Brush seals have found increasing use in turbomachinery within the past decade due to their superior sealing performance and flexible nature. The flow characteristics and fundamental behavior of single brush seal are known. However, the flow behavior of multi-stage brush seal combined with labyrinth teeth still requires further research. This article presents a detailed investigation into flow behavior of multi-stage brush seal combined with labyrinth teeth for turbine applications. The leakage rate through a two-stage brush seal combined with labyrinth teeth was measured using the rotating test rig at three operating clearances and four rotational speeds. The leakage rate through the seal was also numerically predicted using Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solutions coupled with non-Darcian porous medium approach. To predict the seal leakage more accurately, the clearance reduction resulted from rotor centrifugal growth was considered in brush seal flow calculations. The effects of rotational speeds and sealing clearance on the leakage performance of the two-stage brush seal were evaluated based on the experimental and numerical results. In addition, to obtain an insight into flow mechanisms of multi-stage brush seals, the leakage rate, flow field, pressure distribution of bristle pack, and aerodynamic force acting on bristle pack of four different types of multi-stage brush seals were also analyzed and compared.


Aim: To research the hypercoagulability in children with nephrotic syndrome (NS).Methods:A total of 36 cases of simple nephrosis and 20 cases of nephrosis were taken as experimental group with 45 healthy subjects as control.The adhering and aggregating functions of platelets were detected by the glass bead viscosimeter and turbidimetry methods,respectively;the blood concentrations of TXB 2 and 6 Keto PGF 1α were determined by radioimmunology.Results:Compared with control group,the blood/plasma viscosity,packed cell volume and ESR under different shear rates elevated significantly ( P 0.05);platelet count,platelet viscosity rate,and the levels of TXB 2,6 Keto PGF 1α and TXB 2/6 Keto PGF 1α in plasma also increased significantly ( P 0.05).Conclusion:The results indicate that the children with NS have hyper coagulability.


Burdens of war are objective and subjective, 242. — Costs resulting from destruction, and cost of maintaining the fighting forces, 243. — Choice between rival ways of financing a war, 245. — Different effects of the levy plan and the loan plan, 247. — The assumed burden of a loan to the lender, 249. — Subjective burdens of levy and loan methods, 252. — Conclusion, 254.


AT the outset it is important to emphasize that endocrine therapy is not an alternative to long accepted standards of treatment for the comparatively early case of carcinoma of the breast. Where the primary site exists alone or where there has been extension to the regional lymph nodes, adequate surgery with or without radiation is still not only the treatment of choice but the only treatment that should be offered to the patient. There has been a tendency in the current medical literature to suggest that, for the so-called "poor risk" patient (because of co-existing cardiac or other systemic conditions), endocrine therapy may be used as an alternative to adequate surgery; or else that the surgery might be something short of complete with subsequent supplementation by endocrine therapy. The treatment of cancer of the breast is still, and likely to remain for many years, an adequately performed surgical procedure as taught by Halsted. This means removal of the whole breast with no sparing of the overlying skin, removal of both pectoral muscles along with a meticulous dissection of the axilla to excise all lymph nodes andlymph bearing tissues irrespective of whether these are visibly or palpably affected or not. It is only in the case of metastatic growths outside of these areas-or recurrences within these areas-that the use of endocrines can be considered. The impetus to hormone treatment in metastatic carcinoma of the breast was given by the brilliant work of Huggins and Clarke' who laid the foundation for the cestrogen treatment of cancer of the prostate. There is an obvious analogy in two such hormonally sensitive glands as the prostate and the breast; and it was immediately suggested that, if the administration of cestrogens was of value in the control of secondaries in the predominantly "masculine" environment of carcinoma of the prostate, the trial of androgens was justifiable for the control of metastases in carcinoma of the female breast. F'urthermore, experimental study by Reynaud2 and by Heiman3 encouraged this view. By in-


In this paper, we define the sequence spaces: $\chi^{2qu}_{f\mu}\left(\Delta\right)$ and $\Lambda^{2qu}_{f\mu}\left(\Delta\right),$ where for any sequence $x=\left(x_{mn}\right),$ the difference sequence $\Delta x$ is given by $\left(\Delta x_{mn}\right)_{m,n=1}^{\infty}=\left[\left(x_{mn}-x_{mn+1}\right)-\left(x_{m+1n}-x_{m+1n+1}\right)\right]_{m,n=1}^{\infty}.$ We also study some properties and theorems of these spaces.


The quality of home reproduction of sound is strongly dependent upon psychological considerations and the characteristics of the room. To evaluate improved methods of home reproduction it is necessary to check system performance by carefully controlled listener tests. The results obtained from such tests indicate that wide-range reproduction is only acceptable when distortion is kept to an extremely low level.


Introduction Dhat Syndrome is a culture-bound entity frequent in the Indian subcontinent. It is characterized by somatic symptoms, together with depressive and anxiety features, specifically focused on the belief of losing semen through urine1. Objectives To describe an atypical Dhat Syndrome case in European cultural context,and to determine the appropriate diagnostic frame and subsequent therapeutic approach. Methods We present the case of a 37-year-old Indian man attended in our psychiatric outpatient unit mainly due to somatic complaints (gastrointestinal, sexual dysfunction, weakness, and dizziness). He interpreted his problem as possibly due to diabetes and hypothyroidism, and specifically from sugar loss in urine. Organic diseases were excluded. Results Although considered as culture-bound, Dhat syndrome has been classified as a subtype of depression, anxiety disorder, somatoform disorder2,3,4, and even a prodromal phase of schizophrenia5. Antidepressants and benzodiazepines are the most recommended pharmacological treatments1. Antipsychotic agents have been used when clear psychotic symptoms were present (auditory hallucinations,delusions)5. Nonetheless, paliperidone 6mg/d was initiated at baseline, with good response and partial remission of the symptoms at two weeks, despite the absence of clear psychotic features. Culturally-informed cognitive-behavioural therapy, as well as sexual education could be beneficial were planned and initiated1. Conclusions Data on Dhat Syndrome is scarce, yet agreement exist in considering the cultural context of the patient to avoid diagnostic delays. The adequate treatment remains uncertain. Antipsychotics may be a potential treatment. Further research is necessary to clarify the nature of this syndrome but European clinicians must be aware of culturally-mediated psychiatric manifestations which are increasingly prevalent due to globalization. Disclosure No significant relationships.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the level of metal/metalloid elements and assess the health risk in drinking water in Dongcheng District of Beijing.

METHODS
From 2018 to 2020, 10 kinds of metal/metalloid elements(Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Al, Pb, Cd, Ni, As and Se)in drinking water were detected by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry(ICP-MS). The concentration of these metals were compared with the hygiene standards of drinking water. The health risk assessment model was applied from the USEPA.

RESULTS
The concentration of 10 kinds of elements met the hygiene standards in all of the drinking water samples except that the zinc concentration of one sample exceeded the limit. The concentration of Al, Fe and Zn in drinking water was tens of μg/L. The concentration of Cu, Mn, Ni and Se was 1-2 μg/L or even lower. The concentration of As, Cd and Pb was basically less than 1 μg/L. The monthly average concentration of Al in drinking water showed a trend of increasing, and then decreasing in a year. The concentration of Zn decreased year by year. The 10 kinds of elements had not shown significant difference in the two water supply modes of municipal pipe network terminal water and secondary water(P>0.05). The total carcinogenic risk of elements through drinking exposure was 3.53×10~(-5). The carcinogenic risk of As was higher than that of Cd. The total non-carcinogenic risk was 9.75×10~(-8). The order of non-carcinogenic risk was: As>Se>Ni>Zn>Al>Pb>Fe>Cu>Mn>Cd. The total health risk was 3.54×10~(-5).

CONCLUSION
The 10 kinds of metal/metalloid parameters of drinking water in Dongcheng District of Beijing met the hygiene standards. According to USEPA evaluation standard, the health risk assessment of elements in drinking water was acceptable.


We explore the use of Stauntonia angustifolia (Wall.) Wall. ex Christenh., and Stauntonia latifolia (Wall.) Wall. ex Christenh. as ethnoveterinary medicines in the greater Himalayan region. This use, while not common and limited to mid-elevation mountain regions, stretches at least 1900 km from the Garwhal Himal in west Himalayan India to the Hengduan Shan in east Himalayan China. We trace the geographic and cultural distribution of the species, their uses, and their names. In sum, these suggest two possible scenarios, both connected to mountain pastoralism: 1) lateral transmission along the Himalayan mountains through seasonal transhumance interactions and 2) convergence on similar animal medical uses driven by use of Stauntonia vines as rope in animal handling. More pan-Himalayan ethnobotanical studies could support these hypotheses with other plant species and uses, and help to understand how knowledge moves in mountains. Key words: Himalaya - Knowledge Trasmission - Ethnoveterinary - Lardizabalaceae


In this study, we examined the phylogeographical structure of three frog species (Anhydrophryne rattrayi, Arthroleptis wageri and Cacosternum nanum) in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa. The first two species are forest dwelling and exhibit direct development, whereas the last species is a habitat generalist, breeding in open freshwater bodies and exhibiting rapid metamorphosis. Evolutionary relationships were inferred using combined mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data [16S rRNA and cytochrome b (Cytb)]. Divergence times were estimated for each species using the combined mtDNA dataset, and population genetic structuring was inferred using haplotype networks and analysis of molecular variance using the rapidly evolving Cytb locus. The two forest-dwelling species (Anhydrophryne rattrayi and Arthroleptis wageri) each revealed two statistically well-supported clades and were characterized by marked genetic differentiation and the general absence of shared maternal haplotypes, indicating no maternal gene flow between conspecific populations; a result corroborated by moderate values of pairwise genetic distance. In contrast, for the generalist species C. nanum, two shallow clades were observed and several haplotypes were shared between localities, indicating moderate maternal gene flow. Diversification in the two forest-dwelling species occurred during the Plio-Pleistocene climatic oscillations and was associated with increased xeric conditions, whereas in C. nanum a recent, Holocene divergence was inferred. Ancient climatic factors thought to be causal in the divergences within each of the three species are discussed. The marked mtDNA differentiation in the two forest specialist species suggests the presence of distinct management units that should be considered in future conservation management decisions.


