Corruption crimes that have been occurring widely, not only harm the state's finances, but also have been a violation of the social and economic rights of the community at large, so corruption crimes need to be classified as crimes whose eradication must be carried out extraordinarily. Every person convicted of corruption is sanctioned in accordance with the provisions of the laws and regulations. One form of sanctions imposed by judges related to corruption cases is the Conditional Criminal verdict, which means that the criminal does not need to live inside the Correctional Institution. The verdict is indeed the power of the judge guaranteed in the Law of Judicial Power as well as related to conditional criminality as stipulated in Article 14a of the Criminal Code, but in the Corruption Crimes Act, there is no mention of criminal threats with conditional criminals. In other similar cases, there is a judge's ruling that does not impose a conditional criminal sentence but provides a prison sentence for the accused of corruption, resulting in inconsistencies in the application of the law by the judge in sending the accused to corruption. Therefore, with a conditional criminal conviction will have implications on the principle of justice and legal certainty for convicted other corruption cases, as well as for the Government and society in general in preventing and eradicating corruption cases.


X‐ray diffraction data on the liquid systems (BeF2)x(LiF)(1−x), with x = 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, and 0, are presented and analyzed to yield average nearest‐neighbor distances and coordination numbers. The values obtained for the melts are in good agreement with results derived from molecular dynamics calculations.


Gate oxide breakdown is one of the main reasons of failures in the Ultra-Large Scale Integrated (ULSI) devices such as nMOSFET and pMOSFET. This is crucial especially today's ULSI devices are scaling down to submicron range. Many studies have been done on the mechanism of breakdown in the ultra-thin gate oxide, in order to improve the reliability of ULSI devices, as well as to improve the submicron devices manufacturing process. In this project, an experimental setup has been being setup to study the electrical data of the ULSI transistors before and after the breakdown.


Background The online market is getting popular today, and consumers' preferences about products are revealed differently in online and offline markets. Especially, fresh food purchasing online is very different from non-food products due to its unique features such as perishability, low cost and frequent purchases, low value-volume ratio, and highly relevance to safety and health. However, studies on online fresh food are rather few, and this study will fill the gap by investigating consumers' preferences for fresh food online purchasing. Methods Using unique data observed from online stores, we conduct a hedonic analysis of fresh produce online market using apple market in China, avoiding hypothetical bias. Propensity Score Matching is used to check the online promotion effects. The data are apples transactions from Jingdong JD e-commerce platform with sample size 8,200, observed across six weeks from 11/26/2018 to 12/31/2018. Variables used include prices, promotions, varieties, places of origin, fruit size, labeled as organic or green food, watercore label, and customer reviews for the products as well as for the venders. Results We found place of origin, food safety and eco-certificates, and sensory features all influence apple prices which reflect consumer preferences. In addition to product features, store features such as former customers' review for the store, a video post of the product, and other latent product features through former customers' review for the product quality also influence consumers' preference reflected by price. Conclusions In additional to product intrinsic features, consumer show preferences and valuation for online market special features.


A physical model for the variation of the base resistance of bipolar transistors as a function of operating current, base-emitter voltage, and base-collector voltage, compatible with CAD (computer-aided design) programs, is presented. The model is based on the solution of the free-carrier distribution within the base and collector regions under low- and high-level injection conditions as well as the solution of base-width modulation due to the Kirk effect and the Early effect. The model has been implemented in the WATAND circuit simulator and the agreement between simulations and computed base resistance using the BIPOLE program is shown to be very good. >


ABSTRACT Egg hatch, larval growth, and metamorphosis of southern flounder, Paralichthys lethostigma, were examined at 13, 17, 21, and 25°C in laboratory experiments. The experiments were separated into four developmental phases: (1) from fertilization until hatch; (2) from hatch until mouth opening; (3) from first feeding until the onset of metamorphosis; (4) from the onset until the completion of metamorphosis. Time to egg hatch were 109, 58, 39, 30 hours at 13, 17, 21, and 25°C, respectively. Size at hatch varied little among temperatures, while percent hatch was significantly higher at 17°C (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in total length at mouth opening among temperatures (P > 0.05). However, those larvae raised at higher temperatures reached mouth opening earlier, as it took on average 7.4, 3.9, 2.8, and 2.2 days from hatch at 13, 17, 21, and 25°C, respectively. During phase three, the growth rate was optimal at 17°C, as growth rates were 0.046, 0.110, 0.106 and 0.096 mm/day at 13, 17, 21, and 25°C, respectively. Larvae in phase four completed metamorphosis sooner at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. It took 26.4, 15.7, and 13.1 days to complete metamorphosis at 17, 21, and 25°C, respectively, while only 16% of those at 13 progressed to stage "G" within the 27 days that phase four encompassed. No difference in total length was found among treatments (P > 0.05) at the completion of metamorphosis, but fish in the 21 °C treatment had a significantly higher survival (P < 0.05). It can be concluded that southern flounder could be produced in the highest quantity and at the largest size by raising them at 17°C from fertilization until the onset of metamorphosis, and at 21 °C during metamorphosis.


One hundred and twenty‐five isolates of Micrococcaceae from Italian salami were tested for antagonistic activities against Listeria monocytogenes. Four isolates, identified as Staphylococcus xylosus, inhibited the growth of all five strains of L. monocytogenes tested. The antagonistic substances produced by strains 39A and 41A were inactivated by some proteases, whereas those from strains 1E and 27E were inactivated only by esterase and lipase. They are neither bacteriophages, nor lytic enzymes like lysostaphin.


Objective To study the changes and correlation factors of serum calcium in very low birth weight infants(VLBWIs).Methods The VLBWIs in NICU of Peking University Third Hospital from January 2008 to December 2008 were selected in this study.The values of serum calcium in 24 hours,24-48 hours,48-72 hours and the 7th day after birth were recorded.The VLBWIs were assigned into two groups,hypocalcemia group and normocalcemia group.The correlated symptoms of hypocalcemia were recorded.The factors correlated with the changes of serum calcium were analyzed.Results There were 66 VLBWIs included in our study.Their serum calcium level became low within 24 hours after birth even lower in 24-48 hours.The serum calcium level in 24 hours and 24-48 hours were significantly lower than that in 48-72 hours and the 7th day(P0.01).The number of infants whose serum calcium was evaluated was 60,13,23 and 41 at four timepoints,respectively.The serum calcium level raised in 48-72 hours,but was still significantly lower than that at the 7th day of life(P0.01).Twenty-nine cases had hypocalcemia(43.9%) and the incidence of hypocalcemia was highest at 24-48 hours after birth.There were significant difference among the incidence of hypocalcemia at different stages(χ2=18.355,P=0.000).Compared with the normocalcemia group,the maternal age was older and the gestational age and birth weight were lower in the hypocalcemia group(P0.01).VLBWIs who were born in winter and spring,and twins or multiple births were more prone to hypocalcemia.Logistic analysis showed that twins or multiple births(OR=3.960,P=0.015) and gestational age less than 32 weeks(OR=3.590,P=0.043) correlated significantly with hypocalcemia.The incidences of apnea,poor feeding,hydrops(edema) and convulsion were significantly higher in the hypocalcemia group compared with the normocalcemia group(P0.05).Conclusion The serum calcium level of VLBWIs was low at early time after birth and hypocalcemia was most likely to occur within 48 hours.The maternal age,gestational age,birth weight,twins or multiple births and delivery in winter and spring are the high-risk factors for hypocalcemia.Apnea,poor feeding,hydrops and convulsion are more prone to occur in the VLBWIs with hypocalcemia.


According to the present invention, an automatic repair method for a road pothole includes: a step of emitting and receiving a laser; a step of receiving and storing information on an image of a pothole taken by a camera of a laser camera part; a step of computing information on a distance to a pothole using the laser camera part; a step of computing information on an area of the pothole; a step of transmitting the information on the image and the area to a vehicle terminal; a step of storing the information on the image and the area in the vehicle terminal in an area information DB and an image information DB; a step of computing the amount of asphalt concrete required on the basis of the area information using the vehicle terminal; a step of heating a working area of the pothole; a step of cutting the working area of the pothole; a step of finely crushing the cut asphalt; a step of absorbing the crushed asphalt to store it in a residue storage tank; a step of removing fragments from the pothole; a step of supplying the asphalt concrete from an asphalt concrete storage tank to the pothole by driving an asphalt concrete supply pump using the vehicle terminal; a step of computing the supply amount of asphalt concrete and storing it in an asphalt concrete DB; a step of flattening and compacting the asphalt concrete in the pothole; and a step of displaying an image on the pothole wherein the asphalt concrete pavement has been finished using the vehicle terminal and terminating.


The aim of the study was to determine the composition and structure of small fish assemblages inhabiting coastal areas of the brackish Baltic Lagoon. Spatial and temporal variations in ichthyofauna were analysed as part of the work. Additionally, the data obtained falsified the hypothesis that the share of marine species in fish assemblages grows along with salinity. A total of 19 species belonging to eight families were recorded in shallow habitats of the Vistula Lagoon. These belonged to four ecological guilds among which freshwater species were represented most numerously. Marine species dominated quantitatively. Marine opportunist species constituted the largest part of catches although they made up just 10.5% of the 19 species recorded in the course of the four-year study. A significant variation was recorded in the fish assemblage structure in regions of the lagoon with differing water salinity. Significance of marine species in the quantitative structure of small fish assemblages increased along wi...


