The University of Notre Dame offers a six-week summer program for its undergraduate engineering students in London, England. Students enroll in two technical elective courses for a total of six semester credit hours. The Program includes several required trips to significant technological facilities. Students not only gain academic credit but also the invaluable experience of living for a significant period of time in a culture different than their own. That cultural exposure may well have a greater long-term benefit to students' professional futures than the explicitly technical instruction they receive. Introduction Notre Dame's College of Engineering has offered a summer program in London, England since 1988. The objective is to offer the undergraduate engineering student an enriching educational experience in a foreign study environment. Students live and travel in a foreign culture while enrolled in two engineering courses, obtaining academic credit applicable to their degree requirements. The program is an intensive six -week session based in London, England. Each course meets for the same number of contact hours as an on-campus summer session course for the same number of credit hours. In addition a number of required field trips, one overnight, are integrated into the courses. Generally students have been Notre Dame undergraduate engineering student s in good standing, with an occasional student from another institution. Participation in the program allows engineering students to make progress to their intended degree while maturing as well educated members of contemporary society. Required field trips have varied from year to year. Students have visited engineering projects unique to the United Kingdom, including the Channel Tunnel excavation, the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant operated by British Nuclear Fuels, and the Thames Flood Barrier. We have also visited several industrial facilities, including IBM research and manufacturing facilities in Southern England, Astrium, Inmarsat, Accenture, and Brown and Root, Vickers, to observe and discuss the practice of engineering within the United Kingdom and the evolving European Community. These visits allow students to witness the technical interaction of United States and foreign owned companies, and the operation of United States owned companies in an international environment with local management. Early each summer the class attends a performance at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater. "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Twelfth Night," "The Taming of the Shrew, " and "Much Ado About Nothing" have, over the years, introduced students to available theater in London. Program evaluations, based on independent student exit interviews with either the Director of the University's London Undergraduate or London Law Program, have been conducted each year of the program. The evaluator prepares a detailed report of his interviews and conclusions. Over the years the Reports have been uniformly favorable. Rationale P ge 7.041.1 Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education The University and its officers have long considered foreign study opportunities a valuable aspect of a student's educational program. Prior to 1988 all Colleges of the University but Engineering provided a foreign study option for their students. Notre Dame has had success in conducting foreign study programs for its other Colleges in England, Ireland, France, Austria, Italy, Mexico, Chili, Japan, China, and the Middle East. In the 1999-2000 academic year, the most recent year for which statistics are available, 37 percent of Notre Dame students participated in study programs in other countries. This was the second-highest percentage among American research universities, according to a recent Institute of International Education report. Typical of United States universities, Notre Dame does not require a foreign language of its engineering students, thereby restricting engineering study abroad for most students to English speaking countries. Hence the choice of London, where the University already has an educational facility. (Recently an academic year program for engineers has begun in Australia.) The program recognizes a need to make engineering education more responsive to global technological progress and social concerns. Students in the program are exposed both to the unique technological achievements in the United Kingdom, and to the everyday life of the UK and other European countries. Today's engineering graduates increasingly practice their profession in an international environment. A 1987 National Academy of Engineering Report developed a strong case for a new level of international cooperation on technological issues and reported a growing need for US engineers to respond to the increasing quantity and quality of engineering activity abroad. In its recommendations the report called for making engineering education more responsive to worldwide progress and concerns. The United Kingdom, birthplace of the industrial revolution and a leading force in the European Economic Community, is a logical choice for the location of our engineering program. London, one of the world's great cities, has a long and interest ing history. The development and construction of London's public projects is a significant chapter in the history of technology. Thames River development projects, the Underground transportation network, bridges and the mammoth Thames Flood Barrier (often cited as the eighth wonder of the world) are historic milestones. It is an exciting home for the program. Economic changes in the European Community including the introduction of a common currency and the removal of trade barriers will affect industrial economies around the world. In their visits to industrial facilities, and from the daily press and television news, students acquire a unique perspective on this transition, which will have such a profound effect on their professional lives. Students based in London observe different national approaches to problems of the environment, economic competitiveness, and labor relations to mention but a few areas which will effect their professional futures. Location The program is based at the existing Not re Dame Centre just off Trafalgar Square. One classroom and two faculty offices are used. The existing Centre staff is utilized. During the summer the facility is shared with Notre Dame's Summer Law Program and a small Architecture program. The Notre D ame Centre is fully utilized during the academic year by a Masters of Law program, an MBA program and the Undergraduate program, which has included Engineering students since 1995. Students are housed in flats in the Bayswater (W2) area of London, adjacent to Kensington Gardens and some 2 1/2 miles from the classroom building. Some students elect to walk, most use the buses or trains of London Transport. Four or five students occupy each flat. Each flat has two bedrooms, kitchenette, living/dini ng area and private bath. Each is furnished with cooking utensils, incoming telephone and color television. The flats are managed and maintained by Vienna Hotels who provide a weekly cleaning and change of bed linen.


Partitioning of carbohydrate between competing sites is fundamental to all plant development, growth, and eventually yield. Carbohydrate is synthesised in the mature leaves and distributed by the phloem vasculature to sites of utilisation. The mechanism currently believed to drive phloem transport was proposed by Münch in 1928 and only recently generally accepted. However, the processes determining how much goes to each competing sink are still unknown. Models of plant growth that integrate knowledge of the individual processes still rely upon empirical algorithms to describe carbon (C) partitioning, which is a major bottleneck to allow truly predictive modelling, especially in changing conditions (Lacointe 2000, Minchin and Lacointe 2005), and can only be solved through mechanistic understanding.


Abstract A survey on the properties of the natural nitrogen-containing polysaccharides chitin and chitosan is given. Outstanding features are the materials' mechanical and chemical properties which offer numerous, largely unexplored applications in technology, chemistry, medicine, and agriculture. Derivatives of chitin and chitosan are accessible by reactions of the hydroxy and amino groups with appropriate reagents. Various types of gels, membranes, and fibers, including polycationic and watersoluble materials, can be formed. Production of chitin and chitosan from waste crab shells involves environmentally safe processes. The polysaccharides are recycled in nature by enzymatic degradation and reuse of N-acetylglucosamine for biosynthesis and catabolism. Research deficits exist in economically competitive production technologies, construction of composite materials, and the ecological aspects of chemically modified chitosan.


This paper discusses the nature of clusters, giving illustrative examples from several parts of the world. Nevertheless, the cluster concept is only partially understood. Many questions concerning cluster development need to be examined. A brief discussion of the operations management and IT issues within clusters, as opposed to within individual member companies, is given. Keywords: Integrated enterprises, Regional clusters, Competition Resume Cet article recherche les caracteristiques fondamentales de la colonie en prenant comme exemple quelques regions du monde. Jusqu'a aujourd'hui, le notion de colonie n'est pas encore completement comprise, et beaucoup de problemes relatifs au developpement de la colonie demendent une examination approfondie. Par rapport a une entreprise toute seule, l'article analyse et etudie sommairement la gestion de la colonie et le probleme IT Mots-cles: entreprise generale, colonie regionale, concurrence 摘 要 本文討論了集群的本質特徵,並以世界幾個地區為例進行了說明。迄今為止,集群概念尚未被完全理解,很多關於集群發展的問題需要深度審視。與單個公司相對,本文對集群內經營管理和 IT問題作了簡要的分析和討論。 關鍵詞:綜合性企業;地區集群;競爭


Randomized trials were identified searching MEDLINE (1966±1997), EMBASE Phytodok, the Cochrane Library, bibliographies of identified trials and review articles, and contact with relevant authors and drug companies. The studies were included if men had symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia, the intervention was a phytotherapeutic reparational one or combined, a control group received placebo or other pharmacologic therapies for BPH, and the treatment duration was at least 30 days. Key data were extracted independently by two investigators.


In 1994, following the removal of the grey whale from the endangered species list, the Makah Indian tribe of the U.S.  northwest coast requested permission to hunt grey whales, a request based on historical culture and "aboriginal subsistence." Whaling had been a part of the Makah culture for centuries. The Makahs, with the support of the U.S. government, were eventually successful in their request, and killed a grey whale in May 1999. Using case methodology, this paper explores through the Makah change initiative the nuances and complexities of a change from the present to the past, and change strategies and outcomes.


Simple Summary Nowadays, there is no doubt that estrogens play an important role in male reproduction, affecting testicular cell differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis and metabolism. It is also widely believed that intratesticular balance of androgens and estrogens is crucial for the testicular development and function and that the increased testicular estrogen production may be associated with spermatogenic failure. There is also growing epidemiological evidence that the exposure of men to endocrine disruptors demonstrating estrogenic activity (xenoestrogens) may lead to impairment of male fertility via interference with estrogen signaling pathways. Besides the two classical nuclear estrogen receptors, the membrane-bound G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER) was described in human testicular tissue. However, there are little data on its expression in testes with disturbed spermatogenesis. In this study, we investigated the GPER expression pattern in biopsies of azoospermic men with complete and aberrant spermatogenesis. Our results showed an increased expression of the GPER in testes with impaired spermatogenesis. Moreover, they indicate a possible involvement of estrogen signaling through GPER in disturbed function of Sertoli cells—the cells that support spermatogenic process. Abstract In this study, we retrospectively investigated GPER expression in biopsies of azoospermic men with complete (obstructive azoospermia—OA) and aberrant spermatogenesis (nonobstructive azoospermia—NOA). Each biopsy was histologically evaluated with morphometry. The testicular GPER expression was analyzed by the immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR technique in the whole testicular tissue and in seminiferous tubules and Leydig cells after laser-capture microdissection. In laser-microdissected compartments, we also analyzed transcriptional expression of selected Leydig (CYP17A1, HSD17B3, StAR) and Sertoli cell (AMH, SCF, BMP4) function markers. Immunohistochemical staining revealed expression of GPER in the cytoplasm of Leydig and Sertoli cells. Its stronger intensity was observed in Sertoli cells of NOA biopsies. The RT-PCR analysis of the GPER mRNA level unequivocally showed its increased expression in seminiferous tubules (i.e., Sertoli cells), not Leydig cells in NOA biopsies. This increased expression correlated positively with the transcriptional level of AMH—a marker of Sertoli cell immaturity, as well as FSH serum level in NOA but not in the OA group. Our results clearly demonstrate altered GPER expression in testes with primary spermatogenic impairment that might be related to Sertoli cell maturity/function.