This article discusses the readiness of youth of various races in Malaysia to celebrate diversity in the daily social landscape of society. Youth are at the forefront in facing the challenges of addressing diversity in a multicultural community. The readiness of youth to face diversity is measured using questionnaires. This study involves a total of 600 respondents from secondary schools and higher education institutions. The results showed that generally, the level of respondents' readiness to accept diversity was high. There were significant differences found in terms of gender, ethnicity and residential locations in which the respondents had their upbringing. The findings were consistent with findings from earlier studies.


The 62 year old Frankford Elevated Line In Philadelphia, PA, is in the process of being reconstructed. The design concept calls for the replacement of the existing line superstructure and the retention of the bents and foundations which have previously been confirmed to be structurally adequate and useable. Other special structures are to be modified and repaired and the stations replaced and upgraded to enhance ridership. The traction power system is to be improved, a new signal system provided, and an improved communication system installed.


Although various energy system alternatives for business, commercial, and residential customers have recently been developed in order to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission, it is important to evaluate competitive characteristics among such new energy system alternatives quantitatively, in consideration of tradeoff relations among economic cost, energy consumption, and CO2 emission. In this paper, using multiobjective optimization model for urban energy system planning, two competitive evaluations are performed. One is the break‐even cost analysis for introducing more efficient, but more expensive energy equipment, such as photovoltaic system and fuel cell system. The other is that we evaluate the competitiveness of a certain energy system from the viewpoint of a whole urban area because there are multiple alternatives for attaining the same target of reducing CO2 emission of energy consumption. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 164(2): 71–79, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20421


In a grassland of common guinea grass ( Panicum maximum , Jacq), damaged and invaded by the wiregrass ( Sporobolus indicus ), the influence of sowing different varieties of improved grasses on the control of wiregrass was studied. The treatments were distributed in a random block design with four replicates: a) plantation of Pennisetum purpureum cv. Cuba CT-115, b) plantation of Cynodon nlemfuensis cv. Star grass, c) sowing of Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk, d) sowing of Panicum maximum cv. Likoni and f) sowing of Panicum maximum cv. Mombaza. At the begining, there were no significant differences on the population and height of the wiregrass. Its population was reduced from 7 to less than 0.9 plant/ m2 at the end of the experiment in all treatments. In the two samplings conducted with the variaties sown, the highest pasture height (P < 0.001) was found in Cuba CT-115 and the lowest values were presented in star grass and brachiaria. At the end of the experiment, the lowest (P < 0.01) population of wiregrass (0.26 plants/m2) was presented where sowing guinea Likoni. The number of tillers/plant of wiregrass was lower when brachiaria was planted, without differing from the treatments where CT-115 or guinea Likoni were sown. Guinea Mombaza and Cuba CT-115 were the variaties less invaded by weeds in general and ended with more than 98 % of pureness. Star grass and brachiaria had less than 50 % of pureness. Guinea Likoni had an intermediate performance. The highest biomass production (P < 0.001) and the lowest (P < 0.001) cost/t/ha of GM and DM produced were reached when Cuba CT-115 was planted. An intermediate value for this measurement was achieved in Guinea Mombaza. The results of this study indicate that the use of improved pastures could be an option for the control of wiregrass by renewing or with new sowings. A good agrotechnical management is recommended as well as taking care of the soil fertility after controlling the wiregrass. Key words: Sporobolus indicus, weeds control, improved pastrues .


Based on the analyses of the function of property rights and its relationship with environmental problems,it is suggested that we must change our property rights system in order to solve the inefficient utilization of natural resources and the environment problems concerned.Therefore,it is necessary to establish a multi-ownership property rights system based on national ownership of important natural resources and private ownership of some unimportant natural resources.


Big Data Analytics (BDA) is considered as a tool to explore new opportunities for an organization to be competitive in dynamic markets. It represents a set of technologies and algorithms to recognize important patterns such as new market opportunities and business propositions as well as to make effective predictions on market behaviors. Therefore, every organization put efforts to use their data, both structured and unstructured, strategically to be competitive. In other words, the performance of modern day firms is expected to have a close tie with the data and analytics strategy being used. However, there are no adequate research studies conducted to systematically evaluate the impact of the data and analytics strategy on the firm performance. In this research we intend to fill this research gap by systematically surveying the elements of the data and analytics strategies of key industry players in Sri Lanka and attempting to identify their relationships with the performance of respective companies. The performance will be evaluate under financial performance, customer retention and reach, growth in sales, growth in profit, return on investment, market performance etc. The research is designed as follows. We first did a comprehensive study on the existing literature about data and analytic strategy and, based on the resource-based theory and dynamic capability view, identified three main dimensions namely Big data analytics management capability, big data analytics talent capability, big data analytics technical capability and eleven sub-dimensions as capabilities to acquire for enhanced performance through data and analytics strategies. This theoretical model is planned to be validated through empirical data. Accordingly, we plan to collect data from managerial level users of a selected group of financial companies who are currently potential beneficiaries of big data capabilities through a questionnaire and subsequent open-ended interviews. The results will be then analyzed with respect to each sub-dimension to derive conclusions about the overall relationship between the data and analytics strategy and firm performance.


Both in his models of organization and theme, borrowed from Homeric epic, and in his recasting of anecdotal source materials, Herodotus, the Father of factually based History, had one foot firmly planted in the world of storytelling. My beginning-student writers, too, are just venturing upon the transition from the rhetoric of the heightened world of storytelling to that of the critical investigation of the real world. Through exercises in close reading and imitation, we use book 2 of the Histories as a model for a variety of organizing principles and rhetorical techniques to enliven and strengthen student academic prose.


In this paper, the heavy metal ion adsorption behavior in coal tar pitch-based activated carbon fibers (ACFs) during physical activation is presented. N2 adsorption iso- therms at 77 K were examined using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Horvath-Kawazoe (H- K), and Barret-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) methods to characterize specific surface area, pore vol- ume, and pore size distribution. The removal of heavy metal ions from ACFs was confirmed by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Experimental results for the ACFs showed a type I isothermal adsorption curve, which confirmed that the created pores were mostly micro- porous. After a 40-min steam activation, the fibers showed a high specific surface area of 1,693 m 2 /g. In addition, all heavy metal ions in the ACFs were adsorbed after about 20 min, and the adsorption reached equilibrium within 1 h. It was found that the adsorption capac- ity of the ACFs was improved by the presence of micropores but was also dependent on the specific surface area of the ACF.


After visiting a large quantity of technique forums, this paper summarizes and analyzes the familiar problem about JAVA programming in details , and then emphasizes the typical topic in a few watches,such as the differentiation between "==" and "equals", Data type conversion,etc.In a concrete practice these problemses should be paid attention to.


Many tolerance analysis methods, both manual and software-based, are in use today. However, the manual processes are complicated and tedious for complex assemblies as compared to software-based methods. This paper describes three different tolerance analysis methods automated in a software. The procedure starts with translating the geometry of an assembly along with its Product Manufacturing Information (PMI) like GD&T; which serves as the input to the analysis methods: 1D min/max charts, 3D Monte Carlo statistical analysis, and Tmap based worst case and statistical analysis. For an automated system, a full digital thread is required, thus translating the geometry, assembly and tolerance data to an intermediate data structure such as augmented Constraint Tolerance Feature (aCTF) graph is considered. This makes the tolerances analysis modules available for any tolerance problem translated to aCTF format and provides a uniform input to all of automated analysis modules. The analysis software reads the aCTF file and create an output analysis result for each gap of interest, with all the different methods. The results of these analysis methods, on a complex assembly, are compared. The differences can be categorized into these potential sources: variation types, included or omitted, and treatment of assembly constraints in mathematical formulations. In this paper the tolerance problem is defined in Siemens NX and Teamcenter, and the aCTF is translated from the abstract model created in TeamCenter.


This paper adopts a multi-method approach to analyze the evolution of, and motivations for, community disclosures in a developing economy (Mauritius). We first study the word counts of 82 listed and non-listed companies and carry out a quantitative analysis of the data. Community disclosure narratives are then examined in depth and triangulated with interview data from a sample of company directors. Whilst the analysis of the word counts might, on its own, lead us to conclude that companies disclose community disclosures primarily as a legitimation strategy, we uncover - from the narrative and interview data - a different set of motivations for community involvement and disclosure, centered on one hand on (i) the pursuit of the business case and on the other hand, (ii) on the existence of altruistic attitudes influenced by the country\'s social, economic and political context.


The purpose of the study:

The purpose of this research study was to improve the health status of older people living in the community through implementing a family carers' training program.

Background of the study:

Many previous studies have reported the improvement of family carers' knowledge in providing better care for older people as well as reducing their burden, anxiety and depression. However, those studies have not addressed clearly the impact of the programs on the health status of older people living in the community.

