After the administration in toto of x radiation, the blood of the rat has a noticeable amount of methemoglobin. This amount of methemoglobin is directly proportional to the dose administered. (tr-auth)


The purpose of the present paper is to show the dielectric characteristics of inhomogeneous hot SF/sub 6/ gas in a gas circuit breaker (GCB) experimentally. High-temperature and low-density SF/sub 6/ gas generated by a heavy current interruption is distributed inhomogeneously in the grounded tank, and can strongly threaten the dielectric capability of the GCB. Few studies, however, have been carried out on the dielectric characteristics of the inhomogeneous hot gas. Using small gap discharges, the hot gas behavior of a GCB model, having breakdown or no breakdown, was investigated. The temperature of the hot gas flowing through the exhaust tube was estimated from the sparking voltage of the small gap installed in the exhaust tube. It was also found that there was very little or no effect on breakdown voltages of the cool gas in the breakdown paths. This suggests that the breakdown voltage of inhomogeneous hot gas could be obtained as the applied voltage at which the electrical field strength equals E/sub crit/ of local hot gas at the location concerned.


Abstract During Lebanon's terrible civil war Beirut was partitioned by the Green Line, which separated West from East and cut through the heart of the historic city centre. The reunification of Beirut and revival of the town centre were urgent priorities in post-war reconstruction, and archaeologists became closely involved the reconstruction process. Divisions and arguments attended every stage of the post-war rebuilding, and heritage issues were hotly contested, driving the archaeologists involved into opposing camps. This paper attempts to explain why this happened, and reviews some of the successes and failures of the post-war rebuilding efforts. The reconstruction programme relied heavily on private sector funding, and the institutions of the Lebanese state were left marginalised and under-resourced. Public debate convinced the developers to make greater use of the historic and archaeological landscape, although questions can be raised about the way in which this exercise was taken forward. The archaeological excavations themselves, and the wider public debate over heritage values in the revived city centre, played an important part in the rehabilitation of Beirut.


INTRODUCTION: FROM REVOLUTION TO RECONSTRUCTION Norman Mailer is very concerned with the American "identity," not just with the shape and soul of the country as a whole, but also with the individual identity of "the" American. He searches for the characteristics he thinks of as essential to the real American identity. One of the most central and long-lasting myths in American society is that of the "American Dream" the idea that anyone, anywhere, is capable of becoming successful. In his 1965 novel, An American Dream, Mailer deconstructs the outlived interpretation of this all-American phenomenon and, at the same time, constructs his own, new and much more individual and existentially-rooted vision. He gives his own idiosyncratic view on the American "soul" and thus creates his own American myth. This process from deconstruction to construction is narrated in the protagonist's metaphorical quest for personal redemption. I argue that the different pieces of the puzzle are held together by the topos of myth. The characteristics of what is generally regarded as mythical will be used to underline and substantiate the argument in an attempt to make Mailer's vision on the American identity more accessible. Not only the hero-genesis of Mailer's protagonist in Dream can be explained on the basis of mythology, but Mailer's claim for a new "American Dream" is underlined by the topos of mythology. For general background information about myth and how myth operates in American society, I shall refer to Richard Slotkin's theory outlined in his book Regeneration through Violence. On a primary level the protagonist of the novel, Stephen Richards Rojack, is depicted as a mythical hero in the classical tradition, facing personal ordeals in the search for salvation. The series of confrontations the hero encounters on his odyssey serves as key elements for the interpretation of the protagonist in Mailer's novel. On a secondary level, I shall scrutinize the writer's deconstruction of the canonical version of the American Dream, where he is pointing at the most important elements of critique. At the same time, I shall analyze the new, existential American Dream as constructed in the novel. These different levels will be discussed in turn and in relation to each other. At the same time, I will analyze how the vision apparent in Dream originates in Mailer's earlier essay "The White Negro" Mailer's search for an apt view of the American identity was already present in this 1957 essay, as Mailer tries to distil the essence of what was needed to thrive in American society into a comprehensible existential philosophy. In Dream, Mailer applies his findings of "White Negro," but, at the same time, adds more creative nuance. ROJACK AS A HERO IN THE LEGACY OF THE HIPSTERS In Regeneration, Slotkin delineated three basic elements necessary for myth. In order to be considered a myth, a narrative needs to comprise of a hero, a mythological world and a narrative that elaborates the relationship between the hero and the world he lives in. Moreover, Slotkin discusses several types of mythological forms present in mythology. These different forms are to be understood as different possible ways in which a writer can narrate the relationship between the hero of the myth and the world in which the myth is situated. Therefore these forms are to be considered different possible instantiations of the third basic element of myth, the narrative. In Slotkin's opinion the heroic quest "is the most important archetype in American cultural mythology": The quest involves a departure of the hero from his commonDay world to seek the power of the gods in the underworld, the eternal kingdom of death and dreams from which all men emerge; his motive is provided by the threat of some natural or human calamity which will overtake his people unless the power of the gods can be borrowed or the gods themselves be reconciled with the people. …


Studies in the literature have reported correlations of Microcarbon Residue (MCR) either with hydrogen to carbon atomic ratio (H/C) or with the number average molecular weight (M n ). The MCR value can be an indication of the coke yield in a commercial coking process. In this work a single correlation of MCR with both H/C and M n has been presented. Vacuum residue distillation fractions from hydroprocessing experiments were separated into five sub-fractions by preparative scale gel permeation chromatography, and characterized in terms of H/C, M n and MCR. In accordance with other correlations it was confirmed that increasing the H/C atomic ratio will decrease coke formation (MCR). In addition this work has shown that for identical H/C ratio, molecules with smaller M n values will produce less coke than those with larger M n values.


Geographical Information System (GIS) can be used to digitize spatial data (e.g. a map) into digital format. Point data sets are structured and are organised into geo-reference units so that linkages with topology and other geographical attributes are possible. The results can be displayed as maps. GIS together with related software can be used to present data as tables or figures. Land information generated through soil resource mapping can be used to prepare thematic maps for suggesting suitable land use plans at various levels. In a case study, GIS techniques have been used to map soils in Aurangabad district. This land use study indicates that the soils of the district are suitable for growing most annual crops in shallow soils and perennials in the deeper soils.


Impaired glucose balance affects the regeneration of neurotransmitters in the brain. One of neurotransmitters that is known to have an important role in the brain is dopamine. Dopamine production by dopaminergic (DA) neurons is regulated by the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Previous research has been reported that a decline on TH expression in DA neurons was a result of exposure to excess glucose. One contributing factor is an excess amount of glucose, which interfere homeostasis in the body by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) more and cause oxidative stress. This condition can cause damage to cells in the brain, including DA neurons, to cell death occurs (apoptosis). The characteristic of neuroprotective owned by the hormone estrogen allegedly able to protect nerve cells from the damaging effects of this. The aim of this study is to explore the involvement of 17β-Estradiol as neuroprotection on the effects of glucose exposure during early development on dopaminergic neurons. This study used zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos as animal model. They were divided into 4 groups: negative control group, hyperglycemia group, group that was coincubated glucose and estrogen, and the group that only incubated with estrogen alone. Cell death (apoptosis) in the brain was observed using acridine orange staining and TH expression was observed using immunocytochemistry. The results showed that the embryos were exposed to 5% glucose significantly (p <0.05) increased the number of apoptotic cells and decreased the expression of TH. While the results of the analysis of embryos in co-incubation group with estrogen showed improvement with decreased apoptotic cells and the increasing expression of TH up to the normal amount. It can be concluded that estrogen shown to have neuroprotective effect in protecting the decreasing TH expression, as the effects of glucose exposure, which could potentially lead to diabetes, by acting as an antioxidant through cellular mechanisms in the central nervous system.


The recently developed stable inversion theory for nonminimum phase nonlinear systems is applied to output tracking for multilink e exible robot manipulators. The stable inversion theory and a numerical solution to stable inverses are briee y reviewed. Forward dynamics of a two-link e exible manipulator with tip position as the output is then given using the assumed modes method. From that, an inverse model is derived and a two-point boundary value condition is set up. This condition guarantees that the inverse solution for a given desired tip trajectory will be stable regardless of the fact that a e exible manipulator is a nonminimum-phase system. The stable inverse is incorporated into an output tracking controller that uses only joint-angle feedback. Excellent tracking is achieved with no transient or steady-state errors and no internal vibration buildup.


This research aims to test the effect of corporate governance factors on corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and its impact on a company's financial performance. The factors of corporate governance referred to in this research are foreign ownership, state ownership, number of board of commissioners, the proportion of independent commissioners, and educational background of commissioners' board. Based on the purposive sampling method, 194 companies were selected with a total of 582 observations. The data analysis used in this study was the Structural Equation Model (SEM) approach by using the alternative Partial Least Square (PLS) method. The results of this research indicated that state ownership, number of board of commissioners, and the proportion of independent commissioners had a significant positive effect on CSR disclosure. While the foreign ownership and the educational background of the commissioners' board have had an insignificant effect on CSR disclosure. Then, CSR disclosure had a significant positive effect on the companies' financial performance. The findings of this study suggest that the positive effect of the CSR disclosure on performance is because the disclosure is able to improve the company's reputation; the more social activities are carried out will improve the customers' loyalty as well as the support from other stakeholders which in turns will improve the company's performance.


Hydrosilane/H+ reagent reduced oximes in good yields. Stereospecific reduction of (2-acetoxy-1-phenylpropylidene)benzyloxyazane (3) was observed: the (E)-isomer gave erythro-1-phenyl-1-benzyloxyamino-2-propanol (4) in 99% selectivity, whereas (Z)-3 afforded the threo isomer of 4 in 76% selectivity.