General theory said that there have no the theory of the fruit of the poisonous tree in our Criminal Procedural Law and the judicial interpretation or the relevant documents.However,it is bound to lead to situations that the exclusion rule of illegal evidence is circumvented and that even reversely incite to obtain illegally evidences that the fruit of the poisonous tree isn 't provided.But there have the application space of the theory through reinterpretation of the relevant clauses.And there has applicable prototype of the theory in the practice of the criminal justice.Although there have applicable predicaments of the theory in the practices of the criminal justice,the theory may be activated through guidance cases that the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate establish.


The crime of robbery is based on violence.What violence and degree of violence a robbery crime requires is the difficult problem to be defined by judicial practicing departments.This paper analyzes the situations of various robberies specified in criminal laws and defines violence and its degree.


Wetland along with forest and sea are called three global ecological systems.It has important ecological functions.Taking Wolong Lake wetland as research object,using TM images as the main data sources,the remote sensing extraction of the information of Wolong Lake wetland was realized by using BP-neural network classification algorithm.


The formulation of the legitimacy of Chinese philosophy is two_dimensional, that is, the existence of philosophy in China and the subjectivity of the study pattern of Chinese philosophy. The ending of monism and the appearing of pluralism were seen since the end of the 19th century, and with the perspective of pluralism, Chinese philosophy presents itself as a special from different from the western philosophy. As one school of the pluralism, Chinese philosophy must establish its own subjectivity, so as to ensure the transformation from "philosophy in China" to "Chinese philosophy".


Objective:To investigate the procedures playing an important role.in obstetric care in health education.Method: 985 cases of maternal care and procedures for use of methods of health education,observation to the effect.Results: 865 cases of pregnant women in total control,and the remaining part of master.Conclusion: The expression is a health education center for the health and consistent in the whole-care activities.


We describe a pattern-based system for polarity classification from texts. Our system is currently restricted to the positive, negative or neutral polarity of phrases and sentences. It analyses the input texts with the aid of a polarity lexicon that specifies the prior polarity of words. A chunker is used to determine phrases that are the basis for a compositional treatment of phrase-level polarity assignment. In our current experiments we focus on sentences that are targeted towards persons, be it the writer (I, my, me, ..), the social group including the writer (we, our, ..) or the reader (you, your, ..). We evaluate our system on a manually annotated set of sentences taken from texts from a panel group called 'I battle depression'. We present the results of comparing our system's performance over this gold standard against a baseline system.


The availability of green open space (GOS) especially in urban areas, is very important considering the large benefits obtained from GOS. GOS is a land (area) overgrown with green plants and plays an important role in maintaining natural ecosystem balance in urban areas. The area used as GOS can be a park, field, or green path on the side or in the middle of the road. This study aims to determine acreage of GOS changes and its adequacy based on population and area in Bogor City. The scope of this study is the South, Central and East Bogor Districts. The analysis technique used is spatial analysis using ArcGIS 10.3 software. The results showed that in 2009 the GOS in South, Central and East Bogor Districts was 1982,23 Ha and 1197,49 Ha in 2021 or it was a decline at about 784,74 Ha during the period. Based on population number in 2021 South, Central and East Bogor Districts needs GOS of 809,05 Ha.


It has been suggested by Joyner and Kendall (1955) that a combination of pyrimethamine and sulphadimidine is likely to be of practical value for the control of caecal coccidiosis caused by Eimeria tenella in chicks. Further knowledge of its mode of action, and the phases of the life history of the parasite that are most susceptible, is therefore desirable. The development of Eimeria tenella includes two schizogonous cycles before the formation of gametocytes and oocysts. Studies by Horton-Smith and Taylor (1945) and Horton-Smith and Boyland (1946) have shown that sulphonamides inhibit the second generation schizonts by interference with p-aminobenzoic acid metabolism. The extension of the work of Wehr and Farr (1947) by Kendall and McCullough (1952) has shown that for satisfactory therapy this is the only stage which should be controlled. Inhibition of earlier stages, which occurs with certain doses of sulphonamides, leads to incomplete protection, and there are further deaths after stopping the drug. In the early experiments with pyrimethamine and sulphadimidine (Joyner and Kendall, 1955) there was some evidence that the mixed drugs might exert a specific effect upon the second generation schizonts. The experiments described in this paper were designed to investigate this point in greater detail and to attempt an assessment of the role of the two drugs as inhibitors of the two metabolitesp-aminobenzoic acid and folic acid-which they


In this paper, we will examine the strategic responses of small and medium-sized (S-M) financial institutions to financial deregulation.1 In doing so, we will focus on the loan market and, as much as possible, on individual financial institutions rather than concentrating on their average behavior.


A bicycle operation device comprises a shell body, a control component, a linear moving component, a transmission device, a user operating component and a middle element. The control component rotates on the shell body and is used for controlling a control cable. The linear moving component moves on the shell body and is used for linear moving between a first position and a second position. The transmission device connects the linear moving component with the control component in an operable mode. The transmission device converts the linear moving of the linear moving component from the first position to the second position into rotation of the control component towards a first rotating direction. The user operating component can be movably arranged in the shell body. The middle element moves relative to the linear moving component and the user operating component so that moving of the user operating component is transmitted to the linear moving component, and accordingly the linear moving component moves from the first position to the second position.


Impurities have a clear negative influence on the nucleation and growth rate kinetics of the semisynthetic antibiotic ampicillin (AMPI) crystallization. The tested impurities phenylglycine and 6-am...


A novel scroll multiphase pump for transporting gas-liquid mixtures is proposed.In this multiphase pump,the compression chamber has a pressure unloading gap towards discharge port by constructing changing meshing clearances wrap profiles.During the compression process,the pressure of the gas-liquid mixtures increase as the reduction of compression chamber volume,simultaneously few gas liquid mixtures are pushed into the discharge port through the pressure unloading gap.Therefore,the problem of pressure surge in compression chamber is resolved.The geometric theories and the mathematical model of compression process with internal leakage for scroll multiphase pumps are established,and the changing relation between parameters of gas-liquid mixtures in compression process is obtained.The numerical simulation of working process in multiphase pump,which is gas-liquid mixtures compression process and an unsteady flow with moving boundary,is processed,and the velocity distribution and pressure distribution of working chambers are obtained.The influences of gas volume fractions,the reduction rate of compression volume and meshing clearance on compression process are analyzed.The study results formed design theories of scroll multiphase pumps.


A depth-integrated heat energy conservation equation is used with input data from three case studies of dissimilar meteorological forcing to provide values for the month-to-month change of mean monthly sea surface temperature anomalies. Evaluation of the model is made by comparison of predicted anomaly changes with those observed. The separate contributions of anomalous surface cooling and anomalous advection to the sea temperature anomaly change, give agreement of varying closeness: in all three studies best results are achieved by a combination of these processes; in each case inclusion of a horizontal diffusivity term produces deteriorations over sea temperature anomaly changes based on a combination of anomalous heat loss and advection terms. In regions of significant anomalous windstress curl, neither sea temperature anomaly changes produced in part by advection due to an alternative meridionally directed flow, nor changes otherwise consequent on the associated effects of induced vertical motion, are observed to be consistent with actual changes.


The carbon burning nuclear reactions 12C(12C, alpha)20Ne, 12C(12C,p)23Na, and 12C(12C,n)23Mg occur during the carbon burning phase of sufficiently large stars and during explosive events such as supernovae. The Gamow window for these reactions is typically around 1.5 MeV, however direct measurements at energies in this range are very difficult due to the large Coulomb barrier between the carbon atoms. The compound nucleus formed during these reactions is 24Mg. For energies around the Gamow window this compound nucleus has an excitation energy of 15 to 16 MeV. A surrogate experiment which produces the compound nucleus can measure the branching ratios for the excited compound nucleus and thus the ratios between the carbon burning reaction cross sections. An experiment was performed using inelastic scattering of 40 MeV alpha particles to produce 24Mg excited up to 27 MeV and the applicability of these results as a surrogate for the carbon burning reactions is examined. A successful surrogate measurement, which this experiment partially achieves, will both provide the branching ratios within the Gamow window and aid future direct measurements of carbon burning within the Gamow window.


Abstract : The process of hydrolysis of certain organochlorosilanes was investigated and the possibility for carrying out hydrolysis in a continuous counterflow spray column was revealed. It was shown that the application of the continuous counterflow method led to the production of a polymer which was not qualitatively inferior to the one received by the discontinuous method in the mixing-type apparatus. The plastic prepared on the basis of the polymer showed good physicomechanical properties. (Author)


The recent and dramatic floods of the last years in Europe (Windstorm Xynthia, February 2010) and United-States (Hurricane Katrina, August 2005) showed the vulnerability of flood defence systems. The first key point for avoiding these dramatic damages and the high cost of a failure and its consequences lies in the conception and construction of the dams and dikes, taking into account the past flooding events. A well-designed dike with the correct height avoids failure and overtopping.


