1 Biography David Lee has over 20 years experience in the software industry responsible for many major projects in small and large companies including Sun Microsystems, IBM, Centura Software (formerly Gupta.), Premenos, Epiphany (formerly RightPoint), WebGain. As senior member of the technical staff of Epocrates, Inc., Mr. Lee is responsible for managing data integration, storage, retrieval, and processing of clinical knowledge databases for the leading clinical information provider. Key career contributions include Real-time AIX OS extensions for optimizing transmission of real-time streaming video (IBM), secure encrypted EDI over internet email (Premenos), porting Centura Team Developer, a complex 4GL development system, from Win32 to Solaris (Gupta, Centura), optimizations of large Enterprise CRM systems (Epiphany), implementation of ecommerce systems for on-demand digital printing and CD replication (Nexstra).


We consider a honeybee colony as a dynamical system gathering information from an environment and accordingly adjusting its behavior. Collective foraging behavior is shown to be triggered by the change of either colony size or profitability of exploited nectar sources. The collective mode provides greater productivity compared to the individual one. The latter does not diminish the importance of individual behavior that ensures the adaptivity of the system. Thus, the transition from the phase of individual behavior to a more complex phase, combining both individual and collective modes, provides the most effective scenario of honeybee colony foraging.


The suppressive capacity of flax intercropped with a Leguminous on the naturally occurring vegetation (weeds) in La Plata, Argentina, was evaluated in this study. The treatments were: flax in monoculture with and without herbicide, flax intercropped with red or white clover, with the clover sown two months prior to the flax or on the same date, and naturally occurring vegetation. When the Leguminous was sown before the flax, yield was significantly lower (50% less) than the other treatments, which did not differ from each other. With the exception of flax intercropped with white clover sown early, weed biomass was between 60 and 79% lower compared to the monoculture of flax without herbicide. Flax intercropped with red or white clover and sown at the same time ensures sufficient crop productivity and an increased suppressive capacity on weeds over flax sown in monoculture without use of herbicides. This allows for the consideration of this method as a strategy for sustainable management of weeds in the long term, and can generate other benefits such as greater diversification and lower cost in use of herbicides in relation to monoculture.


2 Department of Biological Sciences Plymouth State University 17 High Street Plymouth, New Hampshire 03264 Abstract—When the blood of American horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) is extracted to create Limulus amebocyte lysate, the crabs are often subjected to warm temperatures and time out of water, in addition to blood loss. The goal of this study was to determine the effects of these 3 stressors on the locomotor activity and hemocyanin (HCY) levels of American horseshoe crabs. We found that a full bleeding treatment involving all 3 stressors had the biggest impact on mortality and HCY levels, followed by bleeding along with at least 1 other stressor. All of the treatments resulted in similar small changes in their overall activity and in the types of biological rhythms expressed. There was greater overall activity in animals that had higher HCY levels (P<0.0001). We also found that HCY levels were lowest in the spring and early summer and highest in the late summer and fall. In each month, males had higher HCY levels than females. These results indicate that low HCY concentrations can negatively affect the health of horseshoe crabs. If biomedical facilities take sex differences and seasonal fluctuations in HCY levels into account, they might be able to reduce some of the deleterious effects of the bleeding process.


The article discusses factors primarily influencing the occurrence of aviation accidents, including human and technical factors and the environment. The article implies a description of a process of aircraft accident investigation in accordance with the legislative requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO. An important aspect of the article is the analysis of level of accident rate in the operation of civil aviation worldwide. The article accentuates the incident reporting system, which provides collection, selection, analysis, interpretation and distribution of necessary information.


Some of the major problems to be solved in achieving semantic interoperability are: determining which databases store relevant data for a given user requirement or application (resource discovery), identifying and resolving schematic conflicts between semantically related data objects in different databases (information correlation), and deriving integrated views over multiple databases to access their data collectively (information integration). In our research the main focus is on the creation of an environment of software tools to assist users in these tasks. The scope of our research is the loosely-coupled federation, where views are created and used to define a user's requirements to access and link together data from multiple databases. (5 pages)


Infectivity of Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus in Continuous Cell Cultures. III. Comparative Neutralization of Nonoccluded and Occluded Virus of Nuclear Polyhedrosis Viruses. Katsuo TSUDA,3) Eiichi MIZUKI,4) Takeshi KAWARABATA and Keio AIZAWA (Institute of Biological Control, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812, Japan). Jpn. J. Appl. Ent. Zool. 35: 31-37 (1991) Nonoccluded viruses (NOVs) derived from different cells and occluded virus (OV) of nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPVs) were compared serologically with cross-neutralization tests. In plaque reduction methods, anti-NOV serum against Xestia c-nigrum NPV T-3 derived from Spodoptera frugiperda cells neutralized NOV of X. c-nigrum NPV T-3 and both NOVs of Bombyx mori NPV K-4 derived from S.P.C. Bm 36 cells and B. mori hemolymph. Anti-NOV serum against B. mori NPV K-4 derived from S.P.C. Bm 36 cells neutralized both NOVs of X. c-nigrum NPV T-3 derived from S. frugiperda cells and S.P.C. Bm 36 cells and both NOVs of B. mori NPV K-4 derived from cell cultures and hemolymph. Anti-NOV serum against B. mori NPV derived from hemolymph neutralized both NOVs of B. mori NPV K-4 derived from hemolymph and cell cultures and NOV of X. c-nigrum NPV T-3 derived from S. frugiperda cells. These NOVs derived from different cells were neutralized by either homologous and heterologous combination of anti-NOV sera. The results revealed that NOVs of these NPVs were antigenically closely related. While anti-OV serum against B. mori NPV specially neutralized only homologous virus and anti-NOV serum of X. c-nigrum NPV T-3 was ineffective for the neutralization of OV of B. mori NPV. However, both anti-NOV sera against B. mori NPV derived from cell cultures and hemolymph neutralized OV of B. mori NPV slightly. The results revealed that NOV of X. c-nigrum NPV and OV of B. mori NPV were antigenically different, however, NOVs of B. mori NPV share a common antigen for infection of OV to cells.


Nanoparticles of aluminum oxide with the chromium addition were obtained using the method of electric arc spraying of the composite ruby-carbon electrode, followed by calcination in air. The composition and morphology of nano- and millimeter-sized structures formed during spraying were studied.


The paper presents a new method for malignant tumor diagnosis by rapidly detecting the argon laser induced autofluorescence spectra. The diagnostic system consists of an argon laser and an optical multichannel analyzer. With a special processing program, the spectral signal acquisition and the specific index Is/I analyzing could be done simultaneously in real time by a micro-computer. The system can not only be used for spectral measurement of separate points individually, but applied to continuous IsI scanning of entire suspicious areas as well. By this technique, the Lewis lung tumors less than 1 mm were identified in in-vivo experiments, and the human cancer of 2 mm was found in clinical detections.


the international commercial disputes, іs analyzed. The methodological basis of the research is the general scientific methods, complex and comparative methods. Results: the etymology of the concept of «arbitration» and «international commercial arbitration», criteria of differentiation the international courts and domestic courts of arbitration, international commercial arbitration and international arbitration are exposed in the article. Discussion: emphasize the importance of taking into account the historical formation of this institution and clarifying the etymology of the concept of international commercial arbitration. The basic features. International Commercial – any arbitration, regardless of what it for the consideration of individual cases (ad hoc), which is permanently operating in an existing arbitration institution, which provides consideration and resolution of international commercial disputes subject to a certain procedure. The term refers to the nature of disputes that may be submitted to arbitration. The study of the legal nature and origin of «arbitration» plays an important role in understanding the essence of the arbitration process.


Copy right Idea Grou p Inc. Copy right Idea Grou p Inc. ABSTRACT This paper proposes a web-based decision support system (DSS) for supply chain management (SCM) decision making. In SCM, there is always the likelihood of having disagreements among parties for a certain decision making process. This phenomenon increases when the business environment becomes more competitive and turbulent. Much research has been done on the topic of decision support systems. However, there have been few publications dedicated solely to web-based DSS study. To date, no research has been done on a web-based DSS specifically designed for SCM decision making. A lack of study on Intelligent Agent-Based Web DSS drives this study. It is expected that this research will provide additional insights for existing supply chain management and information systems literature. The proposed web-based DSS is comprised of model management agents. We will describe the mechanism of the proposed web-based DSS with an emphasis on the role of model management agent. An aggregate production and inventory control model is used for the proposed system's application example. An Intelligent Agent-Based Decision Support System for Supply Chain Management in E-Business