Both empirical and theoretical research supports the positive link between growth in the financial sector and the real economy. The idea of a financial revolution; i.e. the establishment of the fundamental organizations and institutions required for a successful financial system within a relative short time span, has furthermore been distilled from the historical experiences of among others England, Japan, the Netherlands and the US (North & Weingast (1996); Rousseau & Sylla (1999), (2001)). Sweden from the middle of the 1850s until the early 1870s experienced what can be considered as a financial revolution. An important part of this revolution was the liberalization of bank establishment. This resulted in a rapid boost in financial services, including the monetization, occurring in the late 1860s and early 1870s. This financial revolution to a large extent was the substitution of formal financial instruments for informal, i.e. was a case of increasing the quality of financial instruments. This was possible because the banking system was especially designed to supply formal liquidity. Empirical results show that the supply of liquidity was positively preceding growth. The financial revolution represented by the commercial banking system and the monetization, preceded the increased growth in the real economy, including growth in the emerging industrial sector.


The tribological properties of graphite M210seal material under high temperature were investigated on a HT-1000high temperature friction/wear tester.The worn surface of graphite pin was observed by scanning electronic microscope(SEM).The predication model on friction coefficient and wear rate was established by grey theory GM(1,1)based on the test data.The results show that the friction coefficient of graphite M210seal material gradually augmented,then gradually diminished,and reached a steady value with the test time.The value of friction coefficient was minimal when the temperature was 450℃.The wear rate increased with the temperature rise.The worn surface was characterized by obvious adhesion,laceration and unordered plastic flow under temperature 300℃.The plastic flow trace had obvious directivity,and the desquamation and the rift were found on the worn surface when the temperature was above 400℃.The lubrication action was mostly dependent of the physically absorbed film by water vapor at lower temperature.With the temperature rise,the lubrication action turned to reaction film,and the lubrication of physical adsorbed film disappeared.The predication model for friction coefficient and wear rate was established based on test data by the gray theory,and the precision grade of the model was the first grade by the grade verification.


Because of the growing necessity of decreasing restoration time of electric power services after a failure, it becomes extremely relevant to look for new optimization techniques. This work proposes a new method to solve the remotely controlled switches devices allocating problem in an electric power distribution system. An Evolutionary Multiobjective Algorithm inspired the proposed technique. The Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm (SPEA) was chosen as the optimization method, with an adaptation function based on the minimization of the amount of remotely controlled switches to be allocated, the energy not supplied due to the failures, and the maximization of the system reliability. To validate the proposed method, it was tested with a Paraguayan electric distribution system and experimental results were compared to the solutions suggested by a previously published algorithm, proving the advantages of the proposed method.


Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow users to communicate to a nearby computing device (computer, smartphone, etc.) using thoughts or other covert actions that result in a detectable change in brain-waves. Consider a BCI command to be a word consisting of a sequence of characters. Each character is a thought or action that can be reliably detected through brain waves. For this work, we specifically consider eye-blinks as the user action of interest. Eye-blinks are an interesting modality for BCI commands because of their easy detectability and naturalness (and hence covertness). It turns out that there is an interesting trade-off between the complexity of characters and the length of words. In this work, we perform a user-study to answer a simple, but important, question pertaining to eye-blinks based BCI command design: do users prefer shorter characters (and hence longer words) or shorter words (and hence longer characters) when performing commands?. We present a simple eye-blink language consisting of words and characters and use real user-experiments to study the aforementioned trade-off.


The invention relates a method in which particles (25) are fed to a thermal spraying process in order to form a layer (24) on a part (21). In the thermal spraying process, the particles (25) are entrained by a carrier gas flow (23) and are deposited on a part (21) that is to be coated. According to the invention, the particles are dispersed in a liquid or solid additive before being introduced into a supply pipe (18) that extends into the thermal spraying device, and the additive is transferred into a gaseous state in the carrier gas flow after being discharged from the supply pipe. Hence, a liquid additive evaporates while a solid additive sublimates such that the particles (25) are individualized in the carrier gas flow. Dispersing the particles in the additive advantageously makes it easier to accurately meter the particles and prevents the particles from agglomerating, thus allowing improved layers to be deposited because the carrier gas flow is more homogeneous. Transferring the additive into a gaseous state prevents the additive from being deposited in the layer.


Patients on chronic anticoagulation with oral agents such as warfarin represent a difficult group to manage around invasive procedures. Do you maintain the warfarin despite the risk of bleeding? Discontinue the warfarin and chance the short absence will not result in a thrombosis? Or bridge the patient with shorter acting agents such as heparin or its low molecular weight cousins? Guidelines from the AHA/ACC offer a variety of approaches on the basis of the risk of thrombosis when the warfarin is discontinued, but most of these recommendations have been based on consensus of experts or Level of Evidence B [1]. This situation is difficult in the elective patient, but is further complicated when a patient is urgently admitted and decisions need to be made such as to whether to delay otherwise indicated invasive procedures or actively reverse the oral anticoagulation with fresh-frozen plasma. The paper by Heflt, et al. [2], in this issue takes a look at these patients who require long-term oral anticoagulation and describes their experience with another option to the anticoagulation dilemma: just continue the therapy and do the interventional procedure via the radial artery. The classic dogma in the catheterization laboratory literature has typically revolved around not doing a procedure unless the INR is <1.5 [3], but this developed in the era of transfemoral catheterization. Transradial procedures do not carry a significant risk of access site bleeding. Radial artery operators have taken this characteristic to an advantage and ignored the concern about fully anticoagulated patients with little apparent hazard. The experience of Helft and colleagues further expands the apparent utility of transradial approach in orally anticoagulated patients undergoing interventional procedures; a patient group that has been problematic to the transfemoral operators. Although the reported experience is promising, questions still exist. Warfarin is not heparin. Although both are antithrombotic agents, their effects on the clotting systems are mechanistically different. Warfarin does work well to prevent thrombosis on prosthetic valves, but can we be sure that this effect is adequate to protect catheter surfaces from thrombosis formation during interventions? At what INR level do we need to supplement the anticoagulant effect of warfarin? And, how does warfarin interact with intravenous antiplatelet therapy given that many of the FDA approval trials of these antiplatelet agents specifically excluded patients on chronic anticoagulation? Finally, once the patient had their interventional procedure on oral anticoagulation, further work is needed to define the long-term risk of concurrent oral antiplatelet therapy with oral anticoagulation. Although much research has taken place with heparins as foundation antithrombin therapy, hardly any research exists with warfarin therapy and interventional procedures. Results showing that transradial procedures can be safely done under oral anticoagulation should further strengthen the movement towards popularizing this approach that appears to be safer and preferred by patients over the traditional femoral approach. The transradial approach does provide a simple solution to the dilemma of whether to bridge or not, and provides an efficient solution for the recently admitted patient who is fully anticoagulated on oral therapy and needs a cardiac catheterization. Although it is clear that the anticoagulated patient can have their transradial procedure without either the hazards of bridging, anticoagulate reversal, or awaiting anticoagulants to dissipate, there still remain unanswered questions about the adequacy of concomitant therapy used during invasive procedures.


Tina Mouneimne-Wojtas Ecritures migrantes: Quebecois challenge. The essay analyzes ecritures migrantes as a quebecois literary discourse relating both to the writing of immigrants and to migrant writing which is more metaliterary and aesthetic than sociological. The text examines a socio- cultural context of the development of ecritures migrantes in the years 1980–2000 and particularly its ideological factors, writing strategies and aesthetic challenges in the society which for years has been struggling for identity in the English American continent. The author explores the extraliterary and literary reasons for the emergence of the migrant writing and also the challenges that both writers and critics of this literature have been facing. She poses many questions relating to the transcultural condition of writers associated with ecritures migrantes and discusses problems of identity, literary tradtion, choice of themes and language of writing as well as expectations of readers. She points to many factors dividing the writers (national origin, language, education, gender, generation, writing practice) but also reveals the linking element which is a confrontation with the quebecois literary system (with its institutions consecrating and legitimizing literature such as academic and press criticism, system of awards and subsidies or inclusion in or withdrawal from school curricula). The impact of immigration on ecritures migrantes is, as the essay argues, indisputable, but the fact of self-interpretation and its role in the construction of identity is also a crucial factor. The term "challenge" relates to the traditional approach of critics to writing which still belongs to the sphere of "otherness".


Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) is a cytoskeletal regulator that is largely restricted to hematopoietic cells. While WASP expression in both lymphocytes and macrophages play a critical role in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, the function of WASP in innate lymphoid cells is unknown. Here we analyzed the role of WASP in the differentiation and function of group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s). WASP-deficient mice (Was-/-) have a marked reduction in ILC3s. Moreover, antimicrobial peptide expression in response to ILC3-derived IL-22 was also reduced in the absence of WASP. In Was-/- mice, we observed a reduction in CCR6+ ILC3s, cells known to restrict immune responses to commensal bacteria. WASP-deficient mice were more susceptible to Citrobacter rodentium, an enteric infection controlled by ILC3s. Interestingly, there was no reduction in ILC3s in Was-/- germ-free mice when compared to WT germ-free mice. ILC3s lacking WASP expression also demonstrated microbially-dependent alterations in gene expression associated with cell migration. Finally, ILC3-like (Rorgt+CD3-) cells were reduced in the GI tract of WASP-deficient patients. In conclusion, ILC3-specific expression of WASP is critical for the generation and function of ILC3s in the presence of commensal microflora. Aberrant ILC3 function in the setting of WASP-deficiency may contribute to underlying disease pathogenesis.