The invention relates to a process for the preparation of liquid nitrogen of high purity, substantially free from at least one of the impurities hydrogen, carbon monoxide and oxygen, in which is placed the liquid nitrogen to be purified into contact with a adsorbent for the adsorption of at least one of said impurities and recovering said liquid high purity nitrogen, characterized by maintaining a cooling at least a portion of the adsorbent by means of purified liquid nitrogen, for at least part of the duration of the stoppage stage separating a purification cycle N and a purification cycle N + 1 which are successive. the invention also relates to a device for carrying out said method .


This paper proposes a new class of robust control strategies based on the so called computed torque structure for trajectory tracking of robot manipulator with uncertainties.The novelty lies in the design of continuous nonlinear compensator which is based on the lumped nonlinearites and uncertainties of the system.It is shown by theories and simulations that uncertain effects can be eliminated and globally exponential stability,globally asymptotic stability or globally uniform ultimate boundedness stability can be guaranteed.In addition,when the bounds of the lumped uncertainties are unknown,a new adaptive control law is proposed to ensure the globally asymptotic stability in a sense of exponential convergence or globally uniform ultimate boundedness stability.


Objective To investigate the incidence of Vulvovaginal Candidiasis (VVC) during pregnancy, the possibility of vertical transmission and related neonatal morbidity. Methods Vaginal discharge samples of 252 gravidas were examined in our hospital from 2002 to 2003 by smear and culture. The skin samples of newborns were also cultured for fungus. The neonates were followed up. Results The incidence of VVC during pregnancy was 19.05%(48/252). Among 252 pregnant women, 109(43.25%) were found with positive results of vaginal smear and/or culture. The rate of skin fungus-carrier of newborns was 20.76%(11/53) and 35.71%(20/56) in cesarean and vaginal delivery groups, respectively (P0.05). The fungus-carrier rate of newborn skin was 16.67% (8/48) in VVC group and 37.71% (23/61) in fungus-carrier group (P0.05). No newborn fungus-carrier was found in those who had received treatment during pregnancy and 50.82% were carrier in those without treatment. Thirty-one neonates showed positive skin fungus out of 252(12.30%). The morbidity of diaper dermatitis and thrush were 12.90%(4 cases) and 6.45%(2 cases) respectively in 31 fungus-positive neonates; and 3.62%(8 cases) and 0% respectively in 221 fungus negative neonates (P 0.05). Among 109 fungus-positive women, the morbidity of neonatal umbilical inflammation, diaper dermatitis and thrush were 3.77%,15.09% and 1.87% respectively in cesarean group; and 1.79%, 7.14% and 1.79% in vaginal delivery group, P0.05; in the 48 cases who had received treatment during pregnancy, there was no neonatal diseases; in the 61 cases who did not receive any treatment, the morbidity of neonatal umbilical inflammation, diaper dermatitis and thrush were 4.92% , 19.67% and 3.28%, respectively. Conclusions Vertical transmission of VVC is possible during pregnancy. Those pregnant women with VVC have a higher neonatal morbidity.


6Shyy, W., "An Adaptive Grid Method for Navier-Stokes Flow Computation," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1987, pp. 201–219. 7Jeng,Y. N., andLiou,S. C., "ModiŽ edMultipleOne-Dimensional Adaptive Grid Method," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1989, pp. 241–247. 8Jeng, Y. N., and Lee, Z. S., "Revisit to the ModiŽ ed Muliple OneDimensional Adaptive Grid Method,"Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B,Vol. 29, No. 3, 1996, pp. 305–323. 9Bockelie, M. J., and Smith, R. E., "An Adaptive Grid Method for Computing the High Speed 3D Viscous Flow about a Re-Entry Vehicle," AIAA Paper 92-2685, June 1992. 10Yee, H. C., and Harten, A., "Implicit TVD Schemes for Hyperbolic Conservation Laws in Curvilinear Coordinates,"AIAA Journal, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1987, pp. 266–274. 11Jeng, Y. N., and Liou, Y. C., "Adaptive Grid Generation by Elliptic Equations with Grid Control at All of the Boundaries," Numerical Heat Transfer, Part B, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1993, pp. 135–151.


. MgB 2 /Mg composites were prepared to improve mechanical properties of brittle superconducting MgB 2 . MgB 2 and Mg powders were mixed at different weight ratios and uniaxially pressed in a cylindrical dye at 0.5 GPa and at various temperatures for two hours to prepare MgB 2 /Mg composites. X-ray diffraction, SEM and EDX were used for phase identification and microstructural characterization. In addition to the main MgB 2 and Mg phases, the microstructural studies have indicated the presence of a minor amounts of second phases, namely MgO and B-rich compounds. The surface morphology, grain size and porosity ratio of the samples prepared under various temperatures were also investigated. The resistivity measurements were performed in the range of room temperature to 15 K. The effect of excess Mg and secondary phases on critical temperature of MgB 2 /Mg composites were studied.


The piezoelectric Quartz-Crystal-Microbalance (QCM) is used as sensor principle for monitoring of mass changes in gas phases and in liquids. There were given two examples to use this principle as detection and purity control of hydrocarbons for polymer productions and plastics industry


Since its introduction in 1962, the use of cosmetic silicone breast implants has increased rapidly (1). It is estimated that between one and two million women currently have silicone breast implants (2). During the past decade, a number of studies have evaluated the potential health risks associated with breast augmentation with silicone gel-filled implants (3). The implantation of silicone prostheses may lead to early and late complications. The most common early complications are infection and hematoma formation. Among late complications, the most common is capsular contracture. A retrospective epidemiological study to evaluate the occurrence and severity of local complications after cosmetic breast implantation observed, among 754 women (1,572 implants), the following results: placement was submuscular for 91.3% of the implants, subglandular for 2.6% and 6.1% had no available information. Overall, 77.8% of the implantations were not followed by complications, 17.8% were followed by one complication, 3.6% were followed by two complications and 0.8% was followed by three or more complications. In 94.6% of the implantations, no additional hospitalizations were recorded as a result of complications. Forty-seven of 57 explantations ⁄ reimplantations were secondary to postoperative complications. General complications, such as hematoma and infection were rare, occurring in 2.3% and 2.0% of the implantations, respectively. Capsular contracture remains the most common complication, occurring in 11.4% of the implantations. One case of late seroma was reported in this study (4). The incidence of seroma in the immediate postoperative period ranges around 0.1% for aesthetic breast augmentation (4). Late seroma formation is an extremely rare complication. There is no data regarding its incidence in the literature, only a few isolated reports can be found. This report presents a case of late seroma (after five years of breast augmentation) with no recognized cause.


A new numerical technique is developed for wave propagation simulation in heterogeneous anisotropic structures. The scheme is ftexible in incorporating arbitrary surface topography, inner openings, liquid-solid boundaries, and irregular interfaces and it satisfies the free-surface conditions of complex geometrical boundaries naturally.


Too much application of fertilizer can kill the plants and in irrigation, little by little application of fertilizer is better than one time bigtime fertilizing the plants. Water scarcity is also a major concern in irrigation. To solve the shortage of water sources, management and optimization of water sources is needed. The aim of this study is to develop a scheduling system of water sources: water with fertilizer, pond water, and ground water using Arduino and DS3231 Real Time Clock. Also, a flow control system is added to increase the efficiency of water use. The system was implemented in a controlled environmental chambers. Based on the result, the system design has been successfully functional and operational.


PREMISE OF THE STUDY
The evolution of full mycoheterotrophy is one of the most interesting topics within plant evolution. The leafless orchid Cymbidium macrorhizon is often assumed to be fully mycoheterotrophic even though it has a green stem and fruit capsule. Here, we assessed the trophic status of this species by analyzing the chlorophyll content and the natural 13 C and 15 N abundance in the sprouting and the fruiting season.

METHODS
The chlorophyll content was measured in five sprouting and five fruiting individuals of C. macrorhizon that were co-occurring. In addition, their 13 C and 15 N isotopic signatures were compared with those of neighboring autotrophic and partially mycoheterotrophic reference plants.

KEY RESULTS
Fruiting individuals of C. macrorhizon were found to contain a remarkable amount of chlorophyll compared to their sprouting counterparts. In addition, the natural abundance of 13 C in the tissues of the fruiting plants was slightly depleted relative to the sprouting ones. Linear two-source mixing model analysis revealed that fruiting C. macrorhizon plants obtained approximately 73.7 ± 2.0% of their total carbon from their mycorrhizal fungi when the sprouting individuals were used as the 100% carbon gain standard.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicated that despite its leafless status, fruiting plants of C. macrorhizon were capable of fixing significant quantities of carbon. Considering the autotrophic carbon gain increases during the fruiting season, its photosynthetic ability may contribute to fruit and seed production. These results indicate that C. macrorhizon should, therefore, be considered a partially mycoheterotrophic species rather than fully mycoheterotrophic, at least during the fruiting stage.


ANSYS software is introduced to reproduce the in-line and staggered sphere
 packed bed model. To investigate the influence of model on the heat transfer
 and flow characteristics in the high temperature packed bed, numerical
 simulations of pore-level was used to numerically appreciate the changes of
 pressure drop, temperature and velocity. The simulation values qualitatively
 agree with the experimental result. The results show that the pressure drop
 in high temperature packed bed increases significantly. The pressure drop
 increases about 3200 Pa when the inlet velocity is 0.33-0.73 m/s. The model
 has significant influence on the average temperature of solid and gas
 phases. Compared with the in-line arrangement, the heat wave transfer is
 slower and the temperature is slightly higher by 20 K in the staggered
 model. The average velocity in the structured packed bed increases and
 decreases periodically. In staggered model, the velocity disturbance is more
 significant. These findings are helpful for understanding transport
 phenomena in packed beds as well as the design of high efficiency reactors.