Design of the study:

An experimental design with pre and post-tests of intervention and control groups was used in the study.

The intervention of the study:

The intervention group attended the training program and received a training package consisting of 8 health education booklets and trainees'guide at the beginning of the study. They were also provided with guidance practice and follow-up support following the training program. The control group received usual care and support during the study. However, at the end of the study they were provided with the training package.

Population and sample:

All older people (60 years and above) living with their family carers in the district of Beiji, Depok Indonesia formed the population for this study. Two villages were randomly selected from the six villages in this district. One village was randomised to become the intervention group and the other became the control group. A sample of 120 older people and their primary carers (120) were selected from of the two villages. Therefore, the total sample consisted of 480 participants made up of 240 family carers and 240 older people.

Data collection and instruments:

The data were collected within three time points (baseline, 3 and 6 months) by using several tested and widely used instruments. Some additional questions relating to the family carers' training program were also added. All instruments were tested for reliability in Indonesia before being used for the present study.

Data analysis:

T-test and Chi-square analyses were used to identify baseline differences between the intervention and control groups. ANOVA was used to examine the differences between selected internal or external factors of older people and the health status of older people. Two-way repeated measures ANCOV A was chosen to evaluate the differences within the three time points and between groups and controlled for baseline differences or some potential confounders. Friedman's test was used to test the variances which were not equal and for categorical data. For the dichotomous variables, the Cochran's test was chosen.

Results:

Overall, the findings over the six-month period for the intervention group showed a significant increase for the knowledge, skills, attitudes, global social support and life satisfaction perceived by family carers when compared to those of the control group. The objective burden was significantly lower in the intervention group than that of the control group. The subjective burden was not significantly different between the groups. However, further analysis using independent pairwise comparisons (Bonferroni) showed the intervention group significantly lower than the control group. Similarly the health status of older people in the intervention group, including physical, mental, global social support, life satisfaction, and blood pressure was significantly increased when compared to those of the control group. In contrast to these findings, the activities of daily living of older people were not significantly different between groups.

Conclusions:

In conclusion, the Family Carers' Training Program made a positive impact on the health status of older people through increasing the family carers' ability in caring for older people. This program was found to be acceptable by the population and feasible to implement within the Indonesian population.


We have observed four red clump stars in the very old, metal-rich open cluster NGC 6791 to derive its metallicity using the high-resolution spectrograph SARG mounted on the Galileo National Telescope (TNG). Using a spectrum synthesis technique, we obtain an average value of [Fe/H] = +0.47 (±0.04, rms = 0.08) dex. Our method was tested on μ Leo, a well-studied, metal-rich field giant. We also derive average oxygen and carbon abundances for NGC 6791 from synthesis of [O I] at 6300 Å and C2 at 5086 Å, finding [O/Fe] ≃ -0.3 and [C/Fe] ≃ -0.2.


Local anesthesia is routinely employed for different dental procedures ranging from simple tooth extraction to complex periodontal surgery in day to day dental practice. Although 2% lidocaine with epinephrine in the different ratio is the most commonly used injectable local anesthetic agent, different noninjectable techniques have also been tried. Intranasal 3% tetracaine/0.05% oxymetazoline spray is currently the Food and Drug Administration (USA) approved for performing single restoration in maxillary teeth up to the second premolar, though maximum success rate has been found with maxillary anterior. Different clinical trials were done to evaluate the efficacy and safety of this combination spray for the maxillary teeth anesthesia. Although this technique has some limitations like it cannot be used in patients weighing <88lb, it has some advantages too. This technique is very useful in needle-phobic patients and it also avoids the risk of needle stick injury. This article reviews the efficacy, safety, and clinical utility of this intranasal spray for the use in the dental procedure and also encourage further clinical trials and research for its safety in pediatric patients and efficacy in more invasive procedures.


Nonstarter lactic acid bacteria (NSLAB) have an important role in quality and safety of traditional Baramily cheese (Domiati cheese related type). Therefore, the objective of this study was to isolate and identify NSLAB with potential technological features from traditional Baramily cheese. Thirty-three samples of Baramily cheese randomly collected from retails in Cairo metropolitan area. The samples were characterized by physiochemical, textural profile and microbiological analysis. Ninety presumptive NSLAB (30 Lactobacillus spp. and 35 Enterococcus spp.) strains were isolated on MRS and Kenner-Faecal (KF) Streptococci media; and were characterized for growth temperature, salt tolerance and milk coagulation. All presumptive NSLAB isolates were tolerant to 6.5 % NaCl. Of them, 40 isolates were tolerant to 10.0 % NaCl including 16 presumptive Lactobacillus spp., and 24 presumptive Enterococcus spp. isolates. based on the results, 11 representative isolates with potential technological features were selected for genetic identification using 16S rRNA technique, then were confirmed for growth and acidity development in skim milk within 48 h, and were tested for antimicrobial activity against some food spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. The eleven isolates were identified as Ent. durans (1), Ent. faecalis (5), Lb. paraplantarum (1), Lb. plantarum (3), and Lb. rhamnosus (1). All isolated strains were confirmed active in skim milk, and some exhibited antimicrobial activity against tested food spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms. Both Lb. rhamnosus and Lb. plantarum were confirmed as the isolates with high activity in milk. Ent. durans and Ent. faecalis exhibited antimicrobial activity against Enterobacer aerogenes and E. coli. However, Lb. plantarum exhibited antimicrobial activity against both Enterobacer aerogenes, E. coli and Ps. aeruginosa. Listeria. monocytogenes, S. typhimurium, and Campylobacter. jejuni showed significant resistance to all tested NSLAB isolates. They can be concluded that the identified NSLAB isolated can be used to standardized and improve the quality and safety of Baramily cheese and other types related to Domiati cheese.


This paper investigates the tensions inherent in Karol Wojtyla's personalist philosophical project, as illuminated by Eric Voegelin's account of the loss of the meaning of the originating experiences of philosophy and revelation and his search for a new elaboration of the sources of human order. Throughout the argument, which is organized as an analysis of the main categories of Wojtyla's Thomistic personalism, the insights and observations by Wojtyla that correspond to Voegelin's concept of ratio are contrasted with the traditional Thomistic themes in Wojtyla's investigation of the principles of personal action—especially in action's connection with morality. It is this paper's aim to show that Wojtyla describes the reality of the person in a way that partly corresponds to the experience expressed by the concept of ratio as developed by Voegelin, although he is ultimately limited by his commitment to a more limited concept of the intellect, or the knowledge of an objective hierarchy of ends, as the foundation of personal fulfillment.


Abstract The importance of intelligent tutoring systems has rapidly increased in past decades. There has been an exponential growth in the number of ends users that can be addressed as well as in technological development of the environments, which makes it more sophisticated and easily implementable. In the introduction, the paper offers a brief overview of intelligent tutoring systems. It then focuses on two types that have been designed for education of students in the tertiary sector. The systems use elements of adaptivity in order to accommodate as many users as possible. They serve both as a support of presence lessons and, primarily, as the main educational environment for students in the distance form of studies – e-learning. The systems are described from the point of view of their functionalities and typical features that show their differences. The authors conclude with an attempt to choose the best features of each system, which would lead to creation of an even more sophisticated intelligent tutoring system for e-learning.


Pipeline failures cause significant environmental and property damage and fatalities every year. Current methods have a lack of sensitivity to pinpoint the leak location with sufficient accuracy when the leak is at the stable regime. The acoustic emission (AE) method relies on propagating elastic waves caused by the leak turbulence. The current AE leak detection methodology relies on two neighbor sensors, and requires either a long wiring system or a wireless system with clock synchronization, which raises many other challenges. In this paper, the new leak localization approach is proposed to detect the leak from a single point measurement with two sensors designed to be sensitive to the wave motions generated in pipes at two orthogonal directions (radial and axial). The approach is demonstrated on a laboratory-scale steel pipe in comparison with the conventional two-neighbor sensor approach. The result indicates that the proposed localization approach successfully pinpoints the leak location with good accuracy, which enables the implementation of single-point wireless acoustic emission sensing in long-range pipeline networks.


The Human Gene Project will be completed in two or three years, biologist will obtain many cDNA sequences which functions are unknown. This article introduces some methods and tools in internet, by which we can analysis cDNA sequences and predict the structure and function of the proteins that are coded by them.


with L n uv#wx*y non-regular. Then log n is a lower boun d for the space complexity of L. Let G be an (undirected) graph, with vertex set V and edge set E. A vertex-numbering assigns a distinct non-negative integer to each vertex o f G. We regard a vertex and its vertex number as identical objects ; thu s V is the set of all vertex numbers. With an edge (v,w) we associate th e edge number lv-wl. We identify E with the set of all edge numbers. A graceful numbering of a tree with n vertices has V = {il0<i<n}, E = {iIl<i<n}. For example, the trees in Figure 1(a) and 1(c) are gracefully numbered. In [C,R], constructions are given for gracefully numbering a restricte d class of symmetric trees. We give a more general construction, that gracefully numbers a tree if the subtrees of the root are all isomorphic to on e gracefully numbered tree. We indicate other trees that can be gracefull y numbered by our technique .