Innovations and 'aha' movements in renewable energy and energy efficiency, while exciting in the lab, only truly live up to their promise once they find a place in homes or business. Late last year President Obama issued a directive to all federal agencies to increase their efforts to transfer technologies to the private sector in order to achieve greater societal and economic impacts of federal research investments. The president's call to action includes efforts to establish technology transfer goals and to measure progress, to engage in efforts to increase the speed of technology transfer and to enhance local and regional innovation partnerships. But, even before the White House began its initiative to restructure the commercialization process, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory had a major effort underway designed to increase the speed and impact of technology transfer activities and had already made sure its innovations had a streamlined path to the private sector. For the last three years, NREL has been actively setting commercialization goals and tracking progress against those goals. For example, NREL sought to triple the number of innovations over a five-year period that began in 2009. Through best practices associated with inventor engagement, education and collaboration, NREL quadrupledmore » the number of innovations in just three years. Similar progress has been made in patenting, licensing transactions, income generation and rewards to inventors. 'NREL is known nationally for our cutting-edge research and companies know to call us when they are ready to collaborate,' William Farris, vice president for commercialization and technology transfer, said. 'Once a team is ready to dive in, they don't want be mired in paperwork. We've worked to make our process for licensing NREL technology faster; it now takes less than 60 days for us to come to an agreement and start work with a company interested in our research.' While NREL maintains a robust patent portfolio, often companies are looking to do more than just license a technology. These relationships are invaluable in successfully moving technologies from NREL to the marketplace. 'We may generate new and potentially valuable innovations, but our commercialization partners do the heavy work of building a successful business around our technology,' Farris said. Tools such as CRADAs (Cooperative Research and Development Agreements) allow NREL to continue working with companies to refine and develop technologies. And, working with businesses is an area where NREL excels. NREL is responsible for one quarter of the CRADAs in the DOE system. 'When you look at the results of our CRADA program, you can demonstrate that we are actively engaged with companies in collaborating on research and moving technologies to market,' Farris said. NREL is first among DOE labs with 186 active CRADAs. And last year, NREL also was first with the number of new CRADAs signed. 'Part of the success in our working with industry goes back to NREL's mission to grow and support new industries,' Farris added. 'NREL has basic research capabilities, but we are never going to be the ultimate producer of a commercial product. That is the role of the private sector.' Farris also credits the advocacy and support that the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE provides for these technology transfer activities. 'EERE's support is critical to our success,' Farris said. To assist the private sector in moving a technology from the lab to the manufacturing line, NREL has a number of programs in place to give that first, or even final, nudge toward commercialization. For instance, the Commercialization Assistance Program helps startups overcome technical barriers by granting free access to 40 hours of work at the lab. Through the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, NREL also helps clean energy businesses develop strong links with the financial community, as well as other key stakeholders in the commercialization process. In March, NREL formally opened the Colorado Center for Renewable Energy and Economic Development a cooperative program with the state of Colorado designed to bring together stakeholders and service providers that support the growth of cleantech companies. CREED currently is working with more than 25 stakeholders - governmental partners, universities, industry associations, venture capital organizations and small businesses - to improve the access these groups have to technologies developed at NREL and to provide services such as classes and workshops for entrepreneurs. When it comes to bringing together cleantech stakeholders, NREL's Industry Growth Forum is the marquee event. At the forum, clean energy entrepreneurs have the opportunity to present their business cases to an expert panel of investors and energy executives. Companies that have presented have raised $3.4 billion in funding to date.« less


This article examines how Judean authors writing in Egypt were shaped by their physical surroundings. Specifically, it asks how writing about Egypt while living in Egypt shaped the development of the exodus narrative. The study consists of a comparative study of four versions of the exodus story (Exod. 1–15) written in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt. In these texts we see several characteristics that connect them to the land of Egypt: a focus on time spent in Egypt as opposed to the journey to the promised land, the characterization of Moses as a leader instead of a lawgiver, and the increase in descriptions of the physical environment of Egypt. The appearance of these shared characteristics demonstrates the important role that Egypt played in their reformulations of a foundational Judean text. Further, this study provides a new way of thinking about biblical interpretation, a practice not only textual but also deeply connected to the physical environment.


This
study examines the impact of wellness programs on employee job satisfaction in
Colleges and Universities. Utilizing a sample of full time or part time college
and university faculty members of for-profit
and brick and mortar universities in the United States, the results of this
correlational study did not predict job satisfaction among employees who
participated in wellness programs. In addition, it was found that interaction analyses indicated a relationship between gender and job satisfaction. Females
were more likely than males to have higher levels of job satisfaction, as well
as years of experience and job satisfaction. Faculty who had employed between
11 and 15 years were more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction.


Arrays of single mode fibers can be used to form segmented pupils of almost arbitrary geometry. Such pupil arrays can be used both for interferometric imaging, for example by non-redundant aperture masking or in direct imaging systems such as the phased array coronagraph. Achieving control over the optical coupling, phase and dispersion for fiber arrays of reasonable size is a technological challenge. Progress has been made using a monolithic block of single mode fibers, lens arrays and masks, and mirror arrays. On one testbed, arrays of up to 37 beamlets are being combined to form a single image. On a second testbed, control of dispersion between fibers of slightly different length is being evaluated. The combination of the techniques being demonstrated has a range of potential uses in astronomy. In this paper we discuss the initial testbed results.


In this paper, we address the problem of assigning a prior probability density function (pdf) for N parameters defined as x = {x1,x2,⋯,xN} that are known to be ordered and bounded. We introduce transformation functions that relate the original parameters x to new parameters u = {u1,u2,u3,…,uN} that have independent and uniform prior pdfs over the range (0,1). Results are initially derived for the three‐parameter case and then extended to the N‐parameter case. The transformation presented here is compared with an alternative transformation developed by Skilling.


It is a common procedure to infer the flux-pinning mechanism from the shape of the bulk-pinning-force curve [F p (b)]. In this paper, we investigate the effects of having a distribution of elementary pinning forces (f p ) on F p (b) within the framework of fluxon core pinning and full summation. It is seen that the shape of F p (b) can be significantly changed when the pins are strong and their f p distribution broad, whereas traditional ideas accept that its shape remains constant


Most of the articles in this issue are related to child, infant and neonatal health which are embodied in the Millennium Development Goal (MDG)4 (reducing under –five mortality rate by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015). MDG4 is measured using three important indicators: under-five mortality rate, infant mortality rate and proportion of infants immunized against measles (1). The inclusion of the latter indicator shows the strong correlation between immunization coverage and child survival and the fact that vaccinating children through increasing access to services contributes to reductions in infant mortality rate. As this indicator measures measles coverage, it can serve as a proxy indicator of other immunization services as well as of how well primary health care services are available and functioning in developing country set up (2, 3). Strength in this intervention indicates programmatic contributions to reductions in under-five mortality which often is disproportionately high among lower age groups. When an immunization program is not strong and coverage is low, the number of susceptible children under five accumulates favoring conditions for the occurrence of measles outbreak. One of the papers in this issue has reported a high case fatality rate (13.4%) among children under five in a district in Ethiopia due to measles outbreak where the case fatality rate was even higher among infants (33.3%) (4).


The present invention discloses a method for comparing data acquired information, device and system relates to technical field of Internet communications, for solving complicated steps for parity by parity problem when an instant messaging application. The method is applied to a terminal, the method comprising: switching to a preset account the social application session window, for providing query service account preset target account; Search be acquired product information input by the user in the session window, commodity information to be parity select the target account information sent to the default account, social applications account for the target users of client accounts; sending goods to be parity information to the server for the server to find whether to save the results to be parity parity product information; receiving server parity parity send the results and displays the results in the session window. The present invention is mainly applied in the process convenient shopping network of the mobile terminal.


COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for widespread mortality and economic loss across almost 212 countries. The distribution of disease prevalence is, however, uneven and likely dependent on the range of human behavior and/or the pathogen and environmental variables. Here in this research we examined the correlation between daily and total COVID-19 case reports from Bangladesh and meteorological variables (average temperature, average humidity, and average wind speed) against one another using Spearman rank and Kendall correlation tests to highlight significant meteorological variables in relation to COVID-19. The tests revealed that both temperature and humidity had a non-significant correlation with COVID-19 transmission amid epicenter (EC) and non-epicenter (NEC) areas. However, a weak (KCC: 0.168, p < 0.05; SCC: 0.271, p < 0.05) correlation was found for temperature in ECs. Wind speed showed moderate to strong correlation in ECs with a very high statistical significance to both daily new cases [(KCC: 0.494, p < 0.01); (SCC: 0.689, p < 0.01)] and total cases [(KCC: 0.426, p < 0.01); (SCC: 0.617, p < 0.01)]. The COVID-19 transmission was found to have a weak (KCC: 0.354, p < 0.01) to moderate (SCC: 0.465, p < 0.01) correlation with daily new cases; however, a moderate (KCC: 0.497, p < 0.01) to strong (SCC: 0.712, p < 0.01) correlation with total cases was found in NECs. The results suggest that temperature and humidity have little influence on COVID-19 transmission, but wind speed may have some influence. Countries should prioritize social engineering to modify human behavior in order to combat the spread of COVID-19 and future pandemics.


Previous work has shown that splenic macrophages derived from herpes simplex virus (HSV)‐resistant C57BL/6 mice undergo a persistent HSV infection which is characterized by the continuous release of infectious virus particles from a small subpopulation of infected cells. Treatment of persistently infected macrophages for 2 weeks with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) resulted in an increase of HSV yield and in virus‐induced cytopathic effects. HSV was also reactivated by treatment of macrophage cultures with lipid A or tumour necrosis factor (TNF). Like macrophages of C57 BL/6 origin, cells from LPS‐hyporesponsive C3H/HeJ mice could be persistently infected with HSV. These cells were resistant to LPS‐induced virus reactivation. The results show that macrophages derived from C57BL6 mice are rendered susceptible to lytic HSV infection by treatment with LPS or TNF. Thus, these substances may interfere with persistent HSV infection which can he established due to genetically controlled properties of the host.