A Tale of Two Houses The Mazovian Plain is a geographic region in central Poland. The nothern stretch of the Plain consists of predominantly flat terrain cut by the rivers Bug and Narew, that flow into Vistula in the south. Unlike other parts of the historical district of Mazovia, the lands around the system of rivers remained a primeval woodland well into the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays, the remains of two big forest complexes, the Green Wilderness and the White Wilderness, still constitute an important part of the local heritage. Once a protected dominion of kings and bishops, the forests became home to a specific group of people closely bound to the woodland. The Kurpie people, as they are widely known today, developed their own traditions and a recognizable, distinct style of wooden architecture. This thesis project aims to investigate the rise and the history of the forest dwellers as a distinct regional group, and how it was paralleled with the development of their own treatment of timber house. The work looks also at how the architectural style, that emerged together with Kurpie in their native Green Wilderness, was spread by new inhabitants migrating to the White Wilderness. While the villages and towns of the Green and White Wilderness strive to reaffirm their identity in the modern context, the questions of architecture are at the forefront of this search. The design part of the project consists of a proposal for an extension of an existing house rooted in the architectural style of the White Wilderness. The project looks at how to compliment the given house with modern day functions, while drawing from the architectural expression developed by Kurpie. The forest location plays a crucial role on the plot and the balance of the project lies between the existing and the envisioned, as the two houses join as one dwelling at the entry to the woods. (Less)


The causes of GI bleed are many and varied with peptic ulcers accounting for about 50% cases. Multiple myeloma is the most common lymphoid neoplasm in older adults and accounts for approximately 10% of all hematologic malignancies. Extraosseous manifestations are said to be present in less than 5% of patients with Multiple Myeloma with GI ulcers only being described rarely. In this report we describe a case of a 58 year old lady presenting with weakness, palpitations, gum bleeding with recent onset melena. She had severe anaemia with thrombocytopenia and markedly elevated ESR. An UGI endoscopy revealed a 1x0.5 cm ulcer infiltrated by lymphoplasmacytic cells and histiocytes with a few neutrophils. Serum globulin fraction was markedly high and Serum protein electrophoresis revealed it to be a case of multiple myeloma with Igʎ secreting monoclonal cells. Bone marrow aspirate revealed 40 % plasma cells with some binucleate and trinucleate forms. The patient was diagnosed as stage III multiple myeloma (International staging system) and treated with dexamethasone, zoledronic acid and thalidomide. Our case highlights a very atypical presentation of multiple myeloma and alerts the clinician to keep an eye of suspicion in dealing with peptic ulcer cases especially in the elderly.


Abstract:This article explores the multiple ways in which the science-fiction television series Babylon 5 creates a recognizable Arthurian world. Through character development, complex narratives, and identifiable medieval themes, Babylon 5 offers its viewers a reimagining of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in space.


Of the significant variation in the frequency of cervical strain caused by the scar with a mixed assessment of traumatic deformities on examination did not reflect the degree of scar deformities. This is facilitated by the shortcomings of the existing classification, which unfortunately did not affect the volume of surgical tactics and does not take into account newly emerging pathological conditions of the mucous membrane. In view of the above, the authors proposed to supplement the existing classification of scar deformities of the cervix, which allow you to develop standard approaches to the treatment, depending on the degree of deformation and the reproductive function of women. Scar deformity of 1 degree of old single or multiple lateral cervical tears up to 2 cm deep. Cervical canal is partially preserved and is a cone with vertex at the internal OS. Eversion of cervical mucous is usually limited to the bottom of its Division. Scar deform of 3 degree-old tears reaching to the body of the uterus with assymetric hypertrophy of lip dystopic cervix in combination with dysplasia and HPV. SCAR deformation degree 4-old tears reaching to the body of the uterus, combined with the failure of the pelvic floor.


Objective:To study the present situation of air force veteran retirees in Xi'an with chronic disease and their evaluation on quality of life,and to explore the related factors.Method:Using cluster sampling method,310 air force veteran retirees in Xi'an were given physical examinations and surveyed their evaluation on quality of life by questionnaire.Results:In this study,100% air force veteran retirees had chronic disease and 91.29% of them had more than two kinds of chronic disease at the same time.The top 10 chronic disease were high blood pressure(HBP),coronary heart disease(CHD),hyper lipemia(HL), old-age-related cataract,cerebrovascular disease(CVD),disease of prostate,diabetes,chronic bronchitis(CB),gastroenteritis (GIT)and disease of biliary tract.The odds ratios of CVD in the population with abnormal DBP and abnormal white blood cell were 2.16 and 3.9 respectively(P0.05).The odds ratio of HL in the patients with abnormal triglyceride was 4.74(P0.001).The odds ratios of GHD in the people whose evaluation on health self-assessment and mental health were normal or bad were 1.85 and 1.64 respectively(P0.001).The odds ratios of old-age-related cataract in the people whose physical examination was normal or bad is 1.48(P0.05).The odds ratios of CVD in the people whose evaluation on living capability,social communication and action intensity were normal or bad were 3.40,2.22 and 2.92 respectively(P0.001).Conclusion:The keys points to control chronic disease in the elderly are the prevention and treatment of geronto-chronic disease and improvement of health service system(both physical and psychological).


generic Partitive (physical and theoretical) Partitive (habits, law and jurisdiction) Partitive (geographical, topographical) Instrumental Cause/effect Beneficial Detrimental Process applied. Derivative When the user enters a search term, the system uses synonym relationships to identify the corresponding concept and then displays other concepts in an array arranged by type of relationship, as in this abridged display (each referenced concept is a hyperlink): telecommuting is narrower concept of labor new ways of working and living is broader concept of mobile telecommuting alternating telecommuting is instrumental for organizing work effectively causes flexible work time energy conservation is beneficial for virtual organizations combining family and work is detrimental to face-to-face contacts by instruments telecommuting workplaces online technology The system displays results using its Basic Semantic Reference Structure, a frame whose slots can be seen form the following illustration: What? Who? Event? Where? When? How? Universal, concept, theme Person Corporate body Name of event Space Time Aspect General manager Mike Osborne Asia T rading Co., Vancouver Canada >1998-11-1 Definition Planting of St. John's trees Ministry of Agriculture, Lima El Algarrobo project Peru >1984 Propagation Section 3 dealt with automated methods to create the knowledge structures necessary for good user support. Susanne Humphrey et al, Automatic indexing by discipline and high-level categories: Methodology and potential applications, developed a system for automatically indexing documents with broad descriptors that express the general nature and orientation of the document and thus are useful complements to specific descriptors. Two types of broad descriptors are assigned. A broad scheme used at NLM to categorize journals by subject (127 Journal Descriptors, such as Drug therapy, Antibiotics, or Pulmonary disease (specialty)) and the 134 semantic types defined in the Unified Medical Language System , such as Spatial concept, Therapeutic or preventive procedure, or Medical device. Rules for assigning journal descriptors were developed based on statistical association of document features, such as title words, with journal descriptors assigned to documents in a training set.. The rules for assigning semantic types rely on a more complex indirect method. Hidetsugu Nanba et al, Classification of research papers using citation links and citation types: Toward automatic review article generation, presented a tool box for the automated or computerassisted generation of reviews based on analyzing citation relationships.. The three tools would each be useful individually: A tool to identify and demarcate areas in a document that are concerned with reference to and discussion of a cited document; a tool for determining the type of citation relationships; and a tool for automatic classification of a document or document passages based on typed citation relationships. The citation area tool starts from the sentence containing the citation and adds sentences preceding or following based on the occurrence of cue words that indicate text cohesion. The citation type tool is also based on cue words to assign a citation to one of three types: show other researchers theories and methods, point out problems or gaps in related works, and other. The paper discusses both word-based and citation-based approaches to automatic classification. In the middle of the day, an "idea mart" was held. It was devoted to extensive discussion of emergent research ideas or projects in small groups in five parallel sessions covering two topics each.. This experiment turned out very well, producing many useful suggestions for the research of the presenters. The second part of this report discusses themes that emerged from the papers and discussions. Some themes are clearly tied to one paper while others emerged in several papers. We begin with an overview Some themes in classification research Theme 1. Expanded use of classifications Theme 2. Requirements for diversity in classification Theme 3. The quest for unity. Multi-purpose classifications, reuse Theme 4. Types of knowledge covered in classifications Theme 5. Orientation of classification: Users' conceptual structures or intrinsic logic of the domain Theme 6. Types of relationships in a thesaurus / classification / ontology Theme 7. Display and user interaction issues Theme 8. Practical issues Theme 1. Expanded use of classifications Several presentations call into question the restricted uses that classification schemes have played, being used primarily for organization of information for retrieval. Other roles that need to be explored more fully include roles in learning (e.g. the use of the visual anatomist for training and education), exploration and browsing, creativity, discourse, problem solving, and information How to build classification systems that would enable us to discover and see relationships that have not yet been established.? Theme 2. Requirements for diversity in classification Classifications should serve a given purpose for a given user community. Language – terms and their relationships – is complex; it shows differences not only across domains but also across user groups in the same domain. This introduces many sources of diversity in the design of classifications. Sources of diversity Knowledge is complex (title of the first talk but an underlying theme of all). Many types of knowledge Many (discourse) communities / communities of use Multiple perspectives (for example, "standard" medicine and "alternative" medicine). Problem of our inability to incorporate all perspectives into one structure or scheme, no matter how richly articulated it is, yet we know that any one perspective limits what we see or learn, and perspectives evolve. Multiple situations/contexts Many different uses of knowledge Implications One scheme or many? One representations vs. multiple representations Limitations on mapping between schemes Role of classification in bridging diversity Classification should honor diversity by reflecting different perspective s etc. But classification should also bridge diversity by mediating between different points of view, different knowledge and cultural systems. For example, a classification of concepts in "alternative" medicine could include scope notes and relationships that relate its concepts to concepts in "standard" medicine. By elaborating concepts, concept relationships, and conceptual structure in different realms, classification can help identify commonalities and differences and the nature of differences, supporting an effort at sharing and mutual refinement of conceptual structures. Theme 3. The quest for unity. Multi-purpose classifications, reuse Classifications require considerable intellectual investment, so one would like to reuse them. Tension with diversity! Can a thesaurus be reorganized for multiple purposes? Classification modules that can be used in different schemes: How do we build modular ontologies to better represent dynamic domains? These would be ontologies that could flexibly extend the working ontology, for example extending the ontology of basic business processes by adding a module about auctions. How can we build classification schemes that store basic-level (mid-level) attributes that are neither too abstract nor overly specified so that they can be used effectively by people in a variety of contexts, when we know neither who the people are nor what the contexts are? The mapping of ontologies one to another must include more than just terms and their relationships, but must also include information about the context/situation. Is it possible to reorganize an existing thesaurus into a "navigational ontology" to support searching and browsing? Or does such a tool have to be created initially with these goals in mind (re question one)? Can one thesaurus be reorganized in different ways to serve multiple purposes, such as searching, navigation, instruction, "stimulation" (creativity)? Theme 4. Types of knowledge covered in classifications Role and importance of all knowledge types Most classifications deal with (static) domain knowledge Additional approaches are needed to support users, such as Problem schemas as organizing principle: A classification of problems by problem type, such as fix a device (fix a car, fix a washing machine), buy something, write a computer program, giving for each problem a schema that specifies aspects to be considered in solving the problem; information, people, material needed for solving the problem; procedural steps for solving the problem. Functions as organizing principle, for example, technical components classified by all the functions they could serve Classification of cases for case-based reasoning or for education and learning