ABSTRACTThis study examines the effect of Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai land area, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai labor force, and Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai foreign direct investment on Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai palm oil production. This study uses secondary data from the FAO, ILO, and World Bank websites for 30 years (1991-2020). The analytical method used is Multiple Linear Regression using Eviews 10. The results simultaneously indicated that Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai land area, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai labor force, and Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai foreign direct investment in Thailand positively and significantly affected Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai Palm Oil Production. Meanwhile, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Thai land areas have a positive and significant effect. Indonesian Labor has a positive and significant effect, while Malaysia and Thailand have a negative and positive but insignificant effect on Oil Palm Production. Indonesian Foreign Direct Investment has a positive and significant effect, while Malaysia and Thailand have apositive but insignificant effect.Keywords: Land Area, Labor,Indonesian Foreign Direct Investment, and Palm Oil Production.


The aim of this study is to underline the importance of secondary prevention after fractures of the vertebral body and proximal femur to reduce the risk of further fractures. In addition to back-strengthening exercises and pharmacological therapy orthotic devices have been proved as effective in the treatment of osteoporosis in the elderly. Randomized and controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated that external hip protectors can prevent hip fractures. Spinal orthoses have no favourable effect on the kyphotic fracture angle of stable vertebral fractures during fracture consolidation. However reclining orthoses for the trunk allow an early functional therapy by reducing pain of the injured spine. Moreover spinal orthoses increase trunk muscle strength. Further trials are necessary to investigate the efficacy for reducing the incidence of vertebral fractures (clinical endpoint) by orthotic treatment in elderly patients with spinal osteoporosis.


The basic components of a control scheme for a dynamical combustion engine test stand are described. A model of the dynamometer obtained by application of theoretical modelling together with parameter estimation techniques is used for design of a torque regulator and simulation of different control schemes. The time-delay of the current converter has a determining influence on achievable simulation quality. A smaller time-delay allows improved torque control behaviour and less problems with stability of the closed simulation loop. Therefore, control performance can be increased by replacement of the digitally controlled current converter with an analogue controlled one. As modern combustion engines are characterized by an increasing number of cylinders and decreasing moment of inertia, higher and higher simulated resonance frequencies are demanded. Improving performance of dynamometer torque control is the only way to attain that goal. The whole control scheme is realized on a VMEbus computer system. It consists of a main processor equipped with a Motorola 68020, analogue and digital I/O boards and a slave processor with graphical I/O facilities for user interface purposes. >


Within weeks of President George W. Bush announcing that the United States and its allies would initiate a 'War on Terror', academics and journalists were reflecting and speculating on what role the entertainment industry and popular culture might play in this enterprise. In November 2011, for example, a widely reported 'Beverly Hills Summit' was held in which it was suggested that representatives from film and television companies offered their assistance to presidential special advisor, Karl Rove (cited in Stockwell 2005). This 'offer', historically speaking, was not unusual in the sense that there is a long record of Hollywood acting (see Robb 2004), producing and promoting films either supportive of the United States and its material and ideational interests or collaborating closely with government departments such as Defense and the CIA on particular film projects (e.g.The Longest Day [1961] and Animal Farm [1954], respectively).


The main theme of this article is a new vision of art using holography. The author criticizes the solidity of objects and explains the reasoning behind the need for spatiotemporal art. His motivation to study three-dimensional art comes from his fascination with space in this transient world. He describes the development of his spatial works from his early mirror constructions to his recent holographic installations. He also discusses the meaning of holography and suggests a plan for future artistic experiment.


This is the story of Celebrate Diversity!—the signature event of the Mosaic Coalition, a campus-community partnership created by Wagner College and the New York Center for Interpersonal Development (NYCID) to further the appreciation of diverse cultures on Staten Island. As a celebration of the unique characteristics and contributions of the Island's ethnic communities, the Mosaic Coalition sponsors the annual Celebrate Diversity! festival. In this article, we chronicle our journey in creating Celebrate Diversity! 2007, and share what we learned from three perspectives—that of a college professor, a coalition coordinator, and an undergraduate student leader.


The article studies the production system of Henry Ford (an automobile king, one of the world's wealthiest persons) in terms of modern quality management systems. It is shown that quality management principles emerged as far back as the period of industrial machine production. Realization of these principles at Henry Ford's factories enabled to set up the record-size mass production, to ensure the huge increase of labour productivity, to develop and improve the production methods in order to satisfy users' needs.


Transformer is one of the critical equipment to be monitored conditionally in a power system network. To balance the demand and supply of the customers, the supply of power from the power system should be uninterruptible, which depends on how reliable the transformer is. The lifetime of the transformer depends on insulating fluid which provides effective cooling and insulation. The traditionally used insulating fluid is mineral oil which is the derivative of petroleum. The objective of the proposed work is to minimize the dependency over the fossil fuel which is running out of demand and to maximize the use of fuels extracted from renewable sources, thereby mitigating the drawbacks associated with mineral oil such as poor biodegradability, poor flash and fire point. Mineral oil is causes harm to aquatic/human life during its disposition and spillage. Hence, there raised a demanding need to find an alternative dielectric fluid which overcomes the limitations of the mineral oil in all aspects. In addition to that, an effort has been made to enhance the critical characteristics of natural esters by adding semiconductive nanoparticles (TiO2 and ZnO) in 0.01 % particle volume fraction and antioxidants (Citric Acid and Butylated Hydroxy Anisole) in 1 g/L (single antioxidant) and 0.5 g/L:0.5 g/L (multiple antioxidants). The critical characteristics like breakdown voltage, impulse breakdown voltage, viscosity, flash and fire point measured according to IEC and ASTM standards before and after adding nanoparticles and antioxidants. Interestingly it is found that the use of nanoparticles and antioxidants can enhance the critical parameters of natural ester and can be used as a substitute of mineral oil. INDEX TERMS — Power Transformer, mineral oil, nanoparticles, antioxidants, critical parameters.


Milk processing not only provides people with traditional dairy foods, but also results in the formation of by-products. They are not fully utilised, and their effluents worsen the environment. The modern technical and technological level of milk processing allows the full use of by-products, which are a source of whey proteins, lactose, and other potentially useful ingredients. As milk production has been decreasing in recent years, an urgent problem is to increase the level of milk processing in order to obtain products with high added value. The article presents the results of analytical studies of the situation about whey processing in Ukraine, and describes modern conceptual approaches to processing various types of whey, which is formed as a by-product in the manufacture of cheeses, sour milk cheese, casein. It is shown that new products and ingredients obtained from whey have a wide range of functional and technological properties and prove useful in the manufacture of other foods. The development trends of the new technologies for a wide range of whey-based products and ingredients are analysed, and new research data on their importance for human health are presented. The article is a review that proves how practical it is to introduce modern membrane technologies of whey processing at domestic milk processing enterprises. These technologies will allow using raw milk resources rationally, reducing damage to the environment, and increasing production profitability. The article presents the results of scientific and applied research of using membrane methods and enzymatic hydrolysis of lactose in the technologies of dry demineralised whey and condensed low-lactose whey. The use of existing industrial equipment allows, due to changes in the proteinmineral composition of whey, obtaining products with a wide range of functional and technological properties and increased nutritional values.


The purpose of this study is to analyze in improving the company's macroeconomics by applying the concept of human resource management. Macroeconomics not only has an impact on companies but there are also economic changes in household businesses (households) and market businesses. The research method used is qualitative. Data collection techniques use documentary techniques by collecting information from written documents, especially in the form of research images on research problems. Based on the research results, it can be concluded that human resources perform their duties as a department with personnel management expertise available in the company to achieve the goals of efficiency and profitability of the company's business operations. Macroeconomics has a causal relationship that is studied in macroeconomics is basically the relationship between aggregate economic variables (overall), such as payments, national capital stock, government debt, and others.


Against the background of closer diplomatic, political and security ties between Myanmar and China since 1988, their economic relations have also grown stronger throughout the 1990s and up to 2005. China is now a major supplier of consumer and capital goods to Myanmar, in particular through border trade. China also provides a large amount of economic cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, energy and state-owned economic enterprises. Nevertheless, Myanmar's trade with China has failed to have a substantial impact on its broad-based economic and industrial development. China's economic cooperation apparently supports the present regime, but its effects on the whole economy will be limited with an unfavorable macroeconomic environment and distorted incentives structure. As a conclusion, strengthened economic ties with China will be instrumental in regime survival, but will not be a powerful force affecting the process of economic development in Myanmar.


Summary:  Quantitative analysis of spermatogenesis at stage VII of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium, radioimmunoassay of plasma testosterone and spectrofluoro‐metric assay of brain 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT) levels were performed following administration of L‐trytophan (LT) alone and in Carbidopa pretreated Wistar strain rats. Carbidopa, an inhibitor of peripheral L‐aromatic amino acid decarboxylase, was used to prevent the peripheral conversion of LT to 5‐HT. The rats were sacrificed in groups on the day after (8th day) and 13 days after (21st day) the cessation of 7 days of treatment. The time duration of 13 days is approximately equivalent to one cycle of the seminiferous epithelium in Wistar strain rats.


In many decision making tasks, values of features and decision are ordinal. Moreover, there is a monotonic constraint that the objects with better feature values should not be assigned to a worse decision class. Such problems are called ordinal classification with monotonicity constraint. Some learning algorithms have been developed to handle this kind of tasks in recent years. However, experiments show that these algorithms are sensitive to noisy samples and do not work well in real-world applications. In this work, we introduce a new measure of feature quality, called rank mutual information (RMI), which combines the advantage of robustness of Shannon's entropy with the ability of dominance rough sets in extracting ordinal structures from monotonic data sets. Then, we design a decision tree algorithm (REMT) based on rank mutual information. The theoretic and experimental analysis shows that the proposed algorithm can get monotonically consistent decision trees, if training samples are monotonically consistent. Its performance is still good when data are contaminated with noise.