This paper presents conservation activities in Mazovia. It describes the work carried out in the most important groups of monuments including timber, military and railway architecture and medieval and modernist architecture. It presents the activities undertaken to protect and popularise medieval and modern architecture, and the work conducted to determine the heritage and work out the principles for protecting the modernist architecture. It was pointed out that, despite the legally imposed restrictions, the Voivodeship Heritage Conservator can be an active participant in the monument protection system, as well as the executor of the state policy regarding national heritage. This person can also effectively combine sustainable


To the Editor.— The article by Drs Sacks and Melen (234:69, 1975) was enlightening in view of the rare occurrence of simultaneous bitemporal field defects in multiple sclerosis; however, the implications of ascribing this type of field loss to only a presumed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in a patient so affected may be misleading and should be cautioned against. Multiple sclerosis does not protect the nervous system from other insults. Slow-growing meningiomas, parasellar cysts, intrasellar and extrasellar tumors, or aneurysmal dilation of the supraclinoid portion of the carotid artery have all been associated with the chiasmal syndrome thereby resulting in subtle, unrecognized visual field loss. Granted that lesion spread in time and space in the nervous system suggests multiple sclerosis, one could become concerned about attributing the sudden development of bitemporal visual field loss to multiple sclerosis alone. Certainly, with the knowledge gained from noninvasive neuroradiological procedures such as sodium


In this paper, a multi-frequency broadband terahertz metamaterial absorber based on graphene is proposed. Taking advantage of the patterned graphene on substrates with a gold reflector, it achieves two broad absorbing bands ranging from 0. 3–0.75 THz and 1.57–1.87 THz. The chemical potential of graphene is regulated by chemical doping. Besides, the absorption is sensitive to the change of incident angle at several frequency points so that it can be used in the research of angle sensor.


Consisting of 8,036 hectares (19,857 acres), the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area (CHBW) is located in the lowest portion of the Cheyenne Bottoms, an elliptical-shaped natural lowland of approximately 16,600 hectares (41,000 acres). The contributing natural drainage area is 658 square kilometers (254 square miles). Located in central Kansas in Barton County, the CHBW is north of the City of Great Bend. Owned and operated by the State of Kansas, the Wildlife Area is managed and operated by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP). Known as the most important ecosystem in Kansas and recognized as a wetland of international importance, the CHBW is also considered a critical migration stopover site for shorebirds in North America. Studies have estimated that the CHBW attracts almost half of the entire northward migrating populations of North American shorebirds and more than 90% of at least five species of birds. A federally designated critical habitat for the whooping crane, other endangered species such as the least tern, piping plover, peregrine falcon and bald eagle have been sighted in the CHBW. Waterfowl populations fluctuate from year to year depending upon water availability, but typically range into hundreds of thousands for some species.


Two zinc complexes of disubstituted 2,2′-bipyridine with tetraalkylammonium groups, [Zn(L1)3](ClO4)8 · 12H2O (1) and [Zn(L2)3](ClO4)8 · 2H2O (2) (L1 = [4,4′-(Et3NCH2)2-bpy]2+, L2 = [4,4′-((n-Bu)3NCH2)2-bpy]2+ and bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine), have been synthesized and characterized. Species distributions in aqueous solution of both complexes were determined by potentiometeric titration. The interaction of these complexes with calf thymus DNA was explored by UV spectroscopic titration and CD spectroscopy, suggesting outside electrostatic binding mode. Both complexes were applied to the cleavage of plasmid pBR322 DNA under hydrolytic conditions; 1 can effectively cleave DNA from supercoiled to nicked form, showing quite high nuclease activity, while 2 has limited ability to cleave DNA.


Seasonality is a key feature of the biosphere and the seasonal dynamics of soil carbon (C) emissions represent a fundamental mechanism regulating the terrestrial–climate interaction. We applied a microbial explicit model—CLM‐Microbe—to evaluate the impacts of microbial seasonality on soil C cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The CLM‐Microbe model was validated in simulating belowground respiratory fluxes, that is, microbial respiration, root respiration, and soil respiration at the site level. On average, the CLM‐Microbe model explained 72% (n = 19, p < 0.0001), 65% (n = 19, p < 0.0001), and 71% (n = 18, p < 0.0001) of the variation in microbial respiration, root respiration, and soil respiration, respectively. We then compared the model simulations of soil respiratory fluxes and soil organic C content in top 1 m between the CLM‐Microbe model with (CLM‐Microbe) and without (CLM‐Microbe_wos) seasonal dynamics of soil microbial biomass in natural biomes. Removing soil microbial seasonality reduced model performance in simulating microbial respiration and soil respiration, but led to slight differences in simulating root respiration. Compared with the CLM‐Microbe, the CLM‐Microbe_wos underestimated the annual flux of microbial respiration by 0.6%–32% and annual flux of soil respiration by 0.4%–29% in natural biomes. Correspondingly, the CLM‐Microbe_wos estimated higher soil organic C content in top 1 m (0.2%–7%) except for the sites in Arctic and boreal regions. Our findings suggest that soil microbial seasonality enhances soil respiratory C emissions, leading to a decline in SOC storage. An explicit representation of soil microbial seasonality represents a critical improvement for projecting soil C decomposition and reducing the uncertainties in global C cycle projection under the changing climate.


The relationship between contraction and glycogen phosphorylase activation by adrenergic agents has been studied extensively in cardiac and skeletal muscle (see review by Haugaard & Hess, 1965). I t was suggested by Bulbring in 1960 that smooth muscle relaxation induced by epinephrine was a process requiring increased metabolic energy; and early results (Axelsson et al . , 1961) indicated tha t the action of epinephrine on the smooth muscle cell membrane might be related to its ability t o increase phosphorylase a activity. However, later reports concluded that the two effects were not related (Timms et al., 1962) and that, in fact, the increases in phosphorylase a activity seen in previous experiments were artifactual (Bueding et al., 1962). The present study is concerned with the effects of catecholamines and adrenergic blocking agents on the motility and phosphorylase activity of isolated rat uterus and guinea pig taenia coli.


Therapy for gastrointestinal bleeding oesophageal dilation oesophageal variceal sclerotherapy treatment of oesophageal and other gastrointestinal cancers percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy techniques of enteroscopy endoscopic sphincterotomy endoscopic management of biliary tract obstruction endoscopic techniques for benign pancreatic disease gastrointestinal polypectomy.


Alternating breath test (ABT) evaluated peripheral chemoreceptor function. The ventilatory response to ABT is measured in infant by mean alternation coefficients. The authors' simulations and measurements show the test can lead to unreliable values if the absolute value of minute ventilation is drifting during the test. The large errors the authors found suggest that ventilation should be de-trended before calculations.


We discuss the temporal and spectral variability of the X‐ray emission from GRBs observed using the Swift satellite. As previously noted, the flux light curve can be well described by a combination of two components which each consist of an exponential which relaxes into a power law decay, often with flares superimposed. The second component fits the shallow, plateau phase observed in the majority of GRBs. Here we find that such a two component model can also reasonably well explain the variation in X‐ray spectral hardness if we assume the hardness ratio varies as a power law in time. In this parameterisation, most of the spectral variability occurs for the first (prompt) flux component but we also find evidence for modest spectral variability during at later times.


Abstract Immunogenicity of a vaccine is conventionally measured through the level of serum antibodies early after immunization, but to ensure protection specific antibodies should be maintained long after primary vaccination. For hepatitis B protective levels often decline over time, but breakthrough infections do not seem to occur. The aim of the study was to demonstrate whether after Hepatitis B vaccination, B cell memory persist even when serum antibodies decline. We compared the frequency of anti‐hepatitis specific memory B cells that remain in the blood of 99 children 5 years after priming with Infanrix®‐hexa (GlaxoSmithKline) (n=34) or with Hexavac® (Sanofi Pasteur, MSD) (n=65). These two vaccines differ in their ability to generate protective levels of IgG. Children with serum antibodies under the protective level, <10mIU/ml, received a booster dose of hepatitis B vaccine, and memory B cells and serum antibodies were measured two weeks later. We found that specific memory B cells had a similar frequency in all children independently of primary vaccine. Booster injection resulted in the increase of memory B cells (from 11,3 in 10


For the purpose of achieving VSCF control system, this paper, stemming from the aerodynamics basic theory, analyzing the principle of pursuiting most wind energy. Through constructing the wind turbine stress model. Theory Wind energy utilization modulus is inferred in this paper. The paper focuses on VSCF control theory and operation mode. Firstly, the analysis of the relationship diagram of power curve in different wind speed is represented. Secondly, an optimal power curve is found. The wind turbine which works along this curve could obtain a maximum output power, achieving the goal of VSCF.


The paper presents a brief literature review on the impact of the dilution of mined coal from complex structural deposits on losses during selective and gross excavation of layers. The increase in dilution leads to a reduction in coal losses during mining. The effect of dilution on the loss of coal with beneficiation was established. A method is proposed for calculating sieve and fractional composition of coal depending on the ash content of the diluted coal using the example of sample No. 9 of the reservoir developed at Mine cut Raspadsky CJSC. The effect of ash content of diluted coal, enriched according to the technology of the Raspadskaya Processing Plant, is shown on the technological indicators of the enrichment products in the practical balance. It has been established by computational experiments that when the ash content of ordinary coal changes from 17.8% to 25.2% and the condition that the concentrate should have an ash content in the practical balance of not more than 6.8%, its output decreases from 84.4% to 73.3%, i.e. 11.1% of concentrate is irretrievably lost with rock shipped to the dump; the ash content of the rock decreases, which can lead to its ignition at the dump. An increase in rock yield, in turn, will lead to additional transport costs and even greater environmental damage.


I read with great interest the results of the recent large observational study on partially hydrolyzed formula (pHF) feeding in infancy and its effect on the incidence of eczema, respiratory symptoms and food allergies in toddlers from France 1 . The authors conclude that the use of pHF with a hypoallergenic label (pHF-HA) is not associated with a lower risk of eczema, but is associated with a higher risk of wheeze and food allergies. The authors questioned the safety of the current large-scale use of pHF and called for further studies to confirm their findings.