The paper explains that in order to so lve the bottleneck problem of fund in the development of environmental protection industry,it is needed to set up and perfect a valuable chain of environmental protection industry on fund-raising service→constructing service→operating service so as to solve the b ottleneck problem of fund and promote the development of environmental protection industry.


Although miniature dry reed sealed contacts are in increasing demand in telecommunications, their use is often limited to low current switching. Attempts to use dry reed contacts to switch higher currents lead to resistance failures or failures to release after a relatively small number of operations. These premature failures are always due to the formation of pips and craters resulting from localized arc erosion. It has long been recognized that the delocalization of the erosion would lead to better utilization of the contact material and consequently to a longer contact life. A new mechanism promoting lateral erosion is demonstrated and shown to operate under various electrical loads. The spreading of the erosion is linked to the microstructure of the precious metal layer with the most favorable structures having a high density of voids. The generation of the voids depends on the method of deposition of the contact metal layers. They can be readily produced in the case of electroplating by codepositing foreign molecules which can be decomposed by a subsequent heat treatment. A comparative study is presented of the wearability under electrical load of reed sealed contacts using either conventional dense gold or heat-treated void-containing gold as the contact material. Under diversified electrical stresses, the void-containing gold contacts show an improvement in mean life to failure ranging from a factor of seven to ten.


It is of great practical significance to merge the neural network identification technique and the Kalman filter to achieve adaptive and optimal filtering and prediction for unknown observable nonlinear processes. In this paper, an operating point dependent ARMA model is used to represent the nonlinear system, and a neurofuzzy network is used to approximate each AR parameter of such a model which can then be converted to its equivalent state-space representation. Using this state-space form, a Kalman filter can be applied to estimate the system state. The system modelling algorithm and the Kalman filter are combined in a bootstrap scheme, in which the error between the measured output and the filtered output is used to train the neural network, thus adaptive filtering for noisy nonlinear system is achieved. A simulated example is also given.


Non-volatile memory technologies are the future contenders for the design of caches in the memory hierarchy because of their appealing characteristics such as high density and low static power. But the limited write endurance with write variations governed by replacement policies and access patterns reduce the chance of non-volatile memory as a successor of Static RAM. The lifespan of non-volatile memory cells is shortened due to increase in write variations. Techniques to improve the lifetime of NVM cache has gained research interest in recent years. Hence, proposed work aims to reduce intra-set write variations through equitable write distribution over the cache set by defining write-restricted window. Experiments reveal that proposed work significantly reduced the intra-set write variation, improving the lifetime of non-volatile cache.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
A specific method is required for estimating glomerular filtration rate GFR in hospitalized patients. Our objective was to validate the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) equation and four cystatin C (CysC)-based equations in this setting.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
This was an epidemiologic, cross-sectional study in a random sample of hospitalized patients (n = 3114). We studied the accuracy of the CKD-EPI and four CysC-based equations--based on (1) CysC alone or (2) adjusted by gender; (3) age, gender, and race; and (4) age, gender, race, and creatinine, respectively--compared with GFR measured by iohexol clearance (mGFR). Clinical, biochemical, and nutritional data were also collected.

RESULTS
The CysC equation 3 significantly overestimated the GFR (bias of 7.4 ml/min per 1.73 m(2)). Most of the error in creatinine-based equations was attributable to calculated muscle mass, which depended on patient's nutritional status. In patients without malnutrition or reduced body surface area, the CKD-EPI equation adequately estimated GFR. Equations based on CysC gave more precise mGFR estimates when malnutrition, extensive reduction of body surface area, or loss of muscle mass were present (biases of 1 and 1.3 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) for equations 2 and 4, respectively, versus 5.9 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) for CKD-EPI).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the use of equations based on CysC and gender, or CysC, age, gender, and race, is more appropriate in hospitalized patients to estimate GFR, since these equations are much less dependent on patient's nutritional status or muscle mass than the CKD-EPI equation.


In all national screening programmes, staff training to confirm competency and accreditation to practice in their profession is required for patient safety. This chapter sets out an example of how the UK diabetic eye programme has evolved in this respect. The current National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) level 3: Health screener: diabetic eye screening for personnel undertaking screening and grading, will be explained. In some programmes, slit lamp examination is now provided by graders, as well as ophthalmologists and optometrists. The current requirement is detailed. In addition, all grading staff should also participate in test and training of retinal image sets in order to confirm accuracy of grading. At least 10 test sets should be undertaken per annum.


As the world looked elsewhere in the latter part of 1992, a tragedy was taking place in Afghanistan. Within a 24-hour period in August, 3,000 residents of Kabul died in a barrage of rocket fire; in the months following, the world's single largest internal refugee flow took place during which an estimated 700,000 people fled Kabul to escape rocket and artillery shells raining indiscriminately on residential neighborhoods. In a tribal, multiethnic, multireligious, multilingual society marked by factionalism and military fiefdoms, Afghanistan's fratricidal warfare seems to have slipped irreversibly into anarchy. As 1992 came to an end, a variety of hyper-armed groups, representing many and diverse mujahideen parties and ethnic and tribal affiliations, roamed the capital, competing for power and food. In the absence of a central organizing authority, military power determines access to food, now in short supply, and the ability to feed rank-and-file militia is the prerequisite to maintaining power., Since the collapse of the Najibullah government in April, and its displacement by rival ethnic and regional armies, the situation has escalated into a human tragedy unparalleled even in Afghanistan's turbulent recent history.


Trust Management is a prime issue in cloud service nowadays. Cloud service, having worldwide adaptability, is needed to be trusted and trust, in spite of being a qualitative factor, may be evaluated quantitatively, with the help of some parameters. Measuring trust has become a prime issue in cloud whether by applying reputation based, Quality Service Based or Policy based Approach. This paper focuses on measuring trust in the context of a combination of reputation based, recommendation based as well as QoS based trust models. In this paper a conceptual model for trust evaluation in case of cloud service has been proposed.


Basal cell tumors were superficially wounded or exposed to 24-hour occlusive applications of 0.5% resin podophyllum in alcoholic solution. These stimuli did not induce the tumor cells to participate in the healing process nor to show any detectable sign of keratinization. These observations support the hypothesis that basal cell tumors are derived from cutaneous epithelial cells which have lost the capacity of keratinization.


Background: Cumarin, also called warfarin, is used as an anticoagulant rodenticide. Pigs can be accidentally poisoned by ingestion of baits and/or dead roden...


The text discusses teacher research with writers who perceive the possibility of this kind of research taking place. Among these writers we highlight: Stenhouse, Elliott, Huberman, Geraldi, Fiorentini, Cochran-Smith, Lytle, Anderson, Herr, Andre, Ludke, Cruz, Zeichner, Diniz-Pereira, Nofke, Tardif e Zourhlal. As research tools, two papers presented by teachers at the XII Encontro Nacional de Didatica e Pratica de Ensino (ENDIPE, 2004) and two other papers presented at the II Seminario Internacional de Pesquisa em Educacao Matematica (SIPEM, 2003) were selected. The four texts were sent to twelve judges chosen at different instances among well-reputed professionals in their respective areas of expertise, with considerable research experience and impressive academic production. The selected judges had also shown interest and understanding of teacher training, including teacher research. Based on the written views of these evaluators some theoreticalmethodological as well as practical results are presented that might contribute to enrich the debate on the limits and possibilities of teacher research.