To solve the problem of performance degradation due to parameter variations in the vector control of an asynchronous motor,this paper presents a new method of designing adaptive rotor flux observer for vector control system. The adaptive rotor flux observers has been designed by using the parameter adaptive algorithm with a strict positive real error model,and the vector control closed-loop system of speed and flux has been constituted by using the observer. Simulation research of the system is done by constructing simulation model of the adaptive system using SIMULINK simulation tool, the effectiveness of the design method of rotor flux observer is verified by the results of the simulation.


Background and Purpose: Basilar artery occlusion (BAO) is associated with a high risk of disability and mortality. The objective of this study was to investigate prognostic factors in patients with acute basilar artery occlusion treated with mechanical thrombectomy, focusing on collateral status and recanalization time from symptom onset. Methods: Eligible patients from January 2012 to October 2019 who underwent endovascular treatment due to acute BAO were reviewed. The baseline posterior circulation collateral status was assessed with the basilar artery on computed tomography angiography score and posterior circulation collateral score. Good outcomes were defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of ≤2 at 3 months and successful recanalization as Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction grades 2b, 3. The associations between baseline and clinical parameters and favorable outcomes were evaluated with logistic regression. Results: Our sample included a total of 81 eligible patients (49 males, mean age 70.3 years) with a median baseline and discharge National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 12. Patients with good outcomes showed a lower baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, a greater proportion of distal BAO, and a higher basilar artery on computed tomography angiography and posterior circulation collateral score (P<0.001). According to subgroup analysis of patients within and over 6 or 12 hours, the time from symptom onset to recanalization was not correlated with good outcomes. Multivariable logistic analysis showed baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale <15 (odds ratio, 8.49 [95% CI, 2.01–35.82]; P=0.004), posterior circulation collateral score ≥6 (odds ratio, 3.79 [95% CI, 1.05–13.66]; P=0.042), and distal BAO (odds ratio, 3.67 [95% CI, 1.10–12.26]; P=0.035) were independent predictors of good outcomes. Conclusions: This study suggested that good collateral circulation and distal BAO are independent predictors of clinical outcome after endovascular treatment in patients with acute BAO. In particular, patients with good initial collateral status and distal BAO may consider endovascular treatment even if the treatment is started beyond the standard time limits.


The purpose of this research note is to propose the use of the term post-adoption placement, a neutral term, in lieu of adoption displacement, which has negative connotations, to describe a child's entry into foster or group care following adoption. Data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) are used to describe 2,642 previously adopted children who entered, and 3,166 previously adopted children who exited public foster and group care in federal fiscal year 2005 to their non-adopted counterparts, 249,562 and 229,409 respectively. The data support the argument that the neutral term is more appropriate because, although these placements can be upsetting, most previously adopted children are reunified with their adoptive parents if their adoptions have not been legally dissolved, or the children are re-adopted if their adoptions have been dissolved.


Leukotriene B4 (LTB4) Ω-hydroxylase catalyzes the conversion of LTB4 into a biologically less active product, 20-hydroxy-LTB4. In a preceding paper (Kikuta et al., 1993), we showed human polymorpho...


This article introduces NewGene, a complete redesign of the popular EUGene software. Like its predecessor, NewGene is designed to eliminate many of the difficulties commonly involved in constructing large international relations data sets. NewGene is a stand-alone Microsoft Windows and OSx-based program for the construction of annual, monthly, and daily data sets for a variety of decision-making units (e.g., countries, leaders, organizations) used in quantitative studies of international relations. It also provides users the ability to construct units of analysis ranging from monads (e.g., country-year), to dyads (e.g., country1-country2-year), to extra-dyadic observations called k-ads (e.g., country1-country2-year,…, -countryk-year). NewGene's purpose is to provide a highly flexible platform on which users can construct data sets for international relations research using preloaded data or by incorporating their own data. The software is freely available at http://www.newgenesoftware.org/.


Aquaponics has drawn interest as a sustainable farming method merging aquaculture with hydroponics. Using the effluent from fish farming to irrigate and fertilize vegetables which filter the water so that it can be reused for fish production has many benefits but unknown risks. One potential concern would be the potential for pathogens from fish effluent splashing onto the edible portions of plants and then being passed to the human consumers of the plants. To explore this concern, we developed an aquaponics system in a newly dedicated greenhouse and planted a lettuce crop in perforated styrofoam boards floating in a raceway filled with effluent from a tilapia production unit constituting a recirculating aquaculture system. The effluent and plant leaves were tested for bacterial counts. In an additional trial we developed a simple ultraviolet treatment system in an effort to reduce the level of bacteria in the water and on the plants. We did detect low levels of several bacteria in the water and on the plants. The UV system did reduce these bacteria to non-detectable levels in most cases. In conclusion, we did not find any health hazard in the aquaponic system tested and we developed a simple UV treatment system that lowered the levels of the bacteria that were observed. As an additional effort we developed an associated system utilizing tilapia and vegetable culture at the Conrado Castillo, a farming cooperative near Ciudad Victoria. The farm has been technically and economically profitable according to the farmers. INTRODUCTION In 2006, several nation-wide epidemics of Escherichia coli or related gastro-intestinal pathogens were traced to consumption of fresh vegetables (spinach, lettuce, green onions). In several of these cases the vector was thought to be contamination from human or animal wastes applied through irrigation water. As we encourage more organic farming methods and re-use of composted wastes and effluent waters from animal operations to irrigate field crops, we increase the opportunities for these types of contamination. One alternative is to increase the multiple-use of water for production of fish and use of these effluents for irrigation of vegetables that are bound for human consumption. 276 TECHNICAL REPORTS: INVESTIGATIONS 2007-2009 277 Across much of Asia, fish is the primary protein component of the diet and integrated fish and vegetable farming has been practiced for centuries. However, very few studies have been conducted to determine any health hazards that may result from this practice. The assumption is that fish being heterotherms (cold-blooded) and obviously not mammals, they are unlikely to be vectors for intestinal pathogens. However, fish farms do have human workers and ponds can be visited by farm animals and pets. Examination of typical aquaculture farm effluents and any residual potential pathogens that might be left on leafy vegetables irrigated with fish farm effluents, bound for direct human consumption would be an advisable precaution. Bacteria have been identified in aquaculture systems that are considered human pathogens, such as fecal coliforms including Escherichia coli (Ogbondeminu, 1993; Flick, 1996; Del Rio-Rodriguez et al., 1997; Pullela et al., 1998), Clostridium botulinim (Pullela et al., 1998), Pseudomonas species (Nedoluha and Westhoff, 1995), Aeromonas hydrophila (Nedoluha and Westhoff, 1997) and Salmonella species (Ogbondeminu, 1993) to name a few. Some typical fish pathogens have also been known to cause illness in humans. The microflora of the fish gills, skin, and digestive tract have been shown to reflect the microflora of the water they inhabit and may also pose a threat to humans (Reilly and Käferstein, 1997; Nedoluha and Westhoff, 1997; Ogbondeminu, 1993). Preliminary studies at the University of Arizona demonstrated that total coliforms levels of 10 CFU's/100ml and fecal coliform levels of 10 CFU's/100ml can be found in two separate recirculating systems rearing grass carp and tilapia (McKeon et al., 2000; McKeon, 1998). Samples from this system were found to contain total coliform levels as high as 10 CFU/100 ml. Fecal coliform levels were found to be variable over a test period of two months. Counts were as low as 1 CFU/100 ml to as high as 10 CFU/100 ml. These levels indicate the possible presence of human enteric pathogens that could cause illness in fish handlers and consumers if proper precautions are not observed. However, using the Colilert rapid detection test we had a negative result for E. coli presence. The source of the coliforms is unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS We proposed that complementary lab and field studies be performed to examine the bacterial flora typically encountered in in-door and out-door aquaculture operations. Along with this we would grow lettuce and spinach and in greenhouses and in the field which would be irrigated with effluents from attendant fish (tilapia) production facilities. An indoor – outdoor system was evaluated in a newly dedicated research building constructed to support the AquaFish Research program. Six round fiberglass tanks containing 5,000 liters of water were stocked with 200 tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), with an average weight of 140 grams each and a total length of 20 cm. The fish were fed a 30% protein diet at a rate of 5% of the biomass of fish per tank, split between three feedings by hand per day. Water temperature was maintained at 22 degrees C. during the trials. The six tanks were contained inside a building. The effluent water from each tank was fed to a biofilter containing plastic media to capture solids and increase dissolved oxygen before the water entered the hydroponics beds. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and spinach (Spinacia oleracea) were stocked onto floating sheets of styrofoam (floating bed technique) placed on top of the water in the hydroponics bed. 287 plants were transplanted from a seed starting table to the growing boards in each 277 TECHNICAL REPORTS: INVESTIGATIONS 2007-2009 278 recirculation raceway for each trial (lettuce in summer and spinach in winter). The hydroponic raceways were 7,500 liters each and were constructed adjacent to the fish production building containing the tanks. Water and plants samples were collected from the University of Tamaulipas UV system, Veterinary College, fish and plants were grown during summer, fall and winter during 2008 and 2009 at different intervals. Leaf samples are removed randomly from the growing lettuce and spinach plants. Samples were collected and stored in sterile plastic bottles and bags. They were immediately placed in an ice chest and transported to the Veterinary college water quality analysis laboratory for analysis. Fig. 1 Lettuce plants germinating 1. Greenhouse studies Tilapia production facilities at the Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas utilize recirculation technology to rear fish. These systems incorporate biological filtration, which includes nitrifying and heterotrophic bacteria to treat water so that it can be recycled to the fish tanks for continuous rearing of fish in the same water. The effluent water and a control water supply, tap water from the city water source, used for irrigation would be sampled during each irrigation event (every 3rd day for the first three weeks and 5th day for the final nine weeks). Crops cycle times for the lettuce and spinach were 7 weeks and 10 weeks respectively. At the end of the growing cycle, leaves from the portions of the plant typically harvested for commercial sale will be collected and sampled for total fecal coliforms, E. coli, enterococci and Salmonella. Total colony forming units (CFU's) will be determined and reported on a per 100 ml basis. 2. Field Studies Tilapia production facilities at the Ejido Conrado Castillo utilize a pond system with source water from wells passing through Fig. 2. Student from the UAT planting lettuce in styrofoam floating on the trough of effluents. Fig. 3. Tilapia weighed and stocked into the system 278 TECHNICAL REPORTS: INVESTIGATIONS 2007-2009 279 two ponds stocked with fish before use as irrigation water for spinach and lettuce. These farmer cooperators agreed to provide matching support to the project and provided ponds, liners, plumbing and field preparation in addition to the care and feeding of the fish and tending the vegetables. The field plots required more frequent irrigation in the dry field environment, with the exact irrigation schedule dependant on weather conditions. Sample schedule was not as frequent as the university lab testing but did encompass five sample dates during the irrigation schedule. At the end of the growing cycle, leaves from the portions of the plant typically harvested for commercial sale were collected and sampled for total fecal coliforms, E. coli, enterococci and Salmonella. Total colony forming units (CFU's) was be determined and reported on a per 100 ml basis. LAB ANALYSES. Fecal coliforms will be isolated by membrane filtration of the sample and direct plating of the filter on mFC agar according to Standard Methods (APHA, 1998). For E. coli isolation, a presumptive test involving lauryl sulfate tryptose (LST) broth will be employed. Positive presumptive tests (gas production) will be followed by the tests with E. coli (EC) broth (Hitchins et al., 1992). Enterococci will be isolated according to Standard Methods (APHA, 1998) using membrane filtration and m Enterococcus agar for determining the presence of fecal streptococci. Confirmation will be performed after transferring typical colonies from a membrane to the surface of a brain-heart infusion (BHI) agar and incubation. A catalase test and gram stain of the BHI isolate will be done as well as observations of growth on bile esculin agar and growth in BHI broth containing 6.5% NaCl to confirm the presence of enterococci (APHA, 1998; Hartman et al., 1992). Salmonella pre-enrichment will be accomplished using lactose broth (Flowers et al., 199