In this paper, we first establish the existence, uniqueness and the blow-up criterion of the pathwise strong solution to the periodic boundary value problem of the stochastic Euler-Poincare equation with nonlinear multiplicative noise. Then we consider the noise effects with respect to the continuity of the solution map and the wave breaking phenomenon. Even though the noise has some already known regularization effects, almost nothing is clear to the problem whether the noise can improve the continuity/stability of the solution map, neither for general SPDEs nor for special examples. As a new setting to analyze initial data dependence, we introduce the concept of the stability of the exiting time (See Definition 1.4 below) and construct an example to show that for the stochastic Euler-Poincare equations, the multiplicative noise (Ito sense) cannot improve the stability of the exiting time and improve the continuity of the dependence on initial data simultaneously. Then we consider the noise effect on the wave breaking phenomenon in the particular 1-D case, namely the stochastic Camassa--Holm equation. We show that under certain condition on the initial data, wave breaking happens with positive probability and we provide a lower bound of such probability. We also characterize the breaking rate of breaking solution.


Polymerization of carbenes is a valuable alternative to traditional olefin polymerization with regard to the formation of high molecular-weight functional copolymers in a stereoregular way. The versatility of this reaction with respect to different carbene precursors allows the formation of a large variation of functional polymers, that exhibit interesting material properties stemming from their 'secondary and tertiary structures'. Carbene polymerization is also suitable for obtaining functional polyolefin-like materials, either by copolymerization with ethene or by applying functional and non-functionalized carbenes, depending on the desired polymer microstructures. This emphasizes the potential of carbene polymerization in different areas of polymer chemistry.


Companies which earn higher returns than overall cost of capital generate value for their shareholders while those which earn lower return than overall cost of capital are deemed destroyers of shareholders' value. This research paper examines whether the selected companies have been able to create value for their shareholders. To evaluate this, some important traditional performance measures such as Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), Return on Equity (ROE), Earning Per Share (EPS) and Growth in EPS along with a new performance measure called 'Economic Value Added' (EVA) have been used. This research study further throws light on the extensive use of statistical techniques for analyzing the financial performance of the sample companies. The paper also furnishes a summary of the main findings and conclusions in the end.


In the framework of nondestructive evaluation and testing (NDE/NDT), this paper deals with the retrieval of unknown defects inside known dielectric media. A Bayesian Compressive Sensing contrast source inversion method enabled by a suitable definition of the inhomogeneous Green's function is employed to fully exploit the a-priori information of the problem at hand, regarding the knowledge on the unperturbed structure and the physical sparseness of the perturbations. Selected numerical results are presented in order to assess effectiveness and robustness of the proposed methodology.


A scientific and reasonable tourism planning can ensure that the destination develops successfully. In recent years, along with the rapid tourism development, a lot of tourism plannings have been produced, but not all the tourism plannings were put into practice. This paper analyzes the reasons which made it difficult to carry out,and proposes some suggestions.


--This paper focuses on construction and control of an unmanned hovercraft. Two high speed DC motors are used for hovering and two other DC motors are used for navigation. Remote access of the hovercraft is done using a laptop via ZigBee. The user interface has been designed in LabVIEW. Ultrasonic rangefinders have been used to detect and range objects. A sensor has been implemented to keep a check on the surrounding temperature. A camera has been installed onboard to relay live feed to the user.


Treatment of the europium complex[(Me3Si)2N]3Eu(μ-Cl)Li(THF)3 with 2-(2,4,6-Me3C6H2N=CH)C4H3NH afforded a trivalent europium metal complex with formula [2-(2,4,6-Me3C6H2N=CH)C4H3N]3Eu(THF).A series of guanidine products were synthesized by the reaction of aromatic amines to N,N′-diisopropylcarbodiimide with the europium complex as catalyst.The influence of the conditions such as reaction time,temperature,catalyst loading and solvent on the reaction was studied.The results showed that the europium complex exhibited a high catalytic activity and that the guanidine products were obtained beyond 80%yields in the following conditions:the molar ratio of the catalyst loading was 2%mol,the solvent was THF,the temperature was 60℃,and the time was 8 h.


We demonstrate that the electroluminescent performances of organic light-emitting diodes are significantly improved by employing a zinc phthalocyanine(ZnPc)-based composite hole transport layer(c-HTL). The optimum ris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum(Alq3)-based organic light-emitting diode with a c-HTL exhibits a lower turn-on voltage of 2.8 V, a higher maximum current efficiency of 3.40 cd/A and a higher maximum power efficiency of 1.91 lm/W, which are superior to those of the conventional device(turn-on voltage of 3.8 V, maximum current efficiency of 2.60 cd/A, and maximum power efficiency of 1.21 lm/W). We systematically studied the effects of different kinds of N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'diamine(NPB):ZnPc c-HTL. Meanwhile, we also investigate their mechanisms different from that in the case of using ZnPc as buffer layer. The specific analysis is based on the absorption spectra of the hole transporting material and current density–voltage characteristics of the corresponding hole-only devices.


HDR (High Dynamic Range) image processing is quite common, but there is much less study in HDR processing for videos. AGC (Automatic Gain Control), a general method for camera to adjust the brightness of image, has been used in most camera devices. This paper introduced a novel way of utilizing AGC function to produce HDR videos. Our approach does not need extra devices and no extra information is recorded during the whole process. In this paper, a new model called SGV is introduced which combines gain value and exposure settings and can be estimated from the intensities of frames. After processing, a video with uniform brightness in every frame can be obtained. As a byproduct, we can also get a HDR panoramic image at the same time.


Feature selection should be treated as an integral part of dataset selection. It was pointed out in the last chapter that the use of a good set of predictive features leads to the reduction of the variance component of the prediction error. This chapter provides an overview of the feature selection problem for classification tasks in predictive data mining. A review of the available methods for feature selection from small datasets is provided. The methods discussed fall into two categories. The methods in the first category have been studied by researchers in the context of small datasets. The methods in the second category have been studied to specifically address feature selection for data mining for high dimensional datasets and for large datasets. The dangers of using a single sample to determine relevant features are highlighted. An analysis is conducted of commonly used methods of measuring class-feature correlations and more robust measures of class-feature correlations are discussed. Existing methods for validation of correlation values are also discussed.


Report presenting surveys of the distribution of total pressure, total temperature, and static pressure at a number of stations in the slotted test section and diffuser of the transonic tunnel with early and improved diffuser-entrance noses installed at the ends of the slots. Results regarding power losses with the original diffuser-entrance nose, development of revised diffuser-entrance noses, and energy losses in the tunnel with the final diffuser-entrance nose are provided.


The particle swarm optimization algorithm (DDPGPSO) is used to study the aiming point optimization problem of multi-bomb attack on complex building targets, using the fire damage model of complex three-dimensional building targets under multi-bomb attack as an example. The theoretical model of the building stereo target is created, the appropriate fire damage index is chosen, and the optimization evaluation function is created, resulting in the optimization model of the optimal aiming point. To address the issue of traditional particle swarm optimization easily falling into local optimization due to premature maturity, a neural network is built to dynamically generate the required particle swarm optimization parameters, reducing the problems caused by manual selection. This algorithm outperforms traditional particle swarm optimization in terms of convergence speed and optimization accuracy, and it has a wide range of applications in the aiming point optimization model.


1. A method for controlling carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion, comprising the steps of: (a) burning a mixture of fuel and air, oxygen-enriched air or oxygen, thereby forming a waste gas stream comprising carbon dioxide and nitrogen, (b) absorption of carbon dioxide for sequestration removing a portion of carbon dioxide in concentrated form from the first portion of the flue gas stream, resulting in a waste gas stream from the capture step with a lower concentration of carbon dioxide than in stream flue gas, (c) use a membrane having an entrance surface and an exit surface and high selective permeability to carbon dioxide than to nitrogen, and most selective permeability to carbon dioxide than to oxygen, (d) feeding a second portion of the flue gas flow along the inlet surface, (d) feeding the air, oxygen-enriched air or oxygen as the purge flow along the downstream surface, (e) withdrawing an effluent with a reduced content of carbon dioxide from the inlet surface STI, (g) flow diversion with permeated substance containing oxygen and carbon dioxide from the exit surface (s) feed stream with permeated substance in step (a) as at least part of the air, oxygen-enriched air or oxygen for use in step (a) .2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the offgas stream comprises flue gas is a coal-fired power ustanovki.3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the exhaust gas stream comprises a flue gas energy operates on gas ustanovki.4. A method according to claim 1, wherein


The transition to a progressive information society does not exclude that the media can become the dominant agent of socialization. All the more so important attribute information society stands the so-called "information awareness", which is a product of the growing information and lies at the heart of the global information space. The article presents the results of sociological research on the role of the media in the spiritual and moral development of modern society. The authors conclude that traditional values such as family, faith, work, and mutual respect are the majority of respondents to the second plan, which indicates the "impoverishment" of spiritual principles in the development of modern society. Values such as work, tolerance, responsibility and marriage negatively perceived by respondents. The most significant role in the devaluation of the spiritual and moral development of society play media, the power of influence which is commensurate with the institution of the family and educational impact. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s2p93


This article concerns the problems of manufacturing abrasion-resistant layers over large surface areas covered with cermet plates. Test plates were soldered to precipitation-hardened stainless steel using the vacuum brazing process. The effect of brazing gap geometric parameters on microstructure, material properties, and joint quality were all analyzed. The main factors which limit the possibilities of making high-quality joints in the vacuum brazing process were defined.


The magnetic properties of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) were studied in the temperature and magnetic field range of (4.2 – 290) K and (0.05 – 30) kOe, respectively. Also magnetic properties of the reference MWCNTs without nitrogen doping were investigated on the same footing for comparison. The presence of iron-based particles inside NMWCNTs was detected. The low temperature SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device) magnetization measurements were supplemented with thermogravimetric analysis. The magnetic characterization provided the saturation magnetic moment MS and residual magnetization MR of N-MWCNTs to be, respectively, 4.5 emu/g and 0.9 emu/g, whereas for the reference MWCNTs the corresponding parameters are found to be about twice higher. The coercive field value amounts to 800 Oe for both systems at low temperatures, then decreasing to about 450 Oe at 200 K.