Nowadays-world is under the sign of the triadic concept of globality, globalization and postmodernity. While the first concept refers to an entire system of socio-political and ethical-theoretical relations, which, in their dynamism, lead to the appearance of new knowledge, globalization is the practical phenomenon of manifestation of the relations inside the globaliy, aiming for the economic and utilitarian domain. The domain of the practical globalization is moved by the mechanism of the new informatics technological revolutions, stimulating the production and the consumption, by cohabitating in its civilizational demarche, questioning al the former historical stages, through the encouragement of the perfidious triad of Profit, Consumption and Entertainment a show. In this context, the world tends to shape as a global universal village (Marshall McLuhan), continuously celebrating, in a climate of moral and metaphysical incertitude, with a flatten and flattening consciousness, not interested, even abandoning, in the spiritual values, proposing and launching in the first rows only the utilitarian-values (Dumitru Popescu, 2005). We discuss in the present study this real utopia of horrors (Joseph Ratzinger, 2005), with continuously moving ideas, where the most radical and profound mutation is on the ontological level, the man and the religion being reduced in a nihilist manner to the stage of object merchandise value.


The issues related to the identification in the conditions excluding visual observation of the person identifying by the person to be identified are regarded in the article. It also investigates the criminal procedure law and the opinions of some scholars.


Scholars have claimed that the hunters' rock carvings at Glosa in Jamtland, Sweden show strong similarities with carvings found at the coast of central Norway. The author has analyzed the Glosa carvings as drawings, studying how they were drawn, and compared the results with similar analyses of five major central Norwegian sites. The artists at Glosa started drawing an elk or other cervid with a straight or gently curved line marking the animal's back, sometimes combined with the neck. From this line they constructed their images but, apparently, in a whimsical way, hardly following any preset guidelines. In central Norway, however, most artists followed certain schemes, starting with contour drawings of head and neck and subsequently adding other body parts. However, in this region too artists occasionally started with horizontal lines marking the back of an animal, but the rest of the animal was drawn differently from what we see at Glosa; the artists generally followed certain schemes. The conclusion, therefore, is that the Glosa carvings are not direct evidence of contacts between the Atlantic coast and the interior of the Scandinavian peninsula. Yet, in both regions rock art is common and contacts most likely did exist between different groups and artists. Knowledge about the location of this art, its purpose, importance and meaning together with the ways the images were drawn may have been kept secret from neighbouring groups, which makes traditional archaeological comparisons obsolete.


At present, the field of natural language will also introduce in-depth learning, using the concept of word vector, so that the neural network can also complete the work in the field of statistics. It can be said that the neural network has begun to show its advantages in the field of natural language processing. In this paper, the author analyzes the multimedia English course based on fuzzy statistics and neural network clustering. Different factors were classified, and scores were classified according to the number of characteristics of different categories. It can be seen that with the popularization of the Internet, MOOC teaching meets the requirements of the current college English curriculum, is a breakthrough in the traditional teaching mode, improves students' participation, and enables students to learn independently. It not only conforms to the characteristics of College students, but also improves their learning effect. In the automatic scoring stage, the quantitative text features are extracted by the feature extractor in the pre-processing stage, and then the weights of network connections obtained in the training stage are used to score the weights comprehensively. This model can better reflect students' autonomous learning ability and language application ability.


A STUDY of the work done on the lactic acid content of the blood of a resting man shows that there is some difference of opinion as to whether this acid is really present under true resting conditions. A number of observers employing several different methods have investigated the question. Berlinblau(l) estimated the acid as zinc salt and says it is a constant constituent of human blood. He gives the figure 8 mgrs. per 100 c.c. as the usual amount found. Salomon(2) using the same method states that lactic acid is absent during life but rapidly appears in the blood after death. Most of his determinations were made on hospital patients. Jerusalem(3) estimated the acid by oxidation with dilute permanganate solution, after the acid had been extracted with ether; the aldehyde formed was caught in bisulphite solution and estimated. Although he used large amounts of blood he could detect no lactic acid. This is remarkable as all other observers who have used an oxidative method have obtained positive results. FrieS(4) using the same method as Jerusalem but chiefly on the blood of hospital patients found values varying from 9-63 mgrs. per 100 c.c. Ryffel 5 estimated the acid colorimetrically, by oxidation with strong sulphuric acid and the use of Schiff's reagent. His values were about 15 mgrs. per 100 c.c. Barcroft(6) using Ryffel's method found values in healthy young men of 12-19 mgrs. per 100 c.c. Clausen(7) greatly improved the technique of the permanganate method and states the usual amount in man is 15-32 mgrs. per 100 c.c. Barr, Himwich and Green(8) using Clausen's method found values of 14-25 mgrs. My own values using the same method show a value ranging from 10-20 mgrs. per 100 c.c. At this point the criticism of Clausen(7) on the estimation of lactic acid in blood by oxidative methods should be noted. He says: "It must be emphasised that biological fluids probably contain substances other than lactic acid which are extracted by ether and which yield bisulphite binding compounds on oxidation." The bulk of the above evidence is in favour of lactic acid being a


The Beira-Rio Avenue had its construction designed in a very busy time in Blumenau (decades 1940-1970). The industry expanded, the city was more urban and the population grew faster than its infrastructure. It was the result of a popular demand and a policy action to urban control, being built to solve many problems of the city with a great work. We intended to include the construction of its first stretch (1951-1969) in the context of urban and industrial expansion of the city, analyzing three newspaper articles of the period, understanding how the newspaper Lume and the Cidade de Blumenau announced the necessity of this avenue.


Abstract Mucolipidosis type II (ML II) is a rare disease. Its diagnosis is often missed, as it may present with rickets-like picture. ML II and rickets both may have physical fi ndings including fractures, kyphoscoliosis, as well as similar biochemical and radiographic studies. Their similarities often lead to delayed diagnosis and treatment for ML II patients. We describe two cases of ML II, both confi rmed by DNA sequencing of the GNPTAB gene and by plasma enzymes assays. The second patient had a much better outcome because of prompt diagnosis and was able to undergo bone marrow transplant as a result. We also review all literature in the English language for cases of ML II presenting with rickets-like pictures.


A general formulation is presented of the nonlinear, time-dependent current through a small interacting region, where electron energies are changed by time-dependent voltages. An exact solution is obtained for the noninteracting case when the elastic coupling to the leads is independent of energy. Temporal phase coherence in a double-barrier tunneling structure produces ``ringing'' in the response of the current to a voltage pulse, which can be observed experimentally in the dc current by varying the pulse length in a train of voltage pulses. The nonlinear current due to an ac bias also shows complex time dependence.


Earnings press releases provide managers a forum to present their firm's quarterly financial information and perhaps influence perceptions of the firm's stakeholders. We explore the use of managerial emphasis as a disclosure tool and contribute to the debate over pro forma earnings. We examine (1) the determinants of emphasis placed on pro forma and GAAP earnings within quarterly earnings press releases, (2) whether there has been a shift away from emphasizing pro forma earnings toward GAAP earnings, and (3) whether stock market reactions to earnings news were influenced by emphasis placed on metrics within the press release. We find that firms emphasize metrics that are more value‐relevant and portray more favorable firm performance. We also find that the extent of a firm's media coverage affects managers' emphasis decisions. Further, our results indicate a highly significant shift toward GAAP emphasis and away from pro forma emphasis in 2002 relative to 2001. Finally, our stock market tests suggest that...


Based on analyzing and experimenting a large number of the existing fingerprint image preprocessing algorithm, this paper presents a novel high-quality fingerprint image preprocessing algorithm. Taking full account of the inherent characteristics of the fingerprint image, the algorithm arranges overall features and local detail. The experiments show that it is a simple, efficient algorithm which can improve the quality of the fingerprint image, and lay a good foundation for the subsequent processing.


LiDAR is widely adopted in Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) and High Definition (HD) map production. The accuracy of LiDAR Odometry (LO) is of great importance, especially in GPS-denied environments. However, we found typical LO results are prone to drift upwards along the vertical direction in underground parking lots, leading to poor mapping results. This paper proposes a Ground Constrained LO method named GCLO, which exploits planar grounds in these specific environments to compress the vertical pose drifts. GCLO is divided into three parts. First, a sensor-centric sliding map is maintained, and the point-to-plane ICP method is implemented to perform the scan-to-map registration. Then, at each key-frame, the sliding map is recorded as a local map. Ground points nearby are segmented and modeled as a planar landmark in the form of Closest Point (CP) parameterization. Finally, planar ground landmarks observed at different key-frames are associated. The ground landmark observation constraints are fused into the pose graph optimization framework to improve the LO performance. Experimental results in HIK and KITTI datasets demonstrate GCLO's superior performances in terms of accuracy in indoor multi-floor parking lots and flat outdoor sites. The limitation of GCLO in adaptability for other environments is also discussed.