Samples of rosin, abietic acid and pitch may be made to flow at temperatures as low as 20°C at low pressures and conveniently short periods of time, sufficient for fluidity determinations. Such a method as this one was devised in the hope of finding a much better control instrument for such materials. No evidence of plasticity was observed. The fluidity was found to be independent of the dimensions of the apparatus used. In the pressure range from 130 to 1800 g per cm2 no effect of change of pressure upon the fluidity was detected. A study of the effect of changes in pressure upon the flow of plastic materials is now being made.


An End to the Yen to List? Ask the investor relations director of any U.S.-based public corporation currently implementing an investor relations program in Japan, "Why?" and you'll get the same response Willy Sutton gave as the reason he robbed banks: "Because that's where the money is." Any company functioning on a global basis is acutely aware of this. With a gross national product on the order of $2.9 trillion and per capita income calculated to now exceed $22,000, Japan is the world's leading capital exporter. "If you're going to be a multinational or international business, you have to realize there is benefit from going to Japan and other foreign capital markets, because it comes back to you in additional exposure for doing business later on," says Russell J. Page, senior vice president and investor relations executive at NCNB Corporation, the seventh largest banking company in the United States, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. "The reason we're in Japan is because it's a key source of capital to the world," says Franklin T. Jepson, corporate vice president at Bausch & Lomb Inc., Rochester, New York. "Even though we may not need the money today, we may wish to do something creative with financing in the future." Jepson notes that the numbers speak for themselves: "If you watch the statistics, such as those in the Treasury Bulletins, it is clear that Japan's aggregation of capital and how it is channelling that capital to the rest of the world, combined with the fact that the Japanese went long in their purchase of U.S. equities in October 1987, all indicate that the Japanese are going to be buying more U.S. securities, both debt and equity, over the long term. And that's a force not to be ignored." The numbers are indeed compelling. Growth of Japanese interest in U.S. equities is "explosive," according to David G. Strongin, director, international finance, at the Securities Institute Association (SIA). Japanese investment has driven the Asian share of activity from under 15 percent in 1984 to 20 percent in 1986, 30 percent in 1987 and 35 percent in 1988. Japan far and away leads the Asian money centers, with 91 percent of U.S. stock in the Far East being held there. In 1988, Tokyo again ranked first on Technimetics' "Global Money Map" in its International Target Cities Report of cities ranked by total equities under management, with a whopping $1.8 trillion - more than double the combined amounts managed in the high-powered finance cities of New York, London and Geneva. Daunting obstacles In short, for investor relations directors of U.S. and European corporations, Japan and its considerable investment capital controlled by institutions, corporations and individuals are extremely tempting. But Japan also represents formidable challenges. There are the language and cultural differences, for starters. Investor relations, still a developing discipline in this country, has until recently been all but unknown in Japan. And while Japan may be a major source of capital to the world its own capital markets are grossly under-developed by American standards. Dynamic asset allocation techniques - the active trading of equities in the market-place - has yet to become common practice among Japanese money managers. The U.S. and Japanese financial markets have been drawn closer together, according to Stephen H. Axilrod, vice chairman at Nikko Securities, by three factors: long-term capital outflow from Japan, the establishment of Japanese securities firms in U.S. markets, and the necessary opening and diversification of Japanese markets. "We are now in a transitional stage during which Japan is establishing itself as a key player in international finance," Axilrod explained during a hearing before the Securities Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, last June. The operative word here appears to be "transitional. …


This paper briefly reviewed the history of dev el opments of compressor technologies and its professional personnel education in C hina.The education models of specialized technique personnel in modern universit ies and the product' technology developments in modern manufac turers are analyzed systematically.The paper points out that sufficiently taking advantages of wide knowledge and high potential in innovations of modern gradua ted students,taking more ways and more channels to train and educate professiona l personnel for a company to obtain more benefits from this.


Political and ideological education is facing more and more challenges in the new age.The paper holds that to ensure a sound system, we must get hold of the features,determine the new ideas and explore new methods.


Two experiments were conducted to investigate the possibility of using aqueous testis extracts as growth promoters. In the first experiments, 100 Abore Acre chicks were assigned to four treatments in which the birds were given 0, 10,15 and 20% of a 3.3 % aqueous bull testis extract in drinking water ad libitum from week four to week eight while in the second experiment, 100 Anak broiler chicks were placed in five treatments with 0, 10, 15, 20 and 30% of the testis extracts, respectively from week two to week eight. Throughout the studies feed and water were supplied ad libitum. Live weight of the birds and weight gain were significantly (p Keywords : Testis extract, Broiler Production Global Journal of Agricultural Sciences Vol. 7 (1) 2008: pp. 27-30


In Japan, turnout structures are usually designed on the basis of verified experience or JIS specifications. Consequently, there is no established method yet for evaluating original turnout structures. This study examines an evaluation method for turnout structures based on dynamic analyses. When considering new turnout structures, it is necessary to carry out evaluations of running safety and track material strength. In order to implement them efficiently, it was decided to evaluate them separately.


There are many software reliability models that are based on the times of occurrences of errors in the debugging of software. Software error detection techniques known in advance, but influencing factors for considering the errors found automatically and learning factors, by prior experience, to find precisely the error factor setting up the testing manager are presented comparing the problem. It is shown that it is possible to do asymptotic likelihood inference for software reliability models based on infinite failure model and non-homogeneous Poisson Processes (NHPP). Statistical process control (SPC) can monitor the forecasting of software failure and thereby contribute significantly to the improvement of software reliability. Control charts are widely used for software process control in the software industry. In this paper, we proposed a control mechanism based on NHPP using mean value function of logarithmic hazard learning effects property.


Patients with sickle cell disease and COVID‐19 may not have a more dire outcome than the general population. Nevertheless, they may present with acute chest syndrome and other sickle cell crises which should be aggressively managed.


Retention of engineering students from the freshmen year to the sophomore year is a concern of many engineering institutions. Also of concern is the ability of students to take knowledge learned in one application and transfer it to another application. To address these issues the Engineering program at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) has recently redesigned its freshmen Introduction to Engineering Design course (IED) to excite students to independently learn, to create an environment for peer learning, to increase student in-class and out of class participation, and to emphasize and connect the role of graphical communication in the design process. It is believed that these objectives are instrumental for exciting students about engineering, for increasing student retention, for motivating learning, and for improving students' knowledge transfer capabilities especially in the application of engineering design. This paper provides an overview of the UTC IED course, its objectives and project structure and how students use projects and technology, specifically, computer-based systems such as SolidWorks software to enhance learning.


full text of the four eucharistic prayers, is given at the end of the volume. The text of the readings is that of the Jerusalem Bible, while the Grail version is used for the responsorial psalms. A second volume, covering the readings from the week after Pentecost to the last Week of the Year, is promised. This first volume is handy and compact (about the size of the interim breviary) and, to all appearances, well bound. It should prove useful to those who wish to prepare the readings or meditate on them outside the Mass (or, in some churches, simply to follow the reader, despite the sophistication of the modem public address systems available).