This paper argues that one of the k ey techniques for making the most ef ficient use of multi-processor architectures is the serialisationof parallel code!Parallel algorithms are presented as having strong engineering merits that will form the natural basis for systems design in the future. Parallelisation of serial code is regarded as having only short-term v alue (for ''dusty-decks'', whose correctness cannot be verified) as well as being mathematically intractable. Serialisation, on the other hand, is much easier to automate and can be profitably employed today . Sev eral serialising transforms for occamprocesses are presented and applied to various simulation and image compression tasks. 2 .nr H1 1 0. Introduction This paper reviews and interprets some of the practiceandexperienceof programming parallel computing systems we ha ve obtained at the Uni versity of Kent over the past six years. We present in a semi-formal, but disciplined, manner some of the practical skills we belie ve should be regularly applied to the de velopment of parallel programs. We are by no means alone in our beliefs.We are alarmed, howe ver, that they do not seem to be recognised by the ''mainstream' ' computer science community. The chief lessons are these : − • parallelism is a major structuring method that enables us to manage complexity (in the design, verification and maintenance of systems); • system design, therefore, should be (highly) parallel from the start; • in general, there should be man y more logical processes than physical processors (''parallel slackness''); • to optimise performance, parallel sub-networks running on individual processing nodes may need serialising.Tools to automate (or , at least, help in) such serialisation are badly needed. Expressed positi vely like this, these do not seem to be too contentious. It is the ne gativ conclusions we can dra w from them, howe ver, that seem to raise eyebrows : − • design standards that e xclude parallelism also exclude security for comple x applications. Thisleads to growing losses — both financial and human life; • efficient and robust systems cannot be b uilt by ''first getting them to work serially on one processor' ' and then ''parallelising' ' them; • existing ''dusty-deck' ' codes, that represent massi ve financial investments that ''cannot afford to be wasted'', also represent massi ve serial codes that are becoming unmaintainable and are certainly un verifiable. Theseare technical dead-ends — as commercial pressures will gradually mak e clear to all those who persist with them; • tools to assist the parallelisation of large-scale serial code are v ery difficult to make, will be very expensi ve to buy and will not be needed by the time the y are half-made to work. On Serialisation 2 Welch & Justo Regardless of the reaction of your eyebrows to the abo ve assertions, please read on! 1. Some Merits of Parallel Design Parallelism does not e xtend the range of functions that can be computed. The parallel operator inCSP[0] is completely defined in terms of its serialchoice operator . The only moti ve for its introduction is that it simplifies the expression (i.e. the ''programming' ') of the behaviour of most processes (abo ve a l ow lev el of complexity) and, hence, our ability to reason about them. The parallel construct in occam[1] is directly based upon CSPtheory and directly reflects the above properties. Parallelism (or , at least,occamparallelism) should be re garded as a high-level programming structure and used freely . It may be ''compiled' ' down to lowlevel serial code (just as WHILE andFORloops may be implemented by unstructured GOTOs), but that low-level code is almost al ways much more complicated and harder to understand. Nevertheless, this serialisation can al w ys be done and sometimes there are good reasons for doing it — see belo w. The reverse operation, parallelisation, requires the ''de-compilation'' of l ow-level code back to high-le vel structures — an activity that ne v r produces satisfactory results! We are arguing the case for parallelism on the grounds that it simplifies and clarifies the development of comple x systems — not that it makes them go f aster! Historysupports this view. Software parallelism was first experimented with in the early 1970s in an ef fort to make operating systems work — or , at least, to mak e them work for longer periods between crashes! These systems were supporting uni-processor computers, so that the question of exploiting concurrenc y to improve performancedid not arise. Indeed, a performance penalty (due to the o verheads for managing the software concurrency) was cheerfully accepted if the o verall reliability could be increased to tolerable le vels. We are very fortunate these days that parallel hardware lets us apply concurrenc y to increase the performance of computer systems. In our excitement o v r all the MIPS and MFLOPS that are no w at our disposal, we must not for get the powerful benefits for clear thinking that were the original moti vation for going parallel. 2. Some Designs Just Have to be Parallel The following test.rig provides a user-interface for controlling and monitoring the state of a continuously running machine :-


Since more and more family caregivers of persons with HIV disease are parents and grandparents, older persons may be responsible for the well-being of ill or orphaned family members at a time when they may be at risk for their own health and social losses. Re searchers conducted qualitative interviews with twenty older minority informal caregivers of HIV-infected persons to explore their experiences with seeking and receiving informal social support. There were two sources of social support: support from family and friends external to the care dyad and support from the relationship with the HIV-positive care recipient. There was very little support sought or received outside the family of the caregivers; this was primarily because their decisions about disclosing the HIV diagnosis precluded their asking for social support specific to the HIV caregiving. From the caregivers' perspective the most common source of support was not "social" or human; rather, it was strength that came from their spiritual and religious lives or from within themselves. These findings highlight the social isolation of this population, suggesting the need for more awareness and aggressive outreach from the helping professions. More research is needed to determine how decisions regarding HIV disclosure are made, how caregivers sustain support sources that are not specific to HIV caregiving, and how the strong mutual relationship with the HIV-infected care recipient affects coping and bereavement.


The Left-Right symmetry Model (LRSM) is an extension of the Standard Model based on the gauge symmetry group SU(3)C × SU(2)L × SU(2)R × U(1)B-L predicts by existence new particles like doubly-charged Higgs boson, W' new charged boson, Z' new neutral boson and heavy neutrinos. In this work we present an analysis for production four-charged lepton in final state produced via decaying a pair of doubly-charged Higgs boson in the context of LRSM by using Monte Carlo simulation Techniques at both the Large Hadron Collider (proton-proton collisions) and the Fermilab Tevatron Collider (proton-antiproton collisions). In this analysis we assume that the branching ratio of decay channels of left-handed or right-handed doubly-charged Higgs boson BR ( 𝐻𝐻±±→l±l±=100%,l=𝑒𝑒±,𝜇𝜇±,𝜏𝜏±). We carry out a Monte Carlo study of the (Left or Right) doubly charged Higgs pair production and decay to four-charged lepton via the process 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝(𝑝𝑝)→𝐻𝐻±±𝐻𝐻±±→l±l±l±l±,l=𝑒𝑒±,𝜇𝜇±,𝜏𝜏± . From Monte Carlo simulation level the doubly-charged Higgs may be found at the LHC or at the Tevatron in the mass range up to 800 GeV.


ABSTRACT Composites reinforced with feather fibers have attracted the attention of scientists due of their low cost, the absence of health risk, availability, biodegradability, renewable character, and low density. These advantages permit their use in various fields such as construction sector and automotive industry that necessitate high-performance lightweight materials, reduced cost of manufacturing, recycling, and minimal environmental impact. This paper is a review of the properties and discusses the environmental benefits of feather fibers reinforced polymer composites. The barbs fibers are known by their compatibilities with all types of polymer due to their hydrophobic nature which permit to create strong covalent bonds in the fiber/matrix interface. The structural aspects and the properties of the keratinous fibers, the mechanical properties of polymers, the effect of the reinforcement rate on the fiber/matrix interface, and the properties of the biocomposites are discussed in this review article.


14035 Background: Gemcitabine (Gem) is an attractive chemotherapeutic agent for hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) because of its broad-spectrum anti-tumor activity, high systemic clearance, and possibly high hepatic extraction. Pre-clinical models indicate that cytotoxicity of gemcitabine increases with duration of drug exposure.

METHODS
In this phase I trial, successive cohorts of patients (Pts) with hepatic metastases of colorectal or bile duct cancer were given HAI Gem 3 out of 4 weeks. During the dose escalation phase, increasing doses of HAI Gem (800, 1000, 1200 and 1500 mg/m2) were given at 10 mg/m2/min. During the infusion duration escalation phase, 1000 mg/m2 of HAI Gem was given over increasing duration of infusion (200, 300, and 400 min.). To compare the pharmacokinetics of HAI Gem with that of intravenous (iv) Gem, Pts enrolled to the infusion duration escalation phase received a 60-min. infusion of iv Gem during the first treatment week at the same dose-rate as with subsequent HAI Gem.

RESULTS
To date, 23 Pts have been enrolled and 22 were evaluable for toxicity (median age 64; median KPS 90%; 13 males/9 females). All Pts had prior HAI FUDR treatment. HAI Gem is well tolerated up to 1500 mg/m2 given at 10 mg/m2/min and up to 1000 mg/m2 infused over 300 min. Only one Pt had to discontinue therapy due to toxicity (grade 4 alkaline phosphatase) and one DLT was observed (grade 3 rash). Most common grade 2+ toxicities include neutropenia (40%), thrombocytopenia (23%), bilirubin (14%), and alkaline phosphatase (23%). The steady-state level of Gem when given by HAI was lower than that obtained when the drug was given by iv in 3 out of 4 Pts (0.62 vs 1.8; 0.38 vs 2.9; 0.36 vs 0.63 mcg/ml). One Pt with cholangiocarcinoma had a partial response and one Pt had stable disease for 5 months.

CONCLUSIONS
HAI Gem is safe and can be given as prolonged infusion not achievable with systemic administration. Pharmacokinetic studies indicate good hepatic extraction of the drug. The MTD has not been reached. [Table: see text].


In this work a method that monitors the dynamics of blood sedimentation using a light transmission method is presented. This technique consists of the illumination of a whole capillary column of blood using a laser and detecting the transmitted light at different heights simultaneously. In order to show the potential of this method, male fish blood samples modified in its composition by the action of several treatments were studied. The experimental groups were a control group, another treated with estradiol, and the third treated with a pesticide dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethane. It is shown that the sedimentation process is strongly dependent on the height of the detection and that this affects the resolution of the measurement.