ABSTRACT The long-term success of payment for environmental services (PES) schemes depends on adequate demand for services and sustainable financing. We examine the viability of using locally financed payments to protect watershed services in rural eastern Costa Rica. Using dichotomous choice contingent valuation, we measure households' willingness to pay higher water bills for a local PES programme to adjust upstream land use practices to protect downstream water quality. We found that every income segment of the local population of water-users exhibited significant demand and willingness to finance the PES programme to protect local water quality.


Bayesian model averaging (BMA) weights the inferences produced by a set of competing models, using as weights the models posterior probabilities. An open problem of BMA is how to set the prior probability of the models. Credal model averaging (CMA) is a credal ensemble of Bayesian models, which generalizes BMA by substituting the single prior over the models by a set of priors. The base models of the ensemble are learned in a Bayesian fashion. We use CMA to ensemble base classi ers which are Bayesian logistic regressors, characterized by di erent sets of covariates. CMA returns indeterminate classi cations when the classi cation is prior-dependent, namely when the most probable class depends on the prior probability assigned to the di erent models. We apply CMA for modelling the presence and absence of marmot burrows in an Alpine valley in Italy and show that it compares favorably to BMA.


Macau is famous for its gambling industry, but it also abounds in distinctive geological tourist resources, such as magmatic rock landscapes and beautiful seashore. The former mainly consists of grotto and granitic ball etc; the latter is primarily characterized by mangrove and sand seashore. These resources are originated from the tectonic movement, magmatism and seawater corrosion. They are worth appreciating and quite valuable for scientific investigation. The paper concludes that tourism authorities should focus on the development of the seashore and various mountains. Black sand beach and mangrove seashore should be their main targets. At the same time, people should try their best to create a comprehensive tourist attraction like "the remote corners of world" in Hainan.


: New technologies have the potential to alter farmer's / user's situation. Farmers and agricultural decision- making in a better way. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the present and future of every industry, influencing everyone's lives by making it smart. It's a set of devices that work together to form a self-configuring network. Data Analytics and Cloud Computing are also proving to be beneficial to agriculture. The latest innovations in Smart Farming, which make use of these technologies, are slowly but steadily changing the face of traditional agriculture methods, not only by making them more productive for farmers, but also by - crop waste. The goal is to propose a technology that can produce critical information, allowing users or government authorities to make decisions at an early stage, allowing tasks to be completed without delay, without risking disruption or cost


How NewYork Quality Care achieved shared savings — by strengthening collaboration, enhancing care management with telehealth, and transparently sharing performance data.


A 30-year-old female patient underwent bilateral photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) with mitomycin C (MMC) application to correct compound myopic astigmatism of -8.50,-0.50@60, and -2.25, 1.00@70 in her right eye (RE) and left eye (LE), respectively. RE pachymetry was 513 μm and the anterior chamber depth was 2.57 mm and hence PRK with MMC application was considered. MMC 0.02% was applied for 90 s in RE and 30 s in LE. At 1 month, uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) was 20/20 in both eyes. However, at 2 months, her RE UCVA dropped to 20/80. Examination showed dense reticular haze (grade 3)[1] [Fig. 1]. The central corneal thickness was 382 μm in the RE [Fig. 2]. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed intense hyperreflectivity at the level of the epithelial basement membrane corresponding to the haze and undulation of the anterior edge of this scar tissue [Fig. 3]. After an initial failed course of topical corticosteroids, she underwent phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) + PRK 6 months after PRK, using the trans-PTK mode for ablation of 50 μ and PRK for 40 μ ablation and MMC was applied for 30 s. At 3 months post PTK, UCVA was 20/30, (20/20 with-0.50,-0.50@60) [Table 1]. No further regression or increase in the haze was noted 18 months after retreatment.


Wireless sensor network (WSN) [1] is based on distributed event-based system that is different from the traditional communication network. The main goal of the network is to deliver a data packet with the highest efficiency and quality of service. In WSN, Quality of service (QoS) [2] is an important performance indicator, therefore the QoS routing protocols are designed to provide more efficiency and quality of service. Here they concentrate on SPEED [3] protocol (Stateless Protocol for End to End Delay) is a QoS based protocol and which provides efficiency, softness-real time communication, desired delivery speed and a low overhead over the network. MMSPEED [4] is another multi-path multi SPEED protocol, which provides more efficiency and minimal control overhead over the network. This paper represents SPEED protocol and a comparative study on several versions of SPEED protocols.


To develop the tailor made rice flour products for consumers with increasing functionality of pine needles, rice cupcakes were prepared with adding different contents of pine needle powder (PP) and extract (PE, by pressing pine needle). The physicochemical, textural, sensory properties, and antioxidative activities of rice cupcakes were investigated. The antioxidative activities of rice cupcakes with PP and PE were higher than those of the control and were significantly different with adding pine needle type (PP or PE). The specific volume of rice cupcakes increased with adding PP and PE, except for 10 g PP added cupcake. Textural properties were also significantly different with pine needle types and contents. On the sensory preference test data, the scores of the teens, the twenties, and the thirties were higher in PP added rice cupcakes (3 and 5 g added), but those in the forties, the fifties, and above the sixties were higher in PE added rice cupcakes (3 g added). From these above results, the PP addition improved the processing quality of rice cupcakes (under 10 g added), but reduced unique flavor of pine needle. It was suggested that rice products added with pine needle would be developed to consider consumer`s age, type of pine needle and its content.


The article specifies the legal nature of liability in commercial litigation, defines the ratio of measures of procedural coercion and liability in commercial litigation. Based on the analysis, a conclusion was made about the inexpediency of combining the measures of responsibility provided by the Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine into an independent type of legal liability. The expediency of separating the category "Responsibility in commercial litigation" is argued. It is noted that the purpose of such liability is to comply with the procedural order of commercial proceedings under the threat of criminal, administrative, civil, disciplinary liability. Liability in commercial litigation includes all types of liability that are realized in connection with the implementation of such litigation: criminal, administrative, disciplinary liability of judges, lawyers, prosecutors, civil liability. Measures of such responsibility may have as their normative source not only the Commercial Procedure Code, but also the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, the Commercial Code, the Civil Code. It is noted that liability in commercial litigation is a complex legal institution. It is specified that measures of procedural coercion and liability in commercial litigation are forms of state coercion. Procedural coercion has a wider scope than liability in commercial litigation. The signs of procedural coercion in commercial litigation are specified: implementation regardless of the will of the subject to which they are applied; application by the court; implementation in connection with the implementation of legal proceedings in a particular case; ensuring the implementation of the tasks of commercial litigation; in some cases it is an unfavorable consequence of violation of the requirements of the legal norm (disposition), ie in connection with the implementation of dispositions of legal norms, in other cases it is the implementation of dispositions of legal norms that establish certain restrictions to ensure proceedings.


Traditional or folk medicinal practitioners (Kavirajes) administer primary healthcare to most of the rural population in Bangladesh. They utilize medicinal plants for various formulations to treat diverse ailments. The medicinal plants used by the Kavirajes vary considerably from region to region. The objective of the present study was to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among the Kavirajes of Bheramara area, Kushtia district, Bangladesh. Informed consent was obtained and interviews were conducted of the Kavirajes with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. Plant specimens as pointed out by them were collected and identified at the Bangladesh National Herbarium. The survey resulted in obtaining names of 58 plant species used by Kavirajes for treatment of various ailments. These medicinal plants belong to 38 families. The Leguminosae family provided the largest number of species (5), followed by the Euphorbiaceae family (4 species). The various plant parts used included whole plants, leaves, stems, roots, barks, flowers, fruits, and rhizomes. Evaluation of reported pharmacological activity studies on a number of plant species obtained in the present survey indicate that these plant species can potentially lead to discovery of novel compounds of pharmacological interest.


Awareness of gender-based violence (GBV) is growing worldwide with increased coverage in the media (news, cinema, social media, television, etc.). Accounts of GBV therefore reach us in different ways, for instance, the story of a survivor comes to us in a film, novel, autobiography, or documentary. The primary aim of this chapter is to encourage research on the translation of GBV documentaries. It is a call for research that actively listens to the way voices of women who have suffered abuse are translated into other languages, in subtitled and voice-over versions. This chapter provides background information on GBV and explains why it is important to research this area. In the first part, GBV is defined and the reasons behind choosing documentaries for research are presented. The second part offers a reflection on the translation of trauma with a focus on the ethical role of translation and translators. Then, the general translation situation of the documentary genre is introduced, and the reasons why it is essential to investigate how the voices of survivors are translated in this context are presented further.


This study examines the practice of the Pilkada (Regional election) that took place in East Kalimantan in 2005. The aim is to obtain an overview of the extent to which the democratic process meets the quality standards desired by law and society at large. Based on the findings of the research, the quality standard is not met optimally due to the emergence of several fraudulent practices, one of which is in the form of transactional politics. Transactional politics or what in an Islamic perspective is called risywah (bribery) are strongly prohibited in legislation and haram in Islamic law. However, the reality is that such practices still take place in certain ways, such as gifts, shadaqah, wages, transport fees, and several other ways to get rid of the impression of bribery. This phenomenon occurs due to several factors including 1) weak regulation and law enforcement; 2) weak understanding of politics; 3) weak community ethics; 4) economic factors.


With the quickening pace of urban renewal,historic site landscape become a key point of our protection,and the identification card design is the important means which can strength the block character traits. When designing the historic urban logo,we not only enhance the urban cultural landscape,but also reveal the city characteristics. Based on the analysis on the similar cases at home and abroad,and combined with the Mount Tai's cultural landscape axis characteristics to refine and summarize the basic elements of shape from the Mount Tai's historical and cultural factors and the natural factors of the city. At last,this paper put forward the main points of design of the logo design axis which conforms to the Mount Tai's culture characteristics.