Lifestyle management is a growing area aimed at giving individuals support for an increased self-awareness; self-monitoring technologies are essential in providing an objective account of our daily events. However, most self-monitoring technological solutions largely focus on physical health and ignore other aspects. Our goal is to utilise context aware technologies in order to support people in understanding how various aspects of their lives influence their wellbeing, including, for example, mental and social health. For that, we need to gain a deeper insight into the challenges of designing such solutions, from sensing to interaction paradigms. The paper describes the design and implementation of our system, including novel story-based information presentation concepts. We conclude with preliminary results from our exploratory user-based experiments.


Background: The risk of foodborne diseases increase with poor food handling practices. Unsafe food leads to the spread of diseases which increases morbidity and occasionally mortality, significantly impeding public health. This study was aimed to determine food hygiene knowledge, attitude, and practices among food handlers in Calabar Municipal, Cross River State, Nigeria. Methods: A total of 156 food handlers were randomly selected and interviewed using a structured pretested questionnaire. Direct observation of environment and hygiene practices while handling or serving the food was also done. SPSS version 25 was used for data analysis and testing associations using Chi square test. Results: The finding of the study revealed that majority 135(86.6%) of the food handlers had good knowledge of food safety and hygiene. Most 134(86%) of the respondents also had good level of practice of food hygiene. Majority 118(75.6%) were also found to have good attitude towards food hygiene. but few still had poor practice. The proportion who had good food hygiene practice was higher among handlers with good food hygiene knowledge levels compared to those with poor knowledge levels, (87.3% versus 66.6%) and the difference was statically significant (P =0.002). Moderately sanitary food vending environments were also observed in the study. Conclusion: Good food hygiene practices is associated with good knowledge levels. We recommend health education courses/ workshops for food handlers as a requirement for commencement of food vending business. Continuous monitoring and periodic training is also essential in order to improve knowledge, attitude and practice towards food safety.


The article highlights the issues of implementing innovative educational technologies as a way to develop professionalism and pedagogical skills of a teacher of an educational institution. Based on the results of the analysis, the key characteristics of the image of a modern high school teacher are considered, the features of structuring the personal image of a teacher are described, and recommendations are given on the technology for developing a positive image. The study of this problem will allow you to clearly present the existing picture and conduct a deep analysis of the situation, which contributes to the selection of tools for the formation of innovative components of the image of the teacher. Today, the success of any representative or public activity requires a positive image. Since the teacher is always visible, he must take care of his image. The formation of the image of a teacher begins with the first impression created by the features of the style of clothing, facial expressions, gestures, and speech. External characteristics should be supported by internal personal qualities: General erudition, life goals and attitudes, attitude to people around you and events. Image determines the self-realization of the individual: for the teacher, it serves as an indicator of recognition from society, evaluation and attitude of others. The stages of managing the formation of the teacher's image include: studying public opinion about the profession, clarifying the preferences of consumers of educational services, broadcasting a positive image of the teacher, supporting positively colored, emotionally attractive components of the image. Professionally significant personal qualities of the teacher, which characterize the intellectual and emotional-volitional sphere of the individual, significantly affect the result of professional activity. Professional image is a tool of pedagogical influence and a condition for successful professional activity. This is a requirement of a market economy. In the modern world, a teacher must be competitive. Often, the teacher remains unclaimed because of an incorrectly projected image in the minds of others. It is no longer enough to be just a high -class professional. Professional image is a necessary condition for successful professional activity. The role of this work is to formulate a number of ideas about the image of the teacher, contributing to their effective promotion in a competitive environment.


The high degree complexity of the features associated with a unit in neural networks suggested that the introduction of fuzziness into the activity of the unit would be appropriate. It is demonstrated that the idea of imprecise distinction between excitation and inhibition can be manipulated easily by fuzzy activation functions. A mathematical formulation of fuzzy activation functions, which are generalization of the two-valued interpretation of activation of a unit is presented, and their relations to other different classes of activation functions are discussed. Furthermore, it is shown that fuzzy activation functions have sufficient power to deal with the fuzzy phenomena of the activity of a unit, with the restriction that the behavior is Boolean-like. Examples are given to illustrate the analysis and synthesis of the fuzzy activation function.<<ETX>>


This study focuses on the control of movable Venetian blinds. Multiple improvements to an existing on/off open-loop control strategy in a case-study apartment have been simulated in TRNSYS 18, thanks to the detailed optical and thermal modelling allowed by the Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function (BSDF) used as input to the Type56_CFS. The control strategy improvements include the combination of rule-based, closed-loop and discrete state control, in addition to four control strategy activation methods (three use a schedule, and one measures the external temperature). Simulated control inputs include internal temperature, external temperature and vertical irradiance. The results show reductions in overheating, achieved without completely blocking natural illumination or compromising heating demand. While on/off control in winter often leads to increased heating energy consumption, the space sees regular overheating when on/off control is inactive over winter. Conversely, discrete state control is able to more precisely control solar gains in winter to maintain an adequate temperature without utilising the heating system, all the while allowing some level of natural illumination. Ultimately, it is concluded that the choice of the control strategy depends on which objective (minimisation of heating energy consumption, maximisation of daylight harvesting, reduction of overheating risk, etc.) is prioritised.


It provides methods and compositions for the controlled release of the active agent. The composition comprises an oligonucleotide scaffold and substantially complementary oligonucleotide factors. Active agent is bound to the oligonucleotide factors. Two oligonucleotides as degradation of the scaffold occurs faster than the decomposition of the factors may be decomposed in different ways -. As the scaffold is degraded, factor is released. Active agent may be a therapeutic agent, or may be a diagnostic agent.


At present, people's living standards are constantly improving, so many people choose to renovate their houses, which has promoted the development of the interior design industry. While in fact there are some problems in interior design, the interior designers only understand computer technology and are short of a good foundation of art, which results in their works not being beautiful and defective. In view of this kind of situation, this article starts from the importance of art foundation in interior design, and explores how to better apply art foundation in interior design. As an important part of the art profession, the interior design major is mainly applied to the specific design of the interior of the house. However, in actual investigation and research, we can see that most of the interior design workers in the current society do not have a mature foundation in art. On the whole, the design is wanting in a certain sense of beauty and there are certain problems, which have led to defects in design content and cannot meet people's actual needs. Therefore, in the teaching process of the current interior design specialty, we should pay attention to the teaching of the art foundation, and fully and flexibly integrate the foundation of art into the interior design, so as to ensure that the design content meets the aesthetic needs. 1. The main components of the art foundation course 1.1. Sketch In a certain sense, sketch should be the basis and prerequisite for all design of modeling. The main purpose of sketch teaching is to cultivate and improve students' observation ability, modeling ability and innovation ability, and it is mainly composed of realistic sketch and creative sketch. Also realistical sketch is the secondary creation of objects through the observation and analysis of objective things, which reappears the image of things. It is mainly reflected in the structural relationship and the performance of black and white gray, what is also the key to the cultivation of students' modeling ability. For example, in the teaching of interior design related content, teachers can learn basic things and train students' observation ability, as well as improving the quality of hand-drawn renderings, also enable students to quickly and accurately find the essence of things, then achieve the expected results. What's more, lightning and shadow training can be used to enhance the efficiency of building indoor renderings. The so-called creative sketch is different from the traditional sketch in that it no longer takes realism as the ultimate purpose of teaching. Also the traditional draw realistical sketch is mainly to improve and train students' observation ability, and to reproduce things completely under the premise of normal observation. It requires the person to be rigorous in thinking and pay attention to the accuracy of the body structure. While creative sketch pays more attention to students' creative thinking and creative consciousness, and it attaches importance to the designer's subjective ideas. Through the aesthetic creation of its unique sketch technique, it makes flexible and effective use of decoration design, materials and other factors, and forms a new sketch method through superposition.


Baetis atlanticus (Soldán & Godunko, 2006) is reported as new to the British mayfly fauna. A key to separating nymphs of B. atlanticus from B. rhodani (Pictet, 1843) is provided.


The Etienne Marcel medical, psychological and pedagogical centre has experimented with an innovating structure to fight against school refusal, in two Parisian secondary schools, by organising in situ individual consultations. The ambition of this structure is the prevention and possible orientation towards care centres. This experience highlights the thorny question of the passage from the world of school towards the place of therapeutic care.The big absentees received are in positions of more or less noisy opposition. So how can the "refusers" be led to think about their impediments and to formulate the beginnings of a demand for treatment ?


Chronic Energy Deficiency is a situation where the nutritional status someone is on the Less Good Condition. Among the 22 health centers in the district of Lima Puluh Kota, CED highest coverage at the health center are Banja Laweh Namely Case 17 (16.50%) of 103 pregnant mothers. Preliminary Survey of 10 pregnant women at health centers Banja Laweh, note 4 people (40%) of them suffered CED. Based on the findings of interviews stating Not pregnant women know the importance of the size upper arm circumference on Against her pregnancy, in addition to pregnant women consume no food Diversified, because lust Eating Less and Economics not sufficient. Objectives for review determine factors related to the occurrence of Chronic energy deficiency on pregnant women. Methods descriptive analytic with cross sectional approach. Data collection is done on Date in January-February 2017. CASE is a whole population of pregnant women in the region are working Health Center Banja Laweh Year 2017, amounted to 55 people, with sampling total sampling. Operating data analysis using univariate and bivariate statistical test Chi Square. Results of univariate analysis 87,3% of respondents experienced Genesis not CED, (60,0%) High Knowledge, (56,4%) Economy High, and 61,8% of Eating Well. Bivariate analysis known Relationship of Knowledge (p = 0.013 and OR = 12,000, Economics (p = 0.035 and OR = 10,000), and Diet (p = 0.019 and OR = 13,200) with the Genesis CED pregnant women. Can be concluded that the factors related to the occurrence of CED pregnant women is Science, Economics and the Diet. Expected to conduct monitoring of the health center and Supervision of pregnant women at risk Against The Genesis CED, so the negative impact of the CED can be addressed early on.