This experiment investigated the effects of three corrective feedback methods using information about the correct, the errors and a combination of the correct and the errors of the execution on the acquisition and retention of two badminton skills with different complexity. The participants of this study were 48 young athletes all boys, 10-14 years of age with 2-4 training experience. They were divided in three equal groups and they were all received instruction for two badminton skills with different complexity: a) backhand-short-serve (simple) and b) forehand-long-serve (complex). The three groups received different instructions for the two skills and a) the first group received instructional cues for the correct (C) execution of the performance b) the second group received instructional cues on errors (E) of the execution and c) the third group received instructions on errors and how to correct them (E-C). The training program lasted 12-practice units. There was a pre-test, and a post test after the end of the training program which lasted ten weeks, as well as a retention test, after two weeks which measured the result of their performance. A two way analysis of variance ANOVA (3 groups X 3 measures) with repeated measures on the last factor was used to analyse the effects of the three practice methods of corrective feedback for the two badminton skills on their result (R) scores of their skill performance. After the analysis of the data it was found that group (C) increased the result scores (R) for both skills. Group E increased the result (R) scores of the simple skill. Group E-C increased the result scores (R) of the complex skill. It was concluded that physical education teachers or coaches in order to improve learning in teaching skills to young participants, should take into account the complexity of the skills and use positive corrective feedback with information for the correct execution and how to correct it.


We present the results obtained from the linear stability analysis and 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of magnetorotational instability (MRI), including the effects of cosmic rays (CRs). We took into account the CR diffusion along the magnetic field but neglected the cross-field-line diffusion. Two models are considered in this paper: the shearing box model and differentially rotating cylinder model. We studied how MRI is affected by the initial CR pressure (i.e., energy) distribution. In the shearing box model, the initial state is uniform distribution. Linear analysis shows that the growth rate of MRI does not depend on the value of the CR diffusion coefficient. In the differentially rotating cylinder model, the initial state is a constant angular momentum polytropic disk threaded by a weak uniform vertical magnetic field. Linear analysis shows that the growth rate of MRI becomes larger if the CR diffusion coefficient is larger. Both results are confirmed by MHD simulations. The MHD simulation results show that the outward movement of matter by the growth of MRI is not impeded by the CR pressure gradient, and the centrifugal force that acts on the concentrated matter becomes larger. Consequently, the growth rate of MRI is increased. On the other hand, if the initial CR pressure is uniform, then the growth rate of the MRI barely depends on the value of the CR diffusion coefficient.


Wildfires can cause significant changes to hydrological and soil erosion processes, through the destruction of vegetation cover and changes to soil properties. Modeling soil erosion in burnt areas is still a challenge, since most erosion models are built for agricultural fields and usually present a poor performance when applied to burnt areas. An important fact behind the poor performance is that important processes, such as the onset and destruction of soil water repellence or the transport of litter and ash, are not well represented in most models.


The Multi-level Accounting Information Disclosure System is one system put forward in view of the disadvantages of the existing accounting information disclosure system which has been used as the only method of information disclosure without reference to enterprises scale and organization and the form of law.Through the analysis of the motivation for the system,we should have a better understanding of the Multi-level Accounting Information Disclosure System.


Abstract The current global environmental law and governance regime has been designed primarily to attend to the worsening ecological crisis. Evidence, however, suggests that the regime is far from achieving its goal and it is failing in its efforts to solve what people perceive to be pervasive global environmental problems. There is little doubt that this regime is in need of urgent reforms and/or re-situation in a decidedly different paradigm. This article proposes that global constitutionalism, while no panacea, could contribute to these paradigm-shifting reforms by providing a new perspective through which to view the current deficient global environmental law and governance regime and, in real terms, ameliorating some of the deficiencies of the regime through a normative process of constitutionalization.


This section of the proceedings presents a summary of the conference findings. Mr. Wickstrom discusses the multiplicity of characteristics that require attention and integration in the transportation planning/decision-making process. Mr. Pedersen examines one important element to be considered in the transportation planning/decision-making process - the person(s) to whom the information for decision-making is being provided, then discusses what a comprehensive data collection and analysis plan should include, and what a cooperative partnership effort between state DOTs and MPOs should include. He lists the areas where data collection management challenges are, then lists the challenges.


Abstract 2647 Rationale: Among children with sickle cell disease (SCD), a physician diagnosis of asthma has been associated with increased rates of acute chest syndrome (ACS), pain and mortality. Respiratory symptoms, including wheezing, occur in individuals with SCD independent of an asthma diagnosis. Few studies have evaluated the significance of asthma or respiratory symptoms in adults with SCD. Objective: The primary objective of this study was to determine whether adults with SCD and a physician-diagnosis of asthma have more ACS and pain episodes compared to adults with SCD but without asthma. A secondary objective was to evaluate the relationship between asthma-like symptoms and ACS and pain among adults with SCD. Methods: This was an observational cohort study of adults (≥ 19 years) with SCD who received care exclusively in the Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital system and completed baseline questionnaires including the ATS-DLD respiratory symptom survey. The questionnaires documented the frequency, severity and precipitants of symptoms such as wheezing, cough and shortness of breath. Enrollment into the study began August 2006. Hospitalizations for ACS and pain were determined from retrospective and prospective review of electronic medical records from January 1, 2004 to March 1, 2010 and analyzed using adjusted negative binomial regression models. Cox proportional hazards models were used to determine survival rates from date of consent through March 1, 2010. Spirometry was obtained from 69% of the study cohort. Results: Of 114 adults with SCD, those with a physician diagnosis of asthma (n=34) were more likely to have classic features of asthma including cough and wheeze, history of eczema, parental history of asthma, and an IgE level >150 kU/L (all p Conclusions: While a physician diagnosis of asthma was not associated with an increased risk of morbidity/mortality or decreased lung function in this cohort of adults with SCD, a history of recurrent, severe wheezing was associated with an increased rate of ACS, pain and decreased lung function. These findings may represent a misclassification of asthma diagnoses or SCD-associated wheezing, a clinical observation that is not well-defined. This study highlights the need for careful assessment of respiratory symptoms by physicians caring for adults with SCD. Disclosures: Blinder: Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Field: Novartis: Honoraria.


Well germination process of rain tree seeds will rised the percentation, capacity, and rate of germination. Nevertheless, there are still some obstacles on the germination process due to it dormancy period. Water is one of medium which could be used to break the dormancy period. This research was conducted at Lampung University green house on March 2012. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of water submerged time to rain tree germination. This research was arrange on Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 4 treatment and 4 repeatization. The treatments was the submerging time which was 24, 48 and 72 hours. Test of the similarity range were done by Bartlett test while the analysis by analysis of variance, furthermore the comparison of average values were done by the different test (BNJ) with a 5% confidence interval. The results of this research showed that the effect of submerged time of seed rain tree. The effect of submerged time of seed rain tree for 72 hours was the best percentation of germination and germination of seed rain tree at 68,75% and 80,25%. The submerged time did not effect to rate of germination seed rain tree.


WHEN a beam of light from a quartz mercury vapour lamp, completely enclosed so that the only light emitted has to pass through a filter cutting out nearly the whole of the visible portion of the spectrum, is allowed to fall on to any object in a darkened room, a more or less characteristic fluorescence is usually observed. Metals, such as gold, silver, iron, etc., are quite nonfluorescent and take on the appearance of black velvet when observed in this light, but many other substances emit quite a bright coloured light. Several references are to be found in the literature suggesting the application of this phenomenon in various branches of analysis (e.g. Gerngross and Schulz [1927]; Popp [1927]; Volmar [1927]), and perhaps the most striking observation is that butter can be distinguished from margarine by the quite dissimilar fluorescence. Butter shows a fairly bright yellow colour, but margarine in this light is definitely blue.


W e have seen how the earth's diurnal motion of rotation on its axis gives to the distant stars an apparent diurnal motion of rising and setting, how the earth's motions of rotation and revolution together give the sun both an apparent diurnal motion across the sky and an apparent annual motion along the ecliptic. The final degree of complication is to be found in the apparent motions of the planets. Though we can regard the sun and stars as stationary, we know that the planets are in motion about the sun. We on the earth are therefore viewing moving objects — the planets — from a moving station — the earth. What may we expect to see?


Lu and Steinhardt introduced the term "girih tiles" to describe the set of equilateral polygons that structures a colorful two-dimensional decagonal tiling on the Darb-e Imam in Isfahan, Iran (1453 CE) with distant roots in the five-fold symmetries articulated in brick on the Gonbad-e Qabud, a tomb tower dated to the late 12 th century CE located at Maragha in western Iran. Their work seeks to establish the early existence of quasi-crystalline tilings long before such means of covering the plane were understood mathematically in the West. Questions remained unanswered as to whether those who constructed these monuments were aware of the mathematical significance of their constructions. Lu and Steinhardt, as well as Makovicky and Bonner, who legitimately claim prior discovery of these decagonal tilings and their sub-grids, all missed the fact that the tower is itself decagonal. This brief paper draws attention to the relationships among architectural form, geometric ornamentation, and Qur'anic inscriptions in assessing the cultural significance of the Gonbad-e Qabud.


Abstract : In this thesis the nature of variable bit rate (VBR) traffic, as generated by a video teleconferencing application, in an Ethernet environment is studied. Analysis of the data retrieved from a testbed using metrics such as the rescaled adjusted range statistic, variance time curve, and index of dispersion for counts illustrate the self similar nature of traffic generated by a video teleconferencing application. This information is useful in formulating accurate models to support the various classes of traffic that will dominate the broadband ISDN (B-ISDN or ATM) infrastructure and in developing adequate access control mechanisms for those classes of traffic. The future of wide area networking will see Ethernet LANs populating the access points of ATM WANs, thus making use of the ATM transport mechanism for wide area communications. This thesis reports on work pertaining only to the traffic offered by the Ethernet LAN. Java and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) provide the means with which to construct tools for gathering and simulating VTC traffic. Java applets were written to measure and simulate VTC traffic.


