reclaimed soil. The experimental data were analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis. The experimental results showed both compaction frequency and thickness of the reclaimed soil were key factors affecting the compaction of the reclaimed soil, and the interaction between them had a dramatic impact on the soil compaction. The difference of the porosity between the three-time compacted soil by the compaction machine and the noncompacted soil was significant. The effect of a single compaction dampened with the increasing times of compaction. The porosity of the 50 cm and 70 cm thick topsoil continuously decreases with the increasing times of compaction at the depth of 10 cm from the surface soil. The porosity at the 30 cm depth of the 50 cm and 70 cm thick topsoil decreased first and then increased with the increasing times of compaction. At the end of the one-year maintenance period, samples from different depths of the reclaimed soil of various thicknesses were collected to investigate the changes of porosity. The results showed the porosity of the reclaimed soil at different depths was changed due to irrigation. The porosity of the uncompacted soil decreased progressively from the surface to the deep region. The porosity of the compacted soil at the 10 cm depth was lower than that at the 30 cm depth due to soil sealing, whereas the porosity decreased with the increasing depth in the deeper region. The results from this study could provide a fundamental reference for the reclamation of nonmetallic mines in northern foothills of Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, China.


In this work, we report the selective area epitaxial growth of high quality InP in shallow trench isolation (STI) structures on Si (0 0 1) substrates 61 miscut toward (1 1 1) using a thin Ge buffer layer. We studied the impact of growth rates and steric hindrance effects on the nano-twin formation at the STI side walls. It was found that a too high growth rate induces more nano-twins in the layer and results in InP crystal distortion. The STI side wall tapering angle and the substrate miscut angle induced streric hindrance between the InP facets and the STI side walls also contribute to defect formation. In the [ 1 0] orientated trenches, when the STI side wall tapering angle is larger than 10°, crystal distortion was observed while the substrate miscut angle has no significant impact on the InP defect formation. In the [ 1 0] trenches, both the increased STI tapering angle and the substrate miscut angle induce high density of defects. With a small STI tapering angle and a thin Ge layer, we obtained extended defect free InP in the top region of the [1 1 0] trenches with aspect ratio larger than 2.


The present study was designed to explore whether belief in an internal or external locus of control would be related to the frequencies of daydreams, dreams, and nightmares. To explore this, 32 men and 41 women enrolled in undergraduate courses (M'Me 22.4 yr., SD 5.1) were given Levenson's (1974) locus of control scale and asked about their frequencies of dreams (several times each night, almost everynight, a couple of times a week, several times a month, and very rarely), nightmares (almost every night, once a week or more, once a month or more, once a year, and less than once a year), and day-dreams (do you spend a lot of time daydreaming: yes/no). Mean scores (and SDs) were for belief in control by powerful others -7.5 (8.8), for internal control 13.3 (4.9) and for chance -7.2 (9.0). Belief in an internal locus of control was negatively associated for all 73 students with the frequencies of nightmares (Pearson r71 = -0.26) and daydreaming (r = -0.31) but not of dreams (r = -0.13). Belief in chance control was positively related to the frequencies of both nightmares and daydreaming, but not to the frequency of dreams (rs = 0.25, 0.21, and -0.11). Belief in control by others was related to day-dreaming but not to the frequency of dreams or nightmares (rs = 0.22, 0.04, and 0.06). The association for nightmares was stronger among men and for day-dreaming stronger among women. Belief in locus of control was then associated with frequencies of both day-dreaming and nightmares among these undergraduates.


The invention relates to a making method of a flame-retardant high-temperature-resistant electromagnetic-radiation-resistant composite functional fabric. The method is characterized by comprising the following steps: (1) treating aramid short fibers through a picking machine, a cotton blending machine and a cotton slitting machine, and opening and purifying through a cotton cleaning machine; separating the aramid short fibers into single fibers by cotton carding of bundled or blocked fibers to obtain uniform cotton carding bars; (2) combining and mixing the metal fibers and the aramid short fibers, and drawing to obtain bars; (3) performing a roving process of the bars on a roving machine, wherein the traction ratio during roving is 5-12 times, and the roving twisting coefficient is 100-122; (4) drawing and twisting rough yarns in a spinning frame to obtain blended yarns of the aramid short fibers and stainless steel fibers, wherein the traction ratio of the spinning frame is 15-40 times, and the twisting coefficient is 280-350; (5) weaving on a loom to obtain the functional fabric. The composite functional fabric has the advantages of washing resistance, high temperature resistance and electromagnetic radiation resistance.