We report observations of the H110α radio recombination line and H2CO (110-111) toward 21 ultracompact H II regions with the Arecibo 305 m radio telescope. We detect the H110α line in 20 sources, and for each of these we also detect a H2CO absorption feature at nearly the same velocity, demonstrating the association between molecular and ionized gas. We determine kinematic distances and resolve the distance ambiguity for all observed H II regions, as well as for 19 intervening molecular clouds. A plot of the Galactic distribution of these objects traces part of the spiral structure in the first Galactic quadrant. We compare flux densities and velocities as measured with the Arecibo Telescope with interferometric measurements of our sample of ultracompact H II regions. In general, the single-dish fluxes exceed the interferometric values, consistent with an extended component of radio continuum emission.


Inherent ratios of DCCs are revealed between series and parallel connections of n sections of primary windings with the same nominal turns. By keeping the current buses geometric position fixed, leakage flux effects are maintained unchanged between series and parallel switch. A series of DCCs is calibrated under rated ampere turns for current dissemination from 5A to 5kA.


A traditional question in local economic development is whether it is better to take work to the workers or workers to the work. The widespread use of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) or drive-in, drive-out (DIDO) to support Australia's mining industry raises a variant to this question: is it possible to promote regional development without a permanent, resident workforce? FIFO and DIDO have become the predominant ways of providing a permanent operational workforce to the mining industry. It explains why cities such as Perth, Brisbane and Mackay have large populations of mining workers while mining operations are located in remote parts of the country. FIFO brings advantages to mining companies and employees but is generally viewed as antithetical to local economic development: it is accused of eroding the viability of the resource towns that emerged with earlier phases of the mining industry and of generating social problems in both the places where FIFO workers reside permanently and around their temporary work locations. The offsetting advantages appear to provide a strong case for the use of non-resident workers but they arise from the particular context in which mining is occurring rather than being an inherent feature of this form of employment. A case study of the proposed Mt. Todd gold mine located in close proximity to the Northern Territory town of Katherine shows how the potential use of FIFO workers encourages local support for mining operations.


Determination of psychometric indices of the Polish language version of the Student Satisfaction and Self Confidence in Learning Scale (SSCL). The validity of the research conducted is significant, the scale of the SSCL will be the first tool in Poland, thanks to which the possibility will be created to monitor the didactic process in which the high-fidelity simulation method is used. Construct validity was tested using the following Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA fit index is 0.52) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA explains 48.3% of the variance). Cronbach's alpha-coefficient was used to assess the internal consistency of the scale. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for the scale as a whole was 0.90, for the subscale "Satisfaction with current learning" was 0.87; for the subscale "Self-confidence in learning" was 0.84. As the study showed, the simulation of high-fidelity positively affects students' satisfaction and increases their confidence levels.


In the field of graph theory in mathematics, the Traveling Salesman Problem determines an optimized closed loop through multiple locations. We apply this problem to various destinations throughout LaGrange, Georgia to solve for minimum time and distance paths. This problem has many applications where one needs to determine optimal routes for visiting every location in a predetermined list. Here, present and demonstrate the Traveling Salesman Problem and then we apply this problem to the scenario of visiting the popular locations in LaGrange, Georgia while minimizing distance and time. When given multiple locations, what is the the most effi-cient way to visit each of them? This a common scenario, known as a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and can be applied in many situations. For example, when considering LaGrange College, many prospective students may like to see what the city has to offer before making a final decision. We consider the scenic areas in LaGrange, Georgia and construct a Traveling Salesman Problem around visiting those locations with a prospective student. Before we apply this problem to our given scenario, let's first demonstrate a basic example, and then discuss how we have chosen to implement this process using Matlab.


A 6-year-old girl has peeling soles on her feet. Although the peeling is not usually symptomatic, her feet become cracked, fissured, tender, and occasionally infected during the middle of the winter and summer.


Changes in scholarly communications and new business models are presenting academic libraries with challenges and opportunities which impact the way they approach the delivery of content. Libraries are re-evaluating internal processes and structures, enhancing and developing the skills within their teams, and embracing new possibilities for strengthening and enhancing partnerships with publishers and the academic community. This will not only enable them to manage in the current unstable and unpredictable environment, but empower them to influence and drive forward changes in the development of content and models.


This paper is based on a long-term ethnography of an adult creative writing class situated in a major urban art gallery in the United Kingdom. It takes the claims of one group of older adults—that creative writing made them 'feel younger'—as the starting point for exploring this connection further. It places these claims broadly within theories of learning in later life that advocate creative expression and reminiscence as important practices for educators of older adults. However, the main analysis employs anthropological theories of creativity and ageing in order to question the cultural assumptions about creativity and the period of older age informing theory and practice. The paper argues that the value of creative writing for the individuals studied lies both in the fact that it is a relational (rather than individual) process and a means of being in the present. These findings contradict traditional conceptions about creativity as future-oriented and older people as retrospective; they also raise questions about narratives of empowerment, individual agency and the importance of 'reminiscence' in some of the literature on older adult learning.


Grid computing is increasingly used by organizations to achieve high performance computing. These Grids may span several countries. As a result of this, they may be difficult to monitor and manage. This paper aims at providing a real-time, multi-platform Grid monitoring tool. GridInfo monitors resources such as CPU and memory in a real-time manner. We monitor resource usage for processes on individual machines or a cluster. All the information is displayed using real-time graphs. GridInfo supports multiple operating systems. A combination of TCP and UDP is used for communications to ensure reliability and low network load. Data is stored and transmitted in XML form. Swing is used as the framework for the GUI. C is used for system level programming and Java for application level programming.


With only 14% of West Virginia's population over 25 years old possessing a bachelor's degree, the lack of a skilled workforce often thwarted state legislators' attempts to attract new industry to the state's struggling economy. To address workforce qualification concerns, state educational stakeholders implemented a merit-based scholarship program with average requirements in 2002. The West Virginia PROMISE (Providing Real Opportunities for Maximizing In-state Student Excellence) Scholarship Program goals include encouraging high school students to work harder, and to entice more graduates to attempt post-secondary work at in-state institutions.This qualitative study was designed to discover the perceptions of five high school seniors and their families who qualified for the PROMISE Scholarship. Interviews were conducted to gather data about family perceptions of college, educational and economic opportunity, and the PROMISE Scholarship in their college decision-making processes. Using an emergent design, additional data was collected from school personnel about programs mentioned as influential to family decision-making processes. Collected data was analyzed using a constant-comparative method.Study findings indicated that students are working harder to earn the PROMISE Scholarship. The findings also reveal factors influencing family decisions to attempt post-secondary work such as perceptions of their community, college, the benefits of attaining a college degree, and the financial importance of the availability of the PROMISE Scholarship. There were also indications that school programs were influential factors. Implications of study findings for West Virginia educational stakeholders indicate concern over the continued funding of the program by study participants. There was also evidence of a lack of understanding of program rationale. It was also evident that more research needs to be conducted as the program continues to discover the eventual career paths and locations of PROMISE graduates. Additional research should also be conducted on students and families choosing not to take advantage of the scholarship program to attempt post-secondary work.


Relations are given between certain symmetric polynomials in the light of the theory of the symmetric group. Such an approach unifies earlier work and lends insight to previously published work by Aaron Booker. A generalization of Graeffe's root-squaring technique for the determination of the roots of a polynomial is suggested.


Small and miniature enterprises are important force for China′s economic and social development,but for a long time the difficulty in financing has been restricting the development of these enterprises.Bank′s loan as a primary financing channel of small and miniature enterprises has become the focus of solving this problem.This paper,from the perspective of transaction costs,discusses the mechanisms and reasons of financing difficulties of small and miniature enterprises,and in view of their increasingly obvious industrial clustering characteristics,the solutions to solve the difficulty in financing are proposed in terms of improving the pricing mechanisms of commercial bank and the new financing modes of mutual mortgage loans and network joint guarantee loans.


Given the increasing prevalence of Islam, current socio-political climate and visibility of Muslim women in Western societies the current study aimed to investigate 1) the nature of religious discrimination experienced by Muslim women in New Zealand and 2) the influence of perceived religious discrimination and differing facets of Islamic identity (psychological, behavioural and visible) on the psychological wellbeing (life satisfaction and psychological symptoms) of 153 Muslim women. The results of the present study revealed that Muslim women rarely feel discriminated against, although women originating from the Middle East and Africa reported significantly more discrimination than women from Asia. When discrimination did occur, it was more likely to come from strangers and service people and take the form of social exclusion as opposed to direct harassment. Furthermore, Muslim women wearing highly visible hijab experienced significantly more religious discrimination. A strong sense of Islamic identity (psychological, behavioural and visible) and low frequency of perceived religious discrimination were hypothesized to predict significantly greater life satisfaction and fewer psychological symptoms in Muslim women. Contrary to the hypothesis, psychological and behavioural facets of Islamic identity, in addition to perceived religious discrimination, failed to independently predict psychological wellbeing. Islamic visibility did however predict greater psychological wellbeing. Strong endorsement of the different aspects of Islamic identity was hypothesized to buffer the detrimental influence of perceived religious discrimination on psychological wellbeing. The results of the present study however indicated strong psychological affiliation with Islam may have exacerbated the detrimental effect of perceived religious discrimination and as a consequence was associated with poorer psychological wellbeing. The act of participating in Islamic practices, on the other hand, seemed to provide a degree of resistance against the detrimental effects of religious discrimination and was associated with better psychological wellbeing.