The aims of the study are : 1) to determine the effect of the number of parking spots towards parking fees amount; 2) to determine the effect of the number of parking staff toward parking fees amount; 3) to determine the effect of the number of vehicles towards parking fees amount; 4) to determine the effect of the number of parking spots, parking staff, and vehicles on the amount parking fees in Palu City. There are 4 districts involved in the study that are selected through purposive sampling. Research method is descriptive qualitative and the data is analyzed with multiple linear regressions analysis. The result concludes that : 1) the number of parking spots partially has significant effect on the amount of parking fees received with coefficient determinant of 0,727 and significant level of 0,027; 2) the number of parking staff has insignificant influence on the amount of parking fees received with coefficient determinant of 0,142 and significant level of 0,626; 3) the amount of vehicles partially has significant influence on the amount of parking fees received with coefficient determinant of 0,352 and significant level of 0,023; 4) the number of parking spots, parking staff, and vehicles simultaneously have significant influence on the amount parking fees received with coefficient determinant of 0,727 and significant level of 0,027.


This scenario presents a pathway of future developments in biodiversity offsets and banking in which we see the emergence of gradually interlinked biodiversity markets. A globally active biodiversity and ecosystem services industry success-fully links up with international policy initiatives and pushes for the use of market-based policy options for biodiversity protection. Providing support to decision makers, established players such as Ecosystem Marketplace and BBOP become global experts for policy design and implementation. The newly established International Biodiversity Association, a network of powerful service providers, regulatory bodies, and leading scientists, finally paves the way for a unified understanding of the problem of biodiversity loss. The network also helps link various bio-diversity markets around the globe. The immediate future In the aftermath of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, it becomes painfully clear that not enough has been done to stop biodiversity loss. Negotiated targets have not been met and there is an increasing awareness that biodiversity loss is an environmental problem of the same caliber as climate change. The general sentiment is that something needs to be done, soon. A new international agreement is forged among CBD members. The idea is to commit to a radical reduction of biodiversity loss by 2050. The biggest question is, of course, how this can be achieved. As shown by the past, simply setting up targets has not proven to be a viable strategy. Concrete policy options need to be on the table. A new CBD working group on policy approaches to biodiversity protection begins to compare and evaluate the existing set of policies. The challenge is to provide a systematic overview of the available options. A general finding is that several instruments already exist and have been put to work in different policy-making contexts with mixed results. Now, the only question is which of these tools promises the best results for future use.


Background and Purpose The closing-in phenomenon is the tendency to draw near or on the target when copying figures, which has been found mostly in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We attempted to quantify the degree of closing-in and to compare it between patients with AD and vascular dementia (VaD). Methods The subjects (55 AD, 39 VaD and 38 normal controls) were asked to copy the figure of alternating square and triangle, starting at the designated point and continuing from left to right. The patients with AD and VaD did not differ in age, education, severity of dementia or Rey Complex Figure Test copy score. The proximity (Y-axis) of the subject's drawing to the target was plotted at intervals of 2 mm along the X-axis and the degree of closing-in was computed from the slope of the regression line. Results The AD and VaD patients showed a steeper slope than the controls. There was no significant difference, however, in the magnitude of closing-in of the AD and VaD patients. When closing-in was defined as a slope that was greater than the mean+2SD of the slope observed for the controls, 32.7% of the AD and 25.6% of the VaD patients showed closing-in. Conclusions Our study, using a new method of measuring the degree of closing-in, suggests that this phenomenon is not specific to AD.


The muscles of molluscs show a wide variety of structural types, a variation that is paralleled by the behavior of the muscles. All these muscles have certain features in common; they contain long filaments of two types, but differ in the length and thickness of the thick filaments and in the proportion of the protein, paramyosin, in the muscle. Structural and physiological experiments suggest that the basic contractile mechanism is the same in all molluscan muscles. The muscle-relaxing mechanism, however, may be specialized, particularly in certain smooth muscles which have the very slow relaxation characteristic of "catch" muscles.


In this specification, the compound of formula (I), and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts, N- oxides, or solvate thereof. In this specification, a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound of formula (I), and also a method of using the compounds of formula (I) are provided. [Formula 1]


This paper reports a study of 40 parents of outpatient and 40 parents of inpatient state hospital schizophrenic children. Despite a similar core pathology, the parents of schizophrenic children demonstrated major differences in their personality supper-structure. The differences in occupation range from competent college professor to the transient and unskilled worker. Some are highly successful. Some are hampered in their achievements, and suffer illnesses such as asthma, and some are hospitalized schizophrenics. We were able to describe and classify these 80 parents according to their manifest personality structure within 4 categories. These are pseudoneurotic, somatic, pseudodelinquent, and psychotic. Although treatment is directed toward the similar core pathology in all the parents, we discuss the major differences in treatment and management techniques required in each of these types.


Joseph Nye's three power altitudes,i.e.culture,media and diplomacy determine whether a nation has soft power or not.According to the three altitudes,China's soft power will be concluded as the following: the construction of harmonious society in China has been accepted by more and more countries in the world,but it hasn't become a global standard;China's media is now a necessary information resource and decisive spokesman,but the influence on how to explain problems is limited;China's diplomacy enjoys high international prestige,but there are many difficulties to face yet.Therefore,there is still a long way to go to strengthen China's soft power.


The invention provides a high-precision real-time measurement system of a rotary drilling rig. The high-precision real-time measurement system of the rotary drilling rig comprises a magneto-dependent sensor, a revolving speed sensor, a calculator and a display screen; the magneto-dependent sensor, the revolving speed sensor and the display screen are connected to the calculator, and the calculator is a single-chip microcomputer; the magneto-dependent sensor is installed on one side of a drill stem, a magnetic railing ruler is arranged at the strip-shaped position, corresponding to the magneto-dependent sensor, of the drill stem; the revolving speed sensor is arranged on a main power shaft of the drill stem; the calculator is connected with a hydraulic pressure gage of a hydraulic system for driving the drill stem to run in a hole, and the hydraulic pressure gage is in an electronic type; the calculator is further connected with an engine ECU of an engine driving the drill stem to rotate. The high-precision real-time measurement system of the rotary drilling rig is low in cost, low in operation difficulty, high in precision and high in enterprise acceptability.


Frequency-domain equalization (FDE) based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion can provide a better downlink bit error rate (BER) performance of direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) than the conventional rake combining in a frequency-selective fading channel. FDE requires accurate channel estimation. Recently, we proposed a pilot-assisted channel estimation based on the minimum mean square error (MMSE) criterion. Using MMSE-CE, the channel estimation accuracy is almost insensitive to the pilot chip sequence, and a good bit error rate (BER) performance is achieved. We also proposed a 2-step maximum likelihood channel estimation (MLCE) to further improve the estimation accuracy. However, the tracking ability is a problem in 2-step MLCE. In this paper, we propose a one-tap RLS-based channel estimation scheme for DS-CDMA with FDE. We evaluate the BER performance using one-tap RLS-based channel estimation in a frequencyselective Rayleigh fading channel by computer simulation. The BER performance using one-tap RLS-based channel estimation is compared with that using 2-step MLCE and pilot-assisted channel estimation with linear interpolation.


There are large quantities of distributed generators in micro-grid, which are all connected with PCC (Point of Common Coupling) through inverters and transmission lines. The droop control method is widely used to distribute active and reactive power among parallel inverters because its properties of low cost and high stability. In a micro-grid, the inductance values of transmission lines connecting to respective inverters are different due to the low density of distributed generators. In that situation, the reactive power cannot be equally shared even if all the inverters are using the same droop control method. With regards to this problem, a modification, called indirect amplitude control, is put forward for the droop control strategy to share reactive power equally in this paper. The feasibility of the design is validated by simulation and experiment.


Cabbage plants in three growth stages were infested with third-instar beet armyworms, Spodoptera exigua (Hubner), at four densities ranging from 0 to 17 larvae per plant. Larvae were allowed to feed and complete development on the plant in this greenhouse study. All plants exposed to larvae in the vegetative growth stage produced marketable heads at harvest. A significant linear relationship was calculated for regression of beet armyworm density on cabbage head weight. A 95% confidence interval calculated on the mean response indicated that 15 beet armyworms per plant significantly lowered head weight compared with no larvae per plant. Plants infested in the cupping stage produced 47% marketable heads at three larvae per plant and 27% marketable heads at 10 and 17 larvae per plant. No significant relationship was found between larval denSity and cabbage head weight for this growth stage. Plants infested in the heading stage produced fewer marketable heads as larval densities increased, ranging from 74 to 14% marketable heads at three and 17 larvae per plant, respectively. Beet armyworms consumed a higher percentage of older leaves than younger leaves on cabbage plants in the vegetative and cupping growth stages.


Starting from the theory that the carcinogenic polycyclic hydrocarbons are bound in the cell as inclusion compounds in protein molecules, some restrictive steric factors are discussed:

1
The relative carcinogenic indexes of the polycyclic hydrocarbons show selective distribution when plotted against the respective incumbrance areas (surface of the minimum rectangular envelope). The selectivity of the curve delimiting the ensemble of these points gives a stereochemical explanation for the change in activity by methylsubstitution.

2
The carcinogenic activity of the polycyclic hydrocarbons does not vary appreciably by hydrogenation, unless the molecular thickness of the so obtained compounds does not exceed about 6 A. This corresponds approximately to the space between two protein layers, linked together by a cystine bridge.—The relative activities of the higher alkylsubstituted hydrocarbons and of the three natural oestrogenic hormones can be explained in this outline.