The purpose of this paper is to present the result of calculations that were performed to estimate the structural weight of the passenger aircraft using novel technological solution. Mass penalty resulting from the installation of the fuselage boundary layer ingestion device was needed in the CENTRELINE project to be able to estimate the real benefits of the applied technology.,This paper focusses on the finite element analysis (FEA) of the fuselage and wing primary load-carrying structures. Masses obtained in these analyses were used as an input for the total structural mass calculation based on semi-empirical equations.,Combining FEA with semi-empirical equations makes it possible to estimate the mass of structures at an early technology readiness level and gives the possibility of obtaining more accurate results than those obtained using only empirical formulas. The applied methodology allows estimating the mass in case of using unusual structural solutions, which are not covered by formulas available in the literature.,Accurate structural mass estimation is possible at an earlier design stage of the project based on the presented methodology, which allows for easier and less costly changes in designed aircrafts.,The presented methodology is an original method of mass estimation based on a two-track approach. The analytical formulas available in the literature have worked well for aeroplanes of conventional design, but thanks to the connection with FEA presented in this paper, it is possible to estimate the structure mass of aeroplanes using unconventional technological solutions.


Single Nucleotide Polysorphism (SNP) belongs on the third generation molecular maker technology invented in recent years. SNP has many advantages, such as its high identity, dule-allele, and can been detected automatically etc. The conception, characteristics, analysis and detection technologiesas well as the applications aobut the SNP were viewde in this atticle.


. E. C. Lance has shown that an automorphism of a separable postliminary C*-algebra which preserves closed two-sided ideals is universally weakly inner. This note extends Lance's result to the nonseparable case.


Gc allele frequencies were determined in Haitian immigrants, a group at high risk for AIDS. Gc2, an allele associated with disease resistance, is infrequent in this group; Gc1f is frequent.


In the last decade or so, important developments have taken place in economics of exchange rate, with substantial contributions to both theory and empirical understanding of exchange rate determination. But a number of challenges remain unresolved. With regard to the effect of economic policy on exchange rate, it is clarified that not only current policy actions but also the expectations concerning the future policy affect exchange rate. In this study we investigated the sources of movements in REER (Real Effective Exchange rate). For analysis of REER determination, we pooled the cross sectional information of five developing countries for the period 1975-2010. By application of Im, Pesaran and Shin unit root test, we confirmed the non-stationarity of pooled time series and cross-section data. After confirming non-stationary of data, we applied Pedroni's panel co-integration test to test whether real exchange rate, in long run, significantly reacts to the changes in real variables or not. We considered terms of trade, government spending, productivity shocks, trade openness and capital inflows as the key determinants of REER. Pooled Least-Square method was applied to estimate the co-integrating coefficient. Our study results indicate REER appreciates in response to changes in terms of trade, productivity and capital flows. For government consumption spending results are mixed. Trade openness explicitly depreciates the REER. All the response parameters are significant. The results are consistent with the view that changes in real variables have a significant influence on variation in real exchange rate. Key words: Exchange rate, Terms of Trade, Trade Openness, Financial Openness


Combining with the actual situation of Datong railway section,taking part of workshops for pilot project,the paper put forward reincorporated and rationally allocated workshop labor resources,unified deployed the power of intact human,physical and other "maintenance time" measures,effectively improve the utilization rate and labor productivity of skylight.


A knowledge-based system for clinical diagnosis based on the ECG has been developed. It represents the expertise of human clinical doctors in the form of production rules. A rational control mechanism ensures that the system can appropriately schedule a number of problem-solving procedures. Each procedure is goal-driven and results in a converse-inference chain. The system uses the so-called top-down method to analyze the ECG information. The representation of the diagnostic knowledge and the system's control structure are discussed.<<ETX>>


Pharmaceutical companies Amgen and AstraZeneca have announced an agreement to jointly develop and market five experimental Amgen drugs, including brodalumab, targeting inflammatory diseases.