In the past four decades, microwave imaging has experienced a renaissance. This has happened because of new technology development, improved and robust image reconstruction algorithms, expansion of imaging modalities, and operational friendliness, particularly for nondestructive testing (NDT) applications (e.g., high-resolution, real-time, portable systems). Efforts to push the envelope forward continues. This paper provides a brief background on some of the key works that laid the foundation for these advancements. Next, the focus of the paper shifts to the author's research group's contributions to the field since the early 1990s to the present day in developing new imaging methodologies and tools specifically for NDT applications. This paper gives a chronology of these specific developments and illustrates how the desire to address NDT needs and requirements have kept these developmental processes moving forward.


The invention relates to a catalytically active particulate filter (400 ') comprising gas-permeable filter substrate walls (FW), which has a filter body with at least one inlet and outlet channel (K21, K2) arranged adjacent to a flow direction (R) of an exhaust gas through the particulate filter (400'). K12) form, wherein the inflow channel (K21) downstream and the outflow channel (K12) are closed gas-tight upstream. It is provided that the filter substrate wall (FW) of the inflow channel (K21) has a two-layer catalytic layer structure (II; II-A, II-B, II-C, II-D) at least in an inlet region of the exhaust gas into the particle filter (400 ') ) with a first catalytic layer (1) and a second catalytic layer (2), while the filter substrate wall (FW) of the outflow channel (K12) at least in an outlet region of the exhaust gas from the particulate filter (400 ') has a single-layered catalytic layer structure ( I, IA, IB) with only one catalytic layer (1).


Stars in the night sky are dim light sources. This makes it difficult to capture the details of the night sky using small, low aperture camera sensors, such as those used in mobile phones. Therefore, processing must be done to correctly identify stars in an image captured from a mobile phone, such that the resultant image depicts clearly visible stars with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Existing literature primarily focus on astrophotography using Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera devices (DSLR), which have larger sensors and are kept stationary using mounts such as a tripod. There are very few research works pertaining to astrophotography using mobile phone cameras, due to the lower processing power and the inconvenience to keep a mobile phone stationary during image acquisition. Techniques involving machine learning need a large dataset of preprocessed photos of the night sky. Such a dataset is not publicly available for research. In this work, we develop a novel approach for star identification, enhancement and image stacking using image processing techniques, in order to derive plausible results for night sky images taken from a smartphone sensor. Image enhancement pipelines for three different scenarios have been designed, namely for pure night sky images, night sky images with peripheral objects and burst shot images of the night sky. The results observed are promising and the proposed approach has a potential to be employed for night sky enhancement in mobile phones.


This paper describes a methodology based on 40 criterions as well as a mixture of MCDM methods to evaluate different technologies applied in modern training systems. The criterions are grouped in a three-dimensional (3D) model in accordance with their use and application in training processes. The proposed 3D model includes the Management (M), the Technological (T) and the Instructional (I) dimensions. Applying this methodology we can evaluate different training and learning technologies. Furthermore a technology roadmap is outlined using the obtained results in the evaluation. This roadmap will provide CFE (Comision Federal de Electricidad which is the National Electricity Utility in Mexico) with elements to decide, enhance and upgrade its current training information systems or acquire new ones as well as showing what courses are worth implementing with e-learning technologies and when these courses should be programmed.


This study aims at identifying the relation between corporate governance practices and performance by public companies in the construction and engineering subsector, in the transportation and construction sector, at the BMF business performance; construction and engineering.


phosphate concentrations declined, indicating turnover of this compound. Incubation of LSI78Y cells in medium containing 0.5 ^M MMPR reduced intracellular concentrations of adenosine triphosphate, guanosine triphosphate, and adenosine diphosphate by about 70% and proliferation rates by about 30%. Upon transfer of such cells to M MPR-free medium, nucleotide levels and proliferation rates returned to control values. L5178Y cells incubated in medium containing 0.1 ÕÕM MMPR proliferated at control rates even though their purine ribonucleotide levels were reduced by as much as 40%. The reduction in cellular pools of purine nucleotides during culture in 0.1 J/M MMPR was accompanied by an increase in the pyrimidine ribonucleotide concentrations. Cellular concentrations of uridine triphosphate and cytidine triphosphate increased almost threefold during the first 2 hr of exposure to 0. l ¿/M MPR, then fell during the next 2 hr to a steady-state level of about 180% of control values.


This is the first report describing microbiological, physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of a traditional butter produced from cows' milk in East of Algeria. Five butter samples were prepared in the laboratory according to the traditional method used by people in the Jijel areas (Eastern Algeria). Our results show the presence of lactic acid and psychrotrophic bacteria as well as yeasts, while staphylococci or lipolytic bacteria were not detected. Important differences were found in chemical values among butter samples. The pH values ranged from pH4.64 and pH5.53. Moisture and impurities exceeded 17.5% and 9.19% respectively. The values for acid index, peroxide index, saponification index and iodine index ranged from: 23.56-31.35mg KOH/g, 1.6-4 meq/kg, 140.25- 228.60 mg KOH/g and 35.35-53.69 mgI/100g respectively. Finally, the fatty acid composition showed that palmitic acid and oleic acid were the major saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.


Clay minerals, as adsorbents, are widely available, have large specific surface area, and the ability for cation exchange, which makes them applicable in wastewater treatment from heavy metal ions. This study investigated the effect of acid modification on the porous structure and adsorption properties of montmorillonite (MMT) and palygorskite (PAL) clays of the Cherkasy deposit (Ukraine). Acid modification of clay samples was carried out with chloride acid after preliminary refining. Clay particles were analyzed using optical polarization microscopy with recording of digital images of the study. The area and perimeter of individual particles of clay samples were determined. The equivalent diameter and shape factor were calculated. The porosity characteristics of the samples were determined. Pore surface area was calculated by the Brunauer-Emmette-Teller (BET) method. Total volume, mean diameters, and pore size distribution were obtained using the Density Functional Theory (BFT) method. Acid modification improved the porous structure of clay samples. BET surface area of the pores of the initial sam - ple of palygorskite clay is significantly higher compared to the montmorillonite type clay (140.66 and 83.61 m 2 /g, respectively). Acid modification of the PAL sample contributes to an increase in the BET surface area by approxi - mately 1.7 times. Acid modification increases the surface area and total pore volume by approximately 2.3 times for MMT samples and 1.76 times for PAL samples. Dimensional characteristics of the pores of the MMT sample were to shift after activation, while for the PAL sample, their average size increases sharply by approximately 3.2 times. This suggested the additional formation of pores in the interfibrillar regions of the PAL sample during its acid activation. The effect of acid modification on the sorption capacity was investigated by means of methylene blue exhaustion. Sorption efficiency increases by 6-14%, compared to unmodified samples and is determined by the contact time and the type of clay. Increasing the contact time from 24 to 72 hours leads to an increase in the sorption efficiency of activated MMT and PAL samples by 36 and 30%, respectively. Acid-activated clay miner - als, in particular montmorillonite, can be used as part of sorption elements to increase the efficiency of wastewater treatment technologies from heavy metal ions.


In a short time, we have gone from the paradigm of the integration where students with and without disabilities are educated with a differentiated curriculum, the paradigm of inclusion where students share the same curriculum. The objective of this study is to examine as is carried out the inclusion in the area of physical education in the educative center through the methodology of case study, centering on 2 students from the center Juan Comenius with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Have been interviewed (semistructured interview) 7 people who are part of the inclusive process (2 physical education teachers, the director, the head of primary education, parents of students with disabilities and the 2 students with CP). The results show that the address and the teachers are betting on the inclusion of pupils with Special Educational Needs due to disability in the classroom using curricular adaptations, psychopedagogical reports and an awareness of the students. However, there is not an offer of training for teachers to expand their knowledge about the PSEN, Parents do not maintain direct contact with the physical education teachers and unaware of what made their children in these classes.


Development of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system for Indian script is an active area of research today. In this paper, we are concerned with the recognition of printed Oriya script a popular Indian script. The development of OCR for this script is challenging as number of identified classes are more than 380 which includes similar looking and compound characters. This paper presents the gradient features based approaches for character recognition of printed Oriya script. For this, Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) have been used to extract features from each individual character to uniquely identify it. Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, Brute Force (BF) Matcher and the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) have been used for efficient recognition. The performance of each approach for character recognition is discussed based on their input parameters and performance metric. It was found that when HOG features were classified using ANN, it outperforms over other approaches.


Blends consisting of polybenzoxazine and polyester with various weight ratios have been prepared by using a solution blending method. Thermal properties of the blends have been investigated by using thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analysis. Formation of hydrogen bonding was detected by using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. Thermal stability of the blends increased with increasing the amount of polybenzoxazine in the composition. The composition having 70 wt% polybenzoxazine and 30 wt% polyester resin possesses the highest hardness and comparatively good thermal stability, with an initial decomposition temperature of 274°C and char yield = 21%.


A diagnostic method for the measurement of neutrons from thermonuclear plasma devices is proposed on the basis of the neutron telescope applied in neutron astronomy. The method utilizes the elastic scattering of the neutron from a proton by measuring the directions and energies of the proton and the scattered neutron. The expected count rate is estimated, and methods of suppressing the background count level are indicated


The aim of this work was to derive a method of estimating the size of a solar flare from the related magnetic variation, or solar flare effect (sfe), observed at magnetic
observatories. The particular goal was to re-assess the Carrington flare, which occurred at 11.15 UT on 1st September 1859. We review previous work to estimate
the flare magnitude and re-examine observations of the sfe on the Kew and Greenwich (both London area) observatory magnetograms, recovered from the BGS archives. We correlate recent flares of known X-ray flux against the related sfe, taking into account location at the time of the event and use this relationship to estimate the size of the Carrington flare.