3
The limiting effect of the molecular size on the carcinogenic activity shows up not only by steric hindrance but also by influencing the adsorbability of the hydrocarbons by secondary valence forces. Thus it was found that the ratio: sum of free valence indexes/molecular area decreases for large molecules. The observable carcinogenic activity is interpreted as a result of the competition between the causative forces (interactions with a protein site) and the restrictive factors (steric hindrance, solubility, etc.).

4
A steric model of the chemical carcinogenesis was elaborated. Co-carcinogenesis and anti-carcinogenesis are interpreted as promotion and hindrance of the entry of the polycyclic molecule inside a three-dimensional protein network.—A relationship is suggested between the promoting effect of X-rays on refractory animals and the molecular incumbrance area of the used carcinogenic hydrocarbons.

The irreversible change in the cell, during chemical carcinogenesis, is interpreted as a definite configurational change in the protein network of a key enzyme or enzyme system, due to the weak "denaturing" action of these compounds.


Congenital mesoblastic nephromais a rare tumour found in neonates, with a very small number of cases diagnosed prenatally. We report a case of a fetal renal tumour suspected at 28 weeks' gestation on routine ultrasound. Prenatal follow-up revealed a severe polyhydramnios at 32 weeks' gestation subsequent amniodrainage was undertaken. She delivered at 34+5 weeks' gestation, after spontaneous premature rupture of membranes.


Catadioptric, all spherical Cassegrainian and Gregorian telescopes with one and two full aperture corrector lenses are investigated. Appropriate closed form third-order aberration equations are presented, and a variety of aplanatic and anastigmatic solutions are indicated.


Although Polish migration to Denmark and Sweden in the early 20th century was not very numerous and was limited in time (1890-1929), it is worth a study, because it had a specific and odd character ...


A control device (11) for position controlling a hydraulic cylinder unit (1) comprises a controller (15), the input side, a setpoint position (s *) receives a piston (3) of the hydraulic cylinder unit (1) and actual position (s) of the piston (3) and based on the difference (.DELTA.S) of desired position (s *) and actual position (s) a preliminary manipulated variable (u ') for a valve control unit (7) of the hydraulic cylinder unit (1) determined. The controller (15) is a linearization unit (17) arranged downstream, 'multiplied by a linearization factor (F) and with the linearization factor (F) multiplied preliminary manipulated variable (u which the preliminary manipulated variable (u)') as a final manipulated variable (u) of outputting the valve control unit (7), so that the piston (3) with a displacement speed (v) is adjusted. The linearization unit (17) determines the linearization factor (F) dynamically as a function of actual position (s) of the piston (3) and on both sides of the piston (3) as well as inflow and outflow side of the valve control unit (7) prevailing working pressures (pA, pB, pP, pT). The determination is made such that a ratio of the displacement speed (v) to the difference (.DELTA.S) of desired position (s *) and actual position (s) independently of the actual position (s) of the piston (3) and the working pressures (pA, pB, pP , pT) is. In the special case that the controller (15) is formed as a P controller, the order of the controller (15) and linearization unit (17) may be interchanged.


Tugu Pahlawan is one of tourism objects in Surabaya. It is good tourism place as visitors can flashback the heroic moment happened in Surabaya.It is a tourist object to memorize and carry back what happened in Surabaya especially on 10 November.Other than historical reason, many people visit it for vacation.


When two self-focusing beams with the fixed-initial-phase interact, we observe fluctuations in output mode profiles as predicted by simulations. We attribute these fluctuations to the loss of relative phase as the beams collapse.


Objective:To study on extraction process of volatile oil from dried ginger and its inclusive compound by β-cyclodextrin(β-CD) from Sini effervescent tablet.Method:Orthogonal test was employed to investigate effect of water volume,soak time and distilled time on extraction of volatile oil;and took comparative test of saturated water solution method,colloid mill method,and ultrasound method,choose optimum inclusion method with inclusion efficiency of volatile oil,yield of inclusion and the content of oil in inclusion as comprehensive indexes;Optimum inclusion technology of colloid mill method was optimized by orthogonal test,and validate inclusion compound.Result:Optimum extraction technology conditions were to add 6 times the amount of water,and distilled 8 h without soaking;Optimum inclusion technology of colloid mill method was as follows:proportion of volatile oil to β-CD was 1∶8(mL∶g),inclusion time was 45 min;the amount of water was 80 mL.Conclusion:Inclusion technology(colloid mill method)of volatile oil from dried ginger was simple,feasible and appropriated for large-scale production.


The two authors of this article share a post in the Social Work Department at Exeter University. Deirdre Ford (DF) was appointed two years ago; she continues to hold a post of part-time social worker in the interdisciplinary learning disability team where she was employed before. Bill Jordan (BJ) returned to Exeter University, where he had worked for over 20 years, the first 15 of these combined with part-time appointments, first in the probation service and then as a social worker in mental health (and some child care). Our aim is to compare the experiences of 'split posts' in 1970 and 1995, and to analyse what the comparison tells us about the project of theory-practice integration.


The present study describes the potential of mixed fungal isolates, i.e. Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Rhizopus oryzae for the removal of zinc(II) and copper(II) from aquatic environments. Capacity of mixed fungal biomass to adsorb Zn(II) and Cu(II) were studied in batch sorption experiments as bioremediators. Optimal conditions from contact time, pH, initial metal ion concentration and temperature for remediation of Zn(II) and Cu(II) were studied. Typically, the uptake of Zn(II) and Cu(II) rises with increasing pH up to 4.0. Optimal metal concentration was 150 mg/l when the maximum removal of copper and zinc was 69.5% and 30.3% respectively, was observed at initial metal concentration. Maximum uptake for metals was achieved after 15 min. The maximum biosorption for copper and zinc by selected fungi was achieved at 7.0 g of biosorbent. IR spectrum of three fungal species showed the presence of C=O groups, amine and amide N-H functional stretch.


The use of a desymmetrized tritopic ligand with both carboxyl and pyridyl functionalities leads to the first occurrence of the [Mg(3)(μ(3)-OH)(CO(2))(6)] trimer as the 3-D framework building block in a porous crystal that shows relatively high H(2) uptake (1.37% at 77 K and 1 atm).


We propose a technique for formation of CoSi, line structures on SiO, films, which utilizes irradiation with 40 keV Si2* FIB to the CO (14 nm)/Si (50 nm)/SiO, (20 nm) stacked layer structures. Ion irradiation was performed at room temperature (RT) in order to prevent the thermal formation of cobalt silicide in regions without irradiation. After ion irradiation, unreacted CO layers remaining on the surfaces were removed by dipping the samples into the solution of HNO,:H,O,=1:3, and unreacted Si layers were removed by H3P0, at 160°C. The hot H3P0, re- moves the deposited Si without etching the irradiated regions or SiO, films. After the etching, the samples were heat treated at 700 and 900°C for 20 min. As a result, cobalt silicide line struc- tures were formed. The resistivity evaluated for samples heat treated at 700 and 900°C was in agreement with that of CoSi and CoSi,, respectively. CoSi, line structures with less than 200 nm width can be made by the procedure.


This article discusses how the November 2010 midterm election results may have serious consequences for the already precarious funding of U.S. infrastructure. Many of the newly elected officials have promised to slash the federal budget. Expensive projects such as high-speed rail will almost certainly be canceled, at least for the foreseeable future. Although much of the highway infrastructure is aging, funds for maintenance and rehabilitation will also be limited, forcing state and local governments to prioritize among many needed projects. Because federal matching funds typically underwrite a majority of major public works projects, states and municipalities are hesitant to order engineering and environmental studies for new projects without having federal funding in place. This hesitation is creating a lack of "shovel-ready" projects that can be funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. To help preserve the funding for projects that offer primarily long-term benefits, planners must advocate for infrastructure in order to build public support.


To respond to a philosophical paper in a conference setting such as this is triply representational. It is representational first because it is my role, the role of the interlocutor in this dialogue, to represent the written piece that I have prepared for this response. As I am the mouthpiece for this text that I have prepared, I am in a position to represent, in dialogue, to what the text of my paper says. To borrow the metaphor that Stephanie Mackler and Doris Santoro borrow from Peggy Phelan, I must "paper it over." I must paper over my own paper.


This article presents a set of cost measures that can be applied to parallel algorithms to predict their computation, data access and communication performance. These measures make it possible to compare different parallel implementation strategies for data mining techniques without benchmarking each one.


Objective
To establish an appropriate animal model of pancreatic cancer, and choose the most suitable laparotomy.

Methods
To establish a VX2 pancreatic cancer model, VX2 tumor tissues were inoculated into rabbit pancreases. The rabbits were randomly divided into four groups by randomized block method: Control group, Group A (intraoperative frozen range includes pancreatic tumor and peritumoral tissues), Group B (intraoperative frozen range was as big as the tumor), and Group C (intraoperative frozen range was smaller than the tumor). Monitoring serum neuron-specific enolase (NSE), C-reaction protein (CRP) and amylase (AMY) levels before and after surgery and record survival in each group to seek the most appropriate method.

Results
The VX2 pancreatic carcinoma model was successfully established, NSE levels increased to (88.43±15.25) ng/ml after inoculation 28 d. NSE of group A, B and C significantly increased to (27.31±4.28), (23.64±6.82) and (19.49±2.49) ng/ml at Day 1 after cryosurgery, decreased at Day 3, gradually reduced to normal levels after Day 7. The median survival of control group, group A, group B and group C was 29, 40, 52, 35 d. Compared with Control group, rabbits in Group A and C had no significant difference in survival time (P=0.080), but Group B significantly prolonged the survival time (P=0.040, 0.030, 0.010).