We study the formation of the thermal resistance in the transition zone between the electrical insulation interlayer and the switching plate in thermoelectric batteries. The possibility of predicting and reducing the amount of thermal resistance in the transition zone, leading to an increase in the power output of thermoelectric generators is shown


1. This certificate is for the following products that we manufacturer and distribute: Baby and children's bracelets. All products are made from the same tested materials. 2. This covers certification for the following CPSIC 2008 Product Safety Regulations: H.R. 4040 – the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 ("CPSIA") Mandatory Third-Party Testing and Safety Certificates Required for Certain Children's Products (Section 102) including metal children's jewelry.


As users of many different types of software, one of the last things we think about when deciding which is best for the task at hand is the security of the software. This of course depends on the type of software as well. If it is banking or tax software then, security is of concern. However, in most cases the thought rarely crosses the average users mind. That is until something happens to the system or information the system may hold. This way of thinking is very similar to the way some software is created. The software's features, usability, and interface are normally at the forefront. On the other hand the software's security is just an afterthought for many developers. While software is developed in a very intricate process, it does not currently stress security. In this paper, we will describe different approaches that have been recently researched to help create more secure software. Although these approaches will be introduced separately, using a combination of two or all three together would be the most secure combination.


Sweep Frequency Response Analysis for condition monitoring of power transformer is today a general accepted technique to identify faults in a transformer. The aim of this paper is to assess the possibility of generating transfer functions which could be realized into networks using the circuit synthesis approach. In circuit synthesis the transfer function has to satisfy the conditions of positive realness and also the Hurwitz criterion. We have applied these conditions in selection of transfer function. Using this fitted transfer function for FRA under open circuit and short circuit condition of a practical transformer, networks have been developed for the above conditions. These networks indicate the physical transformer behavior appropriately and hence could be used in condition assessment.


In the reaction of SO4˙− with 1-methylcytosine, 2′-deoxycytidine (and with cytidine in the presence of HPO42−) a very prominent radical is observed by EPR spectroscopy [a(N3), a(N4) 1.18, 1.16 mT; H. Niehaus and K. Hildenbrand, J. Chem. Soc., Perkin Trans. 2, 2000, 947], but its structure could not be assigned. In the present study, the isotropic hyperfine coupling constants (hfcs) of ten radicals that may be formed under such conditions were computed by a density functional method. Agreement between experimental and calculated couplings is achieved with the iminyl radical 4 [a(N3), a(N4) calculated 1.23, 1.17 mT]. This radical is formed upon deprotonation of the intermediate cytidyl radical cation 2 at the exocyclic amino group. The ensuing aminyl radical 3 then transforms into its tautomer 4 by migration of the proton from N4 to N3. This mechanism is supported by quantum-mechanical calculations of the energies of the radicals which show that the tautomerisation 3 → 4 is exothermic. The following alternative pathways have been discussed and the hfcs of the ensuing radicals have been calculated: (i) formation of OH-adduct radicals upon reaction of the cytidyl radical cation with water, (ii) disproportionation of the OH-adduct radicals and subsequent generation of oxyl radicals upon oxidation of a 5-hydroxycytosine derivative by peroxodisulfate, and (iii) recombination of the aminyl radicals and oxidation of the N–N-linked dimer with the formation of hydrazyl-type radicals. None of the calculated hfcs of the resulting radicals match the experimental values.


B chromosomes, like any other types of chromosomes, are not static elements in the cell. They change their phenotype permanently in relation to the cell division cycle and, like the chromosomes of the normal complement, they undergo structural changes of various kinds. If a B chromosome has originated many years ago and has evolved enough not to pair any more with the chromosomes of the normal complement (A chromosomes), we cannot expect to find recognizable structural similarities between the two chromosome types, and, as a consequence, cannot easily determine the phylogenetic tree of the B chromosome. Our interest in the origin of B chromosomes is no more justified than our interest in the origin of any other chromosome type. Before sex chromosomes were recognized to have a function connected with sex, they were called also accessory chromosomes and their origin was a source of speculation. Today the approach to B chromosomes is essentially similar . We speculate about their origin simply because their specific function has not yet been established. Once their function is determined, our interest in their origin most probably will diminish. We do not know how a nucleolar or sex chromosome originates from the other chromosomes but we at present are not particularly engaged in this problem. However, the process of origin of these chromosome types is as significant as that of the B chromosomes. The difficulty is that we do not know enough about chromosome organization to find a lead in our investigation. If our knowledge were more extensive, the