Study 2: a single-case study was developed. Repetition performance was widely assessed in a patient with crossed conduction aphasia and striatal/capsular vascular lesions encompassing the right arcuate fasciculus (AF) and inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), the temporal stem and the white matter underneath the supramarginal gyrus. He showed lexicality effects repeating better words than non-words, but manipulation of other lexical-semantic variables exerted less influence on repetition performance. Imageability and frequency effects, production of meaning-based paraphrases during sentence repetition, or better performance on repeating novel sentences than overlearned cliches were hardly ever observed in this patient. Diffusion tensor imaging disclosed damage to the right long direct segment of the AF and IFOF with relative sparing of the anterior indirect and posterior segments of the AF, together with fully developed left perisylvian white matter pathways. These findings suggest that striatal/capsular lesions extending into the right AF and IFOF in some individuals with right hemisphere language dominance are associated with atypical repetition patterns which might reflect reduced interactions between phonological and lexical-semantic processes.

Study 3: A within-patient design, with multiple assessments, was developed with the same patient as in Study 2A. The initial dose of Donepezil (5 mg/day) was titulated up to 10 mg/day and administered alone (without aphasia therapy) during 3 months (Endpoint 1). Then, the drug was combined with a verbal repetition-imitation therapy (Look-Listen and Repeat - LLR) (1 hour/day) during 2 months (Endpoint 2). Language evaluations, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were performed at baseline and at both endpoints. Donepezil alone and combined with LLR induced marked improvement in measures of speech production (Correct Information Units/minute during picture description, and repetition of word lists, idiomatic-novel phrases and sentences). Greater benefits were observed after combined therapy and the obtained gains in speech production remained well-above baseline scores even four months after combined therapy interruption. Longitudinal DTI showed structural plasticity in the right frontal aslant tract (FAT) with both interventions and VBM additionally revealed increased grey matter density in cortical areas connected through the FAT. Donepezil alone and combined with LLR improved speech production deficits by inducing structural plastic changes in white matter tracts and grey matter areas spared by the lesion in the injured hemisphere. Conclusions: Cholinergic modulation and intensive verbal repetition-imitation therapy improve speech production deficits in crossed conduction aphasia by inducing right hemisphere structural plasticity.
Conclusions: MSRT become a simultaneous training of attention, auditory and visual input processing with the activation of different semantic fields, STM, executive processing, and language production. Treatment with donepezil has a positive effect in communication skills of CA patient. We observe a summative effect between donepezil and MSRT. The improvement associates neuroplasticity changes in neuroimaging.


Can variances in institutional structures between markets and governments lead actors to engage in morally divergent behavior? We explore the behavior of early American whiskey distillers in both the market and political sphere. Whiskey distillers attempted to engage in dishonest behavior in the market and in politics. Dishonest behavior in the market was hampered by market competition. In a market where it was difficult for consumers to detect hidden impurities, and thus there was a possibility for distillers to earn fraudulent profits, market competition led distillers to find innovative ways to assure consumers of the genuineness and quality of their product. Distillers adopted five mechanisms to help consumers overcome the asymmetric information problem; 1) brand names, 2) quality control measures that imparted distinct characteristics to the whiskey, 3) leveraging the reputation of local dealers, 4) advertisements, including advertising rewards for reporting on producers manufacturing imitation products, and 5) the adoption of sealed bottles. In the political arena, under the pretense of protecting consumers, distillers lobbied to pass the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897 and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 to stifle competition from rectifiers who were producing cheaper whiskey-flavored alcohol spirits. Honesty prevailed in the distiller's market dealings but dishonesty prevailed in their politicking.


Labeling of nucleic acids offers broader option for its
biochemical and physicochemical studies by the analytical
separation methods such as capillary electrophoresis. Suitable
labeling allows monitoring of DNA hybridization as well as
following of DNA interactions with other biological and/or
non-biological compounds. Chemical DNA probe consisting of
osmium tetroxide and 2,2'-bipyridine (Os,bipy) is well-known
especially for its electrochemical activity. In contrary to
vanishing reactivity with purines, Os,bipy reagent creates
covalent adducts with pyrimidine bases. The fastest adduct
formation was observed namely with thymine. In our work, we
analyzed selected pentanucleotides with various number and
position of thymine bases and we monitored its reactivity with
Os,bipy reagent. Our interest was also taken to ageing of
Os,bipy reagent and the role of reagent abundance in mixture
with oligonucleotide was studied. Capillary zone
electrophoresis as an analytical technique was chosen for the
sufficient ability to monitor the changes of the modified
oligonucleotides.


In order to provide a tool for designing more efficient methods of mixing fabric, a simplified discrete element computational model was developed for modeling fabric dynamics in a rotating horizontal drum. Because modeling the interactions between actual pieces of fabric is quite complex, a simplified model was developed where individual pieces of bundled fabric are represented by spherical particles. This model is essentially a ball mill. The simulations are used to investigate fabric bundle kinematics, the power required to drive the rotating drum, and the power dissipated through normal and tangential contacts. Parametric studies were performed to investigate the effects of fill percentage, baffles, rotation speed, friction coefficient, and coefficient of restitution. The simulation results indicate that fill percentage, drum rotation speed, and friction coefficient play significant roles in the fabric bundle dynamics. For example, the specific drum power increases by a factor of 600% to 800% as the fill percentage decreases from 75% to 25%. In addition, the maximum specific drum power occurs at a rotation speed just less than the speed at which centrifuging occurs. The friction coefficient does not play a significant role in the bundle dynamics for values greater than a critical value. The critical value decreases from a value of approximately 0.3 at a 25% fill percentage to 0.05 for a 75% fill percentage. For friction coefficients less than this critical value, the specific power decreases with decreasing friction coefficient. Drum baffles have a minor effect on the power dissipation and kinematics for fill percentages greater than 50%. Bundle size and coefficient of restitution have a relatively weak influence on the measured parameters.


We placed aregulatory sequence derived fromtheGALIOlocus ofSaccharomyces cerevisiae atvarious distances fromthestart sites oftranscription oftwoyeast ribosomal protein genes, tcmlandcyh2. Thehybrid ribosomal protein genes weretranscribed atwild-type levels inthepresence ofgalactose. Intheabsence of galactose, thehybrid genes weretranscribed either atareduced level oressentially notatall. Yeast cells which transcribe theribosomal protein genes ata reduced ratecontinued togrow,suggesting thatenhanced translation oftheribosomal protein mRNA maypermit anadequate rateofsynthesis ofthecorresponding protein. Consistent withthis suggestion isthefinding thatpreexisting mRNA decayed atareduced ratewhen transcription washalted abruptly byremoval ofgalactose. Yeast cells unable totranscribe termorcyh2without galactose didnotgrow. Theseconditional lethal strains demonstrate thattheribosomal proteins encoded by term andcyh2areessential; furthermore, these strains arepotentially useful forisolating mutations inthetcml andcyh2proteins affecting their transport, assembly, orfunction. Eucaryotic cells depend onthebiogenesis ofnumerous complex multimeric structures forgrowth. Histones and other nuclear proteins organize thegenomeandfacilitate its expression andreplication. Actins, tubulins, andavariety of other filamentous proteins polymerize toconstruct theinternalframework ofthecell andtoproduce formandmovement.Assembly ofover70different ribosomal proteins aboutfourrRNAmolecules gives rise totheprotein synthetic machinery ofthecell. Fromabiochemical standpoint suchcomplexes areinteresting systems inwhich tostudy the relationship between macromolecular assembly andfunction. Moreover, there isampleevidence thatsynthesis of manyofthesehousekeeping proteins isinstrumental in regulating cell growth (18, 29). Thus, attention hasalso been focused uponidentifying themechanisms controlling the synthesis ofthese macromolecules. InSaccharomyces cerevisiae, asinother eucaryotes, each of70orsoribosomal proteins issynthesized atthesame relative rate. Immediately uponsynthesis theyaretransported tothenucleolus, wheretheyassemble atarate which issufficient tomeettheribosome requirements ofaparticulargrowth state yetwhichleaves nosignificant fraction of unassembled proteins. Inaddition, stimuli whichalter the growth ratearemanifested inimmediate andsimultaneous changes inthesynthesis ofallribosomal proteins, toan extent characteristic ofthenewgrowth condition. Nonetheless, itisnotknownwhether growthcontrol ofyeast ribosomal protein synthesis isregulated transcriptionally or posttranscriptionally. Inaddition, thishighly coordinated andefficient production ofribosomal proteins occurs ina cell inwhichribosomal protein genes arenotclosely linked butaredistributed throughout thegenomeandinwhich someribosomal protein genesoccurinmorethanasingle functional copy(see references 3and27forreviews). Toinvestigate thecontrols whichbring about thestoichiometric synthesis ofyeast ribosomal proteins, wefoundit


Five years into the disastrous conflict that has killed thousands of people, much of the Syrian banking sector lies in ruins. Under this tragic and ongoing dilemma, the Syrian banking sector is struggling to survive. Taking this into consideration, this work focuses on the basic reform needs for the Syrian banking sector so as it becomes secure, transparent, safe and efficient allowing it to rebuild the needed international confidence, to cancel the western and European sanctions and to enable Syria to compete again with the neighbor countries. These reforms include the restructuring of the whole banking system in addition to the reforms to be undertaken by the state to enable public banks to work along with private banks despite the tragic war. An overview of the laws that govern the establishment of private banks, the licensing of these banks and the opening of new branches is also achieved. Moreover, in order to be able to discuss this reform process, a brief look at the Syrian banking sector constitution and the causes of its deterioration is essential.