The paper studies the processes which arise during language contacts between the most influential varieties of the English language, British English and American English (BE and AE), and various autochthonous languages of the world under globalisation. The aim of the paper is to reveal the factors determining the development of BE and AE, which currently act as a means of international communication. Diverse multilingual communities use BE and AE to attain their socioeconomic objectives. In this respect, the global language situation was divided into several levels of interaction, depending on the possibility of language communities to use in their socioeconomic activities one or another language. This allowed the author to define the factors and mechanisms of the English language diffusion and to conceptualise the whole diversity of its varieties within a field model that made it possible to forecast the consequences of its future development.


Because a wide variety of deviant behaviors are positively correlated with one another, some researchers conclude that all are manifestations of a single general tendency. The present analysis incorporated three waves of self-reports about heavy alcohol use, marijuana use, use of other illicit drugs, dangerous driving, and other criminal behavior for a nationally representative sample of high school seniors. A relatively stable general involvement in deviance accounted for virtually all association between different types of deviance, but the stability of each behavior could only be explained by equally important and stable specific influences. Thus, theories that treat different deviant behaviors as alternative manifestations of a single general tendency can account for some, but far from all, of the meaningful variance in these behaviors. The only significant influence of one type of deviance on another was that of marijuana use on later use of other illicit drugs. The causal model also revealed interpretable shifts in the associations among these behaviors over the four years following high school.


The present invention by reducing the number of elements and materials used in the product, while improving the production efficiency and recyclability, reducing waste. A nonwoven fabric may be formed from a plurality of thermoplastic polymer filaments. The non-woven fabric, and a first region and a second region, the filaments of the first region may be fused at KoToru Chakudo than filaments of the second region. Nonwoven fabrics, clothing (e.g., shirts, trousers, footwear), etc., can be incorporated in various products. Some of such products, non-woven fabric is combined with other fabric elements, some of which form the seam. Specifically, the edge region of the nonwoven fabric, in this seam may be heat-sealed to the edge region of the other fabric elements. In other products, or it may not be fabric, to another member, the nonwoven fabric may be bonded. .FIELD 44D


The paper reports used the fuzzy rule Suram for control system of a wood drying chamber with solar as source of energy. Rule suram based of fuzzy logic with variables of weather is temperature ambient and conditions of air is humidity ambient, it implemented for wood drying process. The membership function of variable of state represented in error value and change error with typical of triangle and trapezium map. Result of Analysis to reach 8 fuzzy rule to control the output system can be constructed in a number of way of weather and conditions of air. It used to minimum of the consumption of electric energy by heater. The rule suram used to stability and equilibrium of schedule of drying in chamber by control of temperature and humidity. The result of implemented of fuzzy rule suram with the modification of membership function in range [0.5, 1] represented approximate to he conditions riel.


The methodological and practical recommendations for the formation and implementations of an effective anti-crisis development program at the enterprise in the market conditions are substantiated. For this purpose the author's version of the structure of the anti-crisis development program at the enterprise in separate sections is recommended. The stages of the formation mechanism of crisis management at the enterprise in the conditions of economic crisis that allowed systematizing actions of separate subjects of anti-crisis process are considered. The content of the principal version of the anti-crisis development program at the enterprise for the perspective period is disclosed. As a result of the research, the separate tasks facing the employees are proposed, the actions and measures necessary for their implementation are singled out, the responsible persons, the terms of the program implementation and the necessary amount of financial resources are determined.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to find out the effect of Russian current on pain, strength of quadriceps and function in subjects with primary knee osteoarthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 31 subjects with primary knee osteoarthritis were included and randomly assigned in two groups. Group-A (n=16) received Russian current along with supervised exercises, Group-B (n=15) received supervised exercises only, for 5 session per week for 2 consecutive weeks. Pain intensity was measured using numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), Isometric strength of quadriceps muscle (SOQ) was measured using Handheld Dynamometer and function was assessed using Lysholm knee scoring scale (LYSH). These outcome parameters were measured at pre-intervention, postintervention and at the end of 4 weeks of follow up. RESULTS: Baseline data were homogenous (p>0.05) for age, gender, BMI, NPRS, SOQ & LYSH score. Within group analysis shown statistically significant (p<0.05) improvement in both the Groups for all parameters after 2 & 4 weeks of treatment. However between group analysis shown statistically insignificant difference. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that supervised exercises with Russian current and supervised exercises alone were effective management strategies for primary knee osteoarthritis in relieving pain, improving strength of quadriceps and function, however no added effect of Russian


Migration from Finland to Sweden has taken place throughout times, yet the Westward migration reached its peak during the 1960s and 1970s: half a million Finns migrated to Sweden, predominately motivated by employment opportunities. This article is about Finnish female labor migrants, their daily experiences in the Swedish labor market, and the experiences of these labor migrants' transnational generations. We studied the education, career choices, and occupational opportunities of both groups and found that little upward mobility can be detected. This, however, does not translate to dissatisfaction in the women we studied; on the contrary, both generations were content with their careers. In our data, the experience of the Finnish language as a burden in a professional setting seems to have carried over to the next generation, as only a few spoke of their bilingualism as a real asset.


Effect of strontium (Sr) addition on the microstructure and the mechanical properties of semi-solid A356 aluminum alloy produced by GISS process were investigated in this study. Strontium addition resulted in both grain refinement and modification of eutectic Si. The maximum average ultimate tensile strength and elongation of 291.06 MPa and 17.31%, respectively, were obtained from the T6 heat-treated specimen containing 0.08wt%Sr. The excessive addition of strontium (0.2wt%Sr), however, seemed to deteriorate the mechanical properties of the alloy as a result of the Al2Si2Sr particle formation.


The Lean manufacturing concept comes from TPS, Toyota Production System. It aims at eliminating "waste". The "waste" means any consumption of materials, human resources, spaces and time which do not generate VALUE to customers. The original seven wastes include Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Over Processing and Defect. The eighth waste was defined by Womack et al.(2003) as "manufacturing goods or services that do not meet customer demand or specifications". In early stage, Information System is not recognized as a tool to realize Lean Manufacturing. The key reason was that Lean manufacturing need local process with quick response. So, the centralized Mainframe-based application systems in that era are not good to support LEAN. But, the growth of ICT in the recent twenty years has made ICT solution more mature, powerful, connective and quick response to anyone, anytime and anywhere. With smart phone booming in business use, the ICT services can be accessed anytime, anywhere and anyhow to make operation and management more efficiency and real-time. This article is a real case study report to see what ICT can do to eliminate waste in various sections or departments, not only in factoring. The findings are (1) the partnership between ICT and LEAN, (2) use LEAN OPERATION as a common language between IT and non-IT guys, (3) LEAN Thinking is critical to make ICT system much valuable (4) The three key ICT systems to support LEAN are BPM, Cloud Computing architecture and solid System Integration.


Many of society's systems are dependent on information technology (IT), which means that securing the safety of IT systems is of the utmost importance. Furthermore, numerous stakeholders (managers, customers, employees, etc.) exist in the risk measures decision-making process for these IT systems, which makes it necessary to have a means of communicating risk measures so that stakeholders can easily form a consensus when necessary. For this purpose, we have developed a Multiple Risk Communicator (MRC) to assist in consensus formation within organizations and a Social-MRC system to support social consensus formation, which we have applied to various problems. This paper describes the considerations that IT system risk communication should take, describes the development of the necessary support systems, and provides information on the results of their application.


The N,N-dimethylcarbamates of 3-quinuclidinol, 1-methyl-3-piperidinol, and 1-methyl-4-piperidinol have been prepared and found to be weak inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase. The acetates of the abo...


The plasma‐quenching efficiency of the ablated vapor of polymers containing nitrogen atoms was numerically investigated by the inductively coupled thermal plasma technique. Polyamide66 (PA66), which contains nitrogen atoms, was used as a polymer material, and was injected into Ar thermal plasma in a numerical simulation. The simulation model considered heating, melting, and evaporation of polymer powders, and then plasma‐quenching phenomena due to polymer ablation. The thermodynamic and transport properties of the ablated vapor were also taken into account. It was found that PA66 vapor has a greater plasma‐quenching efficiency than other polymer materials of PTFE, POM, PMMA, and PE. The calculated results were confirmed to be valid by comparison with experimental results in terms of the ablated vapor distribution and powder velocities. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 178(2): 11–20, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.21185


freshwater reserves, but only 20% of all water consumption and 50% of drinking water use (Dermer et al., U.S. Water Resources Council). However, groundwater contamination is rapidly becoming a serious and ubiquitous environmental concern (Pye). While groundwater contamination may result from mineralization or other natural processes, it is usually attributed to waste disposal practices and industrial and agricultural activities. Management of groundwater aquifers to satisfy standards for drinking water is a formidable task. It is difficult to monitor the move-


The first chronicled killing in the Bible is the murder by Cain of his brother Abel. It is obvious from the biblical story that this murder is closely entwined with religion. Perhaps the murder takes place against the backdrop of a sibling rivalry over whose sacrifice is accepted by God, as the Scriptures tell us, or perhaps it is the outcome of a violent argument between them, concerning whose land the Temple should be built on, according to Rabbinical commentary. In any case, religion in the primary narrative of the human condition is the cause of envy and strife. The idea that the physical location of the Temple could be shared, already at that time, did not seem to occur to them, even though there were only very few people around, and those who were around were brothers. The totalitarianism of religion had already taken a dominant place, a place that was to remain permanent and central throughout human history.