We report sub-Doppler and sub-natural linewidth spectroscopy of Li on the D1 and D2 lines in both a vapour cell and an atomic beam. Electromagnetically induced transparency is created using co-propagating mutually coherent laser beams with a frequency difference equal to the hyperfine ground state splitting of 228.2 MHz. The effects of various optical polarization configurations and applied magnetic fields are investigated. In addition, we present an optical Ramsey spectroscopy technique which further reduces the observed resonance width. PACS numbers: 32.10.Fn, 32.30.Jc, 32.80.Qk Submitted to: J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Phys. Sub-natural resonances due to ground state coherence in Li 2


There is obvious differentia of the uplift processes during the Late Cenozoic between the East and West Kunlun Mountains. The modern relief framework of the East Kunlun Mountains was mainly built in Quaternary, by the Kunlun-Yellow River Movement in late Early Pleistocene and the Gonghe Movement in late Middle Pleistocene. It also can be detected in the East Kunlun that the development of the mountains transferred from north to south. The West Kunlun Mountains, however, began to build in Tertiary and prick up to uplift in Quaternary. Although an eastward flowing drainage system in the East Kunlun was formed after the Kunlun-Yellow River Movement, the modern drainage system was mainly formed in late Middle Pleistocene by strong southward tracing to the source eroding, contemporary to the Gonghe Movement.The West Kunlun, however, strong southward tracing to the source eroding was mainly occurred in late Early Pleistocene, basically contemporary to the Kunlun-Yellow River Movement. The unroofing of the upper 3km rocks in the East Kunlun Mountains lasted about 45 Ma at least, but only 2~5 Ma in some part of the West Kunlun Mountains. The dynamics controlling the tectonic uplift of the Kunlun Mountains may depend on the balance between the gravity collapse of the thicken lithosphere of the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and the compressive stress which came from the south. The uplift differentia in different area of the Tibetan Plateau should be more emphasized in the study on the uplift processes and dynamics of the whole Tibetan Plateau.


ABSTRACT This paper presents a method to estimate the aboveground biomass (AGB) through the selection of different estimation methods based on numerous vegetation types (i.e., broadleaf forest, coniferous forest, shrub and grassland) at a regional scale. The proposed method is based on three models, namely, the stepwise regression, an improved back-propagation neural network (Improved BBPNN) model based on the Gaussian error function, and the support vector machine (SVM) technique, Meanwhile, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) image data and geo-parameters are employed to select 68 feature variables and optimize 213 data samples. Our results reveal that, the stepwise regression method provides the best AGB estimation performance for broadleaf forests and coniferous forests, while the SVM technique shows the best performance for grasslands and shrubs. Different vegetation types should be selected for additional biomass estimation models that have been proven to enhance the biomass estimation. This study on the AGB not only promotes research on the net primary productivity (NPP), but also plays a key role in global carbon cycle research.


We have already proposed a novel method to provide human tactile sensation using surface acoustic wave (SAW). A pulse modulated driving voltage excites temporal distribution of standing SAW. The distribution generates friction shift on the surface of a SAW substrate. When the surface with the burst SAW is explored through a slider by a finger, the friction shift generates a mechanical vibration similar to a stick-slip vibration on the finger. The vibration can be perceived as tactile sensation at mechanoreceptors in the finger skin. Controlling the burst frequency according to measured rubbing motion, reality of the displayed sensation can be enhanced. In this research, we install the tactile display with a transparent stator transducer on a computer screen. Two-dimensional rubbing motion is available for the display. An experimental apparatus with finger motion capture system is fabricated on trial and controlled according to the captured motion. In a demonstration, operators can rub on a solid mark under the display to recognize its shape through tactile sensation.


Abstract Sixteen learning disabled and a matched sample of normal children were individually administered a paired associate learning task which varied in abstractness. Specifically, eight abstract and a like number of concrete nouns were randomly matched with nonsense geometric figures and were presented within a three trial paired associate learning paradigm. As predicted, learning‐disabled children recalled significantly fewer abstract nouns than normals; and groups were similar in their recall of concrete words. While groups did not differ on their overall recall for the first trial, in successive trials normals out performed learning problem children who did not improve on trials two and three. The performance of learning‐disabled students was linked to a failure to employ the verbal strategies necessary in the mediation of abstract verbal material.


Smart Antenna is recognized as an important technique for increasing the user capacity of a Wireless Communication network, this is due to its capabilities of steering nulls to reduce co-channel interference and pointing independent beams toward various users as well as its ability to provide estimates of directions of radiating sources. The core of Smart Antenna is the selection of smart adaptive beam forming algorithm. An adaptive algorithm is said to be "blind" if it does not require a known training sequence. Blind adaptive algorithm is important because, it is common practice to switch to a blind mode once the training sequence has been processed in order to track a changing environment, and blind adaptive algorithm can completely eliminate the need for a training sequence. This is desirable since the use of a training sequence reduces the number of bits available for transmitting information. This paper analyzes the Constant Modulus Algorithm (CMA) as a blind adaptive algorithm developed for Smart Antenna application in a W-CDMA communication network. The computer simulation carried out in MATLAB platform shows the signal processing technique optimally combines the components in such a way that it maximizes array gain in the desired direction simultaneously minimize it in the direction of interference.


This study is devoted to a new section in the field of singular optics-to beams carrying a fractional topological charge. A feature of this type of beams is structural instability, and with the slightest external perturbation, these beams form arrays of optical vortices. These vortices can be connected and, as it were, form an integral picture, or disintegrate due to the fact that during the propagation each of the vortices receives an additional phase incursion. These studies were based on a theoretical calculation and experimental study of the vector structure of beams transporting optical vortices with a fractional topological charge and the proof of the process of forming asymmetric TE (transversely electrical) and TM (transverse magnetic) modes in free space, and the study of the features of their "thin" vector structures in free space.


This paper is focused on the issues of platinum-based cathode for direct methanol fuel cell,such as high sensitivity to catalyst poisons and poor selectivity against methanol oxidation.Phthalocyanine iron complex catalyst with controlled morphology was synthesized using Fe2+ as the template agent.IR spectra testing showed that N in phthalocyanine molecule coordinated with Fe2+.According to the electrode polarization curves,the electro-catalytic activity of phthalocyanine iron for the oxygen reduction was gradually improved with the rise of the temperature.And the catalyst displayed inertness for methanol oxidation.It is proved that phthalocyanine iron has good catalytic selectivity.


Diagnosis of lower extremity DVT is generally made or confirmed with duplex ultrasound assessment. Standards in Australia and New Zealand state that duplex ultrasound for DVT should determine the proximal extent of the thrombus, as well as identify structures causing extrinsic compression that may have contributed to the thrombosis.2 This information assists the clinician in determining the need to consider specific treatments, such as venous stenting for May–Thurner syndrome or placement of a caval filter in cases where there is a freefloating thrombus in the inferior vena cava. Duplex ultrasound can play a key role in the diagnosis of May–Thurner syndrome.3


George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World have set the standard for contemporary literary dystopia thanks to their haunting represe


Heterodyne detection at the quantum level of sub-millimeter wave radiation has been demonstrated on numerous occasions. At this time sufficient local oscillator power to reach this limit has only been available at the discrete wavelength of existing lasers in the mid-IR. It is, however, reasonable to expect that in the near future sufficient powerful sources tunable over useful bands will become available for the whole region classified as sub-millimeter wave. In the sensing of low levels of radiation, receivers of this kind can thus provide the experimentor with an alternative to sensors of the classic kind, consisting of a quantum counter or power detector preceeded by some form of optical filtering device as exemplified by narrow band filters, Fabry-Perot resonators and transform devices such as Fourier transform spectrometers and Hadamard encoders.


The success of compact clause in American constitution contributes to the amendment of our constitution. In fact, lack of "administrative agreement clause" in Chinese constitution leads to some problems, such as the doubt of the rights to conclude agreements. So issuing "administrative agreement clause" is necessary. The mode of legislation should be: issuing "administrative agreement clause" abstractly in the constitution, stipulating concrete content in the local organization law, and disclosing detailed rules in other laws.


Synthetic view of the phylogeny has be~n chosen to introduce the embryology of the artenes of the central nervous system. Embryology reproduces in few weeks of time the major stages presented here. Most arterial anomalies encountered during examination of patients have no pathological significance. However some patterns can help in dating the abnormal process that has led to the malformation explored. For years the supply to the brain has been studied, and yet hampered by human conceptual limitations. Most information is available and if new facts are believed to be «discovered» it is usually by lack of enquiry in the previous literature. Everything has probably not been published, but at least there is more available than what we can use at present. In the mean time, false directi?ns have been taken and yet still not fully recogmzed and thus uncorrected. Therefore contradictory theories are still vivied and perpetuated; some of them are necessarily wrong. Our purpose in the following overview of phylogeny is not to pretend to the truth, since the right theories will only be c~nfirmed with time, but to share a synthetic practical and original view of supply to the cerebrum. This view has helped us to understand all the variations described in the cerebral vasculature. It also represents the extended application of the method used and matured in the rest of the head and neck area. It allows us to predict additional varia-


This paper describes a study of the design process of architects dealing with building reuse. Even if we can intuitively recognize that the redesign of an existing building is different from the design of a new one, it is not easy to point to the distinguishing aspects of redesign and to the way architects cope with them. In order to shed more light on redesign, the paper starts by describing the general framework of the research, after which the protocol of a redesign session is analysed in two different ways. First a qualitative method is used to discuss the contents of the design session. Subsequently, a quantitative method is used to perform a more detailed analysis. The conclusions of both analyses are discussed at the end of the paper.