: At the oil industry, it is essential to obtain a good estimation of the rock resistance to perform a proper stability analysis. However, getting samples from the rock formations is a costly operation. In order to extract them, it is necessary to stop drilling operation, spending costs of renting the drilling rig and of teamwork time. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt an indirect way to forecast the rock resistance through the data from the logs by applying appropriate correlations between physical and mechanical properties. In the case of carbonate rocks, this evaluation becomes more complicated because it involves the study of heterogeneous structures. This work presents an estimation of resistance for carbonates, especially those found in the Brazilian pre-salt, based on concepts of carbonate rock classification, critical correlation analysis from the literature and comparisons made with laboratory test results. From the evaluation of Prasad's correlation and the analysis of the grain size study elaborated for diverse carbonate rocks, a methodology is proposed to estimate the maximum and minimum resistance parameters of each lithotype analyzed. Since experimental data are rarely available, the definition of a range of values is a good probabilistic approach that will help on the forecast of the rock resistance.


In July 2021, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a Law on Indigenous Peoples. It provides a framework for the protection of the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Crimean Peninsula, namely Crimean Tatars, Karaites and Krymchaks, and excludes Mariupol Greeks as a minority potentially qualifying for the status of the fourth indigenous group residing outside of Crimea. What was the general context of the adoption of the Law? What rights does it envisage? And what could the Law potentially bring to the recognized indigenous peoples? This blog post attempts to answer these questions.


For patients with advanced heart failure (HF) ineligible for or awaiting heart transplantation, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation can be considered. LVADs have helped to improve recipients' survival rates and quality of life. However, LVAD patients are at risk for complications such as stroke, bleeding, infection, and right ventricular failure. Moreover, events such as end-stage malignancy or progression of a neurodegenerative disorder may occur. Such complications and repeated hospitalizations can pose questions about the acceptability of LVAD therapy. As such, both the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and The Joint Commission require that palliative care (PC) be part of the multidisciplinary team prior to and following VAD placement. However, execution of this mandate is unclear, leaving specifics up to the discretion of individual healthcare facilities. At our facility, all patients being evaluated for LVAD implantation must receive a PC consultation. However, confusion around the objectives and structure of this consultation persists. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to implement an evidence-based, semi-structured script to guide pre-LVAD PC consultations. Training on the script was provided to PC clinicians, and preand post-surveys helped to identify whether this script improved confidence in PC clinicians conducting preLVAD consultations. Confidence levels remained generally unchanged. However, valuable insight was gained through written feedback. Namely, clinicians felt the script provided structure and guidance but that script verbiage and flow could be improved. Moreover, clinicians expressed that communication from the HF team and a standardized workflow between PC and HF teams would be beneficial.


Implant rehabilitation of the edentulous mandible tends to be complicated by the presence of bone atrophy. In cases of moderate to severe mandibular atrophy the bone height between the alveolar crest and inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) is small and sometimes limited to only a few millimeters. Implant placement in such situations is very difficult and implies the risk of inferior alveolar nerve damage. Piezosurgery is being recently used as an alternative to obtain greater accuracy and safety. The advantages of using piezosurgery in inferior alveolar nerve transposition are: (a) the lowest risk of injury the IAN; (b) less intraoperative bleeding and reduction of postoperative swelling, (c) less thermal damage the bone surfaces and to the IAN. We present a case of mandibular atrophy in which inferior alveolar nerve transposition and implant placement were carried out using a piezosurgery device


This study compared the acoustic quantification(acoustic quantification,AQ) with the conventional echocar-diographic parameters,to evaluate the changes of the left ventricular function in patients with essential hypertension.A total of 30 control subjects,45 patients with essential hypertension(EH) including patients without left ventricular hypertrophy(N-LVH) and patients with left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) were divided into 3 groups.The three groups were measured by conventional echocardiographic parameters and AQ technique.DBP,LVM,LVMI,IVS,IVPW and LA showed significantly different among the three groups(p0.05).Compared with control subjects,the VE/VA and RF/AF in N-LVH group and LVH group were decreased,AFF and LVESV in N-LVH group and LVH group were higher(p0.05).Compared with control subjects,RFF in LVH group was lower,PAFR,LVEDV and OAFV in LVH group was higher.The non-paired T test was adopted to compare EF in the conventional echocardiographic indices and EF in the AQ index,the result showed that the latter EF was lower than the former one,and the difference was statistically significant(p0.05).As a new assessment method of diastolic dysfunction,AQ echnology can be regarded as a comple-ment to the traditional Doppler echocardiography,combining with the two methods can effectively improve the clinical diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction.


We report on the experimental realization of a quantum point contact in a semiconductor heterostructure by lithography with an atomic force microscope (AFM). A thin, homogeneous titanium film on top of the chip surface was patterned by local anodic oxidation, induced by a current applied to an n-doped AFM tip. We demonstrate that self-aligned gate structures in the sub-micron regime can be fabricated with this technique.


I am delighted that William Nugent ("Information Gain through Integrated Research Approaches," Social Service Review 61 [June 1987]: 337-64) chose to conduct a secondary and more sophisticated analysis of my experimental study on the antianxiety effects of alcohol intoxication.' From this base, he developed his own proposals on the value of integrating single-subject and group research methodologies in the conduct of social work research. Nugent and I share a respect for the value of both types of research designs as tools to answer meaningful questions relevant to knowledge building and practice evaluation research. While I applaud the intent of Nugent's study, I have some reservations about his conclusions and methods. My concerns are in two areas: first, Nugent's substantive conclusions concerning the antianxiety effects of alcohol, and second, his proposed methodological advances. The fact that Nugent's conclusions about the antianxiety effects of alcohol intoxication are at such variance with those of my original study is not a trivial matter. The assumption that alcohol possesses tension-reducing effects is an important etiological hypothesis in the alcohol abuse treatment field. Many therapeutic programs are designed to provide clients with alternative methods for coping with stress such as relaxation training and stress inoculation. Confirmation of the tension-reduction hypothesis (TRH) would justify the design of such treatment programs, and its repudiation would suggest that such rehabilitation methods may be misguided. I found Nugent's conclusions to be more strongly worded than I believe is consistent with good scientific practice. Without necessarily debating the adequacy of Nugent's statistical analysis of my data, I suggest that his retrospective findings on the antianxiety effects of intoxication should best be viewed as new hypotheses worthy of


Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, fireballs are here discussed with, again, explanation on why fireballs obey to strict physical rules and demonstration that they are among other things the definitive explanation of the collapse of the Maya civilization in what was actually a sudden obliteration by a cluster of fireballs. Extractive development (what has been defined already by Acemoglu and Robinson) is what natural disasters come to rebalance ; extractive development leads to over-accumulation of typically weighty resources in a small area where they disrupt the crust and also represent particularly attractive beacons for fireballs. This is carefully demonstrated over a wide range of time with many examples.


LEGIONNAIRES' disease, an acute infection caused by a newly described gram-negative bacterium, is most commonly recognized as severe pneumonia associated with a high mortality rate.1 Diagnosis is difficult during the acute illness because clinical findings are similar to those of other atypical pneumonias,2 the organism is difficult to isolate and serum antibody titers may not be diagnostic until after the third week of illness.3 Furthermore, the indirect fluorescent-antibody test, which is the standard serologic method for diagnosis, has shown lack of specificity. Fourfold rises in antibody titers against the agent of Legionnaires' disease have been found in cases of plague, . . .


The crystal structure of the low-temperature Na4Ti5O12 (tetrasodium pentatitanium dodecaoxide) phase has been solved and refined from X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data at 295 K. The structure is trigonal, space group P3, with Z = 1, although it is pseudo-centrosymmetric. The O and Na atoms form a distorted close-packed structure, where Ti atoms occupy octahedral sites.


When Joseph II began his independent reign of the Habsburg Empire in 1780, the reform movement which had begun under his mother, Maria Theresa, continued at an even greater pace and reached new areas. One of the limitations of reform lay in the relatively small number of government officials able to translate the new principles into reality. This fact led to a new view of an organization that already possessed a vast bureaucratic apparatus designed to act even in the remotest areas, the Catholic Church. The church was to be transformed into an agent of political reform in the context of enlightened despotism, which meant that the church itself became subject to government regulation in many respects and that Catholic priests had to fulfill duties of government officials. Although initially the direction of church and clergy by the government was not welcomed universally, the majority of priests came to accept it, eventually recognizing that participation by the clergy in important issues


In vitro conditions, the interactions betecen the fungi most frequently isolated from the stem base of winter wheat were determined. These were the species from genus Fusarium (F. culmorum, F. avenaceum and F. poae ) and Rhizoctonia cerealis, Pseudocercosporella herpotrichoides, Alternaria alternata and Aureobasidium bolleyi . Some saprotrophes showed stimulating effect on R. cerealis, P. herpotrichoides and F. poae. Certain species in combined cultures showed exceptionally favourable relationships.


Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation with generalized gradient approximation (GGA), we have investigated the effect of doping by phosphorous (P) atom at ring and chain position on the electronic properties of graphyne. The stability of the P-doped graphyne system has been determined on the basis of cohesive energy. Doping at chain position shows the possibility of modulating its band gap which might be useful for nano-electronics application. The surprising change from semiconducting to metallic behavior when P atom is placed at ring position of graphyne might be utilized in electronics for the fabrication of metal-semiconductor interfaces and also as an electrode in batteries.