Dust removal by ventilation is a commonly used dust control strategy. This study analyses the characteristics of airflow transport and dust pollution on a fully mechanised top-coal caving face at different inlet wind velocities by using a numerical simulation experiment, and the best wind velocity for dust suppression is obtained. When the inlet wind velocity fluctuates in the range of 0.5 to 3.0 m/s, the overall dust mass concentration on the working face initially increases and then remains stable, but in the range of 2.5 to 3.0 m/s, the changes in the overall dust mass concentration and dust mass concentration of the respiratory zone on the working face are not significant. The dust pollution in the respiratory zone produced by the hydraulic support lowering pillar and moving frame on the working face is quantitatively analysed at different inlet wind velocities of 2.5 to 3.0 m/s to determine the optimum wind velocity for dust suppression on the working face. The optimum wind speed for dust suppression is 2.6 m/s. This study lays a foundation for the ventilation design and dust control in the early stage of a mine and for the establishment of a clean and green production mine.


Half and full cylindrical frozen cortical bone allografts were transplanted into groups of horses. All horses accepted, resorbed, and began replacement of their grafts to varying degrees, according to frequent radiographic and monthly histologic evaluation. Clinically, all the recipients appeared to return to varying degrees of function. This method of bone allografting is suggested as an adjunct to current methods of fracture fixation in the horse.


We prove that any polar action on a separable Hilbert space by a connected Hilbert Lie group does not have exceptional orbits. This generalizes a result of Berndt, Console and Olmos in the finite dimensional Euclidean case. As an application, we give a simple geometric proof of the fact that any hyperpolar action on a simply connected compact Riemannian symmetric space by a connected Lie group does not have exceptional orbits.


Leadership is often the driver used to transform healthcare services. Healthcare leadership development is often situated around conceptual frameworks or leadership development models. The aim of the study reported here was to evaluate multistakeholder perspectives on leadership development when applying a Multidimensional Leadership Development Conceptual Model to
post-graduate healthcare leadership programmes at a university in England. This exploratory qualitative study of healthcare leadership development comprised face-to-face interviews. Six interviews were undertaken with academics from a post-graduate leadership programme team, a
family carer and service-user of health care services, and current United Kingdom students and former United Kingdom and international students who had undertaken the leadership development programme. Transcripts were thematically analysed. Three themes emerged:
Expectations of the contemporary healthcare leader; Experiences of the Multidimensional Leadership Development Conceptual Model on leadership development; and Improvements to the model. We conclude that framing post-graduate leadership programmes around a conceptual model can aid identification of the key components required for effective leadership development. Evidence-informed recommendations are provided which seek to optimise healthcare leadership development using a leadership development conceptual model which (1) represents the values and beliefs of all stakeholders involved; (2) is reviewed annually to critically explore the internal
and external evidence base for leadership development; gain stakeholder consensus of expectations of the healthcare leader; and provide the reality check to ensure a 'fit for purpose' programme; and (3) is constructively aligned to leadership programme curricula with sufficient
flexibility to tailor an effective teaching and learning platform for preparing the individual leader, noting unique circumstances and contexts.


The ab initio calculation of resonance lifetimes of metastable anions challenges modern quantum chemical methods. The exact lifetime of the lowest-energy resonance is encoded into a complex "density" that can be obtained via complex-coordinate scaling. We illustrate this with one-electron examples and show how the lifetime can be extracted from the complex density in much the same way as the ground-state energy of bound systems is extracted from its ground-state density.


Objective: To examine the role of clinical and psychological characteristics as predictors of fatigue in CHF. Background: Little is known about predictors of fatigue in CHF. Next to heart failure characteristics, depressive symptoms and type-D personality may explain individual differences in fatigue. Methods: At baseline, 136 CHF outpatients (age≤80 years) completed a questionnaire to assess depressive symptoms, type-D personality and cardiac symptoms. At one-year follow-up, they completed the Dutch Exertion Fatigue Scale and the Fatigue Assessment Scale to assess symptoms of fatigue. Medical information was obtained from the patients' medical records. Results: Exertion fatigue and general fatigue were identified as different manifestations of fatigue. We found that exertion fatigue at 12-month follow-up was predicted by decreased exercise capacity (β=− .35; pb .001), dyspnoea (β=24; p=.002), hypertension (β=.16; p=.03), and depressive symptoms (β=.16; p=.05). In contrast, general fatigue at 12-month follow-up was predicted by dyspnoea (β=.24; p=.003), depressive symptoms (β=.27; pb .001), type-D personality (β=17; p=.03), and sleep problems (β=.20; p=.01). Together, these variables explained 32% and 37% of the variance, respectively. Conclusion: The present study showed that fatigue was related to both clinical and psychological characteristics. The use of this knowledge may lead to a better understanding and treatment of the clinical manifestations of fatigue in CHF. © 2007 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. In India, sarcoidosis is an under-diagnosed disease. All ethnic groups in the Indian sub-continent are affected by sarcoidosis. Most of the Indian patients with sarcoidosis are males, and a majority of them present in their fourth or fifth decade of life. Many patients with sarcoidosis are asymptomatic with incidental findings on the chest radiograph. Depending on the organ systems involved, patients with sarcoidosis present themselves to various specialities, with pulmonary involvement being the commonest. The diagnosis is based on a compatible clinical and/or radiological picture, histopathological evidence of non-caseating granulomas in tissue biopsy specimens, and exclusion of other diseases that can produce similar clinical or histopathological appearances. The disease runs a benign course with spontaneous remission of the activity. Only a minority of the patients develop complicated disease though some degree of residual pulmonary function abnormality persists. A high index of clinical suspicion and focussed attempts to secure histopathological confirmation of the diagnosis early in the illness are required to ascertain the diagnosis. For asymptomatic patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis, no therapy is required. In symptomatic patients, or those with complications, corticosteroids remain the mainstay of treatment and sometimes steroid-sparing alternative treatments may be beneficial. Treatment should be tailored to suit the needs of the individual patient under close clinical monitoring.


Whether the exchange rate can influence the balance of payment,there have not uniform views from the literature review.This paper using Cointegration test and Granger test to investigate the relationship between exchange rate and balance of payment,according to the monthly data after the exchange rate reform in 2005.The positivist conclusion is that the exchange rate have no effect on the net export and foreign exchange,no long-term balanced relationship between the two parties.But the exchange rate volatility have effect on the exports and imports.


Pieter R. Roelfsema1,2,3,* and Stefan Treue4,5,6,* 1Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Meibergdreef 47, 1105 BA Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3Psychiatry Department, Academic Medical Center, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands 4Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Centre, 37077 Goettingen, Germany 5Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Goettingen, 37077 Goettingen, Germany 6Faculty of Biology and Psychology, Goettingen University, 37073 Goettingen, Germany *Correspondence: email@example.com (P.R.R.), email@example.com (S.T.) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.06.003


This report satisfies Milestone 4295 for Work Package A0403K11. The long-term behavior of TRISO nuclear reactor fuel in a geologic repository is examined in terms of its durability and thermal impact. The TRISO fuel concept, under development at General Atomics[1] involves embedding fissile uranium and/or actinides in a carbonaceous material as shown in Fig. 1. In the concept, fuel kernels containing fissile material are surrounded with a porous carbon buffer and coated with inner and outer pyrocarbon layers separated with a SiC layer. The fuel particles are then imbedded in a graphite compact and the compacts placed in fuel channels drilled in fuel assembly blocks as shown in the lower right-hand corner of the figure. Dimensions are listed in Table 1. Available data on the degradation of the carbonaceous materials in an aqueous environment is reviewed. A model accounting for waste package failure and the resulting degradation of the waste forms is used to evaluate the potential for the long-term sequestration of radionuclides from spent TRISO fuel in the Yucca Mountain Repository. Finally, thermal analyses of decay heat assess the potential benefits in repository space utilization from recycling actinides from PWR spent fuel as very high burnup TRISO fuel. Experimentalmore » data on the aqueous dissolution of carbonaceous materials is relatively sparse and in some cases is based on measurements carried out at temperatures much higher than would be expected in the repository. In addition, the degree to which the aqueous solutions used in the measurements are representative of Yucca Mountain groundwater is uncertain. However, the available dissolution rate data are generally two or more orders of magnitude lower than the Yucca Mountain Project's dissolution model for borosilicate glass. Model calculations show that if the observed rates are applicable to the Yucca Mountain environment, directly disposed TRISO fuel has the potential to prevent significant release of radionuclides to the environment for several million years. A scheme was examined where actinide elements recovered from {approx}77 MT of spent PWR fuel were used to manufacture 1 MT of TRISO fuel for a high-burnup recycle in a Deep Burn Modular Helium Reactor (DB-MHR). PWR process waste and spent DB-MHR fuel would be disposed in the Yucca Mountain Repository. Thermal performance computations show that the space utilization benefit of this recycle scheme would potentially be in the range of 1.7 to 1.8 as compared to generating the same amount of nuclear energy only in PWRs with direct disposal of the spent fuel.« less


The present invention relates to an important pharmaceutical intermediate 3-formyl-4-halogeno (bromine or iodine) pyrazole. The technical scheme of the present invention comprises that: the synthesis method for the pharmaceutical intermediate 3-formyl-4-halogeno (bromine or iodine) pyrazole comprises the following steps that: 2,2-dimethoxy acetaldehyde and N,N-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal are adopted as raw materials to generate 4-dimethylamino-1,1-dimethoxy-3-butanone; the 4-dimethylamino-1,1-dimethoxy-3-butanone directly reacts with hydrazine hydrate without purification to obtain a key intermediate 3-dimethoxymethyl-1-hydropyrazole; after bromination or iodo, the 3-dimethoxymethyl-1-hydropyrazole is subjected to deprotection to obtain the 3-formyl-4-bromopyrazole or 3-formyl-4-iodopyrazole.