Accurately localizing users in indoor environments remains an important and challenging task. The article presents new results on room-level indoor localization, using cellular Received Signal Strength fingerprints collected with a standard cellular handset programmed to perform fast scans of the 900 and 1800 Megahertz GSM bands as a user explores an indoor environment at a normal walking pace. Support Vector Machines are used to deal with the high dimensionality of the fingerprints. The study demonstrates that an appropriately programmed standard cellular handset can provide a simple, inexpensive solution for accurate room-level indoor localization.


Treatment of tuberculosis caused by multidrug resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis using first line-antituberculous drugs is very difficult 1. Beta-lactam antibiotics are widely used because of their safety but M. tuberculosis has been considered intrinsically resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics 2,3. Some studies have shown that a combination of beta-lactam and beta-lactamase inhibitors might be useful in the treatment of MDR-tuberculosis 4. Meropenem is a carbapenem with a broad spectrum of activity that includes Gram-negative, Grampositive and anaerobic bacteria. Meropenem is stable against chromosomal and expended-spectrum beta-lactamases 5. Watt et al. 6 reported that meropenem and imipenem are active against mycobacteria in vitro. In this study, we tested meropenem against MDRM. tuberculosis clinical isolates by the E-test method. We tested 30 clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis with known resistance profiles (Table 1). In addition, H37Rv (ATCC 27294) was used as a standard strain. E-test strips containing gradients of meropenem (0.02 to 32 μg/ml) were obtained from AB BIODISK, Solna, Sweden. Fresh colonies from a Löwenstein-Jensen medium were transferred to a sterile screw cap tube containing 5 ml of 7H9 broth and sterile glass beads. The tubes were agitated on a vortex and the clumps were allowed to settle for 30 min. Turbidity was adjusted to McFarland No. 3 standard. Middlebrook 7H11 agar plates (90 mm) supplemented with 10% oleic acid-albumin-dextrose-catalase (OADC) were inoculated by swabbing in three directions. The agar plates were preincubated for a full 24 hours at 37°C in 5% CO2. After preincubation, one E-test strip of meropenem was applied to each agar plate and the plates were sealed with a shrink seal. Then, all plates were incubated at 37°C in 5% CO2 for 5-10 days. The plates were read when growth and inhibition ellipses were discernable 7. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of M. tuberculosis strains are summarized in Table 1. The MIC ranges were 0.002->32 μg/ml. The MICs were >32 μg/ml in 19 isolates, 32 μg/ml for 1 isolate, 0.002 and 0.012 μg/ml for 2 different isolates respectively. In the other isolates, the MICs were 2 μg/ml (1 isolate), 4 μg/ml (1 isolate), 8 μg/ml (2 isolates), 12 μg/ml (1 isolate), 16 μg/ml (2 isolates), 24 μg/ml (1 isolate), and 0.25 μg/ml for H37Rv. Although ampicillin/sulbactam, ampicillin and amoxicillin were reported to be active in vitro against M. tuberculosis in other studies 4,8-12, studies including imipenem and meropenem are limited. When Chambers et al. 1 investigated the efficacy of imipenem in a mouse model of tuberculosis and humans with MDR M. tuberculosis, they noted that imipenem had antimicobacterial activity both in mice and humans. However, the instability of imipenem and meropenem in liquid media, and the variable and slow growth of MDR isolates prevented accurate and reproducible determination of in vitro susceptibility to imipenem and meropenem 1,6. When Watt et al. 6 tested meropenem and imipenem against M. tuberculosis, they found that MICs of imipenem and meropenem were 16 and >16 μg/ml. On the other hand, they retested the antibiotics against M. tuberculosis using the dosage schedules. When dosage schedules were used, there was a marked improvement in the activity of imipenem and meropenem. The MICs of imipenem were 2 μg/ml for all M. tuberculosis strains, while MICs of meropenem were 2-8 μg/ml. Imipenem was 2to 4-fold more active than meropenem. In our study, we tested all M. tuberculosis isolates by the E-test method on Middlebrook 7H11 agar with OADC supplemented. Although we did not use liquid medium, the meropenem MICs were high for 19 strains. We found that meropenem was poorly active against M. tuberculosis including susceptible and resistant strains (Table 1). In conclusion, the activity of meropenem against susceptible and resistant M. tuberculosis strains remains to be demonstrated. REPRINT


Li‐ion batteries that can simultaneously achieve high‐energy density and fast charging are essential for electric vehicles. Graphite anodes enable a high‐energy density, but suffer from an inhomogeneous reaction current and irreversible Li plating during fast charging. In contrast, hard carbon exhibits superior rate performance but lower energy density owing to its lower initial coulombic efficiency and higher average voltage. In this work, these tradeoffs are overcome by fabricating hybrid anodes with uniform mixtures of graphite and hard carbon, using industrially‐relevant multi‐layer pouch cells (>1 Ah) and electrode loadings (3 mAh cm−2). By controlling the graphite/hard carbon ratio, this study shows that battery performance can be systematically tuned to achieve both high‐energy density and efficient fast charging. Pouch cells with optimized hybrid anodes retain 87% and 82% of their initial specific energy after 500 cycles of 4C and 6C fast‐charge cycling, respectively. This is significantly higher than the 61% and 48% specific energy retention with graphite anodes under the same conditions. The enhanced performance is attributed to improved homogeneity of the reaction current throughout the hybrid anode, which is supported by continuum‐scale modeling. This process is directly compatible with existing roll‐to‐roll battery manufacturing, representing a scalable pathway to fast charging.


Price volatility is a major issue in liberalized electricity markets as far as risk management is concerned. In this paper we evaluate the impact of the Portuguese and Spanish electricity markets integration on the day-ahead market price volatility. For that purpose we develop an adaptive conjectural variations model which is implemented in GAMS language. We estimate the degree of competition in the Spanish pool using an iterative secant method applied to a conjectural variations oligopoly model. Using the estimate obtained, we simulate the Portuguese and Spanish markets in autarky and the integrated market, known as the Iberian Electricity Market (IBELM). We present conclusions on the impact of the IBELM on prices and volatilities from the Portuguese and Spanish markets point of view.


The toxicity of 1,3-di(methoxycarbonyl)prop-l -en-2-yl dimethyl phosphate ('Bomyl') to female houseflies (Musca domestica L.) was compared with that of the carbamate insecticide methomyl. Insecticide-susceptible (Cooper) and multi-insecticide-resistant (G and GIV) strains of flies were tested by exposure to granular bait and by topical application of technical formulations. Females from G and GIV strains were shown to be resistant to bomyl and methomyl, and resistance levels were related to the insecticide and test method used. Resistance ratios for bomyl and methomyl were low for the GIV strain when the toxicants were applied topically, being x6.1 and x 9.3 respectively at the LD95 level, but when sugar granules were coated with the insecticides and fed to flies, the resistance ratios were higher at x 43.0 and x 15.6. Flies from the resistant G strain were also shown to be resistant to the granular bait formulations of bomyl and methomyl when the granules were scattered or suspended from treated bait targets. A small proportion of flies from the resistant G and susceptible strains recovered from knockdown after feeding on methomyl granules, but most of these had lost their ability to fly. There was no significant recovery of flies in any of the bomyl tests. The feeding responses of individual female flies to scattered bomyl granules was also studied. Flies from the resistant G strain took significantly longer than susceptible flies to initiate a feeding response (P<0.001). Once feeding had commenced there was no difference between the strains in the time spent.


One of the main reconstructive objectives in a primary TKA is to develop a well balanced knee by focusing on establishing flexion symmetry during the procedure using external femoral rotation. Current surgical techniques rely on anatomic or "boney" landmarks, including the posterior condylar axis, AP axis and Transepicondylar axis (TEA), to accomplish this objective. Variability in using these anatomic references has been sighted in published studies on the subject and clinical complications associated with joint instability continue to surface in the literature. A main reason for this variability is the fact that functional ligament and soft tissue support is not interpreted early enough in the procedure when using anatomic landmarks. This can make correcting flexion symmetry challenging later in the procedure given soft tissue releases vary in their end result. To address this issue, an electronic force sensing technology has been used to balance the flexion space for the past 24 months. This simple reproducible technology utilises a soft tissue force sensing device to develop flexion symmetry by creating balanced external femoral rotation relative to the proximal tibial resection. The sensor and adjustable femoral trial-like device enable balancing the relative forces in the medial and lateral femoral-tibial compartments in the knee to establish symmetry in flexion before the implant trials are placed. This step is performed early in the procedure before the posterior femoral condyles are resected, a technique delivering reliable results covering a broad range of deformities. Since the sensor relies on relative force values cued from the medial pillar, the question of "how tight is just right" needs to be answered to further optimise outcomes. The current study involves 50 posterior stabilised rotating platform primary knees. Data on operative variables was collected and tibial spacers of different thicknesses (matching implant system thicknesses) were introduced into the balanced flexion space to register relative force values. The thickest tibial spacer creating balanced function and ROM was recorded first and the next thinner spacer recorded for comparison. Oxford Knee scores were then collected at two weeks, six weeks and three months following the primary knee reconstruction and associated to the relative force value of the tibial insert implanted to develop functional feedback on "how tight is just right." Early experience seems to indicate the tighter tibial insert is the better choice based on the characteristics of the knee design used in this study. The results of this study have shed important light on tibial insert selection related to functional outcomes. Expanded study on this subject would greatly benefit future surgeons and patients alike.


The success of modern electric power company depends on new technologies. The paper dwells upon communicative technologies as one of the significant factors of electric power companies' leadership that would allow effective management and costs reduction.