This paper is intended as an experimentalist's guide to Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy with broadband pulsed lasers. The basic equations and rules of thumb for one-photon resonances and ionization are presented. Sources of information on energy levels and cross sections are given. The role of magnetic sublevels in populations, rates and isotopic biases is also discussed.


Activation of the immune system is a multistep process.
The transcription factor nuclear factor-kappa B (NFkB),
has been one of the most widely studied molecules
in the immune system, as it is activated by a variety of
stimuli and it in turn controls diverse genes and biological
responses. It is an evolutionarily conserved
molecule that coordinates the organism's response to
infection, stress and injury. It plays a major role in
the induction of pro-inflammatory genes and affects
the various cells involved in immune response as well
as affects the generation of innate and adaptive immune
response. It is also a target for drugs used in treatment
of various inflammatory diseases.


In Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) such as Wireless Sensors Networks (WSN), disseminating data is crucial. Under energy constraints with limited communications capabilities, performing data dissemination is challenging. In such contexts, common data dissemination methods cannot be used. Nodes must rely on device-to-device communications policies to mitigate the impact of communications on the nodes energy consumption. However, depending on nodes configuration (up-times duration, wireless technology capabilities and energy consumption), choosing a suitable communication policy is challenging. This work exposes the problem statement for using analytic algorithms to predict the most suitable device-to-device communication policy, for a given node configuration, to match a given coverage and energy consumption target in a constrained environment.


Economic theory establish four main characteristics of the transition of a centrally planned economy towards a market economy: free prices resulting from the confrontation between supply and demand, freedom of domestic and foreign trade, and freedom of entrepreneurship. Does this theoretical framework allow to understand economic and institutional changes taking place in China for the last thirty years? A lot of papers presented some analysis of the institutional dimension of transition; we will focus on the indicators allowing to capture pace, stages and progress of the transition process and the degree of marketization. Are the specific transition models suitable for the Chinese case? This paper will focus on the case of the Liaoning province. This province has traditionally been an industrial region benefiting from an important industrialization policy during the Mao area thanks to heavy industries. At the beginning of the reforms in 1978, the Liaoning province was the 5th richest province in China in terms of GDP per capita. After thirty years of reforms, this province occupies the 8th rank. Which economic and institutional changes have taken place? Which stages remain to fulfil? The analysis of the process of transition offers insight into these questions and allows to appreciate the institutional changes already implemented and the reforms remaining to achieve. However, the transition process starting in 1978 is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that requires specific analysis tools. How to characterize and analyze the transition process at work in the province of Liaoning? How to assess the rhythm and progress of this transition process?


The paper first introduced the mechanism of irradiation in wastewater treatment,and then described its application to remove color and COD of dyeing and finishing wastewater,as well as analyzed the effects affecting radiation treatment,including absorbent dosage,oxidants and free radical inhibitors.It was concluded that the irradiation was efficacious in dye decoloration and COD decrease.Irradiation treatment was a promising process for dyeing and finishing wastewater treatment.


The paper examines the basic intermarket model of the four traditional capital asset classes. The model is created by using four most widely followed global market indices S&P 500, R/J CRB, 30-Year US Treasury Bond Price and Dollar Index. Relative performances of those leading global benchmarks are calculated from monthly adjusted
close prices and used in product momentum correlations to reflect the statistical
significance of the observed empirical results. Dividend yields are not considered in calculations. The selected fifteen year time period allow the user to investigate performances of the four different capital markets during the different economic phases including economic prosperity, economic slowdown or economic turndown phase and indicate how they interrelate. The research identified statistically significant positive correlation between indexes S&P 500 and US Dollar Index in the Faze2, statistically
significant negative correlation between indexes 30-Year US Treasury Bond Price and R/JCRB during the Faze4 and finally statistically significant negative correlation between indexes R/J CRB and US Dollar Index during the Faze4 at the 95,0 % confidence
level. In other cases and fazes statistically significant non-zero correlations were detected.
The research work results are beneficial for the areas of sector rotation, tactical asset
allocation and carry trade.


Artificial intelligence (AI) has received a lot of attention from diverse fields. Many researchers have studied on AI theories and developed the necessary technologies for AI applications. The main goal of AI research is to find making systems always do the optimal things. But such AI systems are different in general human behaviors. Though people act optimally at all times, they conduct rationally. We need to AI systems thinking and acting like human being in some cases such as care assistance. In this paper, we propose a probability learning model to decide not optimally but rationally. To show how our model can be applied to real problem, we carry out a case study using data set from University of California, Irvine machine learning repository.


The occurrence of squamous-cell carcinoma of the pyloric end of the stomach in association with diffuse squamous-cell metaplasia of the glandular gastric mucosa is rare. The coincidence of these two lesions has, to our knowledge, never been described in the literature, and because of the rarity of such a condition this case is being reported. Report of a Case A 54-year-old Negro man was admitted to the hospital on June 7, 1955, with a history and physical findings not unlike that of carcinoma of the stomach. For "five to six" years the patient had complained of food dyscrasias, often being able to relieve the "indigestion" with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Three to four months prior to admission, all foods began to be intolerable. Pain developed which was almost constant, and the patient began to lose weight constantly. He had lost from 30 to 40 lb. over the course of his


high quantity as biomass, when they were produced at the lower temperature of 300 ° C for 25 minutes to 75 minutes. The analytical results with calorimeter indicated that the heating value of the tablets were about 3,800 cal which was corresponded to nearly 60 % of the one of charcoal. The carbonized tablets made from the sewage sludge can be expected to make application as a fuel in the heating systems of greenhouses, factories, and households.


X-ray K-absorption spectra of some structurally important copper (II) mixed ligand complexes have been recorded using a Cauchois type bent crystal X-ray spectrograph ofO.4mradius. The spectra have been recorded using both solid complexes as well as their aqueous solutions. The observed X-ray absorption parameters e.g., chemicalshift, edge-width,shift of the principal absotption maximum and structure of the K-edge have been used to explain the structure of the complexes and also these parameters have been correlated with chemical studies. The changes in the structure of the complexes as they form aqueous solutions have also been interpreted in terms of the X-ray absorption parameters. Further the average metal-ligand bond distances have been estimated from the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). It has been found that the average metal-ligand bond distance increases in the aqueous solution state as compared to that in the solid state.


In this work, we developed a new computational algorithm for the integrated analysis of highdimensional data sets based on the Generalized Singular Value Decomposition(GSVD). We developed an iterative version of the Generalized Singular Value Decomposition (IGSVD) that jointly analyzes two data matrices to identify signals that correlate the rows of two matrices. The IGSVD has been validated on simulated and real genomic data sets and results on simulated show that the algorithm is able to sequentially detect multiple simulated signals that were embedded in high levels of background noise. Results on real DNA microarray data from normal and tumor tissue samples indicate that the IGSVD detects signals that are biologically relevant to the initiation and progression of liver cancer.


An investigation of a runaway chemical reaction in the laboratory highlighted the potential hazards of oxidation chemistry involving hydrogen peroxide in the presence of tungsten catalysts. Under the process conditions, a combination of a high adiabatic temperature rise, an unstable target molecule, and a potentially incompatible mixture of hydrogen peroxide and tungsten catalyst produced a reaction mixture capable of high rates of self-heating and self-pressurization. Under conditions of poor heat removal, a runaway chemical reaction and loss of containment resulted. Tungsten species can catalyze the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide at low onset temperatures. The safety aspects of this synthetic methodology must be thoroughly assessed prior to scale-up.


This article discusses a method of determining the optimal operation of the induction machine in generator mode in off-grid. This method of determining the optimum is processed into a program that was created in LabVIEW. This program is able to evaluate the optimal operation of the induction generator in island mode from the calculated parameters of machine and measured characteristics of the machine.


The Rosenstock shock blasting process of bursting rock into small pieces to allow sheet piles through was demonstrated on the found60 M Rochester way relief road construction site in South-East London. Small amounts of explosive are used to provide shock waves just strong enough to burst the rock in a small area to accommodate the piles. Site conditions consisted of 5 M of fill and a 10 M layer of sand, gravel and cemented shells overlaying clays. The piles had to be driven through to found 3 M into the clay - a total of 18 M below surface level. Holes of 125 mm diameter were drilled into the clay at the founding level and strings of explosive set at pre-determined levels were lowered into the plastic-lined holes. Following blasting, the piles are driven before the rock and clay can re-consolidate. The first eight pairs of piles were driven into place within about 75 minutes. However, after a delay of three days, refusal took place at a depth of 16 M when driving a pair of Larsen piles. Consequently it is essential that piling must take place soon after blasting. (TRRL)


The article adopts a sample of certain nuclear power plant site feasibility study,narrates the application of satellite remote sensing technique integrate airborne film and ground verify data in analysis of project sea area beach stability, muddy water zone,silt transportation and distrbution etc.aspect.


A variety of book publishing platforms and services apply OAeBU data in support of internal operations and technical development while also provisioning it to meet their customers' demand for usage data reporting. Staff roles that may interact with OAeBU data span sales and marketing staff, business and data analysts, IT specialists, publisher relations staff, and community managers. Challenges faced when working with OAeBU data arise from OAeBU data variability and the multiple processing approaches in use across the OAeBU data supply chain to manage issues relating to book vs. chapter level data, bot vs. human access, and duplicate downloads.