CANCER of the larynx is one of the most curable of all malignancies. Its early symptoms, unlike those of many other cancers, are generally not hidden. The patient and his family become aware of the hoarseness or other voice changes which in 90 percent of all cancers of the larynx, are the first indications of trouble. Of course, only a small percentage of the persons who develop hoarseness have cancer, but certainly hoarseness is a warning sign that no one should overlook or ignore. Cancer of the larynx comprises 3 to 5 percent of all human cancer. Approximately 14 out of every 100,000 persons have or have had the disease, with an estimated 3360 new cases occurring in the United States every year. It is seen most frequently in the sixth decade of life, although no age group is exempt, and it is found 10 times more frequently in men than in


Human lives are increasingly dependent on digital control systems which operate everything from airplanes to power-plants. Consequently, it is crucial that we be able to verify the correctness of these systems. However, "correctness" only makes sense with respect to some specification of their behavior. Formal methods allow for establishing with certainty that digital systems satisfy safety and correctness properties, leaving only the reliability of the final translation of digital logic into the physical universe in doubt. Highly automated formal methods such as model checkers and common type systems allow for verifying properties of digital systems which minimal human effort but are limited in their range of applicability. Less automated techniques such as interactive theorem proving are more generally applicable but require more human intervention. In either case, however, formal verification techniques can only prove systems correct with respect to formal specifications. As such, the problems of constructing and reasoning about specification are paramount. A key challenge for specification and formal methods is scalability. Digital systems may become too large to effectively reason about. To address this problem, it is crucial to be able to describe systems abstractly and compositionally. At its most basic, the idea of refinement is to formally relate two formal models: one more abstract and one more concrete with the goal of being able to carry reasoning performed at the more abstract (and perhaps simpler) model over to the more concrete one. Further, refinement enables a development methodology, suggested more that 40 years ago by Wirth, whereby a system is constructed by first giving a highly abstract high level description and then by applying successive refinements deriving a final concrete system which is correct by construction [44]. In Wirth's account, each level of abstraction takes the form of an executable program but where successive refinements move from an easy to understand but inefficient program to an equivalent one which is more complicated but also much more efficient. This approach has been particularly effective in the development of functional programs as demonstrated by [10]. Often time, this refinement approach to software allows one to, in the words of Shan and Thurston while demonstrating a particularly impressive example of the technique, "first write a program to specify the problem, then interpret the program creatively to find the solution before the universe


The theory of collective magnetic excitations based upon the set of Green's functions of angular momentum spherical tensor operators is applied to the exchange-coupled ($S=1$) magnet with a singlet crystal-field ground state. The spin Hamiltonian is brought to an approximately diagonal form via a unitary transformation by a spin operator functional, the best single-site approximation being located variationally. This enables the set of equations of motion for the Green's tensor to be linearized by conventional techniques. The essential features of induced-moment systems are clarified and displayed in the theory and numerical calculations, respectively. In particular, soft-mode behaviors at the second-order phase transition to ferromagnetism, mode-mode interactions, and a lack of temperature dependence for the excitation energies except at small wave vectors are evident. The nature of the phase transition is examined in detail and a relationship between the divergence of the static susceptibility and the soft-mode behavior is derived from the unitary transformation to pseudospace.


After Contrastive Analysis was called into question because it could not predict areas of difficulty, it was modified into the so-called moderate version, claiming that similar phenomena are more difficult to acquire than dissimilar phenomena (see Oller & Ziahosseiny, 1970). Eckman (1977) added a very significant modification to further salvage Contrastive Analysis by incorporating markedness. In addition, the prolific work of Flege on similarity,including his Speech Learning Model (1995), has provided us with extensive data on degree of difficulty in second language acquisition. Although the bulk of his and his collaborators' work supports his claim that similar sounds are harder to learn than dissimilar sounds, there are important exceptions (e.g., Bohn & Flege, 1992). Furthermore, other researchers have presented conflicting claims and results. The importance of this chapter is that it ties together similarity and markedness in a claim concerning rate of acquisition, rather than "degree of difficulty"—a vaguely defined term. The Similarity Differential Rate Hypothesis (SDRH) quite simply claims that similar phenomena are acquired at faster rates than dissimilar phenomena and that markedness is a mediating factor that slows rate. In making its claims, it calls into question some widespread time-honored concepts in L1 and L2 studies that are poorly defined or mean different things to different researchers. Specifically, what criterion level or percent accuracy is needed for a phenomenon to be "acquired"? What does it mean for x to be acquired before y? If at Stage I, x = 40% accuracy and y = 20% accuracy, we could say x is acquired before y and is less difficult; but if at Stage II, x = 50% and y = 80%, we could say y is acquired before x and is more difficult. In light of this, the SDRH claims that we have been asking the wrong questions, and that rate is the significant factor. In the example above, what is consistent is rate: The rate of acquisition of y is faster than x.

In L1 acquisition research, although order of acquisition has been a perennial concern (e.g., Jakobson, 1941, 1968, and current research on the minimal word involving morae), according to David Ingram (personal communication, 1998), rate has not been a major topic in L1 phonology. (Although Ingram himself [1991] has talked about gradual and abrupt rates, he says there is no explanation why these variable patterns exist.) However, because rates have predictive implications (with the caveat that any learner, L1 or L2, may fossilize at any point) and because L1 and L2 phenomena are reflected in a wide range of contexts—for example, historical change, languages in contact, and dialect variation—it follows that the investigation of rate is an important area of research for both L1 and L2 acquisition.


We initiate the study of (2,0) little string theory of ADE type using its definition in terms of IIB string compactified on an ADE singularity. As one application, we derive a 5d ADE quiver gauge theory that describes the little string compactified on a sphere with three full punctures, at low energies. As a second application, we show the partition function of this theory equals the 3-point conformal block of ADE Toda CFT, q-deformed. To establish this, we generalize the A_n triality of \cite{AHS} to all ADE Lie algebras; IIB string perspective is crucial for this as well.


The recent shootings at Port Arthur have highlighted trends throughout the Western World to extend debriefing and post-event counselling to the local community and secondary victims of such tragedies as well as the primary victims and emergency personnel involved. The cost of providing this extended service is not inconsiderable. There is little research that confirms effectiveness of such debriefing [1–4] and even some that points to possible long-term harm [5]. It is important to reconsider the most effective, post-event response from public health authorities.


In Transient Truths, Berit Brogaard 2012 offers a forcefully argued defense of what she calls 'temporalism': the view that many sentences express contents whose truth value can change over time. In recent years various arguments against temporalism have been posed by what seems to be the eternalist orthodoxy in analytic philosophy of language. I take Brogaard's book as the most complete and up-todate reply to the eternalist attacks. Hence, I bypass this discussion here to critically examine two self-standing arguments she offers directly against the eternalist, and for temporally neutral contents. Sections 1 and 3 argue that at the moment the arguments are not entirely successful, while section 2 expresses strong doubts over Brogaard's choice of sentences such as 'John is a firefighter' to motivate and exemplify her view.


Multiple oncoproteins have been identified to correlate with the chemoresistance in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Src-associated in mitosis (Sam68) is a signaling marker in the transduction and activation of RNA family, and is also indicated to be oncogenic in multiple types of malignancies. However, it has not been recognized to contribute to the progression, recurrence and chemoresistance of EOC. This study was designed to investigate the expression of Sam68 in EOC OVCAR-3 and SK-OV-3 cells post the treatment with Cisplatin or Paclitacxel. And then we overexpressed Sam68 in SK-OV-3 cells to re-evaluate the cell sensitivity to Cisplatin via the colony forming assay, CCK-8 assay and apoptosis analysis. In addition, the expression of Cyclin D1a and D1b was examined in the abovementioned SK-OV-3 cells. Results demonstrated that Sam68 was downregulated by the treatment with Cisplatin or Paclitacxel in both cells. However, the Cisplatin-caused colony reduction and the growth reduction were markedly ameliorated by the Sam68 overexpression. Moreover, the Sam68 overexpression inhibits the cisplatin-promoted cellular viability reduction and apoptosis induction in SK-OV-3 cells. In addition, the downregulation of Cyclin D1b in the Cisplatin-treated EOC cells was also significantly blocked by the Sam68 overexpression. In conclusion, this study found the downregulation of Sam68 by Cisplatin treatment, and the Sam68 overexpression desensitizes ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin probably via promoting Cyclin D1b. It implies that Sam68 might be an effective target to optimize the chemosensitivity of EOC.


Because of its gastronomic function and its usefulness owing to the properties that were attributed to them, spices have played, from a dietetic and therapeutic point of view, an essential role in people's life since ancient times. One of the most widelyused spice was fennel, which had a huge influence at a gastronomical level and was employed as a remedy for several diseases. Numerous virtues have been attributed to fennel, especially its rejuvenation and sight-improving abilities, its diuretic value to assist in urinary diseases and the galactogenic property, which increased breastmilk volume in women. Throughout this BA dissertation we will notice how the uses attested for this plant have been changing. Similar properties have been attributed to fennel, but each author added new uses or mixtures made with this spice with a medical or dietary purpose. The roles of fennel in cuisine have also been changing over time, from being only used to make remedies or as a flavour item, to be a usual ingredient, used as a vegetable, which possessed an important presence in many dishes. Many uses that were attributed to fennel in the Ancient Age, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance still remain as of today, like the carminative, the galactogenic, the emenagogue and the diuretic properties.