Personalized exercise recommendation plays an important role in boosting the study performance of students. However, recent studies for personalized exercise recommendation only take the learning status of a student in recommendation and fail to take the prerequisite relationships among knowledge points into account which represent a reasonable learning sequence of these knowledge points during a study procedure. To the best of knowledge, in this paper, we make the first attempt employing both of the learning status of a student and the prerequisite dependencies among knowledge points to enhance the effectiveness in personalized exercise recommendation. A real-case evaluation confirms the effectiveness of our personalized exercise recommendation algorithm in terms of recommendation precision and diversity.


The Royal Ontario Museum owes a great debt to John Hayes. During his 25 years as a curatorial member of the Museum he was indefatigable in publishing the material in the Greek and Roman Department either in the CVA series or in the format of the book under review (and its six predecessors). He has rescued the collection from the rather second-rate status to which Robinson and Iliffe's 1930 catalogue had consigned it. It is an enviably wide collection, and exceptional as a teaching aid. H.'s CVA volume of 1981 contained the Attic and related black-figure, and three of his previous ROM catalogues dealt with Etruscan and Italian pottery, Greek and Italian black-gloss wares, and Roman pottery. The red-figure is reserved for another CVA fascicule. What we have here are the remaining decorated and plain pieces. H.'s previous ROM catalogues have all shown how circumscribed is the usual view of Greek and related pottery. No one has been bolder nor more punctilious than H. in venturing down the byways and into the less central, more contentious areas of the study. He has jolted us into realising that the material we have in museums or what is being excavated on sites in the Mediterranean and beyond does not necessarily 'belong' to any well-defined category. There is much that still floats uneasily between fixed points ('Vessels of Unknown Origin'). The present volume has its fair share of 'displaced' vases. For the first half of the catalogue we are on relatively firm ground: Geometric, Corinthian, Boeotian, Laconian, East Greek, Attic Plastic and Patterned Vases. The Geometric (3-35) starts with an Attic grave-group and other Attic pieces, and merges into 'Boeotian (and Regional Attic)' where H. admits to 'may be Boeotian', 'possibly Boeotian' and 'apparently Boeotian'. He is never the one for a quick fix. He admits doubt between Cretan and Argive and warns us (30) that in the seventh century '"Attic", in this period, need not imply only Athens'. For the well-known ship krater/louterion he rejects Corinthian and Boeotian but still refuses to decide between Attic and Atticizing. The Corinthian section (36-65) is not very exciting (rather poor alabastra and aryballoi account for half the total) but H. gives them all due attention. In the East Greek section (70-79) he points to the recent improvements made in attributing the vases to their sources (Rhodes is losing out to Miletus and other sites to the north). When we move westwards to Italy, the good selection of Etrusco-Corinthian (87-113) has had the benefit of Szilagyi's expert eye. The section on 'Various painted wares from Italy, Archaic and Classical Periods' (11431) shows H.'s expertise in sorting out (or admitting to a failure to sort out) the pieces that are often despaired of with some, one admires his ability even to hazard a guess. The two sections on Hellenistic vases (145-64: Centuripe ware, Lagynoi, Hadra vases (more than a dozen of these)) are followed by sections (165-84) on plain wares and unguentaria (174: 'defy easy classification'), braziers and miniatures. The ROM has a good selection of stamped amphora handles and a sherd collection with fragments from Eleusis, Naukratis and elsewhere; all these H. duly describes and attempts to trace back to their place of origin. H.'s work on the Toronto material is not only firstrate in itself, it also shows how far knowledge has increased and how different is our present view of Greek pottery from what it was in 1930. [H.'s page of acknowledgements is dated 1988; the book was published in 1992 but only arrived in the Joint Library in 1995 hence this belated review.]


Ezetimibe (Zetia) is a novel lipid-lowering agent that is absorbed systemically but that acts by inhibiting intestinal absorption of cholesterol. The drug recently was approved by the FDA, both for monotherapy and for combination therapy with statins. In this multicenter randomized trial, sponsored by the manufacturer of ezetimibe, researchers studied the effects of …


Domain  Name  Server  (DNS)  system,  a root  source  providing  answers  with  IP  addresses  forany request for domain names, is regarded as the most important  part  of  Internet.  DNS  system  also  plays  avery  important  part  of  cryptography  analytic infrastructure  of  Internet.  Any  change  made  to  DNS system  can  make  the  system  fall  into  malfunction, boosting  complexity  levels  in  dealing  with  triggered issues  [2,11].  Therefore,  security  for  DNS  is  a  vital must.  For  the  time  being,  RSA  algorithm  [6,12]  has become  the  de  factor  standard  for  DNS  security. However,  RSA  requires  a  longer  key  length  of  more than  1000  bits  [10,15],  affecting  performance efficiency  of  DNS  system.  Hence,  elliptic  curve cryptography  or  ECC  is  regarded  as  an  alternative mechanism for implementing public-key cryptography.The  ECC  is  expected  to  be  used  not  only  in  new generation  mobile  devices  [13]  but  also  in  DNS system in the near future as ECC requires shorter key length than RSA but providing the same security level. This  paper  focuses  on  introducing  ECC  and  new findings  related  to  this  mechanism  such  as  key  pairgeneration  algorithms,  key  transfer,  encryption  anddecryption in ECC, as well as findings of the trialon the  Vietnam  national  domain  name  system  dot  VN; these  findings  aims  to  apply  for  certification  domain name  data  transfer  for  the  DNS  system  of  a  country and compare with the same method in RSA algorithm


With the change of the auditing environment in 21 century, second research on the auditing system is needed. Research on the auditing system lies in the research on the essential factors of auditing and their interrelation.This paper has researched the work system of audit, the science system of audit, the organization system of audit, the education system of audit and the method system of audit.


We propose a new precoder based on optimization of the minimum euclidean distance dmin between signal points at the receiver side and for use in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spatial multiplexing systems. Assuming that channel state information (CSI) can be made available at the transmitter, an optimal dmin precoder (max(dmin)) is derived in the case of two different transmitted data streams. For QPSK modulation, a numerical approach shows that the precoder design depends on the channel characteristics. Comparisons to other precoders are performed to illustrate the significant bit-error-rate improvement of the proposed precoder.


A reliable explanation for the underlying mechanism responsible for the persistent aggregation and self-assembly of colloidal 5 nm diamond nanoparticles is critical to the development of nanodiamond-based technologies. Although a number of mechanisms have been proposed, validation has been hindered by the inherent difficulty associated with the identification and characterisation of the inter-particle interfaces. In this paper we present results of high resolution 10 aberration corrected electron microscopy and complementary computer simulations to explicate the features involved, and confirm the electrostatic interaction mechanism as the most probable cause for the formation of agglutinates and agglomerates of primary particles. Diamond nanoparticles are emerging as an important material for a variety of high performance technologies [1]. In 15 particular, their optical [2] and chemical properties [3,4], coupled with their lack of cytotoxicity [5], make them a preferred candidate for biomedical applications [6,7]. This includes drug delivery in the treatment of cancer [6], heart disease [8] and in regenerative medicine [9]. It also includes 20 biolabelling [10] based on their fluorescence in the visible range [2], owing to a number of photoactive point defects [11] that exhibit a high quantum yield [12], superior photostability [13] and structural stability [14]. Nanodiamonds are also being tested as components in the next generation of 25 ultrasensitive contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging [15]. In each case however, the realisation of technologies based on their properties is contingent on our ability to control nanodiamonds on an individual and collective basis. The formation of robust porous microstructures is highly desirable 30 for drug delivery, whereas effective biomarkers must be discrete and as small as possible. For many years, detonation nanodiamond, also referred to as ultrananodiamonds (UND), at around ~4.8 nm in size, appeared set to lead in this endeavour, but development was 35 hindered by an inability to separate samples into individual single-digit nanoparticles [16]. These ultra-small nanodiamonds exhibit a very strong tendency to aggregate, and form robust superstructures on the order of ~100 nm in size [17]. For many years it was speculated that the 40 aggregation was due to van der Waals interactions, but this hypothesis was dismissed when it was found that the agglomerates strongly resisted dispersion [18]. It was then argued that chemical bonds between the individual particles were responsible, but this suggestion was inconsistent with 45 the XRD results showing that the diamond nanoparticles remain discrete. More recently, in attempts to understand the …


The purpose of the Socio-economic Baseline Survey of the Fishing Communities was to provide information on the fish landing beaches, people involved in fisheries, their livelihood activities and facilities available to them.


Abstract. Is work engagement, like job satisfaction, primarily a function of personality? In total, 397 working adults completed a short, reliable, three-facet model of work engagement, a short IQ test, various self-ratings, a Big Five (bright-side) personality scale, and a measure of the personality disorders (dark-side). Work engagement was related to age, intelligence, positive self-ratings, and all the personality variables. A regression analysis revealed six variables significantly related to total work engagement: sex, age, IQ, ratings of personal ambitiousness, trait Neuroticism and Cluster A personality disorders. Regressions onto each of the three facets of work engagement showed slightly different findings, yet in each, older people with lower Cluster A scores and who rated themselves as ambitious scored higher on all facets. Over a third of the variance was explained in each regression. In every analysis, the rating of ambitiousness was most strongly related to work engagement. Implications and limitations are acknowledged.


The Legal Aid Act, 1996, greatly improves access to legal aid. It provides that a person is eligible for legal aid in connection with any criminal, civil or other related matter if, in die opinion of the Director of Legal Aid, diat person (i) omerwise has insufficient means to obtain the services of a legal practitioner; (ii) has reasonable grounds for initiating, carrying on, defending or being a party o t the case; and (iii) is in need of and would benefit from such legal assistance. An individual may apply direct to the Director of the Legal Aid Directorate or a judge, magistrate or die Attorney-General may recommend to the Director that a person should be provided with legal aid.