【Objective】The aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of vernalization on carbohydrate content and sucrose metabolizing enzyme activities of radish(Raphanus sativus L.).【Method】 Radish variety 'Beinong No.1' was vernalized(treatment at 4℃ for 30 days) after germination.Mature leaves(source) and taproot(sink) were sampled to investigate carbohydrate content and sucrose metabolizing enzyme activities.【Result】After vernalization,soluble sugar content in leaves and fleshy taproot both decreased,starch content increased.The activity of NI(neutral invertase) in leaves of vernalized radish increased from two-leaf stage to the 21st day after two-leaf stage,28th day later,NI activity decreased and lower than that of control.The activities of SS(sucrose synthase) and SPS(sucrose phosphate synthase) were always lower than that of control during the tested period.The activity of NI and SPS in vernalized taproot decreased,whereas,neither the activity of AI(acid invertase) nor SPS had significant differences compared with that of control.【Conclusion】After vernalization,the carbohydrate metabolism changes and all soluble sugar content were declined in both leaves and taproot of 'Beinong No.1',vernalization influenced the activity of invertase,SS and SPS which of great importance in sucrose synthesis and degradation transport from source to skin in leaves and root.The reduced concentration of soluble sugar may be contributed to the restricted growth of the flesh taproot after vernalization.


Background: DM and stress are closely related especially to events in urban areas. Life pressures and unhealthy lifestyles are very influential, coupled with increasingly rapid technological advances and various diseases that are being suffered causing a decrease in a person's condition so that it triggers stress. Psychological disorders such as depression and stress that are common in the DM population, require proper treatment because they cause a drastic reduction in quality of life. Objective: This research was conducted to determine the relationship between stress and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes. Method: This research is a correlation analytic type with a cross sectional approach. The population in this study were all patients with type 2 DM in outpatients in Poso Regional Hospital as many as 2023 people, with a total sample of 137 people. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Data were collected using a Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 42 (DASS 42) and WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis (mann whitney, kruskalwallis and Spearman Rank) are used to look for relationships between variables. Results: Age related to quality of life in the physical domain (p0.05), duration (long suffering from type-2 diabetes mellitus) was associated with quality of life in the physical domain (p0.01), stress had no relationship when associated with all quality-of-life domains. (p0.05). Conclusion: There is no relationship between stress and quality of life in type 2 DM patientsKeyword :Quality of Life DM type 2, Stress


The present invention relates to a method for producing a graphite powder for negative electrode materials for lithium ion secondary batteries, which is characterized by comprising a step for graphitizing a mixture of a carbon starting material powder and a silicon carbide powder, and which is also characterized in that: the 90% particle diameter D 90 of the silicon carbide powder in the volume-based cumulative particle size distribution by means of a laser diffraction method is 1-40 μm; the content ratio of silicon carbide in the total mass of the carbon starting material and the silicon carbide, namely (mass of silicon carbide)/(total mass of carbon starting material and silicon carbide), is 1-35% by mass; and the ratio of the 50% particle diameter D 50 of the carbon starting material powder to the 50% particle diameter D 50 of the silicon carbide powder in the volume-based cumulative particle size distribution by means of a laser diffraction method, namely (D 50 of carbon starting material)/(D 50 of silicon carbide), is 0.40-4.0.
A production method of the present invention is able to provide, at low cost, a graphite powder for negative electrode materials for lithium ion secondary batteries, which has high capacity, high density and high capacity retention rate.


Most of the Sanskrit and Hindi words in this text were transliterated according to conventions set forth by the U.S. Library of Congress. These words are italicized, except for proper names, with adjacent translations at their first usage and glossary entries for repeated words. Diacritical marks were removed from proper names of deities, people, and places. Whenever possible, words are spelled according to their most common usage. Therefore, many of the -a endings in Sanskrit were dropped in favor of their standard Hindi forms, except for common terms such as karma. In addition, diacritical marks and italicization were left out of common terms such as ashram. For the sake of consistency within English sentences, I end plural Sanskrit and Hindi words with an s instead of a nasalized vowel. All s . and s a consonants were transliterated into sh. Abbreviations of sacred texts:


The invention relates to a method for preparing health care modal underwear by utilizing curcuma extract. The method comprises steps as follows: (1) curcuma which has rich sources, is easy to plant, has good dyeing performance, has a health care effect and satisfies the dyeing requirement of modal fiber, and an efficient extracting method thereof are provided; (2) modal yarn or fabric is scoured and bleached; (3) the modal yarn or fabric is subjected to cationic modification, so as to improve the affinity of the fiber over natural plant dye; (4) modified modal cheese, skein or fabric is mordantly dyed by adopting curcuma dye, and a mordant adopts metal salt such as aluminum, ferrum and neodymium; and (5) the modal yarn or fabric dyed by adopting the curcuma is made into the health care underwear by adopting traditional methods of weaving, tailoring and sewing. The method has the advantages that the curcuma dye with various health care effects is used for dyeing the modal yarn or fabric, so as to obtain the modal underwear with a health care function. The underwear has wide market prospect due to the health care performance and the conformance to the time tide.


The report describes the laboratory development and testing of the improved sprayfan auxiliary ventilation system. The sprayfan system, based on the fact that water sprays can move air like small fans, consists of several spray manifolds strategically placed on continuous miners to direct intake air to the face and sweep contaminated air (methane and dust) across the face to the return. Water-spray systems using sprayfan principles have been installed on more than 300 continuous miners. Although the improved sprayfan system operates on the same principles as the original sprayfan system, the layout and number of spray nozzles differ, providing additional water for dust suppression. A detailed description of the test facility, evaluation techniques, and system test results is provided in the report.


Spacing on the final approach segment while landing at an airport is critical to safe and efficient operations. Spacing on this segment is subject to a large number of stochastic factors that affect the ability of pairs of landing flights to achieve and maintain a desired separation. Due to the combinatorics of these stochastic factors, rule‐based automation cannot meet the performance requirements or adapt as the system characteristics migrate over time. Previous research described the design of a closed‐loop stochastic control system for an autonomous approach and landing system (A2LS) to manage spacing requirements to achieve safety and efficiency goals.


We experimentally present a wavelength routing approach for optical networks with dynamic traffic pattern. All-optical wavelength conversion, energy efficient VCSELs and precise wavelength selective FBGs are adopted to achieve this. In our study, a 1546.07 nm master VCSEL with a 22-dBm output power is optically injected to the side mode of a 1547.32 nm VCSEL, resulting to a new up-converted wavelength with 23.07 dB Extinction ratio. The newly converted wavelength is modulated with 8.5 Gbps data and transmitted over 24.7 km SMF. A maximum penalty of 4.41 dB is incurred over the converted wavelength. A 1547.34 nm DFB laser is modulated with 10 Gbps data and multiplexed with the newly converted wavelength. The 24.6 dB wavelength isolation and precise double reflection due to Bragg effect on a 1547.32 nm FBG is adopted to optically route the DFB channel at the network integration node. We prove a viable approach to address content resolution in current and future high-speed optical networks.


Scott Carter (2011) reproduces and discusses correspondence between Simon and Solow in 1971, where Simon first outlined his critique that estimations of production functions merely capture an underlying accounting identity. This idea culminated in a paper published by Simon in 1979 in the Scandinavian Journal of Economics. We extend Simon's argument that production functions should ideally be estimated using physical data, and discuss the serious problems that arise when they are estimated using constant-price monetary data. Simon also suggested that the good statistical fits to production functions could be derived from a markup pricing model, but he did not follow this up. We show that this can indeed account for the very good statistical fits of the Cobb-Douglas and other production functions. We conclude by showing how estimates of cost functions suffer from the same problem.


We implement a choice experiment to investigate and compare retirement saver investment choice and risk aversion in a period of …nancial tranquility (early 2007) and …nancial crisis (late 2008). Analysis of individual risk preference parameters derived from observed choices show an increase in mean risk aversion between the tranquil and crisis periods. Preferences of survey respondents, estimated using the scale-adjusted version of a latent class choice model, indicate di¤erences between the tranquil and crisis periods. In both periods income and age are identi…ed as important determinants of the preference classes and age is identi…ed as a key determinant of variability (scale), with an increase in variability evident in the crisis sample. In both calm and crisis, classes populated by young and low income individuals are shown more likely to respond consistently with standard mean-variance analysis, while classes populated by older and higher income individuals react positively to both higher returns and increasing risk in returns, where risk is presented as a widening range of possible investment outcomes. However slightly lower risk tolerance is evident in the crisis sample. Overall the …nancial crisis is associated with a mild moderating of retirement investor risk tolerance. Keywords: portfolio choice, investment decisions JEL Classi…cation: G11, G23, J26 We thank Pure Pro…le for their generous assistance with the development and implementation of the internet surveys and Gordon Clark, participants at the 2009 Mid-West Finance Association Meetings, the Networks Financial Institute Workshop on Improving Financial Literacy and Reshaping Financial Behavior, and the seminars at Macquarie University, University of Auckland and University of Tasmania for helpful comments. Thorp acknowledges support from the Faculty of Business, UTS, and Bateman and Thorp acknowledge …nancial support under ARC DP0556775. Part of this work was completed while Thorp visited the School of Economics at the University of New South Wales.