This paper presents an integrated Hall switch sensor based on SMIC 0.18 µm CMOS technology. The system includes a front-end Hall element and a back-end signal processing circuit. By optimizing the structure of the Hall element and using the orthogonal coupling and spinning current technology, the offset voltage can be suppressed effectively. The simulation results showed that the Hall switch can eliminate offset voltage greater than 1 mV at 3.3 V supply voltage. Two modes of the Hall switch circuit, the awake mode and the sleep mode, were realized by using clock logic signals without compromising the performance of the Hall switch, thereby reducing power consumption. The test results showed that the operate point and the release point of the switch were within the range of 3–7 mT at 3.3 V supply voltage. Meanwhile, the current consumption is 7.89 µA.


IT has been shown that a syndrome termed " runt disease " (Billingham and Brent, 1959) can be induced in rats (Meites, 1952; Ross and Goldsmith, 1955; Halpern, Liacopoulos and Briot, 1956; Halpern et al., 1957), mice (Moog and Thomas, 1955) and rabbits (Asso, Paraf and Verge, 1958) by administration of cortisone in the first days of life. Later reports (Schlesinger and Mark, 1964; Schapiro, 1965, 1967; Fachet et al., 1966; Lee and Domm, 1967) have described the main features of this syndrome, particularly the effects on the appearance and body weight of the affected animals, the depletion of lymphoid cells, the depression of immune responses, and the reduction in DNA, RNA and protein content of various organs (Winick and Coscia, 1968). The mechanisms by which these alterations are induced are not, however, well understood, and the cellular changes in different tissues are not known. The present paper reports histological and autoradiographic studies on the cortisone-induced wasting disease of young rats. A peculiar effect of cortisone on the hair growth of these animals is also recorded.


With the emerging ATM broadband networks and next generation wireless networks, there will be a need for connectivity between these networks. The interconnection of these networks has received some consideration in the literature. For providing seamless interconnection, it is desirable to introduce ATM technology in the wireless networks also. In an ATM network, VPI (virtual path identifier) and VCI (virtual circuit identifier) are allocated to a virtual-path consisting of switches and links between two fixed (stationary) users. However, the same is not true for wireless networks due to the user mobility. Therefore, for the interconnection of ATM based wireless and ATM networks, a mechanism will be required to maintain an end-to-end ATM connection with user mobility. Some schemes have been proposed in the literature including the use of multiple circuit numbers per mobile and assigning VPI/VCI to a base station. However, the ATM networks are likely to be operating at a speed much higher than the wireless networks and are therefore less likely to become a bottleneck under a high rate of handoffs. Thus the increased processing due to an interconnection scheme should be introduced in the ATM networks. This paper presents one such scheme, termed RAC, based on rearranging connections. The scheme has been analyzed to derive an expression for the overhead introduced and some preliminary results are presented.


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) research in India is in its nascent stage and articles seldom provide a rigorous scholarship about CSR reporting, particularly of the time leading to the initiatives undertaken by regulatory institutions towards institutionalisation of CSR. The paper aims to provide a detailed insight about the type of CSR activities undertaken and reported by Indian companies and in the context of the ambiguities and loopholes in current reporting practices, discusses the need for intervention by regulatory institutions. Employing content analysis to evaluate the annual reports of 42 non-financial companies listed on the Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange of India, over 2004-2011, the paper details the quantity, quality, platforms and the scope of CSR communication, along with a sectorial comparison of corporate social disclosures (CSD). The findings establish that quantity of reporting has increased steadily, with maximum reporting noted in employee related categories, usually under the effect of regulation. The quality of reporting appears stagnant. The high incidence of declarative statements is often ambiguous about CSR evidence and beneficiaries, and has little reference to any strategy. The detailed account of CSD presented in this research will be of interest to academicians, regulatory institutions and to organisations looking to extend their CSR programmes in India.


Cold plasma has been successfully applied in several fields of medicine. Previous studies have provided evidence that plasma supports the healing of wounds. This work was done to study the effect of cold plasma on the speed of wounds recovery for wounds Similar to battle wounds implemented on rats. The rats were divided into four groups; the control group was injured and left untreated, in order to compare it with the groups that were treated. And the second group was treated with penicillin only Six hours after applying the wound. And the third group was treated with an argon plasma jet immediately after the wound is applied and polluted with dust. The fourth group was treated with penicillin and plasma, the plasma was used immediately, but the penicillin was used after six hours. The wound was 1 cm long and 0.5 mm deep. The rats were treated by plasm jet for three days 15 minutes per day, and the penicillin was used daily once according to the protocol. The wounds were photographed as soon as they were performed; it was visually monitored, and documented with photos after three days, seven days, and fourteen days later. It was found that wounds treated with plasma and penicillin are the best case of treatment with penicillin alone or with plasma alone, and treatment with plasma alone is better than treatment with penicillin alone. Where the wound size was became smaller and fully healed. That was by comparison with the control group that was left untreated. From this we can conclude that plasma is a possible way to speed of healing of wounds similar to battle wounds.


Nowadays more and more people have or get sick of venous diseases such as venous insufficiency, low foot blood pressure or even the phenomenon of swelling for diabetic people or for the post-birth period. Medical stockings provide a method to fight against these problems since ancient times but the results after every use was in compliance with the level of technology used to produce the stocking. This situation creates a challenge for the stocking manufacturers with developing new technologies and technical materials that give the best results and maximize the effects of compression stockings on the people that wear them. This paper is integrating the total design of a product, regarding the cycle of the product, profitability and satisfaction of the client problems, proposing new ideas of client approach using new technologies like mass customization through computer integrated manufacturing systems including 3 dimensional body scanning and individual approaches to the client; and using this knowledge develops a kind of compression stockings that are fit-to-wear and satisfy the requirements of the clients concerning the efficiency of the product, comfort properties and durability.


The Lake Mir represents a small, isolated, and shallow marine lake situated in the south-eastern part of the Dugi otok Island, in a karstic landscape of the eastern Adriatic coast. The surrounding karstic background, with occasional occurrences of red soil, characterizes the sediments in the lake as coarse grained and carbonate rich. Previous studies suggested the prevailing influence of the lake bathymetry, that is, the proportion of carbonates and grain size characteristics of the sediments, on the variability of the element composition of the lake sediments. To confirm previous assumptions and obtain a better understanding of the factors influencing sediment composition of this marine lake, the distribution of rare earth elements in sediments of the Lake Mir and the nearby Telašćica Bay, as well as surrounding soils, was investigated. In the lake sediments, the sum of rare earth elements, including Y (hereinafter referred as ΣREY), ranged from 10.6 mg kg−1 to 25.3 mg kg−1; in the Telašćica Bay sediments, ΣREY were higher compared to the lake and ranged from 56.4 mg kg−1 to 85.2 mg kg−1, while the highest ΣREY, from 83.3 mg kg−1 to 227 mg kg−1, were observed in soils surrounding the lake. Despite the difference in the levels of the rare earth elements, the REY normalized patterns and associated fractionation parameters (ΣLREE/ΣHREE, (La/Yb)N, and (Nd/Yb)N) showed similarities between the lake sediments and the surrounding soils, confirming a significant influence of local lithology on the lake composition. The results of the statistical analysis, on the other hand, suggest the contribution of both the carbonate (e.g., calcite) and non-carbonate minerals (i.e., alumosilicates and Al–Fe-hydroxides) on the total REY content in the lake sediments.


SummaryA new polymorph of taro is described. Totally different from the two known types: the 'eddoe' type (cultivars with distinct corms which are either smaller than or about the same size as the cormels) and the 'dasheen' type (cultivars with distinct corms which are larger than the cormels), this new type has no distinct corms or cormels. The corms/cormels form a conglomerate in such a fashion that they are indistinguishable. Each 'head' has a number of buds or 'eyes' which can grow readily into new shoots. The advantages which the newly discovered taro mutant has over the existing ones are discussed. A name is proposed for this third taro type.


The purpose of this qualitative study, with a constructivist approach, was to examine how
professionals work with children as next of kin to chronically ill patients in somatic care.
Through a content analysis, using local guidelines and policy documents for the work with
children as next of kin, as well as semi-structured interviews focusing on how the
professionals themselves describe their work with the children, the result gave a clearer view
of how the work is carried out. The interviews were conducted with some of the social
workers at a counselor department, associated with a local hospital where this department is
the only ones working with this these issues in the area.
The study shows that there is some lack of support from the administrations in terms of
resources and educational opportunities which the social workers have the right to and are
requiring. There is also surprisingly little interaction between organizations and the counselor
department. What turned out to correlate well between the policy documents and the
counselor departments view of the work was how the information, advice and support of the
children and their families are carried out through the counselor department despite the lack
of education in the subject.


For each positive integer p, there exists a holomorphic curve of order p mean type with an infinite number of deficiencies, the sum of which to the a power is divergent, where 0 < a < 1/3.


Metamaterials are currently being extensively studied not only for their future potential applications in novel electromagnetic devices but also for the fundamental electromagnetic phenomena that cannot be observed in conventional media. Waveguides of metamaterial inclusions have been ones of significant research areas in metamaterials due to their potentials in near field optics and integrated circuit applications. In this paper, the guided modes along the circular air holes with dispersive metamaterial cladding are analyzed. The principal modes for each azimuthal eigenvalue are numerically investigated with varied hole diameters