Conclusion
VX2 pancreatic cancer model was successfully established with NSE as a tumnor marker. Group B may be a suitable option for patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Key words:
VX2; Pancreatic carcinoma; Rabbit model; Cryoablation; Laparotomy


The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality properties of raspberry and peach jams during storage. Jams were prepared with a reduced amount of sucrose, citric acid and low-estrified pectin with the addition of calcium ions in the form of calcium citrate. Physico-chemical parameters, such as total dry matter, soluble solids, sugars, total acids, pH, vitamin C, fats, proteins and ash after storage of 15 and 90 days were tested. The jams were exposed to microbiological analysis also. Results showed that the values of ash, fats and vitamin C were not changed regardless the storage period of the analysed raspberry and peach jams. The period of storage increased the values of total dry matter from 44.97% to 45.86%, soluble solids from 40.17 °Brix to 41.5 °Brix and total acids from 1.47% to 1.49% in raspberry jam. In peach jam these results changed from 42% to 44.1%, from 41.92 °Brix to 42.9 °Brix, and from 0.92% to 0.97% respectively. Microbiological examinations indicate that jams are microbiologically proper according to standards. From the overall results it can be concluded that the storage period has effect on the prepared raspberry and peach jams, but their quality remains good and has maximum consumer acceptance.


The infrared spectra over the range 4000–50 cm−1 of three copper basic sulfates, viz. Cu4(OH)6SO4, Cu4(OH)4OSO4, Cu3(OH)4SO4 along with site group and factor group analysis for Cu4(OH)6SO4 are reported for the first time. The observed absorption frequencies associated with OH and SO4 activities show distinct individual structural features.Three distinct types of OH groups are present in Cu4(OH)6SO4 and Cu4(OH)4OSO4 but only two types are evident in Cu3(OH)4SO4. The two OH groups involved in the dehydroxylation reaction to give the oxycompound Cu4(OH)4OSO4 are tentatively identified. The multiple frequencies involving Cu—O—H bending modes further reflect the varying degrees of H-bonding and OH coupling in Cu(OH)4O2 and Cu(OH)5O entities.The SO4 internal optic modes' multiplet structure and frequencies in the basic sulfates illustrate the different extent of dipolar coupling effects (OH and Cu) with respect to specific modes relative to Li2SO4 with same site symmetry. The SO4 external optic modes relative t...


The future of the EU seemed fogy at the end of 2011. The EU might eventually prove efficient and able to survive discovering its own and new way out of the ongoing crisis. Flexible markets and neoclassical economic paradigm might become a new economic and political fashion within the EU. The EU might be split into smaller parts if a new sort of interventionism-Keynesianism economic policy prevails. "New Economy" may form mega-regions as a new substructure within the territory of the EU. National states might melt down and be transformed into mega regions. Economic history teaches us that neoclassical economy leads rather to divergence than to convergence between unequally developed countries. Difference between the richest and the poorest members of the EU in terms of GDP was 1: 4, 9 in 1986. In 2007 the difference was increased to 1: 20. Economic divergence means a dead end for EU. The more EU gets enlarged the more the EU is prone to Balkanization. In the paper I try to analyze the future position of the EU depending upon accepted system of values within the EU and the chosen economic paradigm to fight a crisis. I conclude that the EU is more prone towards the syndrome of balkanization than to an efficient political union


In many engineering applications, it is highly desirable to quickly and easily locate sound sources even if the accuracy and spatial resolution are not very high. Most systems and tools available in the market are based on beamforming technology, which are portable, easy to use, and easy to understand. However, beamforming requires a prior knowledge of the general location of a target source and a large number of microphones, which increases the overall costs. Also, its frequency range is limited by the size of the microphone array. In this paper, a user friendly, cost‐effective and portable system for locating multiple arbitrary sound sources in three‐dimensional space in real time is presented. In particular, this system requires four microphones only, covers the entire audible frequency range, and does not require any prior knowledge of whereabouts of the target sources. The underlying principle of this methodology is a hybrid approach consisting of modeling of sound radiation from point sources in a f...


The exhibition was a part of the third edition of FemArt, a feminist festival in Prishtina. The festival had over one hundred participants from the fields of visual arts, performing arts, theater, music, theory, politics, sociology, etc. Participating were women arists and theorists not only from Kosovo and the region, but from Europe and United States as well.


nominator? The kidney is central to the pharmacology of most $ role of the kidney in pharmacokinetics and drugs and is a target both for therapy and side-eVects. pharmacodynamics The approach of nephropharmacology for improve- $ mechanisms of nephrotoxicity ment in diagnostics and therapy is a multidisciplinary $ new strategies in nephroprotection one in which nephrologists and specialized pharmaco- $ transplantation logists work together. $ what is new? The Fifth Congress of Nephropharmacology tried These extended abstracts will allow a very large packto bring all interested groups working in this field age of information to reach both the core group of together. The fact that there have already been five researchers and the wide periphery of interested congresses demonstrates the acceptance of this discip- nephrologists and pharmacologists. line by the scientific community. To focus the scope of this congress we decided to


Introduction: Treatment for breast cancer is based on the expression of the immunomarkers such as ER, PR and HER2/neu. Cases which are negative to all the three immunomarkers, are called Triple Negative Breast Cancers (TNBC) and they have a poor prognosis. Recent studies have shown that some of the TNBCs express cytokeratins CK 5/6 (subcategorizing them as basal-like breast cancers) and these respond well to anthracycline-based chemotherapy. Aim and Objectives: To study the expression of basal cytokeratins CK 5/6 in breast carcinomas reported in our centre and to correlate with histological type, grade, size, clinical features and ER, PR and


The article firstly gives the comparisons pattern,technology,function characteristics,scheme of storage system,and puts forward the discussion of integration pattem application of storage system based on above comparisons,to utilize for the construction of digital library.


Background: Acute appendicitis is the most common indication for intra-abdominal emergency surgery, and appendectomy is one of the most commonly performed procedures in abdominal surgery. Although laparoscopic appendectomy (LA) has not yet achieved the status of a "Gold Standard" treatment, it is being progressively accepted as the treatment of choice for acute appendicitis. Numerous studies have shown many benefits of LA, including a faster recovery, less postoperative pain, reduced wound infections, shorter hospital stay and earlier return to work. Aim of the Work: To assess the feasibility of using the ultrasonic-activated device (harmonic) scalpel in sealing and division of the appendicular stump during laparoscopic appendectomy. Patients and Methods: This prospective study was carried out at the surgical department of Al Hussein University hospital during the period from June 2016 to April 2018. 40 patients diagnosed as acute appendicitis were included And divided into two groups: group 1 containing 20 patients using loop knots and group 2 containing 20 patients using harmonic scalpel (as a method of appendicular stump sealing. A comparative analysis was done for both techniques considering the post-operative leakage, the post-operative pain, hospital stay, surgery time, post-operative bleeding (if), and post-operative infection. Results: A total of 40 patients were included in this study, 20 in the loop knots group and 20 in the harmonic scalpel group. An analysis of the patients data showed that there was no significant difference between the first group and the second group with respect to difference in either age or gender. There was no mortality occurred in this study. There was no significant difference in the overall complication rates (10% in the LOOP group versus 10% in the harmonic group). Conclusion: Harmonic scalpel and loop knots tying are two promising techniques to secure the appendix stump in laparoscopic appendectomy with similar complication rates. Harmonic scalpel costs were higher than loop knots tying but has shorter operative times. Because of the simplicity of techniques, we highly recommend using of the harmonic scalpel especially by surgeons learning laparoscopic procedures.


In continuation of our work on Maytenus salicifolia, we report herein the isolation and structural elucidation of two new compounds, salicassin (1), a diterpene-chalcone adduct with an unprecedented C-framework, and (16β)-16-hydroxypristimerin (2), a quinone methide triterpenoid. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic analysis, including 1D- and 2D-NMR techniques (COSY, ROESY, HSQC, and HMBC). In addition, 22 known compounds were isolated and characterized by comparison of their spectra with reported data. Compound 2, structurally related to the well known cytotoxic quinone methide triterpenoids, exhibited an antiproliferative effect on HeLa, A-549, and HL-60 human cell lines, with IC50 values of 2.2, 3.2, and 2.7 μM, respectively.


The Permian volcanic rocks from Kumuruwuzuke area in Keping county occurred in Keping Massif , which erupted in land faces and dominated by pyroxene basalt and acid pyroclastic rocks with the characteristics of bi modal volcanic rocks series There exists three eruption cycles and the major elements of the basalts changed regularly from the bottom to the top, indicates the basalts are derived from the evolution of same source magma The geochemical characteristics of the basalts show they are continental tholeiite and formed in continental extension environment (initial stage of continental rift) In a word, the Permian volcanic rocks from Kumuruwuzuke area are the reflection of Carboniferous Permian continental riftism in Keping micro massif


Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a halophilic bacterium capable of causing food- and waterborne gastroenteritis, wound infections, and septicaemia in humans. The wide distribution of V. parahaemolyticus in the marine and estuarine environments is known to depend on the water temperature: it has been suggested that the bacterium might survive in sediments during the winter and be released into the water column in late spring or early summer when the temperature rises to 15°C or higher [1].
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In this paper, we consider stabilization for a one-dimensional wave equation with van der Pol type boundary that covers the antistable boundary as a special case. Owing to the energy injection and the nonlinear terms, the uncontrolled plant may lead to a variety of dynamical behaviors such as chaotic acoustic vibration, period-doubling bifurcation, and so on. By exploiting a completely new approach, a novel output feedback law is proposed by using boundary displacement observation only. The well-posedness and the exponential stability of resulting closed-loop system are proved. Some numerical simulations validate the theoretical results.