RESULTS: Mean BMI of the VHR-PAN and VHR alone group was 38.9 kg/m and 33.5 kg/m, respectively. Hernia defect size (p=0.516), mesh placement (p=0.644), component separation (p=0.5063) and hernia recurrence rates (p=1.000) were similar in both cohorts. Additionally there was no significant difference in operative time (p=0.834) or days to drain removal (0.711) between both groups. Rate of prior bariatric surgery (p=0.0533) trended towards significantly different in the VHR-PAN group. 64% of patients completed QoL surveys, showing significant improvement from preto post-operative scores, regardless of whether a panniculectomy was performed (p < 0.02). Mean direct hospitalization costs were not significantly different between the two groups (p=0.165), as well as mean hospital stay (p=1.00). After regression modeling, the procedure performed did not significantly contribute to differences in cost, wound complications, including wound dehiscence and SSI, or hernia recurrence between the two groups. Higher wound class (p=0.0105) and longer hospital length of stay (p=0.0481) were independently associated with an increase in total direct cost, while higher BMI trended towards significance (p=0.0501) with increasing total direct cost.


Tertiary institutions responding to future industry needs are increasingly concentrating on learners developing adaptable and resilient capabilities - and collaborating in diverse inter- and trans-disciplinary contexts. Such an approach has been central to the redesign of all undergraduate Design degrees at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), with courses to be implemented in 2019. Along with developing new approaches to curriculum formats and structures across 4 diverse design degrees, as part of pedagogical transformation this has also seen the move from the traditional, discipline-specific model of the design graduate show to a new, integrated Design Festival model, entailing an all-inclusive showcase. This study surveys stakeholders currently in the process of redesigning what a capstone student graduate show can be and how it can be reconceptualised to reflect industry trends and the future employment sector. The study serves to document expectations and needs of stakeholders within this changing tertiary context, and proposes strategies for other institutions to implement similar interdisciplinary graduate shows, particularly design schools.


Regularized sparse learning with the ℓ0-norm is important in many areas, including statistical learning and signal processing. Iterative hard thresholding (IHT) methods are the state-of-the-art for nonconvex-constrained sparse learning due to their capability of recovering true support and scalability with large datasets. The current theoretical analysis of IHT assumes the use of centralized IID data. In realistic large-scale scenarios, however, data are distributed, seldom IID, and private to edge computing devices at the local level. Consequently, it is required to study the property of IHT in a federated environment, where local devices update the sparse model individually and communicate with a central server for aggregation infrequently without sharing local data. In this paper, we propose the first group of federated IHT methods: Federated Hard Thresholding (Fed-HT) and Federated Iterative Hard Thresholding (FedIter-HT) with theoretical guarantees. We prove that both algorithms have a linear convergence rate and guarantee for recovering the optimal sparse estimator, which is comparable to classic IHT methods, but with decentralized, non-IID, and unbalanced data. Empirical results demonstrate that the Fed-HT and FedIter-HT outperform their competitor—a distributed IHT, in terms of reducing objective values with fewer communication rounds and bandwidth requirements.


Skewness and kurtosis are measures used to describe shape characteristics of distributions. In this thesis, we examine the interval estimates about the skewness and kurtosis by using jackknife empirical likelihood (JEL), adjusted JEL, extended JEL, traditional bootstrap, percentile bootstrap, and BCa bootstrap methods. The limiting distribution of the JEL ratio is the standard chi-squared distribution. The simulation study of this thesis makes a comparison of different methods in terms of the coverage probabilities and interval lengths under the standard normal distribution and exponential distribution. The proposed adjusted JEL and extended JEL perform better than the other methods. Finally we illustrate the proposed JEL methods and different bootstrap methods with three real data sets. INDEX WORDS: Skewness, Kurtosis, Empirical likelihood, Jackknife empirical likelihood, Adjusted jackknife empirical likelihood, Extended jackknife empirical likelihood, Bootstrap, Bootstrap percentile, Bootstrap BCa, Coverage probability, Interval length JACKKNIFE EMPIRICAL LIKELIHOOD INFERENCES FOR THE SKEWNESS AND KURTOSIS


Small businesses located in the most sparsely populated and peripheral parts of Europe are frequently believed to be marginalised with respect to the processes of economic globalisation. This thesi ...


Abstract : Analytical models are investigated of the damping of sound and structural vibrations by vorticity production in the apertures of bias flow and grazing flow perforated elastic plates. A generalized bending wave equation is formulated for a plate perforated with an homogeneous distribution of small apertures, and is used to predict the attenuation of sound and resonant bending waves. The results depend on the Rayleigh conductivity of an aperture in a thin plate which is determined numerically in the presence of one and two-sided mean grazing flows. The Kutta condition is applied to model the generation of vorticity at the edges of the aperture by an applied time-varying pressure field. The influence of flow nonlinearity in the apertures is investigated by use of a model equation for the aperture flows. Preliminary validation tests are described, and recommendations made for future research.


In the process of artificial cultivation of myxomycetes,plasmodia usually could not form sporophores that resulted in the ontogeny rest on vegetative stage.In this study,plasmodia of Physarum were obtained by using liquid culture in combination with oat-agar culture,and they were induced to form sporophores.Under the condition of hunger,the optimal culture conditions of sporophore and sclerotium formation of Physarum were obtained from different media by adjusting illumination (3,000,6,000,9,000 and 12,000lx) and temperature (20,22,24 and 26℃).The optimal conditions for obtaining sporophores of P.globuliferum in oat-agar medium and liquid medium were under 24℃,6,000lx and 20℃,6,000lx,respectively.The optimal conditions for obtaining sporophores of P.compressum in oat-agar medium and liquid medium were under 26℃,6,000lx,and 20℃,6,000lx,respectively.Sporophores and sclerotia of P.melleum were all obtained in oat-agar medium,and the optimal conditions were 26℃,6,000lx and 22℃,3,000lx.In liquid medium,P.melleum only formed sclerotia,and the optimal conditions of were 22℃,6,000lx.


Bi, Te and Se precursors were charged into a solvent, the step of producing a Bi-Te-Se solution (step 1); Comprising: a mixture of an aqueous base solution to the Bi-Te-Se solution prepared in Step 1, preparing a hydrate (step 2); The method comprising incorporating a reducing agent in the hydrate prepared as described in Step 2 via a liquid phase reduction at room temperature to prepare a Bi The step of aging the Bi And the aging step in the rough 4 Bi Bi Therefore, the Bi


The thesis is focused on the antioxidant activity of garlic. There is a survey of chemical substances with emphasis on the active antioxidant substances ? sulfur compounds (S-allylmercaptocystein, ajoene, S-allylcystein), phenolic compounds (flavonoids), vitamin C and selenium. The following describes the other biologically active agents ? a fytoncides compound (allicin, alliin, metiin), enzymes (particularly alliinaza), amino acids, and the other minerals or vitamins. In the experimental part the antioxidant activity of fresh garlic and freeze-dried using ABTS and DPPH methods was spectrophotometrically established.


This paper analyzes the inhibition mechanism of anaerobic fermentation of lignocellulose materials whose complex structure is composed of lignin,cellulose and hemicellulose. Basing on this problem,anaerobic fermentation processes were reviewed mainly on the co-digestion fermentation process,the two-phase fermentation process and the dry fermentation process.


Objectives: To evaluate the outcomes and prognosis of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy for patients with localized prostate cancer, and identify suitable candidates for this therapy by investigating the predictive factors. Methods: The 224 patients (low 54, intermediate 111 and high-risk patients 59) with T1-2 stage were treated using the Sonablate device and followed for over 12 months after treatment. Recurrence was determined based on histological findings, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) failure and local or distant metastasis. The factors which are predicting variables with potential effects were investigated by Kaplan-Meier and multivariate analysis. Results: A total of 255 treatment sessions (193 with one, 31 with two) were performed. No patients died of prostate cancer, but 15 died of other causes and 14 patients were lost during follow-up. The 7-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rates in all patients were 75%, and 5-year RFS rates were 98%, 84% and 59% in the low, intermediate and high-risk patients respectively. In the 216 patients who underwent histological examination at 6 months or later after HIFU, 25 (12%) were positive. In 77 patients with recurrence after first-HIFU, the second treatments were hormonal therapy and HIFU. Of the 31 patients who underwent a second HIFU, the 5-year RFS rates were 64%, and 5-year RFS rates were 100%, 74% and 33% in the low, intermediate and high-risk patients. The significant predictor for recurrence was risk-group, T-stage (T1 vs T2), Gleason score (≤3 + 4 and ≥4 + 3), pretreatment PSA (<10 vs ≥10 ng/ml) and nadir PSA (<0.1 vs ≥0.1 ng/ml). In 111 patients with intermediate-risk, T-stage and nadir PSA were significantly associated with outcomes. Conclusions: Prognosis of HIFU for Patients with localized prostate cancer was good, and the low and intermediate-risk patients with T1-staging are suitable indications for HIFU. Effective predictors for outcomes were risk-group, T-stage, Gleason score, pretreatment PSA and nadir PSA.


In this second part of this paper, numerical simulations and test results have been presented on a 29-generator, 179-bus equivalent of the WECC system for both approaches of load modulation analysis developed in Part I. The accuracy of the robust performance analysis framework as well as the analysis approaches have been established through results characterizing different operating conditions. The robustness of the proposed scheme for small-disturbance angle stability enhancement has also been demonstrated through these results.