Under current conditions the problems of college graduates' employment and the most complete realization of their professional and personal potential become increasingly important. Business connections with social partners, holding work experience internship contribute to the successful solution of the graduates' employment problems.


A rapid identification ofBaciUus thuringiensis strains was established byusing multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Primers ofhighhomology specific toregions within genesencoding three majorclasses ofB. thuringiensis crystal proteins were usedtogenerate a PCRproduct profile characteristic ofeachstrain ofB. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. Differentiation among these strains was madeon thebasis oftheelectrophoretic pattern ofthePCR products. KnownB.thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki strains aswell as unidentified strains isolated frominsect cadavers were analyzed byPCR.Small amountsofcrudesamplelysates were assayed in atwo-step PCRcontaining five primers capable ofdistinguishing between thestrains givingproducts of1,500, 858,and653bpfortheCryLA(a), CryLA(b), andCrylIA(c) genes,respectively. Themethod can beapplied to rapidly detect thestrains ofB.thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki incommercial formulations andinthefield. Bacillus thuningiensis serovarH3a3b(subsp. kurstaki) is widelyusedtocontrol lepidopterans inagriculture and forestry (7). Thisbiological insecticide istheonlyone used inQuebec, Canada, torepressthesprucebudworm,Chonstoneurafumiferana Clemens(Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) (19,21).Ingeneral, thecommercial preparation ofthis microbial insecticide isobtained withdifferent B.thuningiensis subsp. kurstaki strains having various pathogenic activities (2,3,22).The crystal insecticidal activity is encodedby4.5-, 5.3-, and6.6-kb genes,or,as recently suggested, theCryIA(a), CryIA(b), andCryIA(c) genes(11, 16). Thereiscircumstantial evidence thatthecrystal synthesisiscontrolled byplasmids ranging insizefrom45to>225


The generalization of the input-output-waste (I-O-W) model for different types of resources is presented in this paper as a new paradigm of national consistency modelling. This incorporates waste management (WM) policy analysis in a national planning context. The I-O-W model is an extension of the input-output model that formulates the waste aspects explicitly. The systematic analysis of intersectoral flow of different resources and wastes is important at the macro level for preparing resource plans that can be further integrated to frame overall economic plans. The paper briefly overviews the I-O-W model and generalizes it for five basic resources, i.e. material, energy, manpower, capital and services. The resource balance has been established by treating input to be equal to output plus waste for each resource independently as well as for the overall flow. The inputs required and the possible outputs for the generalized I-O-W model are listed. An illustrative example has been given that works out the di...


Advances in optical sensors, computer graphics, and robotics provide new technology for the processes in styling, design, and quality management. They are used in optical inspection and reverse engineering to speed up the development process. One of the challenges of these new technologies for Daimler-Chrysler is the coupling to current CAD systems. The 3D data obtained from fast optical sensors have to be post-processed before they can be transferred to a commercial computer aided design system due to data format and the amount of the measured data. Reducing the measured data can remove important information or lower the accuracy of the data. This paper describes current and two new reduction algorithms for optical 3D data. It illustrates the need of data reduction in an application: a historic Mercedes Benz racing car is measured by a optical sensor delivering 98.3 million points. They are reduced down to 1 million points for reverse engineering of the car body surface.


characterize clouds. The underlying cloud microphysical properties of primary importance are the effective radius of water droplets or ice crystals, the droplet concentration, and the thermodynamic phase (liquid or ice). As shown in Figures 1 and 2, COD is defined and pictured as the path-integrated extinction coefficient for solar photons along a vertical line of sight through the cloud. As the droplet concentration increases, a photon undergoes more scattering events and the cloud optical depth increases. Aerodyne Research, Inc. of Billerica, Mass., is a developer and supplier of products and technology for environmental quality, remote sensing and optical appearance design and prediction.