This article deals with tendencies for increase in morbidity of visual organs in Novgorod region. We conducted a questionnaire survey of 38 ophthalmologists to analyze the information needs when choosing medical prescriptions. The first-choice medications and the price range are revealed. We explored the assortment and level of sales of ophthalmic antibacterials used at various forms of conjunctivitis. We also conducted the comparison of best sellers and first-choice medications preferred by ophthalmologists. The cost of daily dose of treatment is determined and the cost of antibacterial treatment of conjunctivitis is calculated.


The theoretical restrictions and obligations that marriage imposed on wives and husbands throughout most of English history appear relatively clear and unequivocal. Prior to the modern era, husbands enjoyed a monopoly over the management of marital property and an obligation to maintain their wives at a level befitting the couple's social standing and material resources. Wives, meanwhile, could not independently possess and control property, and, without the permission of their husbands, they could not buy or sell goods, enter into contracts, make wills, or be parties to law suits. What is less straightforward, however, is the way individual wives and husbands accepted or resisted these restrictions and obligations in daily life.


Objective To compare clinical effect of conservative traction or ally with traditional chinese medicine in treatment of intertrochanteric fractures.Methods A total of 48 patients suffered intertrochanteric fractures and select conservative treatment were enrolled in clinnical therapy and observation.48 patients were radomly divided into two groups recevied traction or ally with traditional chinese medicine hot compress,clinical effects and postoperative complications were recored.Results Hip function was excellent recovered significantly inⅡgroup(P0.05),in Ⅱgroup,the average bedridden time was significantly short(P0.05).There was no significant difference in complication incidence(P0.05).Conclusion Conservative traction ally with traditional chinese medicine were effective for patients which is a fine method for doctors to select.


Argentina has an important tradition in psychology and although university careers began in the mid 50's, the process of voluntary evaluation and accreditation, was initiated after the approval of the standards in 2009. In this article different aspects of this process both for the undergraduate and graduate careers are presented and analyzed. Relevant aspects of professional practice are also outlined. Current legal regulations of the professional practice of clinical psychology are reviewed. This is the first area having official recognition as a specialty awarded by the National Ministry of Health.


The mechanism of the formation of hydrogen‐induced interface states at the Si/silicon oxide interface for metal–oxide–semiconductor tunneling diodes has been investigated by conductance measurements as well as current–voltage measurements. It is found that the diffusing species through the silicon oxide layer to form the interface states is protons, not hydrogen atoms. A conductance peak due to the interface states is present at the reverse bias voltage of −0.3 V. The density of the interface states increases nearly exponentially with time t after the introduction of hydrogen in the air. The time constant of the interface state density versus time curve increases with the hydrogen concentration, in contrast to usual chemical reactions in which the reaction time constant decreases with an increase in the concentration of reactants. This unusual result can be explained by the mechanism that the interfacial reaction sites located adjacent to the interface states react with protons more easily than the other ...


As a basic study in the synthetic approach to immunoactive cell wall peptidoglycan whose backbone is a β(1–4)-linked saccharide of alternating glucosamine and muramic acid, methods for the direct condensation of these sugar components were studied and O-(N-acetyl-β-muramyl)-(1→4)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine and O-(N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminyl)-(1→4)-N-acetylmuramic acid were synthesized. In the synthesis of the latter disaccharide, previous formation of an ester bond between the carboxyl group of muramic acid and the 6-hydroxyl group of glucosamine proved to facilitate the glycoside bond fromation between these sugar moieties.


This article describes the present situation and recent changes in scholarly communications, focusing on the Open Access and related movements and the activities and roles of university libraries in Japan. The monopolization of the scientific publication market and the increasing prices of paper journals have caused the "Serials Crisis", and the electronic journals consortium of university libraries have some fruits and faces the increasing prices again. The stakeholders concerned with scholarly communications, researchers, universities, libraries, academic societies, publishers, research foundations, Parliament/Congress and governments, have all joined the Open Access and related movements and are developing a new business model for academic publishing and a new way of accessing academic information. There are two roads to open access. One is the creation of open access journals (i. e. the gold road), and the other is self-archiving (i. e. the green road). The university libraries should inform the faculties of these movements. Especially, the institutional repository that is one way of the self-archiving is very important to university libraries for disseminating research results.


OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The purpose of this study is to understand factors that are associated with identifying which eligible pregnant women in Baltimore City accept a referral for HV services. Taking into account demographic and obstetrical variables, we will examine the extent to which 13 medical and 14 psychosocial risk factors differentiate pregnant women who (1) accepted a HV referral, (2) could not be located, or (3) refused a HV referral. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In this observational study, we will use secondary data on 8172 pregnant women collected by Health Care Access Maryland (HCAM) between 2014 and 2016. HCAM is the single point of entry for all pregnant women in Baltimore City into HV. HV eligibility includes being a pregnant woman, residing in Baltimore City, being uninsured or receiving Medicaid, and being identified by a prenatal care provider who completed an assessment profile of the woman's medical and psychosocial risk (prenatal risk assessment). The outcome variable, HV engagement status (ie, accepted referral, could not be located, refused referral), will be based on HCAM discharge codes. Medical risk factors include BMI, hypertension, anemia, asthma, sickle cell, diabetes, vaginal bleeding, genetic risk, sexually transmitted disease, last dental visit >1 year ago, and taking prescription medications. Psychosocial risk factors include current pregnancy unintended; <1 year since last delivery; late entry to prenatal care (>20 wk gestation); mental, physical, or developmental disability; history of abuse or violence within past 6 months; tobacco use; alcohol use; illegal substance use within the past 6 months; resides in home built before 1978; homelessness; lack of social/emotional support; exposure to long-term stress; lack of transportation; and history of depression or mental illness. All risk factor variables are categorical (yes/no). Control variables will include demographics (eg, age, race, ethnicity, marital status, educational level) and OB history (eg, history of preterm labor, history of fetal or infant death). We will conduct descriptive statistics to characterize the sample and look for interrelatedness among the risk factors. Where there is a high level of inter-relatedness we will consider combining or omitting variables to reduce redundancy. We will use multinomial regression to examine which medical and psychological factors are associated with referral category. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We hypothesize that (a) women with more medical risk factors will be more likely to accept a referral for HV services, (b) women with more psychosocial risk factors will be more likely to refuse HV or not be located, and (c) certain risk factors, such as depression/mental illness, history of abuse/violence, illegal substance use, homelessness, and exposure to long-term stress will be the strongest predictors of not accepting HV referral and/or not being located. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The translation of effective randomized control trials (RCTs) to successful implementation in community-based programs can be challenging. Community-based programs serving low-income communities typically lack the same resources available to recruit and retain participants in RCTs. And, exclusion criteria applied in RCTs are often not applied in real world implementation which can open program to participants with more complex social and medical characteristics. Findings from this study will inform the translation of evidence-based HV programs into real world settings through an enhanced understanding of the characteristics of women who are not engaged by HV programs. This will inform development of improved outreach methods that may more effectively engage at-risk women for prenatal HV services.


Method for measuring the mobility spectra of selected ion species in an ion mobility spectrometer equipped with an ion source, an ion drift path and a mass spectrometer at the end of the ion drift region, comprising the steps of (A) of the ion current during its production or the coming out of the ion source current is modulated before entry into the ion drift path with a constant modulation function such that the modulated ion current is continuous, wherein the instantaneous frequency of the modulation function varies over a frequency range steadily (B) the ion current is fed after passing through the ion drift path of the mass spectrometer, (C) with the mass spectrometer of the time profile of the ion current of a single type of ion is measured or the time characteristics of the ion current of several types of ions are measured separately from each other, and (D) from the time profile of the ion current of an ion species is obtained by a correlation analysis with the modulation function, the mobility range of the respective ion species.


The Banach space E has the weakly compact approximation property (W.A.P.) if there is C < ∞ so that the identity map I E can be uniformly approximated on any weakly compact subset D C E by weakly compact operators V on E satisfying ∥V∥ ≤C. We show that the spaces N(l p ,l q ) of nuclear operators l p → l q have the W.A.P. for 1 < q ≤ p < oo, but that the Hardy space H 1 does not have the W.A.P.


We recently introduced a producer-customer model to fulfill the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN) Students Outcomes, hence help foster an entrepreneurial mindset in students. In this paper, we use our producer-customer model to craft and add innovative lab assignments to the "Computer Architecture and Organization" course. The new lab assignments are based on the six products or IP cores that we have developed. Each product is either defective or improvable. There are some discrepancies between the behavior of a defective product and its user guide; in other words, a defective product does not work as it should. The performance of an improvable product can be enhanced. Each team of students will first work as a customer to identify the defects or the improvable aspects of a product. They will then challenge another team, the producer, to resolve the issues. We have received encouraging anonymous feedback from students.


Using an individual level database of 9,000 plus Indian firms, we undertake a comprehensive empirical analysis examining factors that affect perception of corruption among firm owners. Our results find that being located in the official capital city as well as being dependent on credit are associated with higher perceptions of corruption. Interaction effect shows that being dependent on bank credit is especially harder for small and medium sized firms who then perceive greater corruption experiences. We also find female owned firms perceive corruption to be of greater obstacle. Finally, all types of firms ¨C government owned, private owned or foreign owned ¨C face higher perception of corruption. Our study has important implications for policy makers in India who wish to encourage small and medium business scenario.