Polymyalgia rheumatica is a chronic disease of two to four years' duration which occurs in older people, especially women, and is characterized by muscular pain predominantly of the girdle area, malaise, slight fever, sweating, and elevation of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The syndrome, frequently reported in European literature, has been described under the names of anarthritic rheumatoid disease, periarthrosis humeroscapularis, periextra-articular rheumatism, myalgic syndrome of the aged with systemic reaction, pseudopolyarthrite rhizom6lique1 and giant-cell arteritis of the aged (1, 2). History: In 1957, Barber (3) first suggested the term polymyalgia rheumatica in his report of 12 patients with this syndrome. Earlier Holst and Johansen (4) described the disease in 5 persons, using the term periextra-articular rheumatism. Meulengracht and Schwartz ( 5 ) reported 78 patients with periarthrosis humeroscapularis ; their group must have included local shoulder disturbances as well as "periarthrosis humeroscapularis with prolonged fever, loss of weight, and a greatly elevated sedimentation reaction" (apparent polymyalgia rheumatica) . Bagratuni (6-8) used the term anarthritic rheumatoid disease in his description of similar cases. Incidence: Alestig and Barr (9) of Sweden reported 10 hospitalized patients seen during an 18-month period from a population area of 250,000 people. They believed the disease was common. A review of some of the reported cases shows the age range to be 46-88 years with a slight predominance of women (Table 1 ) . Etiology: The cause of the syndrome is unknown (9, 12, 13) although it has been considered a collagen disease (11) possibly related to auto-immunity or to a foreign-body reaction from nonspecific irritation (9). Clinical picture: There is often an acute onset of muscular aching in the neck and shoulders with increasing pain which may involve the back and thighs (1, 3, 6, 10-12). A preceding period of malaise, lassitude and depression has been reported. Anorexia and weight loss often occur. There may be fever with sweating, especially a t night. Headache (1) ) pruritis and disorders


Nowadays, it seems that no effective treatment was achieved for bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws, resulting in great difficulty in the rehabilitation of the jaw defect. A case was reported in this study, with a prosthetic obturator rehabilitating a maxillary defect caused by bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis. Additionally, rehabilitation approaches of maxillary defects with edentulism were reviewed.

Key words:
Bisphosphonates; Osteonecrosis; Jaw, edentulism; Maxillofacial prosthesis


Objective To carry out the psychological rehabilitation nursing for brain strokepatients.Methods 86 cases of brain stroke patients were divided into self-care group and non-self caregroup, and to know whether the patients appear emotional disorder or not by three different methods.Results 58 cases of brain stroke patients appeared emotional disorder. The patients with emotionaldisorder in non-self care group were obviously higher than that in the self-care group.After psycho-logical rehabilitation nursing, the emotional disorder in 56 cases patients (56/58,96.5%)disappearedwhen the patients leaved hospital.Conclusion Discovery and treatment of the brain stroke patientswith emotional disorder as early as possible have very important significance to their holisticrehabilitation.


For testing normality with unknown parameters μ and σ2, extensive simulation studies have shown the superiority of the Shapiro–Wilk test and variants. The Shapiro–Francia test is a simplified version of the Shapiro–Wilk test, which uses the squared normal probability plot correlation as a test statistic. The Cramer–von Mises and Anderson–Darling tests with plug-in estimators for μ and σ2 perform slightly worse than the Shapiro–Wilk test.

Keywords:

normality tests;
Shapiro–Wilk test;
Shapiro–Francia test;
Ryan–Joiner test;
Lilliefors test;
Anderson–Darling test;
Cramer–von Mises test;
Jarque–Bera test


Grammar teaching is of a great importance in middle school. Grammar translation teaching method pays more attention to the forms and rules of language than to the meaning of language, while the communicative approach pays more attention to the meaning of language. The author applies PACE model to the teaching of Present Progressive Tense to explore the effect of teaching and learning under PACE model and PPP model, also to observe students' learning attitudes in the teaching of two models. This study selected 42 students from Tianjiazhai Middle School in Xining as the research subjects, 42 students were randomly selected from four parallel classes and they were divided into Control Class (Hereinafter referred as CC) and Experimental Class (Hereinafter referred as EC). PPP model and PACE model were used in these two classes respectively. Content of study is from People's Education Press English Grade 7 Second Book. After the experiment, the data from Testing, Classroom observation and Questionnaire was collected by SPSS26. After students finishing post-test, students' scores of two classes were compared, which showed that the average score of EC is 9.67 higher than CC. it means that under the premise of the same teaching content, students can get higher scores in PACE model. In the process of using PACE model, we get the following enlightenments: teachers should create certain situations, choose moderate materials and adopt various methods and alternative activities.


Peppin strain Merino ewes, when running continuously with vasectomized rams, exhibit a definite seasonality in the incidence of oestrus. Although less decisively separated into seasons of quiescence and activity, the oestrous pattern resembles that of the British breeds of sheep. The pattern may be reversed by artificially reversing the seasonal trend of daylight duration. This is presumptive evidence that the natural breeding season of Merinos is regulated by seasonal fluctuations in the length of day. Though there was no evidence of it in this experiment, some Merinos are believed to commence their breeding season before the days begin to shorten. This is not necessarily irreconcilable with photoperiodic control, and such animals may represent a variant genetic type. Pregnant ewes, subjected during winter-time to a summer level of light, produced lambs of normal birth weight following a gestation of normal length. This finding helps to isolate summer heat as the factor responsible for the low birth weight sometimes reported of lambs produced out of season.


People who have an abdominal stoma become incontinent following their stoma surgery. However, a colostomy which is anatomically fashioned within a specific region of the colon may sanction faecal continence retraining. The procedure which offers this option is known as colostomy irrigation. The expert support and education of the patient's stomal therapy nurse (STN) is paramount in order to succeed. Colostomy irrigation offers benefits such as: a timely and convenient evacuation of stool from the colon; the possibility of not having to wear a colostomy pouch; a potential decrease in the volume of gas passed through the colostomy; improved peristomal skin; earlier rehabilitation; assimilation back into society but, most significantly, the regaining of confidence and self-esteem. The downside may be the sharing of one toilet with others and the time that it takes, which is between 45 and 60 minutes to perform the procedure. The most significant aspect of colostomy irrigation is its awareness, support and promotion within the ostomy domain. STNs around the world, who offer this simple-to-learn and execute methodology, are at the forefront of assisting people, who have a colostomy, and who are suitable to learn colostomy irrigation. Unfortunately, not all people who are suitable to irrigate are offered this procedure as an alternative to wearing an external colostomy pouch. This paper aims to offer quality-of-life awareness to practitioners, globally. Its main objective is the promotion of colostomy irrigation as an integral part of the pre- and postoperative educational journey for our patients who meet the criteria. It furthermore explores the possibility of re-establishing colostomy irrigation as a worldwide educational tool which will uphold it as a standardised lifestyle option. Therefore, by retraining continence, our suitable colostomy patients may regain their confidence.


News that accident and emergency departments in England that experienced severe strain last winter will be able apply for a share of a £500m (€580; $775m) fund to improve services has been greeted with scepticism by doctors, who describe it as "papering over the cracks" and failing to address underlying recruitment and organisational problems.

The announcement was made on 8 August by Prime Minister David Cameron, who said that the money, which comes from NHS efficiency savings and underspends, would be available over two years to help specific accident and emergency units better prepare for winter.

Cameron said that over one million more people now visit emergency departments compared to three years ago, and last year's harsh winter put exceptional pressure on urgent and emergency wards, which resulted in the NHS missing its four hour waiting targets between January and March.

While emergency departments are now performing well, with more than 95% of patients seen within four hours, Cameron wants the NHS to …


Work-trip paratransit will flourish if the time and money costs of competing modes increase, whether due to price increases or taxation policies. It will also prosper if its time, money, and flexibility costs decrease as a result of operational economies or subsidies. In the short run, it appears that the competing modes will suffer only modest price inflation and largely escape the effects of energy taxation. It also appears that paratransit will receive little subsidization; it has only a weak institutional base and public officials are currently reluctant to embark on new spending programs. It follows that the growth of work-trip paratransit in the near term depends on the development of suitable, low-cost provider arrangements and on price reductions deriving from decreased insurance costs and improved vehicle operating efficiency for van pools. If successful adoption of these techniques produces significant market penetration at present price levels, public officials may find additional ride-sharing initiatives, in the form of price incentives or subsidies, both cost-effective and politically feasible as means of conserving energy, reducing emissions, and alleviating congestion